The last post I wrote was in May of 2013. What?! To put it into perspective, the last thing I wrote about was the exciting discovery that a baby boy would be joining our family to balance out the scales. Well, said little baby boy is now four months old! Yeah, so that happened. We had a baby. Taft Jacob was born September 24, 2013 weight 8 lbs, 10 oz and 21 inches. He had quite a bit of hair and enormous hands and feet! We're talking huge. Like, Bigfoot sighting huge.
Now, Taft isn't just any baby, mind you. He's our LAST baby. And boy, is he a good one to end on. He's sweet and cuddly, smiley and giggly, a great sleeper and he deals with being manhandled by his three older siblings quite well. He's also HUGE! Right now, at four months, he's about 19 lbs. We just make 'em big. And we make them awesome. To be honest, I don't know that it's fair that all of my babies have started sleeping through the night (7-7) at somewhere around 6-9 weeks. They've all been sweet, happy babies and only cry when they want to eat or an older sibling loves them just a little too much.
1 Month
2 Months
3 Months
Eden is, how do you say? -- a horse of a different color. That kid has her own plans, and ain't nobody gonna get in the way -- regardless of size, age or authoritative level. She is stubborn, determined and not at all limited by her size or age. When you tell her "no," she receives that as a challenge to do the opposite. She's got quite the imagination and loves to perform. Currently, we are on day 11 of calling her "Hedwig." She refuses to respond to anything else. If I make the horrid mistake of calling her by her given name, she is quick to correct me in the sassiest of ways. She refers to Andy only as "Dumbledore," actually she says "Dummely Door" and Ava as "Hermione" (are you seeing a theme, here?). For a time, Jax was Harry Potter, but he refused to play along with that, and after much arguing she gave in, instead dubbing him "Fart." Being the boy he is, Jax gladly accepted the new name. For all her sassiness, Eden is also equally sweet. She is always the first to thank me for making dinner, the first to help me with the dishes and the first to offer to wipe he baby brother's poopy bottom. She strokes her baby brother's face and calls him "sweetheart" and looooves her Grandma Cherryl. She runs to Andy and cuddles him as soon as he walks in the door from work, which is why she's his favorite. Shhh, don't tell the other kids ;)
She stuffs food in her mouth (this is an Oreo bon bon) for fear her big brother will steal it if she doesn't.
Speaking of Andy, he is officially a full-time structural engineer. For two years, he's been working full-time as a teacher and part time as an engineer, which made for long, exhausting days. But, he left his teaching position after Christmas break and is now down to just one job, which he loves. Right now, he's certified as an "engineer in training" and is studying to take his PE (Professional Engineer) exam in the spring. He's awesome.
I am loving our complete little family. Although, I do get a little leaky at the eyes each time I have to box up outgrown clothes. I'm in the process of getting rid of/selling all the girls' baby clothes and have shed a few tears in the process. They're just clothes, but I remember my girls wearing each and every outfit. Silly, I know. They boys' clothes are next, I may as well stock up on tissues now. I'm staying involved and busy at the kids' school, serving on the PTA presidency, volunteering in classrooms, helping organize school funding meetings/town halls and teaching Character Counts!. I've also recently re-opened my vinyl business (on a small scale) and am freelance writing for small magazine.
If you want awesome family pictures and are in our neck of the woods, Cathie Frost Photography is amazing!!
So, there's a little re-cap, blog. You're in the know now. I'll do my best to keep you apprised of our family's going-ons.
