Three Rockin' Kids

Libby's new passion is to wear dresses...all the time. I don't mind it. I've never been TOO picky about what she wears, just not a battle I'm willing to fight, and she does look awfully darn cute.

I don't know what it is about this picture, but I just love how cute Grace is in it. Too bad I didn't have a professional background for it. :)

And this picture just cracks me up. Little Man just looks like he is rocking it out here. I love it!

I am certainly thankful for the three beautiful children God blessed me with!!!

All Smiles

I just love first smiles. This isn't a constant for John yet, but I somehow managed to catch a smile from John today. Can you believe how big he's getting? Look at that chubby little face. I love this little angel so much!

All You Need is Love

Libby, my little photographer, had the camera again. I thought she did a very good job with this picture. I can't wait to scrapbook it evenutally.

Grace is still totally in love with her baby brother. She loves to stare at him and "pet" his head.

And these girls are the best girls in the world. We've been having some (ok, maybe a lot of) issues with these two fighting since John has come home with us, but when they do play...it is so fun to watch them!

Who's Carseat?

The girls have been enjoying the new "toy" that has been laying around the house. I remember Libby doing this when Grace was small, too, but now she's just a bit bigger. Grace, on the other hand, looks like she could still fit in the thing. Ha, ha! Not really, but she does fit in it a lot better.

Christmas Pictures 2009

Having Grace right at Christmas time has made it easy to get annual family pictures. We went to get them a little early this year so we could get our traditional newborn pictures of John. So, here is this years family picture.
Here is Miss E's (as Grandma T calls her) 2009 picture.

Here is Miss Grace's 2-year old picture.

And the next three are the pictures we got of John.

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done one of these for quite awhile, but I have LOTS to be thankful for.

So, I am thankful for:

1.) healthy kids. As I hear all the hype about H1N1 and have a friend that actually had her daughter (who is only about a month older than John) in a children's hospital for a few nights, I am completely and totally thankful that God has kept my children healthy.

2.) NAPS! Daylight's savings time was not a well thought out concept when it comes to children. It was definitely a man (Benjamin Franklin) who came up with the idea and he obviously didn't think about what all the moms were going to deal with. Having a newborn that isn't sleeping through the night and then a 4-year old waking you up at 6:30 in the morning is NO fun! But...we managed to make it through the morning without any tears and after a nap...we were perfectly normal again. :)

3.) a good area to live. We have been totally blessed with all of the friends we have had to take care of us here in Dubuque. Between my friends from MOPS, the neighbors and our church we have had meals two to three times a week since John has been born. In fact, one of the gals from our church even brought us enough meals to freeze for a whole week! I have been amazed at how God has provided for us in this way.

4.) a wonderful husband! Chris has come home at lunch and picked Libby up for preschool the past couple of weeks so that I don't have to take John out yet. It's been so nice to see my husband at lunch time AND be able to put Grace and John to bed as soon as lunch is over so that I can either take a nap or get some housework done.

5.) a calm son. That boy cries only a fraction of what the girls did. He does cry, but not a whole lot. It is so relieving. Alas...he's crying right now, time to go see what his problem is and take care of it. :)

2-Week Check Up

Ok, I was going to post some pictures, but now that I'm in front of the computer...I don't see my transfer cord, so I guess you'll have to wait for those. I can still update you on Baby John though. :)

We went for his 2-week check up on Friday and the little man is already up to 8 pounds. Wow! The girls were barely above birth weight and he's already gained half a pound. I don't think we are going to have NEAR the weight worries with him that we had with the girls. He has been a little trooper. He gave me two 5 hour sleep segments last night. I actually got enough sleep that I didn't need a nap today and got my main living area clean for the first time in awhile. :) Now...just to get to work on that basement.

The girls are still doing tremendous with John. They just dote on him non-stop. If only that was how they treated each other. We have been dealing with a lot of Grace wanting to be just like big sis and big sis not wanting ANYTHING to do with that! We'll get it all figured out with time, I'm sure. I can definitely say that I thank God ALL the time for the family I have. My husband is top notch and my kids are all truly blessings, too. I am a very blessed gal!

Honestly

What sge is it that we think we need to begin yo lie? Why do we feel the need to lie? Is it when we feel threatened? Or is it just a personality thing? These are some of the questions that have been going through my mind this past week. We have tried to make this a "safe house" to tell the truth in and have only failed miserably once so far. Evidently Libby feels quite safe to tell the truth (as the following stories show).

Episode #1: Grandma Tucker was having a conversation with Libby and she asked Libby if she (Grandma Tucker) was her best buddy. Libby contemplated for a moment and said, "Well, I don't think so. Owen is my best buddy." Grandma continued, "Am I your second best buddy?" Libby responded, "No, Wesley's my second best buddy." This continued on down the line to about ten...grandma still wasn't on the list. She finally asked, "Well, who is my best buddy then?" to which Libby gave her final answer, "Ask grandpa to be your best buddy."

Episode #2: We always ask what Libby is thankful for before bed so we can thank God for that good thing in her life that day. While grandma and grandpa Woods were here she said, "Grandma...I mean, Grandpa." She was up a little while longer and then I said, "Ok, it's time...head to your bedroom. You are thankful for grandma and grandpa, right?" She replied, "No, just grandpa!"

Episode #3: Yesterday at school Libby accidently got marker on her shirt. She wanted to change shirts, but the teacher told her to save her mommy the laundry and to just keep that shirt on. Libby got upset and walked into the bathroom, looked into the mirror and said, "They just don't understand!" She came back out and started to play, but the teacher heard her talking to a friend later about the incident. The friend asked if she could just tell the teacher how she felt about the shirt. Well, later, at home I asked her about the conversation with the friend when she was frustrated about the marker on her shirt. She stood there and looked at me for about two seconds and then said, "No, I was just plain mad!"

What honesty! To the point that it could hurt people, but better than trying to save face and make people feel good. We just have to work on the "in love" part now. Which, by the way, the night after the grandma and grandpa Woods incident, it was grandma she asked to come pray with her and sleep with her. So, she might have been thankful for grandpa the first night, but it wasn't necessarily to the exclusion of grandma. :)

So, honestly, how honest are you? Do you let lies and half-truths slip out of your mouth? I know I do...I could take a lesson from my 4-year old. Honesty is still the best policy.

And to Finish Off...

some Baby John pics. Isn't he just precious? Now, off to feed the little fella!

Still a Star!

Neither of the girls can get enough of their little brother. Grace has even started saying "bruva". It's so cute. I think Grace would have crawled in here with him if I would have let her. I'm going to have to watch her.

Here she is crawling up to see her "bruva" again.

She just adores him. Although, now that all the grandparents are gone, she is feeling a little insecure about being "knocked out" of her youngest position. She has been REALLY clingy today. She just wants me (or daddy) to hold her or carry her all the time. I'm glad it's the weekend and daddy is here with us. Monday might be a BIG shocker for me.

Grace is still missing her pacifier just a tad. Whenever she sees John's she looks to see if I'm watching and tries to stick it in her mouth. I usually catch her and tell her no. Then she'll bring it over and try to give it to John. She has been so sweet with him. I really didn't expect her to handle all of this so well. I am so blessed by God to have two wonderful girls that handle their little brother so well.