Happy 2011!! Welcome to our world!

My goal this year is to document our "mundane to some", but exciting to us, life. I am going to just ramble. I have never journaled or blogged before, so I am gonna just "jot" down some thoughts of where my kids are RIGHT now.

Last year, 2010, was quite busy for us. We came to find out in early January, just a few short months after A3 was born, that we were expecting again! Boy, talking about overwhelmed! I was the mother to a 4 month old, almost 3 year old and 9 1/2 year old. HOW in the world could I add another to the mix, much less survive the next 9 months, through the summer, AGAIN, pregnant. But God had amazing plans! A4 was born September 17th, after 33 hours of labor, via c-section. She is a good baby who brings us much joy. She started cooing and smiling around 7 weeks, which is MUCH earlier than my other two babies. We started putting her in her bumbo seat, which she loves first thing in the morning, and she is just a nosey little thing watching all that is going on around her. She watches her big brothers and siss and just smiles and squeals! Her big blue eyes light up when her dad or myself walk into the room and it just makes our hearts sing! She's not sleeping as well as we'd like some nights, but most nights we get enough.

A3, born August 27, 2009; turned 1 and we are absolutely in love with "Priss", "Ange'", "bebe", "sissa". She adds so much joy to our lives. She loves her baby sister, too! Every chance she gets she "wuvs" A4. She snuggles her head down and gives her nuzzles. It's precious. She calls her "Vah" and A4 loves watching A3 play. Siss got a kitchen from her papa for Christmas and she LOVES it. Along with her baby from DD and the kitchen, she has PLENTY to do to imitate mommy. I love watching her walk around with the baby slung over her shoulder. She also puts whatever toy is rectangular to her ear as if it were a cell phone. Priss thinks she can call dada anytime she wants! Some words she uses regularly: Mama, Dada or daaaeeee, DD, JJ (dayday), Bubba, AAAAh for A1 and Aaaln for A2 and of course Vah for A4. She also will say papa, nana, maaana for banana, beeemee for Barney, and of course she sings the I love you song. It comes out "me me meeee, tissess tissess". She started walking at 10 months and hasn't slowed down since. She still loves her jumper, though she has just passed the weight limit. She gets in it and spins. And when I say spin, I mean like an ice skater. SHE FLIES. I will need to post a video soon. She has also taken to the boy's trampoline that papa gave them for Christmas. She loves it. She is pure joy to us!

A2 turns 4 March 2 and I can NOT believe it. I am in complete disbelief that my first baby is leaving his toddler years and headed into "little man"-hood. ::sniff:: He and I have a special relationship that only a mother of a son can understand. DH says I let him slide with too much. I am working on that, but it's hard as he looks at me with those big brown eyes! These days we do "school" work, but mostly we learn through play. He got a "big boy" bike for Christmas and is loving that. He is still young and sweet enough that it's still ok and cool to climb into mom's lap to read a favorite book. From the time he gets up in the morning, he is on "go" all day long and will still collapse, most days, at naptime to rest a bit before going at it again! We're counting almost to 20, know all of our colors, shapes, etc and is learning to build with the Lincoln Logs that Nana W gave him for Christmas. He loves to dig around in bubba's legos and build "star fighters" and "emperial droids". Much to my dislike, A2 LOVES Dora. Ugh. I SWORE I'd never let my kids watch Dora or Barney. I am eating my words. A2 loves his baby sisters and big brother SO much and always has extra kisses for us all.

A1, my big boy, turned 10 in August 2010. He's all boy and loves the typical 10 year old activities. He's great with legos! The boy has skills! He has taught Aslan how to build and in general is quite the engineer! He got a new bike for Christmas and is learning tricks on it. It's one of those fancy BMX trick bikes. He just learned to ride without training wheels a few months ago. Now he's zoom zoom all over the place! We are homeschooling, still, and he is doing wonderfully since being home! Not only has his attitude in general gotten better, but his academics have improved greatly! He started the year almost 2 years behind in Math, but has caught up about a year and a half's worth! That is a MAJOR improvement! We are using a kinetic math curriculum that he actually LIKES. He is reading on a 7th grade level (he's only in 3rd) and loves to consume mystery books like the Hardy Boys, etc. We are studying early American history in our curriculum and are learning about the Native Americans, Christopher Columbus, etc. He is quite obsessed with the Egyptians and mummies, so we took a field trip a couple months ago to the Indian Mounds in Macon. Now he is really into the similarities of the Native Americans and the Egyptians ( mounds vs pyramids, mummification, etc). We really are enjoying it and I am learning a ton about our history, too! He is my joy boy and I love him SO much! We will celebrate 6 years of him being with us in April! I can't believe it!

I am so blessed, BLESSED beyond measure! I have a wonderful husband and fantastic children and am so thankful where God has me. I am learning more and more of His love for us daily through serving my family. I hope you enjoy my ramblings!