Welcoming...

...my first niece on my side: Veronica Jane (daughter of my brother Josiah & his wife Stephanie)! She was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long. I'll have my camera all over her in an upcoming newborn shoot, but here are some snapshots from the first time I got to meet her...

 My poor mom is still recovering from major jaw surgery, but wild horses couldn't drag this grandma away...

Elijah {7 years}

The red hair and freckles. It makes everything Elijah does just that much cuter. He's my child who is instinctively sensitive to the needs of other (a completely foreign thought to my other kids). But once an idea enter this boy's mind, all else fades. ALL else. Here is a short list of the things that can capture his mind in a sort of shut-and locked-down way:

• FOOD...some things never change.
• NUMBERS...the kid's a math whiz who is preoccupied with numbers. Tell him that you'll be leaving in 3 hours and he'll respond with, "Okay that's 180 minutes."
• ELECTRONICS...I feel like the limits police.
• BIRTHDAY MENU...Daily Obsession! Because there's only 162 days left to figure out the perfect food combination.

He just finished basketball season which was a riot to watch. I'm pretty sure that some of his time on court must have been devoted the birthday menu, because sometimes you could just see the glazed look come over his eyes.

Ahhh, I love my boy.

Adriana {4 1/2 years}

Since my first girlie keeps to a level of chattiness that my mother calls "paybacks", I thought I'd let Adriana personally update you on her life. So on Thursday, we sat down over a cup of tea as I interviewed her...

How's your tea?

Hot and good!

What's your favorite kind of food?

Gum and hot chocolate.

(Turning to the boys) We've got to chat, you need to go.

What did you do today?

I went to co-op [and did] preschool. 

What do you learn in preschool?

I learn letters and learn self control. Well, not at preschool. I learn about it here.

Do you need self-control?

Yes, cause sometimes we get crazy.

That's true. What is your favorite activity during the day?

I like activity like when you [Momma] paint my toes. [I like to play] house with my babies.

When do you turn five?

July 3rd. I'm going to have a Nemo cake with Cinderella. And I'm going to have shoes on [the cake] with my Barbies.

That will be quite a cake! What do you want to learn to do when your five?

Quack like a duck. (giggles) Write and read.

So you're a big sister this year. What do you like about being a big sister?

I like playing house with her and with you, too. I like when Ava wiggles. [I'm a] big kid.

So you're a big kid now; how does that feel?

Nice

You played soccer last fall. How did you like that?

I liked when they gave snacks.

Thanks for letting me talk to you.
Mm-hmm.

My dear girl can act a "bit" high-maintenance at times. We're still trying to teach her that a bump-into by one of her brothers does not warrant a high-pitched shriek. Today I caught her (not for the first time) using Kleenex instead of toilet paper to wipe her little bum.
"Can you please tell Mommy why you keep using Kleenex?"
"It's softer."
I refuse to house a diva. We're switching to leaves.

Ava {9 months}

Example #1 of Ava's personality: Monday morning I was getting ready in the bathroom while my little one pulled herself up to my bathtub. I heard a "thud" as she managed to lean far enough forward to fall in head first. At this point, any of my other babies, would have been screaming either from the shock or pain of the fall. Not Ava. She merely uttered a muffled, "uugh", and proceeded to try again after being rescued.

Example #2: Isaiah asked if he could dance with Ava. I told him that was fine and headed off to put some laundry away. I shrieked in horror when I came back in the room to find him holding her hands and swinging her rapidly around in a circle, feet dangling from the floor.

Isaiah, clueless to the medical condition of dislocated shoulders, looked up with an innocent: "What's wrong?"

Ava looked up at me with an equally confused look on her face as if to also say, "Is there something wrong?"

That's my girl.

Our lives have been brighter and filled with more laughter because of this adorable, fearless little girl. At 9 1/2 months, she's walking around my walls and furniture though often resorting to jet-speed crawling to get to whatever has struck her fancy. She has a knack for making the goofiest faces. She adores her older siblings no matter what kind of new, crazy ideas they come up with in an effort to "play" with her. At my house, you'll often hear me reminding the children: "Ava is a person and NOT a plaything!"

Ava now says, "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" (her favorite person). She also will give a high-pitched "HI!!" But my favorite word introduction was when she crawled up to something that she knows she is not allowed to touch. And for the first time I heard her say, as she reached for the forbidden, "No-no-no-no."

Sieb Energy Levels Meter

Mommy Therapy

A couple of weeks ago we pulled out our home videos; and as a family, we entertained ourselves by watching ourselves. If you had been listening in, you would have heard an array of the following statements:

"Awww, I was such a cute baby!"

"Were we really that young when we got married?"

"Why am I not born yet?"

"Stop cringing at your decorating skills and enjoy the video." (hubby to me!)

The video reminiscing started as a fun idea but morphed into something much more. It became Mommy Therapy. I needed to snuggle on the couch with my sometimes-awkward 8 year old and watch his first adorable steps. In the midst of my busy season, I needed to go back, remember the special moments, see the cherub baby faces, and ask myself if I'm enjoying it enough.

I'm going to take the next few posts to document what each of my children are up to at their own unique stages. One day, maybe Mommy Therapy will come in the form of reading over my blog. In the meantime, I'm headed outside to enjoy my kids...just the way they are in this moment in time.