A little resemblance?

It seems like each of my kids have their own unique look. I think that's neat but I wish there was at least some resemblance. Something that at least made them look like they came from the same parents. Anna's got brown hair, huge blue eyes, and very olive-toned skin. Jaden has blonde curly hair, hazel/brown eyes, and a fairer complexion. Luke is still to be determined but so far he seems to have dark hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion. Then when you consider their individual features - shape of eyes, nose, mouth, etc the differences are even greater. But when I started to look at these pictures after I took them I thought I noticed a resemblance between Anna and Luke. Obviously not their skin tones - so, look past that. But, I think a resemblance.

What do you think?

"Yummy"

If I had to pick just one word to describe Luke right now it would have to be "yummy!" He is the yummiest yummy that you can possibly pack into one fat little baby body! I just love his fat little cheeks and chubby thighs. I wish I could make a model of his little body that I could hold onto and squeeze forever. I remember when Jaden felt this way. I tried so hard to memorize how wonderful that felt. I would squeeze him tight, the way I do with Luke, and savor how good he felt.

When my children were first born I marveled at how amazing they were. I couldn't believe just moments before they were inside of me. That just blew my mind! But they seemed so fragile and I worried if they were getting enough to eat, if they were peeing enough, pooping enough - you know. But once they reached a certain "fatness" and were eating well I felt like I could relax a little. To me the fatness was an extra assurance that they were healthy. I love fat babies!

When Luke was about 3 weeks old or so he cried so much. It felt like he was crying all the time. We really thought that maybe he didn't like us. There didn't seem to be anything we could do to make him happy. I'm not sure exactly when that changed but it was long enough ago that it seems like a distant memory. Now he is such a joy. He loves to look at our faces and "talk" to us. He loves cuddling and listening to us singing. He especially loves eating, hence the fatness. :) He doesn't miss much. He likes to be held up so he can see what is going on. I get so tickled when he looks at me and his whole face lights up. It's hard to describe the kind of happiness I feel during those moments.

It's definitely hard at times with three little ones. Every one's needs are of utmost importance and usually at the same time. But the little, special moments I get with each one (a chat with Anna, a kiss from Jaden, smiles from Luke) make me forget the challenging parts. I realize every day how blessed I am to have this time with my children. I get to stay at home and care for them, they are healthy, and I've got a loving husband who is a "hands-on" Dad. These are things that money can't buy. So even if we have less money in our pockets because of the rising gas prices we are rich in the ways that really count!

Bumbo

Luke "found" his hands right around the time he turned two months old. He often squeezes his hands together, holds them up to look at them, tries to reach out to touch things, and is starting to grab things (notice he has a hold of the blanket),
Yesterday, we got a package from Aunt Evonka and Uncle Scott with the Bumbo seat. As soon as I set him in it he noticed his feet. I would have loved to have known what he was thinking. Usually if I talk to him he'll look at me. Since we had been taking pictures I know this for a fact because he looked at me for pretty much all of the pics. But once he found his feet it was over - there wasn't anything more interesting to get his attention.
Anna was trying to "straighten" him up. Looks like she's about to shake him or choke him but she really wasn't.
After getting "straightened" up by Anna he was able to move over to the right and found the other foot!

Anna lost another tooth

I managed to avoid pulling this tooth as well - Yay! I am freaked out (to say the least) by loose teeth. Today when we were out at a cafe having lunch Anna got my attention to show me that her tooth was bleeding. I panicked just a little. I knew it was coming because that tooth had moved way over to the center of her mouth and it had been on the right. Thankfully, since I had my niece and nephews with me I was able to get Justin to pull it. He said that he didn't really have to pull it because it kinda just came out when he grabbed it with the napkin. Looks like the tooth fairly will be visiting our house again tonight!

Pictures

I got a new camera and having been annoying the kids by asking them if I can take their picture (or just taking it anyway). I need lots of practice! I'm not used to looking through the eye piece and am not very good at holding the camera steady. I'll get there. :)

Luke's new 'do. There's not much to work with but Chris found a little at his crown...

Playing in the backyard with the sprinkler

Anna and her friend, Arianna
Posing for the camera
Not sure why they do this but they think it's fun to get their butts wet with the sprinkler. They usually run over to the swingset and go down the slide right after. It makes you go down the slide really, really fast! Jaden found out the hard way that if you're not ready for it that ground sneaks up on you and you can hit it hard!

Ready for kindergarten...almost

Anna had her last day of preschool today. When I arrived at the school some of the parents from her class and the woman at the front desk were talking about how emotional the kids had been. One child would start to cry and then another would see them and start to cry and so on. I tried to prepare myself for the comforting I was sure Anna would need. She is constantly shedding tears when it's time to go home from playing with a friend. So much so that I find myself thinking "is it really worth all of this to let her play with other kids?" (yes, it is) and "are my boys going to be this emotional?"

When I got back to the classroom the only tears were from the Mommies! The kids that were still in the classroom were laughing and having fun. Later, when I asked Anna if she was sad that it was her last day of preschool she said "No". Whew! I think she's looking forward to visiting with her friends this summer and going to kindergarten in the fall.

Jessica, Anna, and Cody Belle

(with the sunvisors Cody Belle made for everyone!)

She's learned so much this year. We are very proud of her. We certainly owe it all to her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Pena!

End of the year interview with Anna (I typed exactly what she said!):

1. What was your favorite thing about preschool? "playing on the playground"
2. What is one thing you learned this year? "I learned about undersea animals and rainbows and frogs"
3. What are you going to miss the most about preschool? "the playground and contract time"
4. What did you think about your teacher? "She teaches us stuff and she does it very, very well."
5. What are you looking forward to about Kindergarten? "I've never been to kindergarten before. I'm just going to learn about it. I'm a little bit afraid"

There's definitely nothing wrong with him physically

...or cognitively for that matter. But my little Jaden is a little delayed with his speech. Rather than continuing to wait-and-see if he would start speaking more on his own I decided to have him evaluated. What could it hurt? If he didn't need services all I was out was 2 hours of our day. Though I'll say that he thoroughly enjoyed every minute of individual attention he was showered with during the evaluation! Individual attention is a prized commodity around here. And if he did need the services than he'd get the help he needs sooner and he might start talking sooner. It turned out that he did qualify for services. He will be seen by the Speech-Language Pathologist twice a month in our home for 45 minutes. She came for the first time this week. Jaden had so much fun! I'm sure he had no idea he was receiving therapy. He thinks he's got a very cool playdate - just for him!

Because the sessions take place in our home I can easily observe what the therapist is doing with Jaden. Anna does too! This way we can continue to practice with him during our normal activities. Chris and I have recommendations to follow as well. We've already started to notice some small improvements. He is trying to say more words but he is still very difficult to understand and he usually only says the beginning sounds (mostly ones with "b" or "m"). I've noticed him say the end part of some words a few times (e.g., with "k").

I was a little slow to realize it but yesterday he got his foot caught in a toy and was hollering "stuck". Still kinda in "jaden-ese" but much better than I've heard before. He is trying to say "yes" and "please" (with a prompt) and he tried to say "muffin" this morning at breakfast. When I called about the evaluation he was pretty much only saying "mama", "dada", "baby", "gaga" (dog), baba (bottle/drink), "uh" (up), and "me" (if prompted). He could sign "more", "please", and "thank you".

Saturday morning donuts

The kids looove Shipley donuts! We got used to Krispy Kreme donuts when we were living in Knoxville and didn't think there were donuts out there that tasted as good. I won't say that one is better than the other because they are different but they are both DELICIOUS!

Every once in a while we'll get them for a weekend breakfast. Nutritious, right? Chris took Jaden with him to get them. As they were checking out Jaden started munching on his special treat - donut holes! He tossed those aside when he got home and saw the bulls-eyes (donuts with chocolate frosting and cream in the middle). Anna's favorite is one with pink strawberry icing and sprinkles!

Chris bought a dozen donuts. Anna ate almost 3 just in the morning. They ate another after lunch and finished them off later in the afternoon. Good thing we really only get them once in a while. When Luke is old enough for donuts we'll probably have to get 2 dozen! These poor kids were born to parents with a terrible sweet tooth (sweet teeth?).

Yum!!!!!

Anna's last soccer game of the season (5-16-08)

Houston zoo

cutie patootie!