Becca

In my last post when I said tomorrow's post would be all about Becca, I guess I should have said next week's post. Yikes! Life seems to get crazier by the day around here.

Becca is almost 3 1/2.  I can't believe that the twins will be 4 before I know it.  Life has definitely not been the same since they came along.  They are crazier than I could ever have imagined and no day with them is uneventful.  Even though they are a handful, they are the biggest blessing I ever could have imagined.  Becca is one crazy girl! She is stubborn and knows what she wants.  Trying to get her to do anything turns into a battle.  It is so frustrating sometimes and my patience wears thin multiple times a day.  She doesn't take crap from anyone either.  I think it's because she has so many crazy brothers, but she can handle them.  She loves to wrestle with them and definitely doesn't let them push her around.  This girl isn't scared of anything either.  Last summer we took the kids to Little Amerricka and she went on every ride without a second thought.  She loved the roller coasters.  I think Isaac rode one or two rides and cried most of the time.  One of her favorite things to do is jump off of anything she can climb up onto.  She doesn't mind being away from me either.  The other kids usually don't wander too far away from me, but this girl will just go off and try to do her own thing.  Last summer at the zoo I almost had a heart attack when she wandered away from my dad.  Luckily she wasn't far and we found her within a minute or two, but I haven't taken my eyes off of her since.  She breaks rules and gets into mischief like it's her job.  She loves to do things she knows she isn't supposed to do just to see how long it will take her to get caught.  She's a handful, but she's my girl.

Becca is so silly.  She loves to try to tell jokes or play little pranks.  Her facial expressions are hilarious and I'm pretty sure that anyone who spends any time with this girl can tell you all about them.  She has perfected the eye roll already so I'm excited to see what kind of teenager she's going to be.  She loves to sing and dance, and she isn't shy.  The other day at the grocery store she started belting out "Let It Go" and didn't care who was around.  It makes me so happy to see her do things like that because I am SO shy and it kept me from doing a lot of stuff.  I was always so scared what people would think of me, but she doesn't seem to mind.  We went to Brat Fest this weekend and saw George Moss and Group 1 Crew play and she was dancing around like crazy.  She loves to be outside and doesn't mind getting dirty.  This girl would live outside if I let her. 

It's really hard to capture what Becca is really like with words.  The other kids are so easy to describe, but this girl is just a little bit of everything.  She has such a lively spirit and she amazes me every day.  One of my favorite memories of her that I will ever have happened at church.  Josh and I went to get her and Isaac from their classroom and she came out so excited.  She started jumping up and down and yelling "I love church" over and over again.  Everyone around us was laughing.  It is awesome to see how excited she gets and how big her love can be.  She is very loving and cares a lot about all of us.  She has a temper and a hefty attitude, but she is also one of the sweetest girls ever.  Every time I put her to bed she wraps her arms around my neck and gives me the biggest hug and I will probably cry for weeks after she stops doing that some day.  Her voice is the best thing ever.  I don't know how to describe it except to say that she reminds me of a little mouse.  I could listen to her talk all day because it's just so sweet.  The conversations her and Isaac have are the best.  Before they could talk they had their own little language and sometimes it still seems like they understand each other when no one else can.

Becca loves to watch Dora, Doc McStuffins, and Paw Patrol.  She loves dogs, zebras and pigs.  Her bed is full of stuffed animals and she will not go to bed if one of them is missing.  Speaking of bed, this girl does not like to sleep.  It is a battle to get her down for her nap or to go to bed at night and she gets up at the crack of dawn.  No sleeping in for this mommy!  She isn't a huge fan of thunderstorms, but even those don't bother her a lot.  She is not a very picky eater and usually only refuses to eat something because Selena won't eat it. She loves bananas and would eat one with every meal and snack if she could.  I can't leave any candy laying around in the kitchen or she will sneak out in the morning and eat it.  Picking up her toys is not her favorite activity and she loves to make a huge mess everywhere she goes.  We are working on that along with her potty training.  This girl is smart! She knows how to use the potty, what she is supposed to do, and when she needs to go; but she is too dang stubborn! Dominic and Selena were both potty trained at 3 1/2 and they were the same way.  They refused and then one day put underwear on and never looked back.  I'm hoping in another month or two Becca and Isaac are both potty trained and I can go to only having one kid in diapers, for the first time since 2010. There isn't much Becca doesn't like.  She may be a handful, but she's pretty easy going.  She can sing a ton of songs, knows a lot of her letters, can count a little over ten, and knows most of her shapes and colors.  Getting her to sit still is hard, but when she does she likes to look at books and will usually let me read one or two to her before she has to get up and go.

I've been through a lot with this little girl.  Being born premature she had a lot of health issues.  She still struggles with asthma and lung disease.  Remembering how small and sick she once was and now looking at this girl she became is amazing.  She is pretty tall for her age.  Selena is mad because her baby sister is almost taller than her.  I can't wait to see who she becomes as she gets older.

Stats
Weight: 32 pounds
Height: She is probably 39 or 40 inches
Clothing Size: 4T or 4 and she wears a size 8 or 9 shoe depending on the brand

Mother's Day 2014

I had a great Mother's day with my kiddos. It was our weekend to have Anna and her mom had to work, so I got to spend the day with her. Josh got up with them in the morning so I could sleep in a little bit. He had them make cards and they got me breakfast from the gas station.  I woke up to all 6 kids running into my room, screaming "Happy Mother's Day!"  Anna gave me a little flower pot with some flowers, Dominic had made a picture frame at school with a picture of him in it, and then Selena handed me a bag.  I opened it to find about 15 pine cones inside.  She was SO happy and excited to give them to me.  It was probably one of the best presents I have ever gotten!

A little later that morning we headed over to my mom's house.  We took the kids out back by her swing set and they had a blast.  My mom lives on a hill, and Anna kept riding her big wheel down the hill. We found a baby toad which the kids thought was hysterical.  Becca was only brave enough to hold it for a few seconds, but Isaac and Canaan loved the poor little thing.  They kept picking it up and playing with it.

 After playing outside for a while we went inside and ate lunch.  My dad had grilled chicken and hamburgers.  He had also got cupcakes at the store which of course the kids made a huge mess out of.  We went back outside after lunch.  My mom and I took the three girls and Canaan on a walk around her neighborhood.  It was nice to get to spend that time with her.  After we came home I made the kids chocolate chip pancakes for dinner.  Then I had to go meet my mother-in-law so she could get Anna. The drive home was about 25 minutes and it was nice to have that time to myself.  By the time I got home Josh had all the kids ready for bed.  After I put them all to bed, we watched a movie and had a nice, quiet night.  I couldn't have asked for a better day and we all had a lot of fun.

Tomorrow I will be posting all about Becca!

Canaan

So far I have sucked at this blogging thing. I wanted to try to post at least every other day at first, but I got sick and haven't had the energy to do much of anything.  Anyway, I thought that since Mother's Day is coming up I would write a post about each one of my kids, but since there are so many I probably won't have them all done before then.  The purpose of me doing this blog is to help remember exactly how each child acted, what they loved/hated, and the other little things that might not stay with me forever.

I decided to start with my baby Canaan.  He just turned 21 months old, which means that before I know it, he will be two!  I can't believe how fast time goes.  It seems like just yesterday I was holding this little baby in my arms and now he's almost not even a baby anymore.

 

 

Canaan loves to be the center of attention and make people laugh. He loves to play games with his older siblings to get them to laugh at him.  The faces and expressions he makes are the cutest! He is so animated about everything he does.  Just recently he started pretending to fall and will then roll around making these groaning sounds.  The older kids love to ask him where each person in the family is because then he will look at the person and make some crazy face, then they all burst into a fit of laughter.  This is usually how dinner is spent each night in between the rounds of "where's the baby" and watching Canaan hit himself in the face with his cup to try to get some extra laughs.  He also likes to march around and the best way I can describe it is like a sumo wrestler.  He bends his legs out to the sides and then marches around like that.  When he's not doing that he hops around like a kangaroo or he will bend over and put his arms behind his back and run at you.  The older kids are also huge fans of pretending to be dogs and he has finally perfected the art of crawling around like a dog just like they do. They get such a kick out of it.

 

 

Canaan is also so loving and sweet.  He loves to give hugs and kisses.  He will just come up and wrap his arms around my neck. *Melt my heart* If one of the other kids is upset he will go right up to them and give them a hug and kiss.  He loves to cuddle and if I sit down he climbs right up in my lap, every time.  He is also a huge blanket and stuffed animal kid.  Almost every time I see him he is carrying around a blanket and/or stuffed animal.  When I take him out of his crib, he insists on trying to grab every blanket and stuffed animal out of his bed.  I only let him take one of each, which he is usually okay with.  Most of the time he still takes two naps.  One in the morning for about an hour and then an afternoon nap for about two to three hours.  It's weird because none of my other kids were still taking two naps at this age, but I'm okay with it! It gives me some time to work with the older kids on flash cards and stuff that is hard to do when he is around. He is also a big mama's boy.  He isn't a fan of people he doesn't see on a regular basis. Trying to drop him off at the church nursery is a nightmare and he usually ends up in church with us.

 

This boy is all boy! He loves to climb on everything he can and gets into everything.  He is so curious about everything and loves to check things out.  We have a train table in our living room and he will stand on it and stare into the fish tank.  There have been a few times I have had to dig the lid out of the tank, but we're working on that one.  He used to pull the drawer out of the train table and sit in it, until he broke it by doing that and we decided to not even waste our time fixing it.  If I tell the kids to get in their chairs, he climbs up onto the table and then climbs into his high chair. He also enjoys standing on our end table to play with the blinds and running around on the kitchen table.  This boy may give me a heart attack. I can't take my eyes off of him for a second without him finding a new obstacle to conquer. Surprisingly he hasn't attempted to start climbing out of his crib yet, and I am planning on keeping him in that crib as long as possible.  All three boys share a room and I can't even begin to imagine the trouble they are going to cause one day.

 

Canaan loves to watch Dora and Paw Patrol. Every time one of those shows comes on TV he starts jumping up and down and screaming.  He doesn't talk a ton, but he knows how to say Dora.  He also says Mama, Dada, Anna, Bye, Hey, Love you, II (Isaac), Sissy (Selena), Yes, Nononono, and Grandma.  He will not say something if you tell him to. I hear him say stuff all the time but when I ask him to say it he will just stare at me.  The words above are the ones I hear him say on a regular basis. He also won't say more, he just taps on his plate when he wants more of something. Splashing in the bathtub is one of his favorite things to do. He also likes to play with Mega Blocks, run around outside, look at books, dance, and watch animals. Graham crackers are his favorite thing to eat.  I said that he likes to look at books, but he doesn't like to be read to.  He wants to hold the book and turn the pages. He is starting to become a lot more independent.  Most of the time he gets mad if I try to carry him outside or up the stairs. Since he has five older siblings, he has to keep up!  Other than that there isn't a lot that he has a fit about.  If he is tired or sick it's a different story, but for the most part he is a really happy, easy-going little guy. I love him so much and I am so blessed to be his mommy.

Stats



Weight: 26 pounds

Height: to be honest I have no clue

Clothes size: mostly 18 and 24 months, size 5.5 or 6 shoe

Diaper size: 4

 



My Crazy Life

I wanted to start this blog as a way to remember life.  My days are always so full of chaos that by the time I get the kids to bed, the last thing I want to do is take out 6 different memory books and write.  I find myself forgetting simple things that I want to remember forever.  Dominic is already 6 years old and it's so hard to remember what life was like when he was a baby.  I want to remember each child's unique preferences, faces, personality, and every funny thing they say and do.  I figure if I have one place that I can come and document our life that I would have no excuse not to. I'm sure that by the time all of my kids leave the house I will probably have no memory left, if I haven't already been locked up for losing my mind, which feels like it could happen at any moment some days.  Raising 6 kids, which were born within 6 1/2 years of each other, is no joke! I feel like all I do is pick up toys, wash dishes/laundry, change diapers, and yell at kids.  Sometimes I think that all my kids are going to remember is me saying no, "no we don't jump on the furniture, or knock down the lamp, or pull down the blinds. no we don't dig in the litter box, or open and close the door 5 million times, or throw toys at each other. no we don't pet the fish, or take off our seatbelt, or play with Daddy's Playstation."  It hasn't helped that we have been stuck inside for months on end.  This winter was so cold that we could hardly ever leave the house let alone go outside and play. Now it's supposed to be Spring, but it's been way colder than usual and has rained for almost a week straight.  My kids need some nice, warm, dry weather so we can get outside.  I have also been looking into a lot of different indoor activities, but it is so overwhelming taking them anywhere alone.  There is a play group that meets at the community center right next to our apartment complex, but I haven't been brave enough to try it. We have done story time at the library a couple times with my mom and there is no way I could do it by myself.  I am hoping to get the girls in dance this summer or fall and Dominic is really excited to start karate.  Josh and I have just been discussing where to send him and if he is old enough, or if we should wait a year or two.  This probably won't be the most interesting blog to read and I'm not setting out to be a blogger.  I just want a place to document life and a place where our family can come and see what we are up to. I'm looking forward to having this place to come back to and remember forgotten memories.