Mason

Mason has really been amazing. I know he was my oldest for a reason. He is so helpful and so great. He can sense when I'm stressed or a little blue. This kid will just randomly give me a hug at the very moment I need it. If April is fussy and I'm busy I don't even have to ask him he immediately picks her up and takes care of her. Ron's been pretty busy lately with work and his calling. Lots of meetings and late nights. It's fine because I know our family is being blessed because of his service but it is really hard sometimes. I know that I can rely on Mason to help and somehow it makes it all better. He has such a big forgiving heart and that's just what I need with an oldest child. I'm not the greatest mom but I try. I have lots of "mom fail" moments and all of my kids are very tolerant I think. Mason is especially good at reading my mood and helping out. Lately he's been taking out the dumpsters of our elderly neighbors. It's really sweet he does it with out complaining and most of the time with out reminders. I'm not sure how I lucked out with such a great kid but I'll take it!

Man of the House

We celebrated 13 years last month and I am feeling very blessed. The past few months I've struggled a little with a few different things. Some minor health things, figuring out the whole mother or 4 thing, hormonal up and downs, starting up work again, and trying not to stress about nursing. I KNOW that my life in comparison to most is very uneventful and easy. I don't have extremely difficult trials of sickness, death, or financial stress. I am grateful for my life and especially for my family. I know we are being blessed because of our service in the Lord's name. I do have to continually remind myself of that. WARNING: I'm going to brag about Ron in this post. I'm really excited and thrilled at watching the man and father he is becoming. He's always been a good guy but the past few years our marriage has reached some pretty exhilarating highs. I'm not the best at articulating my feelings but here goes! He rarely complains about his meetings and church responsibilities. I love nothing more than to listen to him bear his testimony from the pulpit. He is not a man of many words (except when he has an argument for you) but when he speaks from the heart it really moves me. I believe because he doesn't get much time with the kids he values the little time he is given and makes every moment count. He comes home and immediately starts helping me with bedtime or dishes or whatever. Callie is 100% daddy's girl. Well, when Daddy isn't home all day and still not home by bedtime she's not too happy. We all miss him sometimes but Callie definitely expresses it the most. EVERY single night this girl ends up in our bed. It's to a point where we have a makeshift bed on the floor (Ron's side of course) just for Callie. The other night I woke up at 2am to feed April I came out and found this on the couch. (Sometimes Ron falls asleep watching sports)

Poor Ron lays by Callie every night he is able to until she falls asleep (And sometimes until he falls asleep, haha). I'm sure most people judge us and think we need to work with her and train her not to need this. But I just look at it as it's some precious one on one time that she needs. 2 days a week Ron is in charge of most of the morning routine when I leave for work. I try to do as much for the kids as I can before I leave but Ron usually ends up with the bulk of morning responsibilities. The other day I left for work and didn't have time to do Callie's hair. She was a little worried but Ron assured me he would handle it. I chuckled and thought this would be interesting. I got this picture and the following text a few mins later.

"Not too bad huh?"

I love Ron more and more everyday. I love watching him with our kids and I love just spending time with him even if the time I get is very limited.

April is 4 months old

This little baby girl of mine amazes me EVERY SINGLE DAY. She is ALWAYS soooooo happy. Just the perfect little angel baby. The ONLY negative thing I can say about her is it would be really nice if she would sleep through the night. But honestly I can't even complain about that. She gets up 2-3 times almost every night to eat and then goes right back down. She is just an absolute delight from sun up to sun down. Everyone around here is continuously smitten with her including and especially Ron. He thanks me almost daily for her addition into our family.
She is reaching milestones in bounding leaps. At her 2 month check the Doctor was really impressed with her head control and strength. Now that she is 4 months old she is already scoot-crawling (goes into an almost plank position and pushes herself forward with her feet), she is rolling from back to front and front to back. Her "crawling" is adorable because she holds her hands while pushing herself forward.  

She has this obsession with her own hands, they are always clasped together. She even has scratches on her hands from her own finger nails. She laughs now (it's the most wonderful sound in the world) and is starting to hear her own voice, making different noises just for kicks. Her eye sight is getting really good. She follows things across the room. I'm nervous I might have a finger sucker on my hands. She is constantly sucking on 1, 2 or even sometimes 3 fingers. Plus she doesn't take the bink as well as my other children did.

At her 4 month check yesterday Dr. Guthrie was really excited about her motor skills. He said that she is way ahead of the curve. I think when you have 3 older crazy siblings you have no choice but to keep up.

Her 4 month stats: (Dr. Guthrie called her slim. LOL I don't exactly see that)

Head size (40th percentile)

Length 25.5 inches (80th percentile)

Weight 13 lbs. 8 oz (40th percentile)

Her siblings dote on her constantly. It's crazy how much they love her. At times a little too much. Instead of fighting over toys or video game remotes they fight for April's attention. ALL OF THEM. The boys (and even Callie) like to read to April. Mason loves sharing his eye-patch time with April on the IPad. I feel really lucky to be in such a family with amazing loving children.

Back to School

I can't believe summer is over and school is back in full swing. I have mixed feelings about it all. I'm happy for the routine to start but sad to see less of my boys and REALLY sad for homework to come. I HATE homework. I think it's more punishment for the parents than the kids. ;)

PRE-SCHOOL

Callie has started pre-school and LOVES it! She has Miss Lindsey and Miss Brown as her teachers and I couldn't be more excited about that. She goes to Pre-K on Monday's and Wednesdays from 11:30-1:30pm. I'm a little worried about how this year is going to play out. I have her involved in quite a few extra curricular activities. I realize that less is more but what do you do when your 4 year old is super talented and good at EVERYTHING?!?! I realize I'm biased but honestly this girl amazes me with her skills and personality. Right now I have her signed up for dance, pre-school, gymnastics, and Let's Play Music. I'm really nervous I've stretched us a little thin. I'm trying really hard to talk her out of dance but she's not having it. (Yes. you heard me right my 4 year old calls the shots around here. lol)  

1ST GRADE

Noah is really excited to stay at school all day this year. He has been counting down the days for the past couple weeks for school to start. He is really looking forward to 1st grade. I LOVE that my children are morning people (It's hard sometimes when I just want to sleep in but I LOVE how productive and energetic they are in the mornings. Much better than the alternative. I know many moms who struggle with getting their kids out of bed and off to school on time. We honestly NEVER have this problem.)

Mason is going to rock 3rd grade I just know it! Both Mason and Noah will start basketball this fall and I'm excited to see how that goes.

 Matching shirts was totally not planned. Too cute. I'm glad they have similar interests. They wouldn't even let me take them to school on the first day. Boo-hoo Too excited to ride the bus.

April's Blessing Dress

 My good friend Kaeti offered to take April's baby blessing pictures. We were able to get that done this week and I'm very happy with how they turned out. Picture day STRESSES me out. I just want them to go smoothly. I know I'm a little crazy and fanatical but I love pictures, they are perfect memories for me of important events and life stories. "A picture says a thousand words" Just ask my mom. All through high school I didn't care much about my date and even what we did for our activity. It was all about how our pictures turned out. Silly I know. 

Picture Day was here for April. I timed everything just right with her feeding and getting her in her dress. I was holding her until the photographer showed up when it happened... she pooped. I panicked for a second. Immediately took her to our diaper changing area and flipped her dress up carefully so as not to get any leakage on the white. She was so happy after her diaper change and tolerated the pictures perfectly! I got myself a good baby! (Like there is such a thing as a bad baby.) 

KEM Photography:

After my friend left I held April a little while and took a few more pics on my bed. Not as good as my photographer friend but April is still pretty cute.

Family Reunion in Colorado

Last month we were able to take a family vacation to Colorado. The car ride was a little interesting with a 2 month old. What should have been a 7 hour drive took about 9 hours. But April really was an awesome traveler. My Dad paid for us to stay in these really nice cabins right along the river. Because of the rainy season the river was a little more flowing than we would have preferred with all these little ones. But thankfully no one fell in or got hurt. 

It was good to take a break from real life and hang with family. I wish we would have paid to stay another night. There just wasn't really any way of knowing how fabulous little April was going to be.

So fun to have Grandma & Grandpa Hopkins there too!

Sleeping arrangements were too funny. These 3 crazies on the pull out bed. Ron and I in the next room with our bed and April had a queen bed all to herself. Worked out awesome!

Took a family hike in the beautiful Colorado mountains. So green!!! (And I'm not talking about our shirts!)

I love this crazy wonderful family of mine.

April is 2 months old!

The past 2 months have really flown by! April is an absolute angel! Honestly. The best little happy baby ever. She really does complete our little family. I can't imagine life with out her. She just fits right in with our family. I thought by now the "novelty" of a new baby would have worn off with the kids. But it hasn't at all. The kids are all infatuated with her. They fight over who gets to sit by her in the car, they argue over who gets to talk to her or hold her. I love it. She is holding her head up really well now. The Doctor said he was impressed and usually babies can't hold their heads up that well until they are 4 months old. Tummy time isn't her favorite but the kids get a kick out of watching her roll over constantly. They just roll her right back over and think it's so funny that she has mastered the skill of rolling over from tummy to back. She is nursing extremely well, probably my best nurser so far eating still eating every 2-3 hours. She is a pretty good sleeper too. I've only had a handful of "all-night" good night rests. But even on the nights she's up every 2 hours she goes back to sleep fairly well. Not very fussy or cranky.

She really is very happy all the time even in her sleep she sleep she laughs and smiles. (Her fussy time of day is usually around 4-6pm). She is cooing and talking so much now. It's my favorite. I love when she hears my voice and I can tell she is looking for me. When our eyes meet her eyes just light up. She really does make my heart swell. Ron is in love too. The other day I heard him talking to her and telling her "I'm so glad mom talked me into you!"

Her stats:
10 lbs. 15 oz.
22.5 inches long
50% all around

April and her adorable cousin Kendalyn! (Future Besties!)