Seven Months

• After having her sleep in our room for a couple weeks we have learned that she is a much better sleeper when I'm not sleeping in the room with her. I think when she realizes that I am actually resting she just has to get me up. "Thats my job mom!" 
• She is learning to be patient with the paparazzi. Her siblings have figured out how to turn my phone camera on so most of the pictures I have of her are from one of them. 

•  She's starting to feel a little bit better about her siblings holding her. 
• Still no rolling. One day she rolled from her stomach to her back twice and I thought she might have that figured out. But she has never done it again. The most she'll do is roll to her side but if she feels like she might go completely over she quickly rolls back to her back. It was so nice to not have her moving with a Christmas tree. 

•  Mariah went to a Harry Potter Birthday party and everyone had to try on the glasses she brought home. 
• She is starting to sit up, but is still pretty wobbly. While my other babies loved to sit up she still prefers laying on her back. 

• I stopped swaddling her at the beginning of the month and she has fallen asleep at night much better now that she can move her arms around. If I leave the hall light on and her door open she usually will go to sleep without any crying. 
• She loves to slam her legs down in her bed just like Chet did. Sometimes I'll think she is waking up but she gives a couple slams and then keeps on sleeping. She must be working on her abs. 

• She warmed right up to her Aunt Natalie when she was here. 
• She has started sticking her tongue out but I haven't been able to get a picture of her doing it. 
• When Eliza sees us eating food she really thinks she wants some and is happy with gnawing on things, but no food gets swallowed. She spits it all out eventually. No complaints here, keeps life a little easier. 
• Eliza is really good at blow outs in her car seat. If there is a time when I get her out of the car and she doesn't have a blow out, I'm surprised. She also was wetting through her diaper every morning until I finally changed her to the 12 hour Pampers at night. The girl has expensive taste. 

December Boy

I was looking at his Birthday post from last year and it is so shocking and heartbreaking and just amazing how much Austin has changed this year. 

The other day I asked him quite indignantly, "Who said you could grow up?" While pointing to himself he replied, "Um, myself said it." 

After this birthday I have officially decided to celebrate his 4th birthday at the beginning of December. Although it was pretty adorable hearing him all month, "After Kissmass it's my Birday."

 First and only real smile I got the whole day. 

He was pretty excited about his cool car track, blanket and motorcycles that he opened that morning. Grammie and Papa Ralph also got him a belt with his name on it just like Chet's. 

That morning we went to the Jump Park with some friends. And Austin got nice and worn out and took a nap when we got home (that was his little gift to me). 

 Austin loves Beakah (Beaker) from the Muppets and Cookie Monster. I felt like a Beaker cake might be a bigger challenge than I was willing to take on, so I did Cookie Monster. Seriously, if you want the easiest cake ever, do Cookie Monster. We were so sugared out by this point I bought a cookie at Subway so I wouldn't have to make a batch for the cake. 

We had the Daughertys over that night and thanks to Ally we had two different kinds of Mac and Cheese (Austin's request for dinner). 

A couple days later Austin got another gift from Grammie because "they were on sale and I just had to." Austin was thrilled and so excited to wear them to church the next day. 

Austin is such a delightful little boy. He has the cutest way of talking. Any word that ends in a vowel often gets drawn out and he uses his hands a lot to get a point across.

He is becoming better and better with Eliza. It makes him so happy when he can make her laugh. 

 Austin loves to dress up and play pretend with his brother and sister. We have a lot of debate on who can be married to Mariah...I often put a ban on all marriages just to give myself a little peace and quiet. He and Chet are pretty competitive with each other too. There are many times where I have said to Chet, "you are debating with a two year old!" Which all mothers know is a losing battle. There's lots of wrestling, racing and screaming. Wild boys make a tired mom. He wants to do everything Chet does and if Chet says something that he thinks is funny odds are that he'll be saying the same thing in the next thirty seconds. Lots of potty humor... 

Mariah is so good with Austin. He sometimes doesn't like her helping him with things but she has gotten really good at tricking him into letting her. Doesn't want her help getting dressed..."Come on puppy, time to put your new fur on." She's a genius. 

The other day at the zoo Austin found the money drop thing (does anyone know what I'm talking about?) He really wanted to pick the lock. He came over and asked for my keys and tried to get it open for at least five minutes. It was pretty funny.

 Austin loves his overalls and likes to tell us that he's a farmer when he wears them. He went through a phase where whenever he was pretending he wanted his name to be Tommie. He even told us that he was going to change his name to that when he grew up. 

He is really good at getting messy and making messes, especially when he is "helping" me. Whenever I make a salad he wants to help put all the ingredients in the bowl. Then he likes to mash it up really good with the salad tongs. There's nothing better than mushy salad.

He hasn't been napping as often and we all pay for it. And I really miss the great snuggles I get from him right after his naps. But on good days I can still get him to sleep. 

A few months ago I took the plunge on potty training. After only a few accidents he had it all figured out, even waking up dry in the morning. It really helps when you promise the two older siblings chocolate chips too when the two year old goes in the potty. Mariah spent a lot of time reading to her brothers in the bathroom. She even got peed on once and handled it very well. It's nice to only have one in diapers again. 

And Austin is now old enough to do a Birthday interview! 

Mom: What is your favorite color?

Austin: Byue (Blue, basically his favorite color is usually whatever Chet's favorite color is at the moment, makes mealtimes a little stressful at times. I'm so close to buying all the same color plates, cups and bowls for my own sanity.)

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Austin: Mac and Cheese (He likes pretty much anything, but isn't a huge meat eater.) 

Mom: What is your favorite animal?

Austin: Horses 

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Austin: Harry Potter

Mom: What is your favorite movie?

Austin: Harry Potter (Tanner read the kids the first Harry Potter and then they watched the movie. The other night Austin came out from his bedroom and asked, "Did Snape want to kill Harry Potter?". He was totally stalling bedtime.)

Mom: What is your favorite song?

Austin: I Am a Child of God

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?
Austin: Popcorn (He always hears the popcorn maker at night when he's supposed to be in bed)

Mom: What do you like to do for fun?
Austin: Ummm, pway(play). After more prompting from me he said play Davey Crockett. (Austin and Chet play like typical boys: lots of death, carnage, wrestling, yelling, potty humor...it's aging me.)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?
Austin: Do dishes (any excuse to play in the water.)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

Austin: Play games

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mariah?

Austin: Play animals

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Chet?
Austin: Play Monkeys (not my favorite, those monkey shrieks...)

Mom: Who is your best friend?
Austin: Charlie (Our good friends' little boy who is Chet's age. Charlie's little sister Alice and Austin fight nonstop, like an old married couple)

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Austin: A Doctor and a Peaceman (Policeman) and a Jet Fire (Flier) 

Here's to another year of this boy learning and growing, because try as I might, he refuses to stop. 

Christmas Time

The older the kids get the more I feel that I need to make the month of December a special time. This year I've realized the importance of the traditions we make too, because Mariah and Chet will remember them now. I made a chain to countdown the days until Christmas and each day when they took off a link I would tell them something fun that we were going to do as a family. While a lot of the days were acts of service, we did some fun stuff too, mainly simple things like a Christmas music dance party, making cookies or Christmas movie. The only problem was that each morning they woke up asking, "what fun thing are we going to do today?". Not exactly the most Christmas-like attitude. So we're going to have to rethink that tradition a little. Maybe each day we'll do some type of service inside or outside the home. 

At the end of November somebody left this on our doorstep. It was such a generous, anonymous gift. The kids had fun thinking of service to do so they could put straw in the manger. The straw fell out and was put back in many times so we had the chance to do a lot of service for each other. 

The first Saturday of the month we were driving home from cleaning the church and I saw a Santa outside an antique store that I've been wanting to go in. I made Tanner turn around so that the kids could see Santa and I could see the store, win-win for the kids and I. Tanner was annoyed but felt a little better when he found the little smokies and other snacks that they were giving out. The kids got to make an ornament and talk to Santa. 

 Austin refused to go by Santa, even when I said I would go with him. When Santa asked if he would give him a high five Austin walked by, giving him a wide berth, and promptly gave knuckles to a random guy who was waiting for us to walk by. Something about the white beard maybe? 

On Hanukkah we made homemade donuts and ate almost all of them in one sitting. Any holiday that encourages the eating of fried foods is one that we can get behind. We did talk a little about why the Jewish religion celebrates Hanukkah as well but the donuts were the highlight of the evening. 

We went to the live nativity again and the kids loved petting all the animals. Eliza loved it so much she slept through the whole thing. I'm so grateful for those who are willing to brave the cold to help us learn and remember the true meaning of Christmas. 

Another night we made and decorated sugar cookies. I let the kids pick out a shape that they would get to eat. They each decorated cookies to give away as well. 

 Dinosaur 

 Tulip

 Dog Bone

We gave out cookies to neighbors and friends. One day I was telling the kids about the doorbell ditching my family always did at Christmas time and they decided that they wanted to doorbell ditch our neighbor Donna. I wasn't sure if she would eat cookies without knowing who they were from so I put a little note on them. Mariah and Chet were so excited and I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of that now. 

I just found out this year about a Santa about five minutes from where we live. A family decorates their yard in tons of lights and decorations and then children can come see Santa and get a gift and then walk through their yard. It is all volunteers who do it and the kids loved it. 

 Mariah told him she wanted a cat for Christmas and the ladies who were handing out gifts were so excited that they had one to give to her. 

 Austin got a little closer this time. Maybe he just thought the other Santa was a little too fancy for him; this guy really was so nice and good with the kids so I'm sure that was why he was willing to get so close. 

 This picture was taken right after Eliza was told she was so handsome and going to be a little heartbreaker (by another mom waiting in line). Apparently the blue was misleading. She looks so disgusted. 

When we found this Nativity display Mariah said, "This is for the real meaning of Christmas." Guess we're doing something right. 

I had some grand plans of making homemade gingerbread houses but when I saw this gingerbread train at Aldis for only eight dollars, reason stepped in. It was made for less than a minute before it was already being disassembled and eaten. 

We took some Christmas outfit pictures in front of the tree...

We enjoyed the annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party 

The best Christmas gift we got this year was Aunt Natalie coming to visit. The kids had so much fun with her and I loved having her help and wonderful conversation. She is such a delight to be around and one of the most selfless people I know. One night we had the Daugherty's over to watch The Muppets Christmas Carol and Santa decided to Facetime with the kids. He knew all the kids names and read them The Night Before Christmas. 

Christmas Eve day Tanner, Natalie and Austin went to the strip in Pittsburgh while the rest of us went and watched The Grinch with friends. That night we had our Shepherds Night. The Hickmans came over and we had our traditional Greek food. The kids were so excited to come up with costumes. Chet decided his stick horse made the perfect shepherd's crook. Natalie was a great Angel and Mary (while the shepherds went on their journey to find the baby Jesus she had a quick costume change). After that the kids reenacted the Christmas story several times so everyone could be who they wanted to be. Chet even tried out Mary, I think he really wanted to ride on our donkey/blow up reindeer. 

 Christmas morning started way earlier than the adults wanted and much later than Chet would have liked. He woke me up at 2 am asking if it was time...and so it begins. 

 Mariah has loved her sewing/embroidery kit

One day at Aldi's Chet saw these slippers and he really wanted them. Knowing that they would be a good gift I pretended like I wouldn't be getting them. Chet was so disappointed and brought them up all throughout the month. So he was pretty excited when he opened that gift.

Austin had to get cool slippers too.

All of December Chet was saying he wanted an Electric Train for Christmas. I think he was inspired by President Monson's Christmas story. Mariah drew his name for a gift and found a little electric train at 5 Below. It was so cute to see how excited she and Chet were about that gift. 

A little Christmas Day gingerbread cookie decorating with Aunt Nattie

These kids are just a joy and it has been so fun to see the joy that they have felt this month.