I apologize for the disorganized presentation of this particular post. Not that they're usually that organized. But the pictures are just all out of order. So, what a good way to start out, with a recent picture of our sweet Caroline! She just had her 5 mos birthday. (Hannah wanted to have a cake. Can you tell we like cake? :-) She's a chunk at the moment, way bigger than the others at her age. She likes rolling around, and pushes up on her arms pretty well. We love her to pieces, and she's doing great during the day. But bless her heart, she seems to be earnestly trying to make a co-sleeper out of me! Now I'm not against that, whateve works for your family. But Patrick and i like our bed the way it is. Ours. The two of us. Except after an hour of trying to get her back to sleep at night, I cave. Nearly every night. Usually not till early morning, when i know Patrick (poor guy!) will be up soon. She is doing better in the evenings, though, so maybe good nighttime sleep will follow.



We had a special time with Mom and Bob, they were such great sports about the whole broken foot thing and having to wait on me. (Just realized that could be taken two ways. and i mean it both ways. wait for me to catch up, and wait on me hand and foot!) We went to get our tree together, and we managed to make it through the whole thanksgiving weekend, pick out the tree, tie it on the roof, and it started pouring rain.



like i said, out of order. but what a cutie patootie. and also as i previously mentioned, roly poly :-) 



Hannah "helping" Daddy  as he cuts down our tree. what a guy!



they had this great photo op at the tree farm, but you know how these things go. if you dont, just zoom in a little. after a while, you give up trying to get a good picture and settle for one like this!





so, i attempted to take some christmas pictures of the kids. They co-operated alright, but still we couldn't get everybody looking and smiling at the same time. i think i'm going to have to cave and go to Sears. But really, in my current state, i think its an accomplishment that i even got them all dressed, and even attempted.



I'm curious as to when she's going to grow out of her double chin :-)



we had a wonderful special treat at thanksgiving with a visit from old friends the Larsons. Jeff and Chandra were friends from Frisco, and we hadnt seen them since we moved. We got to meet their daughter Adeline, and they got to meet Caroline.



Thanksgiving Day



Caroline started an extremely fussy pattern while my mom was here, in the evenings. Seeing as how I cant walk, Mom held her ALL THE TIME. Thank you!

My boys enjoying some pizza. Charlie LOVES pizza. He asks for it all the time. And he often says the brand name, I want to go to Pizza Hut! but he says pizza hot instead. its so cute, 20 years from now i hope i remember.

she's a momma's girl! One would think that by now I wouldnt mind letting the baby cry, and she would be really low maintenance because of having to work around everybody else. But for me, at least, it hasnt worked that way. At the beginning I was so concerned that we not develop bad habits, blah blah blah. Now, Hannah still nursed to sleep every night, so it isnt' like I actually did things by the book. But I stressed out that it wasnt by the book. This time around, I always think, its only 1 yr. It will pass so quickly. And then she'll be big and ornery and loud and crazy. I want to spend as much time as I can with this sweet baby, seeing as how she's the last one :-(. I actually want to rock her to sleep every night.

so we started solid food. raw carrots count as solids, right? (i'm kidding :-)

so, i'm doing the best i can, which is not that bad. At least my ability to accomplish things is not that bad. My attitude, now that's a whole nother story. The first week I depended completely on other people. Then i started to take care of myself. Then i started to take care of the kids. I'm getting around pretty well, I think. I just cant carry much. I can put Caroline in my Ergo and carry her around that way, but it really throws me off balance, so i only do that when she's really fussy, and to carry her up and down the stairs. I have a pair of crutches upstairs and downstairs, so i dont have to carry them up and down. Hannah is an absolute miracle worker for me these days, I depend on her so much. She even carries Caroline short distances. She brings my food to the table for me, all kinds of things. Charlie, now he's just totally taking advantage of my cripple state, and my inability to catch him! I must say, I'm gettin some killer arms and shoulders from this little adventure. 10 days till i go back to the doctor, and maybe i'll get it off in time for christmas! Dec 21 is the big day.

so, the plan was to slow down some when we stopped babysitting. But I still had alot going on, especially at church. And lots of company coming, and the holidays starting, and all kinds of things related to that. So i didn't exactly slow down. i may have gotten busier because I had the freedom(ish) of making commitments during the day. it was on the way to one of these commitments that i got the kids all buckled and realized the keys were still in the house. being late, of course, i ran up the stairs to my back door, trying to take two at a time. alas, that was not to be, and my foot missed a step. i came crashing down in a heap, writhing and moaning. after a few minutes i realized hannah was standing there, and i didn't want to keep scaring her. and after all, we did have that appointment to make! so i decided i could get around ok as long i just kept the weight on my heel, and started hobbling off. carrying the car seat, diaper bag, and everything else, of course. i called the doctor later on to see if maybe i should come in and get it wrapped or looked at or something, maybe some pain medicine. because i did not have time to keep it elevated and iced and all that. we had just started painting the living and dining room, my dad was coming in 2 days, and i'm working (was working) on this big christmas event at church. it was swollen, but not grotesquely, and only a little bruising. Sitting on the couch with patrick that night, i said something along the lines of "i bet i'm going to have to stay off this for a couple days, i should really try to do that."

next morning i make it to the doctor, get xrays, wait for an hour, then she returns with stuff in her hands that does not look very promising. much to my surprise she informed me i actually broke my stupid foot, and much to my intense dismay, i have to be in a cast for 4-5 wks. not even a walking cast. an old school one. on crutches. CRUTCHES! I have never really hurt myself before, so this is a whole new experience for me. she knows i have 3 little children, and so felt the need to impress up on me the importance of not putting any weight on it at all, lest it not heal properly, and then require surgery. i, to be honest, have had a somewhat negative attitude about all this, even though i understand i should be really grateful it was just a little break on some side bone or something, didn't need surgery, and (Lord willing) should be off by christmas. but that isn't whats at the forefront of my mind most of the time.

i'm sure it may seem almost humorous when we look back on it. but at the moment, trying to manage wearing Caroline and maneuvering around on crutches is less than funny. i was going to just move me and caroline to the main floor for awhile, but i'm concerned about very quickly losing any progress i'd made in the post-baby weight loss department. so, i figure hopping up the stairs a few times a day, on one foot, seems to be pretty good exercise! i have to tell you, though, it isn't just the broken foot that hurts. being constantly on one foot really throws everything off balance. Patrick has worked amazingly hard on the house, finishing the painting, getting it ready for company, etc. My mother in law is coming to help, and then my mom will be here soon too. After that, we may get somebody to help out for a few weeks. It will be a memorable holiday season. i'll keep you updated!

all snuggly!

Caroline got to meet her cousin Reese in Boston. Reese is a few weeks older. They were great buds :-)

my original thought was to make a gastronomic photojournal. but i was too busy eating (and taking care of Caroline) to take many pictures. Our first night we walked around for an hour trying to decide on a restaurant, then ended up going home and ordering pizza. but what pizza it was! fig, pancetta, and ricotta.

walking around the boston commons

the only thing i really wanted to do was go to the farmers market. even in october, there were stalls and stalls of beautiful produce. we just got baked goods and cheese. I've wanted to try fresh mozarella ever since reading Animal Vegetable Miracle (by Barbara Kingsolver). So when i saw this stall, i had to get some. And i mean fresh fresh. They made it that morning. it was SO good.

Lara recently moved into a new apartment. It's a 4th floor walk up (actually maybe 5. dont remember.), but the plus is this amazing roofdeck. Beautiful view, and you even have roofdeck neighbours on the buildings closeby. its just like hanging out in your backyard!

I didn't realize exactly how much i missed my kids until i got home. i felt like i could finally breathe again. they missed caroline quite a bit as well.

flash didnt work, but this is me and my friend sarah after finishing our super intense 5k (j/k), at the Run for Missions in Haviland.  We are both avid exercisers, but she is suffering from bad first trimester morning sickness, and i haven't started exercising since Caroline. I actually won this little race last year, and found out i was pregnant the very next day. so i thought it apropos that this is what is kickstarting my exercising again.

we've actually had flurries twice already. The kids are so excited for snow to play in. Especially because its a tradition that we make hot chocolate on the first real snowfall. Last year Charlie was still kind of little to really enjoy the snow, and i had morning sickness pretty bad during the winter, so we're all looking forward to more opportunities. (except for maybe caroline, who will have to sit there bundled up like a snowman and watch us play.)

it's pumpkin bread time! (you think i made enough? sheesh!)

one for the rehearsal dinner, for sure!

as you can see, we havent been up to anything particularly out of the ordinary. but i am in the honeymoon stage with my kids again, since i've had 2 weeks now of just being with them! There was always so much craziness and fighting and messes and crying going on while babysitting, I'd forgotten how much I really do enjoy them, and just their company. I had no idea how much babysitting was stressing me out until we stopped! I feel like every day with my children is a precious gift. Perhaps still postpartum overly emotional, but every day i have a moment or two that i pray, Lord, please dont let me forget this. Burn this in my head and heart, so i can keep it with me forever. Their little voices, their little bodies snuggling at nap time, the funny smart things Hannah says, Charlie's facial expressions, Caroline's sheer baby sweetness. Dont get me wrong, the days are still challenging, but i often wish i could just freeze time right here. Sometimes I hear SAHMs say the day drags. For some reason our days absolutely fly by. I never fit enough in. We have alot to look forward to in the coming months, but i almost dont want to, because it means everyone, especially Caroline, will be getting older. We moved her out of our room, into Charlie's. (He moved in with Hannah). I feel like an empty nester! She's only a few feet away, but its the first step. Sharing a bedroom is not going well at all, Charlie flat out refuses to stay in his bed. He gets up, turns the light on, plays with toys, sits in the rocking chair and reads. No amount of "deterrent" is making any difference. We are open to suggestions from more experienced parents!

A few weeks ago Hannah, Caroline and I took Des out for her birthday. The tearoom I found online wasnt exactly what i had envisioned, but we had fun doing a girl thing. Hopefully it'll be a tradition. \

We also went to a pumpkin patch that weekend, and both Hannah and Charlie had their first horse riding experience. I missed it because i was feeding Caroline, as I miss out on much of life during the first year of each baby!

thanks meghan, for the adorable dresses!

she doesnt like tummy time at all. By 4 mos, hannah was scooting herself across the floor on her back. Caroline, not so much. But the doctor did say she was holding her head up really well for her age.

charlie loves. loves! playing outside. he will play outside by himself for as long as you let him. i wish he had more opportunity to interact with the natural world, exploring and destroying and building. right now he just makes a gigantic mess with the sand, but he has such a blast i have a hard time yelling at him.

he just picked up this screwdriver and started "fixing" a chair the other day.


hannah and mia

i've discovered that the easiest way to get kids to eat their vegetables is to have them prepare them with you. my kids always beg me for whatever i'm choppping up, even before its cooked!

yes, its a big girl bed. every stage seems to catch me by surprise. David and Des gave Hannah this bed, that matches her room so well, and Des made this beautiful quilt as well. It makes me sad, but its also special to be able to lay on the bed next to hannah when i'm putting her to bed, instead of kneeling on the hardwood floor next to her!

i cant believe she is old enough for the exersaucer! i had to pad it with blankets so she wouldnt fall over. and she lasted approx 5 min. We've been having a rough time with thrush, the last little while. It can be pretty stubborn, and has made it extremely difficult for Caroline to eat. Poor thing would just latch on, then pull off and cry. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. One day I finally just gave up and used a syringe to feed her. We both got a new medicine, and I started sterilizing the supplementers more, and its getting better.

all in all, we're doing well. Patrick is working long hours these days, we miss him. And I'm pretty sure its mutual! The big news of the day is, I only have 2 more days of babysitting. I was planning on quitting in the spring, but then it worked better for the family that we stop now. So, maybe i'll take more pictures throughout the day :-). I had a wonderful time visiting Lara in Boston, Meghan and Reese were there too. The logistics of 2 little babies on different schedules (or no schedules), and getting around the city with 2 strollers, made for an interesting trip. But we did get to eat alot of great food! And see some beautiful leaves. I did take a few pictures. many thanks to david and des for keeping the kids some, and then to patrick for doing a great job after that. the house was very clean and even smelled good when i came home :-).