the crisp connection

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.