Time to tell

Well, its almost Feb and I have not written. I write to the kids mostly in context, so forgive me if you feel left out. They are probably the only ones who will read this anyway! SO here goes. This time I would like to write about Alex and Ella and Baby T, since it is them I am mostly writing to anyway. I can hardly believe how fast they are growing. I am due in 8 weeks and am trying to be as prepared as I can mentally and physically. Baby T is moving so much and its much different than the twins. I feel more movement this time if you can believe it!? Baby T loves story time, and all the kicks from Alex and Ella crawling all over me, (I protect you the best I can, baby). Baby T also loves music, especially the train that makes loud noises and scares baby- if this baby doesn't love trains after birth, that may be why. Alex and Ella are aware of something different about me, because my belly is getting much bigger and they point to my belly button and we tell them, there is ma ma's baby. We are so thrilled about our new arrival, mom and dad were here a few weeks ago helping get the house all organized and the nursery set up and ready for the home coming. Its been tough not finding out what we are having, but the suspense is fun and dramatic. Everyone thinks its a boy, I am on the fence. It will either be Austin Jeffrey or Emelia Nicole. Everything is coming together so nicely and I am so grateful for my parents help and generosity. Both sets of grandparents are so generous and always make sure we don't go without and we have the best of everything. Michael and I truly are blessed with such loving and giving parents who take time to be with our growing family. Praise God for them.

I want to be sure I am capturing the kids life and letting them know what they are into these days. Its such an honor to stay home, I get to see their every day life and watch them grow and develop, nothing beats it. While there are some days that are very difficult, those days are few and I am just grateful I can spend time with them.

I get to see all your firsts, Alex and Ella. Daddy and I wrote down all your words that you can say(that we can think of), I am sure there are some we are missing.

Alex:
Santa
Choo Choo
Cookie (ki ki)
Bye bye - you always wave to people after we leave them
Ella
Nose
Kitty Cat
baby
Hi (waves)
Ball
Dogie
Jesus
Amen
me me! (while raising your hand with your pointer finger!)
Mickey Mouse (sounds like ma ma but we know when you are referring to mickey)
Duck
mommy
daddy
more
whoa
uh-oh
Weee

You and Ella are best friends, she is always doing things for you, Bubby. You do them for her too - but she is more of a mother hen. You are a picky eater sometimes, but I only give you whats for dinner...and you love sweets although you don't get them often. You love to give hugs and kisses and your laugh is infectious!

You appreciate music Alex, and you especially love to dance. You are great at climbing things and I know someday you will be very athletic. You love the outdoors and protest every time we have to come inside. You are hard to keep up with outside, so I hope we can someday have a fenced in yard. I guess it wont be so hard to keep up with you after baby T is born. You hate good byes and cry when people leave the house. Your patience are thin, and you have a temper - we hope maybe drums will help you channel your energy in the future. Although maybe we havent quite thought that one through.

Teething has been so painful for you, son. Good thing you wont remember. I've held you and held you because I couldn't bear you crying and hurting by yourself. Sometimes its better to let you go, when I did, you'd fall asleep faster. A lesson I had to learn the hard way. Through letting you cry it out (when you were 7 months old) to letting you teeth, I've been there baby boy. You have taught me so much about the Lord's unfailing love for us. Its been through some of your struggles that I have learned to trust and lean on the Lord, its helped me understand that no matter what, God is right in the trenches with us, whether we feel Him or not. Thank you, Bubby and Thank you, Lord.


Ella Bella:
Baby
Bye bye (waves)
kitty cat
choo choo
Ball
dogie (doogggee)
daddy
mommy
bubby (Alex's nickname)
me me
Duck
Mickey Mouse - sounds like ma ma, but you always use it correctly
Santa
cookie
Ella
Alex
more
whoa
uh-oh
Weee

Baby girl, you love to walk around with your monkey on your back and you are very attached to your ducky. You always know where they are. You are very giving and loving to Bubby and those around you. You bring Bubby his cup when he drops it, you laugh at his silliness, you give him hugs, you let him tackle you until you decide you don't want him to, you push him around on toys and are always interested in him. You sit together and play peek a boo and laugh and laugh. Most mornings, you are so happy to see me. You so enjoy your "sucky" but know its time to let it go when you get out of bed and you don't complain about it. Some days you get to keep it because I just don't want to say no to you that day, or you make daddy forget you have it. You love to hold hands and you are a good listener. You always come up to me, when I hold you, you pat me on the shoulder or when you standing next to me you'll pat me on the leg. Your cry is hard to hear, because when you cry you put your everything into it and I feel for you. You are dramatic, like most girls...but you make us smile. You have daddy's patience and you don't get too worked up about things mostly.

You give the most darling faces, you scrunch up your nose and eyes and shoot us the most adorable grins. You love your snacks and always let us know when its time to feed you more. You know how to sign more and you always want more! You love to see what Alex is up to, but you enjoy doing things on your own too. You love to learn and show off your skills when we read books, you know all kinds of animals and things when we read. You follow commands great (most of the time) and you love to be praised for what you do. You have this devilish laugh that makes daddy and I laugh so hard. You are as sweet as sweet can be baby girl, you light up our life and we're so grateful for your sunshine. I use to rock you every night until about two months ago, I miss that special time with you.

When daddy gets home from work, one of you or sometimes both (if he's lucky) will run to the door to greet and kiss him. I know that's the absolute joy of his day, getting home to see you two. (three...soon...and me too) Daddy plays and plays with you on his days off, he makes up for the time when he is not with you. He adores you and loves to make you laugh. Both of us read A LOT to you. Your favorite books right now are The Little Engine that Could, Panda Bear, Thomas the train, Zane the train, Good night moon, the mother goose nursery rhymes..the list goes on and on. We need to go to the library soon, because I can only read them so many times with enthusiasm. We hardly ever deny reading to you, and you want to read all the time most days. Unless we have to get dinner or something we are reading! You love to watch Little Einsteins and your favorite show is Sesame Street, you get all excited when the theme song comes on. You both love bath time, Alex loves to splash and Ella loves to play in the water. You both run for the gate when we says its bedtime. We have a routine of going up to Alex's room (After running in to every other room first), then we brush teeth and play peek a boo, or Alex and Ella chase each other around Alex's crib. We read for a few minutes before we give hugs and kisses to each other and put Alex to sleep and then we take Ella to her bed.

Mike and I have very little time to socialize with anyone these days, but our focus right now is our kids and we aren't complaining one bit. They are the sunshine of our lives. We can't imagine life without them.