Aurelia's 1st Birthday

 I still have Malakai's birthday to post about, but since it's most fresh on my mind and in my camera card, I'll share how we celebrated Aurelia's very first birthday.

{the coral dress in these photos is the same newborn sized dress}

Aurelia turned one year old on September 5th and I mourned the fact that her baby days are slipping away. I'm still wondering where the last 12 months disappeared to. We celebrated her growing and learning and the joy she brings to our little family. Sadly, she had been very sick the entire week prior with 3 visits to the pediatrician, 2 trips to the pharmacy, and numerous called to the triage nurse. It started the week before when she had been acting fussy and spiked a fever for just a day. It broke on it's own and she didn't really have any other symptoms beside being extremely irritable. On Friday I decided to take her in just to be sure before the weekend hit and we had to resort to urgent care if things got worse. We saw one of the new providers at our pediatricians office and she checked Aurelia's ears, which were my suspicion because of her behavior, and despite no other symptoms she did in fact have an ear infection. 

She was limited in what antibiotics she could take due to previous side effects, so we decided to try the same one she had with her last ear infection in early June. After 2 days and no real improvement in her mood, she woke with a mild case of hives on her belly. That night she vomited shortly after taking another dose of her medicine. The next day we went in to the doctor to chat about her reactions and changing medicine. Then Aurelia started refusing the medicine, she'd spit it no matter how we tried to give it to her. By the Friday, a full week from when we previously took her in we were back for the 3rd visit to see if her meds were doing any good since she was spitting them out. Thankfully her ear was improving, so we kept attempting to get to to swallow as much as possible and prayed for healing. We were able to celebrate Grandma Debbie's birthday that day without too much of a fuss. 

On her birthday she was in great spirits. We went out to one of our favorite places, Johnson Brothers Greenhouses out in Coburg, Oregon. They do a really sweet little kids' event the first Saturday of every month. Then we actually celebrated her little friend who happens to be 8 days younger at her birthday party and ended the day playing at home together.

Sunday after church we threw her a simple little garden party at our dear friend's home and she was just a peach the entire day. It was so nice to have her finally feeling better.

{Mima outdid herself again with a beautiful cake}

We had some light snacks and drinks for our guests and played lawn games and had a good old fashioned visit.

We watched her daintily eat her very first bites of cake and frosting, and play with tissue and wrapping paper as she opened up gifts.

{banana applesauce smash cake}

She watched the big kids play and got passed around from grandparents, to aunts + uncles, to friends and crawled around in the grass with here cousin, brothers and little friends. 

It was a perfect little afternoon celebration for our sweet and sassy little girl. 

First Day of School, 2015

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around both of my boys starting school today. Desmond for the very first time. So far we have homeschooled the "Pre-K" year and then our kids go to a local school for Kindergarten on up. This saves us money on those Preschool years and gets me using my teaching degree. It was a challenge when I first homeschooled Malakai because I was doing all the lesson planning while juggling everything else and halfway through the year I was pretty sick while newly expecting Aurelia.  We've lived and learned and are trying something new this year with Desmond. We are using a homeschool curriculum called Sonlight recommended by a handful of friends. Everything is planned out for me and it's largely book-based, which we love. I didn't have to do any late night planning while the kids slept, I didn't have to stress when Aurelia was a challenge at nap time and only napped half an hour because everything was ready for us when we were able to get to it.

My plan of action for having a kiddo in full-day school away from home is to prep as much as possible the night before. Malakai has his routines written out and posted (I started this to motivate him to wear clothing when he was a 3 year old and it just stuck). His clothes are put out, his lunch and snack for the next day (or two) are packed and ready, his backpack is stocked and set out and we are ready to roll for the following morning.

The hardest part is waking up at 6am after being up several times the night before. Aurelia's constant teething (she's working on her 8th) and frequent ear infections have trained her to frequently wake and need comforted back to sleep. However, even with a lack of good solid sleep, waking up before the kids really feels great in terms of being able to get myself ready for the day before needing to help them get breakfast and move forward with their to-do's.

It was so nice feeling like we got ready on time and even out the door early. We took some pictures with our cute little signs and loaded up the beloved mini-van. All of my good feelings unraveled when I had to navigate walking 3 kids 2 blocks with a vase full of flowers in one hand and a heavy bag of school supplies in the other while pushing a stroller and making sure the boys didn't get hit by a car because there were no sidewalks. Thankfully I kept my composure and we all lived to see the 1st grade. Malakai sorted out his supplies into the marked boxes (I'm so thankful he loves stuff like that) and disappeared into his classroom. Desmond gave the flowers to Kai's teacher because Malakai was too shy and then I lost him. I figured he was fine for a moment so I could at least say goodbye to Malakai, who didn't want a hug. Des was getting in to the toys, of course, and I'm just ever so thankful he didn't tantrum about not getting to stay and play with them.

We made it out the door, chatted with some friends on our way and headed home. Desmond said he didn't want to do "preschool home" yet which was fine because it was 9 am and I hadn't even had coffee yet. He played sweetly while I got Aurelia down for a late morning nap and we had 30 minutes to ourselves to go over our memory verse, days of the week, a few stories and work book time before she woke up again. By then he was asking for more and more school work. Thankfully I have a few extra workbooks that are only 90% colored by Malakai so he was able to hunt for some pages to finish while I prepared lunch.

It was odd to have Malakai gone for so many hours, but somehow they just flew by and it was nearly time to pick him up. We played together, the 3 of us and the house was eerily quiet for early afternoon.

Ben came home early so he could greet Kai at pick up since he wasn't able to make drop off. When we saw him he looked a little pale and a lot tired. He said he didn't feel well because he went in circles too fast on the tire swing. We sat in the shade for a bit while Des played on the play ground. I chatted with his teacher and he perked up enough to play a bit and cooperate for a few more first-day photos before we headed home and vegged out for their daily ration of screen-time.

{not feeling so hot}

 {got his groove back}

{annual photo by the pillars}

All in all, first day of school conquered. Hope yours went well too!

Desmond Lee: 3 1/2

Desmond is officially halfway through being a three year old. He's sweet, I'll give him that, but I must admit that we are 2 for 2 in the challenging 3-year-olds department. Maybe Aurelia will give us a break when she turns 3- but I won't be placing any bets on it! It seems that 2 year olds get the worst reputation but 3 year olds are more difficult in my opinion. They're bigger, more opinionated and more capable of mischief than 2 year olds for sure. Maybe it's just my boys, but they are quite strong-willed and it seems to culminate at this age.

All that said, we sure do love our Desmond at any age. At his best he is sweet and hysterical and imaginative. He loves to follow around his big brother, but when he feels wronged by Malakai, Desmond doesn't take it lightly. Lately we've been working on getting him to talk about his feelings with Malakai rather than running to Ben or I for help or just to give us a play by play of what's going on. 

Des is still learning how to be gentle with Aurelia, but he really adores his little sister. He has taken to calling her "Sis-tie" which I do not understand, but it's mostly adorable (except when he yells it in her face or when she's trying to sleep). He likes to make her smile (who doesn't) and whenever she cries he will run to her room to find a toy to bring her.

Desmond knows colors and variations on colors. He even problem solved an issue of he and Malakai both having the favorite color green by saying one of them could be dark green and the other light green. He caught on to that and shapes long ago but isn't as interested in numbers and letters yet. He sings about half the alphabet before making up his own words or just ending the song, but to my surprise he knows most of the letters by sight. He counts to 5 easily and to 10 accurately most of the time. He's great with one-to-one correspondence and much to my relief he is great at using his manners when out in public (I've heard this several times from his sweet Sunday school teachers). Just the other day I tried to give him a cuddle and he said "No thank you mama, we keep our hands to ourselves." Who can argue with that?

He sure does love to do whatever Malakai is doing much of the time. We often have to find him something to distract him to get Kai the alone time he craves. It sure is sweet when Malakai reads to him though. I can't help but snap a picture of them huddled up over a book every single time.

The two of them are getting more rough in their play, which I don't mind most of the time except when it becomes one sided and someone stops respecting boundaries. I'm sure that will only get more extreme as they grow, but I hope they always play together.

Desmond loves to play pretend and pulls anyone around into his world of make believe. He will assign you a character and expect you to act accordingly, which can be especially difficult if you aren't familiar with what he wants you to do or say.

The most recently developments have been his ability to completely tune out the entire world around him. I could be in his face saying his name and he's still focused on something else. He's mastered the art of selective hearing.

Desmond is a total bruiser. Literally 5 minutes after I took most of these photos he ran from the grass to the aggregate driveway and tripped, landing on his face. His poor head has endured quite a few dings (including stitches already) and my poor heart has been through the wringer!

He has also started needing less help at bed time over the last few weeks. This has been a LONG time coming. For the past year and a half he has needed Ben to put him to bed and lay with him until he fell asleep. While he was still napping it could take him up to an hour to fall asleep, and if you got up before he was out you'd be starting the process all over. He wouldn't let me put him to sleep except for very rare occasions, which meant that Ben didn't get to go anywhere in the evenings. Whenever we tried Des would just stay up and torture me until Ben came home. Now Ben will lay down with him for 2 minutes, say goodnight and shut the door and Desmond will be fast asleep in a matter of minutes. It's a small miracle that we are thoroughly enjoying.

We absolutely love our creative and rambunctious little Desmond and can hardly believe he'll be 4 in just 6 short months!

Spring Break recap

Monday. It's dreaded for different reasons at different stages of life. When in school I had to get myself psyched up to go to classes after two blissful days of rest. When I was working I had to get myself back in the groove of completing tasks and attending meetings. Since I've been staying home with the kiddos I have to get myself ready to go solo for the majority of the day and the attitude changes that occur in my children when daddy isn't around after a couple days with him here. I still don't understand that phenomenon. Now that I have one in school I have to actually make myself look human and leave the house!

Spring break was a nice break from loading the kiddos up twice a day for school drop off and bus pick up. I was hoping to use the break to gently ease Aurelia in to a different nap routine that jived with Malakai's drop off and pick up times...but that didn't happen in the slightest. She barely napped at all actually. 

We took some time to play outside a little longer than usual. We took a trip to the library to stock up on new reading material. We watched tv before lunch (our usual rule is no screen time until after school). I even went out on the town on a weeknight with just Aurelia and hosted an essential oils class!

On Friday Ben took a day off and we headed to the coast, which was a bit windy but not too bad for Oregon in the spring. The boys have been asking to go to the beach for weeks. My mom came with us (it was her idea to go in the first place actually!). We had coffee at our favorite place, visited with my grandparents, and spent some time on the beach. 

{4 generations}

{attempting an aloof model pose. ridiculous}

{a little better, but they didn't want to stop playing to pose}

Ben played with the boys, my mom took pictures and I huddled up to shield Aurelia from the wind while she dug her toes in the sand for the first time and we watched the boys dig. It was a whirlwind trip but a much needed little getaway. 

The rest of the weekend we spent getting things done around the house/to the car and getting rest for two of the kiddos with colds. By the time we went to bed last night all of the clean laundry was actually folded and put away. I can't remember the last time that happened!

Now today, back to the routine of getting barely anything done before the day is coming to a close. Keeping up with our schedules and the chaos that comes from trying to have a schedule with 3 small children. But I love it. I'll be a little sad when our next break gets here and Malakai will have finished his first year of school, all the kiddos will be a little closer to their first/next birthdays, and our summer will go by in a blur of celebrations as it always does. 

Aurelia Ann: 6 months

Aurelia crossed the half year mark earlier this month and I'm being a total sap about it. She's our last baby and I am soaking in every single minute of her babyness. I'm mourning that fact that the little baby days are gone. However, I'm thoroughly enjoying each new stage as it comes.

Right now Aurelia is an expert roller. She loves tummy time except when she's tired- she'll plant her face down into her hands and fuss until she's picked up. Since she started rolling we haven't been sleeping that well as she wakes frequently and is struggling to get back to sleep because she just wants to roll around or if it's in the middle of the night she thinks she needs to nurse. 

She is the smiliest baby I've ever met. She smiles almost immediately when anyone looks her way. My favorite smiles are when she's so happy that her little body can hardly contain the joy and she stiffens up and wiggles all over with excitement. She does this a lot for her daddy and her brothers. She loves to watch Malakai and Desmond play and they love to perform for her. I hope that lasts forever, it's so sweet to witness.

She recently went through a phase where she wouldn't let me put her down without a fuss. It lasted about 2 weeks and I'm so thankful for the Ergo carrier we were gifted a few years ago, total life saver...or at least arm saver. My big girl is growing fast!

We had her well check last week and she is weighing 17 lbs, 8 ounces and is 26 1/4 inches tall and believe it or not, that makes her our smallest baby at this stage. Malakai was 20lbs 28 inches and Desmond was 22lbs, 22 inches tall by 6 months. Sometimes I feel like she outgrows clothing faster than they did, but now I'm just realizing it's probably because she has more clothing than they did at this stage so we end up with outfits that I set aside or forgot about that she'll wear once or not at all. I've since gotten better at breaking out the next size so it's ready and waiting by the time she's grown into it.

Aurelia has been loving her jumper that we just broke out a month ago and she also sits in a high chair at the table with us now. She tasted her first food last week at dinner, mashed up avocado. She made a few questionable faces, but ate it up pretty easily! We gave her pureed carrots this week and she always makes a funny face at first but then eats it up like a pro!

I can hardly believe how quickly she's grown. I miss the tiny baby stage but am loving this interactive stage of watching her learn as well. She's developing such a sweet personality. 

Aurelia Ann: 4 months {w/ a comparison}

{with Gertie, her handmade doll from Mima}

At the risk of becoming redundant, I can't help but try to express just how fast the days are going by. I  honestly feel like Aurelia was born 2 weeks ago, and somehow our lives fast forwarded to today. Our girl is such a sweet and relaxed baby that even at our most difficult moments with her (in terms of fussiness or sleeplessness) it has been a breeze in comparison to how I remember moments when her brothers were babies. Don't get me wrong, I've loved raising all my kids up and the baby stage is one of my favorites (ok, I love all the stages for different reasons) but Aurelia has been...dare I say it...an easy baby. I could attribute some of that to her being the 3rd child; everything is sort of crazy all the time so she just has to go with the flow. Mostly though, I think she just has a pretty chill disposition.

I say all this after over a week of very regular night wakings. Maybe if this was my first time around I'd be singing a different tune. I'm surely used to small chunks of sleep at this point. Des dropped his nap when Aurelia was 2 weeks old so I couldn't do the "sleep when the baby sleeps" thing, but thankfully everyone pretty much goes to bed at 7pm these days. While I'm still wrapping up the day and attempting to spend time with Ben at that point in our evening, it's restful to have a quiet house for an hour or two. 

Aurelia is really developing a sweet and happy little personality. She is smiley and cooing as soon as she wakes for the day. She brightens up when she sees us and giggles easily for her brothers. Malakai and Desmond are always trying to make her laugh, they'll literally do a song and dance just to make her smile. She is ticklish and just started belly laughing when we play peek-a-boo, it's the best sound ever. 

She's been grasping at things for a while now, putting toys and clothes and whatever else is in her reach straight to her mouth. She won't take a pacifier or a bottle yet, but she'll chew or suck on her teethers all day if you let her. She is also in the distractible phase as she's learning more about the world around her, she loves to nurse but will take her time if something catches her eye while she's eating.

{Mima made this dress too!}

Baby girl will often tolerate my "playing dress up" as Malakai calls it. She lets me take her in and out of outfits and accessories pretty regularly while staying fairly happy. I appreciate this about her because at the rate she is outgrowing clothes, I'm constantly trying to figure out what still fits and what bigger clothes I should be getting out before she outgrows them. I made the mistake of saving a couple outfits for special occasions and she's already outgrown them. I snapped a couple pictures of her barely fitting in them and sadly put them away.

{2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months}

Aurelia is a chunky baby but nowhere near as much as Desmond was. Since she's not as heavy she seems taller. She measured 24 1/4 inches (49%) at her well check on Wednesday and 15lbs 3 oz (85%). I was surprised when I found Desmond's 4 month stats and he was 26 1/4 inches (85th %) and nearly 19lbs (over 95%). First I thought Aurelia was our tallest (she was at birth but she's actually the shortest at this point) Second, I was shocked at how much heavier Des was at just 4 months. I knew he was a chunk, but whoah! At 4 months Malakai was 17 lbs 8 oz (88th %) and 24 3/4 inches (43%).

Other than a little eczema she is a perfectly healthy little girl. She hates her shots though. At 6 weeks it was almost unbearable. I had Ben come this time and she took her first shot like a pro, but then the 2nd (which the nurse said stings) she lost it. Her brothers were so sweetly concerned, they'd never seen her so upset and weren't sure what to do about it. She's been fussy the last few days since and it's obvious her little legs are sore so sleep hasn't been as great as it had been. As usual we're rolling with the punches.

We are waiting to introduce any foods until 6 months. We started at 4 months with Malakai and waited until 6 with Desmond and from their first feeding we noticed a big difference in the ability and interest in eating solids.

So that's our little Raeli in a nutshell. Growing faster than my heart can stand.

Christmas 2014 (so far)

We've survived 3 out of our 4 Christmas gatherings...exhausted but happy to be home together and blessed to have so much of our family close enough to visit with over the holidays.

Last week we were all really sick. It was Kai's only full week of school all month and he missed 3 days due to so much coughing and congestion. We got him on antibiotics for his double ear infection and he is already doing better. As the week progressed the rest of us started to feel under the weather. Instaed of their usual jaunt to Grandma's last Thursday we all stayed home sick. Friday was Malakai's class party and I was able to swing by the school and grab all the crafts for him to do at home. I had also gone to have dental work done that morning and taken Des and Aurelia to the doctor, making myself an appointment for Monday. 4 out of 5 of us were prescribed antibiotics. Ben stayed home sick Monday and really should have stayed home more but had too much work to get done to try to do it all remotely from home. It was a whirlwind of a week and a half leading up to Christmas. We did as much as we could in advance to avoid late nights of wrapping gifts and making food for the upcoming events. 

Ben worked a half day Christmas eve and as soon as he got home we hit the ground running. We were all feeling well enough to celebrate, so we headed to church and then to his parents to gather with all his siblings. We had a great dinner and quite the gift exchange.

{Aurelia's 1st Christmas Eve in a dress I made her}

{these boys could hardly contain their excitement} 

Our tradition is to open one gift on Christmas eve (hint: it's always pajamas), read T'was the Night before Christmas, leave cookies for Santa and head to bed. We were out fairly late, and having anticipating as much we brought the PJ's with us and I set the cookies out for the boys who had passed out on the short drive home. 

We had Christmas morning at home, just the 5 of us. The boys even tolerated waiting for Aurelia to sleep in a bit while they snuggled up with daddy on the couch after a quick breakfast. Once I got my coffee we let the kids dig into their gifts from Santa and then from us. Our rules on gifts is to keep it simple, so we always have a pretty minimalist Christmas, and we like it that way. Each kiddo got a few presents from Santa, and 2 gifts from us. Ben and I also got a few gifts from Santa and 1 thing for each other. 

{my precious gifts}

We had a pretty leisure morning and early afternoon letting the kids play with their gifts, read and color and watch a Christmas special. Then we scrambled to get out of the house for our 2 family gatherings that day. We had dinner with my Aunt + Uncle on my dad's side and dessert at my Aunt + Uncle's and my mom's side of the family. Thankfully we snapped some photos before leaving the house because everything else happened in such a blur that we barely took any pictures once we left the house. 

{Aurelia in her Christmas dress from Mima}

We dragged ourselves home just before 9pm, carried sleeping kiddos into the house and snuggled up to watch A Christmas Story (which Ben had never seen), then promptly passed out from sheer exhaustion. 

Today we purposefully planned absolutely nothing. We've been eating at odd hours and watching a little tv between playing with new toys and reading new books together. 

Tomorrow is our last Christmas gathering, with my parents + siblings, and we'll have a small celebration for my birthday as well. The best part is that both Ben + Malakai are on vacation for another 10 days and I'm enjoying ever minute of it. 

I hope you've had a very happy Christmas and here's to a healthy and blessed new year in 2015!

Trimming the tree...more Christmastime photos

When we got our Christmas tree we brought it in later that afternoon and decorated it that night. I love watching my kids put ornaments on the tree and marvel over the twinkly lights. I know they won't want to help with this tradition forever, so I try to take it in while it's still fun for everyone. 

Ben snapped a few of these pictures from outside our front window. I love seeing him use his creative talents.

Here are a few more shots of Aurelia in our baby santa outfit. Later I moved her nearer the tree and she stared at the lights and watched her brothers hang ornaments.

Growing up we had to take turns with the honor of putting the topper on the tree after all the other decorations are on. We started doing that with the boys this year...

Surprisingly enough, with a new baby and three kids total our house looks more festive than it ever has this time of year. We've got a fun mix of handmade, gifted, store bought and kid-made decorations  throughout the house. My only regret is not buying a matching stocking and holder when I got the boys theirs years ago. Target no longer carries the silver letters we put on each boy's stocking, nor the type of stocking we got them. They are currently out of stock of the holders that we hang them from, so I'm waiting for them to either restock or hopefully still carry them (or something similar) next year. It's not the end of the world but I just think it would be cute to have them match or at least coordinate. 

More on our Christmastime festivities to come...

Thanksgiving weekend

I can't believe our first long weekend of the holidays is already coming to a close. Malakai was off of school for 5 days, and Ben was off work for 4. It has been so nice having them home, especially right when I came down with a rather brutal cold. Now I just need to pray hard that everyone else stays healthy!

After 9 years of double Thanksgivings (both in one day) we decided to simplify and just do one this year. Mostly because it's easier with a baby (who isn't a fan of the car seat anyway) and partly because we wanted to stay in town. We've discussed maybe starting an every other year tradition where we rotate who we celebrate with each year. It was so restful to be able to stay at one location all day instead of having to plan to transition multiple times and figure out what to eat where and all that jazz. Packing up the kids just once to leave and once to go home was one of the best parts. We missed the other side of the family but we saw most of them the next day anyhow. 

Aurelia ate + slept through most of her first Thanksgiving, so she's already pretty much got the traditions down. The boys enjoyed playing with cousins and other relatives all day. It was a nice and relatively relaxing day. 

Normally we go get our Christmas tree a day or two after Thanksgiving but with the forecast of rain and my feeling under the weather we chose to push it back to next weekend. It also gives us more time to clear a space for the tree and pull the Christmas decor out of storage. 

Last year I made an Advent calendar for the boys that they loved. This year Malakai made a chain at Sunday school that we'll start shortening day by day. Each link has a scripture verse and activity. We should be plenty busy learning and celebrating all month long. 

Off to School: Malakai's 1st day of Kindergarten

I've been so anxious about today for weeks. I was fearful that I would be in labor or stuck waiting to be discharged from the hospital after giving birth when Malakai's 1st day of school arrived. For a long time I convinced myself I would be okay but it built up and I realized it was just as okay to be sad about the possibility of missing such a big milestone. An even bigger step for us than some because we've homeschooled up until now. Malakai has never gone to day care or preschool outside of the home. For years he has attended church between 1-3 times a week and this summer he went to a week of VBS and Day camp, but school is so much bigger!

Nobody thought that I would still be pregnant at this point, we were convinced we'd have a newborn on his first day of school. Although I have been almost as anxious to meet our little girl, I am pretty relieved that I was able to focus on Malakai so intently for his first school experience.  He was so ready to go. Daddy was even able to take a little time off work to see him off...

{this kiddo LOVES green!}

Desmond was just as excited about seeing Malakai off to school, of course he had to wear a back pack too! 

We got to the school early enough to take a few pictures around the buildings

{this boy's facial expressions are just darling to me}

He kept asking, "can we go to my class now?!" but we were still early so we waited outside and took some more photos until the teacher came and let us in. Malakai sweetly listened to instructions of what to do first and excitedly followed through...

Once we unloaded his school supplies and found his cubby we said our goodbye's so he could go do his "morning jobs". We each gave him a squeeze and headed out the door. Not a tear was shed, we were all just so happy and excited for our big boy today. 

And my big Kindergartener was just as thrilled about school before and after class... He talked on and on about the things they did and the kids he met. When he went to VBS and Day camp this summer it was like pulling teeth trying to find out what he learned and what he did, so I was pretty shocked at his eagerness to share his experience. 

I'm so happy for him and this big milestone! Happy 1st day of school Malakai!