better late than never! back to school post.

Play-dough!!!!

Peek a boo!

Baby bun bun

Karate lessons. Austin style!

Ej really loves Austin.

He has the best faces!

So serious...

Love that belly!

Dirty and playing with a ball. Heaven...

Attack! This picture sums him up nicely :)

Precious baby cheeks...

Trying to sneak food. He is ALWAYS hungry!

First day of school wouldn't be complete without your little brother and his lamby.

Missing Austin. And a messy face.

There is my photo catch up :) We spent the last breathe of summer freedom together and savored every minute. EJ loves Austin and loves having him home all day. The first few days were a bit tough for everyone but we are settling now into a new routine. My fall classes have started back up as well so we are all busy bees! I have also been really busy with my photography business. Speaking of that, I have a new photo website!! You can check it out at here if you are interested. It is a standard prophoto4  template but I plan on customizing it as time allows :) 
I guess the story of my life right now is balance. I think that is tough for everyone with kiddos though! As long as God and family are first, I know everything else will fall into place.

The boys are doing great. Austin loves his new school and new teacher. His teacher really is so sweet and we are blessed to have her! I am so glad Austin is loving his school this year. This is a huge prayer answered. Austin is REALLY into science right now. He watchesg sea creature and prehistoric creature movies on discovery all day long. He reads everything he can, he collects samples of rocks, fossils, and interesting leaves everywhere we go. He is my little scientist! I love that he is inquisitive and loves to explore the world around him.  He is still extremely wild and extremely sensitive. An interesting mix to say the least! He wears size 6 clothing and is a skinny minny. Oh and he still really loves all things army. Really loves all thing army. He lives for positive feedback and the occasional snuggle :)

EJ is growing so big. He is definitely a big boy now and makes me laugh all the time. Tantrums are back (understandable with the start up of school and a new routine) but he is a sweet, funny, little one. We are starting to work on letters and numbers now and I love watching him learn :) He loves dinosaurs still and little foot is still a favorite. He recently has really taken a liking too legos and army stuff. You can tell he hangs out with Austin all the time :) The thing he loves the most right now is play dough. He will play with that for hours! He will also help me cook and do the laundry and he loves Matthew! Oh and wrestling with Austin. I definitely have to mention that since that's all the boys do some days. Drives me crazy!!! EJ is now comfortably in size 3T. Yay for that!!

Matthew is wild, loud, and teething. Need I say more? I think he will be the one to give me a heart attack. He is only 12 months but he climbs on everything. He climbs up the couch, the fireplace, the step stool, the open dishwasher, everything. He also falls a lot as he tries to keep up with everyone. He is still fiercely needy and still nurses a ton. He is in size 18 months and we just got him his first pair of shoes! He is getting better about walking with them. It is so funny! I have called him Matteo for a while now and Ej now calls him "Tay-Toe". I told you he is funny! He still co sleeps with me and is not the best sleeper. Even so, he does take two good naps during the day (he is taking one right now :)) and is on a a good schedule! He no longer minds riding in the car and often times will want to go somewhere! He even brought Adam a pair of shoes once when he wanted to go bye-bye! How can you resist that! If the big brothers go somewhere with Daddy, you can bet he will not be happy he was left behind. He is a go-er and do-er for sure.

Well that about wraps up this back to school catch up! Even though I am swamped I still want to document life. It passes so quickly!. Speaking of that, it is time for my September edition of a day in my life! Hopefully will get to that soon!

ps. If you are wondering about that adorable bunny picture, it is because we have a new baby!!!! I love the bunnies under our deck and I especially love new baby ones!

sickie bug, sickie bug (and a lot of random ramblings)

 So this little guy is still sick. not anything really bad but he is just miserable. He has a cold and is so snotty. Nursing is so much fun when your baby can't breathe through their nose. And suctioning their nose is even more fun (major sarcasm). He is also starting to cut his two top teeth now. I can see the white under the gums. Poor baby. On a happy note, he sticks his tongue out all the time now and thinks it is the funniest thing. If you ask where his tongue is he proudly sticks it out and grabs it :)

 This one is eating me out of house and home. He must be going through a growth spurt right now. Literally, he eats 20 times a day. Crazy! Looks like I will be buying more food and clothes for that boy. He is now a size 7 but 6 months ago he was a 5T. I wonder what he will be by school time?

 This little one continues to crack me up every day. He reminds me of a who from who-ville with his hair. He is not a good eater. Super picky and can go two days with out eating anything other than a piece of bread. He is still really small for his age (probably always will be due to his health issues as a baby). However, he can now wear some 3T stuff! He still mostly wears 24 months and 2T.

 And apparently Austin is also part shark. My 7 year old has not lost a single tooth but has started getting his permanent teeth anyway! We go to the dentist soon and I wonder if she will pull the baby teeth out?

 Yep, this is Matthew right now. Well, not right now. He is sleeping in my lap currently :)

And again with the tongue! So precious!

In other random news, I am taking another full course load of marketing classes this summer. I am probably certifiably insane to do so but taking classes in the fall/spring is not feasible. Our schedules go into hyper drive during school. So I am only taking classes in the summer and Adam is going to be taking classes in the fall/spring. Lots of school around here! Speaking of that, I really really miss homeschooling. Really. Just wanted to say it out loud. I miss the books, the curriculum planning, that special time with him every day. I miss watching him learn in front of my eyes, and I just miss him being home. So glad it is summer break!

We are currently having storms (so happy for the rain) so we are having another indoor day. Maybe sock puppets are in our future!

creature feature!

With spring here, and summer approaching, I have noticed there are lots of creatures stirring :)

Cardinals are my absolute favorite bird. I love them. They make me endlessly happy and I think they are good luck. A couple weeks ago we noticed a nest outside our guest room window and it had eggs!!! well now those precious eggs have hatched and there are two adorably fuzzy chicks. I saw the mama for the first time yesterday and they are cardinals! We have baby cardinals!

I took this through the window so not to disturb them. So very precious!

And in our back yard we have a family of cotton tails under our deck! This was also through the window.

And if that was not enough, we are also dealing with giraffes and dinosaurs!

I love his reflection in that picture. He loves to play with EJ's toys :)

Have I mentioned that this boy is going to be walking soon? He crawls super fast and pulls up on everything. He can stand up with out pulling up now and he is cruising too. He might be my earliest walker! 

And my juice baby. Man oh man does he love juice!!!!! But, I love him more :)

play play play!!!!!

Can I just say I am ready for summer! Next week is our last week of school and I cant wait!!
With three boys it is no surprise there is a lot of playing going on in our house. EJ loves to play and read all day. Matthew is now hitting the age that he gets really bored and demands mommy to play with him. Austin  loves playing with his legos and can easily do this hours at a time.
Most days, Austin and EJ are playing legos in their bedroom side by side. They don't often play together but yet on their own little projects next to each other. It is the cutest thing. Both Austin and EJ are great big brothers to Matthew and will occasionally play with him. Although you know baby toys are pretty boring to big kids :)
EJ is really into dinosaurs right now. Really. He has dinosaur gummy vitamins, watches dinosaur train and everything/anything else dinosaur related, pretends he is a t-rex 90% of the day, and plays constantly with his assortment of dinosaurs. If you must know, he is the t-rex and I am a duck bill lol. A random picture of Matthew's chubby baby hands. Swoon.

 EJ also got a very special gift this past week. Papa and Daddy made him a sand box that he loves. Now he can play dinosaurs in the sand. Oh happy day!!! Volcanoes galore! Of course he helped make it.

 I think his hair is perfection. He has never once had a hair cut and I just cant bring myself to do it yet.

 Throwing sand. Apparently it is lots of fun!

 Diaper changing time this morning. Love this big boy. Speaking of big, he will be TEN months in just a couple days. How in the heck does that happen so fast. I'm in complete denial.

 That big blue bin? That is all of Matthew's toys. Don't worry, it did not avalanche on to his head. Mommy is right there to help :)

 And Sophie. Our little love bug that Santa brought this year.

 And EJ's baby. This is his biggest toy dino. He loves it! The first night he got it, we slept with it in the bed. All night. Yes, we are still co sleeping but hoping to change that before he turns four next year. Right now we are potty training and he is doing really well so far! As long as I instigate frequent potty breaks, there are no accidents. We are far from leaving the house without a diaper or naps/night time but it is a start!

I am loving these days with my boys and pray every day that I can be the best mom I can be for them. Time goes way too fast and I don't want to miss a minute! And last but not least, Adam and Matthew getting some snuggles. If only I could slow down time.....

long days, really long nights

Well it is almost 7pm and EJ is still asleep from his afternoon nap and I have decided to let him sleep.
Last night was rough to say the least and ended up with us rushing off to the ER again.

Ej has been sick since February and was diagnosed with strep and we had that treated. Then he got a cold and a nasty sinus infection, and again, we had that treated. Now it is settling into his chest and my poor sweet little toddler can not stop coughing and can not breathe. We are on albuterol every four hours and he just finished a z pack. Last night however, he woke me up at 2am and couldn't breathe. He was wheezing and his whole body was jerking trying to breathe. This lasted three hours and off we went. After him coughing a ton of yuck up and throwing it up in my car, he finally was able to breathe better and rest. We got home later this morning and he has been put on some other different meds as well. It is looking more and more like he is following in his moms and brother footsteps and will have asthma as well.

So anyways he went down for a nap at 2 this afternoon and I have every intention of letting that little babe sleep. Hoping beyond hope of course that that means I get to sleep tonight :) Running on about 4 hours wears me down. Is anyone else not a nap taker though? I tried so hard to take a nap with him and I can just not nap! Hopefully we will sleep well tonight. Deep breathe in.......................Okay better.

On a totally different note I had my big anatomy scan today as well. Elias is measuring right on track and looked great! We changed my due date again and I will actually be delivering in July instead of August! How exciting! Some days feel like they are so long, some nights feel even longer, but this pregnancy seems to be flying by! I am now past my half way point and I can not believe it! I can feel him moving everyday now and you can feel and see him move from the outside. Austin got to feel last night and he loves it! Both boys will rub my belly and tell little Eli that they love him. It is so sweet! I have gained 8 pounds so far which is pretty good considering I gained 40 total with each of the boys. But we will see what I end up at! Ha!

***Okay so EJ just woke up and he has a fever. If he still has a fever in the morning we have to go back to Children's. Deep breathe*****

Alright I better go love on my little one. If you can spare a prayer, pray he gets better soon please! Three weeks+ is a long time for a little one to be so sick....

hope is still here

It has been a long couple of weeks. The boys and I are trying hard to get our new routine down, and I will say, some days it is difficult being the lone ranger. That is my reality though right now and I am embracing it. If it takes the bad to get the good, I will take it all. And when you have two little boys who adore you, and a third rolling around inside, it is hard not to see the good. To see the beauty of this new season. To see the hope that lies where it was least expected. Hope and beauty....two thing that are so abundant in this trying time. And I am thankful to the One who gives sustenance when it is needed most.

We went to the Arboretum today and it was wonderful. EJ screamed for about 2 hours straight while he desperately fought a nap, but besides that we had a blast. And beauty? Oh.my.word. there was beauty!
Behold......
















Truly all of nature speaks His name!

On a random note, I received my official  acceptance letter from TWU today and I am enrolling in classes for the summer. I am really going to try to get online classes since I will be 8-9 months pregnant and waddling around a college campus isn't my idea of a lot of fun! I will let you know!
Also Elias is 19 weeks along now and that marks our official half way point (since I deliver at 38 weeks)!! Can you believe it? I sure can't! Here is a belly shot Austin took with my iphone. And yes he cut my head off :)

I think it is safe to say I am huge and I feel every bit of it too. The funniest part of pregnancy is the random comments you get from strangers. I just can not believe what comes out of some peoples mouths!

I know I am lacking in pictures of the boys but I promise my next post will have lots of pictures. Or I will try! Photographing lightning like children is never easy ya know ;) Until then sweet friends!