Russy

Dear Rusty,

I can't settle on what to call you, Russell or Rusty. I switch back and forth depending on what I happen to say. I like both of them so much. On accident a few times I have called you “Russy” and I even like that! I am not the only one struggling either. My friend Leanne goes back and forth too and she called you “Russy” by accident once!

You are so blue eyed! You have the lightest blue eyes ever! Connor keeps telling me that it looks like you're going to be a blue eyed boy. I think he's right.

You are sleeping really well. You sleep a six hour stretch and then a three hour stretch. Every few nights you wake up every three hours, but it really isn't bad. You just eat and go back to sleep. You mid day nap is very consistent; three solid hours in the afternoon.

You eat so much. I am pretty sure that is all you do, and yet you are not as chubby as I would have expected you to be by now. You are solid. You weighed 14 lbs at your 2 month check up. But you are long and still fairly lean, considering.

We took you to the pool for the first time. You didn't seem overly enthusiastic, but you didn't not like it either. I think you were pretty neutral, but you sure looked cute in your swim trunks!

You absolutely love to sit up. You grunt and push your body until whoever is holding you helps you sit up. You love sitting in your Bumbo although you are pretty tipsy in it stil. You do really well in the exersaucer. You love to sit in that and will sit there for up to 20 minutes playing and smiling at your siblings. Daddy says that he thinks you will be left handed because you always touch your face with your left hand and you use your left hand when you are playing. He says the exersaucer is “clearly made to gear babies towards being right handed because all the fun toys are on the right hand side of the toy.” hee hee. Daddy just rotates the chair so that you can reach the fun toys with your left hand.

I love snuggling you so much! I told myself that I would put you in your crib and not in our bed when the time came. Well, the time has come and it hasn't happened. You sleep in your crib for a few hours each night, but the truth is I would much rather you be with me so you sleep right next to me in bed. You prefer it too. I can tell because you don't sing in your sleep nearly as much when you are in bed with me and Daddy as you do when you are in your crib.

You smile at EVERYTHING right now. You love it when I snort and say “Uh-Oh, I'm going to get you!” because you know that means that kisses are coming. You are getting way more than your fair share of kisses around here. I think someone is constantly kissing you. Who can help themselves though with those adorable chubby cheeks!

You found your feet. You would look down and then jump out of fear. Grandma would say, “those are your feet. They've always been there.” Then a few minutes later you would look down and jump out of fear again. You did that four or five times. We all got a good laugh out of it. The next day you were staring at your feet in the car. Except this time you were wearing your monster pajamas and you had little monsters staring back up at you. I laughed to myself and thought 'I guess that would be confusing'. I can only imagine what you were thinking, “where did my feet go and what on earth is that?”

Daddy and I are going out of town tomorrow for an overnight trip. I decided to leave you home because you are not a huge fan of your carseat and I thought it would be more relaxing and fun for you to stay with Grandma rather than being dragged around in a car all weekend. I am struggling a little bit actually leaving you. I am not sure how I am going to make it 30 some hours without holding you. I guess we will have to have extra snuggles when I get home and before I leave! You're definitally sleeping in the bed with us tonight!

I love you buddy. I love watching you grow and explore your world so much! I can't wait to see what each new day brings.

XOXO

Mommy

Homeless

Dear Hunter,

The other day we were eating lunch at Costco and you burst into tears. I jumped up and ran over thinking you were hurt or choking and I saw blood all over your mouth. I took a closer look and sure enough you had not one, but TWO teeth loose. Your front bottom teeth. They were so loose I thought they were going to fall out right there. You burst into tears at the news that you were about to lose teeth. I was confused as to why you were so upset. You just kept asking me all sorts of questions about when they would fall out, when you would get new teeth, if God had your new teeth ready for you, if you would be able to eat, etc. You were crying and very concerned. I finally got you to a point where you were calm and a little excited about the tooth fairy.

The next day those little teeth were still hanging on. You wiggled one and it started bleeding and you just burst into tears. That's when the real reason behind the tears came out...

Hunter- "When my tooth falls out I'm going to get a new adult tooth?"

Me- "yup!"

Hunter- "I don't want an adult tooth! I just want to stay with you!!"

Me- "What do you mean stay with me, do you think I'm going to kick you out because you lost a tooth?"

Hunter- "It's an adult tooth, I don't want to leave!"

After learning that you had been scared for several days that you were going to be a full grown adult and were going to have to move out of the house I was able to explain to you how it works and reassure you that you would not be moving out!

The tooth fell out when you were brushing your teeth and you were very excited. The tooth fairy came that night but you had moved into bed with Daddy and didn't know. At 5:30 in the morning I heard Connor yell, "HUNTER!" I heard the bag of change jingle and hurried to tell Connor to let you keep sleeping and to let you find it.

At 6:30, I heard your little footsteps running across the hall, and then I heard Connor say, "Yeah, yeah, SHE CAME!"

You were thrilled with the four quarters that the tooth fairy left and after breakfast you even gave some to Connor and Kaylee. You were especially impressed that she knew how to open a zip lock baggie. You have such a big heart.

You will be able to stay with Mommy and Daddy for as long as you want, and even after you leave you can always come home.

I love you sweet boy!
Mommy

Dear Russell,

Oh you are such a sweet baby. I have been having so much fun with you. You spent the first weeks of your life sleeping and being a very easy baby. The last week has been a little more challenging. You are awake all day long and you will not go to sleep unless I am holding you. I don't mind that at all but there were a few times this week I simply could not hold you and that made for a very long afternoon because you were cranky about it.

You are still sleeping well through the night. Every few nights we get a five to six hour stretch but then you spend the next couple nights waking up every three hours. You just eat and fall right back asleep so it isn't a big deal when you wake up that frequently. I actually enjoy our nights together a lot. It's quiet and peaceful and I can focus only on you.

You like to sleep on mommy. I like it too. I am not sure which of us sleeps better. The other night I wanted to sleep and I was going to put you in the crib. That lasted all of five minutes and I couldn't handle it. I had to pick you back up.

You do not like binkeys at all. You spit them out in disgust. Literally, you have a look of pure disgust on your face when you spit it out. Yesterday you started giving in and taking it a little bit more. You want to suck on something until you fall asleep, but the problem is that if I give you a bottle every time you want to suck on something you eat too much and your tummy hurts and then you can't sleep because your tummy is bothering you. I am going to go to the store today and get a bigger binky and give that a try, but if you don't like that any better we are probably going to just tough it out.

We bought you a few new toys. A zebra that hangs from your little play mat. You are mildly amused by it. You like the color pattern I think. We also got you some bugs that hang on your car seat. You like those better because they make neater noises. You still like the swing, and you still do not like the vibrating jungle chair. I am going to just put the jungle chair away. You never sit in it for more than 30 seconds and last night I stubbed my toe on it and ruined my brand new pedicure. That was enough for me to say it is a goner. You will be relieved that I quit trying to get you to like it.

We went to make a pie at Gramma Darrlyn's a few days ago. You fell asleep and I wanted to lay you down so I could help with the pie. The only thing we could come up with where you wouldn't roll off of something was a laundry basket. It was the cutest thing in the world. I didn't help with the pie because I kept taking pictures of you and watching you sleep.

You have been smiling a lot! All the time you smile. I absolutely love it. You have the cutest smile. Your whole face just lights up. I could look at that smile all day long.

I love you buddy! I can't believe it's already been close to seven weeks! Thank you for being such a wonderful blessing to our family!

Love,

Mommy

Dear Kaylee,

We can't go anywhere without a dozen people telling me how cute you are. It's true. You are so darn cute. Josie gave you all of her princess dresses that she grew out of. I think you have one for each Disney princess. You wear them almost every day. Some days you change your dress three or four times depending on your mood. My favorites are the pink one, which I think is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and the Tinkerbell dress.

One day when we dropped off the boys at VBS you asked if you could go say hi to the princess there. There was a lady dressed in a robe with a crown on her head for the program and you were convinced she was a real princess. I took you up there and before I could say a word you just ran and gave her a giant hug! It was absolutely precious.

You are talking about marriage a lot lately. You told Daddy that you were going to get married. Daddy said that one day you would and that you would have your own house and kids. You thought about that for a second and then responded, “No, I am going to stay here. I will just marry Connor and Hunter.”

You ask Connor all the time if he is going to marry the Disney princesses. You were wearing your Tinkerbell dress and you asked, “Connor, when you grow up are you going to marry Tinkerbell.” Very matter of factly Connor responded that no he would not be getting married to a fairy. This was very shocking to you and you gave him a look like he was the craziest person you had ever met.

You have the world's cutest singing voice. You sing in the car all the time. I need to take the camera out there and try to get it on video because it is adorable.

Thanks for being so precious. I just love that in a house full of boys - you are all girl!

XOXO,
Mommy

VBS

Dear Connor and Hunter,

We have had a pretty fun week. We went and bought all our school supplies. You were so thrilled. We even bought stuff to decorate the playroom. After I hung up all the decorations you both danced around the room saying it looked like a “real kindergarten!” I think that home school for this first year is the absolute right choice. You are so excited about it and it is going to be really good for Mommy to spend time with you doing something she is really good at.

You took swim lessons this summer. It was a bit of a joke though. The class was full of 3 and 4 year olds. Which I didn't understand because it said it was for age 5. Daddy said the first day was absolutely hilarious. He said all the parents left the side of the pool the way they were told to and all the kids broke into hysterical tears. He said you two were just sitting there looking at all the crying kids thinking, “what on earth?” The class was way too easy for you. You knew how to do everything they were teaching you. You still had fun taking the class though. We just won't sign you up for anymore lessons. We did however, sign you up for flag football. You start in September. You are very excited about that!

You also had Vacation Bible School last week. That was a lot of fun for you two. It was called Kingdom Rock. It started out kind of rough. I dropped you off and stayed with you for the first half an hour. Hunter was convinced that a costume guy was going to come out at any moment. I told him it wasn't going to happen, but then the leader on the stage held up a giant picture of a cartoon bulldog and that was it. Hunter thought for sure a costume guy bulldog was on his way out. He was sobbing. When it was finally time for me to leave Connor had watched Hunter be upset and had worked himself into tears. The two of you followed your group to the classroom, walking down the hall, sobbing. The only two kids in the whole building crying. Everyone felt so bad for you. I told the leaders they could call me if you didn't settle down, but I knew once you got going and doing the fun stuff you would calm down and you did. The rest of the week was wonderful. You loved everything about it.

VBS encouraged you to do chores or jobs around the house during the week to raise money to donate to a special orphanage in Africa. We decided to make cookies and sell them door to door. That was the cutest thing in the world. You walked around with an Easter basket full of cookies to all the neighbors. Connor did most of the talking and he was quick to tell everyone that he was raising money for “Jimmy in Africa.” Jimmy was the little boy on a magnet that they gave Connor to pray for during the week. Hunter got a magnet with a little boy named Joseph on it. You were so excited about selling the cookies and you were so cute that everyone bought a cookie and we sold out very fast!

At the end of the week your VBS group got to get on stage and sing songs to the church congregation. I sent out a mass text inviting your family to come and we had about five people who could make it on such short notice. I was counting out the chairs to make sure we saved a spot for everyone and Hunter said, “Oh boy... looks like you invited more than just Gramma!” He was pretty excited and nervous all at the same time. You were very cute on stage and did a great job singing.

I love you guys so much! Thanks for making the last couple weeks so fun even though we are all adjusting to our growing family and lack of sleep.

XOXO,

Mommy

Sneaky, Sneaky

Dear Bubbas,

In June or very early July I was reading a magazine. I think it was the Disney Family fun magazine. I read a quick snip it about National Sneak Zucchini on your neighbors porch night. I thought that sounded like something you would get a kick out of. Instantly I called my mom and told her. She laughed and said, “You don't have any zucchini. I am pretty sure that is for people with a garden who get more zucchini than they know what to do with.” She actually made a good point, but I was not to be discouraged. I marked the calendar so I would not forget the day.

It was this week. We went to the store and bought a bunch of zucchini and made mini chocolate zucchini loaves of bread. I typed out a letter to our neighbors and had you sign your names and color it. We wrapped our breads with a pretty bow and set off to be sneaky. It was a pretty huge hit. You absolutely love to do that sort of thing.

When I start something like this I always kick myself while I am making 12 loaves of bread for starting such a time consuming project, but then when we set out and I see the smiles on your faces and hear the shrieks of delight it is totally worth it. I can't wait until we find another random day to celebrate together.

Love,

Mommy

18 days of bliss

Dear Russell,

I can't believe how fast these last 18 days have gone. It has been absolutely fantastic. You have been such an easy baby and I have been having so much fun getting to know you.

We're finally at a point where we can start going places and doing things again. I tried a little too early to take everyone out of the house and ended up tiring myself out, but I think we're all ready now to resume our normal activities.

You are starting to wake up more. You will stay up for about two hours at a time. Whenever you see or hear something interesting you stare off into space with a very quizzical look on your face. It's absolutely adorable.

You don't root when you're hungry you peck my chest like a chicken. You still sleep on top of me in the recliner and probably will for a few more weeks. I wake up in the middle of the night to your head hitting the same spot on my chest over and over and you grunting. I love how you grunt. Rarely do you work yourself up into an actual cry, it's almost always a low grunt.

You really like your swing. You sit in there several times a day. We have a vibrating chair with jungle toys on it and you do not like that at all! If I am lucky you will tolerate it for a few minutes, but most of the time you just cry until I take you out and let you play with something else. When I say play, I mean sit there staring.

You make so many different faces that I can tell you want to talk and coo and smile, but you just can't make it happen yet. One of my favorite things you do is when you're upset. You move your left arm around in a very slow circle, over and over again while kicking your leg out slowly and repeatedly while you cry. I think that you think you are really moving your arms and legs, but it is so very slow I can tell it is still taking you quite a bit of effort to move your body the way you want it to move.

The other night I had to go to the Emergency Room for some post c-section issues and I was gone about 4 hours. It was the longest 4 hours ever. I kept calling and texting Daddy to see how you were doing. I could not wait to get home. That's the longest I've been away from you and I am not ready for that yet!

The two of us are starting to get into a routine at night too. You play or listen to Daddy read books for awhile, the a bath, your bottle, and finally bed. This routine has helped you sleep so well at night. You only wake up once. We're asleep for the night between 9 and 10. You wake up around 1 in the morning, and then again about 5 or 6. It's been wonderful!

I love you buddy, I can't wait to see what the next 18 days hold.
Mommy