Beachin It and 33 Months!

I'm a little delayed with the girls monthly progress, so I'm putting two posts into one!

Since I'm not traveling for the next few weeks, I felt ambitious and proposed to Andy that we should do something fun this weekend with the kiddos... So we went to breakfast and then decided to go to a beach! Who knew there were beaches near us :-) Actually it's about 15 minutes from us at one of the big lakes in the area. And we had a blast! I wasn't sure how the girls would do with the sand since I'm not sure they have ever seen sand (sad I know). But for the most part, they did great - and Declan of course LOVED it. The girls did surprise us with how they reacted (or rather we expected that they would react a specific way, but they changed it up on us)... Steve was no fear and was walking around and in the lake (huge shock), Aven wouldn't leave the towels and wouldn't step foot into the sand or water (until right before we were heading home of course) and Bria was hit or miss, but loved swimming with Daddy and Declan. I liked building the sand castles with the kids since I'm not a huge lake fan (i.e. slightly terrified of what's in lakes) and Andy and Dec were water logs. Overall, it was a fun day!

Bria digging in...

Stevie and Bria...

Aven, very unsure about the scary sand...

Declan happy as can be...

Daddy and his girls (B, S, A)

Aven - the only way that she would play with the sand is if she was sitting on a towel :-)

Daddy and Bria watching Declan swim...

Our little skinny minnie Stevie...

Stevie and Declan - BFFs...

Mommy and Stevie...

The girls turned 33 months a few weeks ago and here is what they are up too... It's a little abbreviated this month :-)

Aven: Aven is still our spunky little girl... She's so much like Declan was when he was her age, it will be interesting to see if she's like him as she grows up. 

• Nickname: Avie, Ave
• Favorite Thing to Do: Jump, off of anything and everything
• Favorite Food: Cereal and waffels
• Favorite Toy: Anything her sister has
• Favorite TV Show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• Favorite Book: All of them
• What She Doesn't Like: When her sisters take something she has
• Things She Likes to Say: She is talking more and more, but still overall is the one that is the most difficult to figure out what she is saying. She likes to say her sisters name (Bria) and will try to say most things that you ask her to say, just not much unsolicited
• Therapies: She's getting speech therapy along with her sisters and she loves it. It's adorable that when the therapist comes, they all sit in a circle and they actually pay attention to her, I mean they listen to her - it's unreal :-)

Bria: Bria is a big Daddy's girls... She always has been, but is more so now. She also continues to take her aggression out on her face. Yesterday while Andy and Dec were out and about, she fell off a stool and her tooth (the one good one after knocking out the other one) went through her lip. Yes, you read right her one front tooth, went one through one side of her lip and out the other side. I was a little nervous that I'd have to take her in, but I finally got the bleeding to stop. And I was happy that she still had a tooth there! She may have a little scar, but I'm thinking it won't be the last...

• Nickname: Bri, Bri Bri, B-B
• Favorite Thing to Do: Be by Daddy
• Favorite Food: Cantalope and muffins
• Favorite Toy: Little People (or anything she can put in her mouth)
• Favorite TV Show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• Favorite Book: All of them
• What She Doesn't Like: To sleep... Not sure what happened here, but she rarely sleeps through naps and is up at least 1-2 times a night
• Things She Likes to Say: She is a jabber jabber now... The latest things she says are "I'm coming" or "come on" (to her sisters as she pulls them somewhere). She also has taken a phrase from her brother and says "oh god" (not a huge fan). She loves saying "muffins," but mostly because she wants to eat them all the time and "please." She's also saying more 2 word sentences like "mine please," "I coming," "love you."
• Therapies: She's getting speech therapy along with her sisters and she loves it.

Stevie: Stevie is still our independent little peanut. She doesn't always like to get sucked into what her sisters are doing and she ADORES her big brother. I really think those two will grow up to be best friends... and I'm sure her and him will end up sharing a room at some point.

• Nickname: Just Stevie...
• Favorite Thing to Do: Reading books
• Favorite Food: Bananas (again)
• Favorite Toy: Minnie Mouse figures
• Favorite TV Show: Yo Gabba Gabba
• Favorite Book: All of them (she likes books the most and she has a stack of them in her crib for night and nap time reading)
• What She Doesn't Like: When someone doesn't do what she wants them to do or when someone takes what she is playing with
• Things She Likes to Say: No, mine, bye bye and many other things that we ask her to say. She likes to walk up to you and say her jibber jabber (sounds like blah blah blah blah blah) and then say bye bye - it's really cute because she's telling you a story, but you have no idea what she's saying...
• Therapies: She's getting speech therapy along with her sisters and she loves it. 

L to R: Aven, Bria & Stevie

I get one CHEESE from Stevie, nothing from Aven and Bria is gone.

And last but not least, Declan. He seems to be acclimating to school more and more each day. He has his days where he acts out or doesn't want to go, but all and all it's going as well as can be expected... 

Kindergarten!!!!!

It's finally here, the day we have been waiting for what seems like forever :-) The day went off without a hitch and he got on the bus with no problems... He even let me take pictures and smiled (GASP!) Andy and I didn't shed any tears, but I think I came pretty close... I was more anxious about him coming home than anything. Since he's a man to the core, he didn't have much to say about the day (I so hope that the girls talk my ear off about all things that happened during their days), but he did say that he LOVES his teacher, that he was disappointed because they didn't have recess, that he was happy Jack was there, that the day was too long and that he was glad they didn't do the "bee" program (which made me think he didn't behave all that well). But overall, I'm going to chalk this day up to a success!

Here are some photos from the day.

Yes, that says his favorite move is Twilight - parents of the year here :-)

He's already tired of pictures...

Video of him getting on the bus - what a big boy!!!

And getting off the bus...

All the kids at the bus stop - 4 kindergarteners!

The Night Before Kindergarten...

I asked Andy this morning if he was going to start drinking at 7:05 tomorrow morning, but he said that his boss doesn't allow him to drink on the job. At first I thought, gosh what a bitch and then realized that I think his boss might make an exception tomorrow :-)

Tomorrow begins full day kindergarten and Andy and I could not be more ready! Declan? Well, he's getting there... Last week we did all the prep work. Andy and I had parents night Wednesday night where we met his teacher and all the parents of the kids in Declan's class. We met Jack's parents (Jack will sit right next to Declan in class). We all came to the conclusion that it likely won't last long as they are two peas in a pod. I'm predicting Jack will be Declan's new best friend. We love the parents, as they too come from the school of "my kid isn't perfect" and are quite different from many of the parents that we've met so far... The next day we had Kindergarten "sneak a peek" where the kids visit their classroom, meet their teacher and the best part, get to see the gym, lunch room and playground. He met Jack and sure enough they hit it off (or like Declan says, "we were friends just like this - BAM!") Declan was very polite to his teacher before he and Jack started chasing each other around the room. His teach, Mrs Warren, just looked at us and said "I'll take care of that." Andy and I have bets on him being in the principals office by week 3. We'll see. But regardless it seems like he is ready and isn't saying "I hate school" every couple of minutes. Now let's just pray for his teacher :-) From what we heard, she's the best in the school for Kindergarten so I think we really lucked out. I'm sure she'll have Declan whipped into shape in no time :-) On Friday morning we did a test run on the bus and the parents could come with. Friday also marked the first time in about 4 years since Declan has woken up before 7 AM. As much as we've been blessed with late sleeping kids, it's going to be a rough first week. The bus picks him up at 7:04 AM and drops him at 2:40 PM - during that time will be bliss time for Andy with just having to manage the girls and the timing couldn't be more perfect since the girls are still sleeping that early and should be napping when he is dropped off. Will give Andy the first opportunity in months to not have to pack all the kids up and run Declan too and from places. Hence the reason I fully expect him to be hammered all day long tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from these few days... This is Declan's reaction when I told him I couldn't believe our 'baby' was going to kindergarten and I was reminding him of when he was a baby and I wasn't sure he was old enough to go to school... I was doing the same thing tonight and Declan said, point blank "geez mom, just relax - and go take a nap." I'm not sure he's ready... Again, I pray for his teacher.

On the playground. This school so reminds me of where Declan and I went to elementary school, but bigger and newer :-) It's got a wide open parking lot for the kids to play in and an old school cement track. I foresee a lot of girl kissing during recess.

Early morning bus ride :-)

Here are a few other pictures from the weekend... Kids in the choo choo - and Aven hitting Declan.

Love this photo...

Swinging!

Declan, Stevie, Aven and Bria - no one looking, per usual...

Still not looking...

Oh - we have one looking! and one with a very soggy diaper :-)

Stevie picking her nose, per usual...

BFFs

Aven showing daddy the imaginary water on her hands...

Shortly after Aven pushed Stevie out of the way...

Declan and Bria having an intense conversation. He's telling her that mommy will give him $5 if he can get all of them to look and smile for a picture. He did not make any money this day...

Aven giving me the oh mom look...

Daddy and Declan...

And a note to future babysitters... Aven wakes  up naked, every. single. day. So be prepared to wash pee soaked bedding every morning and afternoon. And Bria only takes purple nuks. No lie, only purple and even when it's 2 AM and pitch black, she has night vision and knows when you try and put a pink nuk in her mouth. So you mush search around a pitch black room for that one purple nuk. Oh, and we only have one left and stores don't carry the same kind. We may have an issue soon :-) Also, Bria only takes her blanket one way. You must put it on her at bedtime with the print side up. No reason, it's just the way she likes it or she will scream until it's fixed. She could of course fix it herself, but she's 2 and not very reasonable. Stevie likes to play games. If you enter the room to settle one of her sisters at any point in the night, she will throw her nuk, blanket, socks or whatever else she thinks is funny so that you will be forced to give them back to her and pat her back. She just wants to be sure no one forgets her. That is all. Just another day in the life 4 kids :-)

I'm Back!

It's been way too long since I've had a chance to blog... A lot has been going on and I've been traveling to far off places for work. We've been lucky enough to have a lot of family visitors around to help Andy! Of course he can do it on his own, but I was in Australia and China for a week and I don't necessarily like being THAT far away.... I've been neglecting to get some good photos of the kids so with my photo helper (aka Aunt Em) in town, I was golden tonight. I'll have to make sure I get a picture of Em so that Stevie can carry it around wherever she goes (since she is TOTALLY obsessed with Em and I'm not sure she's let go of her in the past 2 weeks).

Here are a few pictures from tonight... I'll post more this weekend on Declan getting ready for his first day of Kindergarten on Monday (can't believe it!)

L to R: Aven, Bria & Stevie (and of course Declan)

32 Months!

Better late than never... And technically I missed last month with the move, so I need to make up for it... The girls are as crazy as every and Declan, well he received the "Leadership Award" at camp this week... Andy said that when he went to pick up Declan the two teachers from his swim camp came and told Andy that he received this award because he was such a good boy all week and was very helpful all week. He would always get in the front of the line and show people where to go and what to do. So proud :-)

So what are the girls up too... They LOVE the new house and run around it like mad-women... Aven was the lucky one and got 2 ear infections this past week. We got to visit the local urgent care, which is really nice - so far since we've lived here someone has been to urgent care every week - first Judy, then Aunt Linda and then Aven. The good news is that we now know them well, they are great and we know how to get there. She's on some meds and seem to be feeling better. But anything can be better than a day long of screaming...

Aven: We had a few months of Aven being our little angle sweetheart and then her and Bria switched back. But it was kind fun while it lasted :-)

• Nicknames: Avie, Ave
• Favorite thing to do: Jumping - everywhere (off the couch, off the chair, off their climbing thing, on the trample or just in the middle of the room)
• Favorite food: Bacon and cantaloupe
• Favorite toy: Legos (her big legos or her brother's little legos) and he tutu
• Favorite TV show: They honestly don't really watch TV in the new house, they are too busy... 
• What she doesn't like: When her sisters have what she wants or when they have something that she doesn't want, but then 1.5 seconds later does want. It's a constant cycle... 
• Morning or Night: Both - she is still usually the first one up and the last one to sleep. There are days where she doesn't nap, but we still make her stay up in their bedroom. When that happens she will just sit up there and talk to herself and wait for one of her sisters to wake up (usually Stevie) and then they start throwing things and laughing at each other.
• Things she likes to say: The normal stuff (Bye Bye, Momma, Dadda, Hi, all done, more, sit, up, huggie (for hug)) and I think a few other things that I can't think of. She is still not quite as verbal as the other two and uses pointing and crying to get what she wants. She also sings a lot, like any time you sing something she will sing along.
• Funniest thing she does: When she loves her sisters and hugs and kisses on them and plays ring around the rosie and holds their hands... Usually they end of tackling each other, but it sure is cute.
• Therapies: Each of the girls have their EI assessment next Friday with the Georgia program, so it will be interesting to see what they qualify for - we are ready to start something up again!

Bria: Bria is back to our sweet little girl... Their personalities swapped back, which is pretty interesting... She fun loving, plays good by herself and is just happy...

• Nicknames: Bri, Bri Bri, B-B, B
• Favorite thing to do: Jump and push her sisters off of things and she also likes to push her sisters around in their doll strollers.
• Favorite food: Cantaloupe
• Favorite toy: Lego guys (usually in her mouth) and her tutu (not really a toy but like dress up)
• Favorite TV show: Same as Aven, they really don't watch much TV in the new house and we don't get Yo Gabba Gabba on demand anymore so we don't get a lot of "it's so yummy in your tummy, so yummy, so yummy"
• What she doesn't like: When Aven steals her things she's playing with. But I am happy to report that she loves baths again (thanks to this momma!)
• Morning or Night: She's a great sleeper once she gets to sleep... Sometimes can be a little needy at night to get to sleep, but once she's out, she's golden. 
• Things she likes to say: Her speech has really taken off... She is saying a ton more words (more than I can even count) and she repeats pretty much anything you ask her too.  She now knows her name (which her sisters like to repeat often), she can count to 3 and is starting to say her abc's. She will say a few word sentences like "love you" and "bye bye miss you" (which is pretty much the most adorable thing I've heard). And she's now saying things in context a bit more where you will ask her something and she will respond to you versus just saying what  you said.
• Funniest thing she does: She always has something in her mouth, I mean always. I wonder if I'm going to actually get a decent picture of her without something in her mouth these next few months... 
• Therapies: Same as Aven, she is getting assessed next Friday.

Stevie: Sweet Stevie is a sweet pea... I think she might be the life of the party when she's older. She may be shy at first, but get her to dance and she lights up. I'm afraid I see dance in our future with her...

• Nicknames: Just Stevie... 
• Favorite thing to do: Dance
• Favorite food: Cantaloupe
• Favorite toy: Her dollies
• Favorite TV show: Same as her sisters, hasn't really watched much
• What she doesn't like: When you don't give her what she wants
• Morning or Night: Good sleeper, but likes to chat it up with Aven
• Things she likes to say: Her speech is really getting better too. I think she might be saying more than Aven - she's definitely more of talker, you just don't know what she's saying all the time. She's saying the normals of bye bye, hi, dada, momma, socks, huggie (for hug) no but she's also saying her name now and she tells you that she's 4 (very matter of factly)
• Funniest thing she does: She loves dancing and she will dance everywhere at any time. 
• Therapies: Same as her sissies and will be assessed next week.

Here are a few other pictures from tonight... Daddy - just because I low how much he likes pictures...

Dec and Stevie...

Aven, Dec and Stevie...

Marge and the girls (L to R: Aven, Stevie & Bria)...

And Declan :-)

Happy Birthday Declan!!!

I can't believe Declan is 6 years old... It literally feels like yesterday that he was a baby. I remember exactly how it felt bringing him home from the hospital for the first time and how I felt completely out of control and had no idea what we were doing... 6 years later, 3 states, 4 houses, 3 more kids and we still don't know what we are doing :-)

We probably don't spend enough time talking about Declan and what an amazing little man he is. The moments when we get to spend 1:1 time with him and get to listen to him tell us stories, or recount every fact about star wars that there is, or play baseball, or play hockey, or play soccer, or play with legos, or play in his underwear. These are moments we take for granted, but we love. He's brutally honest, he's kind to his sisters, he's protective, he's creative, he's strong, he's handsome, he's shy, he's a cuddled and he's the best son that there is.

This birthday was going to be a tough one since he hasn't met any friends yet and was pretty bummed he could't have a big party with all his friends in Jersey. So we were fortunate to have Andy's mom and 2 aunts here to celebrate. Oh and we also bought a trampoline for his birthday, which is "the best present ever" and fun for the whole family! Here are a few pictures from the day...

Declan enjoying the trampoline!

Aven enjoying a few of Declan's birthday gifts...

The girls playing with water...

Aven

Bria

Stevie

Aven on the trampoline...

Most of the family on the trampoline (except Stevie since she's just not sure of it yet)

The normal kid picture (L to R: Aven, Declan, Stevie and Bria)

Dec and his Star Wars cake...

Love you buddy - can't wait to see what this next year brings and can't wait to continue to watch you grow up!