Wow~Where has the time gone? My baby girl is three months old now. In some ways it seems like yesterday that we held her for the first time. And yet in other ways, she’s already so integrated into this family, that it’s hard to imagine it any other way! She is so good. And for that I’m very thankful for. My challenges with Gabriel are daily, so I am grateful for Julia’s laid back personality.

She is so alert these days. She loves to watch the action around her. Adn there is always action going on around here. She loves being outside and let the puppy smell her and lick her. But her absolute favorite thing to do is take a bath. Every night before I put her to bed, after the other children are all down, I put her in her little bathtub, and watch her play. She kicks and splashes. Giggles and smiles. And we play and play and play. It is so much fun to have a special time with her. just her and me. We play till she gets tired and then after lotion and jammies, we snuggle and rock until she falls asleep. 

I am really excited about turning a part of our room into a nursery for her. I know it’s a little late. You are suppose to have this done before baby arrives, but i was to tired and busy before she came. So now it’s on the top of my to do list. I have never had a “nursery” for my little one. Most of our babies have spent their whole babyhood in a pack n play. Or in a crib or cradle in our room. Or shared with a sibling. But now, I think I will finally have my very own nursery for my seventh little baby.  

Our room has a little area off to one side that will be perfect. I found a white crib and changing table on craigslist and some beautiful bedding. Now, to transform the room into a nursery. It currently had blue shag carpet, and white walls. My colors will be Black, white, and pink.  I can’t wait to began!

 

I think Julia might have dark hair. I have teased Eric for years that I just want one little girl with my hair color. All the children have been dark haired when they were born, and then it all fell out and came back Eric’s color. But Julia seems to be growing more dark hair, not losing it. So we will see. I’m still hoping for dark brown! 

 

She is smiling so much now and even laughing if you get her really excited. She adores each one of the children and they all adore her. She rarely has to lay by herself, but that’s ok..since they are so many of us to hold her and love on her. I love to hear Gabe say “Julia!” He is so gentle with her and loves to hold her…for about 15 seconds. Then announces “DONE!!”. 

Here she is..3 months old!

 

 

 

Happy 3 Month Birthday little Julia! I love you!!

~cheryl

This weekend Eric and his Dad took the three older boys and climbed a mountain. They left Friday morning and just got home this evening. This was the first mountain that Ben, Michael, and Josh have climbed. They each had their own backpack with all they needed to live for 24 hours on a mountain. Eric packed the food and the tent. 

It was so much fun to hear them when they came home. Michael had collected Lava rocks for “all the girls”. His pockets were filled with trash that he found along the way. They were all sunburned but bubbling over with all their adventures. I asked Ben what it was like to be on top of a mountain, (I have never climbed) and he said “The view was AMAZING Mom!!! I could see forever!” I asked him if he was scared at all up there. Without even thinking about it he said, “yeah, a little. I didn’t want to fall.” 

Well, I’m glad they all made it back safe and sound. I think Eric sucessfully introduced our boys to the thrills of climbing a mountain. Some great life lessons there… 

-Like how hard it is to get to the top.

-What you miss out on when you decided it’s too hard and just sit down and quit.

-How easy coming back down is. 

-Working together can make it a lot easier.

The girls and Gabe and I had a great weekend. We went shopping, finished up the girls room, and hit a few yard sales. For lunch on Friday we went to Red Robin, Maryann announced to our waitress that it was her birthday, (last week) so they brought her an ice cream sunday and clapped and sang her a song. She was thrilled at first, but then almost started crying. Too much noise and attention. But I think the Sunday made it all worth while. 

Before the climb.

 

Base Camp.

 

Cooking dinner with a stick.

 

Eric and the boys.

 

Papa and the boys.

 

Sunrise.

 

Keeping warm at night with hot chocolate and a fire.

 

 

Ben’s shadow. (my fav pic that he took)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eating on the top of the mountain.

 

 

 

One day last week, I spent the afternoon sitting in the front yard with Julia watching the children play. Here’s a few pictures from the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~cheryl

Back in January, we had a girls day with Grandma Beth and visited a Tea House. We had a lovely lunch and Maryann announced after our trip there that she wanted to go back for her birthday. She turned four on Monday and so today was the chosen day to celebrate her birthday. We don’t normally have big birthday parties. Just a special day for the birthday child. They get to pick their favorite meals for the day and we make a cake. A few presents and that’s it. But this year I wanted to add a special event that they would choose. And Maryann chose a Tea Party.

 

Originally I was just thinking the girls. I figured the boys would be bored out of their minds. But they all quickly assured me that they wanted to come along and that they would all behave like gentlemen. They wanted to wear their suits. So we talked about all the things that gentlemen do. I think secretly they were wanting to get in on the good food that we girls had boasted about from our previous trip. And the sugar cubes. 

 

I had forgot to check and make sure each boy had a suit that fit him. I usually pick up random pieces at thrift stores. They usually still look brand new. But, this morning as everbody started to get dressed, we realized we were missing quite a few sizes… 

 

Like everything for Gabe. So he wore Josh’s suit from last year. And it was WAY too big on him. But I had to make a decision at that point. Either bag the whole idea of siuts because these boys were going to look like they were playing dress-up because of all the ill fitting sizes, or just let everybody “Dress Up”. And dress up is what I decided. So we put Josh’s old suit on Gabe, we put suspenders on Josh to keep his pants up. And made a pit stop at Wal Mart to get a shirt for Ben.

 

Maryann picked out my clothes. She has been talking and planning for days on what we girls would wear. We did our make-up and hair together. She wanted to look like “the dancing lady at a wedding” aka-the bride. So we pinned her hair all up and put curs in it. The boys came into my bathroom wanting to look good too. They put on Eric’s cologne and did their hair. Josh has really enjoyed parting his hair WAY over. It’s hard not to laugh at him, because he thinks he looks “so sharp!”. But the part is a little extreme. One of these days I am going to get it on camera. 

 

So everybody looking their best, we drove to the Tea House. The lady who owns it loves children. I had called ahead and made reservations. She was thrilled that the boys had come along, and encourage them to pick out hats and some “accessories”, like swords and such. The boys were delighted. THey had sword fights out in the garden. Maryann rummaged though all the dress up clothes that were in the closet. And wondered all over her house, looking at all the pretty things she has for sale. 

 

We all had a lovely time. The boys did a great job acting as gentlemen and protecting us princesses at the same time with all their new found swords. They pulled out chairs, held open doors, and let the girls go first.  Maryann was right in her element!

 

On our way in.

 

Trying on hats

 

and glasses…

 

The chandelier that hung over us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing in the mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dress up closet

 

 

 

Officer Josh caught an alligator!

 

 

Ben loved this hat.

 

 

The PiNk birthday shoes from Grandma Beth

 

 

 

 

Daddy joined us for dessert

 

 

Hats the boys found for us.

The sugar grabber / The Gentlemen paying for lunch