Lilah turns four!

My sweet girl,

You are FOUR years old today!  You are such a joy.  I am so thankful that God made you a part of our family. 

You are sweet, silly, and so much fun.   You have the cutest giggle.  And you say the cutest things.  You bring countless smiles to our faces.  There is a joy about you.  An enthusiasm that is contagious and so fun to watch.

Recently, someone we don’t know well and see only about once every couple of months or so (a receptionist at our chiropractor’s office) commented about how you were one of her favorite kids that comes in the office.  I was surprised because she’s only gotten a few glimpses of your personality, but I thought it was a good example of how special you are.  There have been countless times when your dad and I have glanced at each other and smiled because you’d just said or done something completely adorable.  We adore you.

You still like to make silly faces.  Your baby brother seems to have picked that up from you and your big brother. 

Speaking of your baby brother, you are crazy about him and like to give him snuggles.  You have been a sweet big sister. 

You and your big brother are buddies and play well together…in between the bouts of sibling rivalry at least.



You also can play by yourself for hours, it seems.  Except, in a sense, you are not by yourself.  You are usually chatting away to your dolls and stuffed animals and other imagined friends.  But you are perfectly content to do just that.

You started preschool a few months ago!  You are doing an at-home preschool co-op with a couple of your friends.  You love it.  You are so excited to go each time. 

You are a budding artist.  You love to color and do other art projects.  

You are also really good at puzzles!  And when Caleb is playing with his Legos, you'll join right in and create with him.

You got your first professional hair cut this year.  I figured since we waited until you were three, we might as well go all out.  So we went to one of those fancy kid places with cars to sit in, and you got your hair styled and sparkled and your nails painted and even a new ring to take home.  You enjoyed it and perhaps I set the bar a little high.  But hey, you won't need haircuts nearly as often as your brothers will, right?

This summer your Tia came to visit from Bolivia.  You have a sweet relationship with her.  Sometimes I tell people that you take after her more than you take after your dad or me.  There is just something about your personality that reminds me of her.  This visit it took you a little bit to warm back up to her since you hadn't seen her in a while.  But just a little bit.

In November, I took you to see the Nutcracker.  It was a condensed version put on by a local group of dancers.  You got a little bored, really.  But you were definitely intrigued by the ballerinas that you saw.  And in the following month, thanks to Nutcracker music played often (mostly on your granddad's phone), you became a little ballerina yourself.  You would dance around the playroom to the music and Gabriel would join in, spinning right alongside you.

For your birthday party this year, you wanted to have a Frozen party.  You’d been talking about it since shortly after your 3^rd birthday party.  I wasn’t sure it would stick for an entire year, but it did!  We got you an Elsa dress as a birthday gift.  You wore it for your party and loved it.  You didn’t want to take it off when we were leaving the house and you wanted to wear it all day the next day.  

You really hadn’t had any dress-up clothes before then.  I guess that can happen when you have a big brother.  We had a couple of superhero costumes in the house, but definitely not any princess dresses.  But you tend to find things to dress up in.

You are a delight, Lilah Jane.  I am so thankful to be your mama and am excited to watch you grow and to figure out more of who you are and who you will become.  

But, no rush.

Love always and forever,

Mama

p.s. Since I couldn't seem to fit enough photos of you into this blog post...

Gabriel turns one!!

Dear Gabriel,

Happy birthday, my sweet little one-year-old!!  I can't believe you've been here for a whole year.  In some ways, your birth day feels like yesterday.  And in other ways, it feels like you've been a part of our family forever.

You are quite the little character.  You are super sweet.  You are a little flirt and have all kinds of funny faces in your repertoire.  You are generally very smiley and friendly even to strangers.  Recently one such stranger commented that you talk with your eyes.  
 

You are very expressive, and you have always been a good communicator.  But you definitely prefer to interact from the safety of your mama's arms.

You started crawling when you were about 10 months old.  

 You aren't walking independently quite yet, but love to walk around holding any available hands (or objects). 

You learned to wave about a month ago and in the early stages you had a cute little wave that just involved you opening and closing your little hand.  Now you have switched to waving your whole arm.  Just this weekend, you started clapping.  You also just started smiling for pictures.  As soon as you see the camera pointed at you, you break out into a cute squinty-eye grin.  

 The other thing you've recently started to do is dance.  When you hear music you'll bop your body up and down and/or bop your head.  It's pretty cute!

You started shaking your head no a few weeks ago or so.  You learned it in the context of me telling you not to do things like sticking your fingers in sockets.  So then you would start to do things that you knew you shouldn't and looking at me and smiling while shaking your head.  More recently you started nodding, which is also super cute.  You wouldn't think it was possible for something as simple as nodding to be so completely adorable.  But the way you've been slowly and deliberately nodding to show off your new skill is precious.  Aside from nonverbal yeses and no's, you have begun to add a few words to your repertoire.  You don't use many of them very consistently, but I would venture to say that you've said the following words: more, mama, dada, lilah (yi-ya), no, yeah, and yay.

You've been really into handing people things lately.  You just hold them out and grunt until the person takes them. 

 You have six teeth that are mostly in, one partway in, and at least one more close behind.  You've been popping those teeth out in quick succession!  

 Meat is still your favorite food of all.  Eggs are up there too.  Outside of those things, you're still sticking mostly to pureed food.  We haven't found a fruit yet that you'll eat just as it comes.

You have sweet relationships with your big brother and sister.  They adore you, and you them.  They do have a habit of being a little more than you can handle sometimes.  But that doesn't seem to change your admiration of them.

You love swings.

 
  You do not love grass.  Every time I have tried to sit you down in the grass, you have not been happy about it.  You will even go so far as to do yoga poses to avoid touching the grass by balancing on your bum with both legs in the air.

That's one of many pictures of you and your tia.  She traveled all the way from Bolivia for your birthday!!  It took a little while for you to warm up to her.  

  But she was determined to win your affections.

We had a small party the weekend before you turned one.  It was fun to celebrate you.

  You were not a fan of your cake.  You took one taste of the frosting and that was it.  You got upset when I tried to get you to try more of it.  The longer we made you sit in front of your cake the more unhappy you got.  I think your dada was inwardly rejoicing at your disdain of sweets.

  I joked that I should have made you a meat cake instead.  A few days later, on your actual birthday, I decided to just stick your candle in a piece of chicken. 

 
You were so desperate to eat it that you made this face when your grandma took it to cut it up for you.

 Of course, she did let you have it once it was cut.  And all was well in your little world again.

You are such a treasure, my little man.  I just adore you.  Part of me wishes I could slow down time and keep you this little longer.  But another part is excited for the countless precious moments still to come.  Happy 1st birthday, sweet Gabriel Jacob!

Love always,

Mama

Caleb turns seven!

Dear Caleb,

Oh my sweet big boy.  

 (photo credit: Bottle Rocket Photography)

Seven!  Crazy.  I was thinking recently about how, though my memory isn't so good, I start to have more memories around age 7 or 8.  You are getting to that point!

This year...

You started and finished 1st grade.  Below are the first and last day pics.

You wore the same shirt for comparison, but your sweatshirt and pose in the last day pic rendered that somewhat ineffective.

You were in your first play (technically a reader's theater) and insisted on memorizing your lines, although you were not required to do so.

You finished your first baseball season and you played a second one (although apparently we don't have any pics from the second one).

 You lost your two front teeth (in time for Christmas even). 

You were tall enough (and brave enough) to go down the slide at the pool.  In fact, you have gotten increasingly braver and more adventurous than when you were little.  You challenge yourself, you take risks, and you are so proud of yourself when you do something you were a little hesitant to do.

What else?

You still love to read.  Comic books, chapter books, Highlights magazines, picture books, etc.

You have gotten more into creative things like arts and crafts and lego play.  Your early experiences with Legos were all about the building sets, but now you love to come up with your own creations.  And you are good at it!

   You've delved into some science this year as well and have had fun doing candy experiments and other random experiments.

 And you had a piece of artwork selected for the Douglas County School District Art Show!

But you had an even bigger first this year.  You got to meet your baby brother.  

You were so sweet with him in those early days of his life.  It was neat to watch you interact with him as you took on a big brother role for the second time.  You acted like you knew the ropes and had a special appreciation for your baby brother.  Lilah had a bit of a tougher time adjusting.  But you took it in stride...at least for the most part.

(photo credit: Bottle Rocket Photography)

As Gabriel has grown, you have delighted in making him laugh, cuddling with him, and watching him accomplish new feats (like talking and crawling and climbing the stairs).  I have delighted in watching his face light up when his big brother enters the room.

Your relationship with your little sister has grown richer this year as well.

 

(photo credit: Rebel Child Photography)

You are true playmates, quarrelers, partners in crime.  

 I look forward to watching the three of you continue to grow in your relationships with each other.  I pray you will always be close and find joy, comfort, and friendship in one another.

Here are some pics from your 7th birthday party.  You had an Octonauts themed party at a small water park nearby.  It was fun!

Cherish every minute, they say.  Not an easy thing to do, but certainly worth the effort.  I know the time will fly.  It has so far!  You are such a joy, Caleb Jonathan, and my hope is that I treasure well the years that I get to spend with you.

Love you always and forever,

Mama