Family Pictures 2012

Here are some shots from our yearly family photo session done on Mare Island in Vallejo. It was such a beautiful setting and most of the pictures were taken on the porch of a gorgeous old Victorian home (former military officers quarters).

Yes, Will is SMILING this year!!!

This kid actually turned out to be quite the model for the camera. Nevermind that I can't get him to do anything--the photographer could!! This picture is SO his personality!!

And this picture is SO Brooke's personality. Just a happy, happy kid.

Sarah started crawling very soon after this picture was taken. She was on the move!

Of course Daddy and I had to pose for the camera, too! I love the old brick building in this pic!

Crawling!!!!

I'm a little late posting this (I start every post like this, don't I?) but as of November 21st, we officially have a crawler! She seemed to crawl earlier than the other two and looking back at the baby books, sure enough, she is crawling a full two months ahead of both Brooke and Will. She has A LOT to keep up with, this little one! As the third child, she simple cannot be left out of any of the action!!

Other things to note this month....her teeth STILL haven't popped yet! She's drooling and slightly fussy and I'm sure they'll be here any day now. She stopped sleeping (well) through the night about a month or two ago but I wanted to get her past the 6 month growth spurt before I did any sleep training. We did the Sleepeasy Solution and within 2-3 days she was going to sleep all on her own and sleeping 12 hours at night. Ahhh....I like my sleep :) And so does she, apparently.

She's back to her good old sleeping self now. Our next step is to move her into the kids' room. First, Brooke needs to move into her own room. As of now, Brooke and Will enjoy sharing so much that she hasn't slept in her room at all! I guess if they all 3 want to sleep in one tiny room, I'll let them go for it. It's just a matter of time before they go all Lord of the Flies on me and start hurting each other :) I guess Brooke will figure out then that it's time to move :)

6 Months Old!

I've been a bit behind on posts but it's been crazy since school started! But I had to keep up on my milestone posts for Miss Sarah!

She is growing up before our eyes!! She is literally DAYS away from crawling and getting some teeth. Needless to say, all of these changes have disrupted her sleep in the past month. She was perfectly sleeping through the night at 12 weeks but for the past month, she's been waking up cranky around 4:30 again. Luckily she usually falls back to sleep most nights and doesn't need to be fed, but it's a bit on an adjustment since I was used to getting my sleep :) Ah, well. I'm sure it will pass after we get past this 6 month wackiness. She still takes (and needs) 3 naps a day including a 3 hour one, so I guess I can't complain too much.

The stats are that she is 18lbs, 10 oz and 28 inches long putting her in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. She's a big girl :) She just started eating solid food--her faves are sweet potatoes and pears. She really showed NO interest in solid food until last week.

We're about to (finally!!) invest in a fancy camera (not sure why it took THREE KIDS for me to decide we needed one!), so I'm sure I'll be posting lots of pics after that!!! I can't wait to start learning to take pictures with a **real** camera!!! The third kid might get the short end of the stick on a lot of stuff, but Sarah will have the best pictures of herself :) Plus, she doesn't protest when I put the camera in her face like the other 2!

Happy Half-Year, Sarah Marie!!!!

4 Months!

I'm a little behind...Miss Sarah turned 4 months almost a month ago! But here are the highlights and lowlights from the month:

- She's in the 90-95th percentile for height. Crazy! But I did notice that she always out grows the LENGTH of her sleepers before the body part. She's 75th or so for weight. She's a chunk, but nothing like Brooke.

- She went through a short phase (about a week, seemed like a month) where she stopped sleeping through the night. A few nights I had to feed her. I forgot how much I enjoy my sleep. :) Luckily, it was over fairly soon!

- We tried rice cereal and applesauce with her a little after she turned 4 months, just for fun. As the pictures show, she wasn't a fan. I didn't start Will until 6 months, so I'm in no rush. Every once in awhile I will try, just to get her used to it.

- She's still a happy, smiley baby except when she's tired (every 2-2 1/2 hours) or when she's hungry. She's rolling a lot, grabbing at everything, "talking" and belly laughing at her brother and sister's antics! She's a happy princess.

He LOVES his Little Sister! I will bring her in to wake him up from his nap and his face will immediately light up. Without her, he is super grumpy after waking up!

Sometimes they love each other

First Day of 2nd Grade

At Brookey's school, 2nd Grade is a big year! In terms of academics and the church/spiritual part of things. Her teacher is one of those wonderful, tough-but-fair-everyone-loves-her-sort of teacher. She'll definitely be pushed academically. In April, she'll take her First Communion which she will prepare for in the next 8 months. It's such an exciting time. For all my friends who have had 2nd graders previously, they all say this is one of most memorable school years.

She was SOOO excited to start!!! Hope the enthusiasm continues when homework packets start next week :)

Will is starting a preschool curriculum at "Ms. Maureen's"--his new childcare/preschool on Tuesdays/Thursdays. He's gone there one day already and I swear he is already smarter. She makes me look bad :)

Won't be long until Sarah joins the "group shot"

This is the best shot I could get of her class & teacher

Balance

Last school year, I worked 2 days a week at Brookey's small Catholic school teaching kids who needed a little extra help. I absolutely loved my job. However, I questioned my ability to to be sane enough to handle actually going to back to work with three kids.

If you asked me one month ago if I was going to go back, I would have said NO WAY, no how. I know people may see my situation from afar and think: "She works TWO days!! How can she not go back???" In my experience, most all of those people do not have three relatively young kids! I just could not fathom the craziness of having to balance everything I do at home PLUS trying to be coherent enough to teach two days.

Well, over the past month there have been several amazing things that have fallen into place (many of which I cannot explain except chalk it up to God's grace). So all the details aside, I am going back to work 2 days a week!! I almost feel like the decision was made for me in some strange way. All the stars just aligned and both Scott and I were amazed at how things just came together.

I did a "test run" of the whole going back to work situation last week when I had a few meetings to attend at school and it actually felt amazingly liberating. I could actually drink my coffee in peace, uninterrupted!! I got to socialize with my amazing friends/coworkers who are all awesome. And the best part--all my kids were happy as clams to break free from Mommy for a bit. I couldn't ask for a better situation--doing what I love, working at my kids' school, having amazing people caring for my kids and I get to use my brain a little :)

So right now, I feel like everything is in balance. I absolutely could not do anymore than 2 days and keep everything in balance the way I want it. Family ALWAYS comes first, no matter what. First and foremost I have to be able to have the energy to keep my family first. Things will be crazy, things would be crazy if I didn't work, too! Even crazier, I think!!

School starts tomorrow!! Bye bye summer....it was fun while it lasted...home with 3 kids all summer. Doesn't get much crazier than that!