Kids

These kiddos have my whole heart! They are my life and I am so grateful to be their mommy! They push me to be a better, more patient person. They push my buttons but then some of my sweetest moments in my life are because of them. I feel closer to the spirit when I'm with them. Hallie and Brooks play quite well together. They fight and then makeup quick. The play pretend all day long. They are both smitten with Stockton. I love listening to Brooks try to coo with baby. Hallie is constantly talking baby talk to Stockton and is the greatest little helper with him. I worry about my kids constantly. I want them to be safe, healthy and well-taken care of at all times. I love them more then anything!

Hallie and Brooks napping together!

Hallie

Hallie is such a great helper with Stockton. She is constantly in his face and talking baby talk. She gives me a play-by-play of what he is doing at all times. We never miss a thing with this girl! Quite honestly I don't know what I'd do without her. She ended Kindergarten this month and can't wait to go to school all day in the fall. She loves anything art and does some sort of colorful art thing every afternoon. She still sleeps on her floor at night. She gets wet with the hose in the backyard everyday, usually with her clothes on and not a swimsuit. She changes her clothes at least a few times a day and I have to remind her that she doesn't need a new pair of clothes on multiple times a day. I love when she bites her lower lip when she gets serious, is trying really hard, or starts to get aggressive (for good or bad: whether she's playing soccer or wanting to hit her brother). She's really pretty good at completing the chores I ask her to. She's such a beautiful little girl with such a fun personality. She's so mature and smart for her age that I often have to remind myself that she is only 6. 

Her teacher sent me these next few pictures.

My first hate note as a mom. "You hate me. You don't like me. Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa." She has really been into saying "You're mean." or "You don't like me" basically anytime she doesn't get what she wants, or gets in trouble. I constantly am telling her that I love her and this has nothing to do with not liking her and has everything to do with having consequences for certain behaviors. Sometimes it hurts my feelings when she says stuff like this, other times, like with this letter with "wa wa wa wa" at the end, I giggle just a little to myself. 

Russ bought this wig for one of his employees at work. I honestly can't remember why he did. But, when it arrived, Hallie wanted to wear it. She looked pretty funny, and cute, with it on!

One Wednesday I came home from work and Hallie delivered this message to me, "Dear mom. how was work. Dad was kind of mean." Ha!

She is quite the little rollerbladder. Her athleticism is really quite impressive for her age.  

Another note she wrote me. I love that she can write and read and is sounding out her words so well. "Dear mom and Dad. I really want to go on a walk. I have been a little mean because I woke up one time at 200 and at 500."

She used to sneak granola bars in her room at night so she could eat one in the morning. After we found out, we told her she didn't need to hide that from us and she could eat a granola bar in the morning if she wanted to. We then found about 1,000 granola bar wrappers under her bed. Little stink!

Getting wet with the sprinklers under the tramp!

Brooks

Brooks is such a chill go-with-the-flow kid! I don't know of anyone more obsessed with cars then him. He is terrified of the water, swimming or baths, and also going to car washes. I love when he says "fuppy" for puppy, "Sockton" for Stockton and "wheeeency widdle bit" for when he is trying to convince me to have just a little bite of something I don't want him to have at the moment. His raspy hoarsve voice that doesn't pronounce everything correctly is my favorite thing. He loves holding hands and often tells me to "hold his hand tighter" when we are in public. He is definitely shy when we are out and about and doesn't like to leave my side. He uses a giant stuffed animal hedgehog as a pillow for sleep and still hasn't figured out how to poop in the toilet. In fact, it is a struggle to get him to poop in his diaper. One Sunday, while we were out for a family walk, Russ was eating sunflower seeds. Brooks wanted some and basically just chewed them whole and swallowed them. Well the next few days his poop was pretty ouchy to get out. That was like 1 month ago and ever since then he has been terrified of pooping. So he holds it for like a week and often has poop skid marks on his underwear because of this. He loves snuggling and has quite the thing for Russ. He idolizes him. He really is just so sweet! 

Eating a snow cone on the top of our slide. The entire family was inside, Hallie had already finished her snow cone, and Brooks was just outside on the slide enjoying his by himself. He's such a cutie!

He likes to help me rock the baby to sleep and "snuggle" me on the rocker. 

He is the best helper and wants to help me or Russ with anything. Here he is helping me empty the dishwasher. 

He has the best smile and just melts me in a hundred different ways. I sure love my Brooksie boy!

Father's Day

Happy happy Father's Day to Russ!! Our kids are so lucky to have him as their dad. He is for sure the fun parent and we are crazy about him! I hope he felt special and loved today! 

The morning started out with a present, some of his favorite treats and cards from me and the kids!

"My dad loves food. His favorite place is the golf course. His favorite color is red. He makes the best ice cream. He always says I love you. Dad and I like to color together. I love helping dad with laundry. I know dad loves me because he hugs me. I love my dad because he loves me."

Brooks' card

His annual Father's Day tie

We had bacon, chocolate milk and blueberry muffins for breakfast!

Soccer

We ended another season of soccer for Hallie! She was by far the best on her team and scored almost every single goal her team made. I'm not sure how much this league is challenging her but she is enjoying it nonetheless. She is naturally talented at this sport and maybe someday she'll want to dig in deeper to this talent she has. 

She loves when Grandparents come to support her!

3 Months

Stockton boy is 3 months old!! He is just the sweetest and a 3 month old is WAY easier then a 1 month old. I am so glad to be past the really, really hard parts of a newborn. I still feel like 3 kids is so busy! I struggle keeping my house clean. Even though Stockton goes to bed around 10:30 PM, I stay up till midnight cleaning the main floor. Stockton's name still hasn't stuck yet. I find myself calling Stockton Brooks all the time. I guess I just haven't gotten used to having another son yet. Russ said he also does this so that made me feel better. I sure love this buddy boy of mine though! Me and him are the best of friends!

At 3 months Stockton:

- Wears size 2 diapers.

- Wore 3 month clothes for just a minute and then quickly switched to 3-6 month clothes

- Looks and smiles at me with eyes of endearment and just melts me. He sure loves his mommy and is the most happy with me! He cries quite a bit with Russ, especially if Russ tries to put him down for a nap. 

- Coos and talks so much! He loves to talk. I think he is the most chatty out of all my kids at this age.

- Is refusing to take a bottle. He has taken bottles great up until about 2 weeks ago. I have tried multiple different bottles and he refuses to eat from a bottle. I even bought a $30 bottle claiming to be the closest resemblance to a real nipple and it didn't work either. He gets this grossed out look on his face when you put the bottle in his mouth. This makes me really stressed to go back to work this coming Wednesday. Hopefully he'll choose to eat while I'm gone. 
- Is starting to stare and notice toys and things. We've busted out some of his toys to play with!
- Doesn't seem to hate tummy time but doesn't really love it either. Actually, what he normally does is just push his toes against the ground so that his body propels forward off the boppy and his head then face plants it on the ground.

- Loves sucking on his arm and almost always has his fingers in his mouth too. He still won't take a binky. I guess this guy just doesn't love plastic and only loves skin. I wonder if he will be a thumb sucker. 

- Breastfeeds every 3 hours during the day. He is my quickest nurser. He eats for about 10 minutes on one side and then I wait another 30 minutes or so and try to nurse him on the other side. 

- Sleeps pretty well at night. About 1-2 nights a week he has rough nights, waking up 3 or so times a night, but usually sleeps well otherwise. On the rough nights he is hard to console in his crib but the other nights, if he wakes up, he goes back to sleep easily with a hand on his chest and a little bit of tongue playing with his binky. 

 He tends to want to take a longer nap in the afternoon but often wakes up before he's ready to and then wants to snuggle the rest of his nap. I try to console him in his crib but he just fights until I pick him up and sleep with him. 

- Still has his own look to him and doesn't look like my other 2 kids. Maybe it is his big eyes. I feel like he is just so long and thin but then his measurements at the doctor's office say he is average so I don't know.

- He likes to be facing outwards when being held or while being rocked to sleep. 

We sent his oxygen back to the home health company this month! I'm so glad to be saying goodbye to all the tubes, stickers, tanks, cords, monitors and beeping. I'm excited for a quieter nights rest! I hope he never needs to be on oxygen again!!

He has cradle cap. It is kinda gross to be honest. I bath him every other day to help get rid of all his dry scales on his head but then he has eczema and baths make that worse. So, I just lather him up with all sorts of lotion to combat the need to bathe so much. 

There is something just so cute about freshly washed and naked babies! He actually doesn't mind baths at all. But as soon as I start draining the tub and get him out he is quite unhappy about it. Haha!

I am completely obsessed with his baby toes!

I truly love baby snuggles!! I live for them. They bring me true joy in my life. They are the best kind of therapy for me. They make me feel like all is right in the world. I never pass up an opportunity to snuggle this guy or hold him just a little bit longer then needed. I am totally obsessed with all the love this kid gives me!