We Have Moved

My very kind brother-in-law, Zach, created a new blog page for our family. It is easier for me to do posts and looks 100% better! Please change your bookmark or your blog roll to www.jensendays.com to view "Days with the Jensens" so you can still keep up with our family!

The Highs and Lows

It's been a good week around here, even though we have missed our big girl. She comes home tomorrow so we are happy to have our family complete again soon. The allergist called today and Ella-Ann's shots start on Monday...dun, dun, dun. Let the games begin, I say! I am so ready to get her on these shots and feeling better...feeling good for a change!

I took Pierson to physical therapy on Thursday and the therapist was happy with how much progress Pierson has made in a week. She can now turn her head left to right a full 115 degrees both ways, which she could not do last week. The therapist said she could tell we have been working her hard at home over the last week. It has helped that we haven't had much to do so I have had a lot of time to focus on Pierson. Rane has been very sweet with her and patient with me during all the stretches and exercises I have to do with her. He is such a sweet and good big brother to Pierson. The low of the visit was when I told the therapist that I have noticed Pierson isn't progressing with certain physical things as she should be for her age. She doesn't reach for toys, she doesn't hold them for very long and you have to open her hand and put one in it, she has no muscle tone in her arms so she cannot hold herself up while on her belly, nor can she keep her arms from flailing when she is on her belly or anytime for that matter, she doesn't open her hands much and when I put a "heavier" rattle in her hand she cannot lift her arm to bring it to her mouth. I explained to the therapist about the 2-vessel cord and that this isn't something new for Pierson, she has always been kinda lazy. She doesn't show much interest in toys and is perfectly content to sit and watch her siblings and the world go by. She does babble and makes eye contact with you at all times so that is good news. I asked the therapist if she thought it could be mental and not just physical and she said at this point it is hard to tell but she probably thought it was poor muscle tone and we just need to strengthen her. I was told to bring up my concerns with her pediatrician at her 9-month check up, so obviously it isn't that urgent. The therapist said that she could just be a very relaxed, laid back child and I do think she is just that. I just wish I would've noticed some of the red flags earlier on, like her not opening her hands (we used to have to wash her hands every day because they stunk so bad from never opening), the fact that she doesn't transfer a toy from one hand to the other, doesn't bring "heavy" objects to her mouth and still lacks control over her arms. She also keeps her legs stiff all the time so we are going to work on bending her knees, going from squatting to standing and sitting with her feet touching one another. I left the therapy session with a heavy heart as a mother but I know we are on the right track to getting Pierson stronger! I was told that we are now in therapy for 6 months, until January, 2012, instead of 6 weeks, which we were initially told. We are working a lot with her at home by doing lots of new and different exercises frequently and pushing her to do things on her own, like touch toys and hold them with both hands. I still have to do a few neck stretches as well but not as many, whew! I do have to say Pierson is doing a lot better than she was last week, like sitting and raising her head instead of always having her chin in her neck. I know we will get there. The therapist keeps reminding me that this is a marathon not a sprint!

For the Love of Trains

Rane loves trains; or for that matter, he loves any type of car, bus, tractor, truck, etc. Since Ella-Ann is in Kentucky having a blast with my parents and getting to do some fun things with her grandparents I wanted to do something just for Rane while I had him and Pierson by myself. I decided that we would head north to Duluth this morning to visit the Southeastern Railway Museum. So I really don't know what I was thinking. It was 95 degrees here today. Trains are outside. The sun was blazing. There was no breeze. Train cars have no a/c and are boiling hot. I pushed a stroller with Pierson in it but quickly realized that strollers don't board trains so I had to carry her in the boiling, hot, sweltering said train cars. At least one person had a ton of fun...Rane, and that was enough for me to endure all the painful heat!

There wasn't many people there, duh, so we had full run of the place for the most part. This was the absolute perfect place to take an energetic, crazy, running 2-year-old boy because he could pull on things, run up and down the train cars and around them, be as loud as he wanted and do whatever he wanted! He had so much fun and I had so much fun watching him in his element. It was certainly a boy thing to do and I loved doing it with him. I would have enjoyed it more had it not been so hot and I could've stopped and read about all the trains and memorabilia. We went inside an air conditioned room, just for the a/c itself, and I got to see china on display from the trains. They had little butter pat plates from all the railroads! I couldn't even imagine how luxurious that was back in the day...butter pat plates...fine china...on a train! Some trains were kept in mint condition and that was neat to see. We viewed state rooms with full size beds, bathrooms, kitchen cars with a 12-burner coal stove, dining cars, lounging rooms and state rooms. The highlight of the morning for Rane was riding on a train. He didn't move a muscle and was so excited! The very loud whistle about caused him and Pierson to jump out of their skin a few times but other than that he was in heaven!

We headed home around lunch and I was pooped for the day. The heat and carrying around poor little lethargic Pierson in the hotness was very tiring! It was worth it, though, and I know he wants to go back because he kept saying tonight that he and Daddy were going to go tomorrow!

Rane was ready to rock with the trains! I took this picture while standing in line for our tickets. He couldn't even keep his wiggly body still beside me. He HAD to run over to the train and touch it!

This was the first train car we were on and look how hot the kids already are!

Checking out the big stove in the kitchen car.

On our way to the gift shop to buy some trains! This was the coolest part of the day, literally. The only place where fans were going was in the gigantic warehouse where some of the nice trains were on display.

In one of the dining cars. I bought Rane a whistle and he couldn't put it down long enough for a picture. Poor Pierson, she was so ready to leave!

He's got a ticket to ride! He held onto that red ticket the entire way home too!

Checking out one last train before we headed home.

Just Two

This past weekend my parents came down for a visit. We had a great time with them and I completely forgot to take any pictures while they were here. They took Ella-Ann back with them for the week and I know she is having a ball because my Mom has already taken her to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday with another little girl, Briley, and her grandmother, Vicki. Rane, however, really misses his big sister. He keeps asking me where she is and, unfortunately, I have lied to him and told him she is at a friend's house for the week. He would be devastated if he found out that she was at Mimi and Grandpa's house. He was already crushed to see them leave with her on Sunday so I just told him they were taking her to stay with a friend. It worked out much better that way! On Sunday he was playing next to me and turned to me and said, "I want Ella-Ann." He has gotten used to her being around and playing with him all summer long. Also at dinner that evening he was saying the blessing and he asked God to "bring Ella-Ann home." Bless his little heart! It was so sweet.

I am going to take him to the Southeastern Railway Museum tomorrow in Duluth, which is about 18 miles away from where we live. He will love to see all the trains and I hope we will get to ride on one. He is such an easy kid and plays so well by himself that having just him and Pierson is a breeze. My house is quiet and peaceful! Without Ella-Ann there is no one to argue with but there is also no one for him to run around the house with so I think he is enjoying playing with his toys with no interruptions but he misses his playmate! While Ella-Ann is gone I open up her bedroom door and let Rane go to town with her toys! He destroys everything in her room when she is there to witness it but if he is by himself he plays very carefully. He gets lost in his imaginary world and will play for a while in her room.

We all look forward to when Ella-Ann gets home, even though we are enjoying the quietness!

PT for P

I took Pierson to see a physical therapist yesterday afternoon....with Rane, at 1:00, during both their nap times. It was quite fun. Ella-Ann is at camp this week at her school all day (8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m) so at least I didn't have to drag her there. We were there for an hour and a half and Rane did pretty good. He was hard to handle at times and it was difficult to listen to the therapist explain things to me (like 100 things) but I managed. At one point Rane turned the lights off in the room so we sat in the dark until I could find the switch. I was exhausted by the time we got in the car to leave, as was Pierson! On the other had, Rane was screaming on the way home because he wanted to stay!

The therapist evaluated her, measured her head and found her to have a moderate case of torticollis, which is a stiff neck. She said the entire right side of her body is stiff as well. I never noticed (shame on me) that when Pierson turns her head her neck muscles majorly protrude and are super tight. The therapist had to point it out to me. She has a flat head on the right side, which I have mentioned before, but that doesn't have anything to do with the torticollis. She has a difficult time turning her head to the left and keeping it there so it just automatically falls to look right. Pierson is also learning her midline to be a little to the right, since that is the way her head naturally falls, instead of center. There is about a 15-degree difference between how far she can look to the right and left and bend her ear to her shoulder. If we were to let this go she could have physical developmental problems so I have to take her to therapy once a week and do many exercises with her three times a day. Since Pierson is not fond of her stomach, which is probably why she doesn't roll much, I have to start getting her used to laying on it by having tummy time at least 5 times a day. This also helps to stretch out the front of her neck, which is also tight. Keep in mind Pierson is only awake for a maximum of 1.5 hours in between naps and in that time I have to feed her a bottle, feed her solids, run errands and now do a bunch of exercises! I have a lot on my plate but I can do it! The good thing is I have Ella-Ann, who adores Pierson, wanting to help me as much as possible. I think I can, I think, I can, I think I can!

Catch Up

This week was busy with the usual happenings, like errands and doctor appointments. I meant to post the below pictures of Pierson with a previous post, like from a week ago, but forgot. This was taken before church one Sunday when she was wearing Ella-Ann's dress...


Pierson discovered her feet a few weeks ago and now she is obsessed with them. Often when I get her up from a nap or in the morning her socks or pajama feet are soaking wet because she's been chewing on them for a while! She loves them and I love her baby feet too!

On the 4th of July, since Spencer and I were pooped from running and all the excitement that went along with the Peachtree Road Race, we just laid low around the house and let the kids stay up and do fireworks and sparklers. Craig and Kasey stopped in Tennessee to buy our fireworks since they are better there and they brought us a bunch of good ones. The kids loved the sparklers and that's about all we did because it rained really hard that afternoon and the big fireworks that Craig bought were way too loud and crazy with the tall trees surrounding our house so we only did one and that scared Rane enough to never want to be around another firework!



We also got the firepit going and made smores....

I mean, this kid loves smores!

On Saturday Rane was invited to a birthday party for his friend, Henry (my friend Megan's little boy). The theme was superhero so I bought Rane a Superman costume and he loved it! The invitation said siblings were welcome and princesses were considered superheros as well so when I told Ella-Ann this she immediately said, "Cinderella is a superhero! I am wearing that costume!" She was dressed for the party, that started at 10 a.m., at 7:30 yesterday morning! Her friend, Anna-Kate, was also dressed as Cinderella so those two girls had a ball together. I was really excited for Rane to be invited to a party. We do a lot for Ella-Ann because her friends are the children of my friends and their middle children are not too close in age to Rane so, besides PMO, he doesn't get out much! ha! He had so much fun at the party and indulged in the beautiful cupcakes Megan made before the party even started. I found him with his hands covered in white icing! I'm sure he also made a few rounds around Megan's house exploring everything and touching things he's probably not supposed to! When we got in the car to go home the first thing Rane said was, "I had SO MUCH FUN, MOMMY! What a great day!" It was so sweet that he had so much fun at a birthday party that HE was invited to!

The Cinderella's, Anna-Kate and Ella-Ann!

As soon as we arrived the kids got to decorate a lightening bolt cookie and make a mask.

I couldn't exactly yell across the table at Rane while we were all singing "Happy Birthday" to Henry so he stayed in the middle of Dave and Megan...right by the cupcakes, of course! I'm sure they will appreciate Rane being in their family photos!

Oh The Allergies

The girls, they are becoming quite a handful with all of their allergy and skin issues. I took Pierson in for her 6-month check up on Wednesday. She weighs 14 pounds, 9 oz and is in the 20th percentile. She is 27 inches in length and in the 80th percentile. She is on the same track as the other two kids. She has quite a flat spot on the right side of her head so we have to see a physical therapist soon to avoid her having to wear a helmet. I have to start doing neck stretches with her at home and will learn more to do for her from the PT. Her eczema has always been bad and has always covered her whole body so I was given a prescription for her and was told to bathe her more so I can put it on damp skin...like every day. The pediatrician told me I also needed to start feeding her more solids, i.e., breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is not a fun task for me because she doesn't have too much interest in eating. She loves fruits but I have a hard time feeding her vegetables so that takes forever. So that's Pierson's update.

On to Ella-Ann. Spencer and I noticed that her allergies seem to have gotten much worse so I made an appointment with the allergist, who we saw yesterday. They needed to perform another skin test on her (she had one when she was 2 years old), which I wanted to do so we could get her on allergy shots. She screamed as they pricked her skin and cried during the 15 minutes of "marinating" time. Her back immediately started getting red and the whelps started developing as soon as the serum hit her back. She cried and cried because she wanted to scratch so badly. It was torture for her and torture for me to watch her. The nurse came back in when the time was up and measured her whelps. Anything over 5 mm was considered to be an allergy....nearly every whelp on her back was over 13 mm. She was allergic to everything. The worst were dogs, cats and nuts (which we knew). Oak trees and grass were also bad. When the doctor came in to check out her test he immediately said, "Oh wow," and said it two more times when examining the whelps. He said he had never seen such a bad reaction, especially to dogs. Needless to say, pets are not in our future. The doctor said, when he sat down to talk to me after the test, "Let me first tell you what she's not allergic to....dust. That's about it." So in a nutshell, I have two new prescriptions to give her and Zyrtec, which she is already taking, two times a day. She will start allergy shots in 2 weeks and those will be three times a week for 3-6 months and then, hopefully, be knocked down to once a month for 4-5 years. The clinic is about 15-20 minutes away from our house, depending on traffic, so this is not going to be an easy in-and-out thing for me, especially since I'll most likely be toting along Rane and Pierson with us. We have to stay in the office 30 minutes after the shot to make sure Ella-Ann doesn't have a reaction. I was also given another prescription for two EpiPens because we need to carry around 2 now at all times. We've always had one with me and one at school but now there needs to be two with me and two at school, just in case.

I also have to start giving Ella-Ann bleach baths two times a week. The doctor said people with eczema have more bacteria on their skin so the bleach bath kills the bacteria. She has to soak for 15 minutes. After that I have to lather her up in her steroid skin cream and Aquaphor while damp, just like I have to do with Pierson. Please keep in mind that Ella-Ann cannot stand baths so a bleach bath is not pleasing to her whatsoever. I told the allergist about Pierson and how her skin is worse at 6 months than Ella-Ann's was at that age and he said she is on the same track as Ella-Ann and should get an allergy test between 9 and 12 months.

When I think about it all I am very overwhelmed with all of it. I know Spencer will be there to help me as much as he can, so that helps me feel better about the tasks at hand! I know that this is the best thing for Ella-Ann and we are on the right road to helping her feel like a brand new person. She has gotten so used to feeling miserable that I don't think she realizes that she is going to feel so much better and will be happier once the shots and all the meds get going in her system. I honestly think that a lot of Ella-Ann's whining and drama issues have to do with how bad she feels. I would be cranky too with all that she is allergic to! So, we will just take it day-by-day and I know God will help us get it all done...He has to provide all the time it is going to take for the girls, that's for sure!

The Peachtree

Spencer and I ran in the Peachtree Road Race the morning of July 4th. I ran it once before and have been wanting to run it again, especially with Spencer, but with being pregnant 3 out of the 6 summers we have spent here and Spencer's crazy weekend schedules it has been hard to make a trip down Peachtree again. Well this was the year to do it. We are leaving at the end of this year so it was now or never. I convinced Spencer that it was super fun and quite entertaining so I signed us both up for the lottery drawing in March. This was the first year they did a lottery because so many people want to run the race. We were excited to have our names drawn and we started, ah hem, I should say I started training, early on so I wouldn't die crossing the finish line. Spencer ran a bit but figured if he can run 4 miles he can run 6.2 so that was that. Let's just go ahead and say I had to carry Spencer's stuff for him after the race back to the car. :) He's still whining today. ha!

Craig and Kasey kindly brought us back Ella-Ann and Rane on Sunday and stayed to watch the kids while we ran yesterday morning. We got up super early and drove to the MARTA station. It was busy but not as busy as I had expected.....
These are not the best pictures because I took them with my phone and was walking while taking them. This was a shot of all the people getting off MARTA at the Lenox station, where we started the race. By the way, this was taken at 6:30 a.m.!

Since 60, 000 people run in the race they have everyone grouped by letters A-Y. We were assigned corral X, yes X...with the blue-hairs and run/walkers. I was not pleased. It was because we didn't turn in a previous race time when registering so we were put in the back. Well in the back we were not going to stay. We arrived and saw they had cornered off the groups of letters and gated passages so you couldn't sneak by. It was hard with all the Peachtree volunteers but we managed to sneak through a Publix, go out the parking garage and be right up with the Js! So we sat down and hid the color/letters on our shirts until it was time to hit the pavement. On a side note, as we were walking to the start I saw someone wearing an "X" tag and I said to Spencer, "Look! There's an X!" Right as I said it I looked up to see the person's face and I kid you not when I tell you the man was at least 75 years old! No way were we running in that group! Plus we weren't scheduled to run until 9 a.m.! It was already in the mid-70s by 7 a.m. So to make an already long story short, we got shoved to the side toward the exit gates THREE times by police officers as we were walking up to the start line with the J group. All three times we just made a big U and stayed with the Js. Literally we were grabbed by the arm and shoved to the sidewalks and were told "Get out of this group! Go back!" Nope, we didn't. We're such rebels.
We waited with the wrong group and ran anyway. This is us waiting to start. This is a shot of all the people behind us...
On the left if Phipps Plaza. I cannot say enough how crowded it was and what exactly it felt like to run with 60, 000 people. Crazy.

I love this picture. They sang "The Star Spangled Banner" before the race, had a prayer and 3 fighter jets flew over. It gave me chills. It was so neat. Right before the race you walked under a massive American Flag. It was held up by a crane.

We were almost ready to start!!! On the left of the picture is Lenox Mall.

Spencer and I ran the race pretty fast, but honestly it was very difficult, as you can imagine by looking at the pictures, to dodge people every 2 seconds, take all the sights around you in and set a good pace. Impossible. Along the way we saw quite a few interesting and funny things....
Like the Fur Bus (whatever that is). I know you cannot see it well, but I had to post this picture. The people on the bus in the back of the picture are, how can I describe it, like strippers. The man singing is holding a large bottle of champagne. Mind you, this is around 8 a.m. Along the way the Catholic church was spraying "Holy Water" and the priest was standing out on the sidewalk in white shorts, his collar and throwing Holy water on people as they ran by. We saw people in costumes, full body paint, tutus and headgear. I passed a man drinking beer, dressed as the Statue of Liberty and standing on stilts (He wasn't running!). Instead of water being handed out as you ran by, one restaurant was passing out slices of pizza, shots of beer and margaritas. Not only could you get a large slice of pizza along the way, but you could grab a bagel, fruit, burrito, cheeses, Popsicles, smoothies, pretzels, breakfast sandwiches and the list goes on and on. Who could eat a burrito while running? I guess the walkers in group X! Ha!Just look at the sea of people in front of me. I could see the road directly in front of me but if I looked ahead all I saw were people and more people.

This was the finish at Piedmont Park. I ran ahead of Spencer during the race and, even though we tried to keep track of each other, we eventually lost sight and he didn't have his phone so I was thankful to spot him cross the finish line. It was weird to see the park like this...it was hard to get our bearings because we didn't recognize anything. The balloons are for shirt pickups. That is how many people were there at once. They had to have huge balloons in the air to mark the tents for the coveted Peachtree Road Race shirt!

Spencer and I had so much fun doing this, or at least I did! It was fun to do something like this together and I am glad he finally got to experience the Peachtree before we moved!

Happy Half Birthday

To Pierson! Since Pierson was born on December 31st she doesn't exactly have a marker for each month so June 30th is her half birthday. The last 6 months have absolutely flown by and I cannot believe our 3rd child is already halfway to her first birthday! She is a sweet baby girl and we are so thankful for her life. She is the easiest baby and very laid back. Maybe it's the third kid thing and she has no choice but to be easy and go with the flow. She is always happy and eager to grab your attention and smile at you.

So here are Sweet P's updates at 6 months of age:

• She goes down at 7 p.m. and sleeps until I wake her up, which is between 7-7:30 a.m.
• She drinks 4 bottles a day and one jar of baby food.
• She naps 3 times a day, each nap lasting between 1-2.5 hours. Yes, be jealous! When she does wake up Pierson is talking and super happy. Of course I do not think this will always be the case because Ella-Ann used to wake up like that and now she is quite moody before breakfast!
  
• She lights up at the sight of one of her family members.
• Pierson spends a lot of time in her exersaucer, but her bouncy seat is her favorite spot, especially when I put the fish attachment on it. She kicks like crazy when she watches the bubbles and the fish move. Ella-Ann always asks if Pierson can watch her show!
  
• She cannot sit unassisted yet, but she is closer to sitting than rolling over! She doesn't roll much and will just fuss while on her belly until someone saves her by rolling her back over to her back.
• She sucks her thumb and sleeps with her bunny lovey right now.
  
• No teeth yet.
• Pierson loves to sit in her Bumbo seat and watch me work in the kitchen.
• Spencer has decided to learn how to play the guitar recently so when he is strumming Pierson goes bananas. She loves the tune!

Spencer and I have really enjoyed just spending time with Pierson this week. We really miss Ella-Ann and Rane like crazy but getting one-on-one time with little P has been great. She is precious!

Where Have I Been?

Don't fear, I am back! Our computer had a virus so it has been with the Geek Squad getting fixed for the last 4 days. Thank goodness I still had my phone....what would I do without Facebook for 4 days??? hahaha! First off, today is Spencer and I's anniversary! It is hard to believe we have been married for 8 years! I am thrilled to be going out to a nice dinner tonight with just one child! I will get to eat somewhat slowly and will only have to feed myself! This would be because Ella-Ann and Rane are in Tennessee for the ENTIRE week at their Nana and Papa's house! I do miss them, but I am just fine without them this week! It has been so strange to hear nothing except for Pierson cooing these last few days. When I get home from running errands I only have to make my own lunch for a change! I don't have to rush around for anything! It is funny the little things I have noticed that I can do....like leave my phone on the couch, computer open and the cabinets unlocked. My refrigerator is also very cold because I don't have two little people opening and shutting it all the time! My lettuce actually froze yesterday! ha! Yesterday alone I worked out, made blueberry scones, went to H&M and shopped slowwwwwwly, ate my lunch at home, made biscuits from scratch and honey butter, made a marinade for fish for dinner, went to Target and the bank, cleaned, did two loads of laundry, made dinner (grilled fish and veggies with rice) and orange julius' for dessert! It is absolutely amazing at what I can accomplish with just one child! It's so funny to think how hard I used to think it was taking care of just Ella-Ann when she was small but now that there are three of them going down to one is a breeze! Pierson is loving all the extra attention and I think she has found her voice, or at least can hear it now, because she is "talking" all the time...no one is around to interrupt her! It's so sweet.

So I will play catch up with my posts. We had VBS all last week, which was so much fun. Rane got to participate for the first time and he loved it! Ella-Ann would get in bed at night and every single night last week she would say, "I don't want to go to sleep, I wish I was at VBS right now!" She had a ball, to say the least! Rane put up some fussiness the first day at drop off and after that he was raring to get to church each morning. It helped to have Ella-Ann bouncing off the walls to get him excited to go in the mornings! Ella-Ann was such a big help to me last week with the kids. She was a doll with Rane. She wanted to drop him off in his class in the mornings (he didn't want me to take him) and they had story time together after the opening assembly and she would take very good care of her little brother. One morning I peeked in from behind on them and saw that Rane was sitting in her lap! He eventually moved out of her lap and they sat beside each other holding hands. I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up! She was so great with him. Ella-Ann and Rane may argue at home and get in trouble together but when push comes to shove, Ella-Ann adores Rane and loves being his big sister. She watches out for him for sure!

Pierson was stellar in the nursery all week too. She slept through so much loud chaos all week! I was on the registration committee so after the first couple of days I had a lot of freedom to roam and chat with my friends, which I happily did! Ella-Ann loved visiting me in snacks and would cry if I was late or wasn't there. Whenever she would see me she would coming running and give me a huge hug...as if she hadn't seen me in days!

Once VBS was over on Friday I was exhausted. Spencer drove the kids halfway to meet his dad on Saturday afternoon when he got off work (what a man!). That night we had a huge, beautiful double rainbow right in front of our house. I have never seen a prettier rainbow. Ella-Ann is obsessed with rainbows and has just recently saw one for herself at my parent's house. She thought they were some sort of myth! I was sad that she was gone from our house for just a few hours and two appear out our front window! Figures!

The theme was Cosmic City so hence the blue, black and yellow. Ella-Ann is with with her class and singing along with the people up front. This was her favorite thing about VBS...singing!

Anna-Kate and Ella-Ann are two peas in a pod and were happy to spend the week together! They are exactly alike in every way you can imagine!

Before leaving the house one morning. In case you are wondering what the brown blob is it is Dora's head.

She spotted me right as I took this picture. Always happy to see me!

I was pretty far away for these two pictures so that is why they are fuzzy. Rane is in Ella-Ann's lap above....

and holding hands in this picture.

Rane absolutely loved his teacher, Mrs. Fortenberry. She was so good with the 2 and 3-year-olds all week. I don't see how she manged with 12 of them! Rane was usually in her lap for the opening and closing assemblies. One afternoon he wouldn't even get out of her lap to come to me!

A great sight to see at the end of our week!

The Interstate Again???

This is what Ella-Ann always asks me when we get anywhere near the interstate so you can imagine how delighted she was when we hit the road, after just getting back from Hilton Head 6 days prior, to head to Tennessee and then Kentucky to visit family. Despite all of our travels, though, the kids were rock stars in the car. No whining or complaining that was too annoying! We mainly headed to Tennessee so that Spencer could get finger printed for his Tennessee medical license so we spent the night at Gary and Gayla's house on Friday. The Evans family came over so the kids were thrilled to get to play together so soon after just seeing each other.

On Saturday morning we headed to Central Kentucky to visit Nanny, Spencer's grandmother. The kids were excited to see her and I know Nanny enjoyed seeing the two big kids and cuddling Pierson. I was so proud of Ella-Ann and Rane who easily scarfed down the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, peas and angel food cake that Nanny had prepared for us! I didn't hear a single complaint out of Ella-Ann, who easily finds something wrong with "other people's" food!

That afternoon we headed 2 hours west to my parent's house to spend the week. It was my last trip to their house until we move! I cannot believe my 5 1/2 to 6-hour trips to and from their house is over! Our main reason for going last week was to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. Mom and I had a little surprise party planned for him later in the week with many of their friends. We had a wonderful time at their house and thankfully Spencer didn't get bored! We relaxed a ton but we also got out and had some fun. Spencer and I went to the movies all by ourselves! We haven't done that since before Ella-Ann was born! We also took Ella-Ann and Rane bowling for the first time while Mom watched Pierson one afternoon. They absolutely loved it! We played two games and it took about 2 hours! Ella-Ann also played Pac Man for the first time, which I played a lot (I know my Dad did too) when I was a kid so that was kinda cool. However, she enjoyed the driving video game a whole lot more!

My friend, Sara, came over with her little ones, Lucy and Jay, one morning. It was great to see them and catch up with Sara. Ella-Ann, Lucy and Rane had a blast running around the house!

Tuesday my Dad turned 60 so we had a little family celebration for him. We grilled some food, ate some cake, opened presents and did sparklers in the driveway. Ella-Ann had sparklers for the 4th last year but this was Rane's first time. We went through 5 boxes! My Dad thought that was it for his birthday celebration but little did he know Mom and I planned a party for him later that week with their friends. We had an amazing cake made for him that suited him well, as you will see from my pictures! He walked in the restaurant and we all yelled, "SURPRISE!" He was floored and had absolutely no clue we had something up our sleeves! It was fantastic! We had such a good time at the restaurants and the kids were wound up like crazy because of all the people, volume level and good time that was being had by all. Rane stuck his fingers in Dad's cake no less then 4 times before we had even cut it! He was SO excited to eat that cake and boy did he enjoy himself with it! I think more of it ended up on his clothes rather than in his mouth! The party was a great way to end our last big trip to my parent's house. We left for home Friday morning and I am happy to say I am staying put for quite a while!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to view them.

Mr. Personality

Then there is Rane! Mr. Personality himself! Rane will be 2 1/2 next month and he is still the ham of the family. He loves attention and basks in it when he gets it! I remember when Rane was about 6-8 weeks old and we had him on the floor in the bouncy seat while the rest of us ate dinner at the table. Spencer kept looking down at Rane and then would kinda laugh and shake his head. Finally I asked him why he kept looking at Rane and his response was, "I don't know. I have just never seen a baby so, so, what is it? Charming?" I mean, the kid could charm the pants off of us at 2 months of age! He just has a way of looking at you that makes you want to fall in love! ha! While Ella-Ann may bring the drama Rane brings the party! He's always ready for a good time and no matter what, he usually has one!

Rane loves to laugh and loves to be a clown. He is always full of energy and is full of spirit. He has a great, laid back, funny, sweet and loving personality. He has always done well playing on his own and if Ella-Ann isn't around to play with he easily plays in the play room by himself.

Rane speaks really well for his age and we are able to understand him, which is nice. Spencer summed up Rane really well the other day when he said that Rane speaks like a 4 year old but thinks and acts like a 2-year-old. I have to remember that when he sticks his hands in the toilet and then tells me he did it!

Unfortunately Rane's mischievous personality also gets him into trouble...often! He is always doing something that he isn't supposed to be doing so you can usually hear me yelling, "Rane!!!" from across the room! The other day he and Ella-Ann were punished for spinning Pierson around in circles while she was sitting in her exersaucer. I was in the other room and when I came out Ella-Ann and Rane scattered. When I was talking with Rane about what he had done he had his head lowered and, looking up at me with his big eyes he simply said (in a very straight face), "Ella-Ann do it." There it was.....his first blatant lie!

Rane is also our very best eater so far. He will eat anything and everything. Last night we went to an Italian restaurant with my parents and Rane ate all the black olives out of the salad and then when he asked for more my Dad took the big, green olives out of his dirty martini and Rane ate all of those...and then some! He loves to eat and I love to watch him!

Rane still takes a solid 2-hour nap in the afternoon and sleeps well at night. He loves to play outside and I would say that his his favorite thing to do. We got a dump truck for him for Easter and he will fill it up with dirt and push it from one end of the yard to the other. He loves to play in the dirt and will sit and dig a hole for an hour. Good thing he enjoys baths! His favorite book is still "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" but second runner up would be a book he has about Bob the Builder. He drags that book everywhere and will say, "Can we fix it? YES WE CAN!"

Being that Rane has such an extroverted personality you can imagine what he is like in public. He will say hello to everyone and wave and wave at anyone that passes us by. He will even stop people in the grocery and talk to them! He is such a good little boy and we love him to pieces, as does everyone who meets him.

The Drama Queen

Of course Ella-Ann is our drama queen! She brings the drama wherever, whenever! The child is my clone, so she comes by it naturally! At least I know what it takes to handle her! She is our precious firstborn and has easily settled into being my little helper at all times and really enjoys it 95% of the time. Ella-Ann takes very good care of Rane and Ella-Ann. She often helps out Rane a little too much and it causes him to pull away from her and get angry because he is very much into the "I do it myself!!!" phase. At least there is Pierson to dote on! Ella-Ann holds her every day and often asks me if she can feed her a bottle.....of course I am all for that because it frees up my two hands to do something else! Some days she feeds Pierson all 4 of her bottles!

Ella-Ann has a very compassionate heart and a passionate spirit. She will stand her ground no matter what, even if she is blatantly wrong! ha! She has a problem with screaming her demands at Spencer and I with her hands on her hips so we are working on attitude adjustment everyday. She is a Mama's girl through and through and loves to spend every waking minute with me...so much so that I often trip over her feet! She has always been my little side kick and even though she often drives me crazy following me around and asking me a bazillion questions a day I know this season will one day be over and I will miss her desire to be near me. She loves to curl up in my lap, play with my hair, whisper in my ears and tell me how much she loves me. She is one sweet little girl!

Ella-Ann is really into pretend now days and I often find her wrapped up in her imaginary world with Rane. She sets the scene and Rane will happily play along...usually he is the dad of the family or the prince in the castle! They play well together now and I couldn't be happier. The do argue and battle over toys but, for the most part, they play and work really well together. Ella-Ann will pick up Rane and carry him around the house like a sack of potatoes! It's hilarious!

I can tell a big change in her personality since she has been in school for a year. She has learned to respect authority other than Spencer and I, meet all kinds of new people from all kinds of different backgrounds, make friends of all ages, ride a school bus all by herself and be perfectly fine without Spencer and I being around....yeay for independence! Recently a friend from school that she met on the bus has started calling my cell phone to talk to Ella-Ann. I about dropped the phone the first time Anya called because it was a little voice that I didn't recognize asking to speak with my little baby girl! I asked Ella-Ann how she got my number and Ella-Ann simply said, "I gave it to her!" Oh, okay. In fact, Anya called today to just chat! One time I asked to speak with Anya's mother because I wanted to introduce myself. I was curious about how old Anya was because she wasn't in Ella-Ann's Pre-K class so after hearing the little girl's mother tell me Anya was 7 I about died laughing!

Ella-Ann is learning to read and has recently learned how to tie her shoes. I'd say her favorite thing in the world is still her bobbie, a.k.a., her blanket that she has slept with since she was 6 months old. Her favorite books are anything to do with Dora or Pinkalicious. Ella-Ann's favorite thing to play would have to be house with Rane or anyone else that she is playing with at the moment. She loves to play mommy and have the other kids be either the daddy, children or the family pet! She always, always is the mommy of the pretend family, though, but that doesn't surprise me at all because mommy is always the boss!

Happiest Baby Ever

That would be Pierson, the happiest baby God every made! It has been a while since I have talked about the kids so I will post about each of them over the next few days. I usually just write about what we are up to so I want to make sure I document the kids and their personalities so it will be in our blog book. First is Pierson! She is quite the doll of the family. She never, ever makes a peep and rarely cries. Really the only two things that she would cry about is sitting in a dirty diaper and getting too worked up after waking up in the middle of a nap and not being able to go back to sleep. She is a very content baby and easily goes with the flow. I guess she doesn't have a choice since she's the 3rd child! She smiles at the drop of a hat and her smiles are always huge! She kicks her legs and slaps her arms against her sides when she is super excited. She rolls over a little, but that's about it in the mobility department! She is no where near sitting unassisted and still has to be propped up with a blanket in the Bumbo seat. She doesn't have any teeth yet at 5 1/2 months of age but drools like crazy anyway. She is a spit up baby, but still nothing like Ella-Ann's projectile spit up that lasted until she was one!

Princess P (I have all kinds of nicknames for her) is also our biggest baby, even though she was the smallest at birth thanks to the two-vessel cord. She is already in 6 to 9-month clothing and has been growing out of all of her clothes very quickly. She is really long so Pierson may be our tallest kid! She has sweet chubby cheeks that you cannot help but want to kiss all the time. Her eyes are bright blue and much different than Ella-Ann and Rane's eyes. When I look at her I often think, you are not my child with those baby blues! Although as soon as I look at her pointy chin I see the resemblance to me. ha!

Pierson practically sleeps like a newborn. She is up at 7 a.m., sleeps 3 2-hour naps and is down for the night at 7 p.m. Her nighttime feedings ended around 4 months of age so she is an absolute champ in the sleeping department! I can definitely say that she is my best sleeper, and I have REALLY good sleeping babies/kids so you can imagine how good little P is! She has learned to sleep through lots of chaos and noise. In fact the morning we were leaving the house in Hilton Head I laid Pierson down in the living room while the rest of the family and kids were scurrying about the house getting the cars packed and when I went in the room to check on Pierson she was fast asleep amidst the madness! Pierson just rolls over onto her side and sucks her thumb for a few minutes and she is out like a light.

She found her feet a few days ago and is finally taking small toys and chewing on them. Usually she just wants to chew on her fingers.

Pierson adores Ella-Ann and Rane and lights up like crazy when she sees them, especially when they make eye contact with her. When I feed Pierson solids I put her in the Bumbo seat on the kitchen counter and it is hard to feed her because Ella-Ann and Rane are usually standing in chairs in front of her so she cannot stop smiling at them which means all of the food runs right back out of her mouth! I started baby food this week and it has gone over much better than the squash did in Hilton Head!

We all are in love with Pierson and she is a perfect fit in our family of 5!

Hilton Head

Last week was spent on the beach, by the pool, eating dinner out (all but 2 nights), playing around the house and sleeping in! We traveled to Hilton Head to spend a week of vacation with Spencer's family. We go on vacation together each year and always have a blast together. It is a trip I always look forward to! Ella-Ann had been counting down the days on her calendar for months! Ella-Ann and Rane couldn't wait to see Carter, Seth and Ethan. They arrived shortly after us and I don't think they were quiet all week long unless they were sleeping! They ran all over the house we rented all week and, unfortunately, the first floor of the house had sliding glass doors with a wrap around deck so trying to keep Ethan and Rane from exiting the house and falling in the pool was not fun! The kids played so well together and had a ball playing at the beach each morning and at the pool the rest of the afternoon. Gayla, Mandy and I would read books and magazines while the men entertained the kids and played with them. It was great! Pierson was a sweet little thing and was cuddled a lot, that is when she wasn't sleeping all day! Zach and Spencer took Carter, Seth and Ella-Ann to see "Kung Fu Panda" one afternoon while Rane and Ethan took a nap. Carter and Seth had been to the movies several times but this was Ella-Ann's first time going to the movies. It's not like I hadn't thought about taking her, it's just that she is really afraid of "normal" movies so going to see a new movie, in the dark, on a huge screen with lots of loud noises was probably not going to go over well with her....and it did not! Mandy had to go pick up Spencer and Ella-Ann halfway through the movie. Spencer said she wasn't that afraid, she just wasn't too interested in watching it and wanted to go home to swim in the pool. The kids were swimming like little fish by the time the end of the week rolled around! Zach also took the big kids to play put-put one evening as well. They loved that!

We ate lots of good seafood at night and the kids were really good at every restaurant. Please remember we were taking 6 kids to a restaurant....all at the same table and sitting close to one another! I don't think Ella-Ann and Rane have ever had so much sugar in the lives thus far! They enjoyed donuts, "candy" cereal, lots of candy courtesy of Uncle Craig, strawberry milkshakes at night, popsicles by the pool and brownies. That's what vacations are for, right? Detox is not so fun, though!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to see all of them.

Hitting the beach our first morning in Hilton Head.

He was so proud of the crumb of a seashell he found!

Pierson is always, always incredibly happy. In this picture she is wearing Ella-Ann's sun hat and my outfit from when I was a baby.

The kids, and Craig and Spencer, enjoyed sitting in the hot tub all afternoon!

Watching cartoons together one morning.

Papa and Nana with all their grandchildren.