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.