hallie is 2 months old!

it's amazing to see and experience the changes in a baby in one short little month. since the beginning of june until now, hallie has gone from just beginning to sleep consistently to (praise the Lord!) now sleeping 9 or 10 hours at night and taking several good naps during the day. sleep is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

hallie's baby acne is finally gone, and she still has a good head of hair. i think she has lost a little of her hair, but her brother and sisters were almost bald by this point... so i wonder if she'll just start growing more now or if she's just late in losing her hair.

hallie sure is smiling and cooing now. it's so precious to see her smile when she hears her sisters' voices or sees them in front of her (especially caroline). i have yet to really capture her big smile on camera... but i almost caught it here.


and then i panned over to the right to snap a shot of her entertainment... how could you not smile at these two silly things?! :)


they sure do love their baby sister. they have not stopped marveling over her every time she gives them a huge grin or "talks" to them.

here is hallie with her three biggest fans...


her "floppy airway" still makes hallie quite a squeaky baby, but i think the squeakiness is getting quieter and not so often. her doctor said the cartilage would harden by 6 months or so, so maybe it's beginning to harden. (i probably learned about this during grad school, but umm... 10 years and 4 babies later, no recollection!) it has also been at least a couple of weeks since she's gotten choked up during nursing (and then losing her lunch all over me!), which i think is related to the squeakiness...in my--ahem--professional opinion! all that to say, my baby's growin' up, not throwin' up!

(updated 7/11/12: we just got home from hallie's check-up, and the doctor said the technical term for her "floppy airway" is tracheomalacia. it goes away when you put her on her tummy... interesting! her projectile vomiting has nothing to do with the tracheomalacia. just in case y'all were wondering. and it may be a year or 15 months before it goes away. so why did he tell me 6 months before??)

ok, moving on... hallie has found her thumb, as i mentioned recently. this is a monumental occasion in our family. our kids are apparently wired to be thumbsuckers-- we could see their hands by their faces in almost all their sonograms. and frankly, it's fine with me! i have nothing against pacifiers, but my babies usually don't care for one once they've found their thumb. the perk of the thumb? it is always available and ready for soothing. i can't guarantee its level of sanitariness (is that a word?), but i never have to run out to walmart at midnight to buy another thumb! i agree that ridding a child of a pacifier is probably much easier than stopping thumb sucking, but that's really not my concern with a 2-month-old. so just let me enjoy my baby enjoying her thumb! :)

besides thumbsucking, hallie's favorite pasttimes right now are watching the ceiling fan and swatting at her toys in her gym. a quick poll: have any of you had a baby who did not lovingly gaze at a ceiling fan? just curious because my babies have all loved their friend the fan.

this past month, hallie had her first trip to the beach and first out of town trip to see family. here she is with two of brian's precious aunts.


with two months under our belt, i'd say that we are in a pretty good routine with hallie at home. the kids do their best to be quiet while she's napping, and she is the center of their attention when she's awake. some days she requires more attention than others, and we just go with it. some days we get some (catch-up) school work done, and some days we don't. some days i get some house work done, and some days i don't. i usually don't accomplish a lot of both in one day! but what is always guaranteed is a busy home full of little people learning how to love each other and their Lord... and lots of snuggles from this scrumptious doll! God is good!


now that hallie is sleeping so wonderfully, i can move on to other goals... like taking more pictures and video of her and bathing her more often. yes, such is life with the 4th child!! (and seriously, is she really all that dirty? well, she is definitely the least dirty member of this household!) i really will be back soon with pictures from ethan's birthday and the 4th of july!

happy 4th!

happy fourth of july from our little firecracker!! (hopefully this will make up for the mad baby picture.)


if the rain will stop, we are planning on having a family cookout and a short walk down to the fireworks tonite! the big kids stayed at nana and pappy's last night, and they watched the parade this morning. nana snapped this picture with her iphone after the parade...


i guess they're sort of having a good time! (note that amelia already has a popsicle in hand at 10:45 AM!)

be back soon with birthday and fireworks pictures!

july is here!

hallie looks a little upset about saying good-bye to june, but don't worry... she was just a little hot and tired. while i much prefer happy baby pictures, i must say that there is something strangely cute about mad baby pictures. please tell me i'm not alone!

before i start getting hate mail from all the grandmas out there for posting a picture of my baby screaming, here is a happier hallie less than a minute later...


and here's what helps hallie be such a happy baby.... the thumb! yay for hallie finding her thumb!!!


i love these silly kiddos! doesn't it look like hallie is intentionally being goofy?


the beginning of july is a busy time for us! ethan turns 7 years old tomorrow, quickly followed by wednesday's celebration of america's independence. we are looking forward to lots of family time this week! have a great week!

back in the saddle...

the kids and i ventured out to the beach yesterday to meet up with one of my dear college friends, ashley. her family is spending the week together not too too far from us, so i jumped at the invitation to head her way for the day. after spending the last 6 weeks mostly inside, i was excited to get some sun and fresh air... and to see one of my very favorite people!!

(the picture above is from last summer... ashley and i didn't get a picture together at the beach yesterday.)

our kids quickly warmed up to each other, and in no time, they were frolicking in the wave together. here are ethan, caroline, and noah. caroline and noah especially hit it off and were by each other's side the entire day. (i hate that i failed to get a close up picture of noah... he was busy in these waves most of the day!)


watching this girl giggle in the waves all day just made me giggle!


amelia stayed away from the waves, but she was completely content to play in this little puddle area.


is it just me, or is she looking so much older these days?


ethan spent much of the day searching for fish... and he caught SIX little minnows! he was so thrilled with every poor little fish that ended up in his net. here is the big fisherman after his first catch. (i don't think you can really see the fish in the bucket...)


isn't ashley's little girl, eden, so sweet? she was a busy little thing!


and how about our littlest beach bum?


this was hallie's first trip to the beach, and she did great! the continual breeze off the water and the sound of the waves just lulled my baby to sleep in the shade...


eden was constantly curious about hallie... i love these two shots of her peeking in at the baby.


ahhh, this is the life, hallie girl...


i enjoyed visiting with my sweet friend and watching our kids play together. her family is so encouraging and wonderful to be around, and they were so helpful with the kids! they surely made my first venture to the beach with 4 kids an easy one!!

happy father's day!

our first family picture since hallie came home from the hospital! (i think...)

happy father's day to brian, my love! our children adore you, and you amaze me with your patience toward them. i am thankful that you desire to raise our children as children of the King!

also, a very happy father's day to my dad (papa) and brian's dad (pappy). i love the way that my children get so excited to see both of you! they love every minute that they spend with you, as you both keep them laughing and laughing! thank you for loving our children so much.

we are also thinking of brian's granddaddy today, who we were blessed to spend the day with yesterday. i love that at 98 years old, he was able to hold his newest great-grandchild! today is the one year anniversary of grandmommy going to be with Jesus, so i know this is a bittersweet father's day for him. here is granddaddy with our kiddos...


as you can see, my kids love granddaddy. ethan wants him to come to ride go carts for his birthday, and caroline draws him a picture at least once a week. he is constantly the subject of their prayers and conversations. the kids know that it will not be too long before granddaddy goes to Heaven, so i was thankful that we were able to see him this weekend.

how blessed my children are to be surrounded with godly men who are consistently pointing them to their heavenly Father. praise God, and happy father's day!