Ramblings, One month, and Catch up

I'm sitting next to Natalie who has managed to get blueberry muffin in her hair, eyes, ears, and pretty much anything else you can think of. She has grown up so much since Elijah came. She is finally starting to talk. She says: yeah yeah!, banana, nom (that means she's hungry), dada, and if we're really lucky, mama. She can climb anything and is fearless when doing it. I'm in a constant state of panic trying to keep her out of things, off of things, and off of the baby. She eats out of a bowl and uses a spoon, sort of. My favorite new trick is that she kneels and folds her chubby dimpled arms for family prayer.

The big new news is that Jason got a job this week. He will be working for a local company called Prosper doing sales. It's commission based so we're a little nervous but grateful for the opportunity to work and get back into a normal schedule. Other big news is that we put our condo up for sale. I thought it would be fun to add having to have a continually spotless house to my list of stuff to worry about. ;) We hope it sells quickly and we are looking forward to finding something with more space.

Elijah, shockingly has no quirky nickname. This is unprecedented in our family of Benny Penny, Bill, Barlaney, Joe John, and Monster. He was Kermit for a few days but it didn't stick. My dad calls him "Lige". We'll see. It's been our task this month to get Eli as fat as possible. I think we've succeeded. He's "very healthy". He is generally a very content little guy who rarely cries "for reals". He loves to cuddle and he loves to be warm. He's most happy when he can bask in some sunlight or take a warm bath. He HATES to be swaddled and keeps stretching until he gets out of it. My favorite thing about having more than one child is watching them interact. Ben and Liam spend hours playing with cars and airplanes. Natalie has been crawling in bed with Lizzy. The other day I caught the twins standing on the kitchen counter "making a concert". They were singing Jingle Bells over and over, each chorus got jazzier and jazzier.

Ben made us all proud by earning his Bobcat. He has had a lot of fun with scouting and likes to get his book out and request to learn something in it. He's such a good example!!





This last picture shows the reason that I have been able to practice the piano more in the last month than in the previous 12 months.




P.S. This is my threatening note to Amy: You know what will happen if you don't post. 4 weeks? For SHAME!