Celebrating Thomas

We had a super fun day celebrating Thomas. Currently, his love is centered around the sea and all the creatures there-in, most especially, the giant squid. That's what all new five-year-olds like, right? I love listening to him have conversations with Grandma's and Grandpa's on the phone, telling them all the giant squid facts he has planted at the forefront of that amazing little brain. It's quite a trip! Thank goodness for lots of good books because I would never be able to impart all that this kiddo wants to know on my own.

Anyway, we celebrated his birthday on President's Day since everyone was home from school and Ronnie was working the night go that week. We opened presents first after breakfast. He loved all the sea-themed gifts! I was very proud that I was able to find a plush giant squid (or any giant squid at all!) He thinks, if he likes it, it's available anywhere. Not so, my love! Most children are not into giant squid, cuttlefish, and giant isopods to name a few. They're scared of them, in fact!

We followed presents with a trip to the Shark Reef. Yes, it's an aquarium, but pales if you've been to the National Aquarium. Thankfully, he hasn't, so this was great! It's nice that it's small. Makes it easy to get through with the little ones. Unfortunately, the giant Pacific octopus was hiding, so he didn't get to see it.

Lunch at McDonald's (of course) and then cupcakes and jello after rest time made for a full day and complete birthday celebration. He had a great day and that's what matters.

Enjoy the pics of his day. Thomas has his class mascot, a Racoon named Chester, with him in a lot of the photos since we had him for the weekend. He wasn't nearly as excited to tote him around as the squid or sea turtle he got for his birthday, but since we needed to journal about him, had to take him on a few adventures. He always surprises me. Thought he was going to love having Chester for the weekend.

Dearest T-Man,

Wow! How we love you! You are honestly, one of the neatest people I have ever met. You are SO incredibly smart, SO witty, SO joyful. You live life the way (I think) it's supposed to be lived. You're just full; full of life, spirit, laughter, knowledge, and even sometimes, the business! We just absolutely adore you! If I could do it all over again, I'd want to be just like you when I was a kid.

Thanks for making it all so much fun! Happy Birthday!

Love, Mommy






We filled a fish bowl with blue jello and gummy sea creatures to create our own little ocean. Then, made yummy cupcakes with sharks or octopuses on top.

5

Thomas is five today!!

His first words to me as soon as he saw me this morning, "I feel a lot taller already!"

Love that!

Will share more and add photos a little later of his fun birthday celebration yesterday.

Videos

Love all of these! Hope you do too! They're all from yesterday.

Gaby calling for Clay and TaTa. LOVE it!



Dancing, dancing, dancing! She's quite the mover and shaker (always on her knees! Silly girl!)



Thomas' birthday song. Yes, he made it up....in bed a few nights ago when he was supposed to be going to sleep.



Oh, and I found some darling lavender bedding this afternoon. Now I'm even more excited!

Starting the Preparations

Did you see the baby ticker? 56 days! 56 DAYS!! Whoa! Where is the time going?

We're starting the preparations. We ordered another crib and bookshelf last night. I have the dresser/changing table picked out too. We'll be ordering that soon as well. It wasn't on as good a sale as the crib and bookshelf, so I'm holding out a bit in hopes it will come down too. It's a super cute set....and very girly. No, we don't know we're having a girl (just think that), but we're actually going to give Gaby this set and use the oldie-but-goodie, soon to be four-times-over set for the newest little one. It's very gender neutral and since we already have at least one beautiful little lady, decided to get her something girly and a little more grown-up looking to last her a while. Getting excited! It's still a little funny to me that we have to buy more for Baby #4 than for any of them since Clayton! Never needed two cribs or a double stroller before. Speaking of, taking recommendations for a great double stroller.

We've been slowly working on clearing out the spare bedroom to be turned into another nursery. This room was initially a spare bedroom/office. Then, it was Clayton's room. It had a brief stint as a playroom, then back to a spare bedroom/office after we bunked the boys. Then....two weeks after buying a new queen mattress and lugging the very heavy computer armoire back upstairs, we found out we'll need to turn it into a nursery. My goodness!

Also, looking for some super cute lavender nursery bedding to have just in case this babe does turn out to be a girl. If you see some, let me know. Not having a ton of luck so far. Gab's room is pink and green, so want to do a little different color scheme for this one. If the kiddo turns out to be a boy, we're planning to go back to Clayton's snoopy nursery with some new bedding. I still have all the accessories, but the bedding didn't hold up well enough to keep after two years of being dried in an Italian dryer. Those things are crazy!

Happy Sunday! Off to grab a quick nap before continuing the birthday preparations for Thomas. Five on Tuesday. Wow. Wow!

First Steps

Just a little busy around here these days (sarcasm!) Even too busy to document the very exciting first steps of Gabriella on Super Bowl Sunday. Had to say "Super Bowl Sunday" because I couldn't remember the date. Alas, believe it was February 6th if my memory is serving me (which it most certainly isn't these days like most of the rest of my body.)

Anyway....too much additional commentary....sorry. OK, so we're at Ronnie's brother's house for the Super Bowl. Thomas, Gaby, and I had just arrived a few minutes before. She's standing at the ottoman in the family room and just starts walking over to me on the couch. It was so cute! And like I figured, her first steps were a whole bunch, a good seven, maybe more. She's so steady on her feet; figured when she wanted to go, she'd just go and she did. Loved seeing that little body toddle towards me.

She took a few more steps the next couple days, then stopped again until yesterday. She's started standing independently and pretty much at will since then. And she's walking holding on to one hand of mine or Ronnie's much more. But when she wants to go, she will do almost anything to get to her knees to get there fast! Think we're definitely dealing with a "I'll do it when I'm good and ready" type of chica here. Love her to pieces, but I'll confess a fear of her teenage years already! :)

Have lots more updates and photos coming soon hopefully. Lots of fun pics from our day of sledding last week. We missed a trip to Disneyland with some wonderfully special friends due to my illness (that little cold turned into a nasty infection that required antibiotics and kept me down for a good 10 days)....but at least we got a day in the mountains on the backside of it. I'll take what I can get these days.

Oh, we've made it through four of our six doctors' appointments so far and everyone is healthy! Yay! And not sure what position the babe is in these days. I'm thinking transverse, but not sure. Pretty sure it's pulled its foot up because I'm not feeling those boots to the cervix anymore, but don't think we've achieved full-flippage yet either. Keep praying!

In Awe

This post should have been written yesterday, on THE day, February 2, 2011. But due to a very sick Mama, it's happening a day late. That's not to diminish it's importance at all. Truly, this was a divine moment and as such, came when I was least expecting it.

I was driving Clayton to school yesterday morning. Just Clay, Gaby, and me. Ronnie took Thomas to school. So as seems to happen fairly often, in the car, especially when it's just the three of us, Clay really opens up. He first asked me what the middle finger gesture means as he'd just had the privilege of witnessing that the day before by a fifth grade girl. Addressed that. Then we moved on to me asking him about a scratch I noticed on his neck.

"Don't worry about it, Mommy. A boy did it at school yesterday, but we went to the office and it's all straightened out."

Don't worry about it? Sure. I tried to be sensitive and delicate though. I don't want him to think we're going to jump on and overreact to every situation that arises (which he expressed was his concern). I ended up asking him several questions which he answered, so I felt like I got a pretty clear idea of what happened and how it was handled by the appropriate people. Of course, I'm giving you the abridged version. It ended up being a really good conversation. I was able to express our love for him and how we just really didn't want him to feel like he had to go through things alone....ever. That's crucially important to me, to us, as parents. So ended on a high note, but just had that heavy feeling that comes with having to teach your kids the harsh realities of life. Hate seeing them lose their innocence.

We pull up to school and Clayton just kind of sits there. He's usually very eager to jump out the door, even a little annoyed when I make him wait for a minute while we pray for him.

He finally asks, "When can I be baptized? I mean, is there a certain age that you and Daddy want me to be?"

We've talked about this before of course, so I just reiterated what we've talked about in the past. That there's not a certain age for baptism, but we have to first accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We must believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and He died to save us from our sins, and then the Holy Spirit will come to live in us and we get to spend eternity in heaven. We talked a little more; mostly about how that time is different and special for everyone; that it's just when God prompts your heart to make that commitment. AND that it's a big commitment. It's choosing to follow God for the rest of your life, not just words that we say or what maybe seems like the fun of baptism. Like I said, we've talked about this before, and he's always said he wasn't ready. I could tell today was different. I asked him if he was ready.

"I'll do it tonight," he said.

"OK," I responded. Wanted this to be totally between God and him.

Then, he asked, "Or can we do it right now?"

"Yes, if you're sure you're ready."

"Yes, I am."

He reached back to grab Gaby's hand to pray (so precious) and he took my hand, and I lead my amazing first-born son in a prayer of salvation.

So amazing. So precious. So divinely orchestrated. That on the heels of a "real life" conversation, it almost seemed like he recognized the need for a Savior. I love watching God work. And watching your very own child accept God's free gift of eternal life, that's nothing less than a miracle. I'm still in awe.

After some hugs and few more words (what I could muster through my tears of joy), he stepped out of the truck with a confident stride. Truly, a confidence was brimming from him that I've never witnessed before. He turned back twice to smile and wave, and just looked perfectly content.