highlights…

from lauren:

• had her six month check-up last week (what the crazy, she’s six months old already?!), and our sweet baby is now 25 1/2 inches tall and 15.1 lbs (35th percentile for both) and her head circumference is 16 1/4 (30th percentile).  so she’s growing well, mostly on mommy’s milk!
• yep, i started solids with her a couple weeks ago and well, it’s not going great.  she much prefers her milk and doesn’t get what the deal is with the spoon-bowl-rice cereal-bib-feeding seat business.
• has begun rolling all around the room when she’s laid down on the floor.  but only rolls to the left.  then she gets stuck against something like the brick fireplace or the kids’ bookshelf.  but still she doesn’t cry and just waits til i come get her.  amazing.
• loves her jumperoo.
• i call her my little crab because she’ll grab flesh from my arm, face, neck, and pinch HARD. 
• hair still sticks up.  well, the back half still does, the front half lays to the side.  which makes her look crazier than ever.
• still the mellowest little sweetheart.  phrase she hears the most often from both mommy and daddy: “you’re SO SWEET!!!”

from allie:

• pretty much potty-trained herself earlier this month.  for both pee and poop.  now my job is to find a good chunk of time to devote to getting her fully trained and used to the idea of doing her business in the potty ALL the time.  where to find that chunk of time remains to be seen.
• insists on dressing herself, brushing her own teeth, and reading her own books.  stubborn, but i love her independent streak and her need to do things for herself.
• really loves her “baby sister” (her words), but tends to be a bit too exuberant with her.
• loves playing with her baby dolls.
• loves to do anything mikey does.

from mikey:

• it’s finally his turn to be “super star of the week” in preschool (they go alphabetically and he’s been looking forward to it forever and is soooooo excited about it.  phil and i stayed up til midnight writing out the “all about mikey” paragraph for his teacher to read to his class.  yes, it took an outline and a couple of rough drafts first.  as the super star, mikey gets to be line leader, bell ringer, flag leader, and calendar helper.  added bonus is that “dad’s day” is this saturday, so that makes this whole week extra super special for our little guy.
• the letter for this week at preschool is ‘N’, so mikey (read: his parents) had to gather up five things to bring to class.  he brought in a newspaper, nuts, nails, necklaces, and nilla cookies for the class.  i had wanted to get nutter butters, but decided against it with the recent salmonella outbreak and with potential peanut allergies in his classmates.
• has finally moved in to 4t clothing.  he turns five in may.  
• has mostly outgrown his need for a nap, but still takes one occasionally.  otherwise, he has “quiet rest time” in his room while the rest of us nap.  he doesn’t seem to mind it.

most of the days speed by so quickly that i hardly have time to take it all in.  they are growing so fast.  but pausing a moment to look at what’s happening with each of my kids this week fills me with joy that i get to be here and be part of their lives.  it’s a privilege to be welcomed into their little worlds.  certainly one that i don’t deserve and don’t always fully appreciate as i should as i busy myself with all the work of mothering.  my heart is full, my cup overflows.  praise the Lord.