Life is a Highway

For Christmas this year, I ran across an idea that I thought would be perfect for Nate and my brother~


It's a car mat/shirt/massage medium! I think this is my favorite thing I made this year :) The one above is Nate's. It has our church (which looks like our church), school, playground, Exxon station, my parent's house (which looks sorta like the real thing ;-), our house, and Target (which Micah is obsessed with and talks about constantly.. "Are you going to Target?!! Are you going to get more fooooooooood?!! For ME?!!").

This one is my brother's.... I changed the name of the church to theirs but it'd be hard to draw so it looks like ours ;-). I swapped Target for a replica of their local library which they go to all the time, and gave them a representation of Big'z (their favorite burger place)~

Each dad got a shirt and a car for each of their kiddos to use on their new shirt! Our kids are big fans and Nate gets a back massage of sorts when they play with it... everyone wins!

1 Month Old

I'm trying to avoid saying this because it has to be one of my least favorite cliches, BUT.... I can't believe Jane is 1 month old already! It just does not seem like it has been that long, but here we are.... it makes me a little sad since Jane is (as far as we are concerned) our last baby. I have a feeling I will be disproportionately emotional about each and every milestone she reaches until... well, forever :)

So anyhoo, I have always taken pictures of my kids at each month "birthday" but never with a certain stuffed animal or a sign saying how old they were or any of that. Well..... I am a sucker for a good idea, so when a friend of mine with a daughter two weeks older than Jane posted her 1 month pictures I simply had to shamelessly copy her... the idea was too cute!

See? Cute, right?! Well, if you don't think so then I am officially no longer your friend... try to control your tears. Anyhoo, I have an idea for how I want to spice up some of the other months, so we'll see if Jana does the same thing I have in mind :)

Janie decided to go to work immediately on removing her flower.... I guess I officially have my second hair accessory intolerant child, le sigh~

At one month old, Jane is starting to spend more time awake (day and night) and is fairly content.... unless she's not... just sayin :) She follows people and sounds with her eyes and will track her very noisy brother all the way across a room. She will happily do tummy time as long as she has a book propped up where she can look at it.

She has started giving us a very occasional awake, non-gassy, non-tired smile but you really have to work at it. Mostly she'll just give you a look like she's just not too sure that you're "all there" the harder you try to make her smile. Her siblings both love talking to her, patting her head, and giving her kisses and our main problem is keeping them from suffocating her with blankets or burying her in books while they're trying to take care of her.

And because the startle reflex is always good for a laugh~

We didn't even pose her, Lizzie just wanted to be near Jane~

Happy 1 month to our Janie Bear... we love you!

DIY Gifting

I made a lot of the gifts that we gave for Christmas this year... have you noticed that? It was actually a lot of fun being able to really customize our gifts. Well, here is one of the last ones I wanted to share with y'all. Notice I didn't say it was the last... I still have more..... I'm not sure where I found the time/ energy being preggo and all :P Anyhoo, I made these scarves for my sister-in-laws (all 3) and had to churn one out for myself in the process~


The first picture shows the color more accurately... sort of a middle ground between Fightin' Texas Aggie maroon and OU crimson. And before you ask, yes... I do describe colors based on their similarity to NCAA division I school colors :) But I like this pic better~

However, due to my lack of ever being able to remember to take pictures while it is light outside, they were both taken by my iPhone in the hall bathroom.... basically they are as good as can be expected under the circumstances and hey, you get the idea :)

Endless Expressions

Lizzie has no shortage of expressions that she can pull out for pictures. She is a total ham and she enjoys the reaction she gets from people when she's doing her thang~

I'm obviously incredibly biased, but I think she has grown into an absolutely beautiful little girl... just saying :)

Life with Three

Funny thing about having your third baby... the first two still expect to be entertained; go figure ;-)


Of course, this entertainment looks a little different when you have three~

Nate is doing some serious multi-tasking there! I was scarfing down dinner and saw his offspring juggling act... and amazingly they all seemed happy!

Well, Jane is unconscious but I'm sure she's happy too ;-)

Wide World of Sports

You have to love Texas in the "winter".... it could just as easily be 70 degrees and sunny as it could be 40 and cloudy :) Anyhoo, the kiddos enjoyed some different activities while their Kansas family was here... hockey pics are mine, all others courtesy of Aunt Ray :)

The kids really got into their new street hockey/ soccer set!


Micah tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve... wonder where he got that from~

Yup, we ARE the kinds of people who just leave their kids in their pj's all day and throw on a pair of shoes to go outside.... don't hate :)

Lizzie enjoyed playing, but she also enjoyed her management position with Daddy~

She actually has some decent skills for a not-even-two year old with no previous experience~

After hockey, the kiddos decided to take a few laps around our indoor tricycle track~

and much enjoyment was had by all~

Lizzie figured out a way to keep the paparazzi at bay~

and, of course, nice weather means that time on the swing set is an absolute must~

I've saved my favorite pictures for last... I'm excited to share them with you next week!

Visitors

The kids were a wreck when Nate and I had to leave for the hospital the night before Janie was born. While there were multiple reasons that I was anxious for labor to move more quickly than it was, the biggest was that when we left the night before, I anticipated Jane being born during the night and that the kids could come up and see us right after they woke up. As labor continued and we approached nap time, it broke my heart that the kids wouldn't see us before they woke up from their naps.

The kids were definitely ready to see us and when Nate met them outside the hospital, they ran up to him and smothered him in a great big hug~


Headed up to meet baby Jane~

She is looking so old to me recently!

Making introductions....

Micah is such a sweet kid and he has been so interested in Jane~

Apparently the entire time we were in the hospital, the kids ate.... 24/7. According to both sets of grandparents, they were endless pits and each time they came to the hospital, they helped themselves to whatever they found on my tray as well~

Jane meeting Grandma Cathryn.

I got some sweet snuggles from Lizzie :)

Scoring even more of Mommy's food...

Lizzie found a buddy in her Aunt Ray~

Heading home...