Makayla Leigh

Here we are 5 days into October and I realize I haven't  blogged for 4 months!  I will try to do better, but no promises!
Makayla was added to our family on September 6.  We thought she might be born on the 7th and share a birthday with Jason but she was 47 minutes too early.  Now we will have three birthdays within five days at our house!  We were so thankful to have a healthy, full term baby.
Life is crazy but fun with four kids.  Makayla will be 1 month old tomorrow and I can hardly believe it.  She is growing well and is growing out of some of the one-piece newborn outfits.  I am so happy she is healthy and growing but I truly love the newborn stage despite sleep deprivation.
Makayla is a pretty good baby although she is not a fan when I drink milk - tummy upset = fussy baby.  The first couple weeks she would sleep through anything but now if the other kids are a bit too loud then she wakes up and lets everyone know she is not happy about the disturbance.  Makayla will sleep just about anywhere during the day (car seat, baby bjorn carrier, swing, infant seat, in a lap) and does well in her crib at night.
Brynn is the second mama in our house.  She likes to rock Makayla to sleep and does a pretty good job at it!  Both girls are great helpers with the diaper changes (getting the diaper and wipes and entertaining baby while I change her) and love to pick out Makayla's outfit each morning.  Getting the pacifier for Makayla is also a big deal - I just have to limit them from shoving it in her mouth and having Makayla gag on it.  Hailey and Brynn also think that if Makayla is sleeping and her pacifier fell out, it needs to be popped back in her mouth.  Not the case, and now baby is mad because her sleep was disturbed unnecessarily and she is gagging on something in her mouth she wasn't planning on!  I feel like God should give parents another set of eyes for each child we have!  Maybe another arm would be nice too...
Klayton loves his baby sister but can be very jealous of the attention she gets.  He loves to point out her nose, eyes, ears, toes, etc. and says "HI BABY" in a very loud voice.  It is almost as if he thinks that because Makayla can't talk she also can't hear so he needs to talk VERY LOUDLY around her.  But, it is so cute when he asks every morning where "Layla" is and gives her a whole bunch of kisses when he finds her!  We are trying to teach Klayton what "gentle" means so he doesn't poke Makayla's eyes out when he so affectionately tries to teach her where her eyes are!

Enough talking...here are some pictures since Makayla was born.

 Makayla brought gifts for the other kids when they came to visit her at the hospital.  Baby car seats for Hailey and Brynn and mama and baby animals for Klayton.

 Resting after her first bath - she was not happy about the bath at all but luckily she likes them at home.

 Watching football with "the boys".

 Klayton was just giggling to himself one day before he fell asleep.  I had to take a picture - still have no idea what was so funny.

 Lots of outside time while the weather was still in the 70s and 80s.

 Coloring at the picnic table.  

 We had to take a couple trees out of our new yard to fit the swingset so we have a patch of dirt right under the swings.  The kids love to play in the dirt!

 Klayton - looking this way because he doesn't want his picture taken.

 Making a simple tent out of people and a blanket!

 We are within a block of connecting to the greenbelt trails around the area - Hailey and Brynn have had a lot of practice on their bikes this summer and love to ride on the trails!

I don't know what was going on here but Hailey was being very silly!

The last few months

Time seems to get away from me these days!  Here are some pictures of the past several months.  Jason and I took our first 7 day trip without kids in February.  We had an amazing vacation and the kids did pretty well splitting the time between the Grandpa and Grandmas' houses.  We stayed by the Santa Monica Pier the first night and watched the Northern Trust Golf tournament before being picked up by a friend and heading down to Long Beach for the next couple days.  Then we headed north to stay with friends that moved to California about a year ago.  It was kind of a shock to be free from child raising responsibility for so many days in a row! Jason got a few rounds of golf in and we both enjoyed much relaxation.  We drove up to the mountains to see the huge Sequoia trees - what an amazing thing to see.  It is hard to take in how vast these trees are until we were looking back at the pictures.  Amazing to think that some of these trees existed when Jesus walked the earth.

In February we also decided to put our house on the market and we tried FSBO for awhile.  We had some interest but nothing serious so we listed with a Realtor May 7 and we sold it May 29.  Now we have to be out by June 28.  We haven't found a new place yet so hopefully we can find something soon that will accommodate this timing!  At least the stress of trying to keep a perfectly clean house is over - that is about impossible with two 3 year olds and an 18 month old!  Now on to packing...  Through this whole situation we have put it in God's hands - he gave us these wonderful children so he can provide a place for us to raise them.  In our current house there just wasn't a lot of options to fit another baby in a bedroom aside from ours and I don't sleep well with an infant in my bedroom!  And, we felt Hailey and Brynn are just a bit young to be on a separate floor hence our desire to sell ours and find one with 4 bedrooms upstairs.  Hai

Hailey and Brynn were part of a tumbling class at the end of the spring.  They both really enjoyed it but Brynn REALLY loved it.  I think gymnastics might be her thing down the road...  Hailey would stand in line and sing while she waited for her turn.  She might choose other extra-curricular activities!

Klayton turned 18 months at the beginning of May.  We can hardly believe it.  He wants to do whatever his sisters are doing and unfortunately he is just not that coordinated yet!  They all play pretty well together though and the girls make very sure that he follows the rules.  Ha!  If only they would obey everything they scold Klayton for!  He makes me laugh every day with his silliness.  We have a walking route of right about 1 mile.  Klayton usually walks the first half and then takes the stroller the rest of the way.  This is the perfect way to tire them all out!  We walk past a school and the kids have been begging to play there so now that school is out we can finally go...well...for the next month anyway!

Hailey and Brynn will be 3 1/2 at the end of June.  They are both getting to be so imaginative in their play which cracks me up sometimes.  When we would show the house, we would put several of their toys in the back of the van along with any laundry baskets still full of clothes, etc.  So, one of their games is to "pack up the van" which means they put everything possible on the couch and then "drive" away.  It is so fun to see them interacting - we certainly have our share of squabbles but that is to be expected when you are expected to share pretty much everything age appropriate for you with your twin sister.  It is pretty convenient to have a twin though...they have started the giggling before bed as they chatter to each other about who knows what.  When I pop my head in to say it is time to rest, they say, "We are just talkin' mom!"  Oh, I am sure that is just the beginning.  Oh, and many times I have graduated from "mommy" to "mom"...that makes me feel like they are growing up too fast!

Here are some pictures of the kids over the last several months since I haven't posted their pics since February.

 Hailey loves to cook and bake in the kitchen.  She is like me though and doesn't like to clean up the dishes afterward ;).

 Brynn's hair can get a bit wild sometimes but I do love her curls!!

 The kids all love to feed bread to ducks or fish in the ponds at parks.

 Hailey and Brynn try to hold Klayton down for a picture of all three kids - never goes so well.

 Watching the parade at Tulip Time in Pella.

 Brynn waved back at everyone waving at her :).

 All the kids liked poffertjes...

 Mother's Day was great - I feel so blessed to be a mom.

 Playing "catch".  Somebody is excited about catching the ball!

 Everyone was excited to get the water table out again.

 Jumping on the trampoline - a new favorite.  We may have to get one of these eventually.

 Oh no, I can't find the ball!