Life as it is right now

For us it really is the most wonderful time of the year.  Jonathan is home for basically the whole month, I'll get almost 2 weeks off at the end of the month.  The girls are fascinated by things that sparkle and those abound this time of year.  It really makes Christmas magical when you watch a child see things for the first time.  It also has helped me to understand and appreciate God's love for us more.  My endless love to my girls is just a speck of dust compared to God's love for us.  Crazy!

It's a good thing we really love Lydia right now, because she has started the phase of her development where she screams for a couple of hours at night just to have us come in her room.  It seems the only way to stop such a thing is to in fact not go in her room.  But just like God loves us and hurts when we cry....so do I when she cries!  There is a hefty amount of mascara stain on my pillow from where Lydia and I are crying together apart.  But, again just like God, I know that her temporary unhappiness will provide for her a much healthier sleep pattern, growth, and ability to face life on her own.  But MAN it stinks!  I think we are coming to the end of it because 3 nights ago she cried for 2 hours, two nights ago it was for an hour and a half, and last night was about 30 minutes.  She's a smart girl...and a much happier girl with more sleep.  And she's not the only one!

Sweet Penny is doing so well.  She's had absolutely no problems because of her wean.  She's sitting up by herself for longer and longer, she loooves to hold on to things and stand up, and she's using her voice more and more.  She's also able to roll over from her back to her tummy (with just a little assistance) and is pulling her knees up underneath her when she's in tummy time in preparation to crawl.  We are in so much trouble!

Lynnlee and her sweet parents have had the week from you  know where.  After her surgery she was not doing well and things got really scary for a little while.  They finally found that she had pneumonia with a rare bacteria and after some strong antibiotics, she's back on a regular post trach surgery baby.  We got to go visit them yesterday and had a great time.  What are the chances (because you know it was all just a crazy random happenstance) that such like-minded, similarly humored people would be going through the same thing at the same time in the same place?!

"And all the little babies decided that Pappaw was their favorite. The End." -Pappaw

"Hey Spider! I aint the water spout!" -P

"we're so cool mommy!"-L

"I know Lydia" - me

hammock time and the wonder it produces

"I'm not sure what happened last night but it sure is pretty!" -P

"hehe..I can talk" -P

nevermind the pile of laundry on the couch behind us

we decided to like the sippy cup

this we is not sure about the food