A lot has stayed the same since March, 2013. I am still a stay-at-home mom to four amazing kids. Scott is still working at the church. I still home school and love the Cubs and IU basketball. God is still my first love, the driving force behind all I do, and brings unexplainable peace and joy.
But so much can change, especially in little people, in 20 months. There is no way I can catch up, so I'm not even gonna try.
This is where we are at today.
My Wild Child
Oh my. This girl brings pure joy to our lives. She thinks life is a game. She laughs and screams and dances and walks around with her eyes closed just for the pure excitement of it. She runs when I say "come" just so I will chase her. She goes limp when I try to dress her. She changes the words to songs to make everyone laugh. She sneaks stuff all the time. She sneaks toys in her bed and hides them under her pillow. She sneaks treats and eats them under the table. She gets into her older siblings stuff and smears Vaseline everywhere, every chance she gets. And did I mention that she laughs? All the time?
Her beautiful blue eyes are always filled with anticipation of the next great thing that might happen. Her hair is curly like her mama's. She sucks her thumb and twirls her hair and is just about the cutest thing ever.
She likes to play tea party, play dough, Barbies, Polly pockets, tackle, and anything that her siblings are playing. Since last November she has been sleeping on the bottom bunk in a room with Eva. She loves sharing a room with her sister. She climbs up in bed with her in the mornings and they cuddle. Sometimes she climbs up there during the night and I have to go in and put her back in her bed.
She is independent and content. She was my hardest to potty train because she didn't want to be told what to do. We borrowed a movie from the library called "Potty Power" that taught her she is in control and has the power to use the potty. From then on she never wore a diaper again. She is very strong. Watch out world!
She loves people and calls everyone her friend. She is especially fond of her cousins Liam and Michael right now. She cuddles and hugs and kisses with the best of them. I really could go on and on about my Chara Raine. I LOVE being her mommy!
The Boy
I thank God all the time for giving me a son! He is oh so tender but all boy. He adores his mommy and Dad is his best buddy. He favorite thing to play is "guys". His imagination is amazing. He also plays with cars, dinosaurs, any kind of sport, and Lego. This kid of mine is solid. He is strong. He likes to keep his hair short, which kills his dad. We do all miss that curly fro.
Justus is 4 had has a lot of great days, but honestly, this has been a hard stage. He isn't quite sure how to express his anger. He does a lot of screaming, crying, and occasionally throwing of toys at his wall. There are a lot of days, for his sake, I wish I didn't have the time commitment of homeschooling the older two so I could just pour my time into this guy. He is sensitive and thrives on one on one time. He likes for people to hear his opinion and to have someone to play with. With 3 sisters in the house sometimes that is hard. Dad takes him to work from time to time just to give him a break from all the girls who like to be his mom here at home.
There really are a lot of great moments and I cherish those. He says that sweetest things to me at night. He cries when her hears a sad song. He doesn't like to watch "scary" movies. We are trusting God to get us through this stage and to bring some really great guy friends into his life.
My Bucket-Filler
Eva loves to make people happy. We call that "bucket-filling". She serves me at home often. It is common to hear her ask if there is anything she can do for me. When she gets in the zone she can clean the whole house on her own and no one can stop her. She also often compliments strangers. If we are checking out at a store, she always finds something to compliment the employee on. "I like your hair, nails, shirt, etc." One time in the Taco Bell drive thru she told a lady she liked her hair and the lady gave her free cinnamon twists. The kindness comes from deep in her heart.
But she does have a true stubborn streak. She likes to win at everything and usually thinks she is right about everything. She also does things without thinking. Last week at Kroger she opened the door where they keep the ice cream and she scraped off some of the frozen stuff on the shelf and put it in her mouth. As I started freaking out on her about how she has no idea what is in that she spit it out and found a piece of plastic. So gross. She says hurtful things without thinking and regrets it right away.
She is making some new friends but her best friend is still her sister Haddee. Sometimes on the weekends Haddee will invite her to come downstairs and spend the night in her bed. Eva loves that. She is into Barbies, Friends Lego, coloring, and board games. Checkers is her current favorite.
Eva has the most beautiful smile. She wears jeans every. single. day. Her favorite movie is Spy Kids and she reads chapter books like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes she finishes a book in 2 days.
My Eva lives life with passion and purpose. She is a blessing to me!
I will save my oldest for next time.
Peace out.
