David is 3 months

Baby boy is getting so big!! Jeremy has asked me several times if I'm able to really enjoy him. All you moms know that no matter how much you try to enjoy and soak every minute of them up it's never enough. They grow too soon and you'll always wish you would have held them more, snuggled them longer, the list goes on. But in answer to his question I'm trying :)He is just such an easy laid back baby he's so easy to enjoy. He also probably gets put down a lot more than I would like because he is so easily entertained by his play mat and other little voices are calling me :) This last month he has started "talking" a lot more. He loves to watch his brothers and sisters run around and he will give them all the biggest grinners. They all love to make him smile so he gets lots of attention from them. On the rare occasions that he is fussy all I have to do is sit him in my lap and let the others run around us and he's perfectly content. He's eating 4oz every 3 to 4 hours during the day and takes his last bottle between 9 and 10pm. I still swaddle him for every nap and at night time. I've tried to put him down without it but he doesn't sleep too well. He's getting strong and some mornings I'll find that he has gotten totally out of the miracle blanket and is just cooing away. Some nights he'll bust out by 5 am and fuss a bit. I go in and wrap him up again and he goes back to sleep until 8am or so. Most of the day he either lays on his play mat or in his bouncy seat. He sits in the bumbo seat some but he still doesn't have full neck/head control so only a little bit. He's starting to get bored with the bouncy seat so I expect over the next month he'll be sitting in his bumbo more and more. We are so thankful for his little life and glad he's a part of our family. Here's a "few" pics :)

I think eventually he is going to be a thumb sucker like James and Gracie because he's constantly sucking on his hands but he likes his wub a nub too :) Thanks Aunt Miche!

Passed out on Daddy :)

You know I LOVE a sleeping baby :)

Grinning at mommy :)

Holding on tight - LOVE

We had friends have Santa come to a birthday party. The big kids were with their grandparents but David, Benjamin and I got to go. Benjamin was not a big fan of the man in the red suit but David was easy. He's such a great Santa! For all my Santa lovin' friends I have a friend that does Pictures with Santa every year and they are super cute. They aren't your basic sit on Santa's lap pics - It's a 30 minute session of your kids and Santa walking around, talking, etc. Check out  Benzaiaphoto here - told you, A-Dorable! Keep her in mind for next year but you have to book early - she fills up fast :)

Poor David - it's hard to get one one one time with  mommy :)

Happy Happy Baby

Not a great pic of me but this is what dinner time around here usually looks like. I need my other hand to take care of the other kids and feed Benjamin so I usually have the bottle under my chin - what ever it takes, right?

My two baby boys! Benjamin looks super happy and David looks unsure!

Sleeping baby - can't. get. enough.

December update

I seriously am sooo behind on the blog and I am sick over it. I have been so diligent with the blog since the day James was born and I absolutely LOVE to go back and read it from years past. I read things that I had totally forgotten about (things I thought I would never forget - but I have) and I'm so glad I have so many stories written down. So, I'm really trying to catch up and do better going forward. I'm going to try and give the blog 15 minutes each day - not that I'll post every day but just add pics, write a little bit and try to keep on top of things. Once again this post is going to be all over the place. Since Jeremy got me an Iphone recently I take most all of my pics on my phone and then post them on instagram or facebook so if any of my "readers" follow me there my blog probably won't be so exciting anymore (because for years I know all three of you have been on the edge of your seats as you read my posts - ha!) but I want to make sure I get all those cute moments on the blog too. So, I'm basically just posting a TON of pictures and writing as I go. I have a separate Christmas post coming up :)
The month of December was busy busy busy around here. I did our Christmas countdown again. This year it was a mix of fun things to do and special Christmas themed devotionals. I'm really trying to incorporate old and new traditions in to our family each year. This year I think I did too much and I'm really going to have to pray about what to keep and what to not repeat again. I want my kids to have fun and love the Christmas season but more than that  I sooooo want them to know the true meaning of Christmas and while we talked about it being Jesus' birthday a lot I'm still not quite happy with how the focus shifted through out the month. Anyhoo - all that to say our Christmas traditions are evolving.
On to the pics:

My two big boys!! I can't believe these boys are 4 and 5. I feel like just yesterday they were tiny like David and Benjamin. They really are such awesome boys. I adore them more than words!

Usually every December we make a new batch of play dough for the year. This year I had lots of help :)

This little guy wasn't able to make or play with the play dough but he was still happy to be here :)

Making play dough Christmas cookies

A new jumpy place opened near our house and one day we went to check it out. The kids had a blast!! It was like a gerbil amusement park for toddlers. All sorts of tubes, tunnels, slides, and ball pits! I don't think they spent five minutes in a bouncy house; instead they were exploring every thing else.

Um, this picture is random but it cracks. me. up. This is how Benjamin eats. everything. Eyes closed, mouth open wide. It's a little barbaric but hysterical :)

My precious last baby all bundled up one cold morning. More about him in an upcoming post - he's almost 3 months!!!

My sweet and sassy girl in one of her new Christmas outfits from my mom. As much as she loves to run around and climb trees with her brothers I love that she LOVES to dress "girly" as she says it. She's super fun to dress up! Put her in a dress and she'll be spinning and dancing like a "princess" all day. Love it!

This is our third year to do Community Bible Study. Oh how I love it. Not only is it a great bible study and time of fellowship for me I absolutely love how they pour in to my babies. This is a pic from their Christmas show. They sang several songs and quoted several verses. So thankful for this.

Cutest 15 month baby boy I know! I am obsessed with babies in overalls. I think it's the cutest thing!

James is the BEST big brother. He's always willing to help me when I need a few extra hands.

Some of our sweet friends moved to Atlanta earlier in the year. We were all so sad to see them go. We had fun when they came and hung out a bit. (Our Christmas countdown bags are hanging on the window. I went for the more minimalist look - brown paper sacks and hand colored numbers :)

This girl LOVES "her" babies. So much so she rarely plays with her baby dolls. Who needs them when you've got live ones in the house :)

This wild man thinks he's 3! 14 months and climbing in to the play house all by himself and so proud!

This was the first year I let the kids make gingerbread houses. It actually wasn't as stressful as I had feared. They LOVED it. I did it on a night when I knew Jeremy would be home to help me in case it got too crazy. Here he is serenading the kids :)

The three finished products - do you think they had fun!?!

Um. seriously, have you ever seen anything sweeter than this!?! These two can be so sweet together. She loves to have him sit in her lap and he usually likes to as well. This day she was "reading" to him.

This was our third year to take the kids to a local churches walk through nativity. This is ONE of my FAVORITE traditions that we will be keeping. The kids remember it too and it opens up to soo many great conversations about Jesus. So thankful for all the people that work so hard to do this for the community. Here James and his buddy Beau are watching the scene where Jesus heals the man that was lowered from the roof by his friends.

We went on our first home school field trip this past month. We went to American Village's Christmas. I thought it was super cute and fun for the kids. They got to see a replica of the Liberty Bell and the Oval Office and learn lots of fun stuff. They also got to meet "George Washington" and his grand daughter. Jeremy stayed home with the babies so I could go with just the big kids. We had a great time followed by lunch AND ice cream.

My future world shakers!!!

At one point on this trip some one asked me if these three were triplets?!?

James playing dress up as a colonial soldier

Gracie dressed up as a little lady

John-Mark was a "gentleman"

This is one of those places where they people stay in character all the time and never acknowledge that it's really 2012. I LOVE it. When I "retire" I think I'll work at a place like this. So fun to pretend all day!

We got to learn some of the popular dances of the time. For some reason the boys were playing shy or too cool and didn't want to learn but of course my Gracie girl was all about it!

This is my new return address labels I ordered for our Christmas cards. How CUTE are these. I think it's official that our family is full - I don't think I could fit another face on our label :)

Another Christmas tradition we did that we will keep is making and decorating sugar cookies. I mean, what is Christmas with out lots and lots of sugar cookies!?! :) The night we did cookies James started not feeling well. The reason he's not in this pic is because he basically felt so bad he went and put himself in bed :( You know your kid doesn't feel well when they skip cookie decorating and eating. He woke up around 3 am and was ready for his cookie but we waited a bit :) This was the start of a bit of some crud that went through our house. No one got really sick but at one point or another everyone had a cough and runny nose. I had plans to make lots of goodies to take to family and friends which had to be postponed until almost the end of the month. I wanted to make sure everyone was healthy before we started spreading food and cheer :)

Yummo!

Two words for this boy. A. Mess!!! But he is so stinkin' cute that he gets away with too much :) For a while he was totally not interested in bananas. J and I were slightly concerned since ALL of our children have inhaled bananas at his age. Finally he took a liking to them and in true Allen fashion he can finish one off in about 2.2 seconds :) He loves to "ride" around the house on one of these little cars we have. He cracks me up - eating his banana and cruising through the living room. He's at that age where he so badly wants to be able to communicate but can't quite get the words out yet so he's resorted to yelling whenever he wants something. I honestly can't think where in the world he got that yelling is any way to communicate :(
He's also at the age where his kisses are big wet full open mouth slobbery kisses. LOVE IT.

This is a text a got from my friend Taryn. Made me bust out laughing. I guess if you have to be "known" for something having lots of precious babies is as good as anything :)

One night we went to our local Bass Pro Shop to see Santa and enjoy all the fun crafts and games they have. This year they added a carousel. So fun!!

I seriously didn't think we could fit another kid in the tub after Gracie but we can. I wonder if David will fit too!?!
Other highlights from the month sans pictures:
On one of the nights during our devotional I was trying to talk to the kids about darkness and sin. I asked if they had every been some where that was really dark and felt scared. John-Mark quickly replied, "no mommy because God is with us where ever we are". Good point my 4 year old son. Good point.
This year was the first time we took the kids to our local zoo for what they call Zoo Light Safari. They basically just decorate the zoo with lots of lights. Since we're members it's free so it was a fun family night. The weather was super mild so it was a great night to get everyone out of the house.
Every year I take the kids and drive around to look at Christmas lights. Last year we saw a couple great houses and one even had Santa and Mrs Clause there and passed out treats to everyone. Usually J is working when we do this but this year we waited until a night he could go with us. I didn't plan too well and didn't make sure the kids had naps. We were in the car no more than 5 minutes and the big boys were passed out and another 10 minutes and Gracie was complaining she wanted to go home :( Operation Christmas Light looking 2012 was a bust.
Poor Benjamin and David probably feel like they have 2 moms and 3 dads! Benjamin hears "no sir Ben" from every person in this house. Lucky to be so loved :)
Ok - that really WAS all over the place. Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors. I'm out of time and don't have time to read all this randomness again :)
Be back soon!

2 months, Thanksgiving and more!

This post is going to be all over the place - but there are lots of pics so it should be a good one :)
Sweet baby David turned 2 months this past Saturday. Almost at 8 weeks on the nose he started sleeping from 10:30 until 8 am - woo hoo! Now that we're all getting a little better nights sleep around here I've been trying to get in to a better routine with the bigger kids and do some fun Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts and get out of the house more. Some days are better than others :)
Here's what David has been up to since his 1 month post :)

Lot's of smiles and grinners

Lots of late night convo's with daddy about life, politics, baseball, and those crazy big brothers and sister he sees running around all day :)

 Thankfully lots of this - I've said it before, I'll say it again - Miracle Blanket - you truly are a miracle!! Snug as a bug in a rug :)

And lots of just hanging around and being cute! 

I'm not sure what he weighs now but he is BIG. He's fitting in 3 months close perfectly.

I attempted to do his 2 month group picture as well as try and get a good Christmas card pic in our new Christmas pj's - WHAT was I thinking!?! Here are some of the good, the bad, and the ugly (and there are lots more that didn't make the blog - just more of the same :)

 James - when did he become such a big boy!! He's killing me. So sweet and handsome - I could eat.him.up!

 There are LOTS that look like this :) Benjamin wasn't wanting to sit still and pretty - always trying to escape :)

 Love this one - JM looks spaced out, Ben looks like he wants to eat something and David is just about over it all!

 Daddy making everyone laugh

  Benjamin blowing bubbles :) 

Every year my mom buys the kids their special Christmas pj's (or makes them). This year she bought these plain pj's and my sweet friend Jen helped me personalize them with these ADORABLE appliques! Love them! Gracie sure has grown up a lot since last Christmas! Love this sassy girl!

 All these blue eyes around here! Could they be any cuter!?!

I'm always trying to make sure we're doing things around here to teach the kids the real meaning of Christmas as well as showing them how to serve others. This was the first year we participated in filling a shoe box for Samartin's purse Operation Christmas Child. I explained to the boys what we were doing and even showed them several videos on youtube of testimonies from children who have received similar boxes then we went out and filled them up! They did a pretty good job of not asking for things for themselves. They would pick something out and get so excited and I would ask, "do you want that for you or the little boy we're sending gifts to?" A few times they wanted it for themselves but they always quickly were happy to give it away - proud mamma :) After we filled our boxes I let the boys dictate to me what they wanted to say in a letter and then highlighted it so they could copy it.

 My favorite part was after we filled the boxes and put our letters and pictures in them we all laid our hands on them and prayed. Each boy prayed specifically for the child that would receive his box. We pray everything each boy needs and wants will be in the small shoe box we sent and that if they don't know Jesus yet this small gift would lead them to Him. At one point James asked me why God doesn't just send things to kids in need - aha! perfect way for me to talk about how God uses us to be His hands and feet and help take care of all His children. Praying they are understanding this more and more every year.

I don't know what got in to me the  week before Thanksgiving but I turned in to Betty Homemaker - wanted to cook with the kids and do crafts. We made a couple new recipes I found on pinterest - in the pic above we're making home made granola bars - not too bad.

 

 Then I was feeling pretty bad about not having done any real "Thanksgiving" crafts with the kids. I mean, I'm supposed to be homeschooling and I'm pretty sure James was the only 5 year old in America that had yet to make a hand turkey this season :) so I got to searching the internet to find a few things I wanted to do. We didn't make hand turkeys but we did make turkey puppets. I used the hand prints to make "leaves" for our Give Thanks Tree. Each of the older kids did several hand prints and then I (or James) wrote down different things they were thankful for. They were all over the board with what they were thankful for. John-Mark was actually quite "super spiritual" which is a nice change from the boy that told me he was glad the soldiers put Jesus on the cross :( So I don't forget here is what each of them said:
James - playset, Goldie, jacket, Lego's, Sleeping bag, Football pj's, baseball glove, and bat. (When I asked him if he was thankful for any of his friends or family he replied that he had already been thankful for them - apparently he was trying to think outside of his normal list of "thankfuls" :)
John-Mark - his first answer (without any assistance from me - I promise) was "I'm thankful that God is the only one that can save me" followed by being thankful that Jesus is the Son of God. Then he added Buzz Lightyear (who actually came to a very sad end only a couple weeks later when he attempted to see if he could fly from the top of the play set - as you can imagine he found out that he can not. He lost his head, an arm, and part of his wings :( Lastly he was thankful for "the food that papa Duck brings" - whenever my dad comes to visit he always picks up lunch and brings it for the kids. Apparently JM really likes the food he brings :)
Gracie - Jesus, God, (she was kind of following John-Mark's lead here), flowers from Daddy, all her brothers, Mom-Mom and Papa Steve, mommy's scissors, trees, and her bunny :)

 This little turkey is.a.mess! He is 14 months now and all.over.the.place! He can climb on pretty much any piece of furniture in the house -yesterday I found him SITTING on David's head who was sitting in the bouncy seat on the coffee table - Gave me a heart attack! David didn't make a peep and didn't seem to care one bit - I on the other hand was a little shaken up :)
I have yet to post about his "spells". None of my other children have ever done what he is doing so the first time it happened I really thought he was dying - seriously, I was in hysterics! About a month ago I was making breakfast and he wanted me to hold him so I picked him up for a minute and then put him back down so I could finish flipping pancakes - he was NOT happy about this and starting pitching a fit, which led to him holding his breath while he cried, which led to him falling to the ground and turning blue (yes, BLUE), then when I picked him up his eyes rolled back in his head and he went stiff. Did I mention I was hysterical! I was yelling his name trying to get him to breath. Apparently he briefly passed out (which is a good thing - per our Dr. passing out is God's way of our body taking over. Once you pass out your muscles relax and you start breathing again.) While this isn't super common, it's not super uncommon either. Since that day he hasn't had any spells as bad as that one and as soon as he gets really upset I just lay him down on the ground (so he doesn't fall and hurt himself) and start blowing in his face. As of yet he's been able to catch his breath before he passes out but it still worries this mamma - even though rationally I know his passing out isn't going to kill him it's hard to see your baby turn blue, go stiff, and start twitching like they are having a seizure! We're praying he grows out of all signs of this soon!

 Little Miss Priss - my big 3 year old girl. How do you like this look? Hot pink pants, play shirt and clear glass slippers :)

 On Thanksgiving we drove to Huntsville to have lunch with my mom and Papa Steve - Here is our crew in the car on the way up - It's official - the van is full to the max!! This was the only picture I got the entire day! Guess I was busy or something :) J and I did get to go on a quick date and go see Lincoln while the kiddos played with the grandparents. It's getting harder and harder to go on dates and find some one to watch ALL the kids :)

The day after Thanksgiving J had to work of course but one of the boys favorite friends, Beau, was out from school so we took the opportunity to meet up at the zoo. Luckily Beau's daddy was off too so I had lots of help with my crew - I even took all 5 of them on the carousel (John-Mark had been begging to go so I gave in). This was a first for Benjamin - can you tell he was happy about it!?!

 Love this handsome boy!

Mr. Rodney was so gracious as to give Gracie a ride on his shoulders - I couldn't help but snap this picture when I saw it - nothing says Merry Christmas like a little crack :) hahaha!