4 months

Another month has flown by and David is already 4 months! He continues to be such a happy, easy baby. We really are just all enjoying him so much right now! Over the past month he has started sleeping more and more without the swaddle. We still wrap him up at night but he's usually totally out of it by morning. He rarely wakes up fussy  - usually just smiling and talking away and sucking on his hands. When I put him on his tummy it doesn't take him very long at all to roll over to his back. He's trying to roll over from his back to his tummy but stops kind of half way and passes out.

Pretty much the only time he fusses is when he finishes his bottle or when he's really tired. In the last week we've moved up to a 6 oz bottle every 4 hours and he doesn't seem to fuss so much but he still gives out a little whimper when all of his milk his gone. Just like all the Allen's - he loves to eat :)

I got him a mobile over the last month so he has a new place to play and new friends to talk to :) He loves it and the other kids love it too and like to stand by the crib and talk to him about it :) Such a lucky boy to have sooo much attention.

Happy 4 months sweet baby boy!! You are such a special treat to our family and we are so thankful for your precious life! 

 Here's his favorite way to sleep - half way to rolling over - then stop and snooze :)

 Banjamin loves to give David kisses. These boys have no idea how much fun they are going to have together! This time next year we'll have two more partners in crime running around here!

 Of course Gracie continues to love to be his little mamma too :)

 Another favorite place to sleep is in our bed. He takes most of his naps there. Pretty sure he is going to be a full on thumb sucker. How crazy that number 1, 3, and 5 are thumb suckers and what's even crazier is that John-Mark and Ben (the two that look most alike) don't suck their thumbs but both have a blanket that they love to chew on!

Ok big boy - you're growing soooo fast!! I know I can't slow it down but I hope I can slow down and enjoy you more before you're running around here with the rest of these crazy kids!!

SNOW!!

We have had a pretty mild winter for the most part with lots of warm days so far. Last week it rained ALL.WEEK.LONG. Then, it snowed! For about 5 hours straight - at some point pretty hard. The yard was covered. I think up until last year we had a good snow every year since James was born so I was excited for there to be some real snow when the three oldest were able to get out and enjoy it. By the next morning it was almost gone but we got to have a good couple hours of fun!!

 The three amigo's bundled up and ready to enjoy the snow!

 The first place they wanted to go was the trampoline!

 John-Mark loved eating it!

 This pic looks funny but she was actually jumping when I snapped it.

 Making snow balls

 My snow angels

 We started working on a snow man but the sun started to come out and we couldn't keep him standing long enough to get his face on!

The babies didn't get to play in it this year but Ben had fun putting brothers hat on and running around - please excuse the blurry picture - this boy is ALWAYS on the go!

 And this sweet blue eyed boy had no idea what he was missing :)

Lots o' pictures

There's no real order to these pics - now that I have an I Phone I take LOTS more pics which means more things to blog about :)

My sweet sleepy boy - love those lips! Usually when the kids all go to sleep I'll just sit and hold him for as long as I can before we both get tired and crash for the night. I love that he will sleep on me :) Maybe he will be a cuddle baby. 

David and Daddy hangin' out

Me and my wild man!! On this particular day he wasn't feeling well and was really only happy when I was holding him - otherwise he was following me around crying :( He also had fun seeing himself in the phone as I took pictures :)

Another good nap in mommy's arms

The day I was sitting and letting David sleep in my arms these three were entertaining me by changing "costumes" - Can you see that John-Mark has on Buzz, a Thomas cape, and Spider Man gloves- he created his own Super Hero! (Speaking of Super Hero's have I ever mentioned on the blog that James thinks Captain America is named Iron Chef America - ha! cracks. me. up. I can't even tell him that's not his real name because I love it so when he calls him Iron Chef America!)

My little snow bunny - or hip hop princess - depending on your style :)

We were looking through Jeremy's childhood photo album and even James was confused and thought they were pictures of him. Can you BELIEVE how much James looks like his daddy!!

This is our new reality. Never, when we renovated this little 3 bedroom house did we think we would have SIX beds and 7 people living in it but we do and its working pretty good so far. We moved Gracie from the toddler bed in to a big girl bed so we could have the crib for David. He's still sleeping in the pack n play in our master closet but eventually he and Benjamin will share a room.

Have you ever seen anyone cuter in all camo!?! 

David helping me with the laundry :) I think having 5 kids feels most overwhelming when I'm doing the laundry -it. never. ends!

A little rainy day candy land

J and I went out with friends on New Years Eve this year - such a treat! We had an AMAZING dinner at Hot and Hot. 

I brought home New Years Eve favors and the kids rang in the New Year the next morning :)

Benjamin found James' sunglasses and was loving being a cool cat! One of my favorite things right now is whenever you sit on the floor or sit down any where he thinks that is an invitation for him to come and sit in your lap. He cracks me up because he will back himself in to your lap. So funny. The other day I was sitting on a little stool in my bathroom blow drying my hair so my head was down and the next thing I know he's backing himself up into my lap - under my wet hair. I feel like he needs a beep beep beep button on him like big trucks do when they back up!

I try to be intentional about spending one on one time with each of the kids but I'm not going to lie - it's hard and I don't do it nearly as often as I wish. Usually it's just taking one of the kids with me to run errands but they still love being the "only" one and I LOVE getting to talk to them one on one. Last week I went for an early morning grocery trip before J went to work and took my big 4 year old John-Mark with me. First I took him to Chick-fil-A for breakfast - and even let him have lemonade! He was super excited. He talked the entire time which he usually isn't able to do with his chatty brother and sister around. He was so sweet and wanted to save a few hashbrowns and some of his biscuit for his brother and sister :) Lately he has become quite the "class" clown around here. He loves to be silly and tell silly stories and make silly faces. I wish I could remember some of the stuff he comes up with. Just trust me - he is hysterical! In the pic below he wanted me to take his picture and then he made this silly face - we both laughed and laughed!

Over the holidays Gracie and I had a little date as well. She later regretted wanting to go shopping with me because I had about 5 places on my list and about half way in she was telling me she was tired and wanting to go home. After a quick trip for some frozen yogurt she was ready to go :)

This girl and her bunny. My mom got this for her as a teether toy on her first Easter and she sleeps with it always and would carry it around all day if I would let her. Only problem is whenever she is holding bunny she is sucking her thumb so every morning we have to put bunny in the closet until nap time or she'll be sneaking off to her bed all day to hold her and suck her thumb! She's so funny when we put her up she ALWAYS says, "I want to give her a hug, and a kiss, and a squeeze" As soon as she is in the closet out of sight she will say "I love her" - we know Gracie belle, we know :)

One day I let Benjamin sit in Gracie's car seat in the back with the big boys and boy was he excited! That blur in the picture is him kicking his legs in glee!! He soooo wants to be a big boy too!

And we have some pretty exciting news to announce -

Even David couldn't believe it!

Jeremy is starting his own business - YAY!!!

After many years of prayer and spending the last year preparing and getting his business set up he went out 100% on his own as of January 1st of 2013. His business is Metro Motorsport and he is selling cars and doing paint and body work. Exciting times around here! Trusting in the Lord like we haven't in a long while. Looking forward to lots of hard work and lots of great things!!

A day at McWane

A post of our crazy/fun day so I can look back one day and long for the days I had 5 little ones in tow :)
 Last Friday I decided it would be a good day to venture out of the house again. Due to runny noses or cold and rainy days we had been at home for a full week and we were ALL going stir crazy! Since most of the area schools had started back I thought it would be a perfect day to go to our local science museum - hopefully no field trips yet too. The babies took morning naps then we all had an early lunch and by noon we were on our way for a day of fun :) We have a membership so parking is free in the deck attached to the museum which is nice since its in the middle of downtown and it's hard to do street parking with 5 kids :) We got off to a bumpy start when I pulled up to the parking deck and it was FULL - what!?! That has never happened to us because I pride myself on only going at the least desirable times - like 3:00 in the afternoon when everyone else has already come and gone. After talking to the attendant I drove around the block a few times until a few spaces came available and they opened the deck back up. Apparently there was a meeting of some sort going on in the building as well so that took a lot of the parking but the museum itself was MUCH busier than I had hoped :( but the thought of driving away and telling the kids we weren't going in and the wailing that would have taken place would have been worse than whatever crowds McWane held for us. I'm afraid if we had gone back home someone wouldn't have made it out of the day alive :)
We got in and visited our favorite Bed of Nails exhibit and then headed up to the third floor where the special Christmas season activities we located. This year they had a mini train you could ride, a zip line, and an area with artificial snow the kids could play in along with their regular fun activities. It was pretty busy but we were able to get on the train and play in the snow easy enough. Then, of course in true Allen children fashion some one needed to go potty - and of course not JUST potty so off we all head to the family bathroom. I start making the "birds nest" on the toilet and telling the boys not to touch anything - here's a pic just in case you can't fully visualize the fun :)

After what felt like 20 minutes we finally finished up and headed back out to play. The second floor has a fun Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit so we went there next. This area wasn't AS crazy and I was able to let Benjamin out of the stroller and explore for a bit. It was also now time to feed David so I did that as I followed Benjamin around and tried to keep track of the other three :) After another potty break (for the one child that "didn't" need to go at the earlier visit) we went back upstairs to play in the snow and do the zip line some more. Oh - and the train. Benjamin LOVED the train and would have probably stayed on it all day! Before I knew it 5pm (closing time) was quickly approaching. By now the place was pretty cleared out with only a hand full of families still there (the way we like it) so we were having real fun now! Each of the kids were able to do whatever they wanted as long as I could see them and we didn't have to stick so close together anymore. Ben got to get out of the stroller again and run around so everyone was happy. Here are some pics of our fun!

Gracie and Benjamin making snow castles

John-Mark was the first one to get the bright idea to make snow angels - then of course the others followed along.

Gracie at Clifford's library - she liked being the "bouncer" of this door and telling people who could and couldn't come in :( I love that she has not one shy bone in her body but sometimes I wish she was juuuust a little bit less bossy :) She LOVES to be in charge - another attribute I have NO idea where she got from :)

Benjamin had a great time chillin' in Clifford's bone bowl :)

Busy Busy - you can't tell it from the pic but the top left picture is in the little train that Benjamin LOVED!

About 4:00 Gracie told me she needed to potty again - ugh! I really didn't feel like dragging ALL 5 kids back to the potty or putting Ben back in the stroller so I asked her if she could hold it... which she said she could so they all kept playing. About 30 minutes later I asked her if she needed to go and she said no so I thought we were good. Just as they were about to close I took Ben for one more ride on the train while the boys did the zip line and Gracie made more snow angels. As soon as I got off the train another mom met me and said "I think your little girl had a potty accident" ugh - things had been going so well. Sure enough she. Was. Soaked. I had no clothes for her to change in to. She found one of Ben's diapers and begged me to put it on her- so this is how we left...

Even though there were parts of the trip that were a little crazy at times, over all it was a fun, much needed day out of the house!

Christmas 2012

So on the Saturday before Christmas finally all of the kids were feeling better and we were able to get all of our goodies baked and go visit some special friends and family to sing a few carols and drop of our treats. I LOVE this and hope we keep this tradition and add on to it. This year we only made it to 5 houses. Basically due to the logistics of driving all over town and keeping nap and feeding schedules in mind. Next year I hope to do more - we may have to spread it out over a couple of days. For all of ya'll that we missed get ready - we're headed your way next year (if you're local of course:) The kids sang Jingle Bells and We Wish You A Merry Christmas since those were the two they all knew the words to best :) We visited their Papa and Nonni, Aunt Miche, the Kings, the Porters, and our baby sitter Abby.

Here they are outside Aunt Miche's house - they did such a good job :)

Our baby sitter gave the kids some new puzzles which they got to work on as soon as we got home. 

Rewind a few weeks - Jeremy's Aunt Debby and Uncle Timmy sent us a HUGE box full of gifts for us and the kids. It was so much fun! The kids loved EVERYTHING! It was such a special surprise for all of us especially since we don't get to see them very often. They really did too much and we appreciate them sooo much. As you can see the kids made out like bandits :)

Poor boy heard the word "no sir" a gazillion times any time he got near the tree - but he kept going back for more. It's so hard to stay away from something so shiny and bright :) Next year we'll be doing the same things with David :)

My dad aka Papa Duck came to town on Christmas Eve Eve. The kids have come to expect that whenever Papa Duck comes he brings lunch and juice! So of course he did just that and a few presents for everyone. Since James and John-Mark are both riding their bikes with out training wheels now and they both like to be little dare devils at times we figured it was time to get them good bike helmets. So Papa Duck got all of them "cool" shark and kitty cat helmets and gloves and pads to go with them. These pictures crack me up. Gracie totally struck this pose with out any prompting from me and John-Mark refused to smile because he told me he wanted to look "cool"! What in the world!?! 

On Christmas Eve we opened our last Christmas countdown bag and it said to make a birthday cake for Jesus. The kids were excited and kept asking if we were going to get to go to heaven to take it to Him. Sweet babies. For some reason the whole "God came as a baby" thing stirred me more than I can ever remember. It's so hard for me to fathom that my Jesus, the one that DIED for me actually came as a tiny, vulnerable, needy, crying, precious baby. I seriously have the hardest time wrapping my mind around it. I try to imagine what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph. KNOWING that he was God yet seeing him as their tiny baby and being totally responsible for him. I don't really know  how to make all this "real" to my children. I sometimes worry that they may hear it all too much and miss how extraordinary it really is. So, for now I'm doing the best I can to point the way to Him and praying their hearts are turned to Him and they have a desire to know Him and let Him reveal Himself like only He can. I know He loves them and desires they know Him more than I can even imagine. So I guess I shouldn't worry so much and just follow His lead and Trust.

Yummy cake :)

Later that day my mom and Papa Steve came to town and we all went to our church's Christmas Eve candle light service. I don't think I've mentioned my church too much on this blog but I seriously go to one of the MOST amazing churches around. The Lord has allowed me to be a part of this church since its first service almost 12 years ago. Being a part of this body has done more for my spiritual growth than anything in my life. It was true 12 years ago and its still true today - the people there REALLY love God and love people and you can see it and feel it when you're there. I met J there and Lord willing I will raise my babies there. We are soooo blessed to be a part of a place that is truly making a difference for the kingdom.
We enjoyed an AMAZING Christmas Eve worship service and then headed to another one of my favorite traditions - Japanese Habachi Dinner! Now this tradition has absolutely no spiritual significance but J and I have been doing it since our first Christmas married and we love it. I think back on years ago when it was just the two of us and we have sat with some really neat and crazy families through the years (maybe one day when I have nothing to do I'll do a post on that - funny stories). It was always so fun to see who we were going to share a meal with. Now, of course we take up our own table so we don't get to meet new people any more but it's still fun to share a meal with all our favorite people.

As you can see the kids love it too and look forward to it as much as we do! Of course James was chatting it up with our cook. We went to a new place this year and it was really yummy! Our cook was good but he may have been drinking a little saki before he came out :) He dropped quite a few things but we all still had fun :)

James ordered rice with peas in it :) That kid loves rice (much like me as a kid). This year John-Mark took a liking to the steak - filet no less. Thankfully he's the only one that loved it - at least this year :) All I need are 5 kids with a love for filet mignon (as if our grocery bill isn't enough already:) I can't even think about how much this annual meal is going to cost us when I have 5 teenagers to feed :) The Lord will provide, right? :)

How ADORABLE is this kid! Love his new jeans from Aunt Debby. 

Christmas morning we were all up bright and early and ready to open presents! 

We all know this kids LOVES Buzz so he was super excited about his new Buzz costume. The wings even have a button you can push and they light up!!

James got his first BB gun this year. This is a daddy son thing. As you can see he was pretty happy about it. He also got a camo backpack (like his daddy) which he has put everything he owns in and carried everywhere. He asked J last night if when they go camping they can take their guns and kill an animal so they'll have something to eat. I won't be going on that trip :)

My mom made Gracie 2 REAL princess dresses and all the accessories! So much love went into this gift! She loves them!

Baby David and Mom Mom on Christmas morning

 James also got some new legos. I never played with legos as a kid and I must say that they are quite fun. Some times I get so in to "helping" that I really do it more by myself :) I think it will be fun when they are all bigger and we can all play and create. The police car below James made almost all by himself just by looking at the instructions - so proud. Now he and John-Mark are starting to get more adventurous and making their own creations - love it - and it keeps them busy for HOURS :) We just have to make sure none of those little pieces hit the floor for fear Ben will try to eat them! :(
While I'm on pictures of James I've determined I'm pretty sure his #1 love language is gifts. And not for the reason you may think. It's not so much that he makes a big deal about getting gifts but he REALLY loves to give them. I took him with me to pick out Jeremy's gift and didn't even think about doing the same for the grandparents gifts. He was looking all over the house trying to find the right thing to give them. He ended up giving them some of his Christmas candy and candy canes. He's already been working on some things to give his Daddy for his birthday. He loves to color pictures and give them to his friends or even give his toys away.  So if it's true that you can tell what someone's love language is based on how they show love then his is definitely gifts.

 They also got electronic tooth brushes from Pappa and Nonni (J's dad and wife). Every time James has been to their house and seen their "cool" tooth brushes he has asked for one. They are all about brushing their teeth now (multiple times a day) and I don't even have to ask :)

 I got a little crafty this year and made this cute footprint piece of art. I'm super happy with how it turned out. Ben is the reindeer, John-Mark the tree, David baby Jesus, Gracie the angel, and James the snowman.

Here is our Christmas card from this year. Had to go with the collage card instead of one family picture. It may be several years before we're able to do one family pic again. Too many little faces to get looking at the camera :)

Conversation with James
As always Santa was a big topic of conversation this year. I mean, he is EVERY WHERE so he comes up a lot. Since we decided years ago not to go the traditional route with Santa it makes for interesting dinner conversations. This year we had to talk to James about how some families like to pretend Santa is real (we've already discussed who the real St. Nicholas was and where the "Santa" tradition comes from and the heart behind giving to those in need) and how we don't want to spoil that for other families. He did good at not "spilling" the beans for his friends but he struggled when adults would ask him what Santa was bringing him. One day Jeremy was with him at Home Depot and the cashier asked James that very question and he looked at her for a bit and Jeremy could tell he was contemplating what to say. It was like he was thinking, ok, I know he's not real and I'm pretty sure YOU know he's not real but I'm not sure what to say :)
One day he and I were just talking, about Santa, again, and he was asking me lots of really good questions - like why some people say he's real. I try to be as delicate and light hearted with the whole thing because it's not like we want Santa to be this HUGE deal either way but I believe this conversation was divinely appointed for us. As we were talking finally I told him, "you know James, you're never going to see the "real" Santa or tooth fairy nor will you ever see Jesus in the flesh until we meet him in heaven and I don't want you to ever think Jesus isn't real just because you can't see Him." As I spoke these words I got emotional and started to cry a little bit. This is not a discussion I had set up or planned to have with him or had even really thought about until just that moment. I just SOOO badly want them to KNOW Him. Not that I think Santa could hinder that - this is just the decision J and I felt was best for our family for multiple reasons. As we had this talk I could tell that James' little brain was turning and he was thinking about what I was saying and was understanding. I know my kids relationship with Jesus is going to have a lot more to do with the relationship they see me have with Him than whether or not they thought Santa was real as a child or not. But Christmas was ALL about Santa when I was growing up and I never had any conversations about Jesus really. So I'm obviously taking the other extreme but I must say that while I dont get to see the awe in my children as they believe in the wonder of Santa I'm enjoying this new "look" of Christmas for our family.
It's really kind of funny (to me) the reactions we get if we tell people we don't "do" Santa. Usually I just don't say anything because it's not like I'm trying to convert people to what we're doing. My favorite so far has to be when my mom told some one and they asked, "WHAT? What religion doesn't celebrate Santa!?!" ha! Yes, what religion doesn't :) Praying everyone who reads this blog had a wonderful Christmas as well!