November means Summer one day and Winter the next

On Monday Nov. 18 it was pretty hot so we decided to go to the beach. Zeke thoroughly enjoyed the texture of the sand!

Charlie ran while I watched the kids and then we switched. I was feeling super grateful b/c I had ran that morning in the woods on the Y trail and then got to run at the beach. I love Savannah! Sometimes ;)

This is my new bathing suit that I bought at the end of Aug on clearance. The last time I bought a bathing suit was in May 2006 for our honeymoon. 7 yrs is a long time wearing the same suit- it was falling apart and it was too big since I was about 20 lbs heavier when we got married than I am now.

And, then a few days later I am dressed like this:

We have gotten some great family time in this month. Charlie had both Thanksgiving AND Fri off. That is not the norm for a medical professional on the holidays. We are blessed. He has a really good job. We sometimes wish he could have the same exact job in a different place. Even though we're a bit anxious to move on from Savannah, there is an underlying peace that I feel that it's for a wise purpose we're still here. I think a lot of it is actually dependent on me and my personal growth. I have made a TON this past year. Health coaching has really helped my confidence. We shall see what 2014 brings.

 Isn't Azure so beautiful? Sometimes I can't believe that we created bodies for all 3 of them and I carried them all in my womb. Amazing.

This is Azure's, "No way, Dad. Don't even think about it" face.

They are all at pretty good ages right now. I like our family. And, I love the spacing between them. I think it's perfect. Even with me losing Zeke the first time. This turned out way better than what I planned. Vince needed more time to be the baby. And, obviously I needed that time to heal and forgive. AND, Zeke of course, had to be born on Christmas Day so I could remember this miracle for my whole life and help me to have faith whenever I doubt.

We've been wanting to go to the SCAD Museum of Art since they first opened over a yr ago, so we finally went Thanksgiving weekend.

We also rented The Grinch w/ Jim Carrey and watched it on the kindle. When it was over Vince said, "That was the worst movie I ever watched-ed." "Oh, yeah?" I asked. "Was it too scary?" "Yeah. Can we watch it again tomorrow?" So typical of an almost 4 yr old :)

It was kinda sad getting back into a routine on Monday when Charlie had to go back to work and Azure to sch. Azure kept saying in her prayers that she was grateful Daddy had time off work so we could all spend time together as a family. It felt so nice, like a real holiday, not many things planned, lazy family lounging. I wish we had 3 or 4 day wkends once a month!

Sweet November

It was so nice having Azure home from school on Monday. Her and Vince played so well together. They went out in the backyard and I watched them through the window while I did the dishes. Vince never plays outside w/o Azure. More of a movie kind of guy. Sigh. Even when I try to engage him in a game outside he says he's done after a few mins.

I love to see Azure out there talking to herself and making up some random game. Reminds me so much of me. I realized I haven't seen her do this in months b/c she is usually at sch. I kinda miss homeschooling her. I wish I could find some charter sch or co-op homeschool where she could go just 3 days a week. Maybe someday.

Azure had been asking to go to Oatland Island (a mini zoo) since the summer so we decided to go on Veteran's Day. The weather was perfect. One of those days that I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of my children. I love those days :)

Sitting on eggs in the nest.

My favorite animal there. Can't wait to get our very own someday. I put Zeke right up to his face and he cried. A little scared I think. Crazy to think that Azure had just turned a yr old the first time we went there. And, there I was w/ 3 kids, Azure almost 6 and a half. Crazy.

Yesterday (Tues. Nov. 12) I asked Azure to read 1 Nephi Ch. 17 on my phone. We have been listening to the Mormon Channel on the way to sch- most of the time Conf. talks, or the audio of scripture or The Friend, sometimes old broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word (since that's what's on at that time). But, I felt like she should actually read it this time. I stopped her a few times explaining some words and rephrasing things like, "So, Laman and Lemuel might have said something like this to Nephi...how do you think that made him feel?" She was so engrossed in the story and you could tell she felt the spirit. I thought to myself, "It's time to start reading the real thing." We've still been reading out of the Scripture Stories. I told her thank you for reading and that I loved to hear her voice read those words. That is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. This morning when we got into the car she asked, "Can I read the scriptures again?" Huge smile. I'm so grateful that she recognizes the spirit! She knew exactly what verse she had left off on. Hearing her read was the best part of my day.

Today she reedemed her free personal pizza for Book It. Oh, sweet memories. I used to go every month w/ my mom. I love that they still do this.

We had preschool this morning over here. I read "Thank You, Sarah" to them. Probably my favorite Thanksgiving book! And, then we made these turkeys. Their attention span is super short, much shorter than Azure's group when we did this 2 yrs ago. Vince giggled when I painted his hand and fingers for this. I love that boy!

Zeke is now at the stage where he is taking apart this shoe rack and throwing the shoes everywhere. Knocking down the trash can and pulling things out. Sheesh.

 

But, man, oh man, is he cute! And sweetie and snewggly. "God love 'em." As my Nana would say.

Zekiel at 9 months and our other children too :)

Oh, how I miss blogging!

Zekiel at 9 months
I tell him frequently, "Zekiel, you're a crazed man!" He is pretty much exactly how Azure was at this age- squirmy, squealy, and squaky. Except that he growls. Azure didn't do that. Must be a boy thing b/c Vince did, too. He is constantly on the go. Screams to be held and then once I pick him up literally tries to jump out of my arms. Repeat 50 million times a day. Taking care of him is physically exhausting. He stills balls up and holds onto me tightly like a spider monkey and bites down on my shoulder just like all my non-pacificer babes have done. I just love when he breathes in and out quickly through his nose while he does it. It's so reminiscent of Azure that it makes me nostalgic. He does the pterodactyl scream when we feed him. Gotta get that on video.

He finally got his bottom left tooth on the day he turned 9 months! I had felt it a few days before but, then it disappeared again under his gums. Now, it has fully emerged and his bottom right is poking out a bit too. His nose was running like crazy for almost the whole month of Sept. Azure and Vince both got this tooth at 7.5 months so I was curious when it would come. He's still sleeping 12 hrs straight. Bless my sweet children. He has just about outgrown his morning nap. He still wants to sleep about 3 hrs after he first wakes up but, only for 45 mins-1 hr. Still takes an afternoon nap for about 2 hrs. He is so adorable I can hardly stand it.

He pulled to a stand for the first time on Aug. 27, 2 days after turning 8 months. He does it every chance he gets now. He prefers army crawling to regular crawling, just like Azure and Vince did. He has no problem getting on his knees but, once he's in a hurry to get somewhere he'll drop down to his tummy. Screams, "Eeeeeeeee" all the time. He's so smart he can already say the beginning of his name. ;) He also babbles, "mamama and dadada." He clenches his fists and his face turns a bit red when he does it. They've all done that. We love our fierce, intense children :)

On Sept. 13 he woke up around 9pm, something he hasn't done since March or April. And sure enough, it was b/c he had pulled to a stand in the crib and didn't know how to get down. I've been waiting for him to do that.

On the morning of Sun. Sept. 15 he was standing up in his crib when I came in to nurse him and he was just grinning ear to ear. Oh, it's my absolute favorite when they do that. I love him so much! Then that day in church he also spent quite a bit of time standing and holding onto the back of the pew. 

Vince at 3.5
His brain has exploded recently. He knows all the sounds that each letter makes and when prompted can spell words using the refrigerator letter magnets like cat and dog. He can write a V for his name. He communicates his feelings more and more every week. We're working on him being direct. Sometimes when he's hungry he'll say, "My tummy hurts." Instead of saying he's hungry and asking me politely for something specific that he'd like to eat. Whenever we are eating he always asks, "Mommy, how many grams are in this?" Cracks me up. He is definitely the son of a health coach :)

Still not interested in using the potty. Sidenote- before I had kids I promised I would never use the word potty b/c I thought it was so dumb. And here I am :) He is getting better at telling me when he goes poop though. And, he does poop sometimes 3x a day! Between him and Zeke I'm changing close to 10 diapers a day! Definitely not having baby #4 until Zeke is potty trained. I don't like changing that many diapers. But, this is the stage of life I am in, so I will try to enjoy it.

Earlier this summer Vince sang "The Crusher" by The Ramones and the TMNT theme song almost daily. I'm impressed he knows as many words as he does. Charlie got a new bass back in May and an amp for it, so he rocks out fairly often and the kids just love it- "The Crusher" being one of their faves. I love imagining Charlie as an angsty teen in the basement listening to these songs. The Lord was preparing us for each other since before our births, but we both agree if we met each other in high school we would not have gotten married ;) The Lord knew best!

Back to Vince. I love the way he talks, "days da woahds most beersome biting team. When the e-ver Shredder attacks...des turtle boys... cut no slack."

We love the way he says squirrel. "Swod". Though, just today he said it correctly :( World is "woed". He no longer says meem for milk but, will refer to my breastmilk as meem. "Mommy, Zekiel wants to drink your meem." He also calls Zeke, E-zekiel now just as much as Zekiel. I prefer Zekiel. Charlie has never called him that. "Is it really that hard to say the E?" he asks. Yes, yes it is :)

He is the classic middle child and doesn't get as much attention as Azure or Zeke :( Though, I do make an intentional effort to do one thing a day with him while Zeke naps. Lately, we've been doing puzzles and playing Uno. He really knows how to play Uno. Azure taught him. It's really impressive!

He also just got the hang of saying prayers this month! He used to just saying "Dear Heavenly Father, grafing for this day." And would stop. Then we would have to prompt him what to say next. Now, he says them all on his own without any prompting from us and whenever we ask, "Who's turn is it?" He always says, "Mine! I'll say it!" We welcome this stage :)

 Vince has always had a hair fetish. He twirls his hair to go to sleep. He twirls Azure's while they play games on the computer :)

Vince has Charles' personality but, inherited this spastic gene from me and still does this almost constantly.

Azure at 6
Azure is loving school. She was sad when I told her she didn't have to go to sch on Labor Day! I was worried about her not being stimulated enough academically but, she is doing just fine. A few things are too easy for her but, for the most part she is being challenged. She is having a hard time de-stressing when she comes home from school. It's been a matter of prayer for me this month and I decided to do a meditation challenge. We have done it together and a couple times she's done it on her own. I've sent her up to her room as soon as we get home to have some alone time. I'm looking into getting her a speaker dock w/ my old ipod so she can listen to some calm, peaceful music. Usually when she gets into the car Vince is just so excited to see her that he starts telling her all sorts of things and then I ask her about her day and Zeke is usually screaming and she just gets overwhelmed. So do I actually. As we learn a bit more and are more intentional about our breathing during this time, I'm sure things will improve. Any other suggestions are welcome.

In short, we are happy and feel extremely blessed. Yet a few times a week I start feeling very overwhelmed. Especially when Zeke just screams non-stop. All in all, a good stage of life to be in :)