cousin Laura's quilt

My cousin Laura has sent us four beautiful quilts for each of our girls. Tess's might be my favorite.....I love the baby chicks. I think they look a little like Tess.....fluffy and slightly surprised to be here.

kiddo

Kate is my tumble-down, run around, dirty knees, covered in chalk, filled with sand, hair in her face, outside all day kind of kid. A forecast of sunny skies and seventy degrees?

She is one happy girl.

annie flew the coop

I knew this day was coming, but I hoped it wouldn't for a little while longer. Last night, after tucking the girls in for bed, Dan and I finally sat down in the living room to relax with Tess.....we heard, overhead, not the usual pitter-patter of four little feet, but six....Yes. It happened. Annie jumped ship. Flew the coop. Man overboard. Crib no longer.....baby no more. She can escape. Life, as we know it, will never be the same. The girls were delighted, Annie was delighted and so super-proud of herself.

We were not delighted.

pear baby

Dan's cousin married this sweetheart of a girl who not only gives our girls lots of love, but tends to buy them really cute clothes, too! I think we'll keep her. Thanks, Auntie Kelly!

three months!

It should never come as a surprise to me that time flies with new babies, but somehow it always does. Three months ago today, Tess was born....now she has changed into this lovely, smiley, chatty little person. I can't get enough of her!

annie

When you look at these next few posts, you might think I followed Annie around with the camera all day....I'm pretty sure it was a time span of about 10 minutes.

She's everywhere, and into everything, all the time.

She says "yeah" now, to everything you ask her....unless you ask if she's tired.

When she gets excited, she runs with her arms up in the air.

She yells "BYE KATE!" at preschool drop off, gives her a big hug, turns around and leaves.

Without me.

She's lovely.

Really, really lovely.

"There will be some days when you get absolutely nothing done except loving your family. And somehow, you've got to understand that they're not distractions. They're everything."

My friend Susan somehow found these perfect words for me....I admit I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to getting things done, and having things clean, and being neat and organized and put together. Not always practical with my four girls, and I'm trying to learn how to slow down and enjoy the little moments and every day, become a little bit more patient.... Thanks, Susan.

daddylove

Last night at dinner, I asked the girls how old they thought Dan was going to be today. Erin guessed eight.....Kate guessed a hundred and five. Then I asked them what they thought he would want for his birthday present. Erin said an Easter cup.....with Easter eggs on it, like hers but bigger. Kate said shampoo.

Happy birthday, babe. May you always have seasonally appropriate drink ware and really clean hair. May you always live like you're eight years old but last until you're a hundred and five. We love you like crazy.......every minute of every day.

from all five of your girls.

xoxoxo

mama-kate-erin-annie-tess

When Tess was first born, the girls were constantly asking to hold her....and usually fighting over who would get her next. Three months later, the novelty has definitely worn off....but every once in awhile, someone will sneak in a little snuggle with her.

tesserbelle

(I worked hard on picking a perfect, simple, sweet name for Tess so I can call her things like Tesserbelle?!)

I think her cheeks are a sight to behold. They get kissed 500 times a day.

better days

Well, 2 days after Erin came down with it, Annie caught the croup. We spent a few scary hours in urgent care Thursday night....she got some breathing treatments and steroids and at some point during the night, finally started breathing easier. It was not fun....to be Annie, or to watch Annie go through that. Despite her wheezing, she remained pretty spunky....even the doctor commented that she couldn't believe what a happy little kid she was despite her difficulty breathing!

That's our girl.

as for that last picture.....something I hope I always remember: Annie turns around on the stairs, yells "AHGACHOO!" (translation: I got you!) and jumps. Ready or not.