Let it go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t92lqNdV9Hs&feature=youtu.be

My two babies. I know this time in my life will be fleeting. I know I've done this before with Carly and Sam being so close in age as well but with these two it just seems so much more challenging. Possibly because I don't remember all the little details that I got stressed over when Carly and Sam were little. 

I love these two. I try to remind myself every day to enjoy this time in my life because before I know it these two will be off to school and I'll be left alone, as enticing as that sounds.

Most days I find myself just happy if I get dressed, in actual clothes and not sweats and a t-shirt. I consider it a good day when I'm able to keep the kitchen clean (forget about the rest of the house, that just doesn't happen)

I find myself going from one baby to the next (I think we all can agree that Annie is still a baby with needs almost as demanding as Eli) It's a struggle to find a balance between giving Eli the attention he needs and the attention that Annie desires. 

I hate the fact that I am grateful the other two are in school. I love them and miss them but it's a challenge for those couple hours after school until bedtime. I try not to just go through the motions. I try to connect and have real conversations with them but some days it just doesn't happen.  Some days I pick them up from the bus and then don't really see them until bedtime. 

Four kids has been a challenge to say the least but each day it gets better and easier. Each day I find myself being able to accomplish just one more task than the day before. 

I will miss these little faces one day. Just like I miss the little faces of Carly and Sam. In a way, it's kind of fun to be reliving what my life was a couple years ago. 

I am beyond grateful for the opportunity I have to be a mom to four awesome little kids. Each one so different from the other. Each one teaches me something different. 

I love this job (even if I get woken up every two hours during the night)

Eli 4 months

My baby is 4 months old today!

Eli is seriously the best baby. He has a few crying moments here and there but for the most part he is just so pleasant.  He is so smiley all the time. He even giggles when we change his clothes. It's the cutest thing! 

He still doesn't have the "sleeping through the night" thing down but we are working on that. 

His naps aren't really on a schedule either (which is so different than the other three) 

He is really into spitting bubbles right now and he found his voice and loves to jibber jabber.

Like I said, he loves to smile and your almost guaranteed a smile just by talking to him.

He is not too fond of laying down while he's awake. He wants to be able to sit up and watch everything. 

He seems to have a stuffy nose all of the time, not sure why.

He spits up the least out of all of my kids. It has been a nice change.

He LOVES bath time. He will go nuts kicking his legs and splashing water in his own face. 

I just can't get enough of his cute little face. I just want him to stay little just a little while longer. 

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Here are some pictures of our ice storm we had a couple weeks ago.  I know it's nothing compared to the northern states but my kids got excited about all the icicles. I guess if they can't get snow then icicles will have to do. It was really pretty to see, although I'm glad it didn't last long :)

recent happenings....

Annie's new thing right now is showers.  She LOVES to get in the shower or bath whenever possible. I had to snap this picture because it shows her super long lashes that I love so much!

Brothers. I love that they will grow up having each other :)

The other Sunday we headed out to Chad's parents. I had to snap this picture for obvious reasons. Just look how happy Oscar looks :)

These grandparents sure love ALL their grand kids.

I am so sad this picture turned out blurry. Chad was totally not expecting such a hug from his sister :)

Eli's new thing....sucking on his hands. I love it!

Annie spends her day roaming around our house seeing what new things she can get into.  She loves to get into the drawers in the kitchen to see what new toys she can play with. I think she was singing some sort of song in this picture.

With the weather warming up we've spent many afternoon outside letting this little girl explore to her hearts content.  

Love this tractor for many reasons. One of those reasons is my Grandpa. I will always think of him when I see this tractor. He spent many hours on this thing when he came to visit. It still is unreal that I won't see him on this tractor again but I am grateful for the memories that were made here.

She was trying to move the tree....

We have this cement trough near our barn that we've always talked about getting rid of but never really knew how. It constantly has water in it so we decided to add some goldfish to it. Now it's just become our outside fish tank.  Annie loves to walk over there to look at the fish.

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Eli is slowly growing out of his newborn stage and loosing all his newborn looks. Before I know it he'll be crawling all over the place. I feel like I need/want to capture every second of his day since I know he's my last. I just want to freeze time for a while. He's growing out of being so sleepy during the day so I had to capture some pictures of him while I could. I just love watching babies sleep.  He is such a good and happy baby and every now and then he lets out the loudest chuckle while he is sleeping.  

Carly's world

Here is another installment to my series of Carly's world. I gave her our small camera the other day when we took a walk to our mailbox. She loves taking pictures and as usual I found some pretty good ones.

January

I have been terrible at blogging lately. I at least wanted to get some pictures up for memories sake.  We haven't been up to much other than just surviving. I'm finally getting to a point to where I feel like I have some control over my life. Eli is getting on more of a schedule which definitely helps. 

Here are some random pictures from the month of January

 Cute baby sneezes

 Carly was so happy to hold him and was even more excited that he fell asleep. She felt pretty grown up.

I had to snap some pictures of Annie in her Christmas dress that we never actually used because we took a couple weeks off of church. Plus the fact Eli got sick and our trip to Utah got delayed which meant we didn't make it to Utah in time for Christmas Sunday.  At least her dress is red, it can double for a Valentines dress.

 Annie sure loves her brother

Eli at 2 months

I've been terrible at keeping track of milestones (on the blog anyway) For the most part Eli is such a good baby. For a while he seemed to be more grumpy when he wasn't sick. Around 2 months he started to get sick again, congested and coughing. Luckily it didn't turn into pneumonia again. He wakes up about 3 times during the night. He is super fidgety when it comes to nursing, makes it kind of difficult but were managing. His naps are sporadic. Sometimes he'll nap great and some days he just wants to be held all day. He is just starting to smile randomly. 

Annie thought pajamas made a great hat.