Bath time!

All clean!

A Visit With Lexi

We had fun visiting Lexi on Monday. Lainey loves to ride and brush her. This was Brooke's first time on a horse and she was a little nervous. But she tried it because I asked her to and I think she did enjoy it a little bit. I miss having Lexi nearby, but I'm glad she's in a good place and being well taken care of. Here's a few pictures of the girls going for a small ride in the paddock. And one of Lainey brushing Lexi's tail.

Life as a family of 5

Life has been good with the addition of Joel. We are really blessed by all we have and for our awesome kids. There was once a time when I wasn't sure we'd have our own children. Three years of unexplained infertility that ended with the birth of sweet Lainey. It turns out that God just had better timing than we did. :)

Joel is just about 9 weeks old now. He's such an easy baby. He's sleeping about 5 hours a night with another 2-3 after that. He seems like he'll be sleeping through the night soon, but who knows. One of the things we prayed over him in the womb was that he'd be a good sleeper. Brooke was up every hour for her first weeks of life and didn't sleep through the night until she was 13 months old, so we are really praying for a better sleeper in Joel. He's smiling and cooing a lot now. He loves to sing along with Daddy when he plays his guitar. He's a super snuggle buddy and loves to fall asleep on my shoulder. He had his first shots yesterday. I decided to go with the recommended shots all at once. With the girls, I spaced them out. But with older sisters in preschool and Sunday school, there's so much more risk for him. Plus, the girls are pretty nervous at the doctor's office now because their shots came at every visit with extra ones too. I hope Joel doesn't get that fearful. 

Lainey is in preschool two days a week. She is learning a lot about sharing, making friends, playing, and exploring the world. She's taking an interest in learning to read too and has started sounding out words and spelling. She can add small numbers using her fingers and is pretty proud of herself about that. She loves her dance classes and watching movies. She's very excited about Christmas and still calls Rudolf, "Brudolf." She says some pretty funny stuff. Here's a few recent ones:

"I don't really like Superman, but I guess sometimes he saves the day."

"Brookie thinks his name is Doo-dolf, but it's really BRUdolf."

After I got upset with her for making me tell her to put on her shoes "so many times, I can't even count," she kindly offered, "Mommy, I can teach you to count."

Brooke is cracking us up these days. She's talking a lot and learning how to maneuver through her world. She's learned to pull a chair to counter to reach what she wants and if you don't go where she wants you to go, she'll grab your clothes and drag you there. She's very persistent. She loves to go to "Wham-ma's House" and to dance class. She wants to wear dancey shoes and fancy dresses everyday. She loves chicken and "Ween tandy." (Halloween candy.)  She's loving Christmas season and loves to watch "Doo-dolf" and look for lights on houses at night. One of my favorite things she says right now is asking may I be excused. It sounds like, " May yama le guzed?"

That's where we're at right now. It takes three times longer to go anywhere and a lot more preparation to make sure life runs smoothly, but we have fun. The house is never clean and some days I barely get myself fed. The laundry is piled up, clean but not folded. :) Life is good.

Time to revive the blog

We have a new addition to the family which means we'll have to rename the blog. Joel Michael was born October 7th, 2012. He's two months old! I think I will start using the blog to track the kids' lives and growth. Kind of like a baby book. So here's my first attempt at blogging again... Hopefully I'll do better than I have the last few years. :)

Helping out the Startups

On June 7, 2012, Copeland Startup's heart stopped.  He was exactly 20 months old.  Copeland is the son of our dear friends, Will and Lauren.  Will and Lauren lived with us in Arizona for a couple of years as John and Will played baseball together.  The story is an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness and divine mercy. I can't do it justice, so if you haven't already been to the Startup's blog to read it in Will's words, please check it out. http://willlaurenstartup.blogspot.com

As of this date, Copeland has been hospitalized for 16 days.  Two weeks of that time were spent in the ICU.  He was transported by ambulance twice, helicopter once, and went through open heart surgery to implant a pacemaker/defibrillator.  He's had heart and brain MRIs, chest xrays, and blood tests.  He is now in a rehabilitation hospital relearning how to sit up, stand, walk, use his arms, regain his language abilities, etc.  The initial estimate on the time he will spend there is three months.  Will is no longer gaining a paycheck as he hasn't been working for 16 days.  In addition, their only car is in Texas (where Will was playing independent baseball), along with all of their belongings.  They are now in Atlanta and need to have their things shipped back to them.

Many people have asked how they can help the Startups in this time of crisis and great need. Praying for their family is the number one way you can help.  Another way is through financial support.  As you can see from the preceding paragraph, they have some big financial needs.  If anyone has ever even been on a trip to the ER without an ambulance, you know the astronomical cost of medical care, let alone ambulance rides and days in ICU.  Will and Lauren are amazing parents and amazing followers of Christ.  Their trust in God and faithfulness through this crisis has been inspiring to me and many people that I know.  They are humble and generous.  If you feel led, please consider donating to Copeland's medical fund.  Any amount would bless them tremendously.  Any donations made go directly to Copeland's care and needs. 

You can donate in one of two ways.  If you'd like to make a deposit into Copeland's fund, you can go to any Bank of America location and make a deposit.  If you are outside of Georgia, you will need an out of state deposit slip. Name: Copeland Startup Account #: 334034302802

Or you can click the donate link and make a donation through Paypal.  Just click the button below.  You can also send money through Paypal using the email address: copelandsfund@gmail.com

Paypal does take a small fee out of the deposits made through them, but it is a very convenient way to donate.  If you want to be sure your full donation without fees goes to the Startups, please go directly to a Bank of America to make your donation.

Thank you so much for all of your prayerful support for their family.  They are so grateful for the tremendous show of care and concern they have received so far.

Milestones and some pictures

I'm not good at keeping up this blog, but that's ok. I don't even know if anyone reads it, but it's nice to have a place to keep some notes about milestones and the like. Since my last post, Lainey turned 3 and we had a great party for her. We had fun on Halloween too, dressing up as a family with a "Tangled" theme. Brooke is growing and learning and making us smile all the time.

Lainey also started preschool. She says she doesn't like it, but she always seems happy when we pick her up. She's learning a new letter each week and learning to follow directions and share with classmates. She's doing great with puzzles, counting, and memorizing just about anything. She's in AWANAs and has learned about 10 verses so far.

Brooke is 10 months now and she's signing more now. Just yesterday she really started using "MILK" regularly. She's done it here and there, but now she'll sign it when you ask and when she wants milk. She's been signing "ALL DONE" for a while and she's also starting to sign "DADDY." She's less inclined toward communication than Lainey was, but she's more tactile. She seems to learn by doing and it's been fun to watch her grow and change. She is very close to walking. She takes one or two steps now between furniture and seems very, very proud of herself when she does it. No teeth yet, but they seem to be close. She is still not sleeping through the night which is kind of a bummer, but I keep reminding myself that this period of time is not that long in the grand scheme of things.

And now to some pictures. :)

Flynn Rider, Rapunzel, Mother Gothel, and the Flower

The Fearsome Duo

Somebody found a marker...

Getting ready to pick out our Christmas tree

Tree decorating time!

Silly girl

Reading books in the ladybug tent together.

Peek-a-boo!

I can do it too!

Boo!

This sweet hen was Lainey's buddy today when we went to ride Lexi.

The hen was so quiet and gentle. Lainey was smitten.

That's all for today! I would promise to update more, but I know I can't keep that promise. I will try though. :)

Oh no... 3 months later!

Wow, I've been behind on blog posts! I'll have to pull together some pictures and videos soon. We've been overwhelmed by life lately. Between travel and getting back into the groove of life at home, I feel like we are just now getting settled back into a rhythm. Brooke is still not quite sleeping through the night. She'll grace me with 6 hours in a row every so often and it's like a breath of fresh air! Most nights it's still every 3-4 hours. We will get there soon though. She's hitting some big milestones right now and I'm certain it's not helping her sleep.

She started scooting about three weeks ago. It sort of looked like an army crawl with one foot pushing and the other hip scooting to catch up. Just in the last week, she's upgraded to a real crawl, belly up and all. She's not too fast yet, but she knows how to get around to whatever she really wants. She's fun. She's really kicking in with the talking now. She says Mama all the time. She'll say Dada and La-La-La too! So cute! Lainey loves it when she calls her La-La. No teeth yet for this little one and I don't really expect them for another two months or so, despite the massive amount of drool she's able to produce.

Lainey is cruising along toward three years old. This includes dressing herself and choosing her own clothes, (mostly) brushing her teeth (we do a once over after she's done), emptying the silverware from the dishwasher, and talking back. :) That last one is a new development that I'm told is a very 3 year old thing. We're working on it. :) She's in dance class again and she really loves that. She is also going to start preschool in about a month! Holy cow! I can't believe I have a preschooler.

Hopefully I'll get my act together and get a new video posted. I've had requests for a chat with Lainey again. We'll try to do that this weekend. :)