Layton is 5 months!

Layton, you are five months old! You have changed so much this month! I just can't get enough of you! You are my little buddy. You really are the most easy going little thing. You are so pleasant to be around. I just adore you!!

Here are some things about you that I want to remember this month:

One of your favorite places to be is in your jumperoo. You really go to town in it! You like to lay on the floor where you just play with your feet and look around. You love being held and you love to watch your brother and sister. You like to know what is going on around you.

This is a sweet picture of you holding hands with Lucy!

You have found a little temper some times (not often though). Ha! I had to take your picture here. You REALLY wanted out of that bouncy seat!

Most of the time, though, you are super happy while sitting in it. You just watch us and get so excited.

Lincoln has really been making you laugh lately. You are laughing much more easily now as well. We all just love to hear you laugh. There is nothing better!

Your fingers are constantly in your mouth! You have been drooling alot too. I think you are teething.

You rolled over for the first time this month--from back to front. However, you did it for about a week and then decided you didn't want to do it anymore. Oh well! I loved watching you try so hard to roll over.

You are so fat, it is a lot of work to get those legs up!

You still love bath time. I like to put you in the tub with me and you just splash and splash and have a big time.

So happy!

Playing with Daddy!

You can sit up in the high chair a little now. Lincoln is glad about this because it means he doesn't have to sit in it.

You are nursing every 3 1/2 hours during the day. We do cereal at night which you love. You cry when I get done feeding it to you. At 5 months, I gave you carrots for the first time. You weren't quite sure of them. I love the funny faces you made when you tried them for the first time. After 3 or 4 days, though, you have decided they are okay. We are going to try squash this week. Some how I have got to figure out how to get the cereal in you in the mornings and the veggie at night. Mornings are so hurried with getting Hannah and Lincoln to school, I am really going to have to figure out how to get it in there somewhere!

You are in size 2 diapers and either 3-6 months or 6 months clothes.

You don't like to be left in a room alone anymore. You cry till we come talk to you. Then, you immediately smile really big.

You give me the biggest hug (or what seems like a hug) when I pick you up out of bed after a nap or in the morning to feed you. You wrap your arms around my neck. It is so sweet. You wake up happy most mornings and smile up at me when I come in to get you.

You like to feel things with your hands.

You like to blow bubbles and you suck on your tongue. This is the cutest thing. You just smack on it sometimes. It makes us laugh!

We are still working on the sleeping. You have good nights and some not as good nights. I can't complain too much because you really are so good. I just haven't figured out what time to feed you last--either 7:00ish or do another dream feed at 9:30 or 10:00. You typically wake up around 5:00 a.m. or 5:30 a.m., I feed you and then you go back to sleep till around 7:00 a.m. You still nap well and take about 3 naps a day that range from about an hour to 2 hours at a time.

Layton - 5 months!

You are so sweet, I could just eat you up!

Sloppy Joe

Lincoln had his Book Character Parade at school yesterday. They are supposed to bring their favorite book and dress up like a character in it. They read all their books during class that day. We got the book Sloppy Joe the other day at Hannah's Book Fair at school. It is a really cute little book and was easy to come up with the costume. Here's my Sloppy Joe...

We almost missed the parade because there was a huge traffic jam on our way to school that morning. But we made it in time for him to get to make a couple laps around the school with his class.

Afterwards, they always take a class picture. Here is my Sloppy Joe all sweet and good.

Then, he decided he was going to become Silly Joe. Just look at this boy's face. HE CRACKS ME UP!!! I was laughing so hard at him. One lady was trying to take the class picture and he is over there making all kinds of goofy faces. He is one funny boy sometimes!!

I love this one!

Oh Lincoln. You make me laugh so hard sometimes! I just love you!

Catching up

It was so good to catch up with our friends, the Blands, this past weekend. They came and stayed with us Friday and Saturday night. We hadn't seen them in a while. Their kiddos had really grown! On Saturday we had the Vicks join us for some taco soup for lunch. Since it was cold and had rained, we had to change our original plan of going to the park. So, the kids just played at our house.

Once, we noticed that they were kind of quiet, so I went back to check on them in the boys' room and found this...

Hilarious!!!! And the cutest thing ever! I love my sweet Hannah. She was reading Lincoln, Jack, and Benson books and they were unbelievably quiet. I was just shocked. She actually kept their attention for quite a while too. I know she loved every minute of it! Ha!

Sweet Sloane had really grown!

The guys and the kids played a little "Just Dance" on the Wii. I think they enjoyed it. This was Craig and Nathan probably dancing to "Cotton-Eyed Joe."

My kids love to play this game. I so need to let them do it more often--to use up some of their energy!

Saturday night we all went to Larry's Pizza. We all love us some Larry's! Then, we went to church on Sunday and came back to the house until they had to leave.

Nathan reading Linc a book.

Thanks Blands for coming and staying with us! We enjoyed catching up with you all!

Whirlwind

Three kids are a lot of work--especially since Hannah started school this year. Our schedule has been crazy. We wake the kids up at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast. I get 3 kids dressed and ready to go by 7:30. After taking Hannah to school, I either take Lincoln to school, depending on the day of the week, or head home or run errands. It seems like no time and it is time to pick Lincoln up and to eat lunch. After lunch I usually battle with Lincoln over taking a nap. Somedays I win and somedays he wins. Then, I usually have to wake both boys up to go get Hannah around 3:30.

When we get home, we HAVE to have a snack of course. After that it is either a little tv time (down time which Hannah needs!) or the kids find something to play with for a while. I try to fix supper and have it ready by 6:00 p.m. After that is bath time and before we know it, it is 8:00 and time for bed. We are all exhausted.

Some nights I have Bunko or a bible study or another bunko (I'm in 2 groups) or a PTO meeting or there's a school function or Life Group. Between all that and trying to keep 5 peoples' clothes washed, dishes washed, and the house picked up, life just sometimes seems like a whirlwind.

I have really been thinking alot lately about how fast time is going by. I am about to have ANOTHER birthday. I have a kindergartener. Lincoln is almost FOUR. Layton is almost half way through his first year (unbelievable). Days just seem to get shorter and shorter and go by faster and faster. I feel like I can barely keep up. And yes, I know it is going to get worse.

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14

What I am trying to do and need to work harder on is stopping in the midst of this whirlwind, to realize the blessings of this life. Here are three of the biggest blessings in my life.

What better way to remember than by pictures. I can capture those moments that I never want to forget. I can slow the whirlwind down--for a minute at least.