11 months of Loving our final 4th!

Sweet girl is 11 months old.  She wears size 9 month clothes, size 6 month onsies.  Is in a size 2 shoe, and size 3 diaper.  I have no idea what she weighs.  She's got three teeth - two on the bottom, and one on the upper right.  

She's got this strawberry blonde colored hair.  It looks more blonde, but when the sunlight hits it just right she looks like a fiery redhead.

She has the disappearing eye smile, just like daddy and big sister and when it happens, girlfriend could get out of anything.  Melts me.  Totally.

She adores her mama.  Not a fair advantage that she is breastfed and she adores that too…but I dig this phase of babyhood when they need me.

I like being her favorite.

Her blankie is her favorite thing.  If you ask her "Hartley, where is your blankie" she does baby talk while she crawls around looking for it until she can find it.

and then makes this face of joy when she finds it.

She is starting to interact more with her siblings.  It is sweet to see these sisters relationship developing.

Jovie is so very nurturing and sweet, and Hartley is more playful and aggressive.

I love 11 months.  Starting more independent play, so inquisitive.

She is still in our room.  She sleeps pretty good - naps from noon till 1:30 or 2.  Goes to bed at 7pm, then wakes at 11pm to nurse, and then wakes for the morning between 6 and 7am.

Walmart NP

I started my third job in 6 months this past week.

Yep, 3rd.

I'm so thankful that employers have given me the benefit of the doubt, and extended me interviews despite the numerous amount of job changes I've made over the past 5 years.  It is pretty embarrassing acutually - pretty much every year, or every 6 months I've changed jobs.  All to climb the ladder of awesomeness.  To always be seeking that perfect job - the one that gives me what I need, exactly when I need it, for the exact length of time I've needed it.  They were always positions that I never thought were ideal, but looking back every single one has always been ideal for one reason or another.  To allow me the opportunity to grow, learn, and move on just in the knick of time.

So Mississippi jobs held just in the past 6 months...

Job #1 - simulation coordinator in the school of nursing.  It allowed us to just make ends meet on our spur of the moment life change when we quickly relocated over the course of 1 months time.  Lesson learned, I'm not interested in teaching at the college level.  Ever.  So thankful to the wise lady who convinced me to pursue the FNP route in grad school when I told her my plan was to obtain my MSN so that I could teach at the community/junior college level.

Job #2 - Hospitalist NP.  Loved the job and all it taught me.  If I was a single woman, I would have likely stayed there for a long, long time.  Because the terrifying yet exciting thrill of codes and sick patients, and multiple phone calls each night from floor nurses make you think, and learn, and stay smart.  But alas, my roles of wife/mama are my absolute first priority so onto…

Job #3 - Clinic NP.  I just finished day #1, at the clinic located in Walmart.  I left right at 6pm, promptly when my shift ended, was home at 6:08pm and greeted by a slew of littles who were just over the moon excited to see me.  I realized that this life here, this is the life I worked so.freaking.hard.for.

That saying third time is the charm, well it has been so true in this scenario.

Seriously.

Like dream job.  The job I went to school an embarrassing length of time for, have a truck-load of student loans for, and yeah it was so.very.worth.it.

So Paul, thanks for making me stick with the drama that was grad school.  For pushing me to study so I could pass my boards.  For hanging in there solo parenting during our crazy life when I worked nightshift…there are no words that describe the difficulty that was those 5 months of sleeplessness and, yeah.  Just thankful that is behind us.  I'm excited to see how this role transforms our family life.

I'm also so jazzed about the amount of running I've been able to do again, now that I've crawled out of the abyss of life as a night shift zombie.  Onward to a life of health, wealth, and happiness.  So thankful.  All the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication yielded amazing results.  Such a rewarding process.

And pink...because I can rock it!

kids are awesome

Documentation of the things they do/say lately...

RYKER, 8 years old

Paul hurt his back playing basketball at the rec center while Ryker was a Karate.  We all lack in the empathy department around here, especially as Paul was pale and barely able to walk because of pain...

"Dad you are such a 32 year old baby."
*****
"When I grow up I'm going to be a soccer coach so that I can just play at work all day."

*****
He's been working to earn money.  So far he's saved up $40, some from Christmas money, some from chores.  He searched Amazon for 30 minutes, he'd would have searched longer but that was his time limit, for something he wanted to buy.  He settled on a $5 Harry Potter lego mini figure.

"I don't want to spend my money, I want to save it up till I have $100 and do something really cool with it."

What is really cool?

"I don't know but when I figure it out I probably won't want to spend all the money I saved up on it."

*****
He likes to make faces at us when he disagrees with what we are saying, or disciplining him.  You all know what I'm talking about, we've all been in that stage of life before.  Making those dumb faces because you think that whatever you are being told is so off the wall stupid that your only response is to make hideous faces…yeah those faces.

He looks…well…ridiculous, and it is hard to keep a straight face when I see him acting this way.  I'll laugh when he calls me as a parent someday complaining about these faces.  I remember doing the same.exact.thing to my parents.

*****
He's picking up on southern things -

"I need supper.  People here in Mississippi eat supper, mom" said about an hour after we finished dinner.

"surely we will go to soccer tonight"
- who says surely?!

KIP, 5 years old

We went to the bank today.  Kip was so concerned because he thought they were going to hand and foot cuff me.

Apparently he thought I was going to the bank to steal money…

What a nerve wrecking thought.  Now I understand his bad behavior prior to going inside.  It didn't seem like an ordinary errand in his mind.

We discussed how the money I earn goes straight to the bank, so I was going to get my money I earned from work, out of my account.  Now he says, I want to do that too.

"I want an account to get $50 bills from, so I can buy a whole lotta silly string."

Of note, I did NOT get $50 bills out.  Though I sure wish I did.

*****

Numbers are the going thing around here.

"mom what is 8 and a 0 and another 0 and another 0 make," - that is 8,000, Kip.

"Is that the hugest number in the world?" - Nope, infinity is.

"Lets count to infinity, mom"- he starts counting, makes it to 159 then says...

"hey, wait, you're wrong mom.  The biggest mega number is infinity and beyond, mom, cause that is more than infinity."

Everything he needs to know he learns from Toy Story, apparently.

and he insists, "infinity and beyond IS a number."

******

Mom, when the clock says 6 dot, dot 1, 8 what should I be doing?"  - Taking a shower or bath most days.

"okay, I'm gonna scrub up my wiener at 6 dot, dot, 1, 8 every single day then."

Of note - he asks me what time it is when he is in the shower/bath every day since.  I don't ask what he's doing…but I notice the soap is getting used up.

*****

"Mom I want some 'ganilla' ice-cream.  It is the best, yeah."
- is corrected by Ryker, "VANILLA, Kip, not ganilla, VANILLA.  There is no such thing as ganilla"

and just like that, 5 years of ganilla changed by a big brother who corrects him.  I am so, so sad.

*****
The way he says tomorrow.  Can't even type it out, it is just unique, and perfect, and when he starts saying it correctly I'll be sad.

JOVIE, 4 years old

We went to the movies yesterday

"mom you hafta hold me a cause the seat keeps trying ta eat my body!"

*****
"I can't sit next ta you a cause you are eating poop, and you are disgusting" as she seriously gags while running away holding her nose.

Apparently the brown rice, black beans and grilled chicken mix wasn't appealing to her…

*****
"YOU CAN NOT CALL MY SISTER A HE!!! UGGGHHHH!"
- yelled at Kip, because he still hasn't mastered the whole he/she, him/her concept yet.

runs to puts a hair bow on Hartley, then says to Hartley -

"There, that is better, I'm sorry you have boy looking hair and Kip keeps calling you a he.  Some day you gonna have beautiful hair that is long and girl like."

******
"mom can I do the laundry because I want to wear a kitty shirt, and it has been dirty since yesterday."
- music to my ears

*****

Whenever she gets dramatic, which happens frequently, because she is 4 and a girl, she runs to her room in hysterics

"BLANKIE, BLANKIE, I NEED MY BLANKIE"

Follwed further by "DADDY, I NEED MY DADDY" or "MOMMY I NEED MY MOMMY" whoever happens to be the parent at work that day and not ticking her off.

Girl drama.

*****
She calls smoothies "rainbow juice" because when we make them we stack the blender with the colors of the rainbow.


HARTLEY, 10 months

"dadadadada" still her only word.
 though lately she looks at you, mumbles, and is so very expressive.  Girlfriend thinks she is carrying on a conversation, and it is adorable.

Sibling day 2015

I hope these 4 always value the gift of having a sibling.  I'm excited to see their relationships change over the years.