Four under Four

WE HAVE A NEW BLOG!!!

2010-08-06T13:17:00.003-07:00

So we're moving on over. Come check out our new blog at:

http://koprowskikids.com/

A few from the 4th

2010-08-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to feel somewhat normal again, now that Tanner is sleeping through the night. So time to play catch up. Here are the girls from the 4th of July. All I wanted was one cute photo of them smiling. I took 57 photos and I did get my smiling photo!

Family portrait

2010-08-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yep that's 2 nose pickers and a talk to the hand.

who's kids are these?

2010-08-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

A Chloe Update

2010-07-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

Chloe is 3 years 9 months. She weighs about 32lbs. She wears size 4T clothing. She has been talking about her 4th birthday for the past 6 weeks. She tell us about 10x a day that she wants to have a race car birthday cake with 4 candles and that she wants to share it with her friends. She wants everyone that comes to her party to bring her a racecar.
Chloe is such a sweetheart. She loves to laugh. She loves to ride her bike. She loves pasta. She puts her shoes on the wrong feet every single time. She puts her clothes on backwards often. I'm not sure if she doesn't get it or just doesn't care.

Chloe loves loves loves Tanner. She lights up when she sees him each morning. He loves her too. He giggles ans squeals when he sees her. Chloe says every day that Tanner is getting too big and that she's going to miss him when he's not a baby anymore. Chloe loves to talk about what she was like as a baby and what she used to do. "When I was a baby I had a bottle, when I was a baby you fed me baby food."

Chloe is so well behaved, she lives to please. She has started making her bed each morning. We've never asked her to make it, she just does it on her own. She somehow manages to make her bed perfectly and she folds all of her chewies, puts them in a pile and arranges her doggies on her pillow. She's so proud of herself and she can't wait to show us each morning. She's so sensitive. We have to be really careful how we correct her. She's not the type of kid you can yell at or even raise your voice with. It just destroys her. She rarely has to be disciplined so when we do we have to be really careful how we do it.

She's such a wonderful quirky little girl. She's started ice skating and really enjoys it. She wants to play hockey like daddy when she gets bigger. She's a natural athlete and a total klutz---quite the combination! She was born knowing how to hold a hockey stick and throw a baseball. She can get hurt doing just about anything. Here a few ways she's injured herself lately---she'll often trip while walking. She fell off the toilet why reaching for some tp. She sliced her finger while reading a book. She has fallen out of her chair while eating dinner on numerous occasions. And the list goes on! We're not surprised that she was our first child to need stitches(from tripping while holding a bowling ball). There's never a dull moment with Chloe! We love our little sunshine Chloe!

photo preview

2010-07-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

We had some photos done on Tuesday. It takes her 3 weeks to get the cd to us, but she put a preview up on her blog. Here are a few of my favorites. You can see the rest here:
http://blog.jennipricephotography.com/

snacktime

2010-07-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tanner 7 months

2010-07-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

Priya's 4th bday party

2010-07-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

The girls bff's both turned 4 in June. Priya had her party at a horse farm. So.much.fun!

Josie turns 4!

2010-06-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Chloe and Taylor's good friend Josie had her 4th birthday party at an awesome park. We took all 4 kiddos and it wasn't a total disaster. The girls had a great time, Tanner was really good and Coby only screamed "No Birthday Party!!!" a handful of times. It was also our first day of sunshine after nearly 30 days of rain. Fun times.

Chloe and Tayor

2010-06-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

The girls have been the best of friends lately. They have such wild imaginations and will play together for hours on end. Here they are picking berries and cooking up some wild concoction.

Koprowski Boys

2010-06-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

Here are photos of the boys at the same age. They do look like brothers.

Slow down!

2010-06-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tanner is the most active baby on the planet. Here he is at barely 7 months trying to walk already. He's very intense. He crawls very fast, and now he's really cruising and letting go of furniture trying to walk from one thing to the next. The kids will run by him and he'll just let go and try to run, and of course he has no balance so he comes crashing down every time. He LOVES his brother and sisters. He squeals with delight when they enter the room. He has no interest in toys, he crawls straight to electrical cords, outlets and anything else he's not supposed to have. His big sister Taylor was the same way as a baby. He's turned into a GREAT sleeper. He goes to bed around 6:30p and he'll sleep over 12 hours, getting up between 7:30 and 8:30. He takes 1-2 long naps a day. Here's a few pictures taken last weekend of our little guy. We love you Tanner!

Hanging with the big kids

2010-06-13T18:38:00.001-07:00

Tanner's first ride in a shopping cart

A Parade

2010-06-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

The kids LOVE parades. Here they made their own parade with their toys. They worked really hard on this, kept them all busy for at least 15 minutes. 15 minutes with no fighting or crying is not a common thing around here.

A Beautiful Boy

2010-06-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Our friend Emily took some photos of the kiddos. She got this great one of Coby. He is just so.darn.cute.

Another milestone

2010-05-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

At 6 and half months Tanner is pulling himself up on everything and cruising. Sometimes I wish he would slow down just a little and take his time. He loves to pull himself up but he doesn't have good balance so he'll let go and crash. He's into everything and you have to watch him every second. He's alot like Taylor was as a baby. He's not at all interested in his toys. He goes straight for the electrical cords, and anything else he can find that's not a toy. And he puts EVERYTHING in his month. The little stinker! He has two teeth now on the bottom and is working on the top ones.

My Sweet Little Chloe

2010-05-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

Coby and Olivia

2010-05-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

Matching PJ's

2010-05-22T21:08:00.001-07:00

Coby is not a fan of pj's. The only way we can him to wear them is if Taylor and Chloe are wearing the same ones.

Boys

2010-05-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Tanner 6 month photos

2010-05-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

A couple of firsts

2010-05-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

On May 12, 2010 Tanner got his first tooth. He also had his first drink out of a sippy cup. All in days work. What a guy! He's thrilled can you tell?

Tanner at 6 months

2010-05-10T20:29:00.001-07:00

Tanner is the worlds easiest baby. Thank God. He just turned 6 mos. His stats are 29 inches and 18 lbs. He's all over the place. He's up on his hands and knees and he does this weird worm like crawl. He can get across the room quickly if he sees something he wants. He sits up unassisted. He loves to jump in his jumperoo, but her prefers to be on the ground where he can move around. He takes two awesome long naps during the day and sleeps well at night. Last night he made 11 hours without having to eat. He's a little on the skinny side so we let him eat once at night if he's hungry. Most of the time he'll sleep at least 8 hours then take a bottle then back to sleep for another 3 or 4. He's so happy and really really loves his siblings. We love our little Tan man!

My little painters

2010-05-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

They were supposed to be painting the fence......

sweet sisters

2010-04-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Coby's grin

2010-04-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

So happy I finally captured this smile. This is the smile that Coby gets on his face when he does something naughty or when he's really excited. I just love it!

Tanner

2010-04-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here's Tanner and 5 1/2 months ready to eat! He LOVES to eat. Not sure where he puts it all. He's skinnier than Coby was at this age.

The new lawn

2010-04-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

We miss our dog(he moved in with uncle Joey). But not having a dog means now we can have a lawn! Here our the kiddos on the first nice day watching daddy play roof hockey.

My climber

2010-04-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Mommy's Birthday!

2010-04-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Look mom!

2010-04-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

I let the kids play outside for a few minutes while I did the dishes. When I went outside to check on them Taylor said "Look Mom! We're making chocolate!"

Mike turns 29!

2010-04-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Bumbo Baby

2010-04-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

The big question

2010-04-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

Taylor and Chloe have been talking a lot about when Tanner and Coby were in my tummy. And today Taylor said "Mom who's tummy was I in?" Just curious how other adoptive moms answer this question. What do you think is an appropriate answer for a 3 year old?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Taylor

2010-04-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Cute things they say

2010-04-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Chloe's walking around the house saying "I not God and I not a monster. I just a little kid."

And Taylor said to Chloe this morning, "look at mom's house! It's just a mess!"

Mike and Betsey come to town

2010-04-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

We had a visit from our two favorite people. Tons more pics coming soon!

Coby wants a macbook

2010-04-08T21:33:00.000-07:00

Jake let Coby play on my computer. He LOVED it. Can you tell?

Ladies man

2010-04-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Anne and Uncle Bill gave Tanner this adorable outfit. The outfit is made from a man's dress shirt. The back pocket of the baby's pants was originally the front pocket of a man's shirt. It's super soft cotton. Tanner loves that he can look good for the ladies and still be comfy and cozy for his nap. :)

We finally have furniture

2010-04-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

So for the first time since we've been married Jake and I have real furniture. Our living room finally has something in it besides a rocking horse and little tikes slide.
Taylor loves it, finally a comfy place to read.

Brothers

2010-04-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Coby is starting to take an interest in Tanner. Yesterday he was reading his flash cards to Tanner. Tanner was in his bumbo and Coby was on the floor in front of him. He would say "A is for Apple, see baby "A." I've been really bad about taking photos lately (this four kid thing is no picnic). Here are a few I've snapped over the last few months of the boys together. I can't wait for the days when they can really play together like the girls do.

First stitches

2010-04-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Way to go Chloe. You were the first one to go to the ER (at 7 mos) and now you are the first one to get stitches(at 3 1/2).

Three stitches right under her chin. I think we'll wait a few years before we take them bowling again. And I'm not surprised it was Chloe, the poor kid can get hurt eating her dinner.

Someone's getting big!

2010-03-30T15:50:00.001-07:00

A little creepy

2010-03-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

So I bought Coby these cars for Christmas. There is a black one. a red one. and a blue one. He loves them and plays with often. The blue one got lost for a few days.

Then I walk into his room the other day and find this.......

a black one. a red one. and another red one?

Is it just me or is this kind of creepy?

They are so darn sweet.

2010-03-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

These girls, I swear, would melt your heart. Just wanted to document the cuteness. Their new thing is to cry for each other when they are sad or hurt. It used to be "mommy, mommy or daddy, daddy." Now when Chloe gets hurt or is sad she cries for "t-t" to come comfort her and when Taylor needs a hug she wants it to come from Chloe. It's not uncommon for me to find Chloe giving crying Taylor a big bear hug, wiping away her tears with her hand and saying "you're gonna be alright, I your sister I'll always take care of you." They wipe each others tears away, give hugs and say the sweetest things you'll ever here. Tonight Chloe was crying about something unreasonable when Jake put the girls to bed. He had to put Coby to bed so he left Chloe crying in the middle of her floor. He comes back 5 minutes later to find Chloe covered up asleep in her bed and Taylor sitting up in her bed reading. Taylor says "Dad don't worry about it, I calmed her down." Seriously?

Tanner is 4 months old

2010-03-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

Here's what Tanner is like at 4 months....

He's 27 inches long and weighs exactly 16 pounds. He's a big eater. He eat 3 meals a day (one to two jars of baby food). He nurses ever 3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night. He drinks one or two 6 oz bottles of formula. The dr. says we need to fatten him up a bit so we may add some olive oil to his food and try and squeeze in a little more formula.

Tanner is a great little sleeper. Takes 3 naps a day. Two long ones for 2+ hours and one shorter one for about 1.5 hours. He goes to bed around 7 and gets up 2x a night to eat then he's up at 7 to start his day. He sleeps on his stomach or his side.

He LOVES tummy time. He rolls over like crazy now. He'll never lie on his back for more then a few seconds. He prefers his stomach and is even starting to inch forward a little. He also loves to sit up. If he's in his bouncy seat, car seat or swing he'll try and lean forward so he can sit up straight.

He still is not sucking his thumb but he constantly has his fingers or thumb in his mouth. He's a major drooler. He'll soak a shirt in a few minutes. Between the drool and the messy eating he goes through quite a few outfits in one day. Just what mommy needs--more laundry.

Tanner is incredibly social. He'll stare at you when you enter a room, wait for you to make eye contact with him and then give you a great big grin. He's such a happy baby, always smiling and giggling. What a joy this little guy is. We're so thankful God has given us such a precious little son. We love you TANNER!!!!

Tet 2010

2010-03-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

The girls loved dressing up this year. Chloe was still terribly afraid of the dragon dance. It didn't help that we were sitting in the front row. She started crying and screaming "somebody get me out of here." We spent a good amount of time in the hallway trying to convince Chloe that the dragon wasn't real. Here are a few photos I took of the girls before we left for the Tet celebration. (oh and p.s. Coby found another outfit in the bag and insisted on trying it on). Thanks Josie for letting us borrow our cute clothes for the 2nd year in a row!

A Chloe Update

2010-02-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

"I'm not Chloe! I Chloe Powski!" This is one of my favorite things Chloe is saying these days. When ever we call her Chloe she says with a grumpy little voice "I not Chloe! I Chloe Powski!"

Chloe is 3 years 5 months old. She weighs a little over 35lbs and is wearing a size 4T. She's quite a bit taller than Taylor but not quite as big as Coby. She's a GREAT eater. She's our only child who will eat just about anything you put in front of her at any time. The only food she doesn't like is string cheese. She would eat constantly if we let her so we are working on only eating at meal and snack times.

Chloe's a very happy, energetic child. She's pretty agreeable most of the time. We rarely have to discipline her. Chloe is very enthusiastic. She runs everywhere. She runs from her room to the kitchen from the the kitchen to the living room etc. She's totally potty trained, even at night. She wears underwear at night and wakes up dry 99.5% of the time. She will even get out of bed in the middle of the night to use the potty. She's been doing this for almost a year now. And it's awesome not to have to change her diapers. I am dreaming of a day when all 4 are potty trained like this. :)

Chloe loves loves loves Tanner. She spends as much time as she can with him when he's awake. She's always saying things like "he's so cute mom, I love him so much, he's just the cutest baby mom." She is always asking me if I remember when he was in my tummy. Chloe is very emotional. If she's tired or hungry she cries easily. Now that she's a little older she's been expressing herself more. She is always telling me that she loves me or that she loves her brothers and sister. She's full of compliments. She's say things like "mom I really love your hair today." And it's usually when my hair is extra messy or I haven't had time to shower.

Chloe is doing great in school. She really likes going to school each day. One day she had to stay home sick and she cried for the longest time. She's extremely social and is always talking about her friends. When Jake goes to drop her off she just walks right in and says "bye dad, see you later." She makes friends easily and she's really gotten alot more confident this past year. She used to copy everything Taylor did but now she's starting take the lead and even form her own opinions. She still says "we" instead of "I." She says things like "We are hungry or we are tired." Taylor is very much her other half and they are rarely apart.

Chloe was a very vocal baby and now as a toddler she loves to talk. Taylor is a thinker and will only say something if she has something to say. Chloe just rambles and rambles, especially in the car. Last week I took her shopping and on the way to the store she said this: "Mom, triangles aren't squares right Mom? Mom we can't hit, right Mom? Mom, birds are in the sky, right mom? Mom, T.T. is my sister right mom? Mom we can't push, right Mom? Mom, Coby is a brother, right mom? Mom, it's not a school day, right mom? Mom, we don't eat houses right Mom?" And she went on and on and on.

We love our little Chloe. She's one a kind and we can't imagine life with out her!

2010-02-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

Coby vs. Tanner at 4 months

2010-02-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

Tanner 3 months

2010-02-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

Milestone

2010-02-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

On Feb. 3rd, just 2 days shy of 3 months Tanner rolled over from his back to his front. He's become so active we have to move him to a full size crib. Go Tanner!!! Here's a few pictures of our 3 month old!

And here's his first mush....

A Taylor Update

2010-02-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

Taylor is 3 years 4 months. She's the tiniest of the trio, but she makes up for it with her personality. She's very bossy and at home she's in charge. At school however she's shy and Chloe takes control. If she needs to go potty at school she won't ask the teacher, she asks Chloe to ask the teacher. She's having kind of a hard time adjusting to the baby. She loves having another little brother and is very sweet with him but she's started to regress in a few areas, wanting to be treated like a baby at times. She's potty trained but won't use the potty at home. She's potty trained at school, when we are out and about and sometimes at Grandma's house. But at home she says "just put a diaper on me because I'm going to pee my pants if you don't." And she'll do just that. So after cleaning up several messes we have put her back in diapers at home.

She's super smart and witty and continues to surprise us with the things she says and does. She pulled a Bart Simpson the other day. The three kids were having a picnic outside, eating PB & J sandwiches. Coby ate half of his and then ran off to play. Taylor took the other half of his sandwich opened it up rubbed dirt in it and then put it back together and on his plate. After I finished laughing I went outside and switched his dirt sandwich with a new one.

Taylor is doing great at school. The teacher said she's very kind to the other kids and always in the middle of everything. She goes four days a week from 9-11:15. She used to get upset when we dropped her off but now she just walks right in and starts playing. She'll say "bye dad, see you in 2 hours!" Although she loves school when she's there, she tries to get out of going almost everyday. She's not really a morning person and would sleep till 10 if Chloe didn't wake her. It's usually hard to get her dressed and going in the morning. Lately she's been saying things like "I can't go to school today mom, I'm just too sick," followed by a forced cough. I have a feeling we will be dealing with her excuses for the next 15 years or so.

She's a great sleeper at night, goes down easily and sleeps 11-12 hours. She has not wanted to nap for a few months. Occasionally she will fall asleep in the car and lately we've been making her lie in bed during nap time. She'll fall asleep 1-2x a week. She really still needs a 2 hour nap everyday and is much more agreeable and happier on the afternoons when she gets a nap. She tends to start fights with the other kids especially Coby when she's tired. She also has started to get picky about what she eats. She has eating days and non eating days. On the eating days she'll eat a TON and then she'll go a few days in a row where she barely eats. It's a constant battle to get enough calories in her.

Taylor is very cuddly and loves to be held and carried places. Lucky for us she only weighs a little over 20lbs. :) She's a funny kid because sometimes she wants to be treated like a baby and other times she's very much the oldest child in the house. She takes her big sister role very seriously and does a great job of taking care of her siblings. She's always saying things like "When I was Coby's age I used to love to color." Or "when I was Tanner's age I used to drink a bottle."

Some of Taylor's favorite things are dressing up, wearing bows, being tickled, watching daddy cook, hanging out with mommy, dancing, tea parties, wearing her "dancing shoes" everywhere even out in the rain or to school. She's such an amazing little girl and we're so proud to call her our daughter.

A Tanner Update

2010-01-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

Tanner is almost 3 months old. He's wearing size 9-12 month clothing. He's starting to sleep more at night sometimes a 5 hour stretch. He's a great napper which really helps our days go smoother. He'll nap for 2-3 hours a few times a day. He's super smiley and so sweet. He's a very happy baby and we love him so much. He's starting to hold his head up better and should be ready for his bumbo seat and exersaucer within a month. He loves to talk and has a cute little laugh. He really is the best baby ever!

A Coby Update

2010-01-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

Coby is 2 years 4 months old. He's over 38 inches tall and weighs close to 40lbs. He wears a size 4T. He's a big boy. He has just realized how big he is and has started to pick on his sisters. He and Taylor have been fighting for position of top dog around here. It's going to be a long battle because both of them are very strong willed.

Coby knows all of his alphabet letters and has just recently mastered the sound each letter makes. He can almost count to 20 and backwards from 5. He's really started to talk and repeat things. He's made a ton of progress in the last month and has too many words to count.

Coby still sleeps in a crib but has started to climb out of it. He has a big boy bed in his room and sleeps in it occasionally. He takes a nap each day for around 2-3 hours and sleeps around 11-12 hours at night.

Tantrums, tantrums, tantrums. Coby knows how to throw an tantrum. These just started a few weeks after Tanner was born. He's having a really hard time adjusting to his new role as big brother. It's been really hard the past month or so but I think it's starting to get better. We're trying to develop new routines with him, like doing fun activities when mommy has to feed the baby. Tanner is also getting easier during the day and this gives me more time with Coby.

Coby is such a joy. He's the sweetest little boy and when he's happy he's really happy. He loves to cuddle and if you sit next to him on the couch he'll wrap your arms around him. He just loves to be held. Even though he fights with his sisters now he really loves them. They have so much fun together and love to have dance parties. I can't wait to see the relationship between Coby and Tanner develop. I hope they will be the best of friends. Here's a little video of the two of them together.

2010-01-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

Tanner at 2 months

2010-01-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

Tanner had his 2 month appointment last week. He's about 25 inches long and a little over 13lbs. Even though he weighs alot the dr. said he could stand to gain a few pounds because he's so long. He suggested we start supplement with bottles and rice cereal. We've been giving him 1 small bottle at night right after he nurses and it's really helped him sleep. He's starting to sleep 5-6 hours at a stretch which is awesome. It feels so good to get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. We've also started to teach him to fall asleep on his own and that's helped make our days easier. No more rocking him for an hour to get him to sleep for a 1/2 hour. He's starting to fall into a predictable schedule. I think the worst is over, at least I hope so. :)

I still have Christmas photos and more to post. We've been having a rough 2 weeks but as things settle down I'll catch up. Coby has just realized that he has a baby brother and that the baby is not going away. He's been a real stinker lately not leaving me much free time for anything except sleeping and the occasional shower.

Here's Tanner at 2 months......

Jakes family comes to town

2010-01-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

The girls

2010-01-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

The boys

2010-01-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

Tanner and the girls

2009-12-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

Moody

2009-12-29T09:51:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:57:00.000-08:00

Tea Party

2009-12-24T23:55:00.001-08:00

Right after I had Tanner, my mom was watching the girls. Here they are at a tea party that great-grandma set up. How cute is this?

They are beyond naughty

2009-12-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

We're in for a tough year. Coby is now in the middle of everything his sisters get into. The three of them can do so much damage to the house in such a short period of time. They have also learned that when I'm feeding the baby or trying to get him to sleep in his room they can pretty much get away with anything. That combined with 2 weeks off school for Taylor and Chloe equals total disaster! We are having Christmas Eve at our house so I've been trying to get the house clean. I have about 45 minutes every 3 hours that I don't have to be either holding or feeding or rocking Tanner to sleep. So I'd work really hard getting things clean and then the kids worked really hard messing things up. Here's an example of one of the many many naughty things they did today. I had spent about 45 minutes organizing and cleaning Coby's room today. Putting all the toys in the right bins, etc. And while I was downstairs feeding Tanner and Jake was cooking dinner they decided to go on a boat ride. Coby's crib was the boat and of course they couldn't leave home without their stuff!

Family photos

2009-12-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

My little cutie pie

2009-12-20T20:27:00.000-08:00

and here is Coby as a baby

Gingerbread houses

2009-12-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

The girls made their first gingerbread house with the help of Aunt Lauren (Jake's little sister). They had a really good time decorating it/eating the candy. It collapsed completely about an hour after they finished it. It's a good thing they forgot about it. I had a few bites then threw it out. What's going to happen when they start remembering things like the gingerbread house they made, or their halloween candy? :)

Jake turns 36

2009-12-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Daddy celebrated his 36th birthday on Dec. 1st. It was kind of a last minute celebration. We had to make a brownie cake because I forgot/didn't have time to buy a cake. The girls didn't mind though. They had a good time putting the candles in and chowing down on brownies and ice cream. Coby was all about wearing the birthday hat, which is really cute because he never used to like them. Now he wants to be like his sisters and if they say it's cool, it's cool. ;P My mom babysat that night and Jake and I were able to go out to dinner with out the 4 kids. What a treat!

Time to catch up and decorating the tree

2009-12-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

I am SOO far behind on my blogging. I blame Tanner. I am going to post one post a day until the end of the year so I can catch up. I'll be posting in random order because putting them in order is just too much to think about. :) We've had a busy couple of months. Some things I need to blog about are family visiting, birthdays, back to school night, tree hunting, decorating the tree and making our first gingerbread house.

To start off here are the kids decorating the tree with Daddy. It's so cute, Taylor and Chloe did the same thing last year...the get all giggly and excited when the stockings come out. They think they are giant socks and start wearing them around the house. The tree decorating was kind of a disaster. The girls loved it but Coby kept taking all of the ornaments off and wanted them in a huge pile on the floor. He would scream when anyone got close to them. Ahh 2 year olds.

Here are few photos from our night:

Tanner is 5 weeks old

2009-12-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

This is what happens right after you pull an all nighter. You pass out after your diaper change when mom sneaks away to get you some clean clothes.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving with my brothers family and our parents. Here's a few photos of our Thanksgiving.

Cutest big sisters on the planet

2009-12-07T15:39:00.001-08:00

Here's a sneak peak of a mini photo session we had done. It was raining and cold and we had way too many toddlers but somehow we still got some cute pics.

Tanner

2009-12-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

Don't let the pictures fool you, he barley sleeps.

2009-12-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

The Poop: Santa Tantrum Awards

2009-12-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

We're in the lead..... (can't figure out how to work the link, just cut and paste it. :)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?&entry_id=52815

Tanner or Brody?

2009-11-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

Taylor and Chloe are trying to decide if he looks more like a Tanner or Brody. What do you think?

Oh Taylor

2009-11-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write down 2 things Taylor has said recently so I don't forget them.

The other day she came running up to me and said "MOM! Dad's don't wear bras, they wear belts." Then she ran off.

And today I took her and Chloe shopping to the mall. She saw a group of teenage girls and looked at me and said, "Mom, when I'm 15 I"m not going to need to shop with my mother, I'll just go shopping with my friends."

Every night I put her to bed in normal pj's and every morning she wakes up with some weird outfit.......

Skipping naps

2009-11-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

The girls have not wanted to nap lately, but they still need them. Can you tell?

Big Sisters

2009-11-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

3 days old

2009-11-09T22:48:00.000-08:00

The boys first encounter

2009-11-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

Coby has put up with ALOT from Chloe and Taylor. It's finally pay back time. It's going to be so fun to watch these two together.

Little Brother's Birth Story

2009-11-09T11:53:00.001-08:00

Talk about perfect timing. Everything happened exactly how I had imagined. Coby had been with my parents for about 10 days when I went in to labor. This was for 2 reasons 1)The girls were really sick with the flu and I didn't want him to catch it and 2)I was getting too exhausted trying to care for the 3 of them. I had had plenty of time to rest up over the last 2 weeks, thanks to my mom caring for Coby, our little ball of energy.

Last week the girls went to school M-Th mornings. On Thursday morning, which just happened to be my due date, I woke up at about 5am with mild contractions 15-20 minutes apart. I sent the girls off to school and started to get things ready to go. I packed up my bag and the things they needed for the next week when they would be with my parents. Most of the day I continued to have contractions anywhere from 10-15 minutes apart. Jake picked the girls up from school and I drove them down to my parents house in Silverton (which is about an hour away).

At 2pm I had an appointment with my Dr. He said it was hard to tell but I seemed like I was about 1cm dilated. After I left his office I started having contractions about 8 minutes apart. At around 5pm they started to get a little stronger and were more like 5 minutes apart. I called Jake and told him to grab the dog and come down to Silverton so he could help me get the kids to bed. He was able to work a full day and locked up the house and headed down. He showed up around 6:30.

We put the kids to bed right at 7 and then I decided to watch a tv show with my parents and Jake. About 10 minutes into the show the contractions were starting to get really uncomfortable. I hopped in the bath tub for a little while. At about 8:30 Jake and I decided it was time to head to the hospital. The contractions were about 2-5 minutes apart at this time and really strong.

We checked into the hospital and at around 9:00 the nurse checked me. I was 5-6 centimeters dilated at this time. The nurses called the doctor and got my room ready for me. At about 9:30 I walked over to my room and got in the jacuzzi tub. This really helped with the pain. I had been in the tub for about 15 minutes and the nurse thought she should check me again because it seemed my contractions were really strong and close together. I got out of the tub and onto the bed. She checked and said "oh wow I think you're fully dilated, I better call our on call midwife."

It took me almost 6 hours of heavy labor to get to that point with Coby so I thought she was making a mistake. She called in 3 more nurses and the on call midwife because my doctor had not shown up yet. They got the tray already for the baby and after about 2 more contractions I felt the urge to push. Right after the on call midwife put the delivery gown on my Dr. walked in. I had already pushed twice at this point. They didn't have time for the Dr. to get another delivery gown sent to the room so he just grabbed one of my robes that was hanging on the back on the bathroom door. It had little flowers all over it, but at least it was blue. :) So with the next push little brothers head came out. This boy was huge and he had really broad shoulders so it took me 2 more pushes before I could get him out all the way. He was born at 10:15 pm on his due date.

It was really intense and alot more painful than I remember with Coby. I had no drugs, not even a Tylenol in me. Although it hurt alot I'm glad I was able to deliver him without any medication. He was very alert when he was born, screaming his little head off. And Jake was SO happy when we found out we had another little boy. What a special moment. I had kind of a rough time after he was born, my body threw it self into it and it all happened so quickly that afterwards I kept having contractions and alot of pain. Ugh. I'll spare you the details. I was relieved that the hard part was over with, he was here with us, healthy and huge and cute as can be. His birth weight was 9 lbs 5 oz and he is 22 inches long. (Coby was 8 lbs 13 oz and 21 1/2 inches long). So he's just a bit bigger.

We have a daily routine, Jake works, I watch the kids, around 5 we feed them dinner, they all go to be around 7 and Jake and I watch tv or chill out until around 11 when we go to bed. This little guy just fit right into our routine. Instead of chilling out or watching tv we had a baby that night. Jake headed home around 11 to get to sleep so he could care for the kids in the morning. My mom stayed with me through the night to help with the baby. It's kind of hard to deliver a baby and then just go to sleep so I was up most of the night. And of course every 30 minutes someone came in to check on me or the baby, which makes it hard to sleep.

We stayed in the hospital for a day and half and went home to my parents house Saturday early afternoon. We wanted to head straight to Portland, but little brother had a high bili count so we had to bring him back to the hospital Sunday morning to get it rechecked. It was kind of nice the way it all worked out, it gave the kids a chance to meet their new little brother and I was able to spend a little time with them before heading home the next day. I'll post next about the kids first encounter with baby brother. I have it all on video, it's pretty cute.

My parents offered to take care of the kids for a week or two while I recover. They are off having fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house now with Aunt Anna and Great Grandma too. I know they're being well cared for and I get to relax and catch up on sleep with my little man. And of course prepare for the chaos that is going to come when we bring the kids back home and have 4 little ones ages 3 and under to care for. Life is good, we have our 2 little boys and our 2 little girls and finally our family feels complete. Well to Jake and I at least. Taylor asked us if we could get a real monkey for Christmas. :)

Look he fits right into our family......

Little Brother

2009-11-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

16 hours old

Finally, someone to pick on!

First time holding little brother

Were hoping he does alot of this

Ready to go home

It's a boy!!!!!!

2009-11-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

So here are a few details about the baby, birth story and photos to follow

1) he doesn't have a name yet
2) he weighed 9lbs 5 oz
3) he is 22 inches long
4) he looks a little like Coby but a darker version
5) he was born on his due date
6) he's really hairy, he has hair all over, arms, legs, back--like a hairy guy. :)

School Update

2009-11-04T17:34:00.000-08:00

School has been a HUGE success. The girls really love it. And it's been great for Coby to have some one on one time with me a few days a week. They started out going MTW and we got a call last week from the school asking if we could send them on Thur as well. So now they go 4 mornings a week. It's amazing how getting them out of the house for just a few hours each mornings makes such a big difference. And so far they've stayed pretty healthy. They've been in school for almost 2 mos and each only been sick once. Coby used to cry everyday when they left but now that he realizes he gets to be alone with mommy he's happy to wave goodbye to them each morning. :) Here's 2 photos of them getting ready for school on Monday.

Taylor wants to wear this dress to school everyday, and these shoes.

And here Taylor is helping Chloe with her shoes. Soo cute!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

Halloween was really fun this year. My parents, Jake and I took the kids to downtown Silverton to trick or treat then to a few houses. The girls were looking forward to it. They couldn't wait to go trick or treating. Coby of course had no clue what he was in for. I figured he'd throw a huge fit when I tried to put his carebear costume on. He hates wearing coats and his costume was like a giant fluffy coat. As soon as he saw the girls getting ready he ran over and got his blue costume and tried to put it on. He's really into being part of the group these days. The girls were a little shy at first trick or treating but they caught on very quickly. They were very polite and would say thank you after they got candy. Coby would run up to the doors and knock and them and when the opened the door he'd yell "bye-bye" and take off before he got his candy. I guess that was his "trick." Here are a few photos of Grumpy Bear, Cheer Bear and Sunshine Bear......

Baby Update

2009-11-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

Only 4 days until my official due date! Still no sign of baby, hoping he or she joins us this week. The dr. thinks the baby is about 8.5lbs so hopefully he/she doesn't stay in there too much longer. We'll keep you posted. I'm glad the baby didn't come early because I had a great time trick or treating with the kids this year. Even Coby got really into it. I have a bunch of cute photos to share but my laptop is acting up so I'll have to load them on to Jake's computer. I'll try and post them by tomorrow. Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

So I broke down and bought the kids new costumes this year. I couldn't resist, I found them at a 2nd hand store and they were just too cute. (more pics to come)

Take 2

2009-10-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

So we kind of forgot to visit the pumpkin patch during our last visit to the pumpkin patch. So here's round 2! The pumpkins were a big hit with all the kids.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2009-10-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

3rd year of chickens

2009-10-10T19:26:00.001-07:00

The girls both said they wanted to be chickens again this year and the costumes still fit. Here they are trying them on before school one day.

The found our car.......

2009-10-08T20:10:00.001-07:00

in an apartment complex, almost 3 weeks later, 4 hours before the insurance kicked in. It was missing the two front wheels and the three carseats. But they left the dvd player, dvd's, cd's and the radio. The inside was totally trashed, but no damage other than that. We're waiting for an insurance estimate. Hey at least we don't have to go car shopping!

Coby's 2nd birthday + Dr.s appt.

2009-10-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

Our little guy is now 2! We didn't have much of a party for him and it's a good thing because he was NOT in the party mood. He had no interest in opening his presents. Taylor helped him open one (a box of balls) and all he wanted to do was go outside and play with them for the rest of the evening. We made him come back in for cupcakes and he wasn't that thrilled (see photos below).
He also had his 2 year old check up on Monday. He screamed from the second we entered the office until we left, about 45 minutes total. I guess he's not a fan of doctors. He's now 38 inches tall, well over the 100th percentile for height and he weighs about 33lbs which is the 85th percentile. He's grown 2 inches and gained 5lbs in just 4 mos. He's starting to talk a lot more and he's just the sweetest little boy. He still has not tried to hit or bite Chloe or Taylor but he thinks its really funny to try and bite mommy and daddy. He rarely misbehaves, we only have to tell him "no" about once a week and if we ever say "no" he immediately bursts into tears. I really need to get it on video because its just so cute!

T & C 3rd Birthday Party

2009-10-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just for the record

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At 2:13pm Jake said these words "if this baby is a girl we might need to have one more." I can't believe he said those words. I just had to write it down so I could use it for evidence later. (This fits in perfectly with my adopting twin boys from Africa plan). :)

First artwork

2009-09-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Chloe and Taylor brought these drawings home from school on day 2. I love how different they are. And Taylor drew a face on hers, the 2nd time I've seen her draw a face. And Chloe's is so dramatic, just like her personality. I can just see them working really hard with their markers to create these masterpieces. Pretty cute! I figured I can't save every piece of artwork from here on out but I am going to try and take a photo of my favorite ones.
Taylor's......

Chloe's.....

updates, updates, updates!

2009-09-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

We have had a crazy couple of weeks. I have TONS of cute bday party photos coming soon. Just a review of the last 2 weeks.

Stolen---We had been home for 2 days and the 2nd day of school Jake and I walk outside our front door to take the girls to school and we can't find our minivan. You know the only car we have that has the brand new Britax Marathon carseats I had just bought for the kids in it. Yep, some jerk stole our car. So I've spent the last 2 weeks on the phone with insurance companies etc. We have 1 more week to go and then the insurance company will declare it gone for good. Just what we need--to have to go car shopping with 3 little ones a baby about to pop out! The fun never ends.

Birthday Parties--Chloe and Taylor turned 3! We had a party with a few friends, they were SO excited and had a blast decorating, wearing party dresses and opening presents. Coby turned 2, we celebrated with a few family members. He was pretty grouchy at his party because he got woke up from his nap, but once we let him play outside he was fine. He had no interest at all in his presents or his cake. He opened up one present(a bag of balls) with help from Taylor and he played with that the whole time.

Construction--We finally moved back into our house! We've been in here for about a week and things are starting to get organized. We're still in boxes and the construction is still going on, but life is somewhat back to normal. They are just finishing up odd and ends and waiting for 2 more windows to come in. My guess is 2 more weeks. It's the never ending project, but at least we can stay here while they are finishing up the details. The main living area and kids rooms are lead free. Yeah! Poor kids are trying to nap right now with saws, loud compressors and several noisy workers going up and down the stairs and slamming doors. I hate construction.

School-The girls LOVE school and the teachers love them. They have about 8 students in their class and 4 teachers so the ratio is great. Today they came home with rain sticks they had made. They have the cutest art projects, alot of stuff I don't have time to do with them at home. The head teacher said it's like they've been in preschool their whole lives. She said they fit right in and are very cooperative and good listeners. Both Chloe and Taylor get very excited on school days. The love getting ready for school, putting bows their hair and carrying their own back packs.

Sleeping Issues- This started up again when we moved back in. I think it was combination of school starting, all the chaos at the house with the construction, moving back in with daddy and having Coby stay with Grandma for a week. Both Chloe and Taylor started waking up crying at night and Taylor would cry for over an hour each night before she would fall asleep. We tried everything and then after about a week of it we decided to put them in separate rooms. Taylor now likes to sleep with the closet light on and Chloe likes it off. Drama, drama. Anyway they've both slept great the last few nights so lets hope that continues. Coby is still our champion sleeper, so at least we have one solid sleeper we can count on. Taylor told me that she really loves her baby brother Coby and she's so happy he's home with us at our house. I think all of the kids are glad to be home and be with just our family once again after 4 months of being apart. So now that they are all back on napping/sleeping schedules we'll add #4 and mess it all up again! :)

Baby #4--Only 5 weeks till due date! Jake and I had our birthing class yesterday. It was a good refresher and I feel more prepared now for the labor and delivery. My birth plan is to do everything completely natural and drug free. So if there are no major complications I should be able to do that. We still haven't picked out a name, it's hard not knowing the gender of the baby. So I think for the first few weeks we'll just call it #4 or baby. Hopefully he or she will have a name before he/she turns 1. :)

So that's our last 2 weeks in a nutshell, that's why I'm a bit behind on my blogging. Photos to follow soon!

State Fair Photos

2009-09-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

I wasn't even going to attempt to dress the kids up this year at the state fair. Luckily my mom was there with me and she insisted we at least try. Coby was NOT in a good mood and the girls weren't into either but I'm really glad we got their photograph taken. I'm going to do this every year. It's so fun to see how much they've changed.

2009

2008