Time is Flying

 Lots of pictures...still trying to find a groove with 4 kids, homeschooling, and now the holidays coming up (and already past). It's getting better (except when everyone is horribly sick...but that's for another post).

Grace LOVES her bath...just like all the other kids.

This little over-the-sink-bathtub was Aaron's idea when Anna was a baby. I gave him such a hard time about it-didn't see why we would need it when we had a bathtub! It's the best purchase he's ever made! Ha.

 She is changing so fast!! She smiles a lot now and talks. So much fun!

 Big kids still love having a baby around :)

 Anna spent on morning cleaning her room and creating a library! So fun.

 Looks like we need to review the proper use of apostrophes! 

 Usually she's thrilled to help take care of Grace. 

 Isaac really does adore her.

 We've been studying the Renaissance this year, so for art one time when Binga was here, the kids all pretended to be Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel! They loved it. (I don't know where the pics of the boys are....)

 As of now (at 2 months old), Grace is solely nursing! It took about a week of feeding her every couple hours (or sooner), but she's gotten the hang of it much quicker than I expected! It's so nice to drag a bottle and the pump around whenever we're gone from home for a couple hours!!

 This one looks a lot like one of Anna at about the same age! I need to scan it and put them side by side.

 The girl likes her sleep!

 Early in October, Mom took Anna and Isaac back to Iowa with her for a week. They had a blast!!

 And Jacob got to go to Uncle Tery and Aunt Cara's for the week!! He did NOT want to come home...wonder why?!

 We picked Jacob up a day before Anna and Isaac came back...Jacob was reveling in the time he got to spend alone with Grace. He was quick to tell Anna that HE could take care of Grace, too! :)

 Anna and Isaac brought a surprise back from Iowa...a trampoline!! Papa found it and it was FREE!! It provided hours of entertainment this fall before we put it up for the winter.

 We call this "The Papa Frown". Ha! 

 Bing got the kids Monopoly Junior...they love it!

 Anna volunteered to change Grace's diaper for the first time, completely by herself. Hey, it's on and it didn't leak! :)

 Grace's first Sterling College volleyball game :)

 Aunt Cara made Grace a dress to match Anna's...Anna thought that was the best thing ever!!

 She has quite the range of expressions.

 She's been holding her head up so well from very early on! 

 When she was taking bottles, she would just guzzle so fast and get so much air. But she didn't like to stop and she HATED to be burped. I took this pic after I took her bottle away to try and burp her...she was avoiding looking at me! It was like she was saying, "I will NOT look at you until you give me my bottle back!" HA!

 Finally got her name done. I love it.

 Jacob was helping me take care of her, rocking her in her room. A few minutes later he came out without Grace. He had decided to lay her on floor, so he laid out a blanket, laid her down, and laid beside her while she fell asleep. SO sweet!!!

 She's sleeping. Silly girl!

 It took about 6 weeks, but I finally started feeling normal again. It felt SO GOOD to be back in the kitchen, cooking and baking. And one afternoon, we even went for a long walk/bike ride. The boys wanted to try pulling the sword from the stone on SC campus. :)

 Isaac LOVED feeding Grace her bottle (he didn't like it when she stopped taking bottles!). Here, he's telling her, "S-yo down Gwace!!" Ha! He heard that a few times...

 I LOVE HER SMILES!!! Her chubby cheeks just squish up her eyes...so adorable. :)

 Oh...here are the boys' "Michelangelo" pics. 

 She's asleep here, too. She does not like to have her hands tucked in, that's for sure!

 With our SC foster daughter, Amanda, at one of her volleyball games.

 Evidently, Isaac was being too loud at bedtime...

 This is how Isaac takes a Sunday afternoon nap! 

 Already she likes to be part of everything. She was fussing but quit as soon as I brought her to the table with the rest of us!

 The boys got some 3-D glasses in a kid's meal and I couldn't stop laughing at how cute they were as they played their 3D game!

 It's a good thing he's small for a 4 yr old, the way he likes to use Grace's things for watching TV!!

 At her 2 month checkup, I was shocked to find out Grace is in the 90th percentile for height!! She was my shortest baby by at least an inch at birth! She's only 50th percentile for weight and head circumference, so she's still got chicken legs! Haha. She weighs 11 pounds and is almost 24 inches long.

Life is crazy, hard, fun, exhausting, rewarding...I wouldn't trade it for anything! :)