Family Life

As Valerie and Nicholas get older and more active, our houshold sure has gotten busier. It still felt like a small family when they were babies, but now they are growing and babbling and walking and talking and wanting their independance with every new day.

Valerie is crawling and has become a very particular baby. She likes her milk warm, she can cry for 20 minutes straight and the minute you pick her up she will stop and have a huge gummy smile for you. She prefers to be in your arms, but not sitting. She is a night owl and is the lightest sleeper out of all of them. She can not fall asleep in our arms but can co-sleep.

Nicholas is coming on 20 months! He's running around, already filling out Seth's old hand me downs (that's when you know they are getting big!), wants to play with the big kids and although he isn't using words he does point, will show you exactly what he wants and will tell you when it's not what he wants. He is still a very sweet baby. He loves to sleep and is our only thumbsucker. To this day, the only time he sucks his thumb is when he's snuggling up with a blanket. He sleeps covered up from head to toe and can sleep 15+ hours during the night and still take a nap in the day!
He can not co-sleep, he thinks it's playtime when he's in bed with us.

Seth is 4.5 and is really mature for his age. He's our adventurous one. He loves to ride his bike and his new best friend is a first grader who lives down the street. He starts school next year. He can't wait. He's still active as ever, he is like a pin ball in a pin ball machine - running around not needing a break. He's also our parrot and loves to repeat all the bad stuff. He's our line pusher. He knows where the line is but he will try to get a toe over to see how far he can go.

Olivia is loving K! Her reading skills have improved 110% since starting school. She could get through a book, a little slow and needing help and now she's wizzing through the more challenging books needing little help. We didn't accelerate her to 1st and I am glad we didn't. She's being challenged and her teacher recommended her for their gifted and talented program. I know she will love that.

Otis is huge! I will post a pic of him soon. I really need a digi camera. I'm waiting to get a digital SLR, as I just got my film SLR a few years ago. He's really a good dog, listens and loves the kids.