Day 187

This is a card Hadley made for Marta (a lady at John’s work).  She showed it to John and he started laughing, and I asked him why and here you go:

She did not like this card after we started laughing.

Day 186

Here Emma and Hadley are playing “Guess Who” on a Sunday afternoon.  I took it down and played with them originally, and they are still so funny.  My favorite question they asked was “Does your person have lips?”  They definitely understand the game, but it takes them so long to play a round.

Day 185

This picture was taken a day late, but this is the cheesecake we made to celebrate our anniversary.  We made a cranberry orange sauce and kind of made it up as we went along, and it ended up being excellent.  Cheesecake is a great way to celebrate any event.

Day 184

Here is my new Bosch.  John gave it to me for my anniversary, and I’m so excited.  I had my other one for nearly 10 years.  I can’t wait to try it out.

Day 183

Here’s this cute little bag of Gavin’s toys.  I went in to his room at night and saw this little bag all tied up and ready to be played with the next day.  He’s so darling!

Day 182

Oh, this day was wretched and difficult.  Fortunately, it ended up being ok, but not before we had a lot of mess and a lot of anxiety.

Day 181

Hadley is obsessed with Christmas decorations and making these little paper wreaths.  The hangs them on everything all over the house.

Day 180

Today Gavin and I had a battle about him stealing cookies.  Here is one victim as it lays on the floor after I made him throw it down and go to time out.

Day 179

The kids got pretty into their Wii game today, and Gavin pushed Hadley who sat on the plate my plant sits on and broke it.  I remember my mom saying you can’t ever have anything nice when you have kids, and it’s true.  They break so many things!

 

 

 

Day 178

The kids all had suckers today and left their wrappers on the table (of course).  The wrapper reminded me of when I was little and how I would always look for the picture of the Indian shooting the star.  It was rumored that you got a free sucker if you found this, but obviously it wasn’t true.  It sure was fun to search the wrappers though.

 

 

 

 

Day 177

Here’s to being 30 and senile!  I forgot to take a picture this day.  Bad Mel.

Day 176

Here is a picture of me trying to open gifts while letting Grey sit in his snugli.  I’m definitely a multi-tasker lately.  Hooray for Mel and turning 30!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 175

Here is a picture of me the last night I was 29.  I can’t believe I am already 30, and I honestly can’t believe that my 20’s are over.  How did they go so fast?

Day 174

The girls made their teacher some cards today for Christmas.  We took in some homemade bread and jam to her, and they were so excited to make the cards.  I’m glad they are learning how fun it is to give gifts to other people.

Translation:  Dear. Mrs. Kooyers, thanks for letting me get the decorations (something she let her do at school)  and calling me sweetey.  Love, Hadley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 173

I took this picture a day late or so, but this is some puzzles Gavin was doing the other day.  He is so good to keep himself entertained, and I love that he likes to do puzzles.  Puzzles are awesome!

Day 172

This is a picture of what happens after a long, long day.  Laundry stacks up in all corners of my room.  This is such a wonderful, intense, and insanely busy time of my life.

 

 

Day 171

This is a picture of a bathtub they used in the NICU to bath Hadley.  I found it in Gavin’s closet when we were cleaning things out.  I can barely believe she was this small once.  She’s getting so big, and it’s been nearly 7 years since she was born.  It almost made me sick to realize how fast time goes.

Day 170

Bad, bad Mel.  I can’t find a picture for this day.

Day 169

I feel like I’m so behind lately.  I finally got the advent candles up, 2 days late I might add.  And, I was holding Grey in one arm and trying to get the candles set up with the other.  Life is hectic, but wonderful!

Day 168

Mom left today, which was really sad.  However, I did get a picture of her holding baby Grey.  She thought he was so cute, and always said he had such a “sweet face,” which he does!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 167

Today I came across a list I had made a few months back when we were trying to decide on a baby name.  Ironically enough, on the same desk I had Grey’s baby announcements.  Grey’s name was on our original list, but we had thought about spelling it with an ‘a’ instead.  Of course now I can’t imagine him as anything other than Grey, but for a while, he could have been any number of names.

Day 166

Gavin said he was going to throw up this morning, so I gave him a coke to settle his stomach.  He drank the WHOLE thing, in 10 minutes no less, and wanted more.  He loves soda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 165

Here is a picture of my clean, clean table.  Mom is fantastic and cleans so well, and it made me feel good to walk in and see my clean dining room.

Day 164

John tried to get some Christmas pictures today, and it was sort of a disaster.  No one wanted to cooperate, but at least they had fun.

Day 163

And here is the first pie I made in nearly 9 months.  John and I ate the whole thing ourselves (minus the small pieces we gave to the kids).

Day 162

I love orange rolls.  They are such an essential part of Thanksgiving, and I think mine this year turned out great.

Day 161

The day with no photo.   GASP.  I cannot even remember what I did this day, so I guess it serves me right for not taking a picture to remember it.

Day 160

Gavin was insisting today that he had to bring all 3 of his blankets up to his bedroom from the den.  It was hilarious watching him walk up the stairs from behind.  He and Emma had been making a fort in the den, so I guess he decided he better rescue all of them.

 

 

Day 159

Grey loves to sit in his Snugli while I walk around and get things done at night.  By the time I’m done with dinner, he’s usually asleep.  Tonight I took the snugli off and he just sat there and didn’t even stir when I lay him on the bed.

 

 

 

Day 158

This is a picture of the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made (that’s why a piece has been bitten off of it).  I love cookies!!

Day 157

Today John took Emma and Gavin out to ride their bikes.  It’s hard when we don’t have sidewalks, but they went to the rec center and rode in the parking lot.  It looks like they had lots of fun.

Day 156

Grey is nearly a month old in this picture, and it’s amazing how much bigger he is in his car seat even 3 weeks after he came home from the NICU.

 

 

 

Day 155

This is the story of my life these past few months.  Too much work, too little help.  This is the leftover repercussions of me having a work meeting, John being sick and not being able to help, and me not having the time or physical energy to do the dishes late at night when I was finally finished.  I used to get so annoyed when I was growing up if the dishes were dirty and we would use measuring cups to get a drink or use silly bowls to eat breakfast.  Now, I’m that person.  Life is so hectic right now!

Day 154

Stefani got this cute Wild Things sleeper for Grey, and it’s still too big, but I use it anyway.  His feet don’t fit at all, so this evening when I walked in and saw his feet hanging out I had to take a picture.  It’s so funny to see them sitting above the actual monkey feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 153

This picture Emma left me made me smile.  To translate:  Mom, what are we having for dinner today?  From Emma, To Mom.  As a kid, I was always curious about what we were having for dinner, so it reminded me of being a kid.  This was so creative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 152

I intended to get a picture of the actual muffins, but they were all eaten and I forgot, so this is the day late picture of the leftovers.  Yep, a muffin wrapper thrown on the floor.  Honestly people!

Day 151

I told John I needed a head shot of Gavin for the Christmas card, so he went outside and got some great pictures.  This one right here just seems to sum Gavin up entirely.  He’s so happy, and mischievous, and sweet, all at the same time.

Day 150

This picture of Gavin made me laugh because I used to do the same thing as a kid where I would put on my dad’s socks and they would reach my thigh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 149

This is exactly what Grey does every night.  He is totally asleep, and then as soon as 9 p.m. hits, he’s wide awake and ready to play.  Before that, he’s so sleepy he won’t even eat his food, and it doesn’t matter if he’s sitting comfortably in his boppy or laying on my leg; if he’s tired, he’s going to sleep.

Day 148

Oh, I have such a love/hate relationship with these bottles.  I have to wash them by hand a million times a day, but they actually are pretty effective at reducing that vacuum drama where the kids sucks in all the air and gets upset.  I leave it on the side of my nightstand so Grey can eat off it again 20 minutes later when he decides he’s hungry again.

 

 

 

Day 147

Today got his second bath, and the first bath where we actually got some pictures.  He hates the bath, of course, but he sure is cute.  Here he is right before he got in the water, trying to keep his shirt on of course by grabbing at it.

Day 146

Grey outgrew one of his preemie outfits.  It was getting snug for the past week, but today he can officially not extend his legs, so we have to give this one up.  It’s great he’s growing, but always sad to realize he’s going to get bigger and bigger and eventually not be a baby anymore.

Day 145

The kids spent all afternoon making these Thanksgiving decorations/crafts/accessories.  They were so proud and came downstairs to show John when they were all finished.  It kept them busy for nearly an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 144

I made bread today, and it was wonderful.  I was so proud of myself, and so glad to have some homemade bread in the house.

Day 143

Grey is very good to sit in this bouncy while I grade.  Most of the time he just hangs out and quietly sleeps or watches me.  He’s an awesome baby.

Day 142

Ugh, I didn’t take this picture until super late, but lately I’ve noticed Gavin is very self sufficient in his crafting.  He keeps himself entertained a lot by making things with paper and scissors.  This past week he’s made a stocking (complete with cotton balls that he tried to glue on with the hot glue gun), a turkey, and some feather hats.

 

 

Day 141

Gavin would be proud of Grey, who is wearing a green sleeper, with a green blanket, and sitting in the green boppy.  As I was typing this, Gavin said all incensed, “Did you know Dad likes green?  He’s supposed to like brown.  He can’t like both!  That would be too much work for me.  Dad needs to pick one—brown or green.  I can’t let him take all the colors.”  How ironic.

 

 

Day 140

This picture was taken a day late, but I wanted to blog about our 3 year anniversary of moving to Texas.  One of the first memories I have of this house is sitting on the couch facing this wall eating McDonald’s right after we landed and came home.  It was the first time I had ever been in the house once it was finished, and it was a tiring and exhausting night, but I always remember staring at this wall for some reasons.

Day 139

Gavin gave me this plant for Mother’s Day, and miraculously, I kept it alive all summer and through my delivery.  Of course, it didn’t get watered and died a sad and slow death (or, so I imagine), but I was so pleased it stuck around this long.  I’ve never kept a plant alive for longer than a few weeks, so it was great that it happened to be a gift from Gavin.

Day 138

There’s nothing quite like a baby in a boppy.  For some reason, the boys have loved this boppy.

Day 137

Today was Halloween, but my picture of the day was when Grey and John took a little rest together.  All of the kids love to sleep on John’s chest, and Grey is no exception.  This newborn stage just flies by so quickly, so it’s so good to focus on the small things.

 

 

Day 136

This is our first picture as a family of 6.  It was hectic since this is when we first brought Grey in, but we’re officially 6 now.

Day 135

Gavin went to the park today and came running in to bring me this teensy little purple “flower.”  He set it down on my phone and ran right back out.  It was such a thoughtful gesture.