My 3 Kiddos!

Rarely do I get a picture of all of my kids together. They aren't in the same place at the same time very often, and when they are I am usually saying something like, "Hey! Get off of the baby!" The other day I decided to get a posed shot of all 3 of them and it turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. It might be one of those that we look back at for years and laugh.

Each one of them has their own unique personalities and it is such a joy to see them grow. Starting with the middle child (since they have a tendency to be forgotten), here's a few tidbits of things going on right now with each of them.

*Norah (21 mo.) seems to be going through what we call a "personality spurt." I have no idea if that is a real phenomena or not, but it seems like every once in a while, our kid just seem to burst with new things.

*Norah has taken a little longer than Tate (I know you're not supposed to compare kids, but it's nearly impossible) to start talking, so communication has been difficult for a while. She has known what she wants, but the grunting, pointing and crying just wasn't getting her anywhere. In the past month, her vocabulary has taken off. 

*The other day, she was walking through the house saying, "Bankie, are you???" It sounded a little more like, "Bankeee, aww yooooo???"

*She is an okay eater, but if it's off of someone else's plate, the food tastes so much better! She particularly likes to mooch from Daddy. Tonight Mike had a piece of watermelon, so she pointed to his plate and said, "Bite." I told her that if she walked over to him and gave him a sweet smile, he'd probably give in. So, she walked over and gave Daddy one of her sweetest smiles. Did it melt his heart? You bet! Did she get a bite of watermelon? She sure did!

*Anja (6 mo) has been such an easy going baby. I tell people that if they need a day brightener, just look at Anja, because she is guaranteed to give you a million dollar smile that will make you feel like the most important person in her world at that moment.
*She is getting pretty good at sitting, but she rolls everywhere. Tonight, I was in the bathroom brushing the other kids' teeth before bedtime and we came out to see her stuck under the table. She wasn't upset about it. Instead she flashed me that grin that is sure to melt Daddy's heart many times over.
*We enjoyed some focused time with Anja this past week as Mike and I went to Chicago with just her. It's not too often she gets us all to herself!
*Anja is learning the joy of solid food.  On her list - Squash, green beans, peas, carrots and sweet potatoes. So far, she has liked it all.

*Two weeks ago, we quadrupled our pet population by adding a puppy on Monday and 2 kittens (he named them Dado and Isle) on Thursday. Tate has been a little intimidated by Steeter the puppy (who Tate also named), but has warmed up nicely to the cats....maybe a little too well. In this picture he decided that the kitties would like a ride on the teeter-totter. Before that, they had a turn in the baby swing. After the teeterer-totter? The slide of course!
*It has been so fun to see Tate enjoying the outdoors since we moved out to the country. He was so excited to take Aunt Cassie and Uncle Tim on a walk to tour our property. I'm sure the walk through the woods seems like a long hike to him!
*In less than a month, Tate will be 4 years old! Although there are days that are frustrating, at the end of the day we laugh at something he said or did that day. He is truly a fun little boy.
*Tate loves to make things and add lots of different ingredients. Sometimes we bake things together, but he often makes up his own recipes. His most recent creation is what he calls, "Great Bowls of Fun." This is a mixture of water, sawdust and dirt in his yellow bucket. He left it out on the deck one night so it could boil. It is so fun to see his curiosity!