Nose ring...

The other day I was snuggling with H and she said, "where did you get that?" (As she pointed to my nose ring) My answer, "Clair's"
"Oh, I like Clair's! Do they have lots of nose rings there?"
"Yes"
"I like nose rings"
"I like them too"
"Can I have one? When I'm a mommy?"
"Yes, honey, when you are a mom and still want one... You can have one."

Elijah and Jonas!

This past Wednesday was the anniversary of the date we lost our sweet Elijah! I still miss him daily and often think about him. He is burried up in Indy and I really wish I could visit his grave site more often. I love him!

Elijah!

Next week will be the anniversary of when we lost my Jonas, Jonah's twin. I often think about him and wonder what he and Jonah would be getting into. I love him! I can't wait to squeeze him in heaven! I love my babies both here and in heaven! Life is a gift.

My babies are in heaven!

Dates 5-8!

So, in playing catch up on this blog, I'll go back and recap our dates from the past few months:

Date Number 5:

In May our date was to a rock climbing gym... here's what my note to Jason said,

This month let's do something for our bodies. A day of rock climbing at Rock Sport. This will be a fun a day where we get to experience something new and be together. I'm looking forward to scaling walls with you.



H getting her photo with us!

Practicing for the big event. :)



At Rocksport!

We spent several hours at the gym and enjoyed the physical challenge as well as the time together doing something different. Jason really seemed to appreciate it as well. We had each been rock climbing in the past before we began dating (I was really into it when we first met), but Jason and I never had done it together. We had to take a "ropes class" before they would allow us to climb on our own - we were the only two in the class. The rest of the night we took turns scaling walls and belaying. We encouraged each other, laughed with each other, and over all, had a great time! We didn't leave the gym until after 10pm and by then I was STARVING, so we grabbed some drive through food and then headed home!

Date Number 6:

Photo on left: Marraige Rocks. Photos on Right: Mayan Cafe!

June was an interesting month - I had a preplanned date to the Mayan Cafe because Jason spent a month in Guatemala once and I thought that he might enjoy that food. Plus, it is on the list of "must eats" in Louisville. Here is what my note said,

About this time 9 years ago you were in Guatemala! How was the food? Ready to relive it? This month let's go on a date to the famous "Mayan Cafe" - I'm excited to experience this with you!

We asked our babysitter if she could do the 8th or 9th of June and she said either. We looked at the calendar and saw that "Marriage Rocks" was going to be at church on the 8th and we considered going to that, but then, figured we should just stick with dinner by ourselves and so we chose the 9th. The Lord, however, really wanted us to go to Marriage Rocks because we were asked if we could perform in a drama that night. So we switched our babysitter back to the 8th and went to marriage rocks and then to dinner at the Mayan Cafe at 9pm! It was a fun night where we didn't get home until after midnight. :)

Date Number 7:

July was, yet again,  required some flexibility. There are some risks that come with planning out 12 months of dates in advance. This was a month I thought we could have an "at home" date, but seeing as I was trying to plan things Jason would enjoy, I bought him some sheet music to one of his favorite classical songs and I gave it to him along with this note:

Since we will be out of town for the Douglas Family Reunion this month... let's havea date inght at home! A music night. Here is some sheet music for you to practice with and one night you can put on a concert for me. I love how talented you are!

a great family shot before we left!

date night at melting pot!

My idea was this would give Jason a reason to go down and play his piano every night. He enjoys doing it, but between spending time with me and other things, he doesn't always feel like he has the time. So I wanted to give him a break, let him be by himself doing something he enjoys, and then I would let him play all sorts of songs for me on whatever night our "date" night was going to be. However, I planned this out in December and I didn't realize that we would finishing off our basement during July and so his music studio was not set up yet. So... he appreciated the sheet music but said we could still go on a date outside of the house! So, we went to the melting pot! One of our favorites. It was a great night to just be out and it gave me time to ask Jason questions like, "How can I be praying for you?"

Date Number 8:

Here was my 8th note to Jason:

You Choose! I ended up with more ideas than there are months... so, this month you can pick whatever you want, but these were a few of my ideas: 1) Dancing at Jim Porters (they have an over 3- club which will be me this month - eek!). 2) Dinner at Sam's "Food and Spirits" 3) Quiet night at home with a Red Box movie. 4) Anything else... 

August ended up being a very celebabratory month between my 30th birthday (where Jason went above and beyond), a family vacation to Seabrook Island, and finding out the gender of our baby! At first, Jason just chose the red box movie option since the rest of the month was pretty full, but on the 31st we had our 20 week ultrasound and so we grabbed a quick lunch at a Mexican Resturant on the way home which counted as our date - although we didn't get any photos from that date. :)

September's date is coming up on Saturday so I'm sure I'll be posting about it soon! I love dating my husband!

Sweetness

Today, H was pretending to talk on the phone and I heard her say, "we are having a good day. I have some beautiful children. Selah is sleeping and Jonah is in the play room. ..." I loved that she said "I have some beautiful children."

Later Jonah was playing with one of Havana's dolls and said, "hello baby girl. Hello sweet girl."

Last night in H's prayers she said, "thank You for everything in the world and thank you for all the people who have died." Hm, not sure where that came from! :)

Literally

H is taking things very literally these days. She spilled some milk last week and i said, "Havana, did you spill that milk on purpose?" To which she answered, "no, I spilled it on the table!"

Hahaha

Accents

I don't know where my kiddos get their country twangs... But Jonah makes tent a two syllable word, pronounces pumpkin as "pump can" and again as "a gan".

You have beautiful hair.

This morning I did Havana's hair in pig tails and then we walked into Jonah's room to wake him up. The very first thing he said was, "Wow, Havana, Your hair is so beautiful." Sweet babies!

I'm a horner.

Havana was pretending to be playing a trumpet earlier today and she said, "Look, dad, I'm a horner." I love her words!

Rainbow-Rambo!

The other day Jonah was calling for me and when I walked in the room he was asking for his "rainbow" - I didn't know what he was asking for, but then I saw Havana's pink headband and I realized he was not saying rainbow, but Rambo! He likes to wear the headband and to lessen the girl factor I call him Rambo when he wears it! I laughed really hard that he was asking for "his Rambo" - ha!

No no!

Selah learned to say "No! No!" today! It sounds a little like Na Na... I guess I took away from the teachable moment when I went from saying, "No, No!" I laughing at her saying it in response!

Tucker!

Tucker is still our "first born" baby. He really puts up with a lot from the children, but he is so great with them. This past week he has become obsessed with Havana's bed. He wants to sleep on it at night and I have to drag him out of there with all my might. Havana thinks it is silly, but won't tolerate him on her bed when it is time to sleep. She will say, "Tucker, I think it is time you go to mommy and daddy's room for night night."

Two days ago, Jonah began saying incessantly, "I want to give Tucker a five." -- We couldn't figure out what that meant (he didn't want to give tucker a high five, just a five). We kept asking him to show us and he would just keep asking, "I give Tucker five?" Still not sure what that was, but he loves his "big brother."

Our 6 year old baby!

Selah also began saying, "Dog" on 9/11/12 and screams it with excitement every time Tucker walks into the room. Sometimes, while saying it, she will go and sit down and give him a hug. So sweet.

Trying to play catch up with the kiddos sweet sayings!!

On my lengthy to do list every day it says, "Update personal blog..."

Hm, I can't even remember when the last time I updated this blog was, but it has been a while. I keep a running tab on my phone of cute things the kids say, but sadly, I recently lost my list when I got a new phone (the new phone is a good thing, the lost list is the sad part)... so, based on my frantic memory here is an update on cute things the kiddos have said and done recently:

HAVANA:
*In the middle of a road trip we stopped at a run down park out in the middle of nowhere - literally, nothing but cornfields around - and Havana exclaims with excitement, "THIS IS THE BEST PARK I'VE EVER SEEN!"

My sweet girl.

*She tends to have that great attitude with any car trip - while driving can be tough - as soon as we say we are going to find a place to stop she begins saying things like, "This is going to be great." "I am so excited." "What a special treat." -- such a great attitude and certainly it is a lesson mommy can learn!
*Jason recently taught her the phrase, "This is going to  blow my mind" -- which she says a lot - much to mommy's dismay.
*She tells everybody, every thing. We laugh and wonder what happened to the shy little girl. She will tell people all about our family, her life, and even where we live. Jason and I laugh and say one day she will just tell a stranger, "We aren't home right now, you should go, the back door is unlocked and we keep our valuables upstairs." She never meets a stranger!
*She uses the word, "Yesternight" a lot - which mean any past moment. "Yesternight I watched that show." "Yesternight I played with Daddy." Etc. Jason wants to use that word and write a song by that name. So sweet.
*When playing with her baby doll recently, she pretended it was crying and then said, "What's the matter, baby?" "Need a diaper?" "A snack?" - it was so fun to watch her be maternal.
*We use the phase "kind heart" a lot at our house. We encourage the kids to have kind hearts and point out when their hearts are not kind. We also don't let them watch shows if someone in the show doesn't have a kind heart. The other day Havana sat on my lap with a book and said, "Do you want to read a story about having a really kind heart?" It was so sweet and she made up a story about two dogs sharing. Love it.
*She is really into Bible stories - she still acts out her Bible story every night and always wants to read more from the Bible. We went to a store the other day and she lined up a bunch of the (stuffed) dogs they had there and told me they were in school and she was their teacher and she taught them about Daniel in the Lions Den. She even remembered that Daniel prayed to God three times a day (she did this all while wearing sunglasses). It was beautiful and captured my heart.
*She is also never afraid to sing really loudly. In the store the other day she was belting out, "He's Alive, He's Alive, Jesus is alive." - I always take those moments to pray she will never be ashamed of the Gospel.
*She also asks a lot of questions about God. We were in our backyard and she saw some rocks and she asked, "Why did God put these rocks here?" - not too many days later we were driving and she said, "Why did God put a movie theater right there?"
*Everyone is "her friend" - yesterday she told me her friends were here to play with her. When I asked her who her friends were she said "Mommy, pluto, and my puppy." -- When playing on a playground another little girl was not sharing with her and she came to me crying and said, "Mommy, my friend pushed me out of the car." (we had never met this little girl before). Once a babysitter came over and Havana was the only one awake and she proudly announced that "My friends are sleeping"  - she was referring to Jonah and Selah. She does call Jason her "best friend" - which captures my heart.
*A few weeks ago we were rearranging a few things and she was not thrilled about the idea and clearly said, "Jesus would not want you to put anything under Jonah's bed." HA!
*She is in love with Baby Coop (the baby in my belly) and always wants to see it and hug it. She always notes that my belly is getting bigger and asks at least once a day why is baby coop in there. The other day I heard her talking to Selah and I peeked in and she was saying, "Here is baby coop" and she was holding an actual baby. It was very sweet. Then she tried to stuff the baby doll into her shirt. I couldn't help but smile.
*She recently asked me, "Mommy, what time will I be a doctor?" in response to me telling her that daddy was at work.
*At dinner one night this week she said, "Daddy, when I grow up to be a mommy, then can I paint?" (when we told her she couldn't paint right now).
*She started an Awana class one night a week (a year long Bible study for children). She is in the Cubbie's Class and really seems to be liking it. She has a workbook and a vest she has to wear. It is basically a Christian type brownie program as she gets patches for each verse she learns. I'm really proud of how well she is doing and she loves talking about it and doing her homework.
*She has been saying wonderful prayers lately. She thanks God for everything - even things she is said about. What a great spirit. She usually says, "Dear God, Thank you for today..." but one day, after a fun family day at the fair, she said, "Dear God, thank you for this WONDERFUL day..." -- guess that day was very special to her.
*Me: "do you know what happens when you disobey?" (I expected her to say no nighttime story)
H: yes, there are consequences. Something about that big word coming out of her little mouth that makes me chuckle!
*We were talking about Jesus in the desert and I used "the snake" to describe the devil. I told her that he temps her to to disobey- she looks upset and then said, "mama, what time will the snake be here at our house?"
*She is taking things very literally - the other day one of her pillows was about to fall through a crack between the bed and the wall. I mentioned something about it falling through the crack and she looked puzzled and said, "My pillow has a crack?"
*At Holiday World, in July, she had fun riding rides, but sat out with me once when we watched Selah ride a ride by herself. Once it was over, Havana ran up to the attendant and said, "My baby rode that ride all by herself."
*On our drive down to seabrook Island, we had just left our neighborhood (not even to the interstate) and Havana began asking, "Are we there yet?" - it was a long 12 hours. ha.
*At vacation, she would be doing something she wasn't supposed to in her bedroom and she could tell we were coming up and she would dive quickly into her bed (the beauty of video monitors!).

JONAH:
*Jonah is talking up a storm... he will also tell anybody, anything. He loves to recount his favorite part of the day and enjoys asking other people what their favorite part was.
*His new favorite response to me is "Why not?" if I say no...
*He also responds with, "No thank you" all the time. Which is very polite in certain settings and not appropriate in others, (Jonah, please come here so I can change your clothes. "No thank you.")

My handsome man!

*He is also in an Awana class - the Honeybees. The first week as soon as I picked him up he said, "Mama, I'm a honeybee, buzzzzzzz." The second week they told me he talked a lot more during the class and was beginning to feel comfortable. That made me so happy, but this past week he cried a lot. Hopefully, it was just an off day and he can go back to being a happy, happy, honeybee.
*Jason bought him a 3 dollar clearance shirt which has "Jake" from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on it. Jonah, despite having never really watched the show, has fallen in love with this shirt and asks to wear it every day. On the days he does wear it, he points to it all the time and tells everyone about his Jake shirt. He is really proud of it!
*He saw a clip of a TV church service once and I told them they were singing to Jesus. Now, he always asks to watch, "Sing to Jesus Show"
*He loves syrup with his pancakes and recently I looked over and he was drinking the syrup straight from his bowl.
*He isn't always very nice to Selah (something we are working on), but he is really sweet to the baby dolls around our house- feeding them their bottles and laying them down for naps. He has a sweet heart.
*He enjoys peeing in the "big boy potty" but the only time he is faithful about doing it is after bath time. He is so proud of himself and loves it. There was once, though, that he peed in the bathtub - in our bucket that we use to wash the kids hair. Lovely. :)
*The boy is obsessed with clocks - he always points them out and loves looking at them. At our vacation house there was a clock in the kitchen and he became so excited about it that it became a member of our family and he would tell it what he had done all day or what color shirt he was wearing.
*He loves trains, planes, and motorcycles! Such a boy. He also loves the sun and the moon and trying to find them in the sky. He points out every plane in the sky and once it could barely make one out it was so high, but indeed it was there. Even our babysitter noted how many planes he pointed out to her.
*Jonah did get stung by a jellyfish at the beach. It was so sad, he was playing in the water and just started crying hysterically. Jason went to get him and saw the jellyfish and it took about a half hour before he stopped crying- his little foot was all red. It was very sad and yet, he was a brave boy through it all.
*Jonah and Havana are really feeding off of each other these days. They do this thing at dinner where they will talk a long drink of their milk and then say, "Okay, okay, that's enough. That's enough." and then both laugh hysterically. They also sing, "One, two, buckle my stinky shoe." very loudly.

SELAH:
*Selah is walking (began the night before her birthday)
*Selah is talking (dada, mama, all done, downstairs, ball, uh-oh, etc) and signing almost everything... and of course, baby blabbering.
*She has 6 teeth and eats everything!
*In the car she loves to sing along with the music (and it is pretty close to the lyrics!) and loves to dance by rocking back and forth quickly. So cute.

My giggle box!

*She can clap her hands to "If You're Happy and You Know it" and "Bingo"
*She is a giggle box and is laughing most of the time - if she isn't laughing she is crying - still working on the whole "self control" issue.
*She is great at giving kisses and hugs - especially to her siblings.
*She loves her stuffed animals and baby dolls
*She always sings into the microphone, "Dada" in a very sing-song way.
*She tries to do whatever the older two are doing - no matter what
*She is great at obeying and following through with commands. You can tell her to pick something up, go to the couch, etc. and she will do what you ask her to. What a good little girl.
*She is starting to give us long, flirty blinks when we scold her. Tricky little girl.
*At Holiday Word in July she road her first roller coaster BY HERSELF. She looked so little on there.
*She loved the beach at Seabrook!

Baby Coop:
*Is growing bigger every day - I will be 22 weeks tomorrow (wow).
*Is currently breech (praying that changes)
*And is a boy! We found out via a cake which was, by far, the coolest way we have found out the gender. We loved having the suspense and yet having a controlled environment for the surprise and being able to get the kids involved.
*Before cutting into the cake: Havana thought Coop was a girl, Jonah and I thought boy, and Jason and Selah remained undecided. :)
*Coop recieved HIS first gift from the lady who made our  cake - a little blue onesie. So sweet!

I love my family!!!! :)