Christmas prep

Oh the things I wanted to get done this month!  At the top of my list were quilts made by me for each of the five kids.  Nolan is the only baby I ever made a quilt for, I did alot of sewing before he was born.  By the time I could do it again the twins moved in, then E came and that was it.  Now I've got a beautiful new sewing room of my own, packed and ready to go since the basement was finished on July 21st, and now I've had a four month old keeping me busy in the evenings since then!  That's a lie, I did try to quilt a month ago, but discovered that our ironing board got lost in the move, then bought one and haven't had the time since.  And its not like I'll make it now.  Maybe I'll start in January for next Christmas, lol! 

Presents all wrapped for kids, bought for Jeremy, IL's and family all done.  I am done!  All my stocking stuff is ready to go, we even did the gingerbread house today!  Theodore made sure that he licked each candy before gently placing it on there-ewww!  Cute but gross!

I can't believe it.  I can't believe we have five children and I get to do all of these wonderful things with them.  Six years ago we didn't know if we'd have any kids and at that point I'd only ever wanted two.  Isn't it wonderful how life just happens when you aren't looking?

The four kids are so excited about Christmas!  They're not destroying the tree or the three presents under it, yet!  They are such good kids, they're wild at home but very well behaved in public and really not too awful, generally here.  They're not crazy destructive or wild, which is nice.  They have very good manners both at home and in public, I am so proud of them! 

The twins are in their stacked twin bunk beds, doing great with that.  Diapers still duct taped on at night to avoid early-morning poo painting.  N and E are in the basement in their own rooms.  Nolan has been waking really early again, many mornings he's up at 4am, and unfortunately wakes her up also.  She cannot cope with that, though she is getting better.  They're both getting 11-12hrs of sleep at night and the twins are getting 12-13hrs on average.  As soon as they're up in the morning, all four kids are bathed and we head down for breakfast.  I bring Joseph down and feed and bath him while they eat.  All four have been eating at the island since summertime, and they love it!  They feel so grown up sitting there:)  Mornings are busy and hectic, but so fun! 

I started working on alphabet sight cards this week with all four  of them, Nolan and Theodore are very interested in them.  Nolan knows small and caps from A-N.  Theo is cute, if N hesitates he'll should out the letter!  We have no idea how he knows them so well, lol! 

Joseph started sleeping 10-12hr night on Dec 6th-last night he was down for about 13hrs before his am feed!  Wow!  He's 20w5d right now!  What a good boy!  He's trying so hard to sit up, and he'll sit on my lap with my arm in front of him for 20mins, busy chewing on his hands and whatever he can grab.  Jeremy said he rolled from front to back for him today, first time!  He tries to hold his gigantic 10oz Avent bottle during feeds, little weight lifter!  He's gooing and cooing, laughing, trying to blow bubbles.  He's always had great neck strength, and watched us while we eat now.  I felt in there, no teeth yet--he's been having red cheeks and drooling for six weeks now.  Red cheeks again today.  He's in 3-6mos clothes, size 2 diapers and using size 3 nippes this week on his Avent bottles.  He's drinking at least 40 ounces in 24hrs.  He's down to two naps a day, one good nap and one crappier one, but had been getting these long nights in for ten days now!  Its such a blessing to sleep again! 

The four kids adore him-they are so in love with him!  Even the twins are always kissing his head and handing him toys, he's such a lucky little boy:)  He might be the youngest of five but he's sure loved!  Nolan and Theo keep saying they want another baby-you'd think these kids would be sick of other kids by now!  I guess they know a great thing;) 

It was melting again today, calling for rain or snow again.  I can't believe how mild its been, there's snow on the ground, maybe 2" total but overall great for this time of year!