I Can't Take Any More Birthdays!

If anyone has seen this cute little toddler and this chubby little baby could you please bring them back to me? I seem to have misplaced them somewhere along the way.

Look at that baby boy smiling in his big brother's arms. I think my heart just broke a little. It's a good thing we can't have any more babies. Pictures like these make we want more. Many, many more babies.

This is my mom's hand on Will just minutes after he came into this world. My mom was in the room as he was born. It remains one of the most wonderful memories of my life. My mom there guiding and helping me through ... I was so glad she was there! Ignore that blue head of Will's. He was very big and wanted to present face up (instead of chin tucked). It was not a fun labor or birth. But I learned a lot about myself that day that allowed me to have the perfect labor and birth with Camryn.

Will turned four years old today. My biggest baby of all is no longer a baby. (And he's not very big any more either.) I found myself getting lost in these pictures that I have taken over the years. The ones that I was there for. The ones that I've seen a million times. The ones I took with my very own camera. It's amazing what the mind forgets.

Here is that very large baby. All 9lbs and 10oz of him on a very long 23 inch frame. The largest human I will ever push out of my body for sure. All three of his siblings were in ounces of each others' birth weight. Not Mr. Will. He had a statement to make: "Look out world, here I come!"

At one year Will was a handful. He started crawling at 7 months, walking at 10. Into and on-top of everything. A climber, a mover, a do-er. Active boy right from the start. But he also had the biggest brown eyes and widest smile I've ever seen.

At two Will went through a phase of wearing this pink dance outfit EVERY DAY. We were concerned. But like most things in toddlerhood, it passed. He no longer where's pink tu-tus. Now it's tank-tops and athletic shorts.

I miss the tu-tu.

The three year old Will brought boundless energy and love. When Will is happy the world is happy, but when Will is not happy the world is an ugly place. He could make or break our days with his roller coaster emotions. All very typical three year old stuff. Never a dull moment with this firecracker around.

And now we begin our fourth year together. Will hasn't shown any signs that he plans to slow down any time soon. It's always a game, or a sport, or building, or dancing, or jumping or something. He's smart and funny, kind and energetic. A total handful. And he still has the largest brown eyes and widest smile I've ever seen. Happy Birthday to my little man.

And they're off!!

School started for Ben and Kate today. I can't believe the summer is over.

And I have a first and second grader!

Katie and Ben will now be on the same schedule. So no more running to Latin twice a day for pick up. That will be nice.

But they are getting so big, it just breaks my heart.

Knowing they have each other at school does help to ease my worries though.

They really are best friends. They may not always admit it, but they are each others' favorite playmate.

Kate was a little nervous this morning. She cried because she still had all her school supplies in her bag and didn't know what to do with them. The fact that she knows Mrs. Cook so well is helping relieve some of that tension, but she's still unsure of what to expect in FIRST GRADE.

She has four friends from her Kindergarten class with her this year and she'll be just fine. Kate asked Jon to walk her in this morning, but then ran into the classroom after a brief kiss.

Ben was more than ready to start school this morning. He's very excited to learn all the new things they will cover this year. Now that the foundation of reading, writing and math are laid second graders get to study fun stuff like dinosaurs and Native American History. He's going to have a wonderful year!

Ben's teacher, Mrs. Owen, has been teaching at Charlotte Latin since 1971. In my mind she is the perfect teacher for Ben: experienced parent with kids no longer at home, one who has been teaching long enough that she really knows and understands second graders but who LOVES what she does. As sad as it was to send them off this morning, I am excited about all they will do in school this year. Happy First Day kiddos!

7 ... 6... 5 ... 4 ...

The countdown is on! One week from today is the first day of school, and just like in the years past we got our class assignments in the mail today, exactly one week before the first day of school.



Ben will be in Mrs. Owen's 2nd Grade class this year. He is very excited! Being his third year at Charlotte Latin he knows most of the students in his class and even has some really good buddies with him again this year. Harrison, one of Ben's best friends, is in his class for the third time. This is a good thing, a very good thing!

Katie was so happily surprised she ended up in Mrs. Cook's class that she cried tears of joy. (Really, she did.) Ben had Mrs. Cook last year, and Katie was really hoping she would have her too. We love Mrs. Cook in this house, she is a really fantastic teacher. But I KNOW she fought to have Katie this year which worries me just a little. See, Mrs. Cook fell in love with Ben last year (her words not mine) and told me she would lobby for Katie just so she could still be involved in Ben's life. That's just about the sweetest thing ever, but Katie is VERY different from Ben. Both in personality and in learning style. I'm bracing myself for the first parent/teacher conference when Mrs. Cook looks at us and exclaims "Are you SURE they are siblings?!" It should be an interesting year to say the least. Mrs. Cook is also pregnant with her first child (due in December). I suspect we'll be having a different teacher after Christmas break. But maybe that's a good thing.

And look who's using the potty! Our days of diapers are numbered. Camryn started using the potty full time this past weekend and has done surprisingly well. Today she pooped in the potty which is a HUGE step! My kids are notorious for being 'potty trained' but still insisting on pooping in a diaper. I don't get it either, but we've always gone along with it and they eventually start using the potty for all their waste products. It appears as though Camryn might skip this issue all together. You go girl!

So the day has come. I no longer have a child in diapers. It has been exactly 8 years 2 months and 4 days that I have changed diapers non-stop. As of today we are down to only nap time and night time diapers. It won't be long until those are gone to. Bittersweet. It's all so bittersweet.
But maybe, just maybe, with the money I'll be saving I can start having my eyebrows waxed again. It's the little things in life that keep me going.

Visitors

Logan, Ella Rae and Kristine came to visit us the other day. We haven't seen them since June and as always it was nice to catch up. The kids have a blast together. Here are the almost FOUR year old boys.

Logan and Camryn trading Silly Bandz. Our world has been taken over by Silly Bandz. I'm over the whole Silly Bandz frenzie, but the kids love them. It could be worse. I think.

Camryn loves when Ella Rae comes to play. Not only is Ella as cute as can be, she is also younger than Cam so Cam gets to boss her around and 'take care of her.' And by taking care of her I mean smothering to death.

Oh shoot! I meant to turn this before uploading it. Aren't they so cute!? You'd never know Camryn was 18 months older than Ella. I think Camryn is going to be small.

Ella Rea and Kristine. What beautiful smiles!

Here's the crew enjoying a treat on a very hot day. It's been one heck of a hot and humid summer around here. Tomorrow the high is supposed to only hit 88 ... ahhh, a very nice break from the 100 plus degree days we've been having.

Look who's also visiting! It's Uncle Keg, as Camryn calls him. She also refers to him as "Ma's baby." Craig is here training with Black Fin Restaurant. They are opening one in Jacksonville, FL,where he lives, and they have offered him a management position there. They brought him here to the Charlotte restaurant to train for a couple weeks. The apartment they put him in is right around the corner from us!

Auntie Anna joined us for a few days too! She was in Greensboro introducing a new drug to the neonatal nurses up there. She drove down to spend a few days with us. (Those are Ma's puppies in the pictures). It was great to see her and hang out for a bit!

Craig and Anna with the Big Green Egg behind them. We have yet to try that baby out. Can't wait to though.

Ma and her baby boy. One day maybe I'll get a picture of me and my baby brother. But that would mean some one else would have to take the picture.

The toothfairy also paid us a visit this week. This is Katie's third tooth she's lost, but the first one that really makes her look different. I'm still not used to it! She's just getting too big, too fast!

Welcome ...

to Lego Town.


No. Not this. This is how the older three try to keep Camryn out of their way while they build and play in Lego Town. Above is Camryn town. Below is Lego Town.

Lego Town takes up one pretty good size room in the 3rd floor playroom. That rug that Lego town is on is an 8x10 area rug. Lego Town started in our last house and occupied most of the upper foyer (which was huge). The kids were sad when they had to take it apart to move it to this house. Rebuilding has been half the fun though and they will spend HOURS up here, building, rebuilding, planning, playing and just have a great time. Their building ability has long impressed me. The train tracks they come up with blow my mind. They definately got the building gene from Jon. And while I am always impressed with the physical structures they put together, I am totally in awe of the community they have created.

This is a picture of Sculpture World in Lego Town. Just one of the many things to do and see in this very special community. In this town Katie runs the bank, grocery store and police station. She also has a farm and a farm stand. Will owns a Target (gotta love the third child) and controls most of the trains. Ben is in charge of all the public spaces (and charges entrances to them); the pool, Sculpture World, all the parks, and the airport. Keep in mind they came up with ALL of this ALL by themselves. Granted there are no schools or government offices (other than the police). But they do have their own currentcy and bank accounts. And parks and art!!

Here's Kate gathering more materials for her house that's currently under construction. She tells me she can never decide what type of house she likes best so she keeps changing it. (Hmmm ... wonder how that relates to her real life???). She also says that she decided to run the both bank and the police station so they could work together to catch bad guys. But in order to make money she decided to plant a garden and run a farm to sell her goods to the other members of the town.

As you can see Lego Town is much more than Legos. It's Geotrax, a couple wooden train sets and Legos combined. But really it's an extenstion of three minds imagining and creating and working together to make something they can all be a part of. I don't know about you, but I am super impressed.

Genetics

As a lover of all things science, genetics is just plain cool to me. And with four kids I get to see just how strong genes can be. For example I can roll my tongue, Jon cannot. Ben can, but Katie and Will cannot. (Jury is still out on who Camryn takes after in that genetic driven talent, she's a little young to ask to roll her tongue. She will be happy to stick it out AT you though).

Camryn is the only one with Jon's eye color. Not really brown, but not green either. And I wouldn't call them hazel. They are kind of a mix of all three. I love them. Plus Camryn is just plain cute. (I am totally objective when it comes to my kids' looks). Oddly enough, none of the kids carry my eye color. Not that I know what it is. Every time I ask someone I get a different answer. Are they blue? Or green? Hazel? As Kate says "Your eyes change color all the time mom. Kinda like the sky." I'll take that. My eyes are the color of the sky. (Note to self, watch out for Katie sweet talking her way out of trouble as she gets older. Like tomorrow.)

Both Ben and Will have chocolate brown eyes. That melt my heart. Almost everyone in my family growing up has blue eyes, so to me blue isn't really special. It's big brown eyes that get me every time.

My girls have the least in common when it comes to coloring, but look at those 'cheese' smiles. Pretty darn close don't ya think?

Will and Camryn look the most alike to me. This picture makes it look like their hair is the same color too but it really isn't. (Camera colors can be thrown off in sunlight, well any light really). Camryn's hair is much darker than Will's. Interesting observation: Will has the darkest skin of all four kids.

Ben and Camryn have the same hair color. You can see those same light caramel brown highlights in Ben if you look close. They also have the same skin tone. I would put these two as the closest when it comes to coloring.

Kate and Will also have the SAME exact hair color. Yet, Katie is the fairest of all four (although still pretty brown skinned) and is the only one with blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes at that. When she was a baby they almost glowed they were so blue. People were constantly commenting on them. Kate also had beautiful golden locks when she was little, even curlier than Camryn's. Those curls never came back after her first haircut at 2 1/2.

It can be really interesting and fun for an analytical person like myself to watch my kids grown and change and compare all their genetic similarities and differences. In more ways than not they are all alike and so very different at the same time. One thing will never change though. They each hold title to the same amount of my heart.