Oh how they grow

Clayt

STATS:
18 months

23lbs (12%)
30½" tall (6%
49cm head circumference (80%)
Teeth- Top- 8, Bottom 5 and 3 more coming in!
Clothing size 12-18months
Shoe Size 4

In the past couple of months he has decided to start taking a paci (I have a feeling its a "want to be like "Jojo thing"as she was the only paci taker in the house, but it seems that the trend has caught on and even Corban asks for one on occasion. Its more of a toy than anything, but its funny to see them picking it up at such late ages. He is still a thumb-sucker most of the time, and the paci's are confined to the beds, but if they find one that somehow escaped they will toddle around with it as long as they can get away with it!

He's a diaper escape artist...gotta have a one piece snap up outfit on if we even want to think about waking up to a diapered baby! He may have to settle for early potty training...maybe when Josie is ready...which is going to be in the near future I suspect. If I am diligent I can usually take him to the potty to "catch" his poops...but most of the time I'm not quite enough on the ball!

He is a climber....he loves to climb over the end of the couch and started climbing out of his bed just after his first birthday. Sometimes we find that he has shacked up in Corban's crib for a play fest at sleep time.

Looks like we have a TALKER...since about 15 months old Clayt has been trying to repeat what we say, and we've actually understood several phrases! He loves to say YES! It is so sweet, although you can't always count on him to mean yes, just because he says it, but it beats hearing NO, NO, NO all day! (even though he does say it on occasion...actually he prefers Nu-Uh.) He's also trying to learn how to count....and occasionally gets a few numbers in a row! Some of his regular vocabulary...Mama, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, Jo-Jo, Please, Thank You, Hi, Bye-Bye, More, Eat, Bite, Cracker, Milk, Nana (banana), Drink, Up, Sit, Ball, Book, Beads, Phone, Toot, Bonk, Oh-man, Whoa, Nose, Eyes, Ear, Teeth, Outside, Night-Night, Paci, and Bumbo (his chair to eat in, although..corban sits in the "actual" bumbo chair, he calls his highchair the same as what we call brother's seat :) He can say the other kids names, but doesn't use them much on his own. Although, he will repeat pretty much anything we ask him to say!

Favorite toy...Balls! He LOVES to throw things...and boy does he have an arm for it. We are working on only throwing balls...soft ones. Definitely a work in progress!

He recently has fallen in love with the magnadoodle and carries around everywhere, loves to stop and "r" (I think he's trying to say color) with us then clear the screen and draw some more....and more and more!

He also has a love for NOT sleeping on a mattress. He used to have a foam insert in his bed but we kept finding him underneath it, so we took it out...well, now he tends to fold up the packNplay mattress and sleep in the "hammock" of the unsupported bottom...maybe we should get him a hammock?

He loves to spin in circles and tip toe run around the house...the tip toe run is something new, he is not a regular tip toe-er, but just does it for fun, it makes him laugh when he does it! Boy are those short little legs fast...its so funny to watch him run, but we have to be careful because if we watch very long he will be completely out of sight!

A few weeks ago, he dropped his morning nap and temporarily revamped all of the littles schedule...now they nap from 12:00-3:30....we are still working on the schedule for the rest of the day...I figure as soon as we get it down pat the new baby will arrive!

Josie

Okay, she's my niece, not "officially" ours, but I claim her. She spends 4 days a week with us and is a joy to have. It's nice to have some extra girl power over here! Her 2nd birthday is right around the corner, 4 days away!

Jojo makes sure to keep close tabs on Clayt and Clayt often asks for her when she isn't here...they play very well together when the tattle-tale bug isn't biting....but I just blame that on her being the oldest girl child...and being almost 2! I hear often that she tries to tattle on her daddy as well.

She calls me "Auntie" and not Mama anymore, and she refers to Eric as her "Unkie" which puts a smile on our face every time! Now to get Clayt back to calling me Mama. He occasionally calls me Auntie now...must be confusing to live in a house with so many names for different people!

She loves to count...and can count 1-15 in English and 1-10 in Spanish and sings a wonderful jumbled rendition of the ABC's so cute! She's ready for kindergarten and hasn't even celebrated her 2nd birthday!

She also loves to play with dolls and stuffed animals. She is gonna be one top notch mama practicing this early...breastfeeding, diaper changes, using the nasal aspirator and even sets up "blanket-time" for them...so sweet!

Corban
STATS
33 months
28lbs (19%)
36 1/4" tall (29%)
47cm head circumference (6%)
Clothing size 2T
Shoe size 6

Teeth- a whole mouthful, all caught up has all 4 2year molars...probably has for a while now! Thankfully teething is over for this one....it wasn't easy for him..he is a bit like his Daddy and reacts with anger to pain, and it took us a while to figure out what in the world was wrong with our boy's attitude! Now that we have it figured out...it is over for the most part!

He has been fully potty-trained for a couple of months now, even staying dry at bedtime! But just this week, he woke up from his nap saying he pee-pee'd. Eric checked him and he was dry up front...Corban says no..."pee-pee in my bum"...and sure enough, our poor little one had a bit of diarrhea. He was just so pitifully cute sitting on the potty trying to figure out why he was peeing out his bum.

Corban still loves his blue blanket that Aunt Deb crocheted him and his "woof-woof" stuffed animal rottie that daddy picked out. But he doesn't like real dogs or cats AT ALL...thanks to a stroller ride this summer where a dog barked at us as we walked along the side walk of "his" fence. For a while Corban would get very upset if he even heard a Dog barking, so our stroller rides have been put on hold. We did recently have a new neighbor move in next door and they have a dog, so he's been doing better with the barking...thank goodness being stuck indoors in this beautiful October weather we have had would be terrible! But then there's the cow...he hates the Cow. It is an ice cream truck that Moo's...and for some reason it scares him silly. He usually hears it at bedtime, since they go down at 7:30 and it is still light out. I'm about ready to pay off the ice cream driver to not come down our street!

He loves to drive his ride-on train "to work" otherwise known as the front door, then he comes back and announces "I'm home" we play this game back and forth all the time and it's so fun to see his face light up when he returns!

Daddy clone...Corban can't stand to be messy, and always asking for a cloth or a napkin, a fork (to eat a muffin???) while eating. He likes to have things certain ways and always needs a bowl or plate for his snack. So much for sparing extra dishes with this boy!

Loves to "Suggle" mama...and is just a pretty good snuggler altogether. Mornings are fun when the babies pile into bed with us...it doesn't usually last very long, but I take any extra time to wake up that I can!

Libby
STATS
9 years 5 months old
4'7 1/2" tall
84 lbs
Clothing Size 10-12
Shoe Size 4

My sleeping beauty who loves to take naps...actually she looks more like snow white with a beautiful olive complexion. See....



We celebrated her birthday in May with a slumber party. 4 friends came over after our Last Day of school field trip to Woolaroc Museum. Jordan C., Mandy S., Eiley C. and Danielle F. went with us to the Museum and came home with us afterward. We had beef, chicken and shrimp and veggie Kabobs for dinner, and watched a Tinkerbell movie with popcorn and candies. :) The girls all got along well, and even didn't stay up TOO late! In the morning we had a big breakfast of scrambled eggs and Apple Enchiladas with homemade whipped cream. It was such fun to have a table full of GIRLS at this boy dominated household...even dad agreed! Next we prepared for the "party" and made 2 batches of brownies...one with Reeces peanut butter cups and one with crumbled heath bars. After a morning of playtime, the girls' families and our relatives all joined us for presents and the yummy desserts!

This summer, Libby and I had a little extra girl time with the boys off at Ground Crew Monday-Thursday. It was an adventure with just us and 3 babies, but we made it through and had a great time! Each week I plannrf a "long" outing and a "short" outing to meet up with friends. We made a few trips to the Zoo, Incredible Pizza, had her friend Lilly over, and hit the sprinkler park pretty much each week for some water play and a picnic.

Hopper collector...Libby found a love for collecting grasshoppers this summer. She has a small netted cage to keep them in and she makes sure to get them fresh grass, and even let them go after a few days. The funny thing is that the babies have all joined in with her. It is so cute to see them pulling grass to add to the cage! Although, Corban is convinced that a mosquito bite that he got was from a "hopper" we've tried telling him repeatedly that "hoppers" don't bite...but I don't think he believes us!

Libby helps around the house by being the Breakfast helper, Straitens the living room and vacuums after the babies go down for naps. She's starting to help Perry a bit with the kitchen clean up as well and does her own laundry.

Libby is on the Guts Kids Praise and Worship Team again this year. They learn songs with dance motions and get to be up on stage and help lead worship time.

Parker
STATS
11years and 355days old
4'8 3/4" tall
73lbs
Clothing Size 10-12
Shoe Size 6

This summer he moved up to JV class at church and attended Ground Crew and went to JV Camp with Perry for the first summer. He had a great time!

Parker helps around the house by being on Bathroom duty each week and is the daily lunch helper this year...he's been a great help in the kitchen preparing lunch and with clean up in the kitchen and dining area. Parker also does his own laundry!

What does Parker like to do...Play, Play and Play some more! He can have fun just running around outside, playing with plastic cowboys and indians or entertaining the babies. He really is such a great helper.

He has taken an interest in drawing has done some very nice work recently. He has a learn to draw book that he is learning from. He is also enjoying reading more for fun as well.

Parker's Birthday is just around the corner, we have the party with our family planned for Monday November 15th....just 9 days away!

Perry

13y and 6 months
5'6 1/2
97lbs
Clothing Size 14
Shoe Size 8

We have a TEENAGER in the house! Perry turned 13 in June. He celebrated the same as last year...taking cookie cakes so share with the kids at Ground Crew (a summer program for kids 6th-9th grade at our church).

Perry started serving in the "Walkers" (15m-2 1/2year old) class at church with me this year. He is such a great help and looks forward to serving every other week. This summer since my belly is starting to get in the way, I switched over to the nursery and Perry has stayed on in the Walkers room.

We had a family birthday party at the house and then everyone joined us at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, Mr. Mambo's, for lunch.

The past few months it seems that he grows taller every few weeks...as of today he currently stands 5'6 1/2...he passed me up earlier this summer and it looks as if he's now passed up Eric as well!

This summer Perry took on the task of "lawn mower" and kept the yard cut every week for us. It was such a blessing since Dad and fresh cut grass do not get along all that well. He's also my most thorough Kitchen helper. His daily task is to unload and load the dishwasher and when we have our "home blessing day" he cleans the kitchen from top to bottom! He also does his own laundry.

This year he was able to participate in the Nightmare outreach at our church. He helped behind the scenes as a "tech" and helped with the special effects...turning on the snow and dropping the light post in the car wreck room.

Perry and Clayt are still joined at the hip...Perry is such a great helper with him! I remember him saying how he wished Clayt was "his". I have overheard Perry talking about the great times they will have when he has his own place...wow! That was a scary thought, but I suppose when Perry is 25; Clayt will be 15....it will be awesome to see how their relationship continues to grow!

What We've been up to the past few months

October

WOW! Tomorrow is the final day of October...well, by the time I finish this post it may already be November, Where has the time gone?

The coughing epidemic of 2010 hit the household at the end of August and everyone got about a 3 week turn. Eric was the last to be hit ended up spending the past two weeks (so far) at home with us...recovering from a respiratory infection that turned to pneumonia. For the final hurrah the kids each graced us with "the 6 days of puking" One after the other each one taking a one day turn (which is much better than all at once, especially since we only have one bathroom)! We plan to start the new month in health and keep it that way! Okay, Okay..even with all that sickness, we still had some wonderful times throughout the month...the devil may try to slow us down but he will never knock us out!

At the beginning of the month Grandma and Crappaw took all of us and Aunt Sara, Uncle Will and Josie for a day out at the Woolaroc Museum. It was such a beautiful day and we really had a nice time. We went on a little one mile hike...Clayt walked the whole way and wanted to do it all by himself! We had a great picnic lunch and the kids played on the playground and visited the small petting zoo...and I think there was a speed tour through the museum Crappaw guiding so you can only imagine if you know him! I, on the other hand, held down the picnic blanket and took a little rest.


A few weeks later we met Aunt Sara, Grandma and Josie out at the pumpkin patch and picked out punkins to carve and played in all the various set ups they had for the little ones. Clayt had a blast watching the flags flap in the wind, he thought that was the best thing ever! Who needs Jupiter jumps anyway?




We had a punkin carving "meet and greet" party with Grandma and Crappaw's new neighbors. They also have 5 kids, we got to meet 3 of them at the party Emily 12, Jacob, 10 and Andrew 6, . Libby got some nice girl talk time in with Emily...who let her know that no matter if you have brothers or sisters that they WILL be annoying sometimes...the wisdom of a 12 year old :)




And we closed out the month with a Halloween Costume Party at Grandma's house since the big kids will be trick or treating with their dad this year...We had our traditional chili dinner that we usually have the night of Halloween and Grandma planned a Mummy Wrap game which everyone enjoyed, especially the babies who played in the heaps of ripped up toilet paper after the game was over. Unfortunately, Perry and Parker were unable to make it to the party because they were still feeling kinda puny and we didn't want to pass the virus along to anyone else, so they stayed home with Dad and watched the Great Pumpkin.


Libby the Candy Corn Witch, Josie the bat, Clayt wearing the "bee" costume that Perry wore at 16months...although Daddy deemed him a "yellow jacket" and *not* a bee, and Corban is wearing the clown costume that Mama wore when she was 2! For Trick Or Treating Parker dressed up as Mario Brother and Perry wore his Ostrich Rider costume from last year
Libby and I teamed up to wrap Aunt Regina up as a mummy...we came in as the runner up!

Trick-or-Treat night we stayed home and passed out candy for the first time...I think EVER! Corban and Clayt had fun running up to the door and helping mama pass out treats...they also enjoyed having a treat (watermelon sucker) of their own!

September

Eric and I went on a weekend getaway to celebrate our 4th anniversary a little early since our newest addition is due date is a little close to the actual date. We visited Hot Springs Arkansas and stayed at a neat little place called Remember When. We rented the "Romantic Creek" cabin for 2 nights and we were the very first guests! Eric treated me to a pedicure and ice cream and maple nut fudge...yum! We had a great time walking the streets of Bath House Row, and dined at the lovely Belle Arti Italian Ristorante (yes it was that fancy...and I had an amazing Spinach and Strawberry Salad with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles (I don't think I even like blue cheese, but it was incredible!) We also enjoyed having some just us down time and did a little reading while we were away...we picked up a book from the bedside table "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus by John Gray...it is just crazy how different men and women really are from one another, but how much alike we are with our own genders! While we were away, the older kids took a trip to Montana with their dad for his wedding and a quick drive through Yellowstone on the way home with their Grammie. The baby boys stayed at Grandma Douglass' house and they had a great time (and even Grandma did too)!

AUGUST

First family vacation at Green Leaf State Park. We rented a cabin , but in the 100°+ temps the AC couldn't keep up! I guess the end of August is not the best time to go camping...even in a CABIN! We still had a good time. We prepared meals each day and hung out in the cabin during naptime. The kids did some reading. Dad brought his guitar and played for us in the evening. We spent a little time wading in the water and playing at the playground. Parker was still not over his cough (the beginning of cough fest 2010)..so we headed home early to visit the pediatrician before the weekend began.

Whew...I think I made it!

We'll, I think I finally caught up! I'm trying to not let the randomness of my posts bother me, but it is really hard having them all out of order!

One last post of 2009...some playing in the snow!




Perry did the majority of the building for the snowman, but said there's now way I could have got the head on there with out Parker's help!

Parker is hiding out in his snow fort, having a blast out there in the freezing cold!
He doesn't seem to even notice it!

We'll see ya in 2010 (that's twenty-ten) for the Guts folks and the rest of the cool peeps!

Winterfest...am I really still in Tulsa?

Ice Skating, while its snowing...in Tulsa, how can this be?

Well, one of the activities on Grandma's calendar to us was a trip out downtown to go Ice skating.
I'd never ever heard of an outdoor ice rink in Tulsa, but evidently we have one this year.

Libby's friend Abby came along with us, and we had a great time.Everyone did a pretty good job skating and no crashing, even though Parker only seems to be able to go full steam ahead!

Libby and Abby

Libby got ice skating lessons for Christmas from her dad so maybe she'll be able to teach us a few cool moves in a couple of months!

While we were there the boys saw a friend from church and we had a little bit of a snowball fun going on...I even joined in on the fun!

Thanks Grandma and Crappaw for taking us to winterfest, it's was a blast!

Celebrating the Eve of Christmas

Our Christmas Eve Program was small this year due to a blizzard in Oklahoma. Granny says it's the first one ever called in Oklahoma. I guess since we had 40mph winds and 6-8 inches of snow that's what its called! All I can say is that I hope those who prayed for a white Christmas are happy! Dad played pickup and delivery man for the Douglass side, so they all got to be there. Joe and Jeanette made it out as well. The show must go on, so it did!

Libby and Parker sang a song from the Christmas program at church, Perry read a story about Omar the Camel, set to music of We Three Kings. We had the candle lighting ceremony and sang Silent Night as the usual tradition goes...then played "dirty Santa" for the gift exchange. Granny stole my mama's dove ornament and tea mug, Granny's blanket was stolen by Jeanette, and Debbie stole her own gift from me to keep as her own!

We can't have a get together without food and this year we ended up doing something a little different...Frito Pie! Dad J and I dishing up ourselves a plate!

A few random pix of my especially photogenic boys this evening.....

December Happenings

We took the family to Rhema to see the Christmas Lights...it was Corban's first time and he seemed to enjoy it even though it was super cold!

The Church took all of the volunteers (Eric and I) to see The Christmas Carol in 3-D at the I-Max Theater. Guts Church filled the entire theater, it was a great time of "Gathering and Connecting". We also came to the conclusion that Eric doesn't see in 3-D....but the film was great anyway! When we started talking to the kids about it, they said they hadn't seen it...I couldn't believe it! So Eric picked up the "classic 1980's" version had a movie night with popcorn and reeces pieces.

We went to the Annual Kaplin Christmas Party and got to catch up with great friends and check out their car collection...Perry had a blast! I'm sure it's some sort of sin, not knowing how to identify these cars, and even if I knew what they were I'm sure I couldn't spell it right.

I think this one is my personal favorite :) But what do I know?

We finally got around to getting out the decorations the week before Christmas and we finished the evening we watched Eric's favorite Christmas movie...Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.

Then the 3 days of fun began with the family celebrating my birthday at the Dock Dinner at church, with Parker and Libby starring in the "Christmas Counting Spelling Bee" program at Church. They both did awesome! Parker was spelling bee contestant #5 Ferris Wyler, the "nerd"...who by the way...ties for first in the spelling bee and has the role of Joseph in the Christmas manger scene.






Christmas Eve...can you believe that it started Snowing, and snowing and snowing. We missed the Church's Christmas Eve service, but we did make it over to Aunt Sara's for the Family Christmas Eve Program. By the time we got home there was 6-8 inches on the ground, but with the wind blowing the way it was it there were drifts about 3 foot high in front of the house.

a little of what we like to call.....Crazy Baby

Thanks to Perry, we've got some cute little moments captured on video, since he's the only one in the family with a digital camera besides Grandma. I'm holding out to replace my pro-film camera, but I gotta figure out what to do with it first.

A little background before you watch the video. Corban has a love for turning in circles. He can make it about 4 times around before falling down if he gets a good spin going and he moves his eyes all around for the especially crazy effect. Clayt sure seemed to be enjoying his big brother that evening too...it was so funny it was hard to decide who to film the spinner or the laugh-er. Laughter is contagious, they both had us all going!

Big Brothers & Baby Brothers

Well, one thing is for certain, we've got lots of brotherly love in this house! 

Clayt is doted on by all, especially by his littlest big brother! Corban learned to sign Baby 4 days after Clayt arrived and brother is one of his favorite things to talk about! He signs when he sees his brother, hears him cry, or even when we mention his name...whether we use the words Clayt, Brother, or Baby. Corban also loves to love on his brother.  He can hardly pass by without giving him a "head-lean" hug and even kisses every so often. 

Now the big big brothers...they dote on him also, rarely resisting  a moment to talk to the wee one who will smile and squirm with delight as they so so. They are also super great helpers, even when it comes to the less than desireable help like diaper duty, cleaning up the high chair tray and sweeping up the floor messes that toddlers seem to generate wherever they go!

1st of many posts to come....

Bring on the Birthdays! 

May 29th Libby turned 8 years old. We celebrated with family and friends at the park. Eiley came over for the day and us girls made parfait birthday desserts. Chocolate and vanilla pudding with a yummilicious cheesecake and whipped cream layer in the middle.A few days before the party, Libby and I shopped online for her special birthday outfit and when it arrived we hopped on across the street for a quick photo shoot. 

Perry Turned 12 on June 2nd! 

I can not believe that he will be a teenager next year! We also hopped across the street and did a quick photo shoot with him.  This year we gave him his own celebration on his own birthday and partied with family  at Aunt Sara and Uncle Will's new house. Grandma brought over her Wii and we played a few rounds of sports!  The biggest surprise of all was a new digital camera for Perry. He loves taking pictures and his old one shut down on us, never to open up again.