AbbyGirl Turns Six

Last month, we celebrated six years of having Abby in our family.

Our Abby has always lived life in extremes.  She was born extremely early, went through major ups and downs during her first months with us, and has continued her roller coaster into her elementary years.  When she’s happy, she beams.  When she’s mad, she’s furious (sometimes so much so that she forgets why she was angry in the first place).  When she laughs, she belly laughs like no one else.  When she hugs, her hugs are tight.  She loves life deeply.


Along with living her life in extremes, Abby is just a little bit crazy.  She’s a bundle of energy and is ready to start running, rolling, and playing hard the moment anyone will join her.  I’ve noticed lately that I can’t let Abby be the one to hold Hannah right after a nap or right before bed, because Abby gets others wound up and doesn’t know how to “settle down”.  She’s full of fun and laugher and silliness that she can’t always manage to turn off when we ask her to.


This makes Abby a terrific team player.  She joins right in with enthusiasm.  She’s also very good with younger children.  Abby is my go-to girl when I need someone to help Elijah or play with Hannah.  In fact, she has started fighting with others when they get to hold Hannah, and, even when I don’t need someone to hold her, Abby often asks.  She’ll also keep her brothers entertained, “read” to them, or sing songs (sweet ones and silly ones).





One way that Abby has surprised me this year is academically.  Lydia has always been so quick to pick up on things without me directly teaching her.  Abby…not so.  With Abby I will walk through something step-by-step for days before she gets it.  I thought this might be a struggle in school, but it turns out, Abby just learns differently than Lydia.  She loves workbooks, flash cards, and repetition.  She is very visual and struggles immensely if you give her verbal directions or read something to her without pictures.  But, put a visual in front of her, make up motions for a song, or show her the letters to a word, and she has no trouble at all.  I noticed it first in how well she’s been doing with reading lessons – even in only five minutes a few times a week, and while she’s basically rolling around on the floor or standing on her head because this girl just cannot sit still, she’s still taken off with reading above her age level.  I noticed it again during Camp Tikva when Abby mastered the motions to the memory song by the second day, even though it took her almost the whole week to learn the words.

Another way Abby has surprised me this year is by how observant she’s become, especially while we’re driving.  We visited a large park several times this summer, and one day we were trying to get there from a different direction than usual.  I missed my turn but thought I was on the right track, when Abby started arguing with me that I was going the wrong way.  After a few minutes, I realized she actually knew what she was talking about, and I had her tell me how to get back to the park.  I’m terrible with directions when driving, so this has turned out to be incredibly helpful.  She’s also really good and finding lost items.  Everyone else will be wandering around with no idea where to look and she’ll run into a room and spot the lost thing instantly.


One thing that has not changed in the past year is Abby’s love for pigs.  She has three stuffed pigs now, and sleeps with them every night.  They are her most treasured toys.  Although, Abby loves to latch onto anything new that comes into the house.  At any moment, you could search her backpack to find all sorts of interesting “treasures”.  This has proved a bit of a challenge to my tendency toward minimalism, when, every time I bring in a piece of junk mail, Abby asks if she can have it to keep forever.



Lydia and Abby don’t have an easy time getting along. They are just about as different as can be, personality wise.  They share a room and are always in each other’s space.  Lydia is an extrovert, Abby an introvert.  Still, they spend so much time together that they are becoming each other’s best friends.  It’s cute to watch them play.  Lydia makes up something to pretend and literally dictates to Abby what to do and say, word by word.  They come up with all sorts of little games.  The interests they do share are ballet, dressing up pretty, and spending time with their favorite teenagers at church.  They also have to deal with their two tougher little brothers, which is turning out to be quite a bonding experience.



Abby is incredibly helpful.  As long as she’s not overtired or pulled away by something really exciting, she loves to be my helper, especially while I cook.  She used to run around gathering ingredients for me, but now she has graduated to being my salad chopper and veggie peeler.  She loves those chores and will sometimes cry if she finds out I did them without her.  Whenever I need someone to do something, she is usually the first one to jump up and run off to be my helper.

This year I’ve realized that Abby’s love language is physical touch.  She loves gifts, treasures them for as long as she can keep them in her backpack, but this kids needs her snuggles.  After anything unpleasant, or if she’s feeling sleepy, Abby will quietly sneak up behind me and lean on my arm.  Or she’ll put her hand on my shoulder.  When I was pregnant, she would offer to “pet my head” while I was laying on the couch not feeling well.  And she will still quietly reach up and hold my hand if we’re walking next to each other.



Days aren’t always smooth when you run through a roller coaster of extreme emotions: very sleepy, super hungry, eager for the day, bored with school, passionately not tired enough to nap, too exhausted to do anything after not taking a nap, excited to hold Hannah, disappointed not to help peel carrots…but at the end of each day, as I reflect on everything that happened and how Abby’s handled it all, the word that sums Abby up is simply: Sweet.  And in my head, I see her with her messy, curly hair belly laughing and lighting up the whole room.

Paul at Four

Four years ago, late at night, our Little Man was born. Our first son.  Our first take-home baby.  And the first baby I got to hold the day, the very moment, he was born.

It’s fun to watch how kids grow into their nicknames.  We started out called Paul “Big Guy” and “Little Man”, and he is!  Paul is confident and independent.  He’s not afraid of “big people”.  He’s not afraid to be alone.  He knows what he likes, what he wants, he makes his plans, and he carries them out.  For Christmas we got him a backpack.  Most Sunday mornings, while Dan and I are after the other kids to get ready, or while we’re busy helping them get ready, Paul will pick out clothes, dress himself, and pack his bag for church.  He makes sure that bag is full and we have shown up Sunday morning to find that he’s packed a change of clothes and shoes (for sports, like Daddy), a toy wagon, cars, football helmet, and (probably our favorite) about eight baseballs.  Oh, he likes to put his Bible in there too.  It’s not really his Bible, but an orange New Testament that he found and declared his own so adamantly that no one has tried to change his mind.

Paul gets his “Little Man” look, in part, because he studies men around him and imitates them really well.  He does this especially with his Daddy and loves helping to “fix things” around the house.  He also does this extremely well with sports.  Paul loves sports, but especially baseball.  Basketball is probably second and I’ll have to ask him if he prefers football over soccer.  For his birthday Paul only asked us for “lots of baseball stuff”.  He wanted baseball pants, socks, a belt, and a bat.  And he got them all.  The socks and belt are orange, of course, because that is Paul’s favorite color.  He wears the baseball pants every day and when they go through the wash, he will sprint to the dryer the moment it buzzes to dig them out and put them on.  He’s also designated certain articles of clothing for certain activities.  He has basketball shorts (blue and green), and soccer shorts (the orange ones with the blue stripe).  We splurged on our vacation last year and bought him a Cubs shirt at a Cubs baseball game.  It is probably the only t-shirt we have every spent money on for Paul, but it’s gotten its use.  He wears it almost as often as his baseball pants.

But, for how independent he is, Paul is still a good brother.  He and Elijah often melt my heart as they sit side-by-side on my lap or in a stroller, both sucking their fingers and holding my hair, their own hair, or each other’s hair for comfort.  Paul loves to chum around with his sisters and lately has enjoyed snuggling up with Abby as she “reads” to him.  Other favorite games include wrestling, pretending to be puppies, anything involving water, and running around like crazy while hitting imaginary home runs and sliding into home plate.

Paul is incredibly silly and he is incredibly sweet.  He often makes himself the clown for others to laugh at.  He is also quick to give hugs and kisses, and ask to hold his baby sister.  He cannot stand to see others in pain.  If someone has to get a shot or have a sliver pulled out, or anything that looks like it might be painful, Paul is often more distraught that whoever is actually hurting.

Paul still loves his music.  He has since he was an infant.  That was the motivation behind getting him a drum for his birthday last year.  This year my parents got him a small guitar.  Every morning when we practice our Bible verse songs, Paul busts out his drum or guitar (or both!) and plays along enthusiastically.  After church, he’ll often climb up on stage, playing with any instruments anyone will let him touch.  Or he’ll bring his own guitar and lead some imaginary singing.  He was devastated when we told him he couldn’t bring the guitar to Bible study yet, but he’ll still lug it around to church and get it out whenever we give him the ok.  When Paul is having a particularly hard time with something, I can almost always calm him down by holding him and singing his long-time favorite: Jesus Loves Me.

We love you, Paul.  We love your charisma and we love your charm.  We love your passion and independence and courage.  And we love your soft, sweet heart.  Happy Birthday, Little Man!

2017 – In Pictures

I take a lot of pictures.  This spring, as I was trying to figure out how to find time to get everything done that I needed to do, it occurred to me that I don’t do anything with the pictures I take.  They sit on the computer and never get looked at or enjoyed.  I don’t have time to regularly upload to Facebook, so nobody ever really sees them.  I resolved to put my pictures to a little better use.  One idea that I tried this week, was picking out favorite pictures from the whole year and putting together an end-of-the-year video we could watch as a family on New Year’s Eve to remember the highlights from the year behind us.  We had a special time last night watching this video and then thanking God for the many blessings He gave us over the past year.

So, here’s our year: 2017, in pictures.

Taylor Christmas Letter 2017

Hello Friends,

Christmas Moose here, wishing you all a lovely Christmas season, and ready to fill you in on the last year in my Happy Little Home.

First things first.  For the first time in many years, the family got me out of my box ON-TIME.  We had a wonderful day listening to Christmas music, eating leftover Thanksgiving food, and picking out a Christmas tree to deck our living room.  For some reason, the family didn’t think to bring me along to pick out a tree.  I’m not sure why as my moose-background qualifies me to be an excellent tree-picker-outer.  Ah well.  The family came home with Lydia’s top pick for a tree, and though they had a little trouble getting it up straight, it sure makes for a lovely view from the fireplace mantel.  There seems to have been an extra amount of dancing this year, Christmas music filling our halls, and, now that the Little Ones have figured out how to turn on the Christmas lights, they are on all-day, everyday.  Not that I mind.  Now, I know you’re all happy to hear all about me, but I must move on.

Starting with the youngest…Elijah John is now one year old.  He’s an adorable Little Calf and he is strong.  He muscles his way around the living room, sneaks around the tree, and gets right over to the lights faster than you can say, “Antlers”.  He’s pulling up now, babbling, giving hi-fives, and can handle being wrestled by his older sisters.  He likes to put things into his mouth, but hasn’t choked on any pine needles yet.  Oh!  And he can climb!  He started climbing the stairs this month, adding to Justine’s list of regular prayer requests for his safety.  He’s cute and sweet and, though it’s a bit early to tell, I think he’s going to be one smart little kiddo.

Paul (two-years-old) is his own moose…I mean, man.  He struts around like he owns the place and isn’t afraid to be different.  While the girls follow in each other’s footsteps, Paul doesn’t mind marching to the beat of his own drum, asking for a different treat than everyone else, or walking around barefoot regardless of the weather.  He always has a favorite toy he obsesses over for a few days: a wooden puppy, cloth book, toy car, football, or even a kitchen item (metal tongs, recently).  He’ll carry the item around all day, sleep with it, bring it to the dinner table, and on any outings.  He’s learning to talk more and more, and, now that Dad sits by him at dinner, he’s learning to stay in his chair without crying, even when he doesn’t like the food.  He still loves his mommy and anyone who’s around much will see Paul sitting in Justine’s lap, sucking his fingers and holding his own or her hair for comfort.

Abigail (four-years-old) is the sweetheart of the family.  She loves to be snuggled, gets sleepy more often, and likes to make people happy.  She will share with her siblings and gets so happy when she gets to skip nap time to play with Lydia. When they play, Abby is the princess/bride/ballerina and Lydia is the one helping her get ready and presenting her to the family.  Abby smiles shyly and lets Lydia be the spokesperson, but she loves to dress up. Abby is learning her letters this year and is working on memorizing her third Bible verse.  Abby is slower to learn new things than Lydia, but when she learns them, she quickly becomes more independent.  She has been known to clean the whole living room so she could have room to play, or find a blanket and snuggle up in the glider for hours when she isn’t feeling well.  Abby is often humming and singing, especially the two Bible verses she already knows and affectionately calls, “my verse”.  She has a fiery temper which she is slowly learning to control, but she also has a fiery love for life and fun and her smiles are always making everyone around her so happy.  She is also the little fish in the family and loves all things water.  Do not expect Abby to walk near a puddle without marching right over and stomping in it at least once.

Lydia turned six this year and started first grade.  She learns incredibly quickly, which is good, as the school day is often interrupted by diaper changes and nap times.  She is learning to pay attention to God’s voice and obey.  Lydia’s appetite for playing (especially with her Daddy) is insatiable.  She loves being read to and doing fun activities.  Lydia is always asking, “Can today be a fun day?”.  Some days the family goes out (without me) and visits a museum or walks downtown somewhere, eats out, and calls it a fun day, though I can’t imagine any family truly having that good of a time without their Christmas Moose.  Lydia thinks every day should be a fun day.  Every meal should be special.  And there should always be dessert.  After Elijah started trying to choke on everything, her school prizes were removed from the house (choke-ables, the family calls them) and she is now rewarded by earning enough “points” for her work to watch an episode of Mister Rogers with her siblings.   I can’t say I mind.  The kiddos gather together and Elijah crawls laps around them while they all sit mesmerized for half an hour listening to the show, then they spend the next week acting it out over and over again.  It’s pretty cute.  Lydia never outgrew the “why-stage” and can ask a million questions without taking a breath.  She is strong-willed and independent, but still loves to feel close to her parents and even her siblings, and can’t stand going to bed without being on good terms with everyone (and saying goodnight and giving hugs and kisses all around…twice).

The year has been full of ups and downs for Justine.  January started off with a newborn.  February found the family falling into a nice groove, but then March turned everything upside down.  It was a rough end-of-winter with not enough sunshine, sleep, or health in the home.  Springtime brought sunshine and led off an epic summer full of happy family memories.  Fall was a process of getting back into routines and fighting for more sleep. Why these babies don’t sleep is a mystery to me.  Moose calves just don’t have that problem, I guess. Justine has been embracing simplicity this year, and especially this winter, reevaluating her to-do list and canceling item and item that aren’t actually necessary.  She’s setting aside computer or phone time to engage the kiddos and tackle the few items she has left to-do this year.  I must say, it’s a heart-warming sight to see her sitting in her favorite chair each morning with the Christmas lights on and a mug of hot tea or coffee.  Her Bible is kept on my mantle lately (where the Little People can’t hurt it) and each day after reading, her thoughts, burdens, to-dos, and worries are laid out before the Lord then left for Him take care of.  The highlights of her year (beside becoming a tri-athlete) have been prioritizing her family and letting a lot of other things go, growing in closeness and unity with Dan, and seeing God work in the hearts of her children in some big and little ways.

This fall Dan celebrated his first anniversary working on the autonomous car for GM.  After months of the family praying that he wouldn’t have to drive so far to work, with no obvious answer in sight, his boss suddenly gave him an immense increase in freedom to work closer to home in addition to one day at home each week.  Unlike any moose dads I’ve known, Dan is an incredibly involved father.  He tucks the kids in each night, chats with them about their day, answers their questions and prays for them.  He leads family Bible-time each night, reading the Bible and asking or answering related questions.  He asks the kids about their days, takes them outside to sled and build snowmen, and stays up-to-date on what their learning in school.  He has been realizing more and more how important it is to invest in the family and let other things go, especially as he observes and hears from older dads in his office who haven’t done so and regret it now.  Dan plans the best fun days, treats his children with love and attention, and showers Justine with love in all five languages.

It’s been a delightful season in this warm home, and along with the Taylor family, I wish you a beautiful Christmas celebration in the coming days and the happiest of New Years.

With Love,

Mister C. Moose

Elijah’s First Birthday

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Elijah’s first birthday. Although I’ve shared plenty of pictures on here of our Sweet Boy, I wanted to spend this post sharing a little about who our Elijah is.

We call him Lij, Big, Elijah, and sometimes Sweet Boy. He has always been a mellow baby, and very content. When I was pregnant, he didn’t kick or move around very much compared to any of his siblings. He’s always happy to do his own thing: crawl around, eat anything he can find (more on that later), or play with anyone. I think he’s going to grow up to be a relatively quiet boy and eventually become the kind of person who, once he does open his mouth, has very wise words come out.

He’s also very strong. I’ll probably always remember turning around one morning, as I was preparing breakfast, to see one of our children (who shall remain nameless) standing on Elijah’s back. Just standing there like he was a step stool. I yelped, scolded, and got that kid off of Elijah as fast as I could, but Elijah just lay there mid army-crawl, looking up at me with an expression that said, “What’s the big deal?” He was fine, though the child on his back weighed more than twice as much as he did.

Elijah is happy to play with anyone who shows him interest. Abby will frequently entertain him while I’m in the kitchen. She’ll hug him, “tickle” him, and wrestle him, and he’s happy just to have the attention. Just about anyone we let pick him up will find a sweet, smily baby, who is, again, happy to interact no matter who you are. But when Elijah gets tired, he wants Mom. He’ll start crying if he sees me enter the room and he’ll army crawl quickly over to my feet. Just like his siblings, he’ll pop some fingers in his mouth (he prefers the pointer and middle finger of his left hand) grab on to my hair or his own, and become quiet and content once more.

But, Elijah LOVES his daddy. There’s a Frank Sinatra song called “I Only Have Eyes for You”, and, though I don’t actually know the whole song, that one line from the title pops into my head just about every time Lij spots Dan across a room. He’ll stare at him for so long until Dan finally comes over, gives him some attention and hold him. (Abby was the same way.) “Mom’s great when I’m tired, but there’s nobody like Dad!”

As far as food goes, Elijah has recently started to eat a lot. For months we couldn’t get him to eat solid food. Baby food of any flavor makes him gag. He won’t touch bananas. Avocado won’t stay down, and even if it could, we can’t get him to put it in his mouth anymore. The only toothless-friendly food Elijah likes are sweet potatoes, and he loves sweet potatoes. Of course, my one baby to skip the purees is also the slowest to get teeth. The day his molars come in will be a happy day, because Elijah will pretty much only eat what we’re eating. And he’ll only eat it if he gets to feed it to himself.

As we approached the one-year mark, Dan and I were DONE getting up at night, but Elijah wasn’t. We tried roughly a million approaches to get him to sleep better: night weaning, feeding right before bed, waking up to feed right before I went to bed, moving him out of our room, letting him cry, waking him up at preplanned times during the night to eat, and always, always, we just prayed that he’d stop getting us up. Finally, when the weather really got cold, we had to move him into Paul’s room because the room he was sleeping in didn’t have heat. Paul handled the transition surprisingly well (but he did keep asking for us to put Elijah in his crib with him, and could not understand why they had to sleep in separate beds. He also likes to give Elijah things to sleep with: blankets, stuffed animals, wooden tools, toy cars, books…). I gave up on “making” Elijah sleep through the night, and we all survived. Now we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as he sleeps through the night more and more frequently (four out of the last six nights, not that I’m counting).

We feel truly blessed to have Elijah in our family. Every child is different. Every personality is unique. Elijah is our strong, quiet, content, friendly baby with only one major flaw. He. Eats. Everything. I know all babies do this. I know I have three others and I can’t watch him as closely as I did the others. But it’s not just that. This boy has a gift. He can find things even if we just picked everything up. He’ll sneak (yes, sneak!) things into his mouth and then hold very still whenever you look at him so you can’t tell he’s chewing (gumming?) it. Rocks, dirt, leaves, small toys, day-old food, pieces of carpet he tore out himself. This summer, the day before we went on a short beach-trip, Elijah got his hands on a small giraffe eraser. Lydia was the first to notice him coughing and ran to tell Mommy (Way to go Lids!). I quickly realized the problem was beyond me and sent her to get Dan, who was, thankfully, working from home that day. He came down and did everything you’re <em<supposed to do. But when Elijah started gasping for air and coughing up mucus and blood, we called 9-1-1.

After a long wait, the paramedics came, repeated everything Dan had already done, and reported to us that Elijah would need to take an ambulance to the hospital where he would probably need surgery. I pulled the mom card (what if he needs to eat?) to get to be the one to go with him, even though Dan wanted to go. Dan graciously stayed home with the rest of the kids and I made a scary trip to Mott’s Children’s Hospital. Lij had missed his nap and fell asleep in the ambulance, which was actually a very good thing, but made for a scary ride. As I was trying to pray, I remembered some words from earlier that week, that an Elder had prayed for Elijah during his baby dedication, “We do pray for his protection. We pray that the Evil One would not be permitted to harm him.” Those words encouraged me. If our elder has been led to pray that only a few days before, and if we had faithfully shared how God had answered our prayers in Elijah’s life, to tell that God really does hear and answer our prayers, surely God wouldn’t intend on taking him from us now.

I prayed that Elijah would cough up the toy he was choking on, and back at home, Lydia was frantically praying the same thing (and that we could still go on our beach trip) with Dan and the rest of the kids. Elijah did cough up the toy just two minutes before the ER team was planning to call in their back-up surgery team (because the first team was busy). After coughing it up, Lij started grabbing all of the medical equipment, trying to pop it into his mouth too, which gave the team a good laugh and caused no one to give me a hard time. Clearly this was a baby who never stops putting things in his mouth. (And yes, we did get to go on our beach trip.)

God has been kind to us in giving us Elijah, and in protecting that Little Stinker beyond what we can do ourselves. When Elijah was born, I had always thought of him as a special gift. Elijah means: the Lord is Yahweh. John, named after Dan’s Grampa, means: Yahweh is gracious. Grace. Gift. Elijah John, you are indeed a special gift to our family. We wouldn’t trade you for anything. There’s no on like you. You remind us, sometimes daily, that God does answer prayer in big and small ways. He has protected you already when we thought we might lose you twice. Happy first birthday, my Sweet Boy. And, please, please, give us a less eventful second year!

Little Man Turns Two

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It’s hard to believe Paul is already two years old. He is. And, when he’s not being shy, he’ll tell you he is.

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“How old are you Paul?”

“TWO!”, he’ll answer with a grin as he holds out his thumb and pointer finger to show you.

It’s cute. He is adorable. And he had a really great birthday.

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Before Paul was born, Dan and I joked that we needed a boy. Our girls like their snuggles from Daddy. Several months ago, there was so much fighting over who would sit on Daddy’s lap during Bible time, we had to set up a schedule. So Dan and I would joke that we needed a boy who wouldn’t need the snuggles from Daddy, a boy who would snuggle Mom instead. And do you know what? Paul is the snuggliest little two-year-old I’ve ever met. He wants Mommy to hold him during every meal, whenever he’s tired, and whenever he’s unsure about something. Paul is incredibly sweet and loves to help. Lately he’s enjoyed taking his bib off, bringing it into the kitchen, and throwing it into the sink. He usually does so in the middle of a meal, but it’s still adorable. He also likes to help with laundry, by pushing the wet clothes into the dryer as I put them down on the dryer door. Then he slams the door shut, usually before I’m done. He also likes to shut the dishwasher for me, while I’m still loading it. 😀

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Paul also likes to help set and clear the table. He’ll spot a condiment in the fridge and put in on the table and then come back for more. He’s choices don’t often match the meal (mustard when we’re having tacos, for example). When the meal is done and the girls are delaying as much as they can before clearing their dishes, Paul will walk back and forth, grabbing whatever is left on the table, and throwing it into the sink or trash (not always the right one).

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He’s also a Little Rascal. He’s cute and he knows it. He’s not afraid to cock his head to the side and give you his sweet “emoji” grin when he’s up to no good. He loves to wrestle, but doesn’t like to lose, and isn’t too old to run to Mom for a hug when he doesn’t win. He loves balls and bats, and toys or pictures of animals that growl. (He likes to growl.) Paul loves to be outside and will often grab his shoes and point to the coat closet to tell you he wants out, but he hates the cold and will stay inside whenever it’s below freezing.

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Like Abby, Paul has been slower to start talking. Recently we started using sign language for some basic words at meals and he’s picked up on those pretty well. Even more recently he has started picking up more words and putting words together. Here are some recent favorites:

Bible/Baseball – “Bay-Bul”
“No”
“Coat”
“Bye Nana” (after I got off the phone with my Mom the other day)
“Night Daddy”
“Thank You”
“Hold” (me)
Elijah John – “Lijah John”
Lydia – “Lee-ya”
“Car”
“Nose” (He finds it hilarious to say “nose” and point to your nose.)
OK Google – “Okay Gool” (which he says into my phone whenever he can get his hands on it)

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Paul loves being a big brother and hasn’t had much trouble adjusting, but sometimes he gets jealous if he sees me holding Elijah (or anyone else) when he wants to be held. Overall he is a great older brother who loves his siblings, snuggles his Mommy, and wants to be just like his Daddy.

We love you Little Man! Happy Second Birthday!

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Little Man is One

I’ve been finding it harder and harder to post on here since these kids keep me so busy running around, and even though it’s almost 4:00 and I haven’t cleaned up from lunch yet, I had to post SOMETHING about the Little Man’s Big Day.

Yesterday Paul turned one.

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He loved his birthday and he loves being one. Grandma and Grandpa surprised us all by coming down to celebrate a day early and they gave him a tee and bat and ball, so he’s more eager than ever to learn to stand up so he can play ball with his Daddy.

Ever since he was a newborn, there’s been an ongoing joke that Paul has wanted some bacon. It became such a big deal that we just couldn’t pass his birthday without getting him some. So we found some less-bad-for-you turkey bacon at our favorite store and brought it home to cook up with his big dinner. Not only did the Big Guy get bacon, he got cake. Yes, he is our first baby who actually got to eat cake on his first birthday because with our other preemies we were extra diligent to avoid all the allergens and sugar. Well, to be fair, this was more of a banana bread than a real cake (sugar free, dairy free, egg free…) but it’s what we call cake and he dug right in.

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A tradition of mine is that I always make a cross-stitched picture to go on the kids’ birthday cards. For Paul I did a baseball picture of Charlie Brown, because we’ve often told Paul that he resembles the big-headed cartoon character. And baseball because, he’s his daddy’s boy.

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Dan carried on a tradition from his own dad and gifted Paul with the entire set of baseball cards from the year he was born. Paul was so fascinated by them, I could not get him to look at the camera.

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We spent a little extra time praying for Paul around the dinner table and on the way to Bible Study we retold the kids Paul’s birth story.

Paul has been such a joy, such a blessing to our family. He loves to play, wrestle, eat, and snuggle Mommy. He’s content and cheerful and can entertain himself, and even seems to be learning not to climb up on the dishwasher when it’s open. 😉 His first year has been a memorable one that involved ZERO trips to the NICU, and we still find it hard to believe God gave us a baby we could bring home with us the day we left the hospital. We are eagerly looking forward to the next year with our Little Man and all of the excitement it has in store.

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Happy First Birthday Paul!

On His Feet

Paul is closing in on one year, but before he gets there I needed to give an eleven-month update!

This month Paul was up to 20.4 pounds. Compared to his sisters at this age, he’s HUGE. And doing a lot more too. I remember at 11 months when Abby army-crawled for the first time. Paul is not only army crawling…

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He’s getting up on all fours…

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And standing.

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For weeks, Paul liked to crawl over to our fireplace and push up on the ledge. He’d stand there in a sort of push-up position for a long time. Then he figured out how to pull up on things and now he’s really standing. He has yet to take any steps while holding on, but he loves being upright and almost as tall as Abby.

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Paul also likes to get into things…making my job a little harder. His favorites are dirty diapers (while I’m changing Abby’s diaper) and the toilet. Yup, he’s a boy. Other boy things he likes to do include chasing the vacuum cleaner and climbing on top of Abby whenever she’s on the ground. He’s watched Daddy wrestle the girls enough to know that the person on top is the winner.

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Paul’s gearing up for baseball season too. He’s thrilled that the weather is getting warmer. We had our first outing to the playground this month and he desperately wanted to get down and crawl all over everything. It was wet, so we had to keep him in our arms that time, but he was super observant, taking everything in.

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In fact, Paul is often observant. He watches whatever is going on in a serious face, preferring to be in Mom’s arms whenever it gets close to bed or nap time. But if you get down to his level and start a conversation, you are likely to see his little grin. Keep talking and he’ll flash you a huge toothy smile (two front teeth now). His hair is getting pretty shaggy, and he’s due for a haircut soon, but right now we are enjoying his bed head after naps too much to cut it just yet.

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Paul is a content and happy baby. Often before going to sleep he’ll just keep looking at me and giggling. When I put him down he lets out some protests but willingly goes to sleep without too much of a fight. With our late night and early morning feeds, he pretty consistently lets me sleep non-stop in between.

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He loves to eat and play and I just know he’s going to have a ton of fun this summer when we start spending more time outside. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started walking within a few months, and I’m sure he’ll be hitting baseballs with his dad not long after that!

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Little Man, Big Moves

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Three quarters of a year, already! Paul is getting so big, so fast. During the past month he hit half a billion milestones and is cuter than ever.

We can start off with the one area where our Little Man is not winning our hearts: his sleep habits. Getting up three times a night is usual, four isn’t unheard of, and there’s a rumor that he got up five times in one night (but who can think clearly enough to count THAT high in the middle of the night?). We’re working on this (and someone may be moving out of Mommy and Daddy’s room a little earlier than his sisters). Moving on.

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Paul is so cute. And he’s doing new things. All in the same week, he started sitting up, army crawling, clapping, and babbling. We have definitely heard him say, “baba” and “mama”. Dan claims he has also heard “dada”, but that hasn’t been confirmed. 😉 We just love it when he talks to us. His laugh is contagious. And boy, can he get around! It has conveniently worked out this year that our baby became mobile within a week of our setting up the Christmas tree, so that makes for some exciting times. His sisters do a great job watching him when we ask, playing with him occasionally, and warning us if he tries to pull the tree down or chew the lights.

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Paul has started to enjoy his solid foods more this month too. He, for a while, would glue his lips shut when we tried to feed him. We recently figured out that he will eagerly eat up his food as long as he gets to be the one to feed himself. So meal times are a little messier now, but everyone is a little happier. And we aren’t too concerned that most of his food ends up on the floor since he’s still gaining weight like a champ: nineteen pounds exactly at nine months old.

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Paul still loves Mom and Dad, but isn’t afraid to go with others either. Mostly he just wants attention and the chance to move around. Even when he’s being held or sitting, his arms never stop waving and his feet never stop wiggling. But my favorite is when Dan has him in the other room at Bible study, church, or even at home and Paul starts to get tired. If I come into his line of vision he’ll stop fussing and watch me, and if I step away he’ll start crying. Then I come back, scoop him up and watch him grin, happy to be back in Mommy’s arms.

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“Sing Me a Song, Mommy”

You guys. I feel like I just did an update on Paul. Where does the time go?

Although my last post was late, and this one is early, so I guess it’s my own fault. But still. Where does the time go? How is our baby already 9 months old? That’s three quarters of a year…a whole year. Nevertheless, here is an update on our almost-nine-month-old with several pictures so you can enjoy both his latest antics and his adorable face.

Little man is as cute and cuddly as ever. This month he has shown more of his personality and insisted on snuggling with his Mommy every night at 3 in the morning. We’re working on that.

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Paul likes broccoli and peas. Sweet potato and avocado are alright. Sweet corn is not his thing and he all but refuses to eat oatmeal. I’m sure he’ll grow into it, I mean, who doesn’t like corn? And you cannot survive in this family if you won’t eat oatmeal. 🙂 He’s not the biggest fan of solid foods yet, but we’re easing him into them with tiny hopes that they might just help him sleep better at night.

After getting up several times each night for several nights in a row, I finally admitted that this wasn’t just a six-month-growth-spurt. A couple of nights ago I decided to just hold Paul instead of feeding him. In just two days he’s down to getting up twice a night: once to eat and once to snuggle. And, speaking of snuggling, Paul loves to snuggle with Mommy. Often he enjoys being held by anyone, but sometimes he just wants me (yay!). He also likes it when I sing to him. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this yet. When Paul is sleepy and grumpy in the evenings, he’ll fuss and cry and stop instantly if I start singing “Jesus Loves Me” to him. He goes into a daze and starts sucking on the middle and ring fingers of his left hand. If I switch into “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”, Paul will resume fussing, but “Jesus Loves the Little Children” keeps the daze going.

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Paul doesn’t like noise. Yelling, large groups of people singing together in a small space, and sharp rebukes to misbehaving toddlers will bring tears to his eyes and cause him to stick out his lower lip. One Sunday Paul spent an entire church baseball game snuggled in the arms of one of the ladies from church. Just once she cheered for someone on the field and he started crying. He likes quiet and peace. He also doesn’t like being cold. Normally he’s a smiley guy but put him in a coat in the stroller these days and he’s super serious. Bring him in, take off the coat, and set him down, and he’s back to his smiley self.

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Paul likes books. A few days ago we accidentally left Lydia’s “F” flashcard on the floor and when I found it later it was in shreds. The next day we forgot to pick up the library books and found a quarter of a page gone and the rest of the book covered in drool. We’re learning to be more careful about leaving paper on the floor, but we’re happy that Paul already has an appetite for reading. 😉

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Paul is up to 18 pounds now (probably more, we need to weight him again). He’s getting stronger, but still not sitting up or crawling. He rolls, pivots, and can make it from one side of the living room to the other if there’s something tempting enough. His favorite items to maneuver toward (besides books) are shoes, blankets, and articles of clothing. His favorite real toys are his tiny stuffed elephant with polka dots, and the red animal that we’ve named “The Monkow” because it seems to have the head of a monkey and the body of a cow.

Paul is the perfect age for Thanksgiving and Christmas and we cannot wait for him to meet the Christmas Moose in just a few weeks.

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