Luke, Hannah, Caleb, and Jazmine

Luke, Hannah, Caleb, and Jazmine keep me busy while the other two are at school.

Sometimes, we venture to Costco, and most of the time my mom accompanies us because she feels bad for me... that I have to go with 4 kids under the age of 4. The kids love playing in this set up play house when we are there. There is an easy chair right across from it (where I am sitting) and so sometimes I just take a break and let them play for a minute. We attract a lot of attention when we are out. I get a lot of sympathetic looks, laughs, and annoyed expressions. You can tell quite a bit about someone when you put them around noisy toddlers. Most people are nice, others are cranky, and more often then not, people will tell me how brave I am. I tell them that I have two more in school and then I get some really dramatic expressions!

This is a random picture of one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen. The picture doesn't do it justice, it was extraordinary. It was so beautiful, I had to pull over (along with a few other cars) to snap a picture on my phone. I sent it to Leyla and told her I was thinking of Andy.

This little guy is so cute. Today he instinctively turned around and went down the stairs backwards (I was right in front of him just in case). He made it down an entire flight of stairs without falling. When he started to feel like he might fall, he grabbed onto the carpet and readjusted. He's a smarty for sure. He went about a week refusing to nurse. I balled my eyes out for three days straight. Every time someone asked me about it, I cried some more. It is literally heart breaking! My heart can hardly stand it. I cried in my prayers and prayed that he would nurse a little longer, and now I am pleased to say that he is nursing again. It is not as many times a day as I would like, we are down to 3, but I will take it without complaint. :) He enjoys snuggling if I face him outward and let him suck his thumb.

This is a painting I did of me nursing Caleb. I call it 3 am. The 3 am feeding brings with it a stillness and peace that is unique. I need sleep, I want sleep, but I am happy and content to feed my baby while the rest of the household is dreaming. It's a tender moment between Caleb and I. And, now that he isn't biting me anymore, it's even more peaceful.

This little girl is my buddy twice a week. She's a trooper and enjoys cuddles. On this particular day, she emptied my dirty clothes hamper over and over again. She grabbed Mercedes dress and put it on like a cape and wore it all around the house.

I think I was capturing his odd smile in these pictures. His side tooth came in a long time before his other teeth and looked a little funny.

Do you see it?

Hannah wanted to take some pictures, so we did. She likes seeing herself and this will keep her entertained on days when she is grumpy. That, and a nice hot bubble bath... The other day she got really mad at me. She marched over to me and shook her finger and me and curled her lip and furrowed her brow. She said, "Mom, I am very mad at you!" While she said it, she choked back the tears. Then, she said, "You will die, for-ev-eh!" She said forever in almost a growl. It was as creepy as it sounds, haha! I don't know where she got that from. She also puts her hands up next to her eyes and opens and closes them while cackling like a witch and tells me she is a witch. She blames Joshua for everything. The other day she pooped on the floor. I discovered it and exclaimed, "who pooped on the floor?" knowing full well who had. Without skipping a beat, she pointed at Joshua and said, "Joshua did it!" The kids thought that was hilarious and laughed, so now Joshua gets blamed for everything!

Luke is my little man. He is loyal to me still. The other day he did a made up game between Jon Mark and I. Every time the game went in Jon Mark's favor, he would change the rules so that I would win. He's such a good boy. He was sneaking candy recently. I caught him and he had tears welling up in his eyes. He felt so remorseful and told me that tomorrow he would not be sneaky anymore.

Luke wouldn't give me any normal smiles.