Happy 4 months Allie!

 Happy 4 months Allie! Here she is with a cute hat and shy smile. She's definitely got a great smile and is starting to laugh a little. She is grabbing toys and growing and just being really cute. It's been a lot of fun to have a little girl. I still love the boys, don't get me wrong!

Here she is looking very bright eyed. She has some really big blue eyes that I think are going to stay.

Doing a little tummy time. She's really strong and does a great job holding up her head and neck. She'll be sitting before we know it!

Grandma Barb was here this weekend for her 4 month birthday and we caught this picture of them together. All the Grandma's have been providing Allie with beautiful hand made things. Grandma Barb has made this gorgeous baptism dress for Allie. Now we just have to schedule a time to get her baptized!

Anniversary-lanscaping-chickens etc.........

Seems that it has already been a month since our last posting.  Hard to believe that so much has changed and I haven't put any new pictures online.  Mandy and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary in March and it has always been hard for me to decide what to get her given that within a span of about 3 months there is Christmas, birthday and then anniversary.  Jewelry is always good but I wanted to do something better this year.  We have an area next to the playgym that was going to be made into a patio by the previous owner.  Mandy has been talking about turning it into a container garden since we moved here.  I built her 4 raised containers then with the help of my friend Tim filled them with dirt and poured gravel in between the containers.  Funny how easy it is to underestimate how much dirt and gravel you might need for a project becuase I ended up needing 2 cubic yards of gravel and dirt each.  The remaining portion on the left that looks unfinished is going to be a concrete patio hopefully in a few weeks where we plan on placing a potting shed.

The new container garden for vegetables and strawberries.



We have been having some beatiful weather the last few weeks especially over this past weekend.  He are also currently in the process of finally getting the old rocks and debris cleared away so that the landscaping is finished.  The boys have been enjoying watching James (the landscape excavator) work with the bobcat and and bulldozers etc.  James even let Jake sit in his lap and help drive the machinery.





Jake helping with the excavation

 

 

Below are two pictures that Mandy took from the deck while jake and I were planting the new fruit trees.  Hopefully in a few years we will have Apples, Pears, Cherries and Peaches.



 The Weather has been amazing the last few days with beautiful sun and 70 degree weather.  The Tulips are blooming and Mandy took some nice pictures of Jake, Sam and Allie next to the flower bed.

 Lastly my friend Tim has always wanted to raise chickens but does not have the space.  Mandy has also talked about it as well so on Saturday Tim and I took the boys out and come home with a chicken coop and eight 2-month old hens.  So far they have been a hit with the kids (wait until they have to clean the coop) and we should have plenty of eggs by the first week in September.



Happy 3 Months Allie!!

 Allie is now three months old changing every day it seems.  She is smiling more and more and making cute noises.  She still has lots of dark hair and we are waiting to see if it falls out or stays.  I think she looks a lot like Jake when he was this age but with a lot more hair than either Jake or Sam.

Sam at 3 months

Jake at 3 months

Ski School Part 2

We took the residents for "Northern Warfare Training" up in the mountains as one of our yearly team building exercises.  There happens to be a ski school in the training area where Jake has been once before.  Today was a beatiful day in the mountains and there were very few people and almost no other kids in the class.  Jake progressed today from the magic carpet to the chairlift and really enjoyed being able to ski all by himself.  He was the only kid in his group during the afternoon so had his own ski instructor who did a great job helping him have fun and be able ski without holding on to anyone else.  The difference between today and the first lessons he took is night and day.

Mt. Ranier in the Background

Allie is 2 months old Part 2

Here is Jake when Scott took him skiing on President's Day. He really had a good time. I had a little bit of a hard time as I was left behind with the two "babies". I guess that is part of being a mom, right? I'll be happy when everyone can ski together!

In an effort to organize our mudroom, we had one of those locker systems built by the builder who did our downstairs cabinets. I think it turned out pretty nice. Anyone have any opinions? Yes, there are 4 lockers. It doesn't mean anything about the ultimate number of kids. It just means that Scott needs a space to contain all his sneakers.

I didn't get this one flipped, sorry. Here is Allie today in one of her cute outfits. I'm just now actually dressing her in anything other that pajama onesie outfits. If it weren't freezing outside, I think she'd be in a onesie all day long!

I actually caught her smiling. She's got the same dimples as Jake and Sam. Definitely cute!

Here she is today up close. She is now really active, looking around, smiling, and cooing. She is sleeping for a solid 5-6 hours every night and usually will go back to sleep for another 5 hours. She's growing well and now has the standard chubby cheeks. She is losing her hair for anyone interested. Who knows if she'll stay dark like daddy?

Allie is 2 months old Part 1

Here is Jake and Sam in their newly formed biker gang. Jake was a previous member of a scooter gang in Atlanta. They've now upgraded!

Meg was here last week for a really fun visit. Of course, she took some great pictures of all the kids. Here is Allie in some sunshine that preceeded our current cold, wintery weather.

Jake and Milo are riding in our new garden cart. It is definitely a favorite mode of transportation.

Sam is peeking through the play gym. He climbs up the steps, goes down the slide all by himself. He goes down the hill to the play gym from our driveway on his tricycle. He's quite the daredevil.

Jake jumping off the picnic table. Another one of Meg's excellent photos.

I can't believe it's already been a month since my last post. We've had a ton happen, which is why I'll do this in two separate posts in order to include more pictures. I went back to work for about a week, which flew by, between a conference, a crazy on call night, and a biostats quiz (which I flunked). I went back on leave for the last half of February when Meg and Milo came to visit. We traveled to Portland on Saturday and Jake is now with Grandma Barb. They will come back tomorrow as I am going to UW for classes this weekend. More to come about Allie on post #2!

Allie is 1 month old!

Grammy and Tom Tom enjoyed meeting Allie and posing for some pictures with their first grand daughter!

She's very alert when she's awake.

She hates to be cold and in our current winter, this means bundling in cozy PJs and blankets.

This is a good recent picture. Amazing how they change in such a short time.

Well, we've made it through 1 month of having 3 kids. It feels like it has gone by so fast. I go back to work in less than 2 weeks, which feels really fast. Allie is doing great, probably around 10 lbs now and still has a full head of dark hair. She has been great, feeding well, sleeping pretty well, and generally being very amenable to the various places I bring her in the Baby Bjorn. Today was Chuck E Cheese as well as a shared back pack ride with Sam. I'll post a picture of that one. The two kids balanced (one on my back and one on the front) so that it actually made it easier to carry both of them. This is a trick I learned in Afghanistan when I was carrying multiple packs. Sam has been improving from his initial shock at being the middle child. I think this has more to do with the fact that he has learned to communicate in the last month. He nods yes and no, he says a ton of words now including kitty, meow, mommy, daddy, jake, allie. He points at everyone when you say their name, and at parts of his body like nose, mouth, and ears. Over the last 2 weeks, he had some good one on one time thanks to Grammy Kris and Tom Tom being in town. We had quite the snow adventure, which I also must blog about at some point. Jake is continuing on, doing well in preschool, speaking in full sentences, writing his name. He is helpful when directed, but is less inclined to spontaneously help. This is Sam's department. I hope that trait continues! We're continuing to be grateful for all three kids, though I look forward to a full night's rest sometime in the future. I'm a little stressed about getting everything done in the next months and years. I am thankful for all the help of our family and Emily, our nanny, but when I am away from the kids doing work, I am constantly thinking about them and feeling guilty about not being with them. When I am with the kids, I think about work and feel guilty about what I am not accomplishing. It's quite the dilemma. I'm not sure I'll be able to figure out the answer, but I appreciate everyone's help in the process.