Bo is 5 months

Boaz turned five months on June 6th!

I say this every month, but he is still the BEST baby!  And, oh my, is he C.U.T.E!!!!  Just look at those eyes!

We are still trying to figure out how to manage your skin rash or whatever it is.  We're quite sure you have eczema, but we also believe the dairy your momma eats is affecting it, too.  

To say you love your sisters is an understatement!  As you watch them play, you bounce up and down in your walker and squeal and laugh, as if you can't wait to join them someday!  

They also love you.  You are one spoiled boy:)

You have the best laugh.  I need to record it so that I never forget it...it is contagious, just like your sister's.

 You are rolling over both ways.  Almost as soon as I put you on your tummy, you roll back over to your back.

You are grabbing your toys now and have some control over your hands.  When you grab something, you are starting to automatically put it in your mouth.

You are still not sleeping through the night.  You usually wake up once during the 3 o'clock hour, though the past few nights it's been more often.

You have been decreasing on the weight percentile measurement, which could be attributed to your dairy allergy.  The verdict is still out on that one.  You weigh about 13.5 lbs.

You are a blessing to use and we are so thankful for you!

The girls take you wherever they go; even to eat popsicles out on the deck.

Sleeping in your car seat at the zoo.

You, mommy, and Jordan on Mother's Day.

Playing with Daddy.

Sisters playing with you.

Jordan having some fun holding you.

Rylie at Three

I was looking back at old posts of my girls each time they got a year older and I was starting to get a little teary-eyed.  Where is the time going?  Rylie has just turned three, but wasn't I just writing a post on Jordan being three???

I don't have many pics of Rylie from when she was a baby on this computer, but I found these first two which happen to be two of my favorite.

Sweet Baby.

One year.

Two Years

Three Years

Rylie got that tricycle up there for her 2nd birthday and couldn't even reach the petals.  Now she's zooming around on even the bigger tricycle!

Other things about Rylie at this age that I don't want to forget:

--She makes us laugh!  Many times, it's just the way she says things or the look on her face that is funny.  One of the ongoing things she does is call my brother by his wife's name.  We don't know for sure if she's doing it on purpose, but we sure get a kick out of it.

--She is still attached to her beloved blanket and still sucks on her middle two fingers.  She's a little bit OCD with her blanket--before she leaves it, she has to touch the ruffle edge a certain way.  She calls it, "one more button".

--She's been sleeping at night on the bottom bunk since last August(?), but still takes her naps in the crib downstairs.

--She's a little bitty thing, but she has no trouble taking risks and climbing and getting into things.

--She also has no problem doing something that she shouldn't do.  Like her day care teacher said a long time ago, she is definitely the rebel.  She'll challenge us parents in everything, so we are constantly having to win battle after battle.  The testing has slowly been decreasing as she learns that she will never win!  She can hold out those fits for a long time, but mommy and daddy can hold out longer:)

--Rylie still follows Jordan around everywhere and lets Jordan take care of her.  They do a great job playing together.  Jordan says her favorite thing about Rylie is getting to play with her and when she is silly!

--Her favorite foods are fruits: grapes, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, watermelon.  She much prefers these, even over candy and cookies.  Grapes have been my go-to food bribe to get her to eat things she doesn't prefer.

--She is a great big sister to Boaz.  She loves holding him, playing with him, talking to him.  She loves to just touch him, similar to how she feels complete when she touches her blanket:)

--Rylie has learned to say her ABC's, but would not be able to recognize the letters.  She can count to 20 on a good day.  She learned to count by playing hide and seek with Jordan.

--She is starting to draw and has done fairly well at staying in the lines when she colors.  When she draws people, she draws a circle for a head, two smaller circles inside for eyes, and two lines coming out of the head for the legs.

--she's learned most all of the colors, though she will still often call red/pink the "mommy one" and blue the "daddy one".  The first color she learned the real name of was "green like the grass".  Then she would call yellow, "green like the sun".  I think she has it all straightened out now, though:)  She also really likes to go around matching things that are the same color.

--She has been very opinionated about what she will wear.  So if you see her looking like she dressed herself (pants on backwards or boots with a swimming suit), she did!  One of those "battles" that I don't want to fight!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my sweet girl Rylie and can't wait to see what 3 years old has in store!

Rylie Three Year Pics

Playing in the water in the old town park.

Yes.  She is sucking the water out of the pine cone.  

Couldn't decide if I liked the black and white one or the colored one better so I put them both on here:) 

Trying to avoid eye contact with me at all cost.

There was an airplane...

Her only real smile.

I have a confession

I have a confession...

...I'm addicted to photography....

...so I went out and bought myself a DSLR camera.

I take way too many pictures and stay up way too late reading blogs...

...and I practice and practice on the only kid that isn't sick of me and my camera already!

Yesterday was a special day

Yesterday was a special day.  Yesterday was May 20th, 2012.  It was the day our dear friends' little boy was supposed to be born.  We were supposed to be celebrating the birth of their son, Zane.  We were supposed to be passing him around, cuddling him in our arms, and praising God for the miracle of new life.  We were supposed to be happy.

But those were only our plans.  And our plans didn't turn out the way we expected.

8 weeks ago, our friends, Kaely and Chad, learned that they had lost their little boy at 32 weeks.  It was devastating.  Days and nights have been filled with tears and sorrow.  Every moment seems to remind them of what should have been.

Yet with all this pain, they don't live in the darkness of sorrow.  They don't live with hopelessness.  They live in the light of truth.  "I will turn their mourning into joy.  I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing." (Jeremiah 31:13)

Chad and Kaely know the goodness of God.  They know the power of God.  They know our Savior, Jesus Christ.  And when they don't feel it, they have still held onto what they know to be true.  They have hope.  Hope of seeing Zane in Heaven one day.  Hope that God will use this time for good and for His Glory.  Hope in the power of the resurrection that has conquered death, even the death of their son.  Hope that it's going to be worth it all.  

So even in the midst of mourning Zane, we can sing these praises to God...

"...He gives and takes away.  My heart will choose to say, 'Lord blessed be Your name'."

...which is exactly what we did yesterday, May 20th, 2012.  A very special day.  God has given us a community to share life with...for times of celebrating, for times of mourning, and for all the other times in between.  What a blessing it is to be united with Christ as we are united with each other.  

Worshipping God in song and prayer.

What a privilege to see Chad and Kaely choose to walk in the light of God's grace.

Just the girls.

It only took 10 pictures to get one with all of them cooperating:)

Beautiful Kaely.

I LOVE that our kids get to be a part of the blessings of community.

Of course we had to play, "Ring around the rosy...

...pocket full of posies; ashes, ashes...

...we all fall down!"

Playing

 We hung out at my brother's house tonight, and after dinner, went across the street to the church parking lot to play.  Here are some pictures of Rylie playing.  She got in on throwing the frisbee with the boys, and then spent A LOT of time riding the little red tricycle around.

Rylie Sings to Bo

One Year

My brother and his family are celebrating the day this little man got a mommy and a daddy. 1 year ago today they got to become the parents of a fun, spunky, joyful, and lovable son.  We are so blessed to get to have him in our family.  Check out their post about it here.

Four months old!

Bo turned 4 months old yesterday!  He has grown completely out of his newborn stage and is approaching the stage of mobility---he started rolling over about a week or so after turning 3 months!  I find myself trying to forever keep every moment of his little life on file in my brain because I don't want to forget any of it.  I know the time seems to fly by with every kid, but for some reason it's REALLY flying by with this one.

So, at 4 months you roll over and somehow maneuver your way around.  I find you off the play mat almost every time I lay you down.

You're almost always happy or at least content.  But when you're not, you are still so darn cute:)

You are playing with the toys that hang down around you.  You haven't figured out how to control your hands and feet very well, but you know that if you can just get your extremities to move, then there's a good chance the toys will move, too!

You smile ALL. THE. TIME.  And, you produced your first giggle two days ago!

You have a normal bed time, usually around the time the girls go to bed.  You usually wake up once a night still, most likely in the 3 o'clock hour.  And when I get to you...you guessed it...you have a smile on your face so big that it makes getting up worth every minute!

You have eczema all over your body, but is mostly concentrated on your chest, face, and arms.  You have to wear socks on your hands to keep from scratching yourself and causing unnecessary inflammation and bleeding.

We discovered the other day that you are allergic to something in the formula you tried for the first time.    Your face and body broke out in welts immediately.

You are still the perfect baby!  We love you so much, and so do your sisters.

The moon, the moon, the big, round moon