little mama

Karsyn has always been an amazing big sister.  Truly.  Even when Mykah was first born and Karsyn was 2 years old.  She's amazed me since January 10, 2009 when Mykah entered the world.  Now that she's older and we have another baby, she's even more amazing than I ever thought possible.  She LOVES her sister and brother.  Of course Mykah annoys  her quite frequently.  That's what little sisters do though, right?  Karsyn is constantly saying "I just need alone time." 

Even though she's always been a great big sister, she's now becoming a wonderful little mama.  I have a sidekick for sure and she has been the biggest help ever.  Tonight she really wanted to feed Jaxton his dinner.  He was having things that were easy to feed, so I let her.  She shoveled those sweet potatoes in like she'd fed him every day before. 

Then she played.  And she does all of this without me asking her.  She WANTS to take care of him.  She WANTS to play with him and make him laugh.  Every. Single. Day. 

It's the sweetest moments ever.  And he absolutely adores her.  From the very beginning, Jaxton has loved her.  He usually has to wait and figure Mykah out first.  He's just never been too sure about Mykah.  But Karsyn can make him laugh faster than anyone.  He just loves her.  And she shows him the same love. 

Their relationship melts my heart.  And Karsyn makes me one proud mama.   And thankful.  I was able to clean the kitchen while she fed & played with him. 

If you give a baby a dum-dum ...

Yes, I'm THAT mom.  Yes, he's obviously the third child.  Poor guy doesn't stand a chance.  Karsyn was probably 3 before she had a sucker.  Mykah, being the 2nd child, may have made it to age 2.  This guy?  No chance.  10 months old.  And I do believe he's had one before this too.  Don't worry Papa, I was watching him closely (through the camera lens).  As soon as he turned it around to only chew on the stick and the sucker part was smaller, I took it away.  He wasn't having that though.  Never take a dum-dum away from a baby.  Thankfully he likes baths just as much, so I hauled his sticky body straight to the tub and all was right again.

Sippy Cup Training

We're working on it!  He's got the stuffing his face down PAT.  He had a nice little goldfish snack (the boy can EAT!), then wanted to wash it down with water.  I can't remember how/when we started sippy cups with the girls.  He's had one for a few months now, but is pretty lazy when it comes to actually holding it himself.  He'd rather me hold it while he bites down to get the water to drizzle out into his mouth.  I'm determined to have him using it himself now.  Usually when I give it to him, he throws it.  Thanks boy.  He throws everything.  Then I pick it back up & hold it up to his mouth so he can get a drink.  LAZY I tell ya!  So I decided to give him some salty goldfish and sit the cup down in front of him.  First attempt ...

FAIL.  Big. Fat. FAIL.  Come on, dude!  I had to take it from him and sit it down again.  Second attempt ...

That's more like it.  Now to see if he can actually tip the cup up to make the water come out.  This particular sippy cup is his favorite and all he has to do is bite down on the valve part and the water trickles out. 

MONEY.  He got it so quickly.  He only did it once, but it's progress folks.  Progress.  You can imagine how far he tossed it when he was done, but I was so proud that he figured it out.  Then it was back to business.  This guy crawls so fast!!!  And you can see the drool just streaming out of his mouth.  I keep thinking of a slug every time I see his little trail of slim behind him.

Laziness and a little Fun

This is me trying to justify the extremely lazy day the girls had.  Treyson is still with us, which means the girls have played non-stop for 4 days.  I mean from the time they get up to the time they go to bed at night, they are busy.  I really like it.  It's a big difference from our typically casual days. 

My girls are technology freaks.  If I allowed it, they would be on the iPad or watch TV all day long.  And there is no exaggeration there.  As long as I brought them snacks occasionally and they took potty breaks, I'd probably not see them all day long, which is why I choose to limit their time on the iPad.  Karsyn actually wakes up every day of her life asking "can I get the iPad?"  It's almost become a natural response to her eyes opening, or something like that.  And it's quite annoying to me.  Today, however, I let it happen ... 

They were in heaven.  Watching the iPad WHILE eating breakfast?  Treyson wasn't as enthralled as the girls were.  You know how little boys are.  His poor little attention span lasted long enough to guzzle down his daily cup of chocolate milk and some grapes and he was off running.  I had to take the iPad away after a while to allow the girls time to get dressed, make beds, and brush their teeth.  You'd think they were headed to jail by their reactions.

While I cleaned the kitchen, the kids played, and the little guy left his trail of slobber all over the house, David was outside doing his most favorite thing in the whole wide world.  Mowing.  And weed-eating.  I'm pretty sure he'd do it every single day if the grass would grow fast enough.  (Yes, there is some sarcasm in that statement.  Okay, A LOT of sarcasm.)  He hates mowing.  But I got married for two reasons ... so I wouldn't have to mow and so I wouldn't have to put gas in my car.  (I'm kidding.  Kind of.)  He mows.  I do it when I'm feeling sorry for him or when I've had enough of the jungle out there.  Then, I took the 3 older kids to the children's museum while the little guy napped.

We met our sweet little friend Faith there and actually stayed for almost 2 hours.  Going places is a whole new journey without a baby to tote.  The afternoon was filled with lunch, naps, and lots more playing.  And because I was filling like a lazy mom today, our afternoon went like this ...

More iPad watching, but this time Mykah had to wear her eskimo coat.  She swore she was freezing and actually wore it around for almost an hour.  I was sweating just looking at her!  Thankfully we ended the day with a healthy dinner and a nice, long walk around our neighborhood.  We try to walk twice a day (morning and evening) and the girls are working up to being able to walk the whole time without complaining.  I told David tonight that pretty soon Jaxton will be walking/running/riding a bike and Mykah will be riding in the stroller.  She's regressing, it seems. 

I like a little lazy, mixed in with a little fun sometimes.  We do have days where it's more laziness and some days where it's more fun.  Today was a good mix. 

{ blog direction }

I am definitely a woman who likes change.  I'm constantly thinking of ways I can change things up and new things I can do with just about everything in my life.  I change my home decor regularly and rearrange furniture like I change panties.  I'm almost kidding.  Just about every day, something in my house changes and, right now, this blog is on my hit list. 

I've done the Project 365 for 2 years now.  I'm in my 3rd year of it and I'm pretty sure I'm over it.  I was over it yesterday.  I'm not sure what direction I'll go with this blog, but I don't feel like it is where I want it to be.  I post daily pictures, but I usually don't have time to, so I actually get backed up by weeks, or months right now.  When I get behind, I spend an evening getting caught back up and making up words to go with random pictures I find.  It's not current.  It's not always accurate of what we really did that day.  I have wanted to keep up with it to be able to record the things we do and learn about daily in our home.  I want to remember the places we go and the words my children say.  I've strayed away from that and I want to pull myself back into it. 

I want to remember not only about the children, but about my life right now too.  I want to look back in 40 years and remember that, right now, I chose to live a healthy life.  That, right now, the mister and I were exercising together every day.  And that I finally have a big map hanging on my living room wall.  I want to record all of the details of our life.  And for it to be accurate, to the day.

So this blog will receive a makeover soon.  And maybe you'll make a point to keep up with the Hills.

209/365

say hello to our little friends.  when we moved here, we brought a hanging plant with us.  then we discovered it had a nest in it.  then we found eggs.  and, over the weekend, we have been able to watch those 4 eggs hatch these sweet little birds.  what a sweet blessing to witness!  the kids have loved checking on the baby birds and watching the mama bird come feed them.  there is a 4th one in there somewhere, but he's hiding amongst all the fuzz.  how cute are they?!?!

208/365

 4 wheelers and pop guns.  the perfect summer evening.

207/365

206/365

meet treyson.  he's my 4th child for the weekend.  his parents are going on a cruise and he will join our family until monday.  we are super excited.  he's 2 years old, but he's the most well behaved kid ever.  he fits right in.  the girls absolutely love him too, which make sit easier.  we have big plans for the weekend with this guy.

205/365

this little mommy has become the biggest help around the house lately.  she helps me with jaxton all the time, giving him snacks, playing with him, occupying him while i'm changing his diaper.  her attitude has changed and she's been so good.  i'm loving it, but it makes me realize how quickly she's growing up. 

204/365

i always have big dreams about summer.  i have big plans in my head.  and those plans usually don't go accordingly.  things come up.  other ideas happen.  friends come visit.  mama needs a lazy day.  and the days keep passing by so quickly.  the last 2 days have been wonderful.  we had 2 friends with us for 2 days and all 5 kids have played and played and played.  this is what summer is supposed to be.  they are in and out.  guzzling water.  enjoying popsicles.  sliding down the slide in their swimsuits while they squirt the water hose all over the yard, and shooting water guns at each other.  seriously, all. day. long.  they rode bikes, 4-wheelers, played guns, played cars, and hide and seek.  all. day. long.  i think i've enjoyed it more than they have!

203/365

we have friends over to play today and we went exploring.  we found a cool trail really close to our house and just had to go check it out.  i think i had more fun than they did.

202/365

i love that, every summer, my family gets to enjoy fresh corn from my poppy's garden.  it's the only corn we ever eat.  and it's absolutely delicious. 

201/365

want an activity that will occupy a 4 year old for a whole hour?  give them a bike, a sponge, soap, and water.  she washed and washed and washed her bike. 

200/365

199/365

look at his teeth!  i crack up everytime i see them.  seriously.  his first tooth was the bottom one.  then the opposite top one came in.  hysterical.  now the other bottom one and top one are coming through and will hopefully even them out.  what a goofy grin, but i absolutely love it.

words to remember

mykah just called jaxton a "little naked nomad".  she also calls david "old man jones".  and recently called jaxton a "white indian".

karsyn said to mykah "i'm sorry to tell you this, but you were born brown."  then "i'm sorry to tell you this, but me and jaxton are white and you are brown."

we are not lacking in entertainment around here.

198/365

i'm well aware that HE looks like a SHE in these pictures.  it is a boy onesie though, with a pink alligator on it.  and the purple and green snack cup is leftover from the sisters.  it's a given.  he's the third child, plus a brother with 2 sisters.  he even uses pink forks.  sorry kid.

197/365

i absolutely LOVE bright green grass.  and since we figured out how to work our sprinkler system, plus it's been raining off and on, the grass is VERY green.  and tall.  and these little white mushrooms keep popping up in this same spot.  karsyn likes to squish them.  mykah likes to kick them.  and if jaxton were on the ground, he'd probably eat them. 

mushrooms or not, we're loving our backyard.  we can walk anywhere and everywhere without shoes and the grass feels almost padded under our feet.  it's heavenly.

196/365

We've done a whole lot of this lately.  This boy LOVES to be outside.  And he LOVES to swing. 

195/365

my view today.  he wants to be down, but he wants to be right by me.  i love these times.

194/365

what a special, special memory this is now.  today was my granny's birthday.  and she likes to be pampered.  so my girls did just that.  they painted her fingernails and toenails.  they brushed her hair.  they put lipstick on her.  and who knows what else.  while mykah finished up, karsyn sat down and read granny a book.  i will cherish this picture forever and ever.

193/365

this is kind of one of those "outtake" type pictures from our weekly session where i take his picture in the same outfit / same chair each friday.  it's an awkward picture, but i had to share it.  check out those lashes?  and that hair?  he has more hair already than the girls did when they were 2.  seriously.  and he lays his head down on everything, all the time.  way too cute!

192/365

i've said it a million times, but i still just can't get enough of this little guy.  he's the sweetest baby ever.  his new favorite thing to do, which just started this week, is to snuggle in our bed.  we just sit there and he'll lay down, lay his head on me, or just sit there.  i've fed him a few bottles in bed too this week and when david fed him today, he fell asleep.  sweetest. thing. EVER. 

i did end up moving him to his bed, which didn't phase him at all, but i just wanted to cuddle with him for hours.  do you blame me?

191/365

clearly i need to do a better job of taking pictures of my girls.  i do have 3 children, ya know.  he's just the only one that i don't have to bribe (yet) to snap pictures all day long. 

our life these days consists of raising the blinds each morning (we have 4 big windows in our living/dining area that have low sills), tying up the strings, and the curtains.  it's not what i like, but it's what's safe at this time in our life.  he has discovered it all.  plus nightlights and door stops.

190/365

is that RED hair?  in some light, his hair looks red, which is how karsyn's hair used to be.  sometimes it looks dirty blonde.  sometimes really blonde.  i'm curious to see how it all comes in. 

also, as i tell everyone these days, he's EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING.  this was taken after the exploration of the window sills, blinds, and curtains. 

189/365

time to start brushing those teeth.  he now has a whole tooth through and 2 more peeking.  i got him a toothbrush and training toothpaste and we have been brushing every night after his bath.  it really has become something that he just chews on, but i want him to learn early on that we brush teeth before bed.  i brush a little, then let him chew on it.  whatever works.  at this point, it keeps him still while i change him, so he may have very clean teeth before he even gets them in.

188/365

it's rough having to sit back and watch sister have all the fun.  right now, he's not so sure about the grass, so he stays on the porch.  but he wants to be out there with mykah so bad.  in due time, little buddy.

187/365

oklahoma mud run.  need i say more?  why didn't i think of their good tennis shoes in the oklahoma red dirt?  not my brightest moment, but they had a blast.  i'll write a separate post telling all about it.