Soooooooo.....hi blog!  It has been too long!  I feel so guilty about not updating, but it has stayed at the bottom of my long to-do list for a long time!  I will have to admit...3 kids is pretty much kicking my booty.  Three kids all aged 3 and under is HARD.  Don't get me wrong, none of them would be traded for anything on this Earth but it is a never-ending challenge! 

I hope if Reese ever goes back and reads this she does not feel slighted about the amount of posting I have done about her.  Thankfully, there is just not a whole lot to say about her besides she is just perfect!  She is growing like a weed, she is sleeping better at night (usually getting up just once to eat and falling right back to sleep), and she is so cuddly!  She is starting to flash some big, gummy grins which totally melt our hearts!  At her one month checkup, she was 9 lbs 1 oz, and all of her measurements were in the 50th percentile.  Here are her stats from her 2 month checkup a few weeks ago:

• Weight:  11 lbs 15 oz
• Length:  23 1/4 inches

All of her measurements this time were around the 80th percentile!  I couldn't believe she had gained almost 3 pounds in one month!!  I can't say it enough, it is amazing and incredible how fast the kids grow.  God has truly blessed us with such healthy and wonderful children!  She has adjusted well to me going back to work which happened last week.  It was hard for me, but it was definitely easier going back part time at 2 days a week versus full time like I did with the boys.  She and Elliot only have to go to day care one day a week, and Mom watches them on the other day.  So the transition has been pretty much seamless, and it was nothing like I had feared. 

What can I say about Little Elliot?  Well, he is almost 2, so he is definitely developing a more sassy personality than his super sweet baby self.  He likes to talk a lot, and his vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  He tries to mimic Harry a lot, so he does a lot of things that I don't remember Harry doing at this age.  He and his brother fight a lot, which really gets on my nerves, but I guess that is to be expected!  As long as they aren't having knock down-drag outs, I suppose it is all normal sibling activity.  He wants to do everything himself, which is totally different than his brother!  I can't hardly get Harry to dress himself most days!  I had some 1 on 1 time with him recently and we tried to do some puzzles together, and he did a pretty good job.  It's activities like that--puzzles, books, etc. that I know he doesn't get near the time doing them that Harry did when he was Elliot's age and I hope he doesn't suffer from it.  When I try to do them when Harry is around, he wants the run the show and take over for Elliot.  One funny/sad story about him that happened last week is that he got a HUGE chunk of his hair ripped out at day care!  It was all a big accident, but I still feel really sorry for him because I knew it had to hurt and he looks pretty funny!   

Harry is hilarous, charming, and exasperating, usually all in the same hour (unless he happens to be sleeping!).  He asks sooooo many questions about everything.  He wants to know how words are spelled, what words mean (even if he already knows), what we are going to be doing every minute, and if he has to take a nap that day (the answer is always yes).  He kills me!  But no one can make me laugh like he does!  The other day, I was explaining to him the difference between a son and a daughter.  I told him that he was my son, Reese was my daughter, and Elliot was my son.  He said, no, that Elliot was my prisoner.  Where he gets this stuff, I have no idea!  I can only imagine the stories he tells when I'm not around!

Three weeks ago, our precious little daughter and sister made her grand entrance to the world!  Reese Patricia was born on Monday 11/2/09 at 11:22 pm.  We were blessed with an easy delivery--labor lasted about 8 hours, and I only had to push 3 times and she was here!  She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long, and every bit of her is sweet and perfect!  It still amazes me that we have 3 perfect kids all born on a Monday, during the 11 o'clock hour (Harry in the am, Elliot and Reese in the pm) and all within 1/2 pound of each other (Harry was 7 lbs 10oz, Elliot was 8 lbs, and now Reese at 7 lbs 13 oz)!  Can you say predictible??  Enjoy the pictures of our little beauty!

So proud of their little sister!!

Sleepyhead 

Our little princess 

So, so far so good!  The boys have adjusted amazingly well to having her around.  Harry is totally obsessed with her and in her face all of the time a little bit too much for my liking, but I suppose it is better than the opposite!  I feared that Elliot would be super jealous, and he is a little bit, but nothing like I had feared.  He acts out mostly at bedtime and naptime, but it's nothing that we can't handle.  His jolly exclaims of "Hi, Seester!" let me know that he loves her even if he tries to rock her carseat waaaay too hard or tackle her sometimes!!  God has blessed us so much with 3 gorgeous and wonderful children.  We could never thank or praise him enough!!

I knew it had been a while since I had updated our poor, neglected blog...but I didn't realize it had been about 2 months!  Yikes!  Let me try to give you a brief rundown of how everyone is doing!

Harry:  He is...well, depending on what day, what hour, or what minute it is, he is generally great, funny, and sweet!  But there are times, very bad times, at least once a day when a case of the defiant grumpies sets in and there is absolutely no reasoning with him!  I think I can say that those times are becoming less and less frequent, so that is a plus.  He is still doing fantastically at school, and ahem, not to brag but his teacher told me a few weeks ago that he is definitely ahead of his classmates in letters and numbers, etc.  He must get that from his mother, or it could also possibly be from him wanting to read I Spy Little Letters about a million times since we purchased it a few years ago.  He is quite the little planner.  I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times a day he asks me what we are going to be doing tomorrow.  It starts the moment he wakes up until it is time to go to bed.  He has started to say his own prayers at night which is adorable.  It starts out, "Thank you, God when we...." and then he proceeds to tell God exactly what he did that day.  You can tell when he is stalling bedtime by how excruciating some of the details are.  He is a funny kid!  He has been saying for a while that he wants to be Santa Claus for Halloween, and of course, I have looked high and low for a Santa costume and can't find one.  We are planning on going to the pumpkin patch this weekend and costume shopping, so maybe he will find something else that catches his eye.

Elliot:  Elly Belly is turning into quite the little wildman!  He is talking so much, he loves to sing, and doesn't hesitate to let you know how he feels about something good or bad.  Someone told me a few weeks ago that he is the most polite one year old that they have ever known.  He does an excellent job at saying please and thank you, excuse me, bless you, and love you.  He is equally impressive at protesting when things don't go quite his way.  If he's really upset, he usually throws whatever he is holding or he finds a clear space on the floor to lay down and cry his little heart out.  He's lucky that he's still in that too cute for words stage because I can usually laugh off what he does, but man...I think we will have our hands full with him!  His latest tool to try to aggravate his brother and parents is to turn off the TV over, and over, and over again.  Every time he does it, he turns and looks at us with the biggest grin on his face as if to say "Aren't I just the cutest thing in the world??"  He has even been put in time out a few times, but he finds this totally hilarous.  We had his 18 month checkup last month and here were his stats:

• Weight:  21 lbs. 6 oz (4th percentile)
• Height:  32 1/2 inches (50th percentile)
• Head:  I don't remember the measurement, but he was 75th percentile

He is still quite the lightweight!  I can't explain it, and the doctor isn't worried about it so I'm not either.  I would say his appetite has scaled back a little, but I would still be willing to bet that he eats more than Harry.  That is probably a mystery that we will never figure out!

Baby Sister:  She is still camped out in my belly, and she seems to be doing just fine!  I will be 39 weeks on Saturday and everything has been going great so far.  I have definitely grown more tired and worn out the last month or so.  I would say that I'm physically ready to have her, but not emotionally prepared!  We have things just about as ready as they are going to be for now except we have not decided on a name, and I don't have my bag packed.  I have been feeling some contractions lately, but nothing that would suggest I'm going into labor anytime soon.  Harry is soooo excited for Baby Sister to be here.  Lately, his favorite activity is writing her a "letter" (scribbles and some letters) and putting a "stamp" (one of our address labels) on it to give her.  He is going to be an awesome older brother for the second time around.  As far as Elliot goes....I'm not so sure!  I think he might have some massive jealousy issues, but we shall see before we know it!!

I think I can now pronounce with great pride that my son Harry is officially POTTY TRAINED!!  Praise the good Lord above!!  He wears a diaper at naptime (which is almost always dry) and bedtime (which is usually wet) and that is it, my friends!  We are so pumped.  We have even had to #2 in a public potty last week in Chick-Fil-A and it was no big deal except that he had to announce it to the whole restaurant.  We are super excited!  I think his overall behavior has improved as well...either it has or I can handle it better since I don't have to deal with the potty training on top of naughtiness!  The way it all went down is so very Harry.  He had to do it on his terms in his own way.  The more we pushed, the more difficult the process became and he wasn't having any of it.  We (okay, mostly I) backed off a bit, and boom.  He got to do it on his terms.  I guess neither of us will ever learn.  Surely Elliot will be so much easier to train, right??  RIGHT???

Speaking of Elliot, he has totally blossomed in the last month or so.  He is constantly jabbering, and sometimes he even makes sense!  He always wants what you have to eat or drink, and he is polite about it for the first few moments.  "Peease?  Peease?"  Then, if you don't give him what he wants after the first few times, he's all "PEEEEEEASE!!"  in this very screechy scream.  I noticed this morning that he is also saying "Bite?" when he wants your food.  He also is starting to fight back rather effectively with his big brother.  He can be heard yelling "NOOOOOO!  Dooooon't!" when he doesn't want him near/taking his things/looking at him the wrong way.  He also landed a pretty large bite on Harry's back the other day while they were fighting and getting on each other's nerves.  With our constantly talking 3 year old and the constant yammering of our 1 year old, we can barely hear ourselves think around our house!

Travis and I just returned from our first trip away from the kids as a couple on Sunday evening.  We went to our good friend Molly's wedding in Massachusetts and had a great time.  We were just gone from Friday morning until Sunday evening, but it was the perfect length to get some alone time, some time with great friends, and enough time away to miss the kiddos a bit.  We took the kids bowling the night before we left to ease our guilt a bit which Harry was over the moon about, of course.  Mom and Dad came over to our house to stay most of the weekend so I didn't even have to pack their things up for a weekend away.  I think they had an okay time handling the boys, and I'm sure Harry and Elliot loved doing whatever the heck they wanted all weekend. 

Next up is my girls' trip to sunny Florida and I think I am done travelling for the summer.  I have really enjoyed getting to do so many things and going so many places this summer, but I have had my fill.  I will be working quite a few extra hours this coming month due to vacations and vefore I know it, the next few months will fly by and we will have another baby in our arms (who, by the way seems to be doing splendidly).  I know the nesting phase of my pregnancy will be hitting me like a ton of bricks soon, so it will be nice to be able to stick around home for a while and get some projects done.  There is no place like home after all!

We made our nearly-annual trek to Tennessee to visit with Nana and Poppy over the July 4th weekend.  Before we left, we were thinking about things we could do and we checked the schedule for the Chattanooga Lookouts (their minor league baseball team).  They had a home game on July 3rd.  Perfect!  Harry continues to love all things sports and would be thrilled to go to a baseball game, plus they would be having fireworks that night to boot!  We had talked with everyone about buying tickets on line before hand, but for some reason, we just didn't do it.  The locals thought we would be fine getting them at the gate.  So we head out for downtown Chattanooga that Friday night.  Harry was super excited since we had been talking about it all day, and both boys were decked out in Lookouts t-shirts that we had purchased when Harry was only a few months old.  When we pulled up to the parking garage, the attendant asked Travis if we were headed to the game.  Yep, we sure were!  Did we already have our tickets she asked?  Nope, we sure didn't.  She then informed us that the game was SOLD OUT!!  My stomach fell through the floor!  How were we going to explain this to a 3 year old kid who was out of his mind excited for the game?  We all felt like total idiots as well since we hadn't already purchased the tickets.  We decided to head up to the stadium just in case she was wrong, but she wasn't.  So, Travis headed up to the gate to see if any of his relentless persuasion skills could score us some seats.  Nana, Poppy, the kids and I waited for him on the street corner to wait, and I started praying.  I don't know that I've every truly prayed for something so superficial, but we had been having a rough week with Harry.  He had been a little bit out of control with being defiant, back talking, complaining, whining, you name it.  We were nearing our wits end, and we had used the game as leverage for good behavior that day.  I knew that if we told him we couldn't go to the game, he would have been really disappointed and I really did not want to deal with a tantrum. 

A southern belle angel approached us and asked us if we had tickets to the game.  I thought she was going to ask us if we had any to sell.  We told her no, we didn't.  She said she had some extras and wanted to know if we were interested.  We said that we definitely were but we would need six tickets, thinking there was no way she would have that many.  She said she had seven.  We were floored.  We asked her how much she wanted for them, and she said she wanted to give them to us!  We practically begged her to let us give her some money, but she refused.  My eyes welled up with tears when I called Travis to tell him that we had found some tickets.  The tickets were for general admission seating (like we cared) and she saw where we were sitting and came over to chat with us for a while.  It turns out that her sister and her family were supposed to come with them to the game so she ran all over town that day trying to track down tickets for them all.  Her sister ended up not being able to come, and she told us that she knew God had a reason for her having those extra tickets.  When she saw us, she knew we were supposed to be the ones to get the tickets.  She sounded like a really sweet lady.  They do foster care which is amazing, and her husband was originally from Indiana.  I will never forget that woman and how she totally bailed us out.

I learned 3 big lessons that day.  First of all, be prepared!  Buy the tickets on-line next time!!  Secondly, I need to pay that favor forward, be more proactive about looking for others in need, and be more giving.  That lady probably didn't know how desparate we were for those tickets and how much she made our day, but I did.  Knowing that I can do something like that for someone sometime makes me happy.  And lastly, I don't always turn to God for everything I need help with.  I still get in the mindset that a lot of my concerns don't matter and aren't that big of a deal.  God has better things to do with his time!  But I did turn to him this time, and look how awesomely and perfectly he provided for us at a minor league baseball game of all places.  He is so good!  The rest of our week was much less drama free!  The kids had a blast in the pool, and it was great to spend some time with our family!   

Life with Harry has been such a rollercoaster lately full of wonderful highs and scary lows.  We were definitely in a valley during our time in Tennessee, but we are slowly trudging back up the hill during the week we have been home.  We started a sticker behavior chart with him.  He needs to earn 10 stickers to receive a prize (a Veggie Tales DVD), and he can earn a sticker for generally good behavior for a day, not having any accidents, or doing something nice for someone with out being asked.  It has been about 3 weeks or so, and he will finally get his 10th sticker today for not having any accidents yesterday!  I am trying to instill in him the knowledge that he has choices.  He is smart enough to know that if he needs to go to the potty, he should go.  If he chooses to go in his pants, no sticker.  Holding him back was his unwillingness to go #2 in the potty.  We finally decided to start restricting his freedom some if he decided to continue to hold out.  He was already not able to play Wii unless he pooped in the potty, and we stepped it up to include no TV until he decided to go.  It was his choice I continued to remind him.  He went almost 4 days with no cartoons!  Finally, on Sunday, #2 appeared in the potty!  I'm still not convinced this will be the norm, but hopefully a strong step in the right direction!  He hasn't wanted to try again, so we have been warning him that the TV will be taken away again if he decides to have another accident.  We'll see...keep your fingers crossed for us!!  The break from Nick Jr and Disney programming was nice, but I would rather be done with this whole potty training business for a while!!