My Everyday Happiness

We finally uploaded all the pictures from Chris' iPhone onto our computer since we use it so often as our primary camera. I'm really good at forgetting my regular camera or not having it charged. I was looking through all the pictures and was surprised to find that they go all the way back to last year when we had Penelope!! It was way fun looking back on pictures that I'd completely forgotten we even took. I'm just going to post some of my favorites. 

 This is from last summer when Chris taught Cai how to ride her tricycle all by herself!

 I love when I can catch the kids playing by themselves -just having so much fun with something that they're totally content.

 Cairi usually sleeps in our bed but on this particular night she was sleeping in her room and Marv had jumped up on the bed with her.

 This is how my kids have to watch TV or movies. I have so many pictures like this lol.

 Who doesn't love playing in the kitchen cabinets while mommy is cooking?

 One day when both the kids fell asleep on the floor with me. They weren't asleep yet but fell asleep shortly after Chris took this pic. Penelope fell asleep in my lap even though there was minimal room for her with my big belly.

 Cookin' up some more mischief in the kitchen.

 This was just a couple months ago. I was folding laundry on the floor and Penelope (who is my resident snuggle bug) climbed up in my lap to cuddle. She does this a lot and then usually gets down after a few and continues playing. Instead she just passed out in my arms like a little newborn.

I love sleeping pictures! Fell asleep in her beanbag.

The kids LOVE their extended family. We spend a lot of time at my moms and all 3 kids love climbing on Uncle James or sitting on his lap. 

Days at our house are so much the same, but it's the little things like this that really make each day unique and special. I'm so grateful I get to stay home with my kids everyday and experience all these seemingly "everyday/normal" occurrences. I think I've said it in my posts a lot lately, but I can't believe we're going to be completing our family in a matter of weeks! We've already created so many fun memories and now we get to bring one more little miracle into the world!

It's Beginning...

YAY!! It's the holiday season! We love the cold weather in our house and we especially love the holiday season. I was thrilled when I saw it snowing outside last night and even more excited that it was still there this morning to show the kids. I was half tempted to turn on some Christmas music -but worry not, I refrained. This is the first winter season that both Cai and Gabe have been big enough to really play in the snow and they had a blast with the little bit that we had in our yard. I was lucky that their snowsuits from last year still fit and while their snow boots didn't we were able to use their rain boots!

Gettin' geared up!

Gabe kept saying "NO!" for snow. So cute!

Cairi trying to make a snowman on her own.

Miss Nelly Belly watching from inside.

This is what having kids is all about! Watching them become best buds is amazing!!

Best daddy ever decided to get his gloves and hat on to help make Mr. Snowman.

Bundled up Penelope so she could watch with me from the patio. She didn't even try to wiggle out of my arms which I thought she would. She was just in awe of the snow and had so much fun watching!

The finished project! We had to improvise so we used oreos for the eyes and licorice for the mouth. What a great start to the winter season!

Summer + Family = FUN

So we haven't done anything really big this summer but we've been squeezin' in lots of family time and enjoying our new home! This is just some fun pics of the kids and a little update on everybody!

 This is Cai's current favorite place to nap. Her "house" or fort is where she naps every afternoon.

Cairi is officially a big girl!!! She has been going poop and pee on the potty here and there for awhile now but just this last week she started going full time!! I didn't really push her or make the commitment myself and then one day I woke up and decided I was going to try and make her go potty on the "big girl" potty all day. Well, that's all it took. After making her go consistently for a couple days she's a pro. She didn't even need a diaper her third night in. I'm so proud of her! She loves flushing the toilet and saying "bye bye pee pee" -yesterday she even added "have a nice day". LOL I love this kid! Oh, and while we're on the potty talk, Cai had a very "stubborn"  #2 the other day -her little toosh was even bleeding a bit after. I told her it was because she had been drinking too much milk and needed to drink some more water and juice, so now when she asks for milk she says "I have some chocit milk mom? Jus a lil bit cause it makes my poop hard." Oh man... sorry for those of you who find this to be TMI but really, its hilarious and so cute!

Her other favorite thing right now is "keening up". We'll be doing something and she will randomly tell me "I need to keen up mom, I need to keen up" -I'm a neat freak to a fault sometimes and it seems that she has inherited the gene. It's so cute and awesome to have a little helper. Today I got some toys out for Gabe and she asked me why I was getting them out because she had just put them away :). I just love seeing their personalities come out!

 This is how we travel with Gabe. He's just such an animal lately we have to crate him.... lol just kidding peoples, hopefully none of you thought I was serious. Gabe had fun hanging out in Ga-ga Kelly's new dog crate!

 He made sure he was still able to see the movie!

Don't ya miss being a kid when you could hang out in the coolest places? The two pillow pets in the picture are like his personal bodyguards. He goes nowhere without them.

Gabe is growing and learning SO much lately. He's been a lot slower at talking than Cairi was (we asked our pediatrician and this can be normal for a second sibling -especially a boy). Anyway, he's been saying a lot of new words lately and it's been really fun. His favorite show is "Super Why" because he loves, loves letter and number shows. Whenever he sees numbers or letters he points at them and wants you to tell him what they are. He's also saying thank you, choo choo, car, chee (tree), fower (flower) and a few other words. I'm excited for him to start talking so him and Cairi can interact even more. They're already best buds lately so when they can actually communicate it's going to be so fun!

Gabe is also my dare-devil these days. Cairi won't go down the big spiral slide at the park and rarely likes to do the swings because she gets scared but Gabe will do ANYTHING. I have to really keep my eye on him because he is just so fearless -he's all boy and it's been a lot of fun to see how different him and Cairi are.

 Chris is getting her started early on playing computer games.

I think each one of my kids grows up faster than the other!! Penelope is now 7 months and doing so much on her own. She army crawls to basically anywhere she wants to be, she sits up on her own so well and she has 2 teeth! She has been a really easy baby for me which I must say I am so grateful for since we have a full house! She LOVES watching and playing with her big sister and brother and is THE happiest baby. I think she only cries when shes tired or hungry. She loves to say mama and dada and jabbers all day long. She thinks it's hilarious when Marv barks and also loves hanging upside down from your lap (not for too long of course). She also loves grass... she loves to sit in it, lay in it, pick it etc. I think she's going to be a mix of her big sis and big bro -definitely a talker like Cai but maybe a little mellower like Gabe... well, like Gabe before he turned into a monkey.

Family Fun

 We go to my mom's house a lot and love swimming in the pool! Our yard isn't finished yet and we don't have a swingset or anything fun so grandma's house is way cooler than ours. We had a little shin-dig on the 24th complete with burgers, homemade fries, and brownies a-la mode. My mom sacrificed her white shirt to prepare the brownie's for us (as well as the rest of the food) -I get my ability to spill everything from her lol. Cairi has also been doing sleepovers at my moms and has sooo much fun. When I come to get her the next day she says "I don't want to go to you house -I want to stay at ga-ga's house." I think sleepovers were just about the coolest thing when I was a kid and its fun for her to get some alone time/attention since she shares with brother and sister all the time. I can't wait til Gabe starts doing sleepovers too! She also went to her first movie with my mom and aunt La La last weekend. I gotta get the pics from my mom but it was really neat! Ah! I just can't say how much I love knowing what fun memories they're building!

 Popcicles = must have summer treat.

 Cai tryin to squirt daddy.

 Gabe's favorite -the slide!

 We also went boating with the Swensons and had so much fun! I'm so mad I didn't take more pictures but Penelope zonked out pretty soon after we got there and I was trying to keep her as comfortable as possible with her life jacket on. The kids had an absolute blast and loved the water. Gabe even went on the tube for a few and Cairi liked just floating in the water with grandma Swenson and daddy. We grew up camping in my family and Chris grew up boating in his. I'm teaching him how to fish and he's going to get me on some water skis -I'm so excited that our kids get to do both because they are some of my favorite memories as a kid!

Finalllly!

So I finally decided to get serious about losing my last 20lbs. Chris told me about My Fitness Pal awhile ago when he got the app for his phone. I was lazy and thought counting calories would be too tedious and time consuming so I never got serious about it.

Well, the other night I was having a bad day -not for any particular reason, just because it was one of those days and for some reason I decided I needed to just jump in and lose this weight. I complain all the time to Chris about it. You know "ohh, I wish I was thinner" "I wish I had some pants that fit me" lol -all that stuff. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm not way over-weight or anything but after having 3 babies I've been wanting to get back to where I know I should be.

That being said. I woke up the next morning and just started doing it! My Fitness Pal has made it so easy for me. Not near as hard or time consuming as I thought it would be. It tracks everything including your exercise. The thing I also love about it is I can still eat the stuff I like. I have a friend who's had a lot of success with it too and I'm just really lovin' it!

Anyway, in the first week I've already lost 4 pounds! I was expecting to lose 1-2 since that's what it said but when I weighed myself today I was soooo excited! It definitely helps keep me motivated.

And because I hate posting without any pictures here's a couple cute pics of the kids.

 I love sleeping pictures so one night when all the kids were asleep I snuck in and took pictures of them all.

 Don't know why this pic loaded upside down, that's not how it was on my computer.

 Watchin a movie! I thought it was cute how he had his legs crossed like a big boy.

This is Cai showing me that she cleaned her room! She is just the best little helper. She was suppose to be napping and was having a hard time. We'd put her in her bed a few times and she kept getting out. Well, one time she came down and said "I keen my woom!". She was so excited and proud of herself -it was so cute! She put her pillows on the bed and tucked away some things in between the crib and her nightstand.

My Little Bean

I feel bad because I haven't blogged very much about our newest family member, Penelope! I haven't blogged very much in general, but I thought I'd make a little post dedicated to her. She recently had her check up and boy is she little -at least compared to my other babies. Really she's not that little at all, but I'm used to having chunks! She weighed just over 16 lbs and was in the 75th percentile. Cai and Gabe were always in the 90's or 100's. She is also the first baby I've had that hasn't had a full head of hair at birth. 

Penelope is my little sweetheart, she is the most precious baby. She's a mommy's girl and every time she sees me she gets the biggest smile. There's no love like a baby's love! Right now she's rolling over and jabbering A LOT! She says mama and dada occasionally and loves her baby food. So far there isn't one thing she won't eat for me, even peas! Her other favorite person these days is Cairi. She will laugh and laugh and laugh at Cairi, it's the cutest thing ever! Having her here has been so awesome!! It's definitely always busy at our house but it has been so much fun having our kids so close. I was a little sad not to be having one this year, it would have been cool to have 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. I also get a little jealous when I see other pregnant people. Haha, in the meantime though 3 babies is a blast!

 Cai really REALLY loves helping me with Penelope, actually with just about everything!

The only way she smiles is with her mouth WIDE open, like she's going to eat you.

Fell asleep in her bouncer, so cute.