Friday, January 2, 2015

Looking back at 2014...

2014 was a wonderful year with some truly amazing blessings.  Here is a quick look back at some of our favorite moments during the year!

January:

We had an unexpected snow storm and Adam was trapped at his office while the girls and I were stuck at home.  It was quite crazy!!  We also found out that we were expecting our third baby!



February:

Adam and I went to New York for a little vacation!  We announced to family and friends that we were going to have a new member of our family.


March:


Once the news that our family was expanding set in, we got our house ready to sell and finally put it on the market.  We were incredibly blessed to have a signed contract in 5 short days!!



April:

Ann Parker turned TWO on Easter Sunday.  We spent our last holiday at our first house.



May:

Caroline turned FOUR!!  We found out our little baby on the way was a BOY!!  Caroline danced in her very first dance recital.  We closed on our new house - busy, busy month for us!!




June:

We finally moved into our new house after living in our brother in laws basement for a month!! We also took a trip to Sandestin and had a wonderful time on our last vacation as a family of four.




July:

My amazing friends threw me a baby sprinkle to get ready for baby Harrison.  I have the best friends a girl could imagine...seriously - I could not have dreamed up better friends!



August:

My tummy grew and grew until it couldn't grow any more...  Harrison was born on August 26.  It was one of the very best days in my whole life.



September:

The girls started school and we settled into life as a family of five.  I turned 30 and celebrated with a night of bubbly with some of my besties.  We took the girls to see the VHHS/MBHS game.


October:

We had a fun Halloween in our new neighborhood!  The girls dressed up as Anna and Elsa from Frozen and Harrison was a teddy bear.


November:

We went to Haleyville for Thanksgiving.  It was Harrison's first trip away from home.  We celebrated Mama Lou's 90th birthday and loved seeing Adam's extended family.


December:

We celebrated Christmas in our new home with our new baby boy.


2014 was filled with fun and adventure and blessings galore!!  We cannot wait to see what 2015 will hold for our little family.  Happy New Year!!!

4 Month Sibling Comparison




Four Months Old!!!

Four Months Old - December 26, 2014



Holy Moly - four months!  This year is going by at lightening speed!  Here are some new things about our little man at four months old:

Eating: He is eating more at each feeding - 4 to 5 oz.  He eats every few hours in the day and wakes up once in the night.  The past few nights he has woken up twice.  I think it may be due to teething (which has been miserable) or a growth spurt, or perhaps a combination of the two.  I am still pumping and he is getting only breast milk.  I don't know how long it will last, but he's doing great and so far it hasn't been too crazy trying to find time to pump (just a little).

Teeth - speaking of teething...he has been drooling non stop and is constantly chewing on his hands.  No sign of a little pearly white poking through yet but I imagine in the next couple of months we will start to see some teeth.

Size:  Since he turned four months old the day after Christmas, we won't go to the pediatrician until next week.  He is still in size 1 diapers and wears mostly 3 month clothes with some 6 month stuff.  He is really filling out and has the cutest little rolls on his legs.

He has found his feet thing month and loves holding them.  He has also found some other parts of his body and loves holding that as well...he's definitely a boy!  He still loves the bath and we have discovered he also loves the doorway jumper thing.  He hates his car seat, but other than that he is a pretty good sport and likes most things.

I think that one thing that almost everyone says about him is that he is a good sport.  I think he will hear that a lot in his childhood.  He is often napping on the go since his sisters have so much going on, he sleeps through chaos, he is usually wearing a crown or tutu or whatever else the girls can get on him, and he just smiles through it all.  He is a good sport - he goes with the flow and hardly ever cries unless he is wet (from drool or because he needs a new diaper) or hungry.  Lately we have had some crying because of teething but it doesn't last too long.  He is just such a good sport and puts up with all of us!

He is a pretty easy baby and I am loving having  a little baby to love on.  I keep saying that I need more babies!!  Babies are my favorite and he is such a good one that he makes me want more...although they grow up and turn into toddlers which isn't always so easy so maybe we don't need any more...But seriously, he is such a joy and so easy to take care of.  He is content just to quietly sit and watch what is going on.

Happy four months little man!!  You are the most wonderful little boy in the whole world and I am so happy that I get to be your mommy.  I love you sweet boy!!















December Activities and Christmas 2014

Whew!!  We had one busy, fun month around here at the Israel house.  I am always equal parts sad to see the holiday season end and glad to see it end.  Between the girls school parties, choir shows, office and friend holiday parties, neighborhood functions, and other activities, we had 26 invitations of things to attend and do...26 - that's a ton.  We couldn't do everything, especially with a little baby, but we tried to do as much as we could - and now that it's all over we are ready to sleep for a month!!

I don't have pictures for everything and some are on my phone, but I will do a quick recap of some of the highlights of our month!

I took the girls to the Mountain Brook Christmas parade with some of our friends.  It was a lot of fun and the girls loved seeing the "real live" Santa ride in the fire truck at the end of the parade.  Right after that we headed to the zoo for Zoolight Safari with some of our college friends.  It was BSC alumni night and we had a great time running into people that we haven't seen in years.

Caroline had a choir show and a school performance.  She was fantastic in both!!  She had a speaking part in the school show - and I was so proud.  She remembered her line and was the cutest one up there.  Not that I am biased or anything.  Also, the same day as her choir show she had her visitor week at dance.  She was GREAT!!  She knew all the steps and was happy to show them off for a room full of visitors!  Her teacher, Ms. Laci, is simply wonderful and let AP join in the class at the end.  That sweet girl cannot wait to take dance.  Now that she is potty trained we will let her take class!!




This is from the choir show.  She insisted on wearing her "big sister" medal for the show.  She was so cute!  The girl can really project...


These are from her school show.  Her class was the donkeys from the manger.




Ann Parker was one happy little girl!  One of her best buddies, Anna Glenn, sat right behind us.  Her big sister is the same age as Caroline.  AP and AG are in the same class at school and spend most of the day holding hands.  Precious girls.  I also love that they are playing with hair brushes.  So silly!



Adam;s office had a Cookies with Santa event at the office.  It was so cute!  Caroline sat on Santa's lap but AP did not.  She was scared and after the screaming Santa picture we got last year, I didn't force her.  I also decided not to take them to the mall.  After all, they did just see Santa and I didn't want to traumatize Ann Parker too much just for my own benefit.  I love a good screaming Santa picture...maybe next year!







Several other events are on my phone, so those pictures will come at another time.  On to Christmas...

Christmas was wonderful this year!  We loved celebrating Harrison's first Christmas holiday and every year with the girls gets more and more fun.  Caroline was so into it this year - even more so than last year.  They LOVED finding our elf, Leo, each morning.  It was the first thing they did each day.  I thought they were going to explode of excitement when Christmas Eve finally arrived.  We did some last minute errands and then went to Christmas Eve communion.  We made beef tenderloin, roasted potatoes, and broccoli casserole for dinner.  The girls made cookies for Santa and then they got to open two presents each.  Each year we get them Christmas jammies and a new Christmas book.  They got pj's that had Leo on them!!  Caroline's  book was Llama Llama Holiday Drama since she loves the Llama Llama books right now.  Ann Parker got Room for a Little One since she loves animals and she is our little one.  Harrison got Little Blue Truck's Christmas since he is a boy and every boy needs some trucks.  That is a series of books that we haven't gotten into yet but now that we have a boy I am learning all about it!  He got some sweet kissy kissy Christmas pj's too.

This year they asked for puppy surprise, tinkerbell toys, and a firetruck.  Caroline also asked for candy canes and surprises.  They got tons of fun stuff - new sheets, leap pad2's, flutterby fairies, magic dancing pumpkin dog, a new hanging tent from land of nod, sleeping bags, clothes, umbrellas, princess dolls, kinetic sand, shoes, art supplies, movies, easy bake oven, food items for the play kitchen, puzzles, games, and about a million other things it seems!  This was the sight on Christmas morning!









After the excitement of seeing the Santa gifts, they were about to jump out of their skin when we let them start unwrapping gifts from under the tree.  Their reactions were amazing!  It was truly a magical Christmas and one for the books!!  We spent the rest of the day playing with our new things and being cozy in our house.  It was the best day!