Our Halloween

I'm going with the "Better late than Never" mentality.  Plus, with Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, I figured I'd better hurry and get this up.  Here's our Halloween of 2011!!

Heidi and Jonah have really been into the Toy Story movies lately. We've watched 1, 2, and 3 many, many (many) times in the last four months or so.  Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was short on energy, patience and will power so after their naps, during the "bewitching" hour (its around that time of 5:00 for some reason) I would give in to their plaintive cries to watch a movie, or a 'da-broo' in Jonah-speak.  And it was almost always one of the Toy Story movies.  So imagine my surprise when Heidi wanted to be Jessie for Halloween!  Of course, then Jonah had to be Buzz, which he was very excited about until it came to wear the actual costume.  But he finally got into it after seeing Heidi as Jessie and I think they looked so cute!!  My mom and I made Heidi's costume (hat, shirt details, and chaps), but Jonah's was bought.  I saw a Jessie costume at Target but I didn't want to shell out $30 for one when I knew it couldn't possibly be that hard to put together myself!!  I was right.  It was so stinking easy and cheap!  I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Jessie and Buzz

First we had a Trunk or Treat at our church and the kids had no hesitation going after the candy! Even our normally reserved Buzz was all for getting that candy!!

He had the candy gathering drill down pat!

Getting some help from Daddy

This is how Clara spent the night at Trunk or Treats. Nice and cozy!

We didn't make it to much of the Fall Festival that our church had but we did get to see the glow in the dark room  The kids thought that it was pretty cool!

Our happy little family.  Clara is in the white ghost hat.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I could get of all three of them.  Heidi kept having a hat/hair malfunction and Clara kept having an attitude malfunction.  Oh well.  They're cute anyhow!

Then on the actual Halloween day, the kids and I headed to my parents' church to meet up with Laurie and her kids and Mamaw and O'Pa for another Trunk or Treat.

Grandma McCurdy and some great grandkids

 A man in a very scary mask walked by Jonah and absolutely terrified Jonah.  He was very upset and shaking like a leaf and didn't want anything to do with candy anymore.  My dad worked with him and coaxed him back into trick or treating.  I felt so bad for him and quite annoyed at the man. >:(

O'Pa showing Jonah that it's ok, Larry isn't as scary as he looks! Haha!

And Clara again.  Sweet little ghost!

Clara wore the same thing for her first Halloween that Heidi and Jonah both did.  Here's a flashback.  It's amazing to me that in some ways, Clara looks just like Heidi and in others she looks just like Jonah.  But I've never thought that Heidi and Jonah look anything alike!  But either way, I have three adorable babies!!

Heidi

Jonah

Clara

We met up with my sister and her kids and they were the cutest Ladybug and Tiger!!

Jonah, Clark, Alyssa, Clara, Heidi
(Clara having another attitude malfunction, poor baby!)

Hope you had a happy Halloween!!

Hard Work Does Pay Off!!

Nathan and I have been talking lately about how Heidi and Jonah are old enough to start helping around the house.  There are things they have to do now, like pick up their toys and books, but we really wanted to start them on chores and help them learn how to make and manage money.  Professional people have all kinds of opinions on how to go about this.  We've taken bits and pieces from here and there and came up with a system I think will work well for us.  At least right now.  I'm sure it'll be ever changing as they grow older. But for now, we came up with four chores for each of them to do last week.  Every time they did a chore they got to put a sticker on their chart.  At the end of the week, they presented their chart to daddy.  For each sticker they had, they earned 1 quarter.  

Heidi's responsibilities:

1. Feed/water the cat

2. Make her bed

3. Match together her, Jonah's and Clara's socks when I'm folding their laundry

4. Put up the adult silverware

Jonah's responsibilities:

1. Feed the dogs

2. Make his bed

3. Put up the socks in their right drawers after Heidi matches them

4. Put up the kids silverware

They both love to help so it was no problem at all to get them to do all this with barely a reminder.  As soon as Nathan would get home, Jonah would run to him saying, "Oof-oof?" because he knew when daddy got home they would go feed the dogs.  He LOVED feeding the dogs.  The only thing Jonah was not at all enthusiastic about was making his bed.  He had no desire whatsoever.  Not even for a sticker.  Great.  Not a good sign, I don't think.  Since his mommy is not a good bed-making example, I didn't push him to do it.  Heidi, however, is very eager to please and loved to make her bed first thing when she woke up and then would come wake me up and would want me to go right then and see her made bed.  Talk about two ends of the spectrum!  They both were happy to do their other chores so it ended up working out.  We're all still new at this, so we'll just have to tweak it as we go.

Showing off their newly made chore charts
(forgive my artistry, or lack thereof)

Ready to cash them in!!

turning in their charts for daddy to inspect

Heidi getting paid for her hard work

Jonah getting paid for his hard work

So proud of themselves!!

They both got $3 for their efforts this week.  I'm very proud of them for having a good attitude and willingness to help around the house.  We'll be teaching them to divide their money between God, savings, and spending money.  Heidi has already decided that she wants to save up for a barbie doll she saw at Target.  She was all ready to take her three dollars and go get it!  Since the doll is $15, we'll be working on the "saving up" part of the idea. =)

I have to say, even though it was a bit more tedious showing them what to do and then waiting for them to do it at their pace instead of doing it faster myself, I really like the concept behind them doing the things that I normally have to do!!  I see a lot of potential for this!! Haha!!

Clara Louise at One Month Old

Why is it that the last four weeks of pregnancy seem to last so much longer than the previous 8 months but the first four weeks with a newborn seem to sprint by in a blur?

Birth

Our precious little Clara is already a month old!  Some days it still seems strange that I have a third child and other days it seems like she has always been with us.  But everyday I am filled with such love and thanksgiving for this little being that I'm still getting to know.  She seems to change almost everyday and I'm so enjoying watching her grow!  Both of her siblings are absolutely enamored with her and still love to sing to her, hold her and are so very gentle with her.

One Week

Jonah seems especially protective and if she starts crying and we're in a different room, he'll immediately run to whatever room she is in saying, "Wear-wah! Wear-wah!".  And if I don't respond fast enough for his taste he will come back and grab my hand to pull me to her, still saying the whole way, "Wear-wah!".  One day in particular, we were all in the nursery and about to leave for church.  Nathan was telling Heidi and Jonah to head downstairs to load up and I was walking out of the door too to go get something and then I was going to come back and get Clara out of her bouncer.  As we were all leaving the room together, Jonah suddenly gets this concerned look on his face, says Wear-wah! and runs back into the room, right to Clara and suddenly tries to pick her up out of her bouncer (she was strapped in, though).  He has never once tried to pick her up before so I really think he thought we were going to forget her and leave her behind!  Once I told him that I was going to come back in and get her and that she and I would meet him at the car, he finally calmed down and went with Nathan.  I'm so glad he already has it in his head to look out for his baby sister!

Two Weeks

So far, Clara has really been a good little baby.  As long as she is fed, she's happy.  She even sleeps pretty well at night and is considerate enough to give her mama about 5 hours of sleep in a stretch, wake up to eat for 15 minutes and then sleeps another 3-4 hours.  She tolerates her siblings' less than gentle loving and snoozes through all their noise during the day.  I've been on my own with all three of them for about 10 days and so far so good.  It seems like once I have dealt with the older two, throwing a baby into the mix doesn't seem like a big deal.  Of course, we are still all on Clara's schedule since she's nursing (and this little girl will not let me forget when its time to eat!) but that's been kind of nice because it forces me to sit down and relax. Admittedly, its not always at the most convenient times but we manage.  :~)

Three Weeks

Its been so fun seeing all the ways my kids are similar and the ways they are different.  Heidi and Jonah didn't look anything alike when they were born but Clara looks like both of them depending on what face she is making.  It's so neat!  She also seems easy going like they were.

Four Weeks

There are at least three things that are uniquely her own:
1. She has the HIGHEST shrieky cry I've ever heard!  Heidi and Jonah certainly didn't have it!  Even her nurse at her 1 month check up commented on how shrill it was.  Thankfully, she only reserves it for when she is REALLY mad.  It usually only happens when she is completely naked, getting her diaper changed, has been hurt, or if I'm taking way too long to feed her.  She usually gives me plenty of warning before it escalates that high. Its pretty impressive to hear, though!
2.  She is the noisiest sleeping baby!  She is always grunting, sighing, whimpering, gurgling, groaning, or cooing.  I think it's adorable.  She is asleep on my chest as I type this and is just cooing and whimpering away! Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly but I really don't think Heidi and Jonah were this vocal in their sleep.
3.  She is my best little eater and has the weight to prove it!  I love it!!  It's so nice to finally have a good eater, a little chunky monkey!  I think Jonah would have been a better eater if we had realized earlier how much his tongue being tied really affected his eating.  It didn't get clipped until he was 6 months old and after that he had an easier time of nursing.  And then my little bird, Heidi, was always so skinny.  Babies aren't meant to be skinny! They're meant to have rolls and tubby tummies!  Having Clara be more filled out is really nice because first of all, her clothes fit perfectly, and secondly, I'm not constantly worried about her health! Peace of mind is priceless!

One Month

Clara at 1 month:

• Wears size 1 diapers - she only wore newborns for 3 weeks. Heidi wore newborns for almost four months!!
• Clothes size: some newborns, some 3 months but mostly 0-3 months.  And the best part is THEY FIT!
• She still naps most of the day. She has a few periods of wakefullness of 15-30 minutes and then is ready to go back to sleep.
• Most of the time she nurses to sleep but sometimes she will go to sleep on her own. And if the kids accidentally wake her up she will put herself back to sleep.  Really hope to cultivate this!!
• She loves to be swaddled.  I don't usually swaddle her during the day but at night I do and I think this is why she sleeps so well.  I'll be doing this as long as I can! There's nothing wrong with swaddling a 2 year old, is there? :o)
• I get so many comments on her hair!  She has quite a bit, like Jonah did.  And for a few days after she's had a bath, it sticks up all over.  So cute!  And it is SO SOFT!!  Tonight in bible class, the girl next to me just kept stroking it.  I don't blame her!  It's very hard to resist!
• Clara is so snugglely!! I know that's her age but I've almost forgotten what its like to cuddle a child without them being squirmy and saying they've had enough after about 5 minutes.  And same with the kisses!!  I love to just smooch on Clara's sweet cheeks and neck and ears and nose and eyelids and mouth and she can't get away from me or tell me to stop so she can go play! Mwahaha!
• She seems to be a very smiley baby.  I know they don't smile on purpose just yet, but while she is sleeping, and even sometimes when she is awake, she will smile the biggest sweetest smiles!  And she'll do this over and over!  I've already gotten some good pictures of her awake and smiling.  I choose to believe that that indicates Clara is going to be a very joyful child!  Ever since Heidi was born and she would smile while looking off into the corner or some random part of the room, my mom would always say that she is smiling at the angels that only she can see.  I love to think this!  We talk about Clara's angels often and Heidi will say that she thinks Clara had fun with the angels before she came to us and that they must miss her.  Love it!

Clara at 1 Month

Sweet Clara Louise, 

You are such a perfect and adorable addition to our family! I thank God everyday that He chose me to be your mommy and I pray that He will help me teach you all about being a child of God! We love all your little sounds and we think you are the cutest little baby ever!  I'm sure it won't be long until you are smiling and laughing at all your siblings' silly antics.  They are ready to teach you how to play with them and Heidi (and I!) are looking forward to including you in our mommy-daughter days!  You are a precious little one month old and already fill us with such joy!  Don't grow up too fast!!