And by lots, I mean not very much except for the changing personalities of each of our three kids. Which is plenty enough for me... it's so incredibly sad how much my babies are growing...
I've chosen to set aside my sadness and be excited for these changes. It makes life a lot more optimistic!
I write about Penelope all the time so this post will be about our other two kiddos. We do actually have a life outside of loving on her 24/7 ;) Oh wait, I take that back! That's pretty much all we do.
So, there's this little guy.
My sweet, tenderhearted boy. He has really surprised me ever since P was born. He's completely adapted to the role of "protective brother" like I never imagined. He loves to "babysit" her while I take a shower. He sits in her crib and makes her happy by reading and talking to her, or sometimes she will lay on a blanket in his room while he plays Legos. He has helped me SO much and because of him, the transition from 2 to 3 kids has been incredibly easier. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without him! He's my little helper son :)
He also likes helping unload the dishwasher, cleaning his mirror and window, vacuuming, picking up toys (sometimes). He has constant energy and a never-ending appetite. Often he'll ask for seconds or thirds even...it blows me away how much food he can put down!
We taught him the other day how to draw stick people, and he likes to write his name with a huge M in the middle :) His favorite things to do are: play Ninjago on the ipod, build Legos, any kind of video game like Mario or Cars, and watching daddy play Minecraft (thanks Papa for making my boys obsessed!). He will do anything for chocolate or gum. He often pretends he is a superhero and stays in the hero role all day long. If I say, "Talmage, will you wipe the table?" he'll say "YES! Super Talmge will use his super hands to wipe the table!" Super super super ALL the time. He truly is all boy. I cannot get enough.
And the curiousity- my goodness. He is going to love school in the fall because he has SO many questions about everything. However, I'm scared to death of sending him off for 8 hours Monday-Friday because he is still so sensitive. He cries a LOT- not in an annoying way but in a really sad, break-my-heart kind of way. He is still my baby boy, even if he is turning 5 in April!
And then this one.
Charlotte is a little ham. I love her more than life, but she has really tested me lately. Let me put it simply:
She doesn't eat, except cheese and oranges. In secret.
She doesn't sleep, except for the wee hours of 12 am-5 am which is basically nothing.
She doesn't want to potty train when she has underwear on; only if she wearing a diaper does she like peeing the potty and that's still only about 20% of the time.
She lays on top of Penelope despite the hundreds of times I have told her not to.
She is mean. She is sassy. She is a curly, adorable MESS.
But we love her anyway. We discipline like crazy trying to get her to act normal but well, that just won't happen :) She is who she is, and she's not even 3 yet so we've still got a lot ahead of us. Some days I wonder HOW I'm going to raise two girls... but I'm so grateful to have daughters. I really do adore them completely. Some times these phases are just really trying on my patience, and this is one of those times.
Other than being a total stinker, she has a lot going on in the cute department. She's totally in love with Frozen still, and Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins. She takes her "bobbies" everywhere (barbies. How did that happen?) She loves giving everyone "check-ups" and putting bandaids all over us. She adores Penelope and wants to (literally) smother her constantly. She has expressed a love of dancing lately so I looked into ballet classes. She starts next week! Can't wait to see her in action :)
Her birthday is coming up SOON and we're already so excited. Not throwing a party this year but we've got a few fun things in store for her. One thing I love about this girl- she is easy to please!
My two favorite things to do with Charlotte are bake and snuggle. She is a wonderful cuddler! It's basically the reason she gets away with so much crap, ha. And we love to make cookies in the kitchen. She is so enamored with mixing ingredients in the Kitchen-aid. :)
I just love this sass-a-frass!
Gosh I love them!
P.S.- T's animal masks were handmade by his super awesome aunt Layla. She made some for Charlotte, too. They love them! And C's doll was handmade by a gal in Portland. You can check her out here. Her dolls are beautiful!
