have to remember to take the good with the bad

We have had quite an adventurous week! Daddy has been working lots of overtime, but we've sure kept busy! Hayden's new friend Owen came to stay the night on Saturday and they all had so much fun running around and chasing each other. Owen is really closeto the twins age but he was so much smaller that they thought he was a baby. They kept trying to rub his back and give him a binkie. It was super cute. Owen slept in Hayden's room and they 'talked' to each other before they fell asleep. It was Hayden's first big boy sleepover!

Earlier in the day Saturday, we had Michael's 5th birthday party to go to. Just Mommy and Hayden went and we took cousin Jake, too! Oh, we had a blast! Hayden thought he was big stuff getting to play in the play place and eat a kids meal with all the big kids. He got to eat a whole cupcake all by himself and he sure loved it!

Poor Adriana was sitting onthe floor yesterday and all of a sudden started screaming! I looked over because I thought maybe Hayden had hit her, and I saw she was grabbing by her ear. I looked for a red mark or something, and saw nothing. She kept pulling at her ear all day, but since it was a Sunday, there wasn't much I could do. I called her pediatrician this morning and he said to bring her in.Of course, shehas another ear infection.Full blown double ear infection actually. He gave us a referral to another ENT since the last one was a quack. He said she definetely needs tubes in her ears, so now we are on antibiotics and are waiting for our appointment with the ENT. She sure takes it like a trooper though! She's such a sweet girl. Everyone who sees her no matter where we go comments on how sweet and pretty she is. Her smile makes everyone else smile. I was so stressed out today and she just came over and sat on my lap and gave me her goofy grin where she scrunches her nose up and her eyes close. Who knew you could be so in love with someone?

Trinity has learned how to squeal at people. She will squeak, then laugh because she thinks she is so funny. It makes me laugh too every time. She'll be fussing for attention but if you don't respond fast enough, she'll squeal because she knows it's new enough that everyone will look. Then when everyone is looking she gets all proud and sticks her tongue out and giggles. I can't believe she is 7 and a half months old. She is my newborn. Shecan't be well on her way to one yet! It's not fair. I feel like i'm always so busy that I miss out on all those little baby moments with her. I could just sit and snuggle with her all day if I had the chance. Now when you put her on her belly, instead of rolling right back over like she usually does, she will push her tushie in the air and try to slither foward like a snake. She hasn't mastered moving in the directions that she is trying, but she usually moves somewhere! She'll start on her mat and end up on the other side of the room.

The room swap is still going good; the girls do so well in a room by themselves. Hayden, however, is another story! He kept getting up over and over and sneaking into the girls' room and playing in the jumparoo. I bet I was putting him back to bed 20+ times every naptime and bedtime. Today, our wills finally clashed and I ended up putting the gate up in his doorway, which he promptly knocked down or climbed everytime. So I decided to turn his bed around so the wall was the other side of his crib. He was FURIOUS! He screamed awful and tossed everything out of his crib. Everything, that is, except his baseball pillow Grandma Vicky got him for Christmas lastyear. He somehow managed to rip the seam open and throw the stuffing all over his room. Oh Lord, I just wanted to throw my hands up and run for the hills! He finally gave in and took a short nap (not that he had much of a choice) and woke up in a great mood. We decided to give him another chance in his big boy bed tonight and his nap in the crib must have done the trick! He didn't get out of his bed even once! He even yelled for me when he dropped his baba because he didn't want to get out of bed to get it and get in trouble! SMARTBOY! <3

We have Christmas pictures on Wednesday, so hopefully Addie will be feeling better and everyone will be in kind and patient moods! We have our tree up and all the kids' presents are wrapped. I love the Christmas season. Thet wins have already unwrapped a couple presents that I've had to rewrap, so I'm excited to know they will be able to mostly unwrap their own presents this year! YAY! This will be the very last 'very first' Christmas I will ever have with one of my children. God certianly knew what he was doing when He blessed me with each one of my babies. I can't imagine life without a single one of them and I often dream about what life could have been like with all 5 of our gorgeous babies! Dominc and Donovan are in our hearts this holiday season and always!