Christmas catch-up...

Yeah, she's FIVE months already!!!!!! I can NOT believe how time has flown (and how little I've posted about her eventful little life)! All the girls are getting too big, too fast. We've just gotten over a nasty stomach bug at our house that took its toll on each member of our family (luckily, Caprice got away with a mild rash after a few days of feeling out of sorts). I'm now trying to catch up on my to-do list and posting on the blog is somewhere on there. I've felt kind of out of touch being homebound lately...so, sorry, dishes, dust and laundry, blogging is a bit more fun at the moment.

We've been getting ready for some yuletide fun around here. Thanks to Kira's preschool, we have tons of homemade ornaments and gifts, Christmas parties and Santa sightings. The tree is trimmed, decorations up, countdown well underway, gifts bought and wrapped. I'm so glad we got a lot of that done super early this year since we've been thrown for a bit of a loop this past week with illness and weather. Yes, we got our own share of the crazy blizzard that graced half the country. Luckily, Kira had a snow day during the worst of it and other activities were cancelled, so I didn't have to venture out in the icy mess too much.

Same can't be said for Christopher, though, who has been on ICU the past month. Dark and early, he's out the door to face new challenges of dealing with unconscious people in extremely critical conditions. He's done quite a bit of that alone, too; no intern/resident/attending a good percentage of the time. But as always, he's worked hard and impressed staff with his ability to cope and adapt and gets the work done. Thankfully, we get him home, all to ourselves, for two whole weeks starting this evening!! Recently, he's heard VERY positive feedback from his top residency choices, which is always very comforting and exciting.

Kira has been L.O.V.I.N.G. preschool! It's so fun to hear her come home singing random songs, showing off her letter/number skills and talking about her friends from school. She's Caprice's biggest fan and Alexis's most loving enemy ;). There are so many things she does by herself and I know I take for granted the things we expect from her. She's truly a little adult in many ways and I forget that she's still a four-year-old preschooler. Kira is uber excited for Santa to visit us, though she's a little leery of seeing him in person...no lap-sitting for her!

Alexis...oh, Alexis. Even as I sit typing this, I hear the pitter-patter of little feet and thumps of falling toys in a room that should have a bed occupied by a sleeping girl. We find ourselves in pulling-hair, banging-head-against-walls situations with that child, but laughing in exasperation as she goes from mischievous little devil to calm little angel within seconds. It's hard to be stern with her while she's sitting in time-out, arms folded, looking at you with those big blue eyes and solemnly agreeing with every sentence of your lecture in her tiny voice. I've enjoyed having one-on-one time with her while Kira is at school. It's amazing how her mood is so uplifted throughout the day when she gets a little alone time with mom or dad. She's pretty much potty-trained and glad that process is almost done! She, too, is excited for Christmas...and has been good about waiting for her wrapped presents that we've bravely put under the tree already.

Caprice brings just as much joy into our home as her sisters. She's definitely at the social stage- smiling, laughing, mimicking, "talking". Her new best friends are her feet. I love watching her just play with her toes, rolling back and forth from side to side with her feet as far in her mouth as possible. She's now on her own in her own room, which has been a blessing for mom and dad! Everyone is getting a little more sleep nowadays. Her naps are longer and she's only waking 1-2 times a night for about 10 mins at a time. She just had a doctor's appointment last month and was 50%tile for both her length and weight. She's our pleasantly plump baby...complete with kissable dimpled cheeks and chunky baby thighs! We all love her to pieces! Video of her posted on the video blog.

With the girls old enough to understand the true meaning of Christmas, we've been constantly emphasizing Christ and His importance in our lives. Some of my favorite Christmas carols have always been more religious ones. As I've listened to them this year, my testimony has been renewed of His love. Here are the lyrics to one of my all-time favorites...so beautiful.

What shall we give to the babe in the manger,
What shall we offer the child in the stall?
Incense and spices and gold we've got plenty-
Are these the gifts for the king of us all?

What shall we give to the boy in the temple,
What shall we offer the man by the sea?
Palms at his feet and hosannas uprising;
Are these for him who will carry the tree?

What shall we give to the lamb who was offered,
Rising the third day and shedding his love?
Tears for his mercy we'll weep at the manger,
Bathing the infant come down from above.


This is truly a precious and sacred time of year. I hope it is a time of happiness and rich blessings for all of you! Merry Christmas!

Fall fabulous-ness...

Who needs Barbies when you have dead leaves to play with?

Ahh, pure bliss.

Can't leave this little chunk of goodness out of all the picture fun!

Up to date…

OK, I so need to post SOMETHING on here since it has been way too long since the last post. Christopher keeps reminding me about all the things that have happened recently that I'm not keeping up. So here's the condensed version of our happenings these past months.

• Christopher's parents made the long drive up from Oklahoma to visit us and see Caprice. It was so nice to have them here and we wish it could have been a longer visit. Sadly, Christopher's grandfather died unexpectedly, and his parents were off, traveling half the country for a week!! The girls enjoyed being spoiled with Nannie and Papa's gifts, but most of all, they were SO excited just to have them here and play with them.

An excursion to Papa's mecca- Cabelas. I think this pic is SO funny...there's Kira posing sweetly in front of such carnage!

• My parents came up a month later so my dad could visit with his newest granddaughter. I had such plans made for their visit, trips to the zoo and museum, etc., but all three girls ended up sick that week! Luckily, the last of the sickies cleared up right before my parents left and we made it to the zoo. The weather couldn't have been more perfect that week. Walks and trips to the park were taken, as was a date night sans children to Carrabba's. J

• Caprice was blessed two weeks ago. The blessing was wonderful. There was much mentioned of how Caprice would be a light to those she came in contact with and that she would attract people to her, sharing the gospel with them. That Sunday was a rushed and hectic day, so I don't really have pictures at the moment with Caprice in her dress but I will be putting up some soon! (Famous last words, I know, I know.)

• Kira's little world has now expanded with the introduction into preschool! Her first official day was Tuesday but the parents and children went up for an open house on Monday. She loves her teachers and is so excited to have new friends and things to learn. She's been talking about preschool nonstop for months and I'm glad it all worked out that she could go. She goes in the morning and is home before lunchtime, making the adjustment of her being gone a little easier on mommy.

• With the role of being the oldest now shifted to Alexis four days a week, she's able to get a little more one-on-one time with mom and baby. Alexis is our little bear- she can be awfully cute and cuddly but watch out when she growls (roars is more like it)! Though we seem to butt heads with her more at this age than we remember with Kira, we're glad to see that she has a mind of her own and a sense of independence. She's talking and miming us more and more every day, a mixed blessing. Sometimes, I forget how quickly she's grown up from being the little baby of the house, and I hope that I can hold onto these last few months of toddlerhood a little longer.

• Caprice is now gracing us with her smiles and baby talk. She's in the 50%tile for both her weight and length. She's plumping up nicely and her little rolls just add to her charm. I'm still trying to juggle three with only two hands, and Caprice's new dislike of being out of arms is making that even more difficult, but we love being the parents to three gorgeous girls!

• Christopher has been doing elective rotations the past few months in Gastroenterology, the field in which he hopes to further his career. He's really enjoyed the rotations and they've further cemented his desire to become a GI physician. Applications for residency have been sent and he's going to his first of five interviews (so far) on Friday! This particular interview is at the hospital he is most hopeful to match with. We're so excited to see what the future holds and most importantly, to have the luxury of staying put in one place for six years!!

Well, that quickly sums up life around here.

Oh, wait…OSU is 3-0. Go Cowboys!

The end.

Feeling a little behind...

I can't afford to be poky about posting when little cuties like this grow up so fast! It was yesterday that she was born, but tomorrow I'm taking her to her one-month check-up!! A friend of mine was sweet enough to offer to take newborn pics of Caprice three weeks ago. True to form, I'm just now posting them here.

Didn't she do an awesome job? To see more of her work, please check Bonnie out here.

Sadly, Caprice isn't so "newbornish" anymore. Yes, she's still tiny and barely the weight some babies are when they're born, but she's definitely filling out and spending a few more hours of the day awake. We love seeing her beautiful big eyes. She even graced Daddy with her first real smile and coo the other day...I'm glad I at least got to see it! It's funny to think in just another month she'll be doing stuff like that more often!

Here are pics from her first week and her fourth to show how much she's filling out!

(This one is just for fun...first bath!)

I also wanted to send a "thank you" out into cyberspace to all the friends and family who've helped out or just sent well-wishes...it's very much appreciated! Here in the near future I plan on shining a little limelight on my other two cuties and all the fun they've had with grandparents recently but for now I'll leave you with this:

Ooo, I could just eat her up!

For family...

I posted the videos we took of Caprice on the video blog, just in case you wanted to see her in action!

She's here!!

Caprice Bree

made her much anticipated appearance here in Michigan at 9:19 pm, Friday July 9th. She tipped the scales at a whopping 6 lbs 3 oz, stretched to the max at 19 inches! We are home (yay!) and are enjoying another beautiful little princess to love. There will be more posts with details to come but for now, I'll just make the grandparents happy with the most important stuff: