My Kiddos...

I can either beat myself up for not keeping up with my blog, or I can start from here and write about my amazing kids. Cole is my 4 year old, brilliant boy.  He has always been incredibly thoughtful, smart, and witty.  He increases all of these attributes and then some, as he gets older.  I love watching him play!  He has become very creative with his scenarios that he acts out with cars, trucks, legos and dolls.  Right now, stealing the spotlight, is an Iron Man Pez dispenser and a Spiderman action figure. In a constant battle, he takes turns letting each one win.  I've been putting off buying him upgraded Superhero guys for battle because it is almost his birthday.  Cole, of course, knows all of his colors, can count to almost 20 (we are working on this one) and can write his entire alphabet :)  He is excited to go to school but since his birthday is 14 days past the cutoff, he won't start kindergarten until next fall.  I have debated putting him in preschool, for the social aspect and learning to listen to teachers but I really don't want to pay for it and I feel like I can teach him what he needs to know for now.  I know that Cole will excel at anything he attempts.  He amazes me with his attention to detail.  He is super smart and very artistic, which is an amazing combination.  He is very into making glitter pictures, painting suncatchers, molding playdough and recently I introduced him to painting with brushes and fingerpaints.  He can sit forever making his projects and he is always so proud of the things he creates.  I am so proud of the little man he is becoming.  He is very helpful with his little sister and I appreciate him so much!  He has begun carrying her to me if he thinks she needs me or if he just wants to show how strong he is ;)  He is really wonderful with both of his younger siblings and it is so great to have him as my little helper.  Luke follows him around like a little puppy and copies his every move.  I do wish that Lucas would take his lead in how he treats his little sister, though.  Luke is a little (sometimes a lot) too rough with Violet.  He just doesn't know his own strength sometimes.

Well I wrote the above paragraph several months ago, so let me start with the most recent happenings...
My Cole turned 5 and we celebrated his birthday in DISNEYLAND!  Right after we got home from Disneyland he lost his first tooth!!  Very early from what I remember as a kid but the dentist said it was totally normal.  The new tooth is now coming in and the 2nd bottom tooth is getting looser by the day.  He is pretty thrilled about losing his teeth and getting gold coins from the Tooth Fairy!  He wasn't scared about turning 5, like he was turning 4 :)  He went to be the night before his 4th birthday terrified that he would wake up and be "huge like Daddy".  This time around he was wondering why he wasn't taller on his birthday, lol!  He cracks me up!  Cole is taking a Hip Hop dance class and a tap class at the dance studio where Lou works and he loves it.  Lucas and I take a Mommy and Me class while he is in his Hip hop class and then we leave and Cole stays for tap and then Sam takes him to the library and brings him home afterward.  He loves the library and is sure to bring home a superhero book, as well as others, every time.  He is very into Batman and the Avengers right now.  He was Batman for Halloween and pretty much everyday for about 4 months leading up to Halloween.

Lukey Dukey is an absolute terror these days :)  Typical two year old stuff (although, Cole never did half of what this kid does).  He destroys pretty much everything he gets his hands on.  He rips books apart, throws toys and busts them against the wall, throws toys and lots of sand in the pool, scares me to daeth on a regular basis by climbing up on unstable things and jumping off, etc.  I feel very fortunate that we have not gone to the hospital, haha (knock on wood)!  He is very rough with his sister but most of the time he is hugging her to death!  I definitely see a light at the end of this 2 year old tunnel, though.  He listens more and is spending less time in timeout.  He refuses to potty train but on occasion, I can get him to go on the toilet.  He was telling me for a long time that he is going to be a baby forever but now he says he wants to be like Cole, so good things are right around the corner, I'm sure :)  He can recite his entire alphabet and can count to 10.  He still loves to sing and dance!  He has an adorable little lisp, that I almost wish would never go away, hee hee.  His most recent statements are, "I have a problem", "I have an idea", "actually, I can do it myself" and "probably, I can have that".  He laughs hysterically at himself all of the time and has an infectious smile.  He is and will always be my sunshine boy!!

My Violet is just a joy! For several months, she was getting around by rolling across the room and I wondered if she would ever crawl at all. But about 2 months ago, she just decided that rolling was not getting the job done anymore and now she is crawling like a champ and getting into everything!  She slept in my bed for the first 8 1/2 months of her life and when I finally decided to put her in her own crib, it was I who had trouble sleeping, ha.  She goes to sleep around 6 pm and wakes up between 6:30-7.  She also takes two good naps during the day.  She has never been a fan of baby food, so to keep her full, I give her real food.  She loves green beans, peas and squash and she loves most fruits.  She is just now teething at almost 10 months and she is getting her top teeth first!  We also just found out that she is anemic...not sure how that happened but we had to start her on iron supplements.  I'm hoping they don't mess up her digestion but so far, so good.  She is the BEST baby and is always so happy and content to just sit and watch her brothers go crazy.  She can walk while supported by her wagon and she has been letting go of the couch and standing by herself for a few seconds at a time.  My kids are the best mix of everything and I am having so much fun being their mom.

Lucas

I wanted to take a minute and write about my sunshine, Lucas. He is going to be two this month (on the 19th) and he is a crack up! He has an amazing sense of humor and tells little jokes all of the time :) He likes to give us, what we like to call, "side of your eye" looks, where he turns his head almost completely away from you but keeps looking at you with his eyes. He also always has a sly little grin on his face. He is incredibly sweet and is very quick to apologize if he hurts someone or someone is crying (even if he wasn't the one who caused the tears). He gives a kiss and hug to pretty much anyone but he loves his family and LOVES to kiss and hug his brother and especially his new baby sister! He is also my most musical kiddo so far. Cole enjoys the guitar and making up songs but that has only been recently. Luke sings along to the radio and has done so since he was about 16 months old. Certain songs would come on the radio and he would be singing the chorus or the hook before the song even got there. He also LOVES the Happy Birthday song and the ABC song :) He often walks around the house singing lalala into his toy microphone. He is also an excellent dancer! Give that kid a beat and he is off and dancing like a crazy man. I need to take more videos of his talents because he is quite the showman :) He copies pretty much every move that Cole makes, he looks up to him so much and I love watching them play together! They enjoy playing super heroes, doctor, playing with cars and trucks, pretending to be cowboys, riding stick horses and endlessly shooting each other :) I love what a helpful boy he is becoming and he is especially helpful when it comes to picking up toys, doing laundry, putting away various items and cleaning the floors. The kid LOVES to vacuum!! So much so that we bought him a vacuum, broom and mop for Christmas, haha!  I love his snuggles and I love how full of love he is!  He is definitely the middle child and I can totally empathize because, I too, am the middle child ;)  I'm hoping that when his "terrible twos" hit, they don't last too long because I was a TERROR as a toddler!!  I guess only time will tell :)

Violet Alise Stanley

So, according to this blog, the last year and a half never happened, lol. Let me assure you, it has been happening and then some!! In 2011, Lucas turned 1, Cole turned 4 and in between, I found out that I was pregnant with a little miracle baby :) After years of being told that I would not be able to conceive on my own...I got pregnant with my baby girl, Violet. In May I was feeling incredibly tired, crampy and a bit irritable. I told my sister that I was either having major PMS or I was pregnant (followed by a hearty laugh). The next morning I threw up and it really got me thinking that something was up. I went to the store and bought 3 pregnancy tests. It was a brand that I had never used before, so when two lines showed up in the window, I actually had to read the instructions to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Sure enough, two lines meant I was pregnant! Now, I have peed on more than 100 pregnancy tests over the years and I have NEVER seen the blessed two lines appear...NEVER! So, needless to say, I was in shock...so I peed on the other two sticks to verify and sure enough...there was no denying I was pregnant. I went through quite a spectrum of emotions. I was kicking myself for thinking that birth control was not necessary, even though I was told oh so many times that bcp were not needed because I "couldn't" get pregnant. I was wondering how expensive it was all going to be to have a baby without maternity insurance (again, since I couldn't get pregnant, I didn't see a point in paying an extra $300 a month for something that I was not planning on happening for another few years at least). I was freaking out because I just had Luke the year before, so I already had a baby! I was thrilled that I was able to get pregnant on my own! I was sad that I had just lost 70 pounds and was on my way to losing my goal of 100 and all of that had to end because I had to start feeding this little peanut inside of me. I battled with several emotions, good and bad, before acceptance and pure joy settled in around the end of my first trimester. We found out at week 15 that we were having a GIRL!! This only added to my joy because I knew that we would be complete with a little girl. And Travis was beside himself! I had a pretty smooth pregnancy with the exception of KILLER headaches from about week 8 to week 30. Headaches so bad that my doctor had to prescribe me 3 different medications before finding one that actually had an effect on them. They laid me out when I had them and I felt so bad for the boys because they were pretty much trapped with me all day, watching me suffer :( After week 30 things in my head settled down and I really started worrying about how much we were going to pay for the labor and delivery of my little babe. Oh, and the struggle to pick her name was an ongoing saga between Travis and I. Every name he liked, I thought was ridiculous (most were incredibly pretentious sounding) and he just didn't like mine because he likes to be difficult :) At one point, I told him that I didn't want to think about names for her anymore because it was making me frustrated, so for about 2 weeks, we didn't. Then one day, Cole was watching Alice in Wonderland (which was kind of ironic because Cole really wanted me to name the baby Alice). It was at the part when Alice meets the shy violets in the garden that sings and I asked Cole, "Can we name the baby Violet?" Normally his response to anything other than Alice was a defiant NO but without hesitation, he said, "Okay, I like Violet!". I called Travis and told him that Cole and I were naming the baby Violet and he said..."Violet?...okay, that's cute". So, it was decided. It was then confirmed the next night, when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the old one) came on tv and I heard the name Violet Beauregarde (who's character I love). And then totally solidified when we found out that Travis' Great Grandma's name was Violet!! It was truly meant to be:) I had quite the birth experience with her, which I'll go into in another post. Violet Alise Stanley came into the world on January 16th, 2012 at 7:35pm. She weigh 7lbs. 11oz. and was 19 in. long. She is my tiniest baby so far and she has the most perfect tiny little head I have ever seen :) She is such a wonderful baby and she sleeps through the loudest tantrums that my kids can throw! She has allowed me to sleep incredibly well throughout the night, only waking up once at 2am (we go to bed around 10pm and wake up at 6am). It is almost unreal how amazing she is. She has Travis completely wrapped around her sweet tiny finger. He is ridiculously looney over his baby girl and I love it:) I can't imagine what it must be like to be loved so very much by THREE boys from the minute you are born. She is one lucky girl :) Speaking of my lovely, lovely, she needs to eat, so I'll have to do some updates on my wonderful boys another time. I am happy to report though, that increasing my brood from two to three has not been much of an adjustment. She fits right in like we were holding a spot for her all along :) I love my kids!