April 1

Ellie
She is now 4 months, 1 week old.  She is the cutest baby.  She will smile and wiggle everytime you talk to her.  She loves to play "wheels on the bus" and "ladies ride."  She loves to pull on your hands and sit or stand up.  She is getting more hair and more baby fat.  She is very content to watch what is going on.  She loves being outside.  She loves to be in her car seat in the stroller.  She loves to be held and carried around.  She loves her mommy.  When Ellie gets upset because she is tired or hungry she will look at me and yell with pleading eyes as if to say "help me."  Ellie eats 6-5oz bottles in a day.  Ellie has been mostly sleeping all night for about 3 weeks.  Most nights she is in bed between 6:30 and 7:30.  I feed her about 8:30 and she wakes up around 6:30.  Some nights I hear her wake up and talk to herself and then she goes back to sleep.  If she starts crying, I rock her a bit and she goes to sleep really quickly.  During the day she is up about 1 hr 45 min at a time.  She goes to sleep really quickly.  She usually takes one nap that is 1.5-2 hours and 3 more that are just under an hour.  Cade and Cami like to tell me that Ellie is learning to talk.  They love to show her toys, play hide and seek and hold her hands.  They are usually good with her and will help me by getting burp cloths, diapers, lotion etc.

Cami
She has her own personality!  She will do what she wants when she thinks it is a good time.  She loves to sing, dance and dress-up.  She loves to play with Ellie.  She often asks me about when she will be a mom--how big will I be?  Where will I live?  What is my baby's name going to be? Cami likes the movie "Brave" and tells me about another Merida named Merida Hanks quite often.  She made it up.  Cami needs hugs whenever she gets hurt.  She loves to play with Cade, but not when Cade teases her.  She is learning letters and counting.  She loves play with Cade, with her own twist.  One day when Cade was playing Star Wars, she was running around being Elsa, shooting the storm troopers with her ice.  Cami loves to do puzzles and is pretty good at spatial recognition.  When we come home Cami likes to go in the "Red Door" (our front door) instead of through the garage.  She freaks out if I close the garage when she is still in it and the house door is not open.  Cami loves going shopping and holding onto the cart.  She is a good helper.

Cade
He is still a pretty sweet boy.  He likes to help me.  Some times he cleans up because he knows that he needs to, even if I don't ask.  If he gets tired or hungry, he is very onery.  Cade loves to play with Cami and tell her all of the rules and what she can and can't do.  He takes good care of her though.  When we drop him off at preschool, he always makes sure to give Cami a hug.  He usually brings home a picture for her or wants to help her make a project like what he did.  When Cami and I came to the Easter party, Cade took her around to all of the stations and showed her what to do to make sure she got to do everything.  He got a pedal bike with training wheels and loves to ride fast.  He is very competitive and asks me all the time if he is the fastest, best, brightest, etc.  He loves coloring and drawing pictures.   He will write words on his pictures and sound out what letters to use.  He is reading books with 3-6 letter simple words.  He really likes to do things right and please Kirk and I.  He usually takes his time and colors it nicely.  If he knows he did something wrong, he will often re-do it.  He loves to go golfing with Kirk at the driving range.  He will come home and tell me how many birdies and pars he got at the putting green.  He loves to play with his friends and asks every day who can come over.  When we go to the park, he runs off and plays with friends and we hardly see him.

I get to spend lots of time with my kiddos.  They are good and happy for the most part.  I am grateful that they play well together and take care of each other.  I feel like I ignore them when I am doing dishes or making dinner or taking a shower, but then I find them entertaining themselves and having a great time.  Mostly, they just need tape or a hug or a snack and they're good to go.  We take time each day to read books and talk and play a bit.  I love being a mom.  I don't doubt for a second that I am going to miss this crazy-busy-3 young kids at home-stage of life.