Christmas Program Central!

Christmas is such a busy time of year. One of the things that has kept our family super busy is all the programs the boys had. The first was our church's Christmas program. They had been working on it since September! Keagan was a rapping camel and Finn was a wise man. Both of their characters fit them perfectly.  The program was a cute rendition of the birth of Jesus Christ and I absolutely adore seeing my children (all the children, really) perform in front of everyone. 

The second Christmas program was Keagan's performance with the First Baptist Church Children's Choir. These kids, ages 1st thru 5th grade practice every Thursday after school and put on a Christmas and a Spring performance and every one of the performances blows me away. No, it isn't professional. But it is beautiful. Their sweet voices, their solos and ability to get up in front of a crowd of strangers and sing and speak and tell a story about Jesus. It's amazing and moves me to tears. These kids do not all go to this (our) church, in fact the majority of them don't. And many of these kids don't know each other. This makes it all that more special to me.

The third and final performance was the Benton Elementary School Christmas play put on by the kindergarten thru second grade classes. This year the play was called "Arf on the Rooftop" and was about a family of kids (Keagan was the "dad" of the family) who wanted to adopt a puppy from the pound. Finn was a puppy. It was very cute and well performed. And as a result of this performance Finn began asking for a puppy for Christmas. {Face palm.}

Maeci was an Irish setter.

Finn's biggest anxiety about the play was falling off the rafter stand! We were proud of him because he danced and sang and did not fall off.

Gingbread houses and friends

One of the best things about Christmastime is traditions and making memories with friends and family. Every year we get together with the Malone family for a wine and ornament exchange, and pajama exchange for the kids. This year we decided to forgo the kids gifts (mainly because they get so much as it is and they don't really wear PJs anymore. AND I have 4 kids to her 1, so it just isn't really fair) and instead we let the big kids decorate gingerbread houses.

The big kids (Keagan, Annie, and Finn) are hilarious and had a big time. Finn tended to eat more than he did decorate. Keagan and Annie took their time and made masterpieces. The houses all looked good and they had a good time, lots of laughs. Stacey and I decided that the kids are starting to play so much better together and very little bickering. (however, that changed when we got together for Stacey's birthday at the end of the month...ya win some, ya lose some.)

After supper (which was a taco bar and Mexican theme - YUM!) we attempted to take a group picture of the kids. Epic fail. But the outtakes are fun!

We decided to make things more difficult by getting into the picture with the kids and making the dads take pictures.  This stage of life is fun and crazy.

 Wine and friendship make life so much better.

When I see pictures of myself with my children I have to pinch myself. They are all MINE! And I often think, Man! that girl has a bunch-o-kids. Haha

Ivy 6 and 7 months

I'm telling you, this fourth baby has really hindered my blogging abilities. Don't worry, I still take a million-and-three pictures like normal (maybe even more) but I cannot find time AT ALL to blog regularly. And I miss it. 

Anywho, with that out there, I am now combining Ivy's 6 and 7 month pictures into one post (again).

Ivy is a doll. She is still super sweet and loving and really a joy to have around. She is a magnet for people and smiles. For example, she went to our church nursery last night during our Wednesday night children's activities (Awana, for those who are familiar) and everyone asked where she was and said that they were sad because they look forward to getting her baby snuggles on Wednesday nights! She is just that sweet.

Ivy hit the 6 month mark the last day of November. Hard to believe it has been that long. (I'm ashamed) Because it has been that long, I have forgotten a lot of the "details" of what we were going through at the time and I can only think about the here-and-now. I do know she was eating orange-colored babyfood and still not taking bottles from MeeMee. She was also not sleeping through the night. At her 6 month doctor's appointment, Ivy weighed 16lbs 9.5oz and was 26" long. She was also diagnosed with double astigmatism in her eyes, and the doctor acted like this was unusual for it to be both eyes but said nothing else. That is really all I know about this because we are in a wait-and-see mode until her 9 month re-check. I am not worried, as Ivy doesn't seem hindered at all and has good focus and accuracy with grabbing (and I actually wonder if it is a false read?). At 6 months Ivy was beginning to sit up on her own and had rolled once from her back to her belly.

Ivy's personality has continued to grow more infectious as she hit the 7 month mark. She is a living doll and rarely gets upset about anything. Yes, she will fuss a little here and there and does cry but there is always a reason and once that reason has been figured out and fixed, so have her fusses. She really makes my heart so happy.  Ivy still has pretty severe reflux and we didn't realize it until we ran out of her medicine a couple of weeks ago and didn't refill it, thinking she had outgrown the reflux. Wrong. Big-fat-wrong. But once we got her back on the meds, all was good again!

As beautiful of a child as Ivy is, she has a stubborn side (as any good Owens child, I am learning). She continues to refuse -REFUSE- a bottle at the babysitter's home. It is absolutely insane and causes me more stress than it really should. She is gaining weight beautifully (at the doctor's the other day for her flu shot booster is was 18 lbs and change) and hitting motor milestones faster than any of my other babies, but I still stress. Mainly because then she wants to eat all night so I am exhausted and I also don't know how to pump when I am away from her (if you are a breastfeeding and working mama, then you feel me; otherwise, I cannot explain the stress and discomfort I feel to make you understand). So, four months into being back to work, I am still stressing (daily!) over my infant not eating. I know I need to let it go...but my gosh it ain't easy. It doesn't help that I don't sleep like I should.

Like I alluded to a bit ago, Ivy's motor skills are superior to her siblings at the same age. She continues to be my smallest baby by pounds, but she is my fiercest when it comes to get-up-and-go. She is rolling belly to back like it is her job, and she sits like a champ. She will occasionally fall backwards but does a semi tuck-and-roll ending up on her belly. She can roll from back to belly, but doesn't for whatever reason.  She stands with minimal support and loves to jump (either on your legs or in her jumpy toy).

 

Ivy enjoys her solids. She is eating squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas (least favorite), apples, bananas, pears. And cereal. She has just recently started getting impatient when you are feeding her. How dare I give her a bite, then give myself a bite. She doesn't like that I feed myself. 

 
"Oh! That's about me!"

In the picture above you can see just how much Ivy loves her sister. She loves her brothers so much too. When they walk past her she smiles, when they talk to her she coos. As much as she loves her big brothers and big sister, they love her 100 times more, it is super sweet.

Ivy's name is Ivy. But she has many nicknames: Ivy Mae, Mae-Mae, and Wubbie are her favorites. Wubbie might be my favorite, as this one was given to her by Maclyn. This is Mac's version of Ivy, and sometimes you will even hear Maclyn call her "Bebe Wubbie." Maclyn loves her baby dolls and especially loves her Wubbie Baby.

The last three pictures are funny to me because they show Ivy getting very excited and she actually threw herself over backwards, doing a tuck-and-roll and landing on her tummy. I don't have the "after" picture because I am a helicopter mom (not really) and I wanted to make sure she didn't cry, which she didn't. She was pleased to come face to face with a bunch of toys.

Before I know it I will be behind on Ivy's 8 month posts!  (just keeping it real)