Talented and Thoughtful Friends!

These awesome paintings were done by our friend Steve "Steve-O" Phillips, with some creative input from his wife, Liz. They are so cute and really capture the boys, personalities. They look fantastic in the big boy room. Ryan and Will love to see their names on the wall, and I'm sure AJ will too someday soon.

These beautiful cross stitched samplers were made by our dear friend, Gail Arnold. I love having these 'future heirlooms' - I hope they will be in our family for a long time and will serve as a reminder of the excitement we felt with each new addition to our family.

Last Game

The City of Surprise is home to spring training for the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. They have gorgeous practice fields and a beautiful stadium. The city opens the stadium up to the Cal Ripken league for the last games of the season. Ryan's team played there last night and then had a trophy ceremony at home plate. It was very fun and the weather was beautiful. He is so proud of his trophy!

My Little Lugnut

This Thursday is Ryan's last T-ball game of the season. He is #8 on the "Lansing Lugnuts". We've had a great time watching him learn the game and play on a team. He's learned to run the bases with out 'revving up' first. It's so cute to watch Will cheer him on from the bleachers..."Go Nuts! Second base!"

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

We had a wonderful, relaxing mother's day. I feel so blessed to have such beautiful, healthy, and happy children and a wonderful husband to share them with. Depsite the moving, the heat, the sleeplessness, the extra weight, and everything else I gripe about, I love my life!

Being Ryan's mom has revealed in me a depth of love I never knew existed. Everything I know about parenting I learned from him. He is the kindest most gentle soul I know. In his big brown eyes I see such curiosity, such a love of the world around him, mixed with incredible innocence and complete trust. From the day he was born people have been amazed by him, including me. There is no limit to what he can accomplish.

Being Will's mom has helped me find my own sense of adventure. I see the world through his eyes and it is exciting and new without boundaries. I am amazed by his courage and tenacity. I admire his fearlessness and am fascinated by his great capacity to learn and try new things. He is trying so hard to keep up with his older brother......and is doing a pretty good job. He is a big boy in a little boy's body and I cherish the quiet moments when he still wants to 'snuggle buggle mama'. In an odd role reversal sense, he makes me feel safe.

Being Aiden's mother has taught me to embrace the unexpected and to cherish each and every moment. I've realized that all of these moments make up my life and I don't want to rush through it. In fact, I wish that I could freeze this time and keep my children the way that they are; healthy, young, happy, protected and under my complete control! Aiden has already brought so much love to this family. I cannot imagine our lives without him. Even when he's asleep I want to lay next to him for fear that when he wakes up he will have grown more and I will have missed it!

2 Months

I cannot believe how fast time is flying by with a newborn in the house. Aiden is already 2 months old and has grown so much since we brought him home. He is now sleeping 7 hours at night! His hair is still going strong, though it's started to lay to the side instead of his original wild do. He weighed in at 13 pounds 9 oz, and measured 24.5 inches last Thursday. I've sadly had to pack away his 0-3 month sized clothes and we've upgraded to a size 2 diaper!! He smiles, laughs, and coos. He can hold his head up and has started to support weight on his legs. He has started to notice his toys and mobiles and tries to grab at them....though his depth perception is a bit off. He looks like a cat pawing at his little link-a-doos!

The past 2 months have been a blur and I'm trying so hard to hang on to his infancy. It's difficult because there is always something going on in our house, which makes for very short days with not a lot of time to just sit and hold him. In my peer group, he's already become the 'older' baby and it makes me sad to know that everytime he outgrows an outfit or a behavior means that I will no longer experience that part of my children.

Why I will hire a professional photographer

I had this great idea to buy these cute shirts, make a black backdrop and take my own photos of the boys. I could not get one good shot of all three of them at the same time!! Their little personalities are really shining through here!!

No News

Ryan adores Aiden (when he's not crying) and loves to hold, hug, and kiss him. It's so cute to see Ryan and Will line up on the couch to take turns holding their baby. Will tries to drag him out of his carseat or swing when he is crying to "HODE EEM". He is so loved!

A rare moment

This little guy is starting to notice his toys, smiles and laughs, tries to grab my fingers, can hold up his head, and is starting to support weight on his legs! He was an angel and gave us 9 hours of sleep on Saturday night. But last night was up at 12, 2, 4, 5, and up for good at 6....confirming my greatest disappointment that he is still lactose intolerant and I truly have to give up ice cream.

Will's favorite outfit - Batman Jammie with the 'tape (aka cape) on!' and one boot.

We've been pretty busy with ordinary, everyday stuff. Right now we have t-ball on Monday, tennis on Wednesday, Little Gym on Thursday, t-ball and baseball on Saturday, Church on Sunday and Preschool MWF. I don't know how we'll keep up with 3 boys school and sports schedules in the coming years! I actually found time to sqeeze in a little shopping last week. I rediscovered that our mall has a pet shop, which is a great bribe to help get me through a couple of stores! It's also indoors and air conditioned (and free)- but is almost as good as the zoo to Will and Ryan!