Caleb Hearts Food

Well, I've gotten "heck" for not posting pictures of Caleb's birthday. The reason was because I have no pictures! At his party, I was too busy to FIND the camera, and the morning of his birthday when he opened his presents, I was alone in getting four children fed and ready before our walk to school. However, I will try to remember to take a picture of Caleb and his favourite present. Anyway, the Saturday of this past Easter weekend, Caleb had an idea to decorate these whoppers with peanut butter and chocolate chips.

He loves to make food...and eat it too! He comes by it honestly. I'm so happy that he's showing so much creativity.Natalee in her Easter dress on Easter Sunday morning. She plays with cars (in her hand) and lego, just like her brothers. Right now, the boys play with her dolls and "girlie" stuff more than she does.
Joshua was at a birthday party on the weekend. He came home with face paint on (a panda?) and in full pirate regalia. He's putting on his earring here...
And just the other day, I found him sailing in his boat (Natalee's old bathtub that is waiting to go out the door). What a funny kid!

One Week, One Year

One week with a sick baby is a lo-o-o-o-o-ong time. The worst of it started on Sunday with a low-grade fever and the inability to sleep alone...

On Monday, Natalee was back in the car seat which had been put away for several months now, and spent most of the next two days sleeping in it.
Lots of snot...on her forehead! Still not feeling too good. :(
Finally, she could eat by herself...we knew the end was in sight! Her night's are still not without interruption, but today she's back to one nap a day (compared to 4 at the beginning of the week!) and is able to spend most of her time not permanently glued on my lap!
Andrew taking a reading break. Totally spontaneous, totally Andrew! Glad I had the camera nearby!
Can you believe this picture is taken one year ago...tomorrow?

I have completed one year of pictures with her pink bear and that was my goal! I think maybe our new measuring animal will be her long alphabet caterpillar!

Dr. Caplan

Natalee was in for her one year check-up today. Other than being on the small side of being small, she's small...and healthy (the Dr. seemed somewhat concerned, but I'm not at all worried, especially since she eats well and is quite happy - and her numbers aren't really that far off of what the boys were at this age). Here they are for comparison:

Caleb (at 1 year old) - 21.8 lbs. - 29.5" long

Joshua - 20.8 lbs. - 30.5" long

Andrew - 17.9 lbs. - 29" long

Natalee - 17 lbs. 1 oz. - 28.5" long

I had incorrectly told some people that the older boys had been 22-23 lbs. at this age and I was wrong. Oh well, that's why I write things down!

Andrew has been gaining confidence in his speaking in the last short while. Sometimes, he doesn't want to try to repeat some things I ask him too, but more often than not, he does a really good job in his pronunciation. I thought it was so cute how he said, "Dr. Caplan". And last night, our bedtime Bible story was about Moses, and he really liked saying "Moses".

Birthday Girl

On Friday, March 7th, we celebrated Natalee's first birthday. For her birthday "cake", she got her first ice cream cone with a pink candle on it.
She REALLY enjoyed it!
She even grabbed the ice cream out of the cone with her right hand. She didn't seem to mind the cold too much and it didn't take her long to finish it off.
On Sunday, we celebrated again with the grandparents and Uncle David. Caleb helped me decorate the cupcakes. I put on the chocolate icing, and Caleb put smiley faces on them with the pink icing. To his credit, the icing was quite thin; I had put it in a plastic bag and snipped off the corner, and he did really well, for what he had to work with.

We had pink balloons and green balloons. Natalee was quite tired because of the time change and she only had one short nap because of church, so she spent quite a bit of time vegging with her Grandma's and sucking her fingers.
Another birthday cake! Once again, she did not disappoint us...
Mmmmmm, chocolate icing! She finished the whole cupcake!
In her new wagon! Andrew also enjoyed the arrival of this new set of wheels.
With Grandma B. and the Alphabet Caterpillar from Uncle David. You can't see it very well, but it has a letter (capital letters on one side, lower case on the other) on each colored segment. It's really long, and really neat!

Starbucks for the One Year Old

That was eleven and a half months ago, and now today...

One year has passed, and our little Natalee Ann is one year old today! She has eight teeth, she can crawl really well, she claps her hands, she eats well, she doesn't like taking a bottle or sippy cup (yet!), she loves her brothers and being with her family, her hair is starting to grow, she still spits up like a newborn, and she prefers trucks to dolls. What else? She has grown from 6 lbs. soaking wet to a healthy 17 lbs. That's nearly triple her weight!
Here is Andrew with the "coffee machine" Joshua made out of Lego. Joshua is incredibly creative when it comes to building things from Lego. Andrew got a hold of Natalee's tea party set and loves to make coffee or "copy" in his language, for everyone in the family. I think that maybe Andrew will work at Starbucks some day...or create his own brand of restaurant that serves pizza and coffee...and possibly involves loaders and the Y(MCA) somehow. That's all his favourite things these days.