This is the time of our lives

I will update a longer post soon, but things have been going really well. Sophie is a month old TOMORROW! I can't believe 4 weeks have gone by. She is a sweet baby. The past couple of weeks she has cried a lot and wanted to be held all the time. I decided to take dairy out of my diet to see if that helped and we saw a change within a DAY! I really miss my milk and cheese, but this week has been SO much better! She is giving us 4-5 hour stretch at night and sleeping well during the day. She fights sleep some, but I know how to handle that now because so did Shepherd.

The boys love Sophie and have to know where she is at all times. Here are some cute things that the sweet big brothers have done.

Brotherly Love

~Spence saw Sophie raising her arm and shaking her fist. He ran over to her, put his fist on hers and said, "Nucks, Nucks". He gave her her first fist bump!

~Spence tried to pick her up 2 days ago. Luckily I was right there.

~Shep loves to give her hugs and hold her. He follows me around where ever I go.

~ Shep loves to stand and peek through at Sophie while I am changing her diaper.

I love to see how all my children interact. God has truly blessed me so much! What a wonderful life I have!

Sophie has arrived!

Sophie Lynn

Our sweet Sophie came by c-section on Wednesday, August 24. She weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She came out with a beautiful full head of dark hair. I am loving the bows already!!

I missed my sweet Shepherd and Spencer while in the hospital. They came and saw us twice. I think they were more interested in the gadgets of the room instead of their sister! I guess I am glad about that now, because they ended up getting colds and ear infections while I was still in the hospital. I was so upset, because I knew they wouldn't be able to get close to Sophie for a while. Before she was born I did everything I could to keep them well. They didn't go to bible class and we didn't go to restaurants the whole week and 1/2 before. There was a lot of sickness going around. But I am learning I can't plan for everything! :) At least they were able to come see us before they got sick. So glad to have these sweet memories!

Sweet Spence getting a look at his new sister! I love how his little hand is on me!

Shepherd is taking everything in! I love how he is looking at her!

Things are going pretty well at home. The hardest part is not being able to pick the boys up. I knew this would be the hardest part emotionally for me. It breaks my heart when they call for momma and I have to lead them to the couch and have them climb up to me. Luckily my mom or Matt has been with me the whole time so they can hand them to me. Sophie will be two weeks old on Wednesday so I will be able to resume my normal activities (hopefully) :). This recovery has been SO MUCH BETTER than with the twins! I am so thankful for that! I was still not doing what I am doing now at 3 and 4 weeks after they were born. It has been great!

This next week, I will probably have all 3 kiddos by myself for the first time, wish me luck! I know the hardest part will be when all three of them are crying. Last night, we were getting the boys' pjs on after their baths and Sophie started screaming. (This little girl has a shrill!) Shepherd looked at me and then pointed to her and said "OFF". He may be saying that a lot over the next few weeks! HAHA!

First picture with her mommy and daddy! We haven't been able to get a full family picture yet with success...now that they boys are getting better we will try again.

I love my sweet family of 5!

Practice WILL Make Perfect

As we continue the waiting game (1 1/2 weeks...), mom brought down an old baby doll for me to "practice" with the boys on how to treat Sophie. (I saw it on the Duggars. LOVE them!) I know that this will in no way compare to a moving baby with grunts and noises that will perk their interest more, but I think we have come a long way today. I am getting out all the baby gear, so it will not be a new "toy" to Shepherd and Spencer. They are learning that the "seat" and "swing" is for Sophie. It is amazing to me all the words they are associating with her already! They are going to love their "Fefe".

Shepherd loved to identify all the baby's parts on her face. While Spencer watched over her. He likes to think about his next move. We talked about not touching her face and only her toes. Now they are obsessed with her toes! Words they said during these pictures: nose, mouth, eyes, hat, toes, hair, baby's seat, FeFe, my turn, night night, and easy. We are really learning what the word easy means!

Here are some pictures from playing baby today. Please excuse their hair! We have been in the pool this morning and then slept with damp hair. :)

Shep has located her mouth and eyes. They are obsessed with sticking their fingers in her eyes. Glad we are working on that now!!

Yes, just pat the baby. EASY!

Baby he kept saying

And the whole reason for this practice session....

Again...she is going to be a tough little girl!

We can't wait for her to get here! They are absolutely going to love her! I can't wait to see how they all grow up together. What a blessing from God this is! Here they are loving on the baby...

Told them to hug the baby..so Shep hugged Spencer. LOVE this picture!!

There we go!

Sweet Spence giving her a hug and kiss! He was being so easy!

Now for the Waiting Game

Sophie's room is complete! I wanted to make a few more things and I finally finished it all. My goal was to just have a sweet girly room. I am not a huge fan of a lot of busy things in a nursery. We were very fortunate that Julie kept Caroline's bedding in such good shape, so we are using Sweet Caroline's stuff for Sweet Sophie! :) I still can't believe that she is going to be here within the next two weeks. WOW!

We are ready!

The frame I made for over her changing table. Pictures will be added when she is born.

My sweet baby girl's name

Her bed with Caroline's cute bedding

To hang all the bows! I just hope she has hair!

Ready to rock my sweet girl

Her dresser that mom and I got at an estate sale and added Hobby Lobby knobs.

Now for the big question.....when will she come??

Past and Present

The boys are very excited about all the new "toys" that we have been working on around the house. They don't understand all the new things that are going on as we prepare for Sophie. They say baby all the time and "Fefe" for Sophie, but they don't understand the change that is about to occur. It is going to be so fun seeing their faces about what they think of sweet Sophie when she arrives!

Here are a few videos of the boys experiencing Sophie's baby bed and bassinet. I remember when they were first using these items. How times have changed!

Here is my sweet little baby boy in his bed.

Here are two videos of them enjoying Sophie's bed. HAHA!

Two little angels snuggling in the bassinet.

Two little monkeys playing in the bassinet for Sophie.

This is going to have to be ONE TOUGH LITTLE GIRL!!

Music to my ears

Ever since my boys started babbling, I love hearing their voices. Now that they are saying more words and putting words together, you can really hear their "real" voices coming through. I love to listen to them, and it makes me laugh at what they say, or how they say it. Over the past week, Spencer's southern accent is coming through. Many will say he got that from his mama, but I don't think I have an accent! ;) It really comes through when he asks for another bite to eat. Here is a sweet video from breakfast this morning!

18 Months Old

Having the time of our lives...

I can't believe Shepherd and Spencer are 18 months old. They are now closer to being two than one years old. This is such a fun time!

-They are a lot more vocal. They can say 40-50 words and can put two words together. Some of their favorite phrases are "Now Then", "Thank you", "the door", and "Love You". I love they can communicate more with me!

-They love to sit in their closet and play with all the toys. They are going to love having a fort one day.

-They both can throw a ball really well and are learning to catch with two hands.

-They love Elmo, Mickey ("Mimmie"), and Barney. They have started asking to watch tv more, so I end up closing the doors to hide the tv.

-They can identify all the parts of their face and feet and toes. They love tickling your toes. "tickle,tickle"

-They have started wanting to say their own prayers. They will repeat us and say "God, mommy, Daddy, Bubba, Sophie, food, Amen" It is precious! They love to say amen! They scream it during church when the prayers are over. Usually they scream "Amen, play" because they know at the end of the closing prayer, they can get down and play.

-They are still picky about what they eat. I have found a solution!! If they won't eat something, I give them a fork and they usually will eat it. I guess they feel more independent that way! Silly boys!

-They can identify the difference between cars and trucks and love to watch them when we are playing outside or riding in the car.

Eating cupcakes to celebrate our 1/2 birthday!

Shepherd says "Hey" to everyone and is very social. When he knows I am upset at him, he thinks by waving and saying hey to me makes it better. He is usually right! :) He likes to say "OFF" about items that need to be turned off or shut. The word "off" is his new "shut". He was saying "shut" to everything last month. Shepherd is very vocal. He can say anything I ask him too. His new favorite word is "NO". I am not a huge fan of this, but he says it even when he means "Yes". So I am going to give it some time. Shepherd's new love is french fries (he gets it from his momma). I try not to give it to them often, but that is what I crave right now being pregnant. He asks for "frech fry, frech fry" often. One day he asked during breakfast...I felt horrible! He still loves to cram his mouth full of food. I don't stress as much, because he seems to be ok with it.

Spencer didn't like the icing very much!

Spencer loves to march and dance for you. He loves to give kisses and for you to kiss his teddy bear. Spencer is our climber! He will push toys next to furniture and climb up on top. I have to watch him constantly! He loves to go outside and asks to go all the time. "igtside, igtside, igtside". Spencer is vocal also. He still babbles a lot, which I never want to stop! He carries on a conversation with me, just with babble and it is the cutest thing! Spencer loves his "bubba". He cries and cries for him when he wakes up from his nap and Shepherd is not awake. I have to keep him in another room further away from Shepherd's door. Spencer is a lot more attached to me. He calls for me a lot. I don't mind it. I know it is coming at a bad time, with Sophie arriving next month, but I am cherishing this time with my boys and rocking them every chance I get.

Climbing on toys..Monkey See, Monkey Do

Last night was a big night for us. We took the boys to their first movie, Winnie the Pooh. They did really well. I think they loved the previews the best because they were more fast paced.

Next month, Sophie will be here! I can't believe it! I don't think it all has set in.. I guess it will when I hold her and see her precious face! We are busy getting everything ready for her. Last weekend we upgraded to a mini van. I mean what are you going to do with 3 kids under the age of 2? I said I never wanted a minivan, but I LOVE IT! I will never go back! There is so much room for everything. I've been trying to find places to go this week, just to drive it!