11 weeks

I have been wanting to do a comparison post and I'll try to do them periodically because I'm interested in whether or not our girls look as much alike as people say they do.  Here they all are at 11 weeks.

Lily Kate had the most and the darkest hair and, obviously, the biggest blue eyes.  Man, she was a cutie.  She was very social, very early and loved to smile and coo at strangers and anyone whose eye she could catch.  She has never been a cuddler, more of a mover.  

 Here is Charlotte.  I think that they look pretty similar.  Their noses are different.  Poor Charlotte's hair took forever to fill in on top.  We always said that Lily Kate had a toupee and Charlotte had a mullet.  Her eyes are pretty huge though and were still blue at this point (they are green now).  The big ole cheeks and tiny chin seem to be consistent :)  Charlotte liked to cuddle and suck her thumb.  She was more sensitive.  She didn't give her smiles away to everyone, but she was very loyal to her favorites.  (Emily & Brittany!)

 And here's Hadley!  She is the biggest of the three at this age.  Check out that belly.  I really don't think she looks "just" like them.  I think she looks more like Parks, especially in that lower picture.  The shape of her face is more like Kate's.  So far, she is the most content baby that we've had.  Smiles easily, cries very little.  She likes to watch the movement around the house.  I am predicting a less opinionated child.  Hopefully I won't be eating my words.  So, what do y'all think?

Annual Trip to the Pumpkin Church

Every year we go over the "pumpkin church", snap a few hundred pictures, and buy a few pumpkins.  I think this just may be our first family-of-five picture.  

Look at all these teeny pumpkins!

aww, and look at this teeny pumpkin

Lily Kate and our long-time friend, Ella Barclay.  

Precious Caroline, somehow I didn't get one shot of her sister, June, that wasn't blurry.  A girl on the go!

Lily Kate and her sweet Hadley.  Truly a wonderful big sister!

Charlotte, Lily Kate, and Samuel laying in the sun

Samuel and Charlotte were hilarious.  He would run and pounce on her back and she would just giggle. He would roll in the hay and laugh like a true boy.  They had a blast. 

We always try to get a picture of all the kids.  We take around 20 and then I weed through them, hunting for the "best".  This time I just looked for the worst.  This is only 4 out of the 8 kids because they kept running away/ falling over.  I think Lily Kate and Ella look bored out of their minds, Samuel looks goofy, and, Charlotte looks plain crazy!  Perfect!

And I thought this was only fitting for the end of my super long post.  We all sort of felt this way when we left.  Happy fall :)

Serene

Hanging out at home

Charlotte isn't alone with Hadley very much but they are starting to bond more and Charlotte is embracing her big sissy role. Yesterday she asked if she could read Hadley the Little Mermaid. Dressing alike never gets old around here.
Look at this sweet little face and this big chunky belly. I can't get enough. Hadley is so sweet. I know we say it all the time, but she is really calm and happy most of the time. Lily Kate has perfected the art of "giving Hadley some space" and now that she isn't 2 inches from her face Kate can make her smile and coo by talking to her. It is precious. Charlotte hasn't perfected the art just yet :)

Tis the season for...

hugging some big ole pumpkins
and walking around the garden store

The weather is nicer and we are loving being outside

Besties

This is Hadley with her friend Olivia. Olivia is 6 days younger than Hadley. Aren't they cute in their matching outfits? Olivia's mom, Annie, and I meet up with some friends at the Children's Museum weekly to let all the kids play. This weekly playdate has become some of my favorite time in my week to just be with other moms and talk. We don't have a lot of friends with daughters so my girls have lots of little boy friends that we love. I am SO thrilled for Hadley to have a girl friend her age to grow up with. Kate and Charlotte can keep up with the boys but since I'm planning on Hadley being our sweet, calm child :) she'll definitely need a dainty little girl friend to play calmly with. Ha!

Contagious Smile

7 Weeks Old

 Man, I could sit and hold this sweet girl all day long.  So far her temperament is still really calm.  Parks and I can get smiles from her when the sisters aren't around.  She seems to like her sisters but is still a bit overwhelmed by all the noise and movement that comes with them - truthfully, so am I :)  I want to get more pictures of the smiles.  You need to have 2 people around though, one to talk to Hadley and one to hold the camera inconspicuously because she tends to get distracted by it.  But, things seem to get a little chaotic when Parks and I leave the big girls alone to go sit with Hadley.  Anyway, I love this picture below.  The picture is of her reflection, she discovered it while I was giving her a bath and she was very interested.  She is chunking up, as you can tell.  We're trying to soak up this short phase, we couldn't be happier.  

On Saturday we went to Will's 5th birthday party on the farm and it was a blast.  Who doesn't want to go to the farm on our first brisk fall-like Saturday!  Lily Kate has been obsessed with pinatas ever since our friend Anthony (our age!) had one at his birthday party a couple years ago.  It may have been new to Charlotte, she kept saying "Candy just came OUT of that horsey!"  

 Charlotte was a little timid about the tractor ride.... and the horses ...and the giant pig... and the goats.  For some reason Charlotte was a little timid at the farm.

 Here's Lily Kate in mid (unprompted) "Ye Haw"

 And here's our littlest farm girl who basically slept most of the time, but I think she had a blast too.

Living it up in Pinehurst!

Parks was given a Blue Cross trip to Pinehurst this week.  Check out the Edward Scissor Hands style PINEHURST cut into the hedge.  From the moment we pulled in it was extravagance!  Isn't this place beautiful?  Look at Hadley all sprawled out on the bed.  She was also enjoying the extravagance.  I love how this shot looks like she just fell back onto the bed in delight. 

I had such a fun time.  I was given a manicure and a pedicure at the spa on property.  I spent one morning by the pool while Hadley slept.  Parks had lots of meetings, but he found some time to relax also.  

One of the fun extras we enjoyed was "cooking demonstration" from some of the chefs on property.  It was like being at an intimate cooking show.  They taught us how to make the dishes, they paired them with wine, and then (the best part) we ate them all.  Here's the dessert. 

And truly, my very favorite part was getting to spend so much time alone with Hadley.  I am thrilled about how much Kate and Charlotte love Hadley, but Parks and I loved not having to share her with anyone! While we were there she started smiling at us.  Parks and I were like first time parents, oohing and ahhing and taking tons of pictures.  Like a proud mama, I couldn't pick just one picture.

First Day of Pre-School

All ready for the first day.  Charlotte was a little tentative, as you can tell from the thumb in the mouth.  She was quiet on the drive there, but once we got to her classroom she made a beeline for the dollhouse.  Nothing like a dollhouse to make a girl forget her worries.  Lily Kate was right at home.  She had old friends in her class and lots of new friends too.  Apparently there are a lot of privileges that come with being in the 4yr old class: field trips, computers,  family art projects, show and tell, and taking the class pet (stuffed animal) on weekend adventures.  Even I'm excited!  

Waiting...

Everyday after lunch Charlotte takes a nap. Often she plays a long while before ever falling asleep so sometimes she will sleep late into the afternoon (and then take forEVER to fall asleep at night) unless we wake her up. Kate knows that at 4pm everyday she is allowed to gently wake up Charlotte to play with her. This is how I found Kate today.

Just watching the clock, waiting to play with her sister. Sweet.

Happy Birthday, Parks!

Last night our little family went out to dinner for Parks' birthday. I attempted to take a picture of my man with all his girls. Well, they're all in the picture. Parks is a wonderful husband and it's really hard to give him a birthday that tops what he does for me year after year. We tried to let him rest some. Charlotte helped me make breakfast (yikes!) and then we went to the beach. Parks took a midday nap with Hadley and then we all went out to eat. Before we put the girls down we turned on some music and all danced on the rug, the girls had a blast.

This morning Parks took Hadley (& Lily Kate who is always a couple inches away) out of our room and let me take a long nap. Then after breakfast he left Hadley and I alone and took the older girls to Home Depot to do the kids' Saturday building project. I looked it up on their website while they were gone and saw that it was an ESPN game day board :) Our girls painted theirs pink and purple and made dry erase drawing boards. Cute. Then they went to Chick Fil A for lunch. Here is the text I got from Parks while they were there, "Never a dull moment, Charlotte just peed in the play area and now they are shutting it down. Probably time for us to go" I thoroughly enjoyed my time folding laundry and sweeping the floor in peace. What a great husband.

1 Month

Sept 1st (my mom's birthday) Hadley turned 1 month old. The days (and nights) are long but the weeks are short. If you're a parent you've heard the phrase. It couldn't be more true. This month has flown by and I can't remember half of it. Truth time - I felt a lot of anxiety about having 3 kids. Could I handle it without losing my patience/temper daily?? It has been hard, a juggling act with no breaks is what I would liken it to. I am always needed at all times. Really though, when I am alone with Hadley all the stress falls away. It is so therapeutic to hold a newborn. So innocent, so small, so helpless. I have been reminding myself that God likes us in the "I can't do this!" position. It reminds us that life is not about our ability, but about our relationship with Him. And now there are no days that go by where I forget that I need Him.

So, that's how I am. Hadley is tracking along nicely. Parks was calling her "fat & happy" for a while (she's up to 10lbs!) but recently switched to calling her "fat & gassy" - neither name will be allowed past 6months, she's a little lady for goodness sakes. Can't you just imagine her sisters trying revive those nicknames in middle school?! Her tummy has been giving her some trouble though and she spends a lot of time held close with us rubbing patting her stomach. Parks is predicting she will be our calm one. I won't predict, I'll just wait and see. Happy 1 month birthday, Hadley Marie, you sure are sweet and we sure do love you.