Emily-- She's already a little chunk-a-monk. She's fallen right into our family as if she's always been here. We all adore her.
She's my first baby ever to take a pacifier, though even now she still can't hold it herself. I keep laughing that the paci does me no good if it takes me one hand to hold her and another one to hold in the paci. Oh well, maybe one day she'll learn to keep it in her mouth herself. She's also my first baby to have a really predictable night routine. She gets fussy around 8:45pm, I swaddle her up and she is already content before I'm finished swaddling her and before long she's sound asleep on my shoulder. She's my second baby that prefers to be bounced to sleep over being nursed to sleep (Rebekah was the other bouncer.)
I am madly in love with the way she smiles at me when she's nursing. She smiles so much and so big that she forgets that she's hungry and supposed to be nursing. She smiles at me with this massive grin while the milk just runs out of her mouth and all over the both of us. I love how she's started to laugh at the sound of my laugh. I love the way she looks for her Daddy when she hears his voice nearby. I love the way she starts fussing for me when someone else is holding her and she hears my voice. I love when I decide to hold her through her nap instead of putting her to sleep in the crib and she wakes up getting ready to fuss, but suddenly realizes that she's already in my arms so she smiles up at me instead of crying out. I love the way she can already manipulate her big siblings. She sees them nearby and starts smiling--in an instant whatever they were playing has been forgotten and they are cooing at her and acting silly to get more smiles from her.
Peyton is loving being a big sister--maybe a little too much. She loves to poke and squeeze at Emily's face; she kisses her mouth so big and long that Emily can't breathe. I definitely don't leave her alone anywhere near the baby. She calls Emily "my baby". She'll say "Mommy, where is my baby?" when she's down for nap. Sometimes she can't quite say Emily so it comes out as "Enemy." When I hold Emily in one arm and Peyton in the other, Peyton puts one arm out around Emily's back saying, "Mommy, I got her!" Peyton thinks she is just as big as her big siblings. At the pool she tells me to move farther away so she can jump off the stairs and drown. She's the happiest drowning toddler I've ever seen. She jumps, I hustle to grab her from under the water and she comes up sputtering and grinning. She takes falls, bumps and bruises better than any of her big siblings. She rarely complains when she gets hurt, she just shakes it off and keeps moving... though she is a sucker for a princess bandaid. She loves to help me cook and can be found most evenings sitting on the counter with me while I prepare dinner. She already makes up stories about her big siblings to get them in trouble. She also tells them, "Mommy said ________" when I've not said a word at all.
Michael is more and more "all boy." He loves to act silly and wild, especially if it means getting a laugh from his sisters. I find him upside down on the couch with his head on the seat and his feet on the wall. He can't walk past a rock without picking it up and putting it in his pocket. He loves to dress up and wears his super hero costumes more often than clothes when we are at home. He can already run faster than all of his sisters. He loves to pretend to box with me. He just started Pre-K at home and is enjoying beginning to learn his letters and numbers. Memory work and calendar are his favorites--even though he still can't spell his name after two weeks of drill! 
Rebekah--What an awesome Summer it has been for this girl! She asked Jesus to come live in her heart at the beginning of August. She's so excited about that. She keeps telling me that Jesus is in her heart!!! She can't wait to take First Step classes at church so that she can be baptized. She has also finally gotten the courage to take off her life jacket, move off the stairs, AND to put her face under the water in the pool. She's been a little fish the summer and I couldn't be more surprised or more proud. She's loving her new sport (T-ball) and can't wait for her first game next weekend. She's also going to take dance, when I told her that good news she burst into tears of happiness. Reading is beginning to click for her and she's so proud to be reading some Dr. Seuss books. She suddenly loves to color and draw. She also loves to sweep for me. She will often loose at a game on purpose to make sure that everyone gets a turn to win.
Miriam has become such a little lady. She amazes me with her knowledge and grown up way of talking. She delights in reading aloud to her siblings. She loves to be the boss. She wants to have her ears pierced for her birthday. She loves to be helpful and would much rather do chores to help me than to play. She can officially work the TV, DVR and Wii better than I can. Her handwriting is prettier than mine and she can draw better than I've ever dreamed of drawing. If she could get over being such a perfectionist I think drawing would be her favorite pastime. She's memorizing our memory work much faster than I can memorize it myself. She's a sensitive little thing--don't ever ever talk to her about growing up unless you want tears. She is the ultimate pleaser. If I give her a choice between two things her answer is always, "Well, Mommy which would you rather?" She's loving her new sport of softball. The coach's first comment to me after practice was, "Does she always smile all the time?" (something multiple people asked me during soccer season last Spring) I've decided that whatever it is that she chooses to do she's going to be phenomenal at because everything she does she gives 110% all the time. If she isn't worried or anxious she is the happiest thing you've ever seen; there is no middle ground. She's either completely worried about something or the happiest kid on the block.
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