It’s fun to just do the normal with you all.
It never has to be anything extraordinary.
It could just be a pile of planks.
On a regular school day, even.
Together with you all is just plain fun.
-Love you, girlies.
Building Together
Four Months
You turned four months on Easter this year. You’re a lightweight at 12.5lbs (5.6kg) and 27.5 inches (70cm). Thanks to your Daddy’s genes you are in 6 month clothing and off the charts due to your height alone, with much room to expand in your string-bean torso. But thankfully you have those kissable cheeks we all can’t resist.
Your laugh, child, is to die for and keeps us all instantly wanting to “do it again” regarding whatever your little sense of humor found to be so entertaining. And yes, you’ve started just laughing when you’re a bit slap happy tired before sleep times, which makes us all giggle too.
You still have gorgeous baby blues that fluctuate between crystal blue, gray and all the shades in between just like your big sister, Abi.
And so far you’ve kept your “Hannah” honey-red hair. Your temperament is 💯% elated joy or 💯% meltdown wrath. And yes, those two extremes can be found within the same 10 second window. 😂
You love books already, instantly stopping what you’re doing to give your full attention to a story and you’re even starting to enjoy looking at the pictures.
Tummy time isn’t instantly bad anymore and you rolled over the day after you turned four months just to prove once again that time flies. You have figured out how to stand when assisted and prefer to be held facing out so you can see all life’s action.
You still love taking naps in our arms and being swaddled, but enjoy yourself a solid nap on mommy and daddy’s bed and also sleep in your bed at night. And while that three to four month sleep regression hit you harder than any of your sisters, you’re beginning to return back to your 6:30p- 2:30/3:30a sleeping stretch, feed and then sleep until 5:30/6a pattern.
Love you to pieces, Smalls, and I’m so thankful you completed our ladies basketball team. 😉
Good Mornings
I’m not sure who loves morning greetings more
Eliyanah
Or her big sisters
Or maybe it’s this mama watching her girlies love on each other.
Good mornings, indeed. ❤️
Time Marches On
Happy two months, Eliyanah baby.
We’re thrilled to get to encourage you as you wake up and explore your world more.
You’re working hard these days on your milestones, even if diaper/clothing changes and getting burped are still your arch nemesis. 😂🤦🏽♀️
Your playful smile still melts us to the core.
And you’ve even decided to start taking on a 7 hour stretch of sleep at night, which makes us all smiley too! 🙌🏼
We love you, Smalls. You’re such a sweet blessing in our lives. ❤️
And thank you for joyfully finding that stroller peephole on our morning walks.
I love sneaking a peek at you too, baby girl. 🥰
The Middles (once the Littles)
Some moments the competition can be strong. You have no idea how alike you really are and that can make for some clashes.
But you can’t stay annoyed long because you need each other. You have this bond creating games out of thin air together. Laughing in hysterics over movie quotes repeated for the 19th time in a row but still absolutely hilarious to you both. You have jokes only you two get. Story lines that entertain you talking for hours on end about fantasy castles, imaginary animals and lists of future pets. You have such similar interests, similar play needs and similar attention spans.
You both have zero barriers or hesitancy to play with anyone: young or old, regardless of whether they speak your language or ever will. You both don’t see barriers, just opportunities. And yet you always play together with a new friend. Always inviting each other to go meet the new friend. You are a pair that comes together naturally.
And how I love to watch you both play. You can always create a game anywhere.
Sisterhood is truly a gift from the Lord and I’m so blessed to see how He has given you to each other.
And how you have received His gift with joyfully open arms.
I absolutely love getting a front-row seat encouraging your love.
Pullets
Remember the chicks one overjoyed new nine year old got for her birthday?
Well, much like that nine year old, they’re growing by leaps and bounds. Therefore, they outgrew the small chick cage and moved on to the yard version outside.
With quadrupling their size, our happy pullets then moved on to the deluxe coop recently. They seem to really enjoy the bug buffet in there. And while they flew the coop into our larger yard a couple of times on the first day, they’ve since settled into their new, expanded bird sanctuary as their home.
We have it in the books to upgrade the hutch to an enclosed laying house before heading to South Africa at the end of next month (and about the earliest the pullets could start laying), but for now the old cage is a good perching place and rain shelter.
Since we don’t have chicken predators within our property’s walls, the fence is there as a courtesy idea to keep dogs, rabbits, chickens and children from mingling 24/7 (especially when we have neighbor kids over to play) and also makes for easier future egg collecting (less daily Easter egg hunting throughout the yard 😉). Our dogs have very little interest in the chickens, honestly, and have accepted them as “just another one of us” like our bunnies that have free reign in the yard with the dogs.
Yeah, the chicks have grown into teenager pullets, with all their awkward feathers growing in patches like a bad haircut. Haha. But the love for them hasn’t changed one bit. 🙂
And this chick mama is still loving her babies as much as ever before. ❤️
