The older three

So much of my focus the last three months has been on Contessa. I dont want to forget the things the other three are doing right now so of course, I had to blog it.
Lauren
She loves, loves, loves to read. I wish I had more time to just sit and talk with her. She is growing up before our eyes and I want to remember everything about her right now. She is a young lady, no longer a little girl. And she is FUN! I love to just watch her. She is an excellent big sister, especially to Sully. She will carry him, play with him, help him with his silly demands and she often has more patience than her mother! She loves to sit close with us on the couch, she does not get enough of this. She will sit on the sidelines and watch her brother and sister and at times you'll find yourself saying, ‘Where is Lauren?’ and then you find that she is right beside you. But she also loves time by herself in her room and would love to have her very own room. I think when Tess gets older we'll have to do some room switching to accomodate that. She loves to talk about school and funny things that happen. She has lots of friends but home and mom and dad are still her main focus. I am glad we have not reached the point where she'd rather be with friends. I love her sense of humor and perspective on things. She loves to practice hard for something and then perform – like with Awana or her school work. She gets real satisfaction from working hard and being told she did a great job. I’d say her love language right now is either quality time or words of affirmation. I’m trying to give a healthy dose of both! Lauren is also the best eater! She will try just about anything and usually likes it. Jordan calls her the bottomless pit. She often eats more than I do. She has a major sweet tooth for desserts. Lauren is wonderful with Tess. Tess adores her and Lauren is so capable! She can feed and burp her and make her smile SO big! She loves to read to her.

Avery
She seems stuck in the middle lately. She'll often say, 'No one will play with me!' She loves to play with Lauren but can be too silly for her big sister at times. She can never seem to play the way Sully wants - she gets too touchy and too bossy! They are too much alike to play well together, but at the same time they are so much alike that they CAN play great together! It just has to be at the right moment for both of them. They enjoy loud, wild fun! Such as racing, jumping, tackling and hiding. Yes, hiding in our house is loud - it doesn’t work very well. Avery hates to go to bed and will find any excuse to get out of bed just one more time. She loves showing us her school things and talking about going to school and big girl things. Avery loves jewelry, princesses and Barbies. She is very girly for the one who also loves to play in the dirt, dive off the couch and fly around the corner on her bike. She never sits still. She never slows down, you can almost watch her body fight off sleep. Its like she is trying to will herself to relax. She squints her eyes and almost has to hold her own body down. She says if she sings she can go to sleep easier – it drives Lauren nuts. She is also a picky eater but its getting better! She now loves pork roast and ham. But her favorite food by far is still hot dogs and candy and chips. Avery HATES to lose, more than anything. Whether it be a race with Lauren or a board game with the family. We really need to work on that. Avery's favorite thing to do right now is COLOR! She would color all day I think. And she is getting really good about it. Our house is covered with her work! Avery loves to hold Tess but isn’t quite as good at it as Lauren is. Tess gets a little nervous when Avery is holding her! But Avery sure loves Tess and wants to help change her diapers and get her dressed. She loves to help with bath time. Right now I believe Avery needs more attention from us. More time spent reading at night and more snuggles during the day.

Sullivan
He is turning into a huge clown. He loves to show off and be silly and have us all laugh at him. He wants to be the center of attention. He talks NON STOP. You’d think in a house full of girls he might slide into the background – but no! He wont let that happen. He is always telling us a story and frequently tattling on his sisters. He loves to tell someone that they are ‘Nawnee’ – naughty. He LOVES Tess. He is the first to go running if she makes a peep. He always wants to know where she is and he doesn’t like it when the answer is that she is in her bed!
Sully is also a bottomless pit. His favorite food is pancakes. Every morning just about the first thing he asks for is pancakes! He is a wonderful sleeper…takes a wonderfully long nap and goes to bed quite early and sleeps the latest of all the kids. He is still in love with cars and trucks, especially DIGGERS! He also loves doing puzzles and 'reading'. I am amazed by his attention span with these two things. I love to watch him figure out a puzzle its almost like I can see him learning. Sully’s favorite time is daddy time, and I love that! I love watching the two of them together. In our female dominated house the two of them will have to be pretty close!