Four Day Weekend . . .

Trust me, it hasn't been as glorious as it sounds! Both Aaron and Ali stayed home yesterday and today due to nasty cold, accompanied by a fever. Megan has it too. We all have colds, but only the three of them have had fevers. We are going through Kleenexes like crazy and everyone is a little tired and cranky. Ali will be home again tomorrow since her fever still hasn't gone away. So life in the Patton home is quite pathetic, but it is nice to have everyone home together for a few extra days!

Nine Month Checkup

We actually had her nine month checkup scheduled for last Tuesday (the day before her surgery). They even called and reminded me on Monday . . . but somehow between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning I managed to completely forget about it! I know that's ridiculous, but I guess I just had tunnel vision looking towards surgery on Wednesday.

Her checkup went great. No shots today! She now weighs 19 lb. 10 oz. (60th percentile), is 28.5 inches long (75th percentile) and has a head circumference of 44.5 cm. (60th percentile). It looks like crawling has slimmed her down a bit (she has been 75th percentile her entire life) . . . though it's hard to look at those chubby cheeks and fat little legs and think that she's slimming down! It's hard to believe that the next time we go for a checkup she'll be one! Where did this past year go?

All the Makings of an Overbearing Mother . . .

Of my three older girls, Emma is by far the most attentive to her baby sister. They all love her dearly, but Emma goes above and beyond. She is always willing to do anything for and/or with her. She doesn't mind being interrupted from playtime to give Julie a bottle or get out some toys for her. She is happy to fetch baby wipes and throw away diapers. Whatever it is . . . she's willing. As a mom, it delights my heart to see her interact with her baby sister . . . most of the time. As you can imagine, when Julie started crawling and pulling up, Emma was very excited . . . but now she can't seem to know when to back off and let Julie experience life. She is constantly expressing concern that Julie is going to fall (which she does many times a day), or touch something that she shouldn't. You can regularly see her pulling Julie across the floor (out of "harm's way") or standing right behind her, ready to catch her in case she should fall. Poor little Julie is definitely feeling the frustration of having someone try to dictate her every move. And so I live my life trying to find the balance . . . understanding that Emma tends to be a rather intense child and trying to direct her love for her sister, trying to regularly bring her back to the reality that she is not Julie's boss (Emma loves having someone who she thinks she can boss!), and trying to get her to understand that babies fall, they put things in their mouths, and that not everything they touch is going to hurt them. Most of all I want her to understand that God is pleased with her love for her sister. It's a hard balance to find and makes my brain hurt, but it won't be long and this stage will be a memory!

A Party with the Patton Clan

Yesterday my best friend had to make a trip to the ER, so her three kids got to come over and have an overnight party with the Pattons. The entertainment included: a movie night (with popcorn, of course), a dance party (jammin' to some VBS songs!) a slumber party, Saturday morning cartoons, dress-up, K'nex, Polly Pockets, playdough, McDonald's for lunch & Domino's for dinner (thanks to my good friend Jodi who loves me dearly!) It was exhausting but a blast!


Here are 6 of the 7 partygoers. L-R: Jonah (7), Aubrey (1), Karis (5), Emma (5), Ali (6) & Megan (2). Julie (9 mos) is not pictured. Breakfast consisted of pumpkin muffins and bananas, which they enjoyed on the couch, while watching Clifford.

Aubrey has just gotten to the point where she is old enough to really play with Meg. They had lots of fun together . . . here they are cuddling up during Saturday morning cartoons.

Meg and Aubrey making themselves comfortable on Jonah's back!

Fun with playdough!

Yummy, Yummy Window

Now that she is crawling proficiently, Julie takes every opportunity she can to get over to our storm door. She loves to look out and check out the world. Here lately it has been pretty cold and the door has been covered with condensation . . . so she will crawl on over and lick to her heart's content!

Pulling Up

I actually missed it the first time she did it. Emma was the proud observer. I quickly grabbed the camera and waited for her to do it again. I can't believe it's already time for this. So fun, yet so sad!

Fun with K'nex

We got some K'nex for Christmas this year, and Emma is really enjoying them! She really has a knack for picking up stuff like this. Today she made the ring toss from the K'nex book and was very proud of herself

Handy Dandy Twixit Clips!

Personally I think The Pampered Chef should use this as a selling point: Not only are they great for closing any size bags, but they're wonderful, in-a-pinch hair clips! Nice to have on hand when your daughter is eating breakfast and her hair is getting in her cereal!

Pretty Pretty Princess

My girls love this game! Meg got to play for the first time today and even won!

Surgery

Before:

Surgery was scheduled for 9:10 this morning out at St. John's. They told us she couldn't have anything but clear liquids after midnight, and that she could only have clear liquids until 5:40 this morning. So, my wonderful husband woke her up at 5:00 to give her a bottle of apple juice. This plan worked wonderfully! She slept in the van on the way to the hospital and was very happy when she woke up. She was sweet and playful . . . especially liked playing with (and chewing on) the bars on her bed. There was also a tag on her blanket that was quite fascinating!

After:

Surgery went off without any problems. She was away from me for about 20 minutes during which time I had a snack and watched some CSI Miami. When they brought her back she was pretty fussy from the anesthesia. I gave her a bottle of applejuice and she whimpered on and off for about 20 minutes. I got her dressed, put some antibiotic drops in her ears (which she wasn't especially happy about) and we went home!

The Joy of Having a Crawler

I have had moments like this with each of my kids . . . they manage to get themselves stuck somewhere and instead of helping, I run for the camera! She actually managed to get out of this one without any problems. She is so cute when she crawls around, but I must say life was much easier when she was immoblile!

Fun in the Tub

Ali, Emma and Meg managed to squeeze into the tub together so they could play with some bath paints that they got for Christmas. They had a blast, but boy did the floor get wet!

Picture Crazy

I just went through and cleaned up my picture files for 2006 . . . for this past year I have 896 pictures on file . . . and mind you, that only includes the pictures that I've kept! Digital photography is a beautiful thing. I'm sure 896 pictures is excessive, but I have great subjects. This year has included the birth of a new baby, a Kindergarten graduation, Easter, Fourth of July, apple picking, pumpkin patch, Halloween, family vacation, Christmas, and many many fun days in between. When you look at it that way, 896 seems pretty modest!

Crawling!

Such a fun (and scary) milestone! She officially started crawling the day she turned nine months old. She was the slowest of the four . . . and I am acknowledging that as God's grace to a mother of four young children! Now starts the time of intense training! Even though it's the fourth time around it's still so fun to see her getting around and exploring. She's really such a blast!

Sweet Friends . . .

This is from Ali's winter music program at school. She is standing with her good friend Jonah, who also goes to her school (though he's in a different class). Jonah and Ali have been very dear friends since Ali was 6 months old!

Ear Infection Baby

Unfortunately, Julie has had a rather sickly month and a half. She kicked off the month of December with an ear infection and it was a stubborn one. Four rounds of antibiotics won us a trip to see a Pediatric Otolaryngologist. We saw him last week and now have surgery scheduled to put tubes in her ears this coming Wednesday. Although this is considered to be a very minor procedure, please be praying for her through this next week:
-That surgery will happen without any complications
-That her recovery will be quick and easy (as it is supposed to be)
-That the tubes will be effective in keeping her free from ear infections

Just Plain Cute!

No great story to this one. I just had to share it. She really is the sweetest baby ever!

More Cousins . . .

Okay . . . so that wasn't all of the cousins. Aaron just reminded me that I left off one side of the family. This is actually a picture that we had taken in September for Aaron's parents for Christmas. L-R: Emma, Meg, Cousin Bekah (9), Julie, Cousin Blake (5) and Ali.

All the Cousins . . .

This one is from this past Christmas, when my grandparents came in from Wisconsin. They wanted to get a picture with all of the great grandkids, and this was the result. Ali (6) is in the left corner, Emma (5) is in the right. Meg (2) is on my Grandpa's lap and Julie (8 mos) is on my Grandma's lap. Cousin Austin (8) is next to Grandma and Cousin Kevin (2) is on the floor. After taking about 20 pictures, this was the best of them. They are quite a crowd!

Welcome!

Welcome to the life and times of the Patton family! I was inspired to enter the Blogosphere by my friend Andrea, who's blog I have thoroughly enjoyed.

I have plenty of stories and photos to share of our Little Women. We actually watched that movie together yesterday and Emma is quite fascinated by the parallel to our family. She has been calling her sisters Meg, Beth and Amy (which is especially confusing, as we already have a Meg) and now expects me to answer to "Marmee."

I am looking forward to making this a sort of online scrapbook that all of our friends and family from far away can see. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy making it!