Decorating for Christmas

We decorated for Christmas last night. We ate an early dinner so we would have plenty of time to decorate. I wanted to give the kids a quick bath, but Brian insisted we forgo in order to have time to decorate. I have in, but when Thomas leaked poop put of his diaper and up his back, I won out. Esther was playing in the tub while we bathed Thomas. All of a sudden she started pointing out a piece of corn floating in the water. We quickly realized that the water was a little too cloudy and yanked everyone out. Under Esther was a large pile of poop. This led to lots of crying and cleaning of the bathtub. The quick bath became a little longer. I don't think Brian will ever let me hear the end of it. :) We eventually finished cleaning the tub and rebating everyone and made it back to decorating. Apart from the slight detour, a good night was had by all.
Can you tell how tall Noah is based on the ornament distribution? :) This is the first year that he has really been into it. We had so much fun! He is so excited about Christmas. After we put up the tree, he informed us that you also had to put lights on the outside of your house to get ready for Christmas. Can't wait. :)
On a side note, the snowman ornament was given to Esther last year by my mother-in-law. I'm not sure how she knew, but she nailed Esther with that ornament. Haha!

Six Months!

I feel a little bad because this is the first post dedicated to Thomas, but we've been a little busy. :) It is so crazy to me that it has already been six months. I remember my sister-in-law (whose first two kids are 19 months apart) telling me about how she would look back at pictures of when Elyn (their second) was a baby and not even remember it. At the time I thought it was crazy that she could not remember 6 months to a year of her life, especially given that she had a child in that time. I'm pretty sure I only had one kid at the time. :) Fast forward a couple years and a couple kids later, I TOTALLY understand. You are so tired. You have so many things and people vying for your time and attention. You are constantly going and you don't really have any time to sit or think or do anything. And somewhere in all of that, it all just becomes a blur. Which is exactly why I really need to write about Thomas (and everything else going on). I fear that if I don't write it down, I will have very little memory of this crazy time in our life. So here's what Thomas is up to...
-He is the sweetest baby ever... At least the sweetest one I've had. :) He is always so happy and wants nothing more than for you to just sit and talk to him. Unfortunately for him, he is the third kid and oftentimes that doesn't happen. He is a pure joy.
- He LOVES the exersaucer, which is a really good thing. He spends quite a bit of time there. His other favorite things are Sophie the giraffe and this little crinkly book that occupies him for hours in the car.
- He sleeps all night and takes two naps a day. Goes to bed between seven and eight and wakes up around 6:30-7:00. He was our first kid that cut out all his nighttime feeds on his own without a little 'help' from us. He does however, STILL sleep in our room. Everyone has started referring to it as Thomas's room. Hopefully that will be remedied soon.
- He eats four bottles a day. As of right now, he eats solids once a day, at dinner time, but we'll probably increase that soon.
- He loves his brother and sister, especially Noah. They sit next to each other in the car and Thomas just stares at Noah the whole time.
- He rolls everywhere. I'll lay him down on the floor, look back and he is not there anymore. He always rolls himself into a corner and gets stuck.
- He's working on sitting. He likes the Bumbo and he can sit with support fairly well.

I'm sure that maybe our lives would have been a little less crazy had we spaced our kids out a little more. And maybe I would be able to remember the last six months, but if given the choice to do it all over again, we would. Thomas you are such a joy to have. You bring a little sanity into our lives (at least for the time being). When everyone is screaming and crying, we can always count on you for a big smile. You are such a wonderful blessing from God and we thank Him for the joy of being your parents. We love you!

A good ending to a rough night.

Tonight was a fun night in the Hughes house (enter sarcasm). It was a Monday which are always rough nights because I work that day and the kids have a long day at school. Tonight was particularly bad because Brian wasn't here. Esther cried most of the evening until I gave up trying to feed her dinner and put her to bed. I guess Noah felt the need to take up her slack because he decided to scream, cry, and spit at me (that did not go over well). Just when I was about to hit my breaking point, something happened. He started to obey and be really sweet. Praise God for knowing what we need when we need it! The night ended with prayers and Noah telling the following story...
"Mommy, you have a very beautiful dress. It is so colorful. You need a coat of all the colors of the rainbow, like that guy in the Bible. He had a coat made of all the colors of the rainbow. His Dad had one and he gave it to him. But his friends didn't like it and it made them so angry. So they took him and threw him into the lion's den. But the lion's didn't eat him and he was okay. And he climbed out of the hole and that's how he did it. Yep, that's how he did it."

Thank you God for our three year old. Give us wisdom to raise and discipline him and patience in the tough times. And thank you for giving us the opportunity to see the world through his eyes. It is a way better and more exciting world than the one we live in. Thank you God for Noah.

I Love Jesus...and small group

Tonight we met with our incomplete small group. It was great fun and good discussion. Can't wait until we are all together and can't wait to go further with our new and old friends.
The kids were a little worn out despite there being six kids missing. :)

Welcome to the Show!

Almost every night, Noah comes to us and says, "Mommy, Daddy, I'm gonna do a show." He turns out the lights and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the show!" Then he proceeds to do "tricks" and "ballet" (pronounced bow-way) which looks a lot like a men's gymnastics floor routine. Esther joins in by spinning around, falling down, and doing somersaults. Then they stand up, occasionally bow, and turn on the lights. It makes me laugh every single time.

Halloween

Down a sunny dirt road, deep in Bear Country...

Ah Man!

Conversation with Noah before bed:
Noah: Sometimes when we pray we say, 'Ah man!'
Brian and me: We do? Ah man? You mean 'Amen?'
Noah: Yep. Ah man!