Our Morning Routine

Our mornings start out rather relaxed. As each girl wakes up in the morning she finds her way to our bed. By the time all three are in our bed, there isn't much room for Jeff or me, and we finally agree that it is morning afterall. Jeff will get up and shower while I stay in bed snuggling with the girls, and then we all eat breakfast together. I'm so glad that Brooklyn has afternoon kindergarten so that we can continue this routine for another year.

Ah, this is the life!

Pictures of Madison

Brooklyn's First Day of Kindergarten

It is hard to believe that I now have a child old enough to attend school. Woah, how did that happen? All summer long, I have been dreading sending my child off to be part of the world. Up until children are school age, it is easy to shelter them from the evils of the world. Not that Kindergarteners are bad, but Brooklyn is so tender and so sweet, and I want her to be able to stay that way. I thought for sure I would cry to see her leave and go into her classroom. Fortunatly for me, Savannah had an even harder time holding it in. As Brooklyn went into her classroom, Savannah sprawled her body out on the floor in the hallway and cried, "But I want to go to school too!" - With Savannah crying, and Madison in my arms, I myself couldn't do much crying. We made it through the entire two hours and fourty-five minutes by hanging out at the Wal-Mart (just up the street from Brooklyn's new school), and reading library books in the van. When I was able to reunite with Brooklyn, I kneeled down and said, "Give me a big hug. I sure missed you. How was school?

Her reply: "I didn't even think about you once Mom."

:(

How sad and pathetic for me... but how wonderful for her to have had such a great time.

Super Hero Princesses

Brooklyn and Savannah spent the morning playing "Super Hero Princesses." Brooklyn got dressed up tying on a cape from a dragon costume and also tying various scraps of fabric around her belly. Savannah told me I was the "bad guy" that they were trying to fight. I told her that I wasn't bad, after all I was changing the baby's diaper. She looked at me very seriously and said, "We are just pretending."

If I could pause time and stay in the same day for several months, I would do it right now. It is like I can see a page getting ready to turn in our lives, and I can never go back. Brooklyn is going to be starting Kindergarten in a few more weeks. She is overjoyed and can't wait to make new friends. I am excited for her, but sad that she will no longer be my little girl who is with me 24/7. Savannah is potty trained, and as funny as any 3 year old can be. Madison has made a complete turn around and is a happy baby. Her face lights up everytime she sees me, and that is enough to make my heart melt. I love my children and really wish that I could stop the hands of time, if even only for a moment.

Madison's Milestones

Our sweet little Madison Diane was born on April 5th. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces.

• She was four weeks old the first time she smiled her wonderful smile at us.

• Soon after that she giggled for the first time. She is very cute when she giggles, but unfortunatly for us, she really makes you work hard to get her to laugh.
  
  
• She rolled over for the first time on July 25th, right on her 3 month, 3 week mark.
  
  
• Madison was a fussy baby, but two wonderful things happened. First I read a book called, "The Happiest Baby on the Block," which taught me how to calm a colicky baby. (The author called it, "Turning on the calming reflex"). And secondly, Madison learned how to suck her thumb. She wouldn't take a binky, and so that thumb has been heaven sent. That was around 3 months. The last three weeks have been wonderful!
  

Beck Family Journal

Just a Regular Day

I am so excited to start a blog for our family. I've been wanting to keep a journal for the whole family for quite some time now, but somehow have never gotten over the initial trouble of starting one. Somehow I feel like I have to start at the very beginning and write everything that has happened chronologically until I "Catch-Up" to where we are... That thought has been just too daunting. However, a blog doesn't feel that way to me. I can just start with today if I would like, or I can ponder on the past - at my leisure. How nice :)

We are a family of five now. Jeff, Myself (Nicole), and our three beautiful daughters; Brooklyn (age 5), Savannah (3), and Madison (3.5 Months). Poor Jeff is very out numbered. With four girls in the house, we are very emotional. A day never passes without some sort of crisis. Take for example yesterday. Jeff was playing with Brooklyn and Savannah. They have all sorts of fun little games that they play together. Just a short list of the games before I go on: Bake Cake, Car, Blurble, Ticklebug, and Kitty and Snake.

Yesterday they were playing Kitty and Snake. For this game Jeff pretends that one hand is a Kitty, and his other hand is a Snake. Brooklyn loves the Kitty, and Savannah loves the Snake. The girls hug and kiss and talk to their specific hand/animal, and Jeff plays along. This could go on for hours! The girls love it. Well, Jeff is a bit of a tease and was pretending that the Kitty wasn't a kitty. It was getting close to bed time, so Kitty finally turned into a kitty to say good-night. When Jeff said, "Okay, it is time for Kitty and Snake to go away, so you can go to bed," Brooklyn started to cry. Not because it was bed time. She started to cry because she didn't get to play with Kitty for very long. She was crying as if a real kitty had been run over by a car and died. She was hysterical. The only way we could get her to stop crying was to promise that Kitty would be able to play with her in the morning before Dad left for work. As soon as she woke up this morning, she found Dad and they played Kitty for a few minutes.

The girls need me. Bye.