2018- KIDS

Raquel- Raquel is 18 months now! She is growing and learning so much! She is finally sleeping through the night. We've had a rough go with bedtime ever since she was born. Her and Jag are just not the best sleepers and usually each wake up at least once at night. So I was committed to getting her sleep trained before the end of the year. She got sick and has been getting in her molars, but she's still doing great. Jag really is the main problem, but he's getting better! Rocky is just so much fun. I love having her as part of our family. She is the perfect last puzzle piece to complete us. She loves to just toddle around the house carrying her baby doll and jabbering. She is loud and screams when she wants something or if something bugs her. She LOVES to dance! It is my favorite thing! She shakes her booty and puts her hand in the air and just get's down! I love it!!! She does slap you in the face, and I can't seem to break her of this! I've tried lots of different things, but she's just in that phase where she doesn't get it. But I'm going to keep at it, cuz it drives me crazy!!!!!! She follows Jag wherever he goes. She is my little shopping buddy. She got lots of baby dolls for Christmas, and it's amazing to see her cuddle and hug them and take care of them. She's so young I didn't think that would be the case, but she loves them! Every year we do draw names in our little family. Dan got Rocky, and got her a little baby doll that says, I love you!, She opened that and just hugged her and repeated I love you over and over! It was the sweetest cutest thing! It melted all our hearts! I'm begging Dan to let me go get her ears pierced because she's so bald. But he's pretty stubborn about it! Before we had her we agreed 8 would be a good age.  Well now that she's here, I obviously want it sooner. haha ridiculous I know. But how cute is it when little girls are bald with cute little earrings?! I think it's adorable. I might just go get it done and deal with the consequences! ;) She says mom, dad, baba for bottle, no, ya, go go go, bye bye, night night, thank you.....thats all I can't think of. She's a little smarty pants and can figure out how to open pretty much anything! She gets into everything! It's a good thing she's so cute! She is also awesome at putting things away and cleaning up her messes. Sounds crazy, but it's amazing. She gives the cutest kisses, and the funniest little run, and is just a happy girl!

 Jagger- Jag just turned 3 and is just the funniest little stinker. He still has a hard time speaking, I mean he says alot, it's just hard to understand him. We put him in speech therapy when he turned 2 , and he's made a ton of progress! He's grown so much this last year, it blows my mind. He is so smart and silly. He loves to dance and be goofy and make people laugh. He loves to ride fourwheelers and is obsessed with Pick ups! My dad has a dodge ram, and everytime we see one around town he says, "There's papa's truck! It's my favorite!" It's adorable. He loves to get dirty and play outside with his brothers. He loves magic sand and playdoh, monster trucks, odd bods, scary shows with monsters, books, and to wear his batman boots. He loves to be naked and just doesn't care who is around or what he's doing when he is naked! I finished potty training him a few weeks ago, and it's been amazing! He wakes up around 7:30 and goes to the bathroom, and is able to go all night without wetting the bed. Every once and a while when we aren't right there with him, he will just go in his room and pee on his carpet. Like it's the worst. his room stinks but I don't want to shampoo his carpets until he's done doing this! I don't know why he does it, it's so annoying! I thought he was done doing that, but then he did it again yesterday.  So fingers crossed we can get rid of that! It's about once a week, but still. So frustrating to feel like I have him totally potty trained, then he does that. But I'll take what I can get and having him out of diapers has been so nice!!!! He loves to be wherever his brothers are, he loves to play his little guitar, he lives for bathtime and will just lay in the bath forever if we let him, he is sweet to his sister and only gets mad if she takes his tools. We got him a little tool chest for his birthday and he totes all his tools in his tool box around all day! It's adorable. My little handy man! He's going to be in sunbeams in church now, and that is so weird! I don't know how he'll handle it, but I hope it's good for him. He likes being around kids his age, so I think he will love it. He's grown so much this year, when I was looking back at pictures from this year I couldn't believe how little he was just a year ago! He is just the funnest little guy and my little buddy while the big boys are at school.

Rafe started first grade this year. He loves to read and is so good at it. He excels in pretty  much any subject in school and is a good athlete. He's so much fun to watch play soccer! He scored a lot of goals this last season and it was fun to see him challenge himself. He is our little comedian. He makes everyone laugh all the time. He loves to make rocky laugh and is always playing with Jag, whether he likes it or not! hahaha Sometimes Jag with scream at him but other than that, he loves having someone play with him. Rafe is so sweet hearted and loves to cuddle up and be by me. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like he always has to be right on top of me all the time, but I'm glad he still wants to be around me and snuggle with me. He struggled a little with telling white lies the beginning of the year, but has grown out of that ,thank goodness. He now is in that phase where he's kind of a tattle tale. haha he will let me know exactly what happened, who hurt who, and how it all happened. Sometimes I love it and sometimes It drives me crazy! But I'm glad that he is outgoing, has lots of friends, and isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes, or stand up to kids who might be a bully. He can get super competitive, and I love it. I was always competitive so I get it. And I love seeing that fire in his eyes when he's playing a game and it hits him. Rafe always has something funny to say, or will shock you with how smart and witty he is. He's going to be 7 next week. I feel like I was just bringing him home from the hospital. He has grown so fast and is such a good boy. He's such a great brother and I never have to ask him to do something more than once. He's so obedient and just a great kid!

Damon is a big third grader! It's crazy because I remember so much about third grade, that it's weird that I know have a kid that age. He is so sweet, such a nice boy, tries to include everyone, and please everyone. He is definitely my peace keeper in the house. He very rarely fights back with anyone and is always trying to be reasonable. He's so much more mature than I was at his age. He tries hard in school and is so smart. I can't believe how easily he picks up on math and reading. It makes me so proud. He works hard at it and is always trying to be better and that's what amazes me. He truly wants to succeed and works hard at it even when he's not at school. He's a great example to his siblings. He has recently picked up on a few swear words...... i can't help but laugh sometimes when I hear him say "ohhh sheeeiiiiitttt" (my favorite swear word) when he's playing a game or something. Then i'll be like, what did you say?! and he just looks at me and is like sorry mom! So I told him we are going to set a goal not to say any swear words this year! I can't help but blame myself and Dan. Sometimes it comes out of our own mouths or the TV and they'll over hear it, so we all need to be better. But Damon is just such a great kid. So sweet and caring and I just don't know what I did to get such sweet kids.

 Don't get me wrong, they drive me crazy and sometimes the responsibility is heavy being a mom to 4 kids, but they really are awesome. They each have their issues and their stubborn-ness and strong personalities, but I love that about them! I can't believe how big they are all getting. It's weird to think there will be no more little babies added to our family, but I'm excited for the next chapter and seeing them each grow and develop into who they are supposed to be! I just hope I am qualified enough to try and lead them down the right path and help them along the way! I'm just trying to soak up the stages they are in and take the good with the bad and just enjoy them as much as I can!