Christmas

We had such a fabulous Christmas!  We missed everyone who wasn’t here, but had a great time with Gigi.  And every year just gets more and more fun with kiddos.  Ellie definitely understood the whole Santa thing and was super excited to see what he left for her.  I was shocked to wake up at 8:15 a.m. and look on the monitor to see Ellie just sitting in bed holding her stocking.  We expected her to tear through all of her stocking gifts the second she saw it, but she waited patiently…and then it was ON!  She and Charlie tore through gifts at an impressive rate.  Damian actually had to hide some gifts behind the couch because they were flying through them so quickly and we caught Charlie, mid-lunch, climbing over the back of the couch to open the rest – cheeky boy!

Gigi and her boys:

Ellie got a scooter and a kitty from Santa:

Daddy’s massage shirt was a big hit:

Charlie wrestled a new toy to the floor and ended up with a big fat lip – poor guy.  Not sure how to explain Ellie’s face. ;-)

Keanan loved all of Gigi’s cuddles:

Our crazy Christmas dinner:

You can’t see the flames on the Christmas pudding, but Gigi’s face is classic.

Unfortunately, the camera spent part of the day on the manual setting, so this picture is out of focus, but not too out of focus to show Keanan’s sweet face:

   

Charlie is so sweet with his new train.  He asks every single time before starting or stopping the train: “Daddy, go?  Daddy, off?”

We didn’t manage a picture with all six of us, but this is pretty close:

My little helper

Charlie loves playing in the kitchen sink.  While I think it’s super sweet that he wants to help and be involved, it’s sort of a pain in the neck because I usually let dirty dishes accumulate until I can do them during naptime and after the kids go to bed, so he’s always got his hands in mucky water and/or on knives.  I finally figured out the solution and we’re both as happy as can be!

Here kitty, kitty

Ellie and Charlie are big into pretending to be cats (or dogs) these days.  Daddy served up some (almond) milk in saucers for them – such a fun daddy!

Charlie on stage

The kiddos had their Christmas program at school last week and I'll post more video and pictures soon, but I just had to share this little gem...

We’ve arrived

Keanan is three months old and although he still has his moments of fussiness, he has reached the super fun stage where just making eye contact with him makes him break into a smile so wide that it looks like a big belly laugh is just around the corner.  He “talks” constantly and he loves his brother and sister – he smiles anytime he sees them, which makes Ellie’s day (she proudly says ‘Hi Keanan, it’s your sissy.  He smiled at me, mom!  He smiled at his sissy!”).  Just in the last week, he has grown/changed so much – he’s started reaching for toys, shaking rattles, etc.  Even the third time around, we’re amazed by these little milestones and convinced that he must be a genius to be able to bat at a toy in such a cute manner.

The photographer dropped the ball on this one, but you can see our smiley boy:

How can he possible be old/big enough to sit in this chair already?!

I can’t decide who he looks like more – he has Charlie’s dimples, Ellie’s cheeks.  I think his eyes are shaped more like Ellie’s and maybe they have a similar nose too?

Sometimes the shirt says it all

This is one of Jackson’s old shirts and it is so perfectly fitting for Charlie right now (it says “This is my time out shirt.  I wear it all day long.”).  He’s just such a stinker!  To say that he’s testing boundaries is an understatement.  His favorite word is “no” (it’s truly his default answer – he says “no” to absolutely everything, and only sometimes changes his answer to “yes”…if he realizes something wonderful is being offered to him and nothing is asked in return), and if you mess up and give him any indication of what you don’t want to do, he’ll immediately do it…twice.  That’s all challenging enough, but the worst part is that he’s really rough with Keanan – he squeezes and shakes his arms way too hard; jabs him in the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears; lays on top of him; etc.  Oh well, I suppose that’s life with a spirited two year old and I’m blessed to be his mommy and to get to be with him every day – can’t imagine someone who wasn’t biologically programmed to not throttle him being in charge of his care on a daily basis!  In the quiet moments between pulling out my hair, I still see my sweet little boy in there…the monstrous two year old just tries to hide him…but I adore him nonetheless!

Terrifyingly hilarious

Keanan's first real laughs...

Galyon visit

Jamie, Alex and Aubrey came down last weekend for a last minute visit.  It was SO nice to see them…but the visit was much too short!  I just wish we lived closer – I love my sis so much and the cousins have a blast together.  I hope they grow up being the best of friends, even if our visits are never often or long enough.

We wanted to take advantage of the fabulous weather, so we spent a lot of time outside.  The kids tore up the driveway on a variety of vehicles.

Alex on Ellie’s bike:

This picture is for Gaga – she loves seeing little kids on 4-wheelers!

Daddy, being the awesome daddy that he is, got up on Saturday and made pancakes with Ellie, Charlie and Alex.  And then we got to witness a Galyon girl eat her weight in pancakes – I really think that Aubrey might be a Hirst – she, Ellie and Charlie ate pancakes faster than we could get them on the plate.

A rare quiet moment:

On Saturday, we had family pictures taken for Christmas cards.  Alex didn’t want to be left out, so she got all gussied up too.

That’s one cute clown-in-training!

I want to go on record as saying that I know I’m going to coddle Keanan and he’s going to be spoiled rotten.  But look at him – can you blame me?  He’s just so darn cute!

The big kids are pretty sweet on him too!

More pictures

A lazy Saturday morning:

Hillary gave Keanan his second bottle.  It’s probably not surprising given his general affinity for food, but Keanan sucks down bottles like a champ!  Neither Ellie nor Charlie took bottles, so this is a very new thing for me.

On his two month birthday – he has discovered his tasty hands.  He’s not quite coordinated enough to be a thumb-sucker (yet), but he’s giving it his best shot!

Ellie and Charlie just love cuddling Keanan.  Unfortunately, they’re a little over enthusiastic at times, but it sure is sweet to see them all snuggled up together.

Keanan's Two Month Stats

Our little guy is two months old already! It’s just so hard to believe…especially since he’s the size of four month old. But it’s true and it seems that we’ve turned a bit of a corner – he’s crying less and smiling more – which means that I’m also crying less and smiling more. Bedtime is still a bit of a challenge because he often goes to bed before the big kids, and his big brother has NO inside voice – everything is said at full volume and repeated…a LOT! Luckily, I haven’t had to manage bedtime for all three of them on my own in a couple of weeks, and I’m hoping that we’ll somehow settle into a routine quickly.

So now the exciting stuff…

Weight

• Keanan weighs 14 lbs (88th percentile)



• Ellie weighed 12 lbs, 3 oz. (85th percentile)



• Charlie weighed 11 lbs, 9 oz (40th percentile)

Length

• Keanan is 25 inches long (95th percentile)



• Ellie was 24 inches long (95th percentile)



• Charlie was 23.5 inches long (62nd percentile)

Head

• Keanan's is in the 76th percentile



• Charlie's head was in the 59th percentile

So Keanan is the biggest Hirst baby by far, which seems to make him a better sleeper – he’ll usually sleep for a nice 9-11 hour stretch at night and will often sleep until after 8:00 a.m. – if it wasn’t for the older two who wake earlier, I would be the best rested mom of a newborn ever! He's just such a sweet little guy and there is absolutely no chance that he's not going to be spoiled rotten -- his big brother and big sister both love loving on him (sometimes a bit too enthusiastically) and Mom and Dad are smitten too. I just can't wait to see his little personality continue to develop.

Two year old problem solving

This morning, Charlie walked away from the breakfast table with a pancake.  I told him that he needed to get back up in his chair and finish eating.  He said “no” (he is really embracing this two year old thing).  I asked him if he was done and he said “no.”  I said “okay, then you need to get back in your chair and finish.”  He said “no.”  I mustered my most authoritative voice, got down on his level and said “Charlie, your options are to get back in your chair and finish your pancake, or be done.”  Charlie came up with a third option – without breaking eye contact, he slowly (pointedly, even) stuffed the entire pancake in his mouth and said “all done.”

Amimals

The other night, Ellie asked me to send Daddy in to give her an "amimal" kiss...

Me: Amimal?
Ellie: Yeah, an amimal kiss.
Me: Animal?
Ellie: Amimal.
Me: Animal?
Ellie: Amimal.
Me: Animal?
Ellie: Amimal. You know, like the farmer has amimals?

Silly Mommy.

Fall fun at the park

The weather has been so nice lately and, with Gaga and Papa here, we've been able to get out and enjoy it more than usual. I love watching the kiddos play at the park...almost as much as they love playing.

Our little rock climber...

Charlie kept telling Gaga that he was "too 'mall" to walk across the balance beam.

I asked Ellie if she wanted to swing like a spider...she's now very curious about how spiders swing, why they swing, where they swing, if they like swinging, if she can watch them swing...

Happy Halloween!

On Sunday, we packed up Cinderella, Prince Charming and a little mouse/cat and headed to the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful day and so fun watching the kiddos looking for the perfect pumpkin.  I wasn’t totally sure that we would be leaving with Prince Charming – the teenage girls who were working at the pumpkin patch wanted to take him home.

 

 

Gaga and Papa are here on their way to Mexico – we just love having them here!

Today, we carved one of the pumpkins…the bumpy one was as hard as concrete so Charlie worked his magic with markers.

 

Checking out their jack-o-lantern (doesn’t everyone do that in the bathroom?)

 

Tonight, we had a little Halloween party and the kids were in heaven!  The volume level was unbelievable, but it was so fun to see the kiddos so happy.  After playing on the driveway for a little while, the kids fueled up on mummy hotdogs, pizza, and fruit and then hit the streets.  They LOVED trick-or-treating and it was so fun watching the six big kids tearing across the lawns.  Sweet Prince Charming was always about one house behind, but he didn’t mind – he was just thrilled to point out every “Halloween punkin” and the moon (about 3 dozen times each).  And Keanan slept through the whole experience while in the baby carrier.