Hannah is 4!!!!

I can't believe our sweet Hannah is 4 years old. Her imagination is in full force! I often hear her acting out scenes of Frozen with imaginary people being the other characters. She loves to perform and was so thrilled to be on stage at her ballet recital. She often puts on shows for us: singing, dancing, playing an instrument, or all three! Hannah is independent, confident, and capable most of the time. She is learning her limitations, but willing to try things herself. She is fearless when it comes to new situations and meeting new people. She is always looking for new friends to play with anywhere we go.  While not an animal lover, Hannah does love people with passion! I love seeing her heart for her friends, her family, and people we don't see very often. She asks how people are, expresses sadness when it's been awhile, and pure joy when we have play dates.  She also loves going places. Every night, she asks, "where are we going tomorrow?". And every morning, she asks "where are we going today?". She is also really trying to master time. She wants to know her bedtime and has declared that her bedtime is "eight zero zero". She asks about the days of the weeks and always wants to know how many nights daddy will be gone or how many nights guests are staying. Hannah is an awesome big sister who loves to play with Ethan and is a big helper to me helping him get shoes on or be buckled into the car.  She loves Charlie and does lots of silly things to make him smile.  Hannah is very into her clothes and changes several times a day. I'm never quite sure what she will have on when she comes down the stairs. She can be Elsa one minute, Cinderella the next, then in exercise clothes, then dressed to the nines in a dress as if going to a wedding! She also loves shoes and loves matching. She wants to match, me, or Ethan, or just herself making sure her pink shirt goes with pink shorts.  She loves having long hair and wants it down most of the time.  Though tolerates it when I tell her she needs to have it back for a specific purpose.  She is getting so much braver at the playground, and her ability to climb mazes and scares me!  She has also gotten awesome at her bike!  She has proved to be a tough little cookie also, if she falls, she gets right back up and tries again.  She is stubborn and silly and kind and heartwarming. Her little ideas and that shy smile that comes out if she catches you watching her just make me marvel at this tiny person she is. Hannah is our beautiful, dramatic, loving little girl. We are so thankful for her and so proud of the little lady she is becoming. Hannah is also growing! She wears size 6 clothes, size 12 (little kid) shoes and is in the 95% for height and weight.

Ethan is 2!!!

It is so hard to believe that my second born is 2 years old!!!  Since Charlie has been born, I feel like Ethan just grew up overnight!  He is a precious big brother, and of course a precious little brother too.  He can walk up and down the stairs without assistance, is learning how to jump, and absolutely loves slides!  He is much more adventurous at this age than Hannah was, jumping from curbs, climbing ladders, and zooming down slides.  He can be slow to warm up and shows a shy side when Mommy is around, but he loves people and absolutely adores his babysitters!  In the last 2-3 months, anytime a babysitter arrives, he looks at me and says, "Mommy leave!". Since Charlie's arrival, he has grown more attached to Mommy and looks for me if in a new situation.  He's been a little harder to leave in the nursery at church but always has a big smile on his face when we return to pick him up.  Ethan loves music and can be found playing the guitar or drum often.  He is a little shy about singing but occasionally I catch him singing words to songs.  He adores Hannah and always wants to know where she is.  He goes along with most of her games, and at times seems to be wondering aimlessly trying to keep up with her imagination!  Ethan is full of words and surprises us everyday by words he knows.  He is also very inquisitive frequently saying, "What's dat? What's dat, right dare!" and anytime he hears a noise, "dat noise?".  One of his new words is "breakable" whenever I tell him not to touch something, he declares that said item is "breakable".  Ethan loves Curious George and SuperWhy and often asks us to turn something on "Neflix", though his attention span is rather short and he usually ends up somewhere else playing with toys.  He loves cars, trains, and balls, but can also be found playing Barbie's with Hannah.  He loves to play chase, and can often be found saying, "Ready, setty, go!" before he takes off running.  Ethan is our animal lover and will spot any dog, horse, cow, or cat.  He is very brave wanting to pet all animals too!  When expressing what he wants, or where something might be, Ethan often says, "Probably".  Ethan is wearing a host of different size clothes.  He can still fit into a few of his 2T shorts, has some 3T things that are starting to get tight or short, and definitely fits perfectly into 4T!  He is above the 97% in height and weight.  He is 3 feet 2.5 inches tall and weighs 38.4 lbs.  He is healthy and perfect and a joy to our family!

Charlie is 1 month

At 1 month Charlie weighs 12lbs 3oz and is 23 inches long.  He's growing well, but is smaller than his big brother at this age.  Charlie has rolled over from tummy to back several times starting at about 2.5 weeks.  He started smiling at 3 weeks.  Charlie is a good eater, and is so far a pretty easy baby.  He nurses every 2.5 to 3 hours and gives us one 3.5-5 hour stretch at night.  He even gave us one 6 hour stretch!!!  Charlie is very strong and already holds his head up quite well.  He likes tummy time, and generally naps in the swing.  He absolutely hates the bouncy seat and the car seat, crying almost immediately when placed in either!!  He likes to look at the fan, and does not like being hot!  He has just started wearing 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.  He also starting taking the pacifier and seems to love it!  I'm hoping for a paci baby rather than a thumbsucker like the older two, because I have found that stopping a thumb sucker is SUPER hard!!! The big kids are adjusting well to Charlie.  Ethan likes to give Charlie kisses saying,  "Him kiss" quite frequently.  He has held him a couple of times, but it only lasts about 2 seconds before he says, "Take HIM!!" Hannah is a great big sister and loves to hold Charlie, but does not tolerate it when he gets fussy!!!

May

This biggest thing that obviously happened in May was the long awaited arrival of our sweet Charlie.  The month was full of visitors coming to meet our sweet new boy.  We had a quick overnight visit with the Goforth girls, a few nights with my parents, a few nights with Grandpa Seiter, and then an evening with Uncle Elmer and Aunt Mary.  This month was mostly about adjusting to our sweet babe, and loving on our sweet Hannah and Ethan!