Crazy busy.

It's that time of year. Things get so crazy even if I try to keep it simple. That's okay though, we LOVE Christmas. I *think* I finished my shopping yesterday (meaning, I'll probably be back to Walmart tomorrow...) Hopefully things will slow down a bit from here on out. 

We are staying home again this year. Our forth year having Christmas here in Indiana. It's nice, but I'm sure I'll be missing family and old traditions like crazy by the end of the week. 

Evan is counting down the days, Makiah is trying to open any gifts she can get her hands on and Daphne is still a good, sleepy little baby. We are all excited for Dallas to have a week off of work next week! I can't wait to have a nap everyday and hopefully a few nights without having to wake up with the baby. Having him home everyday will be the best gift I can ask for this year!

Here is our Christmas Newsletter. I've been writing one every year since we moved here. It's mainly just a run down of the year and what we've been doing. Feel free to take a look if you have a minute... it may not be super exciting, but I'm glad I've been doing it. It's nice to look back at the past few years and remember the things we've been doing. 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Retake.

The bottom photo in this post was cute, but not how I was picturing it. It is REALLY hard to take photos of two wiggly kids and a sleeping baby... but we did it... again! 

I took a similar photo of my friend's kids that is like this one... it's posted here.

I don't give my kids enough credit... they are soooo patient with me and my ideas. They deserved every fruit snack I gave them (in hopes they would just hold still)!

One month now

Daphne is such a good baby. She is very content and calm. She has a very consistent schedule, which I like... It just makes my life a little more easier and predictable. She eats every 3-4 hours and during the night she goes right back to sleep after she eats. She is starting to stay awake more during the day and interacts with us a little bit now. This week she has been smiling so much. Mostly when she hears us talking to her. It is very sweet :) Daphne hardly ever cries. Mostly just when she is hungry and she fusses a little when she needs a diaper change. When she is tired, as long as she is swaddled and has her binky, she will usually fall asleep on her own. I can even jump in the shower while she is awake and she stays happy and quiet the whole time. I really, REALLY hope that she doesn't change. I love my baby!

Daphne had her 1 month check up today and she is now 9 lbs 13 oz and is 22 1/4 inches long. She is healthy and happy!

As I mentioned before, Daphne was blessed on Sunday by her Dad. She looked SO beautiful and so I had to take some pictures (naturally...) of her in her dress. (It is always takes some time to get a baby ready for pictures... I got her all dressed up today and then she decided to poop. So I undressed her so her dress wouldn't get dirty and changed her. Dressing a baby, especially in tights takes some effort so this all took a bit of time. By the time I had her dressed again she was sound asleep. She was so tired.(Perfect!!))

I am finally feeling like myself again and it is so nice. I am not in the shape I was before pregnancy, but that will take some time getting back into my routine and exercising. But I do feel much better than I did two weeks ago... and of course much better than when I was pregnant. Having three kids isn't too much harder... but more work of course. Lucky for me, Daphne is so easy going. Taking care of the older kids is the hard part. I am proud to say that I have made it through two grocery shopping trips with three kids... I survived! But I don't look forward to the next time I have to take them all out at the same time. Life is different, but good. I really love being a mom.