Four Months Old!

Our sweet little girl turned four months on Monday. She had a well check with Dr. Morris and everything looks good. She weighed 12lbs 12.5oz which puts her in the 45th percentile. She is 25.5 inches tall which is in the 85th percentile. It looks like she is following in Femi's footsteps, long and lean. She is growing so fast and changing every minute. Here is what she can do at four months.
1. She can roll over from her tummy to her back.

2. She loves to smile at everyone.

3. She is learning to laugh (she has only done that for mom).
4. She plays in the exersaucer when her brothers let her.

5. She loves to reach for things and grab them.

6. She can recognize her brothers and loves to touch their faces.

Like I said, I can't believe she is growing so fast. I can only imagine what the next month will bring.

20 on 20

My friends who also keep a blog do something called 10 on 10. I am not exactly sure how it works, but they post 10 pictures or 10 updates on the 10th of every month, well today is the 20th so I decided to modify it a little and do 10 on 20 since I haven't updated the blog in a while. Here are ten things that I am grateful for or just love. There are more to add, but I had to pick 10, so here we go.

1. Cousins

I am grateful that the boys love their cousins and love playing with them. Here Brady is sharing a moment with Femi and Deji. Jen brought the two youngest with her to KC to deliver some medals.

2. Aunty Jenny

I love how much Jen cares for my boys and adores Adara. Here they both look pretty in their pink PJs. They both look so lovely with their bed head. (Jen I hope you don't hate me too much).

3. Cowboy Femi

Femi put on my rainboots the other day and pretended that he was a cowboy. Half the time I don't even know where he gets this stuff from. But he enjoyed walking around in my boots.

He even stuck a wooden spoon in his back pocket and called it his lasso.

4. Quiet Deji

Deji has two sides to him "wild thing" and "the thinker". When he is in a situation or around people he not too sure about, he gets really quiet, but once he gets comfortable, he is our own "wild thing."

5. Big Brothers

I just love how much the boys care for and adore Adara. They truly love her and want to make her happy. Deji brings her her pacifier(when it's not in his mouth), and her blanket, and gives her the most gentle kisses.

Femi is already so protective of her. When people want to hold her at church or other places, he keeps a close eye on them and reminds that Adara is HIS baby and they can't have her. I just pray that the love continues to grow and they will continue to take care of each other.

6. Best Friends

Partners in crime these two are. Here they are jumping into a pile of pillows they got off the couch. I love that the like to play with each other and plan mischief together. Ryan says in the morning they put their capes on and run around and around the house.

7. Big Kid

I love watching Ryan play with the boys. Their faces just light up when he gets on the floor with them and wrestle or he hides under a blanket and pretends he is a monster trying to get them. Here he is joining them in jumping on the pillows.

8. Cuddle Buddy

I love the fact that Femi loves to cuddle with us. Here Ryan and Femi are sharing a moment while watching "Chicken Little" and the snow falling fast outside.

9. Super Hero Femi

Like I said before. Femi has a great imagination. Here he is pretending to be a super hero. That is a thermometer in his hands, and a box on his arm. He is so cute. Sometimes he asks me if there is something I need Super Hero Femi to do. Today he suggested that I needed Super Hero Femi to get a book for Adara.


10. So Big!

Little miss Adara is growing so fast. Two days ago she rolled over from her belly to her back. She is smiling more and actually laughs sometimes. It is one of the best sounds in the world. We still need to work on sleeping through the night. As soon as we get a mattress for her crib, I think I will move her downstairs and maybe that will help. We'll see.

Well that is my 10 on 20. I have so much to be grateful for. I love that I keep this blog. There are just so many memories that I want to remember for a very very long time.

Prune Juice to the rescue!

Poor Femi! He was constipated today and poor baby was in pain. This was his first experience with constipation. We first tried to "squeeze" it out, but after about half an hour of him crying, me holding his hand, telling him to breath through it and taking a break and still nothing. I had to send Ryan out into the cold for some prune juice. I felt like a labor coach trying to get Femi through this experience. Minutes after drinking the juice we had a "delivery!" You should have seen the relieve on Femi's face. The first thing he said was "Whew, that was hard work!" He did do a great job. Constipation is not a fun thing, and he is so use being very regular. I probably need to do a better job of making sure he gets his fruits and veggies.

Prune Juice to the rescue!

Snow Day 2 and 3

Tuesday was another snow for us. We started the morning with eggs and pancakes and of course hot chocolate. It was too cold to go outside so we decided to make cookies instead. Femi and Deji were great helpers, but then Deji got bored and decided to raid the pantry for his pretzels. He LOVES his pretzels! Femi continued to help, but he decided to help me taste the dough while my back was turned. After playing for a while we had quiet time. Ryan read the boys books before bed time. It was a nice day! The boys did miss saying bye to Paw Paw and Grandma, but Femi is already planning his trip to the farm.

Snow Day 3:
The schools were closed again for the third day. Ryan and I decided to take the boys to pre-school for a change of scenery. I think they were glad to hang out with their friends. Ryan, Adara and I stayed home and cleaned. I am almost done with Adara's room. Maybe she will decide to start sleeping through the night and move into her room soon.

Snow day 1

Today was our first snow day of the year. The snow started falling around midnight and by 5am we had about 4 inches. It was nice to have extra time at home with the kids. Femi was very excited about the snow. We had to put on our snow suits and go and play. Femi wanted to make a snow man, but the snow was too fluffy for a snow man.

Femi making his snow angel. He has been talking about making one for a while now. When it snowed on Sunday, he wanted to go out right away.

Deji was excited about the snow. He ran around for a while, but he hated getting snow on his gloves. He took them off, but when he fell in the snow he was not too happy, so I took him in.

Femi stayed outside and "helped" me shovel the sidewalk.

We came inside and had some hot chocolate with Marshmellows.

Even Adara enjoyed the snow day. She gave Femi a big smile while he was playing with her.

Paw Paw and Grandma surprised the boys by coming down. They have a court day tomorrow in Liberty, so they are staying the night. The boys were very happy to see their grandparents and were bouncy off the walls. Grandma tried to calm them down by reading "The Snow Day". It worked for about five seconds.

She then gave the boys a nice bath before bedtime. The boys actually stayed in bed. I think the excitement of the day wore them out. Tomorrow is another snow day. I can't wait to see what the day brings.

Big Dresser

I think the picture says it all. Femi got dressed all by himself. He got his clothes out with no help. He even got his underwear from his dresser by himself. Neither Ryan or I were in the room with him. He is growing up so fast.

Of course he had to put on his superman shirt. He even picked out Deji's outfit for him and laid it out for me to put on.

I was surprised that he chose the superman shirt for Deji, but he said he wanted Deji and him to match.

Prayers for 2011

I am not going to to make New Years Resolutions this year because it is implying that I am going to do things with my own power, instead of relying on God's, so this year I have my prayers for 2011. I want to write them down on this blog because I want to be able to look back and see how God answered my prayers. So in no particular order here they are.

1. Have/make more time for family and friends.
- 2011 looks like the year where my family is moving farther away. Mom is currently in Ohio teaching until the Summer. In the Fall, Gbaike and Aron are moving to either New York or Wisconsin. We have been promising to visit the Fulligans ever since they moved and we have yet. I want the boys to spend more time with their cousins. This year I really want to make time no matter how far we have to travel.

2. Be more healthy.
- I pray that I will have the stamina and will power to get back to my pre, pre, pre baby weight, find a dentist for the whole family,and eat more veggies and fruit.

3. Be a better wife.
- I want to pray more regularly for Ryan, have more time for just the two of us, and be more understanding. I also want to be in the word more so I can use God's words to be more encouraging to him.

4. Be more financially stable.
- I pray that in 2011 we will be able to save more and be wiser our spending.

5. Be more organize.
- I pray that we can get more organized so that the stress level is not so high. I would like to start involving the boys more in the house cleaning and thought having a once a month clean fest with music and fun with help with keeping the house clean and organized. The first one is scheduled for Jan 15th.

6. Give More
- I pray that in 2011 we will be in the position to volunteer more, be able to give more to charities and ministries.

Great Start to 2011

I love New Years. I love the feeling of starting with a clean slate. A chance to start fresh, to improve yourself, maybe even reinvent yourself. I love the fact that it holds promises yet to be seen. We started New Years day in Paola with the Nilson side of the family. I love it when we all gather together in the log cabin and the kids and grand kids are all hanging around talking, laughing, getting to know each other again. Aunt Mary Ann and Aunt Dorothy have to be the sweetest, kindest ladies that I know. You just want to be a better person after hanging out with them. I told Ryan that we really need to visit Aunt Dorothy more often. I think the boys would love helping her chase the chickens. Grandma and Paw Paw came and spent the night with us and of course Femi was in heaven. He really loves his grandparents. We all went to church this morning and went out to eat, then came home to relax. Femi did have to say bye for now to his grandparents after he woke up for his nap. We all went over to Uncle Aron and Aunty Gbaike's for the annual New Years day(this time it was the day after New Years) Hop Johns and Greens meal, where Uncle Aron officially proposed to Gbaike! It was really sweet even though the ring was a ring pop. No he is not a cheapskate, the ring pop is the only "ring" that would fit Aunt Gbaike's skinny fingers, so until he got her ring size the ring pop would be a substitute. We all loved it and can't wait to see the real ring. So with only two days into the New Year, I would have to say that 2011 promises to be a good year.