November & December 2011 Update

I know I have been terrible about blogging. I almost feel guilty because not only do you guys get updates, but I don’t documents some of the best moments created in this family. It is now January 2012 and I will do my best to catch all of you up on the end of 2011.

November-
Was a fun month. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Houston at my in-law’s house. My little niece, Harper, was such a cutie pie that trip. My girls has fun playing with Harper, but Cooper enjoyed her the most. Cooper and Harper seem to have a special relationship with one another. Cooper has patience with Harper that he does not have with his own sisters. Cooper is also quick to share with Harper and wants to “help” her. Watching the two of them interact was fun. We managed to get our Christmas lights up at the end of November this year too 🙂

December-
That was a busy month for us. With all the hussel of Christmas and then my family flew in to Houston for about 2 weeks back to back at Christmas, which was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed having Grandma and Grand-dad here. Cooper was calling my dad, “Grand-dad Man”, which was so fun to hear him say. My poor dad did not get a break with Cooper always begging him to come and play with him. I think that the two of them had a ton of fun together. This trip really sparked a great bond and memory of my father with Cooper. Molly and Anna just feel in love with my step-mom, Grandma, especially Anna. It was cute to see the girls playing dolls with Grandma and how much they loved her almost immediately. At Christmas Eve service, Anna was with Grandma for most of the service and was as happy as can be. The kids got way too many toys for Christmas, but it was a lot of fun to see their excitement as they opened all their gifts. Having younger children on Christmas day has really changed the experience of Christmas for me. I enjoyed every moment of it! My sister and her husband, Mike, were a big hit with the kids. I can still envision the the kids sitting on our pull-out sleep sofa with Mike putting on their bracelets and necklaces. Mike was such a good sport about that. Lizzy and Mike gave the Cooper remote controlled cars, which he loves, and they have been zooming up and down my hallway every since. I miss my sister like crazy and I wish she and Mike could have stayed longer! But have no fear, Cooper has name one of his stuffed dogs Lizzy, LOL….so she can live in spirit at my house 😉

The Twins-
Molly and Anna have really changed so much. They got their first hair cuts in December. Just a trip in the back so they did not have rat-tails anymore. Molly freaked out and cried until we took the smock off that was around her neck. Otherwise, the girls did great with their first hair cuts. The girls’s language is still developing. At this point, Anna knows most of her colors and a few shapes (star, circle, oval, and diamond). Molly knows just a few colors (yellow, blue, and purple) and a few shapes (star, diamond). Anna has started to put together two words such as “more TV” or “open please”. Molly is putting two words together, but not quiet as often. Hopefully, Molly’s language will catch up soon. Anna loves puzzles and putting magnets on a magnet board. Anna has incredible focus and can sustain a task, such as sitting and playing with magnets for over 30 minutes. Molly loves her babies dolls. She loves to rock, hold, feed, and push them in their strollers. Anna loves babies too, but Molly has a very special fondness for her dolls.

Cooper-
He is still my same old Cooper who is obsessed with his McQueen Cars. It amazes me how much interest he has in the movie cars and anything related to cars. Cooper continues to make strides in his learning. He knows 16 site words which he learned from the DVD Preschool Prep Meet The Site Words Vol 1. He is learning to read some very basic words such as cat, hat, man, fan. I have created some basic sentences for him to read using the phonics he knows and the site words and he can read them pretty well, and he is only 3. I know he did not get his smarts from me- LOL. Cooper has enjoyed going to preschool 2 days a week and socializing with the other children. Chris went to his recent school conference and the teachers said he was doing great 🙂 3 years old has presented some new parenting challenges, such as having to deal with the struggle of his personal will, but I think we are making improvements on that front. I am not sure 2 was so so terrible, 3 seems to be more of a challenge for me. I think because Cooper is so verbal now, we have more verbal arguments than we did at 2. But Cooper is a really good boy, who is really learning to obey Mommy and Daddy well. He is also a big help to me now and brings me things that I ask him to bring to me. He is also good at cleaning up his toys when asked (for the most part). I cannot believe how big he is. I think he weighs close to 38lbs and wears 4t clothing. Not my little baby anymore.

Baby #4- I feel bad that I have not blogged about this baby at all, except to announce that I was pregnant. My pregnancy has been very uneventful, which is a good thing. This baby is very active and likes to have late night parties in my belly while I am trying to go to sleep.  I hope that is not a sign of what is come, LOL. I am due Feb 13….so not much longer. We still don’t know the gender of the baby and will find out on his or her birthday. The kids seem to be excited to meet the baby, especially Cooper who likes to hug and kiss my belly all the time. He has told me he wants to share a room with the baby and teach the baby how to walk and crawl. The girls seem to sort of understand that I have a baby in my tummy. Molly the other night took some lego blocks that looked like a bottle and started to feed my tummy- LOL. I hope that adding a 4th child to our family will be easy and that all the kids will instantly fall in love with their new sibling.

I will post some pictures in a separate post later on. It is time to start my day. I have been up since 4am with pregnancy insomnia and the sun is finally starting to come up and I think I should go shower and a start to my day. Thanks for reading and catching up with the Foley Clan!