February

We spent the remainder of the month of February loving on our littlest Valentine.  Daddy was able to take some time off which was wonderful, and we spent most of our days at home figuring out our new routines.  The kids have all done so well and I'm so thankful that they have each other to play with while I feed and care for Hazel.  I'm also realizing that with Sadie starting school in just 5 months, these are the last months of this season of my life, this season of us all being at home together all day every day.  So, although I'm kind of sad about that, I'm also very thankful that Sadie has been home to be a part of this sweet time of welcoming Hazel, thankful that most days I don't have to go anywhere, and thankful for the great kids and helpers I have.

Cooper though not quite sure at the hospital warmed up to Hazel quickly once we brought her home.  He has become such a clown over the past 6 months or so.  I think I have 8 of these shots and in every one he had his eyes closed and a similar expression.  Haha!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Sweet Sisters

Family Time

Uncle Caleb

Auntie Katie and Uncle Ryan

Caught him with his eyes open, but what do you know eyes closed is cuter :)

Reminds us so much of Sadie in her froggie jammies!

In Other News:

We moved Hazel into her own room at the end of the month.  She did great and so did Mommy.

We welcomed Auntie Amy, Uncle Brian and cousins Payton and Autumn to Oregon.  Now other than Kendra and Andy, who are moving back to Oregon from Seattle in July, the Moss kids are together again.  I still can't believe all 6 of us are all going to live in the same state.  Such a blessing!!!

Cooper has taken up a love for puzzles.  It is literally the only thing he wants to do, every waking moment of every day, and I won't complain.  It is perfect timing for him to want to be so quiet and independent.

We can't believe the weather we've had this winter.  Although we've definitely had our rainy days we have also had so many beautiful days.  It is only February and the daffodils are already up and it's feeling more and more like Spring every day.

And of course we've had some of these moments as well.  

This was the day that Cooper didn't want to put his arms in his shirt.

And this was the day that they decided that dumping out all of their toys in order to find all of the toy cars while Mommy fed Hazel was a good idea.

Welcome to the Family!

It has already been a month and a half since we welcomed our sweet Hazel Caroline, so this post is a little late, but it is what it is.  I keep reminding myself, as I soak up every quiet minute I can with her and as many snuggles as I can get, that there will be a day all to soon when my house is clean again and my life feels more organized.  There will be a day soon enough to finally get to the decorating, and blogging, and my list of projects, but for now this is exactly where I want to be enjoying this season of my life, crazy as it may sometimes feel.

Hazel arrived a week before her due date which was somewhat of a surprise for us as none of the others were early, but we were ready and anxious to meet her.  Wednesday morning I was beginning to have early signs of labor and more contractions but the day was uneventful.  I made some lasagna with my mom to freeze for after her arrival, took Sadie to AWANA's, and even had a couple of friends over while she was in AWANA's. (Reminded me of having small group over while my labor progressed with Sadie)  Anyway, I woke up around 11 with more consistent contractions and called my mom so that she could be here when we were ready to leave.  We left sometime around midnight and drove the 45 minutes to our hospital, which seemed like a LONG way considering we were only 5 minutes from the hospital in Glendora.  Anyway, we checked in and to my great dismay I was not nearly as far along as I thought I was.  I think I was just anxious to be at the hospital because of the long drive.  So, at this point I began to imagine that I was going to have to drive all the way back home only to then deliver her in the car on our return trip.  Luckily, they told me they wanted me to walk around the hospital for an hour and when they checked me again said I was progressing and that they would admit me.

All in all the delivery was smooth and Hazel arrived at 4:57am weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 19 1/4 inches long.

Welcome Sweet One

Some of my favorite moments are the first ones, before everyone arrives to welcome and celebrate, and before it all feels real.  We've learned to just soak it up as its so fleeting and this time around I realized we didn't even get the camera out.  We just enjoyed it and tried to lock it away in our memories.  It's amazing how it always feel new and and so incredible to meet the one you've been waiting for and imagining.  I guess that's just a tiny part of the miracle of new life.

The kids arrived after breakfast to meet their new sister and were so excited!!!  Sadie and Wyatt were anxious to hold her and talk to her and kiss her.  Brandon tried to explain to Cooper that Hazel was out of Mommy's tummy and I think that was more than his little brain could handle because he decided after an initial moment of curiosity that he was going to ignore her for the time being.  However, by the time they headed home with Grammy he was willing to say goodbye and give her a kiss, and by the time we brought her home he was anxious to hold her too.  My favorite is when he asks if he can say hi to her, which simply means standing close to her and saying, "Hi Hazel, Hi Hazel, Hi Hazelnutty" over and over again.  Sadie is a great big sister, already good at calming her down and holding her.  She loves it when I tell her which outfits were hers when she was a baby and stories about what I remember about her when she was little.  Wyatt, well he continues to be such a tender heart.  He adores her and he seemed not so much excited or proud to hold her as just so sweetly in love with her.  In those first moments he didn't look around to show everyone he was holding the baby but just gazed at her commenting on her little eyes and nose.

 Uncle Robert

 Grammy

Our 1st Family Photo

Heading Home

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Wyatt's long awaited 4th birthday finally came.  He's been waiting since October when Sadie had hers with countless conversations in between about what he would like, namely a bubble gun which we didn't buy for him at Disneyland, and why Cooper's birthday comes before his in the year even though Cooper was born after him.  So very confusing for a 4 year old.  Anyway, we had a lot of fun celebrating Wyatt with a Super Hero party.  He's hasn't really watched anything that would tell him what any of these heroes are about, but he still, like all little boys I suppose, knows that they are very cool and loves running around with a cape and mask.  

 Batman and Super Sadie

 Superman

 His Uncles out did us once again with a grenade launcher.  However, they are forgiven because it has come in quite handy in keeping the chickens off my porch.

I loved the pure joy Wyatt found in celebrating his birthday this year.  He was so excited about every part of the day from birthday pancakes, to happy meals with Daddy at work, to his party at night.  It's sweet to see such joy in the simple things!

We continue to love Wyatt's tender heart and love for all of us.  He is sweet and caring and frequently willing to pass up what he wants to make someone else happy.  In fact many times I have to convince him that it's okay to have what he wants.  For example, it's okay if he opens all of his presents by himself.  He doesn't have to let Sadie have one just because she wants one.  It's been a balance to continue to nurture his generous and tender heart while also teaching him that he can have his own preferences and stand up for himself.  He loves to be outside more than just about anything else playing baseball or digging or coming up with some creative adventure for he and Sadie to go on.  He is by far the most imaginative in our family and cracks us up with the things he comes up with to pretend and the things he gets his brother and sister to go along with.  Their days would be quite boring without him I assure you. 

We are so thankful that God put this little one in our family and look forward to continuing to watch him grow in the upcoming year!

Christmas 2014

I tried to get a picture of the kids on Christmas Eve, but after using up all their "calm" behavior in church this was the best we could do.

Christmas was a fun but very full day this year.  We began the morning with Brandon helping Uncle Ryan feed calves while we got ready and headed over to Grammy's house to meet everyone for breakfast.  Then it was off to church with Grammy and back home for lunch and presents.

Then it was back to Grammy's house for dinner and more gifts.  It was so fun to watch how excited the kids got about everything this year, especially picking out and giving gifts to each other.  I took them too Goodwill and let them pick out and wrap their own gifts for one another and I think that was just about their favorite part.

We literally didn't make it 5 minutes down the road until this is what we had in our car.

 3 happy but exhausted kiddos.

Grammy went in with us on the purchase of the quads so that we could get 2 figuring, with soon to be 4 kiddos, that way everyone would have a seat and the kids are loving them so far!