Big Accomplishments

We've had a busy month for firsts! Aiden learned to ride his bike without training wheels AND he finally gets to move up to the next swimming class. He's been in the Pike class at the Y for 2 years and finally he gets to be an Eel. Yeah! He is really enjoying riding his bike without the training wheels. We got to go on a family bike ride and it was a lot of fun. Owen also had a busy month. He began standing up on his own, crawling on all fours, climbing the stairs and he got his first haircut. I was trying to wait until he was 1, but his hair was so long. I only had a tiny bit trimmed off(I'm not ready for a big boy haircut yet!), but he still looks like a big boy. He loves being able to stand up! It allows him to get into so much more than he could before. His favorite thing is taking the kitchen towel off the oven. He's also discovered Dixie and loves to crawl at warp speed to get her when she's near.
Hudson continues to exasperate and entertain us! He is such a bully to Cullen and Aiden and plays way too rough with Owen, but at the same time he can be super helpful and say the funniest things. When you ask him how old he is, first he says "my sic"(6), then we say "no" and he says "my seven", then we say "no" and he says "my four", then we say "no, your 2" and he says "I not 2". I've started homeschooling Cullen and Aiden and today Hudson and I were talking about books and he said I needed to get him a book for homeschooling. He has a huge vocabulary and still loves the big words. We told him that we were going to Florida and we were going to fly on an airplane to get there, so now he likes to ask everyday "We go to Florida?", "Fly on airplane?"
Cullen and Aiden have been doing great with homeschooling! They like doing their worksheets and really love the reading part. It's really fun to learn along with them!
Cullen is still a great big brother! He loves to get Owen up from his nap and carry him around. He'll even pick Hudson up when he wants to be held and I'm holding Owen. He also does a good job of watching out for Aiden when they are together. We went to Marineland and they were so cute running off to the rides together, holding hands to make sure they stayed together. They are really great buddies!

Owen is...

Not so little anymore! He was standing up in his crib yesterday morning when I went into his room. He was so excited! He continues to try to do it again, but hasn't quite figured out how he did it. He's gotten very good at getting up on his knees, so that keeps him happy for now. We got a huge watermelon last week and weighed it to see how much it weighed (it was 36lbs!)and then we weighed Owen and Hudson. Owen was 21lbs. and Hudson was 27lbs. Hudson better watch out or Owen will soon weigh more than him! I don't know how long Owen is, but he is wearing a lot of 18 month clothes (he's only 9 mos.) and some of the one pieces are already too short in the torso length. He has 5 teeth in, he's gotten 3 more since last posted, and another one almost through. He has also been doing WAY better at night. He's still getting up in the middle of the night, but he's been sleeping all night more than not and he's also been staying up a shorter time. I'm sure now that I put that in writing, he'll be up for 3 hrs. tonight. It just seems to be that way.
Owen loves crawling under the dining room table, trying to get through the gate in the kitchen and trying to get into the pantry. He's also loves army men! He moves FAST when he sees something he knows he's not supposed to have. He's figured out he can crawl into Cullen and Aiden's room from his room, so he always heads in there to see if there are any goodies on the floor. He is definitely a character and he keeps me on my toes!

Owen at 8 months

Owen is everywhere and into everything. He's started scooting all over the place and he has become very fast! I set him down and he's halfway across the room before I know it. He's got blisters on the big toy and pad underneath it on his right foot, because that's the one he pushes with. He's starting to arch up off the floor more, so maybe regular crawling will come soon. Of course his scooting allows him to get into everything, so I'm constantly darting around the house picking up small toys, cords, food, whatever is laying around. Yesterday he bit off a piece of foam sword and was chewing on it!

He is hilarious too! He gets the best "Heebie, jeebies", you know when something just makes you involuntarily shudder. He's got the noise down and everything "Bbbbbbrrrr"! He graced me with some of that hilarity last night at 1:00am when he was not sleeping. He also loves to smack his spoon of food and he is fast and comes out of nowhere. His arm looks like a comedy movie where someone else's arm comes out of nowhere and smacks them. He's also a clicker. When he's hungry, he clicks his tongue. He's been doing it since he was about 5 months old and it is too cute! He's started eating cheerios and gerber puffs, along with his teething biscuits. It's so nice to be able to keep him occupied with cheerios during meals.

He has 2 teeth now and some REALLY long hair. It's light and fluffy, just like everyone else's was, so he gets some good crazy hair. He's also figured out how to turn his crib toy on, which is awesome! I can't believe he'll be one in 3 1/2 half months.

And then there's Hudson...

Ahh, Hudson! Hudson is a whirlwind and we can barely keep up with him. His word skills and physical abilities are CRAZY! He is a motormouth, which he repeated after hearing the first time, that repeats any big word he hears. Overseed, Chiropractor, Ibuprofen, Motorcycle, Onomatopoeia, Cincinnati, the list goes on. You name it and he immediately repeats it. He's got our roles down too "Mommy kean(clean) up, Daddy fik(fix) it". He loves M&M's and calls them "mnmnmnmnms". He can also fix himself a bowl of cereal, well not really, but almost and has already mastered the child proof doorknob in his room. He knows his ABC's and can count to 10, and sometimes beyond. Yesterday he climbed on top of the toy box and took the hungry hippo game down from the shelf, just like he sees his big brothers do.

He has used the potty twice (hey, you gotta start somewhere!) and loves to brush his own teeth. He loves to play pretend guns and has the sounds down perfectly. He has recently started waking up during storms and does not like the thunder, "It's too woud", so we have some Mommy and Daddy snuggle time and then he goes back to his bed. He is such a character, but also 2, so I'm either laughing hysterically or wanting to pull my hair out! He is so lucky to have two awesome older brothers that do a great job including him in all their games and playing, even though he makes it hard sometimes.

Hudson is also very OCD. He turns all his frosted mini wheats the same way, sugar side up, before eating them. He also wants all the groceries put away immediately when we get home and continues harping on it until you do it. He reminds me of Cullen when he was little. I'm so excited for Owen to get big enough to be Hudson's little buddy, because I know Hudson will be a great big brother!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Aiden is 5! He had a stuff your own dinosaur party and invited 4 of his friends from preschool. We made a dinosaur cake for him and they hunted for dinosaur egss. Everyone had a great time!

Aiden has grown so much this year! He is writing very well, knows his phone number and address pretty well, is learning to spell and read and has started riding his bike without training wheels. At the beginning of the year, we didn't even think he knew the alphabet. In the learning/sponge analogy, he's the kind of learner that only wrings himself out occasionally. We never think he's learining anything and then all of the sudden he says something and we're like "Wow! Where did that come from?"

Aiden is very happy go lucky, but also very sensitive. He's always got a smile and a million thoughts to say and he says them very quickly, because he's afraid he's going to forget them. He really enjoys Owen and the fact that Owen enjoys him so much. He loves to read and be read too and also loves listening to story CD's. He also loves playing with army men and legos. He is enjoying hockey and is becoming a good skater. He actually stops better than Cullen! He also seems to be really good at baseball. I can't wait to see what the next year brings for him

Cullen is 7!

Cullen turned 7 over a month ago and I can't believe how the time has flown. He had a great birthday party and invited 4 boys and 2 girls. It was CRAZY, but everyone had a good time.
He's lost 5 teeth this year and his new teeth are HUGE. He loves playing soccer and hockey and wants to play basketball too. He's doing great with his piano lessons. Of course, he has to "practice" and put effort into playing, which he's not used to, so we hear complaints every once and awhile. He does great in school and without much effort I think. He regularly gets the challenge list in spelling and attempts the challenge in math and usually gets it right.
I saw a great analogy about kids and knowledge on another blog that perfectly describes my kids too. Kids are like sponges. They soak new knowledge up easily. Some of them wring themselves out often, so you know exactly what they're learning and what they know. This is Cullen. He continually rewards you by regurgating knowledge that you have taught him. He is always very concerned about other people getting into trouble, which continually gets him into trouble! He knows he needs to mind his own business, but he can't seem to help himself.
He is a great big brother and does not seem bothered by the fact that he's the oldest of 4, not yet anyway! He tries to help Aiden, loves to cuddle with Hudson and likes to carry Owen around. He's a great helper, when he wants to be! =)

*Update* Cullen had his 7 year well visit and was 58lbs and 4ft 4in. tall

Did I fall off the face of the earth...

No. But I feel like it. It has been more than 8 months of broken sleep for me and my mind feels it. Things are so busy and it's hard for my sleep deprived mind to keep up with them. We have had some promising signs of normal sleep returning for me, but nothing permanent as of yet. Besides the sleep issue, Owen is a great baby. He is very happy and content. He's not a big formula drinker, but he loves to eat, so he makes sure he eats plenty of food. He began rolling everywhere when he was around 7 months old and finally started sitting up on his own. He also got his first tooth, lower middle right, at 7 months, which means the pattern of each child getting teeth later than the first is broken. Cullen got his first at 8 months, so Owen even beat him out. He's now working on his second one at 8 months. He's eating teething biscuits and puffs and is really good at mashing these up with his gums. He should be able to try other table food soon. He loves to shake his head "no" and started dancing to the music from one of his toys. He seems to already copy our motions when we shake our head or pat him on the back. He's also started doing push ups and can almost push himself up to his knees. He'll be crawling soon and I hope that exhausts him enough to help him sleep all night. Fingers crossed!!!