Little Brother's homecoming!

I can't believe that my younger brother has come home from his mission! Wow, how fast time flies and how old I am starting to feel! I drove with my sister Melissa and our babes to Georgia to surprise him when he came home. It was actually surprising how peaceful the ride was from Dallas to Atlanta. I was shocked that Spencer didn't go a little crazy in his car seat, because somehow we managed to only stop twice! I know, only twice with three kids under the age of 5. I really thought we were going to lose Emma (4 years old) at the end! She's, of course, the only one not in diapers, and so we had to somehow mentally deceive her into thinking she didn't have to go and that we were only 5 minutes away, when in fact we were like 45 minutes away... When we arrived at my parents home, our fears of her peeing in the car left, but then came back when we realized she could pee in the doorway, with all her excitement to see her uncles and cousins! You'll be happy to know she made "most" of it into the toilet:) We arrived last Sunday and Richard wasn't expected until Tuesday evening, so we were able to get ourselves situated enjoy seeing family and have plenty of time to prepare for Richards arrival (making banners, cleaning house etc.) Spencer loved all the commotion and seeing all the different faces, it entertained him well. Tuesday night My mom and dad picked up Richard from the airport, fed him a bunch of lies about how we all couldn't make it, only to be surprised when he walked in the door to see all of us waiting for him, He definitely was surprised and happy to all of us, old faces and a couple of new ones that he had not yet met:) It was a great reunion. None of the spouses were able to come, due to work, they were missed, but it was nice to have just the siblings able to hang out together. Us older 5 kids were able to sneak out and play a game just the 5 of us, just like old times. We ate a lot, watched movies, slide shows, pictures, story telling, hiking,swimming, playing, talking, and a little drama...All together the trip was very fun and a little nostalgic:) I'll post the pictures soon!

Spencer

When Spencer came into the world, we were the happiest parents on earth, like I am sure all parents are. We feel so blessed to have the responsibility of this little man. He brings such joy to us. We smile differently now, in a whole unique way we never did before, and we only share that special smile with him, and him with us.:)

Crib Problems..

Me and Joseph are starting to get permanent bags underneath our eyes! Spencer is not doing very well at night, to say the least. Ever since he has learned to roll over, we have had to get up every night, sometimes several times (one night I got up 7 times!) going into his room rolling him back over, getting his face away from the puddle of drool he has formed, calm him down with some singing, turn on the music, the sound effects, the projector, anything and everything that makes sound and images to soothe him. We then pop the binky back into his mouth and make a run for the door, sneaking out without him noticing. We slam our bodies back into bed, fall back into sleep....only an hour later, you hear the inevitable from the baby monitor.... process starts all over again! We have tried propping rolled up blankets on his sides, starting him out on his side against one side of the crib with a blanket... nothing. So, I guess we are just going to have to give in and buy a sleep positioner, hopefully there will be more calm sleepful nights in the future! I'll let you know how it goes.