"Luiken, Party of Five!"

It started out with the two of us.  True love meant to be.

Sweet Breena came along & then there were three.

We were so loving parenthood, but our hearts desired more.

And so we welcomed Eli & became a family of four.

It has been such a joy watching our children grow & thrive.  We are excited to share that in September we will become a family of five!

Conversation with Bree

I meant to post before Bree fell off the chair & I felt the need to complain...anyway this is a conversation I had with Breena this morning after reading a book about heaven.

Me: Breena, who lives in Heaven?
Bree: God!
Me: Yes. And who else?
Bree: Great Grandpa & Maggie. Great Grandpa is happy in heaven. He doesn't cry anymore.  Maggie is playing in the ball pit!

I never once told Breena that Great Grandpa doesn't cry in heaven.  In fact I don't remember ever even seeing him cry.  The things that pop out of her mouth often take me by surprise. 

The week that wouldn't end

Is anyone else so OVER this week?  We started off our week by taking in Breena for pink eye on Monday.  We missed school that day.  Tuesday the kids had an appointment with ENT while we waited for hours as the doctor got the okay from cardiology to allow Eli to have surgery (due to his heart).  We started our day off on Wednesday at the hospital at 6am waiting for Eli's surgery- and spent the rest of the day trying to keep him comfortable.  Yesterday was okay I guess, but Eli spiked a fever and was terribly uncomfortable.  And today Breena fell off of a barstood and smacked her eye on the corner resulting in her first black eye.  We have another doctor's appointment this afternoon for Breena.  I am fully expecting a visit from child protection services to explain why my TWO YEAR OLD looks like she got sucker punched at a bar.  Yep. I am definately done with this week.  D. O. N. E.

Tubes & Adnoids

Eli had tubes put in this morning and adnoids removed.  The operation went fine but he had a hard time after.  He is at home resting and starting to play a bit.  Eli sure enjoyed flirting with the nurses before surgery!

Beer

My husband really enjoys the hobby of making beer.  He started just before we got married about four years ago.  He doesn't do it very often now that we have kids, especially because it takes a full afternoon to brew.  He started his last batch about a month ago.  Breena was quite interested in the whole process.  She watched him intently as he stirred the pot and checked on his brew every night for the next week. 
One night before her bath Breena collected all of her little play cups, spoons & bowls and threw them into the tub.  I watched her as she carefully poured one cup of water into another.  I asked what she was doing.  Her response, "Breena's making beer".

I sure hope she doesn't go around playing "make beer" when she is at school or we may have a visit from the authorities at our house!

He Talks!

Eli has started to say his first words!  His first word was "dada" and then began with "mama".  Want to guess what came next?  "GET DOWN"!  Our little monkey climbs up onto EVERYTHING and hears us say "Eli, Get Down" probably a hundred times per day.  To bad he doesn't understand what that means yet, we would avoid many head bumps! 

11 Months

My little boy turns one a month from today.  I can hardly believe it.

*sigh*  My babies are growing up too fast.