The Reception

The wedding was followed by some lively cake eating...

I am beginning to be concerned about their perception of the weddings we recently attended.

Peter and Isabelle have been calling each other wife and husband ever since the wedding. I am sure, at some point, we will have to deal with this.

The Wedding

We apologize to all those who didn't receive an invitation, as the mother and father of the bride and groom only discovered the wedding plans during a pre-lunch conversation. Apparently you had to live in this house, and be stuffed, to receive an official invitation. But through the power of eaves dropping, we were prepared with the camera to capture this video for any other would-be attendants.

Musical Beds

Isabelle is absolutely delighted with her little sister, not that the boys don't love her as well, but there seems to be a special connection for Isabelle with her sister. Therefor, we, especially Isabelle, decided it was time to establish a "girl's room" and a "boy's room." So all day we talked about the big move and all parties were excited as we (Jer) took apart Daniel's crib/toddler bed and put up Luci's future crib. Three little sets of hands helped daddy move various pieces of Daniel's bed to the "boy room," drag the mattress through the hallway, screw rails, walls, toys and each other together, and finally lean the mattress against the bunk-beds for a far too exciting indoor slide, before the change was complete.

The excitement was building as all prepared for bed, and the anticipation for a good night's rest was high until big sister realized Luci would not be sleeping in her crib that night, but in the bassinet next to her mother, whom she desperately wants to visit multiple times during the night. We had not realized Luci would "keep Isabelle safe" during the night.

So, Peter, Isabelle and Daniel all lie down in the same room while Joe-joe (the cat) enjoys the nursery by himself. Despite our hopes and pleadings with his guardian angel, Peter can not help but whisper, in tones only audible to Daniel's ears, tauntings to make any big brother proud. Daniel, being an excellent younger sibling, returns these taunts with ear piercing "NOOOOOOO"s!!! Thus, the music begins, and Peter and Isabelle, losing game one, are removed to Mom and Dad's bed, until the tauntings resume, this time by little sister who having now lost game two is exiled to the nursery, yes, without the six week old for protection. But, after some intense protest, all three are asleep and Mom and Dad naively return the older two to their beds, place Luci in the bassinet and settle in for a good night's rest.

At some unknown hour of the night Peter wakes, crying in anguish over a toy theft suffered in his sleep which causes Daddy to fly out of bed, hoping to comfort the victim before the other dreamers are disturbed. Unfortunately, Peter is not quickly comforted and Daniel, waking, realizes his opportunity and threatens mutinous screaming if not taken to bed with Daddy. Luci hearing his cries decides it is time to nurse, and joins Mommy in bed. Daniel's demands are met, and Daniel joins Daddy, Mommy and Luci in bed. After what seems like hours of poking, prodding, kicking and squirming, Mommy and Luci retreat to the nursery bed and Daddy re-negotiates with Daniel. Succeeding, Daddy returns Daniel to his bed, but Peter's toy thieves have returned and Daddy now joins Peter in bed to stand guard. The movement wakes Isabelle, who decides to try her luck in Mom and Dad's bed, but finding no one there, returns to her own. After spending hours on guard, Daddy attempts to return to his own bed, but Daniel, armed with new tactics, cuts him off. Remembering the last negotiation, Daddy heads for the nursery, dumping Daniel in Luci's crib, and Mommy and Luci return to their bed, only to find Isabelle spread over three fourths of it. Leaving Daddy to fight for a spot on the bed, Mommy and Luci now retreat to the recliner. Uncertain as to how Daddy's battle transpired, but longing for a less vertical bed, Mommy and Luci cautiously creep back to their bed to enjoy the final moments of the night before some child rushes in to hold their sleeping sister.

As a testimony to the harm caused by sleep deprivation, we have chosen to continue this and similar routines every night, not because it would be too difficult to take Daniel's bed apart and return it to the nursery, nor because the children all delight in "sleeping" in the same room, but because we have felt our lives lacked a certain level of excitement the past few weeks and this is our cheapest solution.

Goodnight...

Night-time (and nap time) are a wonderfully mysterious time when the wild portion of our house disappears behind closed doors and we can pretend order and peace once again reign in our home. But once the munchkins have returned it is delightful to see what occupied their imaginations while "resting."

Sometimes one "night-night" is just not enough

and he must make the most of every moment with them.

Luci has discovered a more reliable source of comfort (she is more Hoelscher everyday).

But Isabelle is constantly distracted by her comfort animals. Today five of them "just crawled right up into her pants to sleep there" (notice the horse head sticking out), and remarkably, they all did sleep that way!

Pictures

Recent Train construction

Daniel has decided he is still momma's baby, especially when I am busy. Here he crawled into Luci's bouncer and started calling, "Mama, baby!"

Isabelle still loves holding Luci every day, and Luci seems to enjoy it most times. She is actually very comforted by Isabelle's voice, and at times, Isabelle is better at stroking her face and putting her to sleep than I am!

Peter and Isabelle included Luci in their animal game, much to Luci's delight. Later, I found Luci sleeping on a cow, a remnant of the barnyard adventure, I suppose.

(Also, this "little" girl weighed 11 lb 8 oz at five weeks! I can't believe how big this girl is getting, but that is probably her best defence against "play time.")

Teeth

While standing before the bathroom mirror, vigorously attacking the would be cavity causing plaque that insists upon being in my mouth, I became aware of two bright munchkin eyes and one wide little grin that had made their way up the toilet and onto the sink counter and were observing my every aggressive stroke.

Before even meeting his gaze, the munchkin declares his request in such high pitched, delighted terms as to communicate his certainty of already being accepted, "Tee, Tee! Me! Meeeee!"

What mother could resist such eager companionship in the war on plaque? So Daniel, armed with a little yellow tooth brush and more toothpaste than necessary, but less than he attempted to squeeze out, begins to mimic my every assault, carefully watching every move of my toothbrush. As the battle comes to an end, and I fill my mouth with water to wash away the offending plaque, Daniel eagerly scoops some into his mouth. And thinking what fun it is to have this little companion inches from my face, enamored with my every move, I slowly swish the water letting him attempt to repeat my actions and then spit it out. He too, still inches from my face, swishes the water, and, while looking straight at me... spits.

Table Talk

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While eating dinner the other night, Isabelle made the acute observation...

"Hey, there are one, two, three people wearing clothes (mommy, daddy, Luci) and there are one, two people wearing pajamas, and Daniel, well he actually just looks like he is wearing pajamas, but really he is just wearing skin instead of only blood and bones!"

Having been previously unaware of his clothing options, we all decided we were thankful that Daniel seems so fond of wearing his skin.

This picture was supposed to document our gleeful consumption of homemade strawberry shortcake (that same evening, notice Daniel's skin), with a fork full of sumptuous cake poised before each consumer's mouth. We waited too long, and Peter could not resist consuming, at which Daniel could not resist laughing exaggeratedly, which caused Daddy to forget to pose, and Isabelle, well her cake never made it anywhere near her mouth.

But the cake was still good.

Daniel's Hide-out

Daniel has found a new way of dealing with the angst of no longer being THE baby but not yet being one of the big kids. It is his own personal hide-out (where he seems to stash "night-nights" to get a fix while no one is looking).

Pictures...

Peter and Isabelle wanted me to take a picture of them, all dressed up for mass (our church can be very bright at times).

Daniel also wanted me to take a picture of him,

But what he is doing, I don't know?

And of course, anytime Joe-joe and the kids are getting along, a picture must be taken.

We can't forget our sweet little Luci,

who is beginning to really enjoy watching her siblings.

A LARGE Family.....

Having three siblings, and knowing few others who could boast of so many, confirmed in my young mind that I was from a truly "large" family, that is, until going to UD. With so many friends having seven, eight, and nine plus siblings, I realized having four kids barely removed you from the "small family" category. Therefore, when we learned we were blessed with Luciana last November, we did not fully appreciate the transitional line we were crossing, at least from a manufacturer's stand point.

• Two adults, two children (one of whom is a very wobbly three year old), a high chair and an infant carrier can no longer be reasonable forced around the standard fast food four person table/booth. Not if one hopes to consume food while sitting, at least.
• Cars, although capable of holding our family, are sadly, incapable of accommodating our accompanying carseats. We are resigned to life in a mini-van.
• Shopping carts, the fancy versions with attached cars and big kid seats, can actually hold three children, when wedged properly into the two child seats. And the tight quarters guarantee that fights can not progress beyond grunts and squeals as no child can raise their arms above the elbow. Unfortunately, a large amount of olive oil and a shoe horn are necessary to remove the children once you are finished shopping.
• Two adults do not have enough sides to separate four children during mass, resulting in an elaborate, although slightly noisy, "musical pews" system whereby the most aggressive offender (at that particular moment) is hosted over heads to be exiled at the end of the pew. At present the system could be renamed, "Daniel Juggling."
• We need a larger bathtub, or smaller children

Careful, this might make you sick...

In case you have ever wondered what Jeremiah's nose sees as he jumps on the trampoline over three squealing kids...

Fish'n at the Lake House

Last weekend we went to Uncle Richard's Lake House for a quick fishing trip and escape from the city. The kids had a great time fishing, jumping on the trampoline and exploring nature.

They decided they should use Uncle Richard's hats while fishing, to keep the sun off their faces,

and perhaps to keep them from seeing all the seaweed they were about to catch.

A quick pre-fishing jump...

And here is a video of one of Peter's catches (this video could easily be called tedious and dull, so consider yourself warned, if the "fishing" part wasn't enough to warn you).

Baptism...

Luciana Maria Ellis was Baptized into the Church on August 23, 2008

With Aunt Ju Ju and Uncle Philip-pie as her God parents,

And almost all of her family watching. (We missed the rest of you!)

And Big Sis was there to examine the water and oil

And Doodle-Dan as the camera man

Luci Pictures

Luci at one week

Luci at 2 Weeks

Luci at 3 Weeks

Isabelle and Peter love being with their sister!

Luci is feeling the effects of the Paparazzi...

And that is all your going to get!