9 months old today!!!

We can't believe our baby girl is 9 months old. One year is coming awfully fast. My friend Kelly gave us this adorable outfit which finally fits (yay!). Sulli is really admiring her jeans in the first photo.

BEFORE:

Here is Sullivan in her old highchair (previously used by all 3 of her brothers). Her expression speaks for itself!

AFTER!

This is Sulli in her beautiful girlie highchair, a generous gift to us by my sweet friend Kelly McClintock! Look at how she's literally LOVING it. She feels much more like a lady now in her fancy new chair.:) Thank you, Kelly!

Things to do in my new highchair:

Since I still don't eat, I like to look very busy...

... or just gaze out the window and day dream.

Handsome Hubby

I like these pictures of Sulli... and Will. :)

Breakfast Cowboy

For the past week or two, Levi has been coming down to breakfast with his cowboy hat on. I love that he is his very own person!

Grandma and Grandpa

Will's parents finally got to come for a visit this last weekend; it had been a long time since we were all together! We all had fun. Will and his dad had some special time together working on our new house. Thank you for all of your help, Papa Jim! The kids had a great time playing lots of games with Grandma. Thank you both for driving down here to spend time with us and help us so much! We look forward to seeing you again in July!

Grandpa, meet Sullivan!

Well, Grandpa and Sullivan finally got to meet! They seemed smitten with each other, as you can see. Everywhere we went, Grandpa carried her around so they really had a chance to get acquainted!

Extra love

The kids enjoyed getting extra love from their grandparents!

Early birthdays

Grandma and Grandpa got Zane his long-awaited Wii Lego Star Wars! He won't be 8 until March 8th, but it sure was fun to have an early birthday celebration. Levi got this fancy blue suit, a puzzle and a clock game. He will be 3 on February 28th, the day he shares a birthday with Grandpa!

Little Stinker

I thought Levi and I were having a sweet little moment here for this picture. Ha!

Separation Anxiety

Well, Sulli has finally reached the age where she is attached to Mommy! She doesn't mind if other people hold her, as long as I am in the room. In this sweet photo :), we were happily cooking together in the kitchen when I walked around the corner to get something. She couldn't handle it, and then when I came back, she kept crying to really make me pay for my mistake. So I had plenty of time to grab my camera to capture Sullivan's other side - the 'sin nature' side. It's hard to believe these adorable little babies have one, isn't it? You can't really tell, but she is actually cutting a tiny tooth - her left front.

Oh, HAPPY DAY!

I was planning on waiting until Levi turned 3, but he decided to potty train himself! He started waking up with dry diapers and insisted on going in the toilet. I took him to Target to pick out his very own underwear, which he is proudly showing off - while flexing his manly muscles. We are very proud of our Levi!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Sulli is modeling her lovely new outfit from Nonnie and Popsie. She, along with the rest of us, wishes all of our dear friends and family a most wonderful - and romantic - Valentine's Day.

Chad and Kristy Wood

Will and I loved having Chad and Kristy, along with their girls, over for dinner. We all had so much fun! I had to post their picture because I have been telling people about Kristy for years now. She has been my small group leader for homeschool since I started teaching Zane Kindergarten. She is an amazing source of encouragement for me, and I really admire her. I hope I never get moved out of her group! She and Chad both have such an evident love for the Lord. We will be living quite close to them in Temecula, so hopefully we will get together more often.

Levi's new friend

This is Tiffany Wood, and she and Levi hit it off right away! She is such a sweet girl. I neglected to snap a picture of her sister, Hannah, who held Sullivan for a long time. (Picture a 10-year-old Reese Witherspoon; the resemblance is uncanny!!!). Both of these girls will make wonderful big sisters to the little girl, Shan, their family is adopting from China! What a blessed little girl she will be to be a part of this amazing family!!!

My funny Valentines

Nonnie and Popsie sent these handsome red shirts, along with some See's chocolates, for the boys. They could not wait until Valentine's Day to wear them; they put them on right away and asked for a picture! They also wore them to church this last Sunday and got lots of "ooohs" and "ahhhs." They are so funny! Thank you, N and P!

Basic black

My good friend Eden bought Sullivan several very fashionable tops, including this one; every girl needs one in basic black. I think she likes it!

Flower power

Mom, I took this picture so you could see Sullivan in the sweater you bought her. There aren't very many days when she can wear it in our neck of the woods!

We're MOVING!!!

Well, as if life weren't busy enough as it is, we are adding a HUGE project to it: renovating this great house we found and moving into it! We have been praying for God's leading in making an investment that is smart and will hopefully pave the way to building our home on the land that we love in La Cresta. I told Will a few months back, "There's no way I'm making a move until it's to the house we want to stay in." And then, all of a sudden, I completely changed my thoughts about the whole thing when I realized what a great investment buying a house in this market could be - as well as the prospect of having more space for our family, including a school room! Will has been praying for our unity in this decision, and the Lord's hand in the whole thing was evident when we "stumbled" upon this house. There it was, in this wonderful area near the Temecula wine country called Crowne Hill. We were a bit taken back when we walked inside and saw the less-than-desirable shape it was in, though. But we are really excited about starting from scratch with it and making it our own! We are currently in escrow and praying for great renters for our current house. Thanks to our family and friends who have been praying about this with us since we considered placing an offer on it; we offered low and left it in God's hands... and here we are! Thank you, Allen, for your great generosity in helping us so far and to all our great friends who have already offered moving help, childcare and materials at cost! Wow!! We have certainly been blessed with wonderful people in our lives. Mom, Dad, Mama Jude and Papa Jim, thank you for your generous offers to fly out and help us. We will gladly oblige! We will keep everyone posted each step of the way...

SWEETIE-pie

Oh! So silly!!

Our little bundle may not be eating yet, but she sure loves to be in her highchair with the family at mealtimes. Yes, it is true that I am relishing each and every moment of her being our last baby, but it is not my choosing to solely breastfeed her, with nothing else in her diet. I have been trying to get her to eat cereal (mixed every possible way for variety) since November, and she will have none of it. I was trying each and every day, and I think I was making it worse. She would see me going for the cereal box and already have her head turned around the opposite way. So I give it a week or so between trying these days, and still no luck, so far. Friends keep telling me that "natural doctors" say that it is actually healthier for breastfed babies to not have any solids until after 12 months, but I am worried that she won't be eating any cake on her first birthday! Oh the thought of it! But I know that God created the perfect food for babies, and He's blessed me with plenty of it. And Sullivan is thriving, so.... Anyways, she is being so silly in these pictures that it actually looks like some of these smiles hurt. I can tell you one thing, I LOVE her and her brothers so much that THAT hurts.

Loving his "Sullivie"

Titus affectionately calls his baby sissy "Sullivie." He adores her and has to be reminded, over and over, at each meal to please sit down and eat. He would much rather be loving on her and picking up her toys for her that she throws again and again. I think she knows exactly what she's doing. And she's happy to give him love back.

God is good!!!

God graciously answered our prayers for a safe surgery for Titus. We spent January 25th at Children's Hospital in San Diego to get his "spitz nevus" removed. This is a common mole that has the menacing title "juvenile melanoma," even though it was not malignant. But it is composed of cells that greatly resemble melanoma - minus the cancer part. Confusing, I know. There is a great debate between dermatologists as to whether they should be fully excised or not. Titus' was atypical enough that his dermatologist (who treated his hemangioma when he was a baby), who happens to be world-renowned, wanted to get it out. This will prevent any question of it changing in the future. We hated to have him go under general anesthesia, but we had to give our worry to the Lord, knowing that Titus' life, like all of ours, is in His hands anyways. That is so freeing. God went above and beyond our request, giving us an absolutely wonderful day. 3 1/2 hours at the hospital went by so smoothly, without a complaint from any of the kids (yes, we had them all with us) - not even a peep from baby Sullivan. Titus was not afraid at all, just a little quiet. The procedure took about 15 minutes, and he snapped out of his sleep in about 15 more. We walked into recovery to find him enjoying a cherry popsicle. His brothers were each given one and they had their "popsicle party" that Titus had been talking about for a month (thank you, Dr. Cunningham for calling it that!). Our hungry boy who had been fasting all morning wanted to go to his favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory, so that's what we did... and had a lovely celebration lunch. I did not take my camera, but I got these pictures of our little trooper after we got home. He got a bath and wanted to play the Wii with his brother. Thank you to our many wonderful family members and friends who had Titus covered in prayer!