I haven't been very good about blogging lately. Last week was our sweet Jared's 4th birthday.
We had a fun and lazy day together. We spent all morning lounging around in our pjs and playing the Wii. When a friend showed up at lunchtime to drop a gift off for Jared I was mortified by the fact that I was still in my pajamas, but we were having a good time so it was all worth it. That night he opened gifts while dinner was cooking, he was so patient all day, I couldn't put it off any longer. His celebrating actually started on Sunday when we had his birthday with the Gunnell family. He was able to share the day with his cousin Josh, who was turning 1.
Jared is such a fun little boy to have around. He has the cutest personality and likes to think he is older than he really is. He brings such joy and laughter to our home. He always has a funny expression on his face or a funny comment to add to the conversation. We love him so much. He is a wonderful big brother and I have to say that he is a mama's boy. He always wants to sit by mom or have mom do things for him. He would rather wait for me to get him what he needs than have dad or Ashleigh do it for him. It's actually kind of annoying at times, but cute as well. His passions these days are Ben 10, Bakugan and Legos. He also is really good at Wii Sports. He is very excited to start pre-school in the fall.
When I was pregnant with Jared we decided to NOT find out what we were having. We already had a girl and a boy so it didn't matter to us. We were looking forward to being surprised, although Ashleigh really wanted a sister. This pregnancy brought on Gestational Diabetes for the first time (again with Austin) and I found out right after Thanksgiving. Nothing like having to go through the Christmas season not being able to eat sweets:( Anyway, I was able to control my sugar levels with diet and all was well. Jared was born on his due date, January 27, late in the day. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21 inches long. We had thought that he would be bigger, because of the diabetes, but he was my smallest to that point. It was a great moment to have him make his entrance into the world and have the doctor announce "It's a boy!" We were very excited and had a name already picked out for him. Ashleigh was a little disappointed that she didn't get a sister, but her big sister/mommy's helper instinct kicked right in. She and Jordan were both so happy to have a baby to play with and love and help out with.
Jared has been trying to catch up to his brother and sister almost since birth. He has always loved to do what they are doing and wants to be big like they are. He has had moments of dressing up in Ashleigh's jewelry to playing video games and light sabers with Jordan. He started walking on his 1st birthday and hasn't slowed down since. He loves to ride quads at the cabin and pal around with his cousins, especially Zach. He has also been our most accident prone child. At 1 1/2 years old he put his hand on the treadmill, while I was running on it. It tore the skin off of two of his fingers and it took months to heal. At 2 1/2 he and his brother were horsing around and he cracked his head open on another piece of exercise equipment and that required a staple on the back of his head. He is a trooper and always gets right back up as if nothing happened.
We are so blessed to have Jared in our home. He is a sweet and loving boy and we love him so much. It was so much fun to celebrate him and his birthday last week. WE LOVE YOU BUDDY!!
I can't believe that it has been just over 6 months already. The time seems to just fly by. Austin is growing so fast and he is a complete joy to have in our home. He brings laughter and smiles to everyone who sees him. He is now 6 1/2 months old and yesterday he had is well checkup at the doctors office. He is 18 lbs. 14 oz. (50-75th percentile) and he is 27 1/2 inches long (75th %). He is sitting up on his own and has been since before Christmas. He is rolling all over the place. I put him down on the floor to play and he is all the way across the room as soon as I turn my head. He still has no teeth, not that he isn't trying, the poor kid has a river running out of his mouth most days. The doctors said his gums are smooth and there aren't any teeth even close to coming through. He had four shots and I have to brag on him for a moment, he didn't let out a scream until the 3rd shot was in. I also have to give kudos to the nurse, she did a great job. Austin also had a breakthrough a few weeks ago and we are finally doing the baby food thing on a consistent basis. It is great, he loves just about everything that I give him, except for the rice cereal (he can't stand the stuff). We are working on drinking juice and water from a sippy cup and we are hoping that he will start sleeping through the night very soon.
Chillin out in the cabin while the rest play in the snow
Hangin out with cousin Josh
On New Year's Day we headed north, to the cabin, for some fun in the snow. Ashleigh and Jordan got to play in the snow a little bit last year, but for the rest of us it was the first time in a long time. I was really looking forward to it. We stopped in Forest Lakes on the way up, it was beautiful to see all of the snow. There were people pulling off the side of the road all along the way. We parked and climbed up and over an enormous snowbank. I threw a few snowballs at the kids and Ashleigh made a mini snowman then it was back on the road to reach our destination.
There wasn't as much snow at the cabin, but still enough to have some fun. We all got gloves and jackets on and headed out for a snowball fight. 
The next day we did some sledding and the kids just had a blast being out in the snow.
Later in the day we headed out to the back lots with the quads and sleds for some more fun.
On our last morning there we went out sledding for one last time and I wanted to make a snowman, but the snow wasn't right for snowman making. We found a really good hill for sledding and had a blast doing that.
