Yeah… we’re just as shocked as you are – Where has the time gone!!!!

Here’s a few pics of the little professor that we took today for at five months old exactly, and he’s just too cute not to show off a bit!

I love this one, very Tennyson, he’s doing his very favorite thing:

… eating his hand…

or his shirt…

or thinking about if he can eat those feet…

and ofcourse, those big giant blue eyes…. seriously this is just right off the camera, this kid is soooo shiny

Even though the time seems to be flying by, I’m not over exaggerating when I say – every day I look at my baby boy and just think how lucky we are to have him.  He is such a little gem, and we adore him. 

These past five months have been filled to the brim with baby love, not just by this doting mommy, but by 3 big adoring brothers and a daddy that can’t hide how much he loves this little guy.

Tennyson is one wonderful little guy, and pretty much perfect if you ask us!  Here’s to the months to come!

… would you be this annoyed over it?! Serious little Tennyson was just a bit freaked out that I insisted on kissing his little cheek AND taking his picture at the same time!  It is so funny he’ll be all giggly and giddy, and then I’ll get out the camera and he gets so serious on me!

I think he thinks he needs to concentrate to have his picture taken properly!

Movin’ - Well this weekend was BIG in my word, because the kids have been asking to play on the computer more and more, we have been trying to figure out the best solution for how to make that happen – add to that the fact that I’ve started playing with my paper crafting again, and it was starting to take over the living room a bit – so we decided it was time to move g’s computer out of our room and set it up so the boys could use it too – Friday we hit up IKEA, and picked up a desk and chair so we could set up a space in our playroom/family room area:

Also, because Gareth is out of school for the summer, the timing couldn’t be better to set up a new activity for him and a new rewards system to encourage good behavior and doing chores. So I set up a little rewards system where the boys can all earn time for playing on the computer or for playing video games:

The boys were very excited about decorating their own envelopes, and so far it has been great, especially for Mr. Gareth who in all his almost 8-year-oldness needed a bit encouragement to get his attitude in check about doing his chores. Each little ticket is worth 30 mins, and they earn them by doing the chores I ask them to do (with 1 warning/reminder or less) after 2 short days, I have to say I’m feeling rather impressed with my idea – I think it will be great for us this summer!

As if that isn’t enough – I now have MY OWN SPACE at the desk in our bedroom, AND I was able to take all my poor neglected craft supplies out of hiding in the garage, and set up a craft space for myself again! Look at this great space:

I can’t help but feel inspired looking at it all, and I’m SOOOOO anxious to get to play with my paper more now!!! Hybrid scrapping here I come!

Changin’: Well believe it or not, as I type this, I have only 26 minutes remaining until I am a mother to an EIGHT YEAR OLD! I just can not believe that I’ve been at this mom thing for so long! Well on Sunday we met my parents for lunch, because it is my Dads birthday too (today happy birthday dad!) And they decided spur of the moment to take our 3 older guys (poor little t is too young still to go!) The boys had a blast, and my Gareth got roller-blades for his birthday! Also, Grandpa taught him to ride his bike with out training wheels! We haven’t done a ton of bike riding because Gareth is always glued to his scooter, but now that he has a taste of the two wheel action he is HOOKED!

Here’s a picture of Him zooming along:

And, the boys all together I have a feeling our summer will be filled with lots of scenes like this:

And as if that isn’t enough changing for this poor mama’s heart with my oldest turning 8, riding bikes, finishing second grade, and roller-blading around, my youngest is also changing on me! Today Tennyson is officially FOUR MONTHS OLD! He had his four month check up and the Dr. said (and I quote) “He is absolutely perfect”

Here is all 14.2 pounds of him at the Dr’s office:

and a little “hi, I’m four months old” face for you too:

Poor little guy got 4 shots and is not as happy with me now as he was earlier in the day, I know it is short term, but I hate to see him all sad! I’m hoping he feels better tomorrow!

and finally Shakin’: So, although I had a bit of a snag with my whole treadmill fiasco – we are lucky to have some great weather again, and I so tonight I jumped into week FOUR (that means I’m almost half way to 5k!) It was the hardest run yet, but I felt GREAT afterwards…. I guess we will see tomorrow what my poor body thinks! I am feeling very proud of myself though, not only am I still working hard and running, I also am down 16 pounds now since I started working at it at the end of April, and I feel GREAT…. I am as thin as I’ve been since I had baby 2, 3 and 4 – I still have a bit of a ways to go, but my goals seem really with in my reach now!

Since I’m all picture-y in this post I thought I’d share my picture I took tonight after I came home from my first day of week 4!

I think the flash was a bit intense because you can’t tell that my face was BRIGHT RED, but I really was feeling pretty dang good!

Well there you have it! things are moving right along around here! Tomorrow is gareth’s 8th birthday so I’m sure we’ll keep ourselves busy celebrating, and of course there is designing to do, and kids to feed and a house to clean, so I guess getting some sleep would be called for. I have to say, I’m not really one for things getting predictable and the same day in and day out. So one thing I love about having a big family and being a mom in general is that things are ever changing, and really don’t “settle” (funny how they call it settling down!) I’m sure tomorrow will bring all sorts of action I can’t wait to share!

I have to confess though… with him being my last baby, although I feel sooooo nostalgic about putting those baby clothes away for the last time ever – I also find myself feeling a sense of closure and relief I’ve never been able to feel before. He is my last baby, and although I’d like to keep him teeny tiny forever, I am also feeling at peace with that that newborn chapter of my life is done.

In the mean time it’s hard to feel too sad about it all when everyday he seems more and more adorable, sweet and wonderful! It is so fun to watch him enjoy his brothers, to make him actually giggle when I tickle him, he loves to lay at his activity gym and play and play (he bats those little toys like there is no tomorrow!). I surprised to find myself looking forward to all the next steps, even though part of my heart is clinging desperately to my little teeny tiny tennyson.

Here is a picture of the little man, feeling all proud in his new duds:

You have to admit, the little guy pulls off “3-6 months” rather well .

Pretty much every single evening when g gets home from work, him and little t sit down together just like this and talk… not sure what Tennyson is telling him about but the little guy just coos and coos, about all sorts of things.

Here they are having a little “fist fight” too:

Like I said…. best. daddy. ever.

(Happy fathers day G, this is just one of the MANY reasons we adore you around here!)

I’d rather show you my happy baby

Hehehehe! This past week has been so fun with Tennyson, he’s starting to get so expressive and interactive, I just can hardly stand it it’s so sweet. Today was amazing, everytime I looked at him he was looking back at me with a big giant smile, and him and Gareth must have spent 20 minutes this morning “talking” and smiling at eachother! Gareth was in heaven, and as soon as he got back from school he went straight for Tennyson again.

I was so nervous about Tennyson getting older, he’s my last baby and I’m so panicy about it! But how can I not LOVE watching him grow and change, when he does it so sweetly!

(Like I said, I’ve been busy! I’ll come back soon and show you what i’ve been up to!)

In all the transitions of having a new baby, the is one thing that has surprised me the most is the way Reece has handled it all. You see, not only is Reece the one giving up his position of youngest (and mommy’s baby for that matter), but Reece is also the, well…. the “spunkiest” of our three older boys. Reece gets more excited, more noisy, more stubborn, more pushy, and more rough, than the other two put together. So of course, I had my concerns about how rough and tumble rambunctious Reece would adjust to a tiny little fragile needy little baby.

I was sort of expecting some rough behavior, lots of learning about how to be gentle, lots of “shhhushing” and a ton of juggling trying to keep Reecey from feeling displaced. But I have to say, my mom intuition was all off – instead, Reece has taken to Tennyson amazingly. Reece is usually all about Reece, but when Tennyson is around, Reece forgets what he’s doing and gets down to his level and talks to him in the sweetest soft voice. He is super gentle with him and actually is constantly lecturing ME on how babies should be treated. Of all the boys, Reece is the most taken with Tennyson, and will spend more time sitting and talking and watching him than I thought he was capable of.

I’m in awe I tell you, of how the baby of our family has so quickly transitioned into the new role of “big brother” just like that. He says to me “Mom I’m a big boy, I’m not the little brother anymore,” I think there may be some insight to it in just that, Tennyson gives Reece the “big boy” status he so desperately craved, and for that Reece adores his baby brother.

(In other news, knock on wood, Tennyson is feeling better and better over here thank goodness!)

Poor baby is SO unhappy and his mommy must admit she is getting a bit worn out. Last week G was out of town all week long from Monday through Friday at a Microsoft MVP Summit, and so I was on four boy duty all week long. Not to mention I finished two new collabs for Sweet shoppe (here and here). Friday, he came home and that day Tennyson’s cold kicked in full force (along with pretty much no sleeping to speak of). Then on Saturday morning we had four more little boys over for Owen’s fifth birthday party (yes doing the math, our home was filled with 8 little men). And after that tennyson just started getting fussier and fussier and came down with a fever – which prompted the pediatrician to send us to the ER. So no rest for the weary that night, or Sunday (although his fever came down, he was still not happy in the least and his usual cuddly self was extra clingy and extremely fussy – who can blame the poor little guy), and then again last night very little sleep, plus the getting up at 4:30 am to take Owen to the airport (see the next post down)… and this mommy is feeling a bit worn out to say the least…. hmmm perhaps I should have taken the picture of my disheveled, tired self and posted that instead! (yeah…not likely)

Cross your fingers for us that this passes soon and that tired mommy doesn’t come next in the sick parade, because I’m ready for a break!

Journaling: “Tennyson loves his sling and mommy does too! i love being able to hold my baby while i’m working or cleaning, and he loves being close to his mommy. it never fails, every time he’s in the sling, mommy will look down and see, he’s drifted right off to sleep.” See Credits HERE.

This is a lift of a SweetShopper named Sara8914 and I chose her page challed “Feeding Ducks” because I loved the page layout and I’m always looking for inspiration on how to mix it up a bit style wise in my pages.

I’m so happy with how it turned out, I have to admit, I’m using babyhood as an opportunity to use as many soft sweet elements and papers as I can because before I know it my pages will be dominated by definitively boyish grungy and messy themes, so I’m going to use this stage to let myself use all those pretty kits that appeal to me

Ok, I know I’m blogging about the sling again! But I took this picture a few days ago, I looked down, and there he was looking so sweet – I just had to share.

The little guy really does live in this thing, and he just LOVES to nap right on me – I keep hoping that carrying around the extra 8 or 9 pounds while I’m doing house work will help me loose 8 or 9 of my own! (So far, honestly, it’s only seemed to give me a back ache!)
Regardless, there is nothing like being able to hold your sleeping baby hands free Especially on weeks like this one where little man doesn’t want to be put down, we love this thing!!