Jackson's 4th Birthday Party!

to see more pictures from jackson's party go here:
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Cutie Patooties

A few of my favorite things!

Ella is 2 months old!

Ella turned 2 months old yesterday and had her well check today. She is a TINY girl!

Even smaller than Jackson or Mia were at this age (they weighed just over 10 lbs.)

Ella weighed only 9 lbs. (and actually the scale looked like it was just below 9, but the nurse wrote 9) she is in the 4th percentile. Her length (which wasn’t very accurate because we couldn’t get her to stretch out) was 21” (3rd percentile).

Ella has to have a barium and upper GI on Monday morning since she spits up sooo much and her weight is lower than I (and the dr. said after I said I was concerned) would like. Please pray everything is normal for her on Monday mornings procedure.

She also has a tiny umbilical hernia (nothing compared to Mia’s though) and clogged tear ducts that I have to watch for infection. L Poor girl!

Otherwise she is looking beautiful!

to see pictures from her 1st month, go here: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2AasXLFy3ZMWIJ

The Beach! Ooo La! La!

Enjoy the ever-so-long-slide-show of our amazing and fabulous vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!! (click below!) slide notes at bottom... will make it funnier for you. :)


Leininger Vacation

The kids, phil and i had a wonderful time playing on the beach, the special kids pool, eating delicious food and just hanging out! Jackson became bi-lingual when he told us one evening on the beach "Hey! Wait up Amigos!!" we laughed and he said "What? that's what they say down here, right!?"

And Mia flashed her dimpled smile and waved at literally everyone she saw! ( you will see her with one of the beach vendors in his sombreros!)

Thursday Phil treated me to an afternoon at the spa - complete with 2.5 hours: massage, facial, manicure and pedicure! Wow! Do i deserve this?? (the answer is "yes" people, the answer is YES!) :) My husband is A W E S O M E!!!!

We thought for sure there would at least be the occassional melt down involving us looking at each other questioning the very judgement of bringing two toddlers and a newborn to the beach... but alas, that moment never came! we all had so much fun that we did not want to come home! work? responsibilities? nah!!

*~*~*~*SLIDE NOTES:~*~*~

• the first night there Mia was SOOO excited to be in the SAME room as her parents and siblings and in a REAL bed that she DID.NOT.SLEEP!! at. ALL. it was pretty funny. Everytime Phil would wake up through out the night (he laid by her) she was staring at him with eyes WIDE OPEN and a half smile on her face.
  from there out she figured out that naps and the pack and play were her friend.
• We stayed in an all inclusive resort the entire time, never left. The kids pool was amazing and you could ALWAYS see/hear the beach. We'd eat our lunches out there at a patio cafe. The other restaurants were very fancy and 5 star LONG meals (thanks to Phil who ordered EVERYTHING on the menu), but surprisingly enough, our kids were very WELL behaved at every meal even after a long day at the beach/pool. We always got compliments on their behavior and cuteness! makes a mama proud!
• We'd get to the beach by 9:30am or 10am every morning and stay out until 2:30p or 3:30 pm, spending the bulk of the time at the beach (with sunscreen!) and then ending at the pool to rinse off before napping.
• at the END of the trip we ended up waiting in the Mexican airport for over 2 hours for our delayed plain. This is not ideal for anyone. Especially anyones with an almost 2 year old (nevermind the almost 4 year old and 8 week old sister!) She had a series of meltdowns that I captured on camera. She would NOT nap! By the time we were boarding she bolted off and some woman grabbed her and shouted "MIA! Come back!"
  Nice 2 year old, we've said your name so many times, every stranger here knows it. She is crying and i say to the crowd around us with a smile "I bet everyone is hoping they get to sit by us!!" haha.
  
  HA.
  
  We were about 30 seconds from our car when she FINALLY fell asleep in her stroller at 10pm that night. HIL.AR.IOUS.

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Beautiful Girl

Ella Isabel

6 weeks and 4 days old.

A couple More

Jackson helping make dinner


Mia was eating a snack at the pool and then gave the big bag of granola to the baby! Hilarious!

swim! swim! swim!

Jackson beamed a BIG SMILE and yelled "I'm swimming! I'm swimming!!!!" to the ENTIRE surrounding areas today as he was swimming ALL OVER! we are soo proud!
And our Tiny Girl with Big Water Wings on for the 1st time! She has gotten good at kicking her feet and jumping off of the side of the pool to her daddy!

Some Weekend Photos

Mia and her tan lines looking for something to eat (as always!)


Jackson shucking corn and helping make dinner

Mia in her cutie dress
Ella Isabel in her sweet eyelet outfit, she is 6 weeks and 3 days old today.

Infant Sleep Positioners? Oh REALLY?!?!!! (alternate titles: "Ella Sleeps through the night!" OR "Mother of the Year Award!")

Ok, so WHY is there even such a thing as an "infant sleep positioner"? Are there a lot of 6 week old babies out there rolling over already? And once babies DO learn to roll, if they really want to they will find away onto their tummies (jackson and mia both proved this one).

here's where the mother of the year award comes in: the other night i woke up after 5 long hours of sleep thinking "Huh?! My 6 week old wants to sleep through the night?! Yahooo!!!" (actually i ran to her room to make sure she was ok...) and i heard her cry out once... then quiet... i get into her room and see this:

in the middle of the bed under that receiving blanket is the so called keep the infant in place and from rolling sleep positioner.

Clearly it is not working.
And clearly from this picture
You can see she is NOT happy! She was all the way at the head of her bed and horizontal. It turns out the baby monitor had gotten turned down a bit too far (and bless her heart this is the 2nd time in her tiny life that this has happened!)

But all is well, I nursed her back to happiness and put her back to bed… this is what she SHOULD have looked like when I first came to her.

Snug as a bug in a rug!

and boy did that 5 hours of sleep do a mama some good!!!!

Welcome Ella "Party" at daddy's work on Friday...

many nice things and an oh-so-delicious cake!

(Ella slept right through yet another party.
oh, and one pajama picture from that morning!)

To My Sweet Jackson

You are one of the most amazing people that I know. You are so cool and just fun to be around and hang out with.

Last week we went to a new restaurant – Flip Burger – and we, the 5 of us, sat out on the patio and enjoyed the cool summer breeze and ate good food. Mia and you ran around and giggled and played and enjoyed the day and the company. Soon another family came to sit on the patio too and the little boy looked about your age. He was looking at your sister and making silly faces or something and Mia was just laughing and smiling her beautiful dimpled smile. All Daddy said was, “Hey! What’s the boy doing with your sister?” and you looked up like you hadn’t even noticed and then ran like the wind over there and jumped to stand right in front of Mia so the boy couldn’t see her.

Daddy and I. Loved. It.
You were protecting her. Years ahead flashed before our eyes and we high fived each other and reveled in the wonderfulness of the big brother you had already become.

Today you learned to swim.

It was an awesome day, June 3rd, 2006. You are only weeks from turning 4 years old and are anxiously awaiting your birthday and disappointedly saying “AWWW!!!” every time someone else has a birthday instead of you. (Today is your grandpa’s birthday by the way). Anyway, we all went to the pool. Daddy, Mama, Mia, Ella and you on your “gator” that you love to ride around and carry our things. We were enjoying a terrific time, but you were very nervous and wouldn’t try anything.

After we’d been there for about an hour a boy (4 years old) came over and started saying “Sissy sissy you’re a girl!” My stomach just dropped (and still does thinking of the incident) at him being so unkind. You looked at him confused and said “I am not a girl”. And he said it a few more times. Daddy said to him “What’s the problem?” and he stopped for a while. But for a good hour he kept saying things that just were not NICE. You were so smiley back to him and Mia would flash her dimpled smile and laugh too. I felt so hot and angry. I wanted to shout at the boy to leave my precious children alone. I wanted to tell you not to waste your amazing smiles and infectious laughs on such a loser.

But instead, I waited. Waited to see what would happened and trusted in Daddy to handle it, since he was in the water with you both, and I sat on the side with 6 week old baby Ella. You called his name at one point and said “T-T-Tyler!” and the boy said “THAT’S not my name!” You said, “Tyler! Yes it is!” and the boy said “YOU said ‘T-T-T-Tyler” and we froze – this was the very first time someone had mocked your stutter. But you just smiled and said “No I didn’t you silly!” It never seemed to occur to you that he was so mean.

However, you finally DID say to him “You are not being nice. Are you having a rough day?”

Ahhh! The proof of what a lovely home you are from! Yes!
You never once let this boy get you down, instead you succeeded. You began to swim. First by getting a little braver and a little further going out along the wall of the pool, then you realized you were indeed able to float (just like Daddy had been coaxing for hours and days!) You started at the railing on the steps and swam to the wall.

It. Was. Amazing.

We cheered you on and watched you continue. You finally decided to try it without your life jacket. You didn’t let your fears overcome you. And you did it! We stayed extra long at the pool today, just to let you marvel in your new found huffing and puffing “swim” in the pool.

Your smile beamed brighter than the sunlight and I had to hold back from wanting to kiss you all over your face, I was so proud.

I was proud you conquered your fear and swam.

I was proud that you are just so nice.
So you.
So warm.
You never once were mean back at the boy. You didn’t cry.

You were JUST YOU.

And that guy is amazing.

My eyes still well with tears and my stomach gets sick thinking of the people and situations that will occur through out your life that will be even worse than the minor incident at the pool today. Oh how I want to wrap you tight in my arms for ever and shield you and protect you from all that is evil or mean or wrong in this world. Oh how I want to know you will always be smiling and have joy and feel secure. Oh how I never want any one to ever hurt you.

But I know the journey of your life will be filled with ups and downs and I want to be there for you through all of them.

I am your Mama and you will always be my baby Boy.

I love you,
Mama

The Latest and Greatest... er... at least the Latest!

Some of the latest and greatest around here:

Mia has learned to say (quite often) the word "POLKA DOT"! she likes to repeat anything that Jackson says and when she gets it right she excitedly says it over and over - starting out quietly and ending in shouts! It is HIL-AR-I-OUS!!!

Ella is 6 weeks old today. Upon being weighed on our quite accurate bathroom scale (that stupid accurate scale!) she weighs 7 lbs. 14 oz. She is a little cutie pie!

Jackson announced that he only wants "ONE more train" -- um, YEAH RIGHT! Surely he means just at this very moment? The newest train he has acquired is appropriately named "Jack" -- i persuaded him to choose that one *hee hee* He is full of some sort of freakish espresso overloaded energy that causes him to bounce about and talk all day... where can i get some of that?!

Mama has been working like mad to lose more weight. This consists of an ab workout (which only seems to be a joke) and running/walking intervals over a 30 minute period. Some days I do "two-a-days" in hopes that this will speed up the process. Overall it is making me feel really good and energetic.

The Man of this house is always working out - swimming in the mornings, lifting weights in the afternoon and slowly getting back to running after his broken foot. We all enjoy going on walks every night. Ella has been awake the entire walk lately and it is fun watching her big blue eyes take in the world.

Tomorrow we are having a "baby shower" at the Big Guy's place of employment... the invite said "Come meet Ella, Jackson and Mia"... um, what about the lady that gave birth to these 3 beauties?! Nice!!!!

"I'm just going to rest my eyes, Mama"

Here's our sweet big brother "just resting his eyes" he fell fast asleep while holding Ella (6 weeks old today! and almost 8 lbs!) They were both "snoring" and so absolutely ediably cute!!

Our Engineer

Jackson is a master

at creating

train track designs

and telling

fabulous stories about trains!

Here is

a proud moment!

The Girl and Her Hot Pink Toe Nails.

I painted Mia's toenails the same hot pink as mine. This is the 1st time she has had her toe nails painted in a "visable" color. She was VERY good and sat perfectly still the entire time I painted her toe nails and Jackson and I blew on them to dry! She spent the next 3 days holding her foot up with a big smile and announcing to every one who would listen "My feet pretty! Mama's feet pretty!" with her award winning dimpled smile! Actually it sounded like "myyyyy feee pri-eee, mamas fee pri-eee!" and when she said "Bubba's fee pri-eee!" he rolled his eyes and looked at me and said "Not mine" with a "she's crazy" look on his face.

You gotta love a girl with hot pink toe nails!

Oh Mama Mia! in our matching swimsuit cover ups... not the best picture, but you get the idea!