Jack's Deep Thoughts on Parenthood

Jack is fully self-dressed and ready to head to Costco this morning while I'm feeding Millie some baby food. Superman shirt, favorite plaid shorts, long white socks and cowboy boots.

"Mom, when I am a dad I will never put my children in time out or give them Sassy Water."

"Really? Wow. That's great. What will you do if your little boy punches your little girl in the nose?"

Hand up in protest, "No no no, I'm not having any little girls. Just little boys."

"Ok, so what will you do if one little boy punches the other little boy in the nose and breaks it."

"I'll just say it's an accident."

"Oh, well what will you do if your little boy punches you in the nose and breaks your nose and there's blood all over you and it hurts really bad."

"Then maybe some Sassy Water." Pause. "I will have three little boys. I think I'll name them Ethan (tongue click), Sam... (long pause, finger in nose) and James. Yeah, James."

Lately Jack talks about how things will be a lot when he is a dad. He is so very bored without Addie at home! When he's not dreaming of his life with a lot of little boys to hang with, he is in full character mode pretending to be somebody. And, he's pretty much a tornado of destruction through the house as he plays by himself. I gotta get this boy some buddies! Oh, and he can't seem to explain anything to you without adding a tongue click. I'm trying to document him like this because I know he's going to grow up and I don't want to forget these days.

Addie Turns 6

Summer means birthdays at our house and we're down 3 with one to go. We had a blast this week celebrating Addie's 6th birthday. I'm pretty sure she had a great time at her ballet themed party. I know I did!


There were eight little girls, including Addie, which was a great number for having fun. We had two craft stations set up. One station had a blank canvas for the girls to glue a pre-cut leotard on. Then we painted their hands with pink and purple paint and they made a tutu for the leotard with their hands and decorated with ribbon and rhinestones. It was a big hit with the girls and they turned out really cute. Addie's is hanging on her wall now. The other station was bracelet making. I found some ballet charms on Etsy.com so each girl got to pick a charm and then create their beaded bracelet. All of their bracelets were really cute.


After they wrapped up their crafts, it was dancing time! Two of the local ballet company ballerinas came and gave the girls a dance lesson. I was surprised at how cute it was. I was a little afraid that some of the girls would be shy or uncomfortable dancing in our living room, but they all dove in and just ate up the ballerinas in their beautiful costumes. They danced to several Disney Princess songs, which only added to their fun. The giggles and smiles were everywhere.


The party was over lunchtime on a Wednesday, so Anthony extended his lunch time so that he could be there. He even braved the hundreds of local Chick-fil-a supporters to pick up our food!


Millie was a champ. She hung out with Uncle Mike for most of the party.


We waited for our family gift opening until after dinner. The birthday girl chose the food, so we enjoyed macaroni and cheese for dinner. We gave her a Hello Kitty beginner watch that she was super excited about. It has numbers for the minute hand (10, 20, 30, etc.) so she's quickly figuring out how to tell time.


And the big, much awaited gift: an American Girl Doll. Wow, was she excited! We gave her Kit, hoping the hair will be manageable for a six year old. Everyone who sees the doll with Addie comments on how they look alike, which Addie loves. Apparently, she is the last child over the age of 3 in our zip code who did not have one of these yet. I had NO idea how big American Girl was. I told some of her friends' parents that she was getting Kit from us, so they sent AG accessories as gifts. Since she opened the gifts at the party, Addie was just beside herself that she didn't have a doll. "Mom, I think they think I have an American Girl Doll since all of them do. But all I have is Bitty Baby. Now you're really going to have to get me an American Girl Doll to go with this stuff!" Of course I retorted that she could use it all just fine with Bitty Baby. It kinda blew her mind.


It was a great day. I don't know how many huge hugs I got throughout the day. She just kept telling me thank you and that she loved her party and her birthday. I sure love this girl!

Jack Turns 4

We had a great time celebrating Jack's fourth birthday here at home with Anthony and in Pearland with family. We have a tradition that every other year each child gets a big birthday party and on the off year it is a family party. This year was kind of a bonus for Jack because we were traveling over his real birthday and ended up with quite a nice crowd of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents to join in the celebrating. Before we left town we celebrated with Anthony so technically he got two parties...not sure the off year really happened.

We kept it simple and went to the splash pad across the street from my parents' house. All of the kids had a great time. We lucked out with pretty nice temperatures thanks to looming rain that never fell (yay!) and I felt pretty awesome pulling off a birthday party of any scale while traveling.

I have given up on wasting my time on baking and decorating cake for Jack. He doesn't really care for it, but eats it when there is nothing else going on. That is never the case on his own birthday so when I make him cake he won't eat it. This year I went easy on myself and filled a Spider Man cup with Skittles. I found four long candles that stayed up nicely and voila! He was thrilled. After he blew out the candles we handed Skittles out to everyone. Easy deal. Happy child. Happy mom. :)

Here he is with the plasma car Nana and Pops bought him.

Jack has been looking forward to turning 4 for a long time. As the birthday approached he would tell people he was "almost 4, and then 5, and then 6, and then 7." Sometimes he tells me he is 9 for the day. Now that he is 4, he is very concerned that I remove all size 3 clothing from his drawers. He checks with me in the mornings, "is this shirt a 4 mom?" After being assured that the shirt is his age he will dress.

Anthony picked cowboy gear out for him this year. Jack is all about getting into character.

Some of my favorite current things Jack does:

1. Add "really super" in front of his adjectives. Things are really super big, funny, scary, gross, etc.
2. Ask me to sing "I Am a Child of God" every. single. night. Really, I like it.
3. Sings "I Am a Child of God" to Millie when she is crying.
4. Spontaneously tells me he loves me. Middle of the day. Middle of a store. Wherever.
5. Wears his leather belt over his play clothes almost every day. It's an excellent gun/sword spot.
6. Runs and jumps faster and higher in new running shoes.
7. Sits on the curb and watches the high school boys across the street play basketball.
8. Has kung fu fights with the living room furniture, sound effects included.

The list keeps growing! Obviously Jack is endless fun. I missed him so much when I was in the hospital. His sweet voice telling me it was "morning time" was my first thought most days. We are so blessed to have Jack in our family and can't wait to see what this year of being "almost 5" holds.

Last Day of Kindergarten

It is funny to me how big some days can be. Especially when in the past I would have laughed at anyone who oozed about the amazing accomplishment of a child finishing Kindergarten. This year and all of our struggles as a family have given me a nice big helping of Humble Pie. Now I do things like get emotional about the last day of Kindergarten!

Addie had such a great year. It was hard for both of us and I still have inhibitions about school starting again, but the good outweighed the bad. I worked through missing her by spending as much time at the school as possible. I love having her at home, but I really love the look on her face in the middle of a school day when I walk in the room. Ahh. Talk about an ego boost. That smile may not always be there when I show up at school, but it is so great right now.

The strains of school have brought us closer and I couldn't be more grateful for the way so many people up at her school took extra care of her while I was in the hospital this year. Her teacher was wonderful, always updating me on how Addie was doing and helping me arrange rides for her. She even offered to let her stay after school with her if needed. As the school year came to a close, I asked Addie on several occasions who she would miss the most this summer. Her answer was consistent, "Mrs. Moss!" She hugged her teacher every morning when she saw her & really loved her. I don't think we could have asked for a better year.

Locks of Love

Addie was a brave girl this Saturday. We were letting her hair grow long until her ballet recital and then the plan was to cut it. A friend of hers at church donated her hair to Locks of Love a few years ago and Addie decided to do the same, so instead of a modest hair cut she took the plunge and chopped off the needed 10 inches to donate it. Here is her before shot. Her hair was SO long. It was very hard for me to let her do this having suffered most of my childhood looking like Orphan Annie. It took a lot of work on my part to not look nervous for her.

This part here was not for the faint of heart. I see a little worry in her eyes and I think my hairdresser, Amanda, was even a little nervous. The hair looked pretty crazy from being cut in a pony tail so Addie was very concerned when she saw the dry cut.

After a long hair washing and reassurance from Amanda that she would fix her hair and make it look pretty.

Happy girl at the end! The cut took forever because of all the "fixing" she had to do from cutting it off in ponytail form. It was hard for Addie to be still so long, but she made it and it appears to be pretty even.

If you are not familiar with the Locks of Love organization, you can visit their website at locksoflove.org. The process is really simple and the donations go to making wigs for disadvantaged children who have lost their hair from illness. Addie felt really good about doing something for other children who do not have a head full of beautiful hair.

Rainy Day Creativity

Friday was suppose to be the annual Father and Sons campout with our church, but some much needed rain decided to show up and ruin the fun. It was also suppose to be Field Day at Addie's school, but the rain canceled that as well. I still picked Addie up early since I had promised her I would and Anthony came home early so we all enjoyed a low key, quiet afternoon at home while it poured. Anthony and I were watching TV in the living room while the baby was sleeping when we realized how quiet the house had gotten. Upon opening the front door, this is what we found.


They had SO much fun. It's so interesting to watch these two evolve. Two years ago there is no way I would have found Addie outside playing in the rain by herself. Add Jack to the mix though and who knows what they will be doing. They play so well together and even find mischief together. It reminds me of my own childhood and I'm happy they are making such good memories.


After the rain and some early showers, Anthony set up the tent in the office & the kids "camped" in there for the night. They were so excited as they set up the tent. Jack was bouncing around saying, "this is going to be AWESOME!" Don't know where he hears "awesome" but he uses it often and it's really funny. They watched "Dumbo", ate popcorn, stayed up too late, woke up with tummy aches, cried all day Saturday... you name it. Memory making at it's best!

This past weekend was Addie's ballet recital. Once again we were impressed with how far she has come. She still loves it and wants to take ballet again next year. My friend, Melissa, is her teacher. She is so gifted with the girls and really makes each girl feel special. I love it! As long as Addie wants to do ballet, we will be up for it because of Melissa's influence. Here she is after the performance with her flowers. One of the nurses who works with Anthony made her this lei, which she thought was so cool.

The line up. I loved the vintage looking costumes this year.

One smart mom brought Candy Land for the girls to play while they waited. Very smart! There was a lot of waiting.

Here is a video of her performance. She is second from the right in the front row.

Easter Sunday

My brother, Mike, and his family joined us for Easter this year and we all had a great time. I didn't get pictures of the Saturday activities and I should have. The kids played outside all day. Water guns, popsicles, and tree climbing were involved. The weather was great and the adults could just chill out, enjoy the breeze, and listen to the kids playing. It was a great day. We got a few pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes. Good looking crew, if I'm allowed to say that about my own people! :)

I love this picture of Jack having a meltdown. Priceless. Let's just say 3 may be a little bit early to try sleeping in the same room with a 5 and 10 year old. He had a little too much fun the night before.

Miss Addie spreading Easter cheer.

Matthew seemed excited to hold his baby cousin. He is such a good cousin to my kids and a great example to them.

Here is a little smile from Millie.

About 10 minutes after Mike and I hid a LOT of eggs, it started pouring. Really pouring. That didn't stop these kiddos though! As soon as the rain let up they were ready to hunt.

Addie and her spoils. She wore this dress last year on Easter Sunday. I promise, she is growing like a weed. Her mother just buys clothes really big.

Porter was especially excited when he found an egg with money in it. Here he is shaking a money egg. Cute kid.

Jack in his rain boots. He loves boots of any kind. Especially with shorts or pajamas. 

This was a great weekend! I am ready for more easy going, fun weekends with the pool now that the weather is warming up. Bring on the good times at home while the baby naps!

First Smiles

After about 10 weeks we finally started getting some smiles from Amelia. This tired mom was VERY happy to see them! I love those first smiles! Amelia smiles with her whole body. She shrugs her shoulders, squints her little eyes, makes fists, and throws herself back when she smiles. I can always tell she's smiling at someone over my shoulder because she gets difficult to hold.

The doctor told us to expect her milestones to run about a month behind what we experienced with our other two children and so far, that has been exactly right. It's funny how much difference those little four weeks make. Every time we start wondering when she'll do something new we just check the calendar and she's right on schedule for her premie age.

Baby Blessing

On April 8th we blessed Amelia at church. It was a beautiful day. All of our brothers and sisters from both sides of the family came as well as most of their families and we loved it! 17 Adults and 11 children total. Such a fuss over such a tiny little girl. :)

We managed to get a family picture of the Berg family before everyone hit the road to go home.

It was such a good day. We are so grateful for our three children and the family members who came to be with us on Amelia's special day.

Crazy People

So, I'm going through all of the pictures on my camera and doing posts in chronological order. These beauties showed up amongst the other pictures of the new baby, her blessing, Easter, etc. This is what Jack and Addie do when they sneak away with the camera. Couple of nuts, those two.

Big Brother & Big Sister

Addie and Jack have had a great time with Millie. They both dote on her and beg to hold her. These pictures are from their first time holding her. Jack is definitely the proud big brother.

Addie adores Millie. She tells her friends at school all about her & is always very excited when I show up to school with the baby so that people can see her little sister.

Newborn Pictures

My talented friend, Sandra, took newborn pictures of Amelia (whom we have nicknamed "Millie", by the way). I loved them all, but here are some favorites.

Millie's hair makes a perfect swirl on the back of her round little head. So cute!