more SNOW!!!!!!

As everyone in the world knows, we got a truckload of snow 2 weeks ago...it was AWESOME! Except the part where I got the sportvan stuck in the driveway...actually, 1/2 in the driveway and 1/2 in the street...I've heard from one neighbor already who laughed at me for over an hour while I tried to 'dig out'...it is funny to look back on it! Not so much at the time.
Anyway, in a little less than 24 hours, we got about 18 inches of snow. That's a LOT- especially since we moved here FROM South Carolina...we're not used to this! But, the kids LOVED it! We went sledding 3 or 4 times and Elise was a total daredevil on the hills...she surprised me with her willingness to go by herself on the icy hills in our neighborhood. Ainsley wasn't as excited about it all, but she was ok to at least hanging out with us in the snow. She was happy to sled with me, asking "More Mommy..." a few times, too. Tons of fun, but not tons of pictures b/c it was hard enough just moving around out there...so here are the few we have.






























At one point, Elise and Adam stayed outside while I stayed in with the little ones...they were out sledding for almost TWO HOURS...that's a lot for someone who isn't even 4! She came in with the rosiest cheeks and so excited. I had hot (well, WARM b/c she doesn't like food to be hot!) chocolate with marshmallows waiting for her. It was sweet and cute. She LOVED the special treat and it was especially adorable watching her "teach" Ainsley about Hot Chocolate and how "that's what you get when you're a big girl and you can sled all day long...". =) Precious.

Phew...

It's been two weeks (yikes!) since I posted a blog and, SOOO THANKFULLY, we're all doing much better around here! I tried to respond to everyone personally who sent along wonderful wisdom, encouragement, and advice (ok, Michelle P- I still owe you an email!), but I guess I should've updated the blog, too...
Mitchell's "non-sleep" spell lasted for about 10 days and, AUGH, that was rough! Looking back on it all, I'm thinking it was a combination of a growth spurt for him with a few other minor disruptions. Part of me feels like I was throwing my own little pity-party, but I know that I needed some wisdom AND "you can do it" cheerleading, so I APPRECIATE it all! We've had three nights in a row of sleeping 10 hours again, so I'm praying that this lasts for good!
I need to update the blog with pictures of our incredible snowfall (about 18 inches!!) and the wonderful Christmas we had, too. Maybe later tonight...or maybe tomorrow. I'll get to it soon, I promise!

Help, other mommies!

Ok, so this may be Too Much Information for some of you, but deal with it. We're having major issues with Mitchell and I need the wisdom of other Moms who've maybe experienced similar situations...so, if you're not experienced in breastfeeding, you may want to stop reading! =) Sorry.
Mitchell is 3 months +1 week old. He's great. Since (LITERALLY) Day 2 of his life, he's followed a 4 hour schedule of eating, awake-time, then sleeping. He'll eat at 8am, noon, 4pm, 8pm, and then usually 1x overnight. That's GREAT and I love, love, love the routine of it all! We follow the 'Babywise' principles of scheduling, but also know that sometimes there has to be some flexibility. Also, I LOVE breastfeeding. Of course it's not always the most convenient, but I love the overall bonding experience, the health benefits to everyone, the ease of it all, etc... but the last week has been a nightmare with Mitchell! So, I would appreciate any and all advice in figuring out what to do...
A week ago, Mitchell had slept all through the night (like 10 hours straight) for 5 nights in a row. I was a NEW PERSON...I loved the full night's sleep, I was a better mommy to Elise and Ainsley, I had plenty of energy to work out during naptimes, etc...it was great. I figured we'd turned the corner on Mitchell's overnight sleeping and he was going to follow Elise's footsteps and sleep through the night from 3 months on. Yay. I thought.
About 10 days ago, Mitchell 'changed' his nursing routine a little...just started eating only about 10 minutes instead of 20. No matter what I did, he WOULD NOT eat more than that. He was totally content and would still last until his next feeding four hours later. So, no big deal, I guess. And, hey, it's easier on everyone if he eats quicker. I assumed he was just more efficient. Maybe that was unrelated, but I'm trying to give out all the info possible. =)
Last Monday night, he woke up just 3 hours into nighttime sleep. I was shocked, groggy, and confused. I fed him, no biggie, I'd only been used to a full night's sleep for a week or so anyway. He ate well (actually, he ate MORE than he usually does- probably 25 minutes!) and then went right back to sleep. He woke up again 3-4 hours later. Same thing. That was a rough night. I figured it was nothing and just a bad night but it would go back to 'normal' after that. The following day was fine, he ate/wake/slept just like he'd been doing for the last few months. UNFORTUNATELY, that has continued for 6 days now!!!!!!!!!!!! It's killing me. Adam worked a ton of crazy hours last week and that didn't help, either. During the day, he's still following his normal routine, he's not sick at all, nothing new going on, etc...but he's just a disaster at night.
Overnight, he's actually getting worse! Last night, he woke up every 2 1/2 hours and I ended up feeding him at 10:30, 2am, 5:30, and he's waking up now at 8am. WHAT!?! We've tried letting him "cry it out" some- after 30 minutes of hysterics, I have to go in and feed him. He eats great so I really think he's hungry and not just 'stuck in the routine' of eating every few hours... Last night I even tried to 'force cluster feed' him in the evening in hopes that he'd 'store up' to get him through the night. I fed him yesterday at 4:30, 7:30pm, 10:30- that's squeezing in an extra full feeding. No such luck.
So, not only am i totally exhausted b/c I'm chasing around Elise and Ainsley, but I'm losing over an hour of sleep a night feeding him, PLUS the extra energy that is sucked out of me with two or three extra feedings in a day. I don't have any energy to work out (which is a cyclical thing, I know...IF I could work out, I'd have more energy in general..but it's absolutely impossible!). I have absolutely NO patience with Elise and Ainsley b/c my lack of sleep and I HATE that they're feeling the brunt of this! I don't know if this is just a growth spurt (how long do those last? I forget....), we know his room isn't too hot, too cold, etc... nothing else seems to have changed. And still being fairly new to this city, we don't have any "people" that I can go to and drop off Ainsley for an hour, or just sit and talk with across the kitchen table (JEAN and ALLYSON especially, I NEED YOU GUYS!!!!). And that old concept of "sleep when the baby sleeps" is impossible with three kids under 4 years old. There's no way it works out that they all sleep at the same time... and, Yeah, it's the Holiday Season, so there's extra stress in life overall, right? We're having a party here this coming week for Adam's co-workers, and then my entire family is coming a week from now. I've GOT to figure this out!
So, PLEASE! If you have any advice, let me know! shoot me an email or FB message and know that I'll be eternally grateful. We also tried giving Mitchell a bottle 2x last week of breast milk, just so we would KNOW if he'd take a bottle. No luck. Adam worked with him for about 30 minutes and so did Nana (Adam's mom was here for a few days' visit). Mitchell won't even close his mouth around the bottle. So, as of right now, the idea of supplementing with a little formula to fill him up a little isn't really feasible. I want that to be a last resort anyway...I'd love to breastfeed exclusively for at least 6-8 months. But, I'm getting desperate!
Thanks again, everyone! I appreciate your patience with reading a million details and being long distance "people" for me. Love you all, Erica =)

3 months...

It's amazing that Mitchell is already THREE MONTHS old. Wow. He's a sweet, sweet little boy and it's so fun to have him in our chaotic and goofy family. He's been smiling like crazy and giggles whenever we tickle his ribs or thighs. His giggle is outstanding, too! The girls love to listen to him and they come running when he's laughing. I love it. We love his two webbed toes and the fact that he has one goofy "Moseley" ear and one normal "Martin" ear. Outside of the last two nights, he's slept 8-10 hours at night for the last week and I (Erica) LOVE getting a full night's sleep. He's a great eater, and that's saying a lot! The poor kid is constantly hugged, kissed, petted, tickled, AS he is breastfeeding! Ainsley is potty-training, and of course she wants to 'practice on the potty' whenever he's eating...so the peaceful, quiet bonding time that I cherished with Elise....absolutely NONEXISTENT. He'll be resilient b/c of all this, right?! We love you, Mitchell. =)

ssssssnnnnnooooooowwwwwwww!!!

After six years of living in basically "snowless" cities/states, I (Erica) squealed with delight when we woke up Saturday morning to a solid dusting of snow here in VA. YAY! It's been pretty mild up until this weekend, and it's now officially winter. The girls had never seen snow, but were all kinds of excited to play in it...I'll put a little description next to each picture I've posted and let those tell the story of the morning.


This was Elise's first few seconds in the snow...she thought it was so pretty and was amazed that it was COLD!!! I guess we never really elaborated on that part when prepping her for a Winter Wonderland. We don't have snow boots for her, so rain boots + extra socks worked fine.

Elise LOVED trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth. It was so sweet to watch.


After Breakfast, Ainsley was all bundled up to go outside! Notice the SOCKS on her right hand! So pitiful....we had that other glove just a few days ago!

Just moments later, she pulled off the glove/socks and stepped out into the snow...she wasn't really excited about the cold, wind, and wet. But she is cute.

Elise in HEAVEN in the snow! She loved running, throwing snowballs, chasing Gus, etc...

You can see Elise off in the corner & Adam playing with Gus who was running like crazy!

Mitchell came out for a few minutes- totally wrapped up and warm. We had so much fun!

If there is one picture in the world that sums up Ainsley's attitude, this is it! Click on the photo and check out her bottom lip...we see "this face" ALL THE TIME!

Oops...

To be honest, I had NO IDEA that it's been over two weeks since I've written on this thing. Although many hours in each day drag on s..l...o...w...l...y, the days as a whole disappear quickly and the weeks FLY by! I feel like Mitchell should only be about 6 weeks old instead of almost 12, and how is it possible that we moved from South Carolina almost 9 weeks ago. yikes.
But, all is well in the Moseley household. I turned 33 last weekend and had a GREAT birthday! My wonderful, wonderful sister-in-law was in town visiting, so she kept the girls for SIX HOURS one day while Adam and I got to walk around downtown, take our time window-shopping, went to an awesome Greek restaurant for dinner and the local (and maybe the best we've ever had!) Ice Cream shop! After being used to being mom to all three little ones, it was so easy to just have one kid with us for 1/2 a day!
***side note... we had Mitchell with us since he's still breastfeeding and we haven't yet tried a bottle at all...it's just easier that way right now! But, he needed to eat right before we got to the restaurant and we were checking out this really cool high-end furniture store. It was pretty much empty and the sales lady suggested I just pick a comfy chair to nurse him in so I'd be more comfortable than going out to sit in the car. very nice. I sat in a super comfortable upholstered rocking chair, nursed the kid, then we took off for dinner. Adam told me later that he looked at the price tag...it was about $3300!!!!!!! WOAH! I'm pretty sure that's the most expensive piece of furniture I've ever sat on...and I was just kickin' back like I was on our 5 year old kid-used, dog-slept-on couch!
Anyway, great birthday, good Thanksgiving (more on that later!) ...all is well here. More later. Thanks for checking back when I forget to even look at this thing for weeks in a row!

Stubborn, Stubborn, Stubborn...

I blame Adam's genetics, he blames mine...but Ainsley may be one of the more stubborn kids on the face of the earth. The most common battle is food. Simply put, she doesn't like to eat anything. Ok, she likes fruit and cereal. That's about it. So we're trying the "she eats what we put in front of her or she eats nothing". That's a fun lesson for everyone. How's it going? Horribly. One day last week the only food she ate all day was lunch. She refused eggs for breakfast (which she ate tons of just a month ago! I even put syrup on it to appeal to her sweet tooth!) and I took these pictures about 3 hours later. She stood at the pantry door, doing the sign language for "eat" while saying, "Me. Eat. Pwease" Over and over again! Augh. look at that face. I kept offering the eggs, but she wouldn't even try them. She was pitiful. But, I stayed strong and didn't give in. Notice she never even dropped her purse...it was that hard on her!





I finally pulled her away from the door and this was her two minutes later- happily playing with the lens cap.




She ate a great lunch an hour later, but then refused dinner totally. It was pizza, for cryin' out loud. What kid doesn't eat pizza? I guess mine...

Update

So, back to the "school dilemma" from a few weeks ago... we ended up switching Elise to the prestigious private school here in town. It just made sense on so many levels. I (Erica) HATED making the call to the Director and teacher of her school to tell them we were pulling her out. I felt like a snob, that I was letting them down, etc... but that stuff is just hard for me just being such a 'people pleaser'... I felt bad all day once I talked to them, had to explain to Elise that she was going to change schools AGAIN, etc... but that didn't last too long.
Elise's first day at the new school (3rd preschool in 7 weeks!) was on Monday and within MOMENTS of picking her up at the end of the day, I was 100% assured that we had made the right decision. She was 'herself' again. YAY! It's hard to explain that she just seemed depressed since day 1 of the other school here in VA. She was just sad, un-motivated, extra grumpy, etc...and not her typical self. She's back to being Elise now and this week was a huge turnaround. She already has a best friend in this school- and apparently they hold hands constantly, sit together whenever possible, share their lunches with each other, etc...so adorable. The teachers are great and we couldn't be happier!
So, the class was talking this week about Manners. I think we're pretty strict about manners around our house, but I guess it's different (and more memorable) when she learns it at school. A few things that SHE (yes, a not-quite-4-year-old!) told us this week:

"Mommy, please don't talk when you have food in your mouth."
"Daddy, that's called interrupting.That's not good manners"
"Ainsley, you forgot to say 'please' when you talked to me."
"Here, Ainsley, hold my hand in the parking lot. That's good manners."

Adorable. A little annoying when your 3 year old 'corrects' you, but I guess that's part of it all. Here's her little "I have an attitude" face that we rarely see out her...but it's pretty funny. She's such a sweetheart, but when the occasional 'look' comes out, it's hard not to laugh. I got it spontaneously on film last week:

quick pictures

Here's a shot of Mitchell from Saturday afternoon...it was a BEAUTIFUL afternoon and I got some really cute pictures of the little guy while the girls were napping. Apparently, breastfeeding is agreeing with him- at just 7.5 weeks, LOOK at those chins and cheeks! We love it. =)



Later that night, asleep on Adam...so precious. Adam was studying his manual for his new Blackberry...Mitchell didn't seem to mind that Adam was multi-tasking!

Another dilemma...

Maybe it's the lack of sleep I'm getting these days, but I can't figure out what to do on yet another thing...

*We moved a month ago and people keep asking me for our address...why...? because we never sent out a "We've moved" card/letter to let people know our address here in VA. I always think those are cute little cards people send out with a nice picture of the family standing in front of the new house or by a random "Welcome to Virginia" sign at a Rest Stop or something...we don't have any of those pictures, either

*I had a baby 7 weeks ago, but we haven't gotten around to sending out a Baby Announcement picture/card... I took some adorable pictures of Mitchell this afternoon that would be worthy of sharing with all friends and family, so that's a step in the right direction at least. We sent out birth announcements for Elise and Ainsley, so I feel bad not doing it for Mitchell.

*Christmas is coming up...two months almost exactly. We always do a family Christmas card and pictures (that's where the "Moseley Memorandum" name began!).

*I'm very frugal (hahah...CHEAP is more accurate, 'frugal' sounds classier than I am about it!) and cannot bring myself to send out photo cards for Mitchell's birth AND then send Christmas cards in like 5 or 6 weeks....each mailing is about $150 with postage and everything...not to mention a lot of work on my part to address all the envelopes.

So, do we combine the two and send out a photo birth announcement for Mitchell around Thanksgiving WITH the Christmas letter? But then nobody sees recent pictures of the rest of the family? And will people put them up on their "Christmas card displays" when it's actually a birth announcement? I don't want him to get slighted just b/c his birth hit at an 'inconvenient' time...

I'd love opinions on this one, too! Thanks. Maybe I could be totally cheap and send an email with everything, then print up one 'fake' Birth announcement to put in his Baby book...that's assuming he'll GET a Baby book...

Moseley kids at 6 weeks...

After several discussions this month about "Mitchell looks like Ainsley at this age, but a little like Elise, too..." Not that it matters at all, but it's just a fun conversation. So I dug up pictures of Elise and Ainsley from when they were around 6 weeks old. It's amazing to see how small they were. WOW. Time does go by so fast...hard to believe that Elise will be 4 in just a couple months!!! So, here are a couple of each kid from around the 6 week mark...we see similarities and differences, but it's fun to just remember how special each of them are to us!

Once again, I have no idea why that text is blue and underlined...but I don't have time to figure it out! It's almost the end of naptime and I still need to mop the kitchen floor before the kiddos all wake up...so, we can all deal with it.

***Oh, yeah...The following pictures are (top to bottom): Elise, Ainsley, Ainsley, Mitchell, Mitchell, Elise.***

A few updates...

It's almost impossible to believe that Mitchell is already SIX WEEKS old...wow! Between moving to VA, chasing Elise and Ainsley all over the place, getting settled into new job/school/etc...here, time is FLYING by! All three kids are napping (well, Elise is 'resting'- close enough! She's in her room quietly reading and I get 2 hours of total peace.), I'll take a few quick minutes to update the blog:

*Mitchell has started really being alert and starting to interact with us...it's so cute and fun. You can really SEE it when he's close to a smile or little smirk. I haven't caught a full-out smile on film yet, but here are a few of his smirks...adorable!

*Several people have told us that Mitchell looks a lot like Ainsley, but I'm not totally sure. Ainsley looks SO MUCH like Adam (as Elise did as an infant, too), but I don't see much of that look in Mitchell. We'll see! Maybe we finally have a baby that'll look like me! (Several other friends have said that Mitchell looks like my side of the family, and I can see that, too...especially like my older brother...but maybe that's b/c Mitchell looks like he's trying to get away with something- that would be a trait of his uncle, for sure!). Hmmm...
*About a week and a half ago, Adam noticed that Mitchell has some webbed toes!! WHAT!?! Apparently, all the doctors, nurses, visiting friends, etc...ALONG WITH US, of course...failed to notice that his two toes on left foot are webbed about 1/2 way up to the nail...so crazy. We're really not concerned about it, but we do laugh that 1.You know it's kid #3 when you don't notice that for over a month. and 2.maybe he'll be an Olympic Swimmer one day with these webbies... The right foot also has the same two toes SLIGHTLY webbed, but not as obvious as the left foot.
We're doing well overall. We're settling well into the new house. Elise's favorite part is the nightly sunsets that we can see over the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains...she loves the colors and we talk about it every single night. The other night (it was a little chilly, you can see Elise shivering...) we ran out on the back deck to get a quick picture while the sky still looked like it was on fire...beautiful!

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma...

Ok, I'll try to make this short, but I would LOVE the opinions of anyone on this topic!!! ESPECIALLY those of you who are/were school teachers!
Background: Elise is 3 1/2 and LOVED her school in South Carolina. It was a church-run preschool with WONDERFUL people, bright airy classrooms, and a great balance between "play" and "learn"...they're only 3 1/2 after all! She knows her ABC's by sight and phonics, can write many of them, can write her name, can count to 100 with help, or about 25 on her own, etc...I'm NOT SAYING this to "brag", but it's important to our dilemma. AND, most importantly, she LOVES SCHOOL. She likes the routine, the structure, she LOVES pleasing her teachers, following rules, and came home telling me 'what she learned' daily...
Now: The preschool she is enrolled in here is another church-run situation. The people seem very nice, BUT it's located in the basement of an old church, she is one of only 3 girls (and one may be leaving soon and moving back to the 2 y.o. class) and is one of the oldest kids in her class. It's really more of a glorified "daycare". They talk SOME about the alphabet, #'s, other school-type stuff, etc...but it's not as much of a school environment...the other two girls are barely 3, one still sucks her thumb, and they're definitely behind Elise developmentally, language, etc...it's a little frustrating for her, I think, to be there.
As we've gotten a little adjusted, we've discovered a WONDERFUL private school right up the street that has an opening in their Pre-K 3 program. I toured the school yesterday and was absolutely blown away by their professionalism, their curriculum, the overall school environment, but it's also considerably pricier and that would mean changing schools AGAIN for her.
So our question is, "Is it all that important for a 3 year old?" We KNOW that she'll thrive at the fancy-schmancy school, we know the "education" is better and there are more kids who are at the same level of development. I also realize that she's only 3. She has her whole life to be in school and to learn...do kids who attend a more aggressive preschool really 'achieve' more than other kids down the road? After teaching at a 'fancy-schmancy' school a few years ago, I am a HUGE fan of the smaller class sizes, more professional teaching staff, etc...but that was much older kids....for a 3 year old, it seems a little obnoxious to pay for Spanish and French lessons, science experiments daily, etc... but I also LOVE that they're exposed to that stuff!
Anyway, I hate to think of her having to 'transition' again, but I'm pretty sure it would be worth it. This would just be for 2 years and then it's on to public schools- those are great around here for K-12.
Any thoughts are welcome! THANK YOU!! leave them on here or email me! Thanks.

Yikes.

So much to share...but so little time/energy/brain waves to do it!!! Ha!
Ok, we arrived in VA exactly one week ago, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself about updating this thing... Here are some highlights and a few pictures, too...

*So hard to say goodbye to friends in South Carolina! Elise has talked MANY times about how much she misses her friends and neighbors. I don't really know how to be a parent through this...I guess I should talk to other NAVY moms who've done it dozens of times... for now, I've just been saying, "It's ok that you miss your friends. I miss my friends, too. But the good thing is that we can call them (or write/color pictures for them, etc...) and maybe visit sometime. We'll make new friends here that will be special, too". Just something tough we're trying to figure out as we go. Since we haven't really met any neighbors yet, this is a little trickier to explain. Maybe soon...

*All three kids were GREAT with the traveling/movers/etc...they loved the adventure, Mitchell just slept all the time (moving with a newborn is WAY EASIER than a toddler, btw), the 8 hour drive wasn't as bad as I thought. Adam got off easy on that one- we ended up packing his 4Runner all the way with boxes/stuff and I had the three kids and dog in the minivan...Whose idea what THAT!?! =) The kids did great, really.

*Our weather was in the 90's the day the movers were there and, just 6 days later, it was 38 Degrees here! I LOVE IT! I'm so much happier in cooler weather and love wearing jeans, tshirts, and a fleece vest. Adam, Elise, Ainsley, and I all had on our vests on the other day when we took a day away from unpacking and visited some nearby friends for a few hours. It was so crisp and refreshing to be outside!!

*Mitchell is doing so well. He's a month old today and already sleeping up to 7 hours overnight. That's CLEARLY a gift from GOD with a third baby!!! I'm so thankful! He's doing pretty well during the days and seems to have a pretty laid back personality. (Although we said that about Ainsley early on, too, and at 19 months, she's SUPER high-maintenance...so, what do we know!?).

*Adam started his new job yesterday and thinks he'll enjoy it over time...it'll be such a change from doing law for the NAVY, but we're so thankful to really feel like we'll be able to settle into a city, a church, and a part of the country we love!

*being a parent to three kids under four years old is quite a challenge. I agree with the statement from friends that "going from 1 kid to 2 is harder than 2 to 3". I have a sense of "I know I can do this all in the course of a day" that prevails when I get overwhelmed and I'm more willing to let a kid 'cry it out' than I ever was when it was just Elise and I. The hardest part is just feeling like I can't give each one of them 100% that I'd like to. If Ainsley and Mitchell were just a little further spread out, I think it'd be ok, but Ainsley is so 'needy' for attention, focus, etc...right now and I really feel like I'm neglecting her so often. I know that this will pass and that I am doing the best I possibly can, but it makes me sad to daily realize that I just don't have the ability to give her that attention. I know kids are resilient, so I just hope and pray that I can be the best mom to all three kids (and wife to Adam, of course) that I can be...exausting, but possible!

*Although we've unpacked 95% of all boxes, we're still missing a solid handful of things:
-TV Remote control and TV Power Cable
-The "emergency stop" pull-cord from our treadmill. It won't turn on w/o that cord...bummer
-Elise's finger-paints (ok, I don't miss that too much yet!)
-All the hardware for curtains in the house. We have all the curtains and curtain rods, but nothing else...
None of this is major (we've already replaced the 2 TV items), but kind of a bummer and just frustrating! I'm sick of unwrapping/unpacking and equally sick of having sheets and towels hanging over windows. I don't want to spend $$ on more hardware, but the neighbors are probably wondering what kind of people are living here...

*Elise's school situation is tricky. She's had three days of school here. I LOVED her school in SC and so did she. Some of our best friends were made through that and she still talks about her friends, teachers, playground, etc...at her "old school". A few comments I've heard this week from her: "There are two other girls in my new class. Abby pooped in her panties today and Sydney sucks her thumb. She wears a diaper, too." (what!?! This is a 3 y.o. class!) "We don't do numbers and letters at my new school. We just play". Hmmmm...so, we're scrambling to research other preschools in the area to maybe switch her over. Playing is important, but she really enjoys the LEARNING stuff, too. There needs to be a balance, in my opinion. We'll see.

*Ok, that's a lot. Here are a few more pictures. Phew. Pray for ENERGY and PATIENCE for me, for easy-adjusting for all of us, and that we'd enjoy time together as a family as we get settled. Thanks!

WELCOME, MITCHELL!

A week ago right now, I was sitting comfortably at the hospital waiting for "real" labor to kick in...Elise and Ainsley were home with friends Allyson and Jean (lifesavers to us!!!!!!!), I'd gotten a full night's sleep, and I weighed about 12 pounds more than I do now. WOW, a lot has changed in a week!
A few hours from now last week, I was in SERIOUS PAIN while waiting for a nurse to show up and help out a little...it was "one of those days" on the Labor and Delivery floor where 6 women were all in the end stages of labor at the same time. Several of the others were first-time moms, so I think they kept ignoring me, thinking I was the "veteran"....yikes!
Regardless of the pain or any other drama, our little guy was born at 4:09pm, weighing in at 7lbs, 13 oz (exactly the same as Elise) and 19.75 inches long. I was VERY THANKFUL for the delivery to be over, especially since the Epidural didn't exactly "take" like it did for the last two kids! At the moment of delivery, we still hadn't decided on a name, either! We polled the nurses and my doctor in the room, they all agreed on one name, but then we chose the other one anyway...so, about 20 minutes after delivery, Mitchell Calvin Moseley was named and we could start calling him something other than "Baby Boy" that we've used for the last 5 months or so.
He is a joy and a blessing. It's so precious to have a baby in the house again (not that Ainsley is too far off at 18 months!), but we love him tremendously already! I'll post more later about how the girls are adjusting, how plans are going for the upcoming (2 weeks away) move to VA., and much more...but this'll have to suffice for now! Enjoy. =)


Day 2 of his little life. Elise came to visit and FELL IN LOVE IMMEDIATELY!!!













Daddy was a little tired, but I just love to see how little Mitchell's head is next to Adam's!


















...just hilarious....












One Week Old. ...love the baby feet!

Playdates GALORE...

Craft-time last week!


For the past few months, we've had the chance to organize almost weekly play-dates with Elise's two best friends, Abby and Ben, and their siblings. It's amazing that the three of them get along so well and that the three of them AND the younger sisters are almost the exact ages...it's adorable to see them try and figure out 'how' to have friends as they play. For me, it's GREAT to have other moms to share 'info' with, be encouraged by, etc...play-dates with good like-minded people are such a win/win!!! So, we did a bunch of 'outings' in the spring and early summer, but lately it's just been at one of our homes- easier on the two pregnant moms and just simpler to keep an eye on 6 kids under the age of 4!!!
So, anyway, I'm super thankful for them this summer- it's really kept my sanity, but makes it harder to think we'll leave all this in the next month...GRRRRR!

The girls and I getting ready to go to Jessica's last week for playtime:

















The CHAOS that is the play-date! Elise, Abby, and Ben are all in here...look closely amidst the mess they've made of Ben's living room!














Not a great picture of the "little girls", but the only picture I caught of the three of them together. Of course, we used food to lure them together!