She's here

Just in case anybody was still wondering...yes...our little, ahem, BIG sparkle is here!

Miss Emma Jaymes Sweet Girl Sparkle Baby arrived a few weeks early at 11:56 p.m. on March 9, 2011. She was a tiny little thing, weighing 6 lb. 3 oz. and 18 1/2" long. Now our 8 month old "little" girl weighs about 20 pounds! She's been a great addition to the B. fam, and her brother loves her so (the feeling's mutual). Her contagious smiles light up the room, and her newest trick "pat-a-cake" is sure to put a smile on anybody's face. I'm thinking she may be crawling soon, since she is starting to side prop a lot in efforts to reach all her toys. She gets herself around the room, rolling to and fro. She is sure cute when she engages you to play or hold her. Her little feet just kick kick kick when she wants to get somewhere while in someone's arms (I guess she thinks she's helping you go). We are certainly glad to have her and can't imagine our family without the cutie pie.

The Princess and the Pilot

Will is doing great these days. He amazes us all the time. Spelling his name...recognizing many letters, all the colors, and shapes. There are so many books he's memorized and can fill-in words for. Lately, his big thing is pointing out the different tractors...backhoe, excavator, dump truck, etc.  It's so cute to hear him sing his version of "Row, Row, Row" among several other songs. He had surgery back in September to have tubes placed in his ears and his blocked tear duct drained. He hadn't suffered from many ear infections, but his speech had somewhat changed ("dada" had become "gaga"..imagine the joking we did with Billy for that one! LOL:) . This was a clue to us that his hearing had also changed. So in efforts to test his hearing, we found he had chronic fluid that needed to be drained. The ENT described it as having "air plane hearing" all the time. Just imagine that, poor guy! The week of his surgery, we noticed his speech improve. His words are becoming more clear every day. He now has high-profile AFO's (orthotic braces) to assist him in walking, and for long distances is pretty pro at using a little walker.We are hoping these are only temporary, as he has recently started taking independent steps. His overall tone is getting much better, and we are soooo often praising God for the awesome blessing Will is!

Since we last spoke, my brother and his family moved in (April 2). It's been a lot of fun having so much "community" time together. We enjoy rotating the dinner duty (and the clelaning duty as well!) and the kids totally enjoy being in one house. It's been good for the toddlers to have "siblings" around, to learn to share and play fair. They will certainly be better off for it. We had a friend tease the other day that our house "looked like Disneyland"...with many books, toys and play-things in every room. Life is fun in our casa!

We gained 3 neices this year! Olive, Olivia, and Nova! They are all beautiful and healthy girls! We haven't met Olivia yet (she lives in Boston) but we get to see adorable pictures of her via email.

Aunt Mimi came for a visit

I thought I'd post a quick something to let the blog world know I haven't forgotten you! It's just been suuuuuper busy! If you can, take a sec. and let me know you're still reading and I just might follow this posting up with another :) Here are a few fun pics of the 5 grandbabies on my side of the family.

Nova, Will, Emma, Olive and Lucie with Papa and Gramm