Elliot is 1, Clara is 7!!

I can't believe my baby is one! Elliot turned one on October 14th. I have to admit, things have changed in our family with him being the third. We didn't have a birthday party, we did have my family over for a dinner, that was well overdue anyways. I'm sad to say, I didn't even attempt to make Elliot a birthday cake. I bought a cake that I knew I would love to eat and realized there was no way he could blow out a candle on that cake, so I sent Jeff to the store to buy him a little cupcake or something. He came home with a mini cheesecake. Not quite what an average child would want, but he has no way to complain, so it's what he got. He actually enjoyed eating it surprisingly.

I will say, there is no lack of love for this child. We love him so much and are so grateful we have him in our family. He has been such a joy to have around. We got off to a rough start. For the first 3 months or so all he did was cry all day. He was not a happy baby. I will be forever grateful for my mother in law who would come over for a couple of hours every week and hold him so I could do stuff, or even just have a break. I remember her coming over and baking me bread when Elliot was born, how spoiled can a person get? I also remember my sister in law Stacey taking Clara and Donovan for me whenever she could. She is a very busy person, and it was amazing that she used her free time to help me out. I can remember feeling so happy that I got to enjoy Elliot, even if he wasn't always happy. At least I got to hold him and cuddle him and love him while he was so small and not feel guilty that I was neglecting my older children.
Elliot has always been a good sleeper. I rarely remember waking up with him through the night, even in the very beginning. I think he did that so he could prepare me for the daytime, when there was no way I could put him down.
Now, Elliot is a busy 1 year old. He was crawling by the time he was 5 months old. He was pulling himself up by 6 months. Thankfully he didn't start walking until he was 11 months old. He sure is a curious baby. I've never really had to child proof anything, until he came along. Everything needs to be childproofed with him around. Toilets are his favorite thing to play in. A close second is the cupboards, he loves pulling stuff out of them. I often find random measuring spoons and cups throughout my house. He loves to eat, and he will eat pretty much anything. I think he would sit in his highchair all day eating food if I let him. He's still a thumb sucker. It's hard for me to watch, but I tried to stop him, he just would not give it up. I am glad he only does it when he is tired, so hopefully he won't go to kindergarten sucking his thumb. He loves Bella. I can't believe how much he loves her. His first word was Bella, after he mastered the phrase uh oh. Now all he says is uh oh and Bella. Everytime he sees a dog, or anything furry, he says Bella. I admit, it's pretty cute when he says it, but I sure wish he would say mama or something. We are working on that, and I think he is close.

I am excited to watch him grow up. He is definitely going to keep me on my toes, but I just love being around him. He brings so much excitement to my life. I love how Clara and Donovan take such good care of him and love him so much. I can't imagine my life without him.

Today is Clara's birthday! She turns 7. I can't believe my baby is 7. Time sure flies. I remember holding my sweet baby girl for the first time like it was yesterday. She is so perfect.

I love having her around. She is such a good helper. She is so amazingly smart. She is so talented. She loves to draw and color and she is really good at it. She started piano lessons this year. For some one who doesn't have parents who are musical, she sure picks piano up well. She continues with her dancing, it will be her 5th year dancing and she is so good at it. This year she will be doing competition dancing. Even though it is more money than I would like to spend, I am excited for her. She has struggled with our big move, and dancing seems to be her outlet. I am so grateful for that. She goes to dance and nothing else seems to matter.

I continue to pray that she will settle into her new school and make some good friends like she had in our old house and I hope that it happens soon for her. I had no idea it would be so hard on her moving here, and I am constantly thinking about her and hoping for her happiness.

For her birthday we gave her tickets to the Selena Gomez concert. I went with her and we had so much fun. We didn't make it to the end, but it was an amazing night. Clara loves Selena Gomez and wants to be like her so bad.

Her birthday party is coming up this weekend. She wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. She was allowed to invite 6 friends and chose them carefully. She picked mostly old friends, but invited our new neighbour as well. Then she decided there was a girl in her class she wanted to invite. So I'm pretty happy that she is inviting 2 people from here to go to her party. She will have 3 cousins there and 1 of my best friends daughters. While I don't enjoy Chuck E Cheese at all, I am happy to do what I can to make her birthday special.
I just love all of my children. They bring me so much joy. While I miss snuggling with my brand new babies, I sure enjoy watching them grow and learn. It is so satisfying to see them turn into the people they are becoming. I am so proud of each of them and I feel so blessed to be their mom.