seven.

Seven years ago, Noah came into this world. Seven years ago, Adam and I became parents for the first time. Seven years ago, the world saw what cute kids we could have. Seven years ago, seems like so long ago. Seven years ago, seems like it just happened. 

I cannot believe Noah is SEVEN. Happy Birthday, little man! We love you oh so very much. Noah is such a good kid. He is the sweetest boy I have ever met. His teacher agrees. He is always concerned about other people and is very sensitive to others feelings. He is the best big brother and best friend. We love Noah so much and am so glad he's part of our family! 

Here's to another great year, Noah Balboa!

Just because

She's cute.

2 months.

Avila is 2 months old. {and was a week ago, but I'm a little slow these days!} I say this with every child, but I can't believe it's already been 2 months, but it seems like she's been here for so long! We have had our fair share of issues, mostly with nursing, so it makes it seem longer! She is really such a good baby. She still sleeps a lot, which I am grateful for! But, she doesn't always sleep on her own. If I hold her she's asleep a good amount of time, but I can't hold her all of the time! I do carry her around in the baby bjorn or sling quite a bit, so I can get some things done. She rarely cries {sadly, usually only when Adam is holding her! He can't nurse her! ;-)}. She absolutely loves to take baths and grins the whole time. She is very very very smiley. She smiled early and hasn't stopped. 

She went in to the doctor for her 2 month check up on the 7th. I was thinking she was big. The doctor weighed her. She was 12 pounds 15 ounces, and I thought that was big. He told me she was above the 90th percentile for weight. She was 24 inches long, too. But, then I went home and looked back at Jacob's weight at 2 months. Any guesses?? SIXTEEN POUNDS FOURTEEN OUNCES!!! And if you can't believe that one, Macie was a whopping EIGHTEEN pounds at 2 months! Macie was FIVE pounds bigger than little Avila! I seriously could not believe it. I haven't been able to get to the box with Noah's baby book to see how big he was, I know he was more like Avila, though. The other two were just giant babies!

I love this baby Avila. She makes me happy. I'm so glad she's here.

{I couldn't find the picture of Noah again, and this collage was made on our other computer, so we don't have the original anymore to add Avila to it. Noah was such an old school baby and his pictures were on FILM and we had to  SCAN it into the computer. Crazy.}

trick-or-treat

We had lots of Halloween festivities this year. The kids got to wear the costumes multiple times. But, when Halloween finally came around we were missing costume pieces! We finally found everything and it was time to go Trick-or-Treating. Jacob did not want to go. He went, but whined the whole time! Macie started in on it too. They both complained that their bags were too heavy. What child complains about too much candy?  They got quite a bit, and did have fun afterall.

smile.

We have smiles!

From day one, Avila has always looked like she was smiling with her eyes. She has this happy look and we love it! She has now started smiling at everyone. The kids love it, I love it, she loves it...it's good.

happy halloween

So, last year I lied. I had blogged that we would be dressed up as The Addam's Family. We're not. At that time I didn't know I would have a seven week old newborn. Or have mastitis and thrush issues. Or have a wedding to travel to. Things just happened...and the costumes just didn't. Sorry to disappoint! Maybe next year! ;-) 

BUT...my kids do look cute anyway! Of course they would, really. They are my kids. Would you expect anything less? Haha. 

Noah wanted to go as a Ninja. Macie originally wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake. But, then someone else said they were going to be Strawberry Shortcake. That didn't work for her. So, she decided to be a Superhero Heart Princess Ballerina...complete with crown, mask, cape and tutu! Jacob was Peter Pan. He makes a perfect Peter Pan. And, little Avila, she's a strawberry. What else? Her name is Avila and she was born on the Central Coast...where the best, biggest, juiciest strawberries are grown. She is getting plumper everyday...it was perfect. {and I already had the costume...i bought it on mega clearance before I was even pregnant with JACOB!}And, Adam and I? Yeah we were boring this year. No dressing up. I guess we do have a few hours before the trick-or-treating. Who am I kidding? We don't have time to come up with a costume!

Halloween is quite the holiday in our house. The kids dress up everyday anyway, but Halloween is even better. My kids love anything Halloween. They love the stores where everything is scary. They are weird, I know, but they love it. I never really decorated for holidays. But, now that they are getting older and so much more into the holidays, we have to. They begged me to do it! And, it makes everything that much more fun! 

Happy Halloween! Are you trick-or-treating tonight?

Superman.

Following in his brother's footsteps, Jacob is always in character. And you better be sure you call him by the right name that fits the character, just to avoid drama! Tonight he was Superman.

When we got back from Erin's wedding on Saturday, we thought it was perfect timing to get Jake to sleep in his own bed...and not ours. And, now we have an extra bed. My mom had found a Toy Story comforter on sale and brought it to him. He was overjoyed to have a Woody and Buzz bed. And to our surprise, he went right to sleep, along with Noah. That in itself is amazing, he's usually a little night owl, and stays up way too late. For four nights he was perfect. Tonight was more difficult.

He had taken a little nap a little too late. After putting him to bed several times, Adam went to check on him, and found our little Superman asleep on the stairs.

Contrary to what he thought, superheros do get tired.

one month

I can't believe it has already been an entire month since Avila joined our family. She really just belongs here with us! 

She really is a good baby. We've had our share of problems with nursing, but it will get better. She's gaining weight like a champ and is already well past 9 pounds. She even has had a few nights where she has slept FOUR whole hours in a row! 

Her brothers and sister adore her. Noah only likes to hold her when she's awake, though. He kind of thinks babies are boring. I had to explain to him that things will get better! Jacob is always kissing her. Macie is her second momma. She always wants to hold her and help her...although, sometimes she wants to help too much. She wants to be able to tote her around like she does her dolls. But, that will be a while, I'm sure.

We love our little Avila girl. She is changing everyday. We're still trying to decide who she looks like. I think Macie, others think Jacob. Who do you think??

the first coo.

Avila cooed for the first time this morning. She had just had her bath, and pretty happy about it. She looked up at me, smiled, and cooed. It was short, and just once. But, it was the sweetest thing. It's moments like that, that reassure me that being a mother was the best thing I have ever done! It's tough sometimes, but then those little moments make everything so well worth it.

the name.

We had the hardest time naming our fourth child. I had my names. Adam had his names. And, neither one of us liked the other persons names. We even bought a baby name book. I looked at every name in the book and made a list. Adam did the same thing, and even out of like 20,000 names, we had no matches! It was a little ridiculous. 

We like the idea of family names, but couldn't agree on any. We like different names, but not like spelling different, or add a 'y' different, but names that aren't as common. It was getting tough. And then we went to the rodeo. I know, we aren't rodeo people. We were shocked, too! I would never actually pay to go, but free tickets? Sure, we'll go! ;-) The program book was full of advertisements. As I was looking through it I saw an ad for Avila Beach. The one next to it was for some Christensen place around here. And I liked it. Avila Christensen. I ran it by Adam, and he liked it too.. We just knew that was the name! 

For those who don't live here, we live close to Avila Beach. It's the best beach around, and we love going there. And we especially love going to Avila Valley Barn. And to clarify, it is a short a sound, short i sound. There is something about Avila that we have always loved. And, since we move around a lot and are never sure where we'll be going next, we will always have something to "take" with us from this area.

 It may be a different. non traditional name, but we love it.