Lil' Miss Grabby Hands and the Crazy Kid Crew

I'm thinking that could be a great name/title for something....;p

Brea is getting busy.  She's been rolling over from both sides for about two weeks now and her latest development is reaching out and grabbing stuff.  Her favorite so far is noses and hair.  She's gotten a hold of Ailey's hair a few times and Ailey responds saying, "Brea, don't pull my hair out!"  Very funny!  She's also started giggling in response to a bit of tickling.  She's been laughing at the kids talking to her occasionally, but now she's going into my favorite stage of liking to be tickled or caused to laugh.  She's still my super chilled baby.  She still only fusses when she's tired, hungry or poopy.  She has had a couple of days of fussiness because of teething, but a little Tylenol and some teething pellets and all was made right again.

Ailey is revisiting her messy tendencies.  She is a strewer.  She leaves a trail of toys or whatever she's picked up for two seconds and then discards as she goes through the house.  I need a robot maid like the Jetsons.  Rosie, right?  There are some days that all I have done is gone around and picked up and then I look around and it still looks like an Ailado has been through the house.  She's quicker than quick.  She's faster than fast!  She's sweeter than sweet! :)  I put her hair up in pigtails yesterday, because that's how I had mine and she wanted them, too.  They actually stayed up for more than thirty minutes, but lost out to Ailey's grabby hands, eventually.  We'll just have to work our way up to a whole day.  She's been cracking me up lately at how she relates to Brea.  She's so very sweet to her, talking to her, hugging her, sharing her food and blankets with her.....;)  Then, I'll look and she'll have her foot on Brea's face.  I guess we all show love in different ways.  I've come to a different perspective concerning her ability to get into anything and everything all at a pace I can't seem to keep up with.  Since she is apparently taking after me, I know that there will be a point at which this curiosity will be turned from a frustration to an advantage.  I look forward to that day, while still enjoying her fun quirkiness now.

Zekes is being more aggressive in letting us know he needs our attention.  I'm loving that! I think he finally figured out that he's really got to let us know, so he's started coming and climbing in our laps more (he's a sucker for a back or neck rub;) and saying he needs our attention.  Now, with that we are having to teach him to not interrupt and to be patient to wait for an answer, but it all goes with the training territory.  He has currently reached the stage of getting upset about most things not going his way and not handling it at all well.  We are having to show him how to handle his frustration in a better way.  Its really funny that Braden has just been coming out of that stage and Zekey is going in....earlier....yeah. I think Ailey is trying to join him already...maybe Brea will join in and we can just get it all over with now!  We all might be a wee batty by the end, though. ;p  Zekey has this amazing kindness that just blows me away at times.  If Brea is upset, he will sit beside her  and show her all sorts of stuff or talk to her for long periods of time.  He and Ailey have been playing cooperatively together more often, too.  Exciting to see him grow!

Braden is just such a help!  He's eager to help out most of the time and I sure am grateful for that!  He's fun and we laugh a lot together.  He has such a great sense of humor and its fun to see him get new humor concepts like puns.  Anytime I am making something, he wants to do it, too.  He's very interested in cooking and every time I'm doing a craft, he wants to try it, too.  He wants to be able to crochet, but the concept is still beyond him for now.  Its so funny to me when Zekey and Braden see me crocheting something and they decide all of a sudden that they want to have some yarn and a hook so they can make a blanket.  Haha!  Well, maybe someday. :)  Braden is doing an amazing job learning how to be an encourager.  There are still times when he chooses to use hurtful words or have a yucky attitude, but the really great thing about him is that he is easily corrected and it sticks!  One of the fun things that I like to see with him is when he's trying to be serious about something that is more funny and I start laughing and he tries not to laugh.  He opens his mouth wide to keep from smiling and averts his eyes, but usually he can't keep from laughing for long. :)  Really fun!

Here are some random gratuitous pics from the last month or so:

This one I have name: Bare-bum baby tries to fly. 

Yeehaw, ya'll!  (Not really, I DO NOT say ya'll!) 

 Sam got these vintage safety glasses from a guy at work and the kids loved them!  Zekey looks nerdy in a circa 1950's sort of way. :)

This is my Granny.  She HATES having her picture taken and because of that, I think I take a sort of delight in taking her picture whenever I can...mmmmwwwaaahahaha!  Do you see the small daggers being shot from her eyes?  hehe!  I love, love, love my Granny!  I keep telling her the pics aren't about her so much as they are fond memories for the kids. 

 My kiddos call her Gran-Gran.

 Sweeter Zekers!

Granny a.k.a. Momma with Brea-boops.

 Rockin' Ailey's hat at 3 mos.

 Littlest Sweets!

 Yeah, so I'm saying it again...I love the Target $ aisle!  I got each piece of the space costumes for a buck each as well as the sunglasses for the same price each!  Nice.

 So pretty!

 I didn't anticipate that Ailey would want to be a spaceperson, too.  Braden shared with her and the next day I went back to Target and got her outfitted, too. :)

Grabby hands hard at work.