charlotte jane lake.

8.15.2011

5:58pm

8lbs 5oz, 22inches

we love you little lottie...and fight over you all day long.

you have julia's nose and lips, emilia's jowls, mommy's eyes

and you are ALWAYS hungry.

take a little guess...

bainey as a newborn.

i can not wait for next week when we will welcome our chubby new addition...i hope she has plenty of chubs to love on because she. will. be. mauled.

the question really is what will she morph into? a dark-hair brown-eyed, blond-hair blue-eyed, curly red head? who really knows and the possibilities with this crowd are endless...

i want to repeat what i did with baine and do a little give-a-way(thanks to cousin arah for the idea). so, make an estimate on how much this little gal is going to weigh and how long she will measure. if by chance you nail it on the head or have the closest weight and height i will send you a target gift card.

the guessing ends sunday the 14th @ midnight.

lately...as in the last 4 months.

excuse the hefty post...but i have neglected this blog for far too long...and baby #5 is almost here, which means i will REALLY become neglectful to the technology in my life...

my girls finished their 1st and 3rd grade years at school with great teachers and friends. they have been super helpful in baby preparations and love each other(most of the time).

we DID have a 2nd birthday party back in february for bainey...something magical happened that night...i can't put my finger on it but a definite transformation was made. he is a tad naughtier and WAY more grown-up. we can't get the munchkin to stop talking or moving.

don't ask about this picture...i just loved the way it captured my kids. baine looks like he could do NO wrong, rockwell has his mouth full(always), and emilia is making the most revolting face ever...shocking.

baine is SO excited for baby sister to come...SERIOUSLY though. he climbs in bed every morning to snuggle 'mmm baby charlotte'. if there is a baby around he demands to hold it and will ask you to 'get away' if you come close. he talks about rocking sister, giving her tubbies and snuggling her.

so, i can't decide if baine's personality transformation happened when he turned two or when we chopped his hair off. i just love that you can really notice his uneven ears now though.

our julia goolia turned 9 on june 6th. i thought 8 seemed really old, but when your daughter doesn't ask for toys anymore it will make you cry. she is growing-up way too quickly and can't wait for her braces to come on...weird.

she wanted to take her girlfriends miniature golfing and to in 'n out for her party. let's just get things straight here...9 year-olds are super goofy. l to r: julia, emilia, madison, brooke, quincee and taylor.

emilia begged and begged for a pet...we let her bring home a kitty from grandpa and grandma's house. she was in PURE heaven for two days. look at her in this picture, it makes my mom heart melt. needless to say, my cat allergies are so bad that even an outside cat caused major problems. my asthma became a serious issue so kitty was sent back to live with her momma. we are looking at bearded dragons...they can stay in the garage and don't have fur.

baine is STILL extremely obsessed with 'nun nuns'. if he doesn't have one in his hand he is making the loudest motorcycle sound you have ever heard. he makes sure that every single person in the car knows when he sees one. he drives his quad around in the 100 degree heat with the helmet on...forever...until his head/hair are dripping in sweat.

sweat-head.

emilia turned 7 on july 14th, which also happened to be our ten-year anniversary. emerson pulled through this year and bought me a pretty anniversary band since an exotic beach get-away was out of the question being 8 months pregnant. we will plan for next year. emilia wanted to go roller-skating for her birthday...so i watched.

this little guy is what we call our 'independent thinker'. it is mommy and daddy's way of not having to use the word stubborn on him. he rolled around the skating rink solo and happy the whole time. i couldn't get enough of it...he is such a big boy.

how cute are lakai and baine skating together.

emilia was in birthday heaven. notice her cut lip? i went to SLC with my mom and sisters for my cousin, camille's wedding a few weekends back. the daddies decided to take the kids to tahoe for the weekend...which turned into monkeys jumping on the bed and falling off to bump their lips/teeth. emerson super glued it(her lip) and we thought all was good until earlier this week when her tooth abscessed and emerson had to pull it. she is pretty proud of the fact that she lost a molar before her sister.

daddy and the girls...can't wait for another girl to join us...it's been a while. the real question is what will she look like?

look at my beautiful big seven year-old.

7th birthdays are special because auntie raquel takes you on your special birthday date. if you are a girl you get even more hooked-up because you get to get all dolled-up by the professional. i wonder if emilia was excited? she went to red robin for dinner and then to petroglyph to paint some pottery. thank you auntie!

this last weekend we took a quick trip to l.a. to go to baby cousin, bowen's baby blessing. we spent a couple hours at the beach and uncle nate helped the kids find sand crabs. i sat on my duff and ate homemade cookies that monica brought...thanks monica!

*well hopefully this means i will be more blog-responsible...and maybe not. we have rock's birthday on saturday and a HUGE erickson family reunion up in seaside, oregon next week. then baby comes august 15th...i have some work to do.

it's a girl.

we are so so excited for another girl...it's been a while. julia came with us to the ultrasound and emilia was going to but at the last minute said, 'never mind, you can just tell me what it is when you get home'. she is hilarious. rockwell was hoping for another brother so i was a little nervous for his response. he is such a happy kid though...we pulled up and he was playing outside, i yelled out the window, 'we're having a little girl!' rockwell's smile was so big he could barely contain himself. he said, 'i wanted it to be a boy'. i think he really wanted it to be a girl though. baine has no idea what is coming...except he has been a little more tender with the baby doll's in the house. he wants to push them in the stroller, feed them bottles and sleep with them at night. then, the next day he is chucking them left and right. so, for now we are enjoying a different color of baby nonsense around here and we can't wait for august to come.

happy birthday baine.

it's amazing what two short years can do.

one year.

two.

a couple of interesting facts about you on your second birthday:

1. you are far more mischievous than your siblings ever were.

2. you love yogurt by the straw.

3. you love to grunt.

4. you love to dance.

5. you love elephants(especially mommy's elephant noise).

6. you love the books: big little and yummy yucky.

7. you are infatuated with motorcycles and call them 'nun nuns'.

8.your right ear is still smaller than your left.

9. you are very obedient to daddy and not so much to mommy(but you cuddle me more).

10. you make us laugh every single day and we love you so much!

happy 2nd birthday bainey!

happy lovers day.

e.l. + r.l.

halloween 2010.

so we had a halloween party at our house this last year...mostly for the kids since halloween fell on a sunday. the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa came over for a spooky evening...

first the kids trick-or-treated around our neighborhood thanks to our sweet church friends.

had to try and grab a quick group shot...wow. let's see if i can guess what they are dressed up as. left to right: baine(owl), cosette(cinderella), julia(witch), rafe(batman), rawson(prince charming), lakai(ninja), otto(jester), maddox(ninja), emilia(tiger lily), rockwell(davy crockett).

grandma and emilia had a great time together playing 'cowboys & indians'.

the flapper and lumberjack.

sisterly love.

the babies were angelic as usual.

we bobbed for apples.

emilia.

lakai.

bobbed for donuts.

played a little squash bowling.

and finished things up with a dance party.

happy halloween.