James is four now and is very sweet, sensitive and creative. He loves to spend his time coloring, playing legoes, making up costumes, play doh, art projects, dancing, etc. He also loves to battle with light sabers or dominate dad. James is a sweet friend who always love to hug and kiss goodbye and tell his friends that he loves them. He likes to hear stories about Jesus, say prayers at dinner, read books, watch Star Wars (he and dad watched all seven!), swim and so much more. He is a sweet older brother who plays well with Graeme (most of the time) and loves Erin dearly.
Graeme is two and told me the other day "I think I am six", and I believe it. He wants to do everything himself from buckling his car seat, getting dressed, pouring drinks...whatever James can do and more. This has made potty training fairly easy so far as he wants to do it himself anyway, but there are many days he gets frustrated that we won't let him do something he thinks he can do. He loves to dance, do puzzles, play trucks, build legoes when James allows him, color, play at the pool, swing, and run errands. Often when I drop James off at school, I ask Graeme what he wants to do and he says "umm go to Target". (We don't go that often, but he does love going to the store!) He is very chatty and very funny.
Erin is 5 1/2 months and LOVES to smile. It was not an easy transition to three kids for me, as I naturally struggle with the lack of sleep and having enough energy for three kids. Now, she is sleeping pretty well, other than her bout with pneumonia recently. She loves being around her brothers and watching them play. She loves being tickled and laughs heartily. She is starting to sit up and enjoys playing in the exersaucer or sitting in the bumbo on the counter while we make meals. We just gave her food for the first time this past weekend, and I think she will enjoy sharing dinner with us, as she has started to look at and reach for everything around her. She is very sweet and we are thankful to have her in our lives.
SEPTEMBER 2016
Graeme turns 2!
County Fair with mimi
Paint night! Who knew I was such an artist
Little Ninjas!
Some silliness before baby sister arrives...
James' school photo (taken by grandma!)
Graeme sneaking in for a photo... as usual
OCTOBER
Erin Rita Cloud was born October 1, 2016 at 2:02 am. It was a pretty quick delivery overall. I was feeling a little crampy on Friday, September 30 around 1 pm. I called my OB and saw her around 4 pm. She said I was 4 cm and was having contractions about 4-5 min apart. I wasn't experiencing much pain, so we drove to St. Agnes in Baltimore where we were delivering. Not much happened for a few hours, so the doctors ended up hooking me up to pitocin to get things moving. There still was no progress until they broke my water at midnight or so. I got an epidural soon after that, and things happened quickly! After six minutes of pushing, Erin arrived at 2:02 am!
Back at home!
The boys were very interested in Erin's umbilical cord and had to examine their belly buttons
Thanks to grandma for helping us get out and have fun as we adjust to life with THREE kids!
Homestead Fall Festival (My second cousin, Kylie, moved in with us this week and stayed with Erin so we could go with just the boys! So fun!)
Treasure hunt with mimi
Erin went to her first wedding on October 30 with us!
Halloween!
NOVEMBER
James turns FOUR with a Batman party!
We LOVE the pool and try to go once a week
(Wearing a dress that was mimi's)
We hosted Thanksgiving this year for a few family members and friends who were in town
DECEMBER
Annalise returns home from a semester in New Zealand!!
Girls outing to DC
Freda lived with us a for a month and we loved our time with her!
James had a Christmas song performance at school (after a driveway wipe out the night before)
Annual Hiskey Girls Nails outing
James loves creating with play doh and coloring!
Hiskey family dinner
A glimpse of James at school
Family photos!
Graeme's first hair cut, December 24
Christmas morning!
James loves to color and is learning to write!
The boys LOVE to dominate dad
JANUARY
...Was a crazy month as Brandon and I were both maxed out working for the Prayer breakfast and trying to manage all our other normal things. Kylie came back to help us and we cut back on a lot of things...
A tiny snow day....
Costumes are a big deal right now... He just makes them up!
Face time with cousin Violet!
FEBRUARY
Grandpa comes to town for the NPB!
We spent a week in DC for NPB, a crazy busy week but fun to do together and get to connect with a few friends
The kids seemed like they did ok, the boys were at home with Kylie and Erin was with Rebekah!
A warm day in February!
Lots of light saber battles and Star Wars songs
My birthday
We LOVE legoes
Erin starts to play in the exersaucer
Happy Valentine's Day!
Another warm February day!
We say good bye to Kylie again....
Dancing Machines! And Graeme is potty training.
MARCH
Melting Pot date night
Erin gets pneumonia! While Brandon is out of town of course!
Freda moved back in at the end of February and the boys love having her back to play, color and "chat" as they say
A girls trip to Boca Raton
Erin loves daddy!
James at school
I got to sub at school one day
James is learning to swim!
Erin tries peas, her first food on march 18
We are so thankful for friends!!
