Advice Needed

Sara Wells has never been accused of being a great napper. She sleeps great at night, but not so much during the day. Most days she at least takes a fairly decent afternoon nap. But now she is even struggling with that. After about an hour/hour and a half into her nap she just starts crying and then really crying. Now, I am definitely a firm believer in letting them cry it out (however I don't think Sara Wells has ever cried it out), but when I go in there she has flipped over to her belly and cannot roll back over by herself. And once she is awake, she is awake! So, it is pointless to roll her over and then walk over. I am wondering if anyone has any trick on keeping babies from rolling over in their bed or how to teach them very quickly how to roll back over to their back. We all need good afternoon naps! And I really don't want to make a habit of one hour afternoon naps.

Big Day

Wahoo!!! No accidents today!!!

They did not have Spiderman under-roos at Wal-Mart, but Cars seemed to have done the trick. Lightening McQueen provided some great motivation today! Miller did not want to get his new underwear dirty! I am still not convinced he is all the way ready. Every time the timer goes off and it is time to go to the bathroom Miller cries and begs not to go on the potty. He did have a big break through tonight with Murray, in the middle of a movie he told Murray he had to go to the bathroom, he marched right to the potty and went! We will see what tomorrow brings...

Sunday Lunch

Chloe and Fitz made their debut to Cahaba Park Church today. Sadly, we were not there because Murray preached at Cross Creek Church. However, all the cousins got together for lunch at our house. The entire ride home Ella could barely contain herself because she was so excited about her new baby cousins coming to her house. Ella was right in her element with the babies!!! And Miller was as sweet as ever! Several times when we were not paying attention we looked up and saw Miller rocking either Chloe or Fitz in their car seat. And he definitely got a big kick out of holding Fitz. He is very excited to teach Fitz how to drive the golf cart and fish. This weekend at the lake will be very interesting (the first time with all the cousins) when Fitz does not catch on right away to all that Miller is trying to teach him.

Ella and Fitz

Miller and Fitz

Ella and Chloe

Yes this picture is very scary, but don't worry Wellon was right beside Ella you just cannot see her. And don't you know Ella was loving every second (there was probably only two or three) of it! This is a terrible picture I know, but it is the first, and so far only, picture of all the cousins. Hopefully this weekend we can get a better one.

The Lee Clan

(by the way, this is the best photo of Sara Wells on the blog, look at that smile! I think this is the first picture I have gotten of her smiling, and what a smile it is!!!!)

One of the sweetest things to watch lately is how much Ella and Miller love each other. Now they definitely have their moments! But are are each other's bests friends. The LOVE each other!!!

Update on Miller

Well, I will say we have not had total success, but I am not giving up yet. Yesterday after my post about only one accident, I found Miller in the shower upstairs with a nice brown surprise one the bedroom floor. Don't worry the floor was hardwood and very easy to clean. We had a very impromptu trip to the lake, which kind of threw off the potty training boot camp, especially since Miller was in the water all day. But Miller still had a lot of successes with just a few accidents. Tomorrow is sort of a wash because I am not about to make the nursery staff at church deal with a potty training little boy. He will be absolutely thrilled to get to wear a diaper! He has been begging us for the past two days for his "bi-per." That may be a sign that he is not quite ready, I don't know. Ella is going to be a VBS all next week, so I am going to give it one last try. If we are unsuccessful at the end of the week, then we will just try again later. I am going to the store tomorrow to get some Spiderman under-roos. Hopefully that will provide the motivation Miller needs.

Potty Training

For some crazy reason I decided to start potty training Miller yesterday. He has been showing signs that he is ready (like telling us when he has to go and occasionally going on the potty), but I think being potty trained is really overrated. All it means for me is one more child to tell me they have to go to the bathroom in the middle of my grocery shopping and then visiting a very, very dirty bathroom! I really cannot think about it too long or it makes me kind of sick to my stomach. Anyways, yesterday our plans changed and we were home all day and I realized we did not have any plans for the rest of the weekend and Ella is going to VBS next week. So, the timing seemed right as far as being home. The idea was so spontaneous I did not even have underwear to put on the child! So he ran around comando all day, which being a boy of course he loved it! Overall, yesterday was pretty good. Only one accident, three times on the potty and a dry diaper after nap time! So far today he has done pretty good too. Only one accident. We will see.... I am definitely not going to get bent out of shape about it if he does not do it, but I figured it would be great if he really was ready and we were back to only one in diapers!!!

You know any child who runs around like this is going to be just a bit of a challenge when potty training. Who wants to slow down and take time to go to the bathroom when you can do it on the run?!

Summer Fun

We pulled out our sprinkler for the first time today. Ella got a super duper sprinkler from her cousin Parker for her birthday. Miller was not quite sure if he liked it at the beginning.





I have so many wonderful memories of childhood summer days. Playing in the sprinklers was always a favorite of my friends in the neighborhood. I am starting to realize now that I am a mom that these "memory makers" did not just happen. But actually a lot goes into it and then afterwards the clean up. And I was oblivious to it all! This morning I spent about 15 minutes outside getting everything ready for the sprinkler. Then got the kids dressed and sunscreened up before heading outside. After about 10 minutes, Sara Wells woke up. I rounded up Ella and Miller to the front porch while I got Sara Wells and then we all headed back out again. The sprinklers lasted about 10 more minutes before the whining began. So we dried off, redressed and that was all for the sprinklers. But, they had a great time and it was worth all the trouble to hear them squealing as they ran through they swirling water.

5 Months Old

I feel like I am saying the same thing all the time, but here it goes again... my how the time flies! Hard to believe that Sara Wells is already 5 months old! It is amazing how much joy she has brought to our already full life. I love to watch Ella and Miller love on her. Oh, they love her soooo much. It makes my heart swell! Just the other day a someone asked me how life was with three. I told them it is pretty amazing, but somehow Sara Wells has evened us out and I really feel like I am handling 3 better than 2. Crazy I know, but I feel more calm and steady. I can definitely feel that the Lord as at work in my life giving me more peace and patience everyday! He always gives exactly what I need.

Sara Wells is the happiest, most laid back baby that just smiles at me all the time. However, yall would never know it because I cannot get her to smile when I take a picture. The closest I got was the picture with her sticking her tongue out at me, which is pretty darn cute, but no smile. Oh, her smile just melts me all over!






My mom was in town this weekend. When she is here all she does is play with the grand kids. As she kindly put it as apologized for both Murray and me doing much needed house chores and not spending time with her or the kids, "it is great that I get to see you and Murray while I am here, but I came to see Miller, Ella and Sara Wells, not you and Murray." And that is what she does when she is here. She is nonstop with the kids, always playing some new game. In this picture, they had just finished watching Ratatouille and my mom got so inspired that she, Chef Ella and Chef Miller went into the kitchen and whipped up some muffins. They decided next time Granna came to town they would open their own muffin shop. Ella is going to make Rainbow Muffins and Miller is going to make Chocolate Muffins. Watch out Magic Muffin, the Lee Children are about to enter your market!