When you are working this hard, who has the energy to smile? 

Look how high she lifts her head! 

Unchartered territory.

I have so much to tell you! Let me preface this by saying, you really had to be there to get the full effect, but I will do my best to explain. Saturday morning my Dad and Charles got to work on Natalie's room. They finished up the electric and put up the framing of the dividing wall. It is getting pretty exciting to finally envision the room. While they were working, I put the kids down for a nap around 12:30. Once Charles and my Dad finished up, we went into the living room to talk. All of a sudden, Michael walks into the living room with a huge grin on his face. We all were sort of stunned. It was pretty funny. He climbed out of the crib by himself. I knew this day would come, but usually you get some warning, right? No, not us. I never experienced this before. Tyler and Lindsey stayed in their crib until we decided it was time for a "big kid" bed. So needless to say, we had a rough day and night. Charles converted his crib into the toddler daybed and we could not keep him in it! For nap, he was up every couple of minutes. We finally placed a gate in his doorway, but he almost could get over that and did I mention, the SCREAMING? Geez, he stood at the gate and would just scream. So, of course, our fear of waking Lindsey and Natalie did come true. When he finally did fall asleep, he was half on the bed, half off. Bedtime was even worse, we have been up all night. He won't stay in the bed! We tried laying next to the crib, putting the gate up, even letting him be in our bed to get a little sleep. So, now it is 5:45 am and he has been up since 2am. Yes, you read that right. Almost 4 hours.........and guess who crashed? He is fast asleep on the living room floor. I know it will get better, but boy are we tired!

Another interesting thing happened this morning. I fed Natalie at about 5 am. I laid her down on the couch next to me and you won't believe what she did!!! She lifted her head and shoulders off of the couch and was trying to sit up! What???? She isn't even 4 months yet....I know, I know...she will be in 2 days, but still! Our daughter won't even try to roll over, but she tries to sit up. What a cutie!

Until next time!

How fortunate we are!

I found this in a magazine today.

This is my one true wish....

If you had asked me 3 years ago I would have instantly replied "a new car", "money", "a bigger house", but now my answer has changed. I no longer care about the new car, the bigger house, or even the money. I want a baby. I don't care if it's a he or a she. I don't care what it looks like. I want the aches and pains. I want to be fat and bloated. I want morning sickness. I want the crazy ups and downs of pregnancy hormones. I want to be moody and grouchy and hot all the time. As crazy as it sounds, ecspecially coming from me, I want to go through hours of labor. I want to feel the pain. I want to want pickles with my ice cream. I want to shop for someone other than me. I want to spend my money on diapers and formula. I want people to stop assuming that we hate children because we don't have any after 4 years of marriage. I want them to stop treating me weird once they find out why. I don't want them to hide their pregnancies from me. I am not going to freak out. I don't want to hear, "You are so lucky you don't have kids". We aren't lucky. I don't want to hear another person say "I hate to have to drop everything every 3 hours to feed a crying baby." Do they not understand that I would give anything to be in their place? I want to do a 2 a.m. feeding. I want to go to work tired because I was rocking a fussy baby all night. I want to give up my "me" time. I want to have to take super fast showers. I want to learn how to do everything one-handed. I want to eat with a baby on my lap. I want a reason to give up my Trans-Am. I want a reason to drive slower and eat healthier. I want the doctors to stop saying, "we can't find anything wrong. Just give it some more time". I am tired of being disappointed month after month. I am tired with being obsessed with numbers and dates and temperatures. I'm tired of trying to be happy for everyone that accidently gets pregnant. I'm tired of just being "Aunt Brandi". I want something more. Is it too much to ask?



Isn't it sad, but beautiful? I am keeping it for those days when I am at my wits end with the kids. I have truly been blessed with my wonderful children. I wouldn't change a thing. They are so worth it.

A recap.

Our phone has been acting crazy for the past two days, so forgive me for the bombardment of all the photos. We are heading out the door to visit my Grandmother, so I sort of threw them all together. The first 3 were of the kids hanging out in Lindsey's room. Michael can't go with mainstream, he had to try a new approach to getting on the bed. He is our little thinker! Obviously, the photos in the middle are of the kids in their new pool. If you don't have one and are thinking of getting one.....run to Costco! It was $39 and it is huge. I don't know if the photos really do it justice, but Tyler, Lindsey, Michael and I were all able to sit in the wading portion of it. The slide held all of us and at the end of the slide, there is a small wading pool with 3 sprinkler attachments. Well worth the money I think. They really had a lot of fun. Our 4th was nice. As you can see from the pics, no one was really cooperating with me that day. Charles had to work, so we went to my parents for an indoor picnic. After Charles got home, we hit the pool with Tyler and Michael. The girls were sleeping, so it was just me and the boys. It was a refreshing change. While we were swimming, Charles got the grill ready for dinner, we ate, and Christina(Charles' sister) and Marie(Charles' Mom) came over for dessert and fireworks. The kids enjoyed seeing Christina(she is visiting from Cleveland). Michael really was showing off for her, while it took Lindsey a little longer to warm up to her. It was really nice seeing her again. I guess I have caught you all up on what is going on in the Scavo household. Hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend as much as we did!

Natalie hanging out in her big sister's bed. I think she looks a little nervous. I would be too....you never know with them! 

Lindsey's favorite glasses she swiped from Grandma's toy box. She loves being silly. 

Michael trying to get in on the action. 

This photo really makes me laugh. He had enough of the camera and he was enjoying the sprinkler hitting him in the back. 

All three fit in it. What fun they had. Yes, the pool area is a disaster. We have remodeling stuff everywhere! 

Happy in their own pool........grass and all. 

Our first attempt at a 4th photo. Note the distance of Tyler from the rest. Michael is always on the lookout for her "binky". They are really loving towards their baby sister. 

And this is the second. At least two are looking at me. 

Having a serious discussion with Great-Grandma Russell. 

Too cute! 

Just a blur.

This week went by so fast, I haven't really had time to post new photos. VBS started on Monday. Tyler and Lindsey went from 8:30 to 11:30, all week. Well, Tyler did. Lindsey made it through Wednesday. Thursday morning, she started to sob that she didn't want to go. I tried to stay with her, but it didn't work. So, I gave in. When she starts preschool in August, she will have to go......so, I thought why force the issue? That kept me pretty busy. Getting them all in the car, driving to the school, taking them out of the car. At 11:00 repeating it all over again. Poor Michael wanted to join them. I really felt bad about that! Baby is calling.........will write more when I have time. Enjoy the photos!

Lindsey this morning. This shows she does have a silly side! 

Very focused on mowing the lawn with Dad. 

Michael loves playing with Daddy. His face lights up whenever he is around. 

Natalie playing in Tyler's room again. Such a cutie.