today is carys' fourth day at daycare, which is the nursery room at the preschool.  she seems fine there except she still does not really take the bottle.  her first day, she surprised us by taking a bottle and a half, six ounces total the whole time she was there.  tues, she took only an ounce and a half.  yesterday, she just took little sips all day only because the bottle was in her mouth and finally at 5:00 she took a bottle, so four ounces.  i'm hoping today will be better, but she's been up and down all week with no sign of real progress.  what's also worrying is the fact that she isn't nursing any more than normal with me at home to make up for what she's not drinking during the day.  i'm afraid that she's not getting enough and is losing weight.  yet, she still seems like a happy baby.

at the nursery, they say that she's happy and content otherwise.  she just hates the bottle.  all the nursery ladies love her and are so happy that she's there.  i even talked to the director yesterday and she said they're all enjoying her.  they love little babies and i can tell.  i'm so glad that carys is there.  i trust them and know that she is being well taken care of.  i really like the fact that at most there are only 7 babies there.  most of the time, there's only one or two other babies.  on the day there were more babies, there were 3 caretakers there (and i don't think there were 7 babies even).  so good kid/caretaker ratio.  carys gets a lot of attention.  i always see someone holding her or tending to her.  that's probably also because she's the littlest one in there too.

on her first day there, miss rachel said that carys flipped from tummy to back a couple of times.  i've not seen her do that so that's a new thing for her.  i put her on her tummy at home, but still have not seen her do that.  she's been able to hold her head up and push against the crib mattress or floor to look up for a couple of weeks now.  it's so cute to see her little head pop up to see you when you go into her room.  and now she's starting to smile when she sees you.

she is so cute.  i know i say that all the time and i know i'm completely biased, but she just brings us so much joy.  wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world.  even after three babies, each new one still amazes us. 

it has been so crazy lately!  how did Christmas creep up so fast??  anyhow, i am no where near ready for Christmas.  i've been running on four hours of sleep a night, barely got my Christmas cards out (!!), and have just not had much time to do much of anything, much less shopping!

the boys are out of school on winter break.  jakey forgot his lunch box at school.  yes, lovely thought of his lunchbox with his remaining food sitting there for three weeks.  they've been going to the y winter camp, tho they've been wanting to stay home.  they cousins are here visiting from singapore.  well, they were here.  they left this morning to go skiing in colorado.  but they'll be back after the new years and they'll get to hang out some more.

they've really just had the best time hanging out with their cousins.  first it was fun for them to try to keep them awake since they were so jetlagged.  now that they're awake the same time we are, the boys are having such fun.  hayden loves hanging out with "siba-a" and taking pictures with her camera.  the older boys love playing video games and nerf tag with kyle.  it's loud and chaotic but it's so much fun.  that's why we've been staying up late.  since we hardly see them, we want to maximize our time with them.

carys has been hanging out with grandma and cousins from singapore.  she's rejecting the bottle again.  frustrating and unexplainable.  she was taking it from my mom.  i guess now that it's the other grandma taking care of her, she's rejecting it again.  doesn't really make sense.  she doesn't really get that cranky when she's hungry though and for the most part is fine.  she just cries if they try to force the bottle on her.  is this a sign of stubborness??  if so, then she's going to be the most stubborn. 

anyways, the kids have been very entertained.  my brother-in-law is such a funny guy.  for some reason that i cannot figure out, he calls hayden joey for fun.  it's a line from the movie "history of violence" apparently.  i don't recall and can't figure out how it applies to my youngest son, but it is funny the way he does it.  and it gets hayden cracking up.  hayden's even reciprocateing/mimicking by calling his uncle clarence "joey" followed with a hearty laugh. 

hayden calls sibonay "siba-a" since he has a hard time enunciating her long name.  so now we all call her "siba-a". 

carys is getting lots attention.  she already gets so much attention from her brothers.  now she's got more people doting on her.  her cousin sibonay loves taking pictures of her and her aunt and uncle adore her and play with her.  and grandma too of course.  even though grandma is tired from the bottle battle, she still has the energy to talk to her.   

i'm tired, so i'm sure this post is just a big rambling mess.  we're tired, but we're having a good time.  who cares if we don't have any presents for anyone?  it's all about who you're with and the real reason for the season. 

merry Christmas everyone!

oh boy the time has flown by.  it seems like ages since i've posted anything.  not cuz i don't want to, but just cuz i've been so busy and mostly tired.  it's hard keeping up with four small children!

i feel bad not posting more often.  i feel like time is flying by so fast and carys is growing and changing so quickly and i'm not documenting all the milestones!

i'm back at work.  started last week.  was not ready and really did not want to.  she rejected the bottle.  yep.  just like the boys.  she's sorta getting, but not really liking it.  stubborn girl. 

she is getting bigger.  she's outgrown 0-3 months clothing and is now in 3-6 month stuff.  she's definitely gotten longer.  her hair is longer and pouffier, kinda like my sister's hair when she was a baby.  her legs are getting chubby.  she recognizes people, and tracks things.  she loves looking at lights and will stare at them.  she sometimes finds her fists and sucks on them, yet rejects a pacifier.  she's a great sleeper, sleeping through the night from 10 or 11 pm to 8:30 am.  she always grabs my hair when i'm carrying her.  she's able to sit longer without anyone holding her.  she gets TONS of kisses from her brothers.  they cannot get enough of her and always have to give her kisses.  it's like a must-do for them.  cannot do without kissing her cheek.  and will get mad when i tell them not to.  sometimes they wake her up just by kissing her. 

the best thing:  she's starting to smile more.  her favorite thing is having someone look at her and talk to her.  she sometimes responds with cooing of her own or even with a smile.  love her toothless grin right now.

it's funny, 'cuz when you have more than one child, people will ask/wonder who the youngest looks like.  carys certainly looks like her brothers, yet with her own feminine touch.  when looking at her at different times, she looks definitively like one or the other.  most of the time, she looks like jake.  when smiling she looks like bren.  when sleeping, she looks like hayden.  a lot of times, i think she looks like my aunt, my dad's sister.  in any case, she's starting to have her own look.  strangers that see her seem to know she's a girl.  and that's without a hairclip on (they don't stay in her hair just yet).  one lady even said, "tell me that's a baby girl, cuz she looks too pretty to be a boy." 

she's a good baby.  in the beginning, she needed a lot of holding, but not anymore.  she really enjoys watching her brothers do their crazy things.

speaking of her brothers, they're as crazy and rambunctious as usual.  hayden is talking all the time now.  i took him with me to the airport to drop off my sister last night and he did not stop talking.  he kept pointing out things he saw on billboards, especially the "ipo touch phone" and "almin and the chipmunks."  i think it's crazy that he recognized the ipod touch right away.  he loves that thing.  ever since daddy got himself an iphone (he bought a touch for them to play with after hayden kept stealing his iphone to play with and inadvertantly deleting apps), hayden's been very proficient on it.  in fact, all three boys picked up how to use it quite quickly.  kids these days are so technologically advanced.  anyways, the touch is a great thing to distract them and entertain them with when we need a moment to ourselves.

he loves playing with legos like his brothers.  their favorites are the lego figures (or mini-figures).  well, hayden has to build his own just like his big brothers.  one night about two weeks ago, he took his "guy" (as he calls it) up with him to go brush his teeth and get ready for bed.  all of a sudden we hear him cry, "my yightsaber!  waaah!"  walter goes up to see what's up.  apparently, he dropped the lightsaber that his guy was holding down the drain.  he wanted daddy to cut open the drain with scissors to get it out!!  even demonstrated with hand motions.  he verbally expressed he was sad, that his lightsaber was gone to the ocean.  (got that from nemo...all drains lead to the ocean).  then he asked, "how gonna do?"  and holds his hands up. 

did i not say he was funny?  daily that boy cracks us up. 

the big boys are doing great.  jake's back into the swing of things at school, but still gets tired.  yesterday he was alseep at the y when i went to pick him up.  bren lost his fifth and sixth tooth (which i think the tooth fairy still needs to leave him money for...oops!) recently.  he's becoming such a responsible, helpful boy.