Sweet 5

                                              Happiest of Birthdays to this sweet little girl...                                      

  

 Who isn't so little any more!

She brought some much needed pink into our lives and we are blessed every day with her cheerfulness and sunny disposition.

She's kind and generous, always up for a good laugh and watches over her baby sister like a second little mother. She loves to love on her baby dolls and take care of anyone who needs taking care of. 

She's my right-hand woman in the kitchen and is very eager to learn new things.

Now that she's 5, she informs me that she knows A LOT more than she did when she was 4! I have no doubt that there's some truth to that, and I can't wait to see what this little one has in store for the next year... 

We love you, Miss Tola! Happy 5th birthday! May you climb to great heights this year!

returning from a long hiatus...and Zo-Zo speak

I have been absent from my blog for a long time. But the other day, Oles asked to read through the posts at Puppy Dog Tales and joyfully related all the stories he'd read over there. It made me realize how many precious family memories I captured on that blog and then over here, and how many in the past year or so that I've missed recording. So, I'm recommitting myself to keeping up with the little happenings in our family in this space!

First up? Zo-Zo speak, ed.1:

Zoja is now 19 months old and has her own unique way of communicating with her family.

Her favorite word by far is "Da-eeee!" ("Daddy!") Which is always said with an exclamation point... She says everyone else's name as well, except for Ziven. She just looks blankly at you when you try to get her to say that one. So we have "Oh-wee", "Daaaite," and "Ohla" (Sometimes that one comes out with an extra emphasis on the L sound, so we get "Ohlala").

When she wants something, anything, she points at it and says "ah-hah!" I can only surmise this stems from answering questions of "Do you want..." with "uh-huh" and then extended to an expression of want in general. Lately she's taken to adding the sign for please while she requests the object, rubbing her chest vigorously. She usually ends up with what she's asking for, because who can resist that?!?

And then there's sundry other words, including "Dakes" (Thanks), "No," "IdoIdo" (I don't know...)
I'm sure there are a few I'm forgetting, but she babbles on all through the day, and we can't always make out exactly what she is saying, but slowly those sounds are beginning to form more and more actual words. It's such a fun and enjoyable time!

And way back over half a year ago...

Tait jumped over to the "big boys" this year. Now that his years can no longer be counted on 1 hand, he's no longer one of the littles.

Tait is so full of love and joy! He loves to make people laugh and is always getting up to some mischief or other with that goal in mind. He loves pranks and practical jokes (and is trying to navigate what kinds of pranks are acceptable and which are likely to get him in trouble...)

He adores his baby sister, often sighing, "Mom, I wish Zoja could stay like this forever!" More often than not, after we turn out the light in the room he shares with Tola, we hear footsteps as Tola climbs into bed to snuggle with her big brother, who always welcomes her and keeps her from being scared!

Happy Very Very Belated Birthday, funny, crazy, mischievous Tait! We love you!

Remembering Our December Birthday Boy

11! I'm not even going to think about how that happened. One day at a time, we have arrived at 11 years!

Ziven is such a responsible young man, dependable and honest.

Legos and books are still Ziven's favorite pastimes. He's discovered the fun of customizing his legos this year, and his favorite literary pursuit this year has been everything Greek Mythology. This kid knows far more Greek mythology than I could ever learn!

And he now considers himself a "chicken enthusiast" as well, having taken the care of the chikens under his wing, so to speak.

He loves to play around with words and create puns and new jokes, trying them our nightly on dad as soon as he walks through the door.

We love you, Ziven, and are so blessed to have you in our family!

Happy Really Belated Birthday, Sonny Boy!

Happy-belated-Birthday, Sweet Tola!

February. You know, as in nearly 3 months ago... Sigh. How does the time go so quickly? This poor blog has sat here silent for 10 months while life has gone on. And on. And on. So many ordinary moments chock-full of ordinary loveliness.

And several not-so-ordinary, once-a-year kind of happenings. I can't possibly go back and capture them all here belatedly. But I do owe a few birthday posts! I've done birthday posts every year for the past 7 or 8 years and I can't just skip over them now.

So, working my way backwards...

Little Miss Tola turned 4. Again, she wanted a pink birthday. Again, pink frosting and pink cake adorned her birthday cake. This year, she was delighted to have a little sister to fawn over on her special day.

This sweet girl fills our days with singing and dancing and princess dresses, lego building, and making her sister giggle. She loves to help mama in the kitchen, peeking into every bowl and asking what ingredients I put in this one... Every day she graces one of her brothers with allowing them to be her buddy that day, and they are all happy to compete for the honor.

She has such a loving spirit and brightens our day with cheer! Happy Birthday, my sweet Tola!

This Little Light, I'm Gonna Let It Shine!

I was puttering around in Tait and Tola's room when Tait pipes up from his bed,

"Hey, Mommy?" (This is how he starts a lot of his conversations with us--Hey, Mommy? Hey, Dad?)
"Yes, Tait?" I say, my back still to him.

"What do you think I should be when I grow up?"

"Well," I say, turning around to face him, "what do you think you should be? How do you think God wants you to use your talents, the things you're good at?"

"The things I'm good at?" He muses, then continues in his high-pitched little-boy voice, "Wellllll.... I'm really good at fighting! And hey, Mommy? I'm good at building Legos. Oh, and I'm really good at walking through the woods without getting stuck with prickly thorn bushes! What do you think I should do with those talents?"

Ummm...Anyone?

It's a Girl!

I have to admit, I thought it was going to be a boy. So after 20 hours of labor, I was surprised and delighted when my second daughter was placed on my chest.

Latest Family Photo

Chester had wanted to keep this one a surprise after having found out the gender of each of the other children at the time of our 20 week ultrasounds. I wanted to know what we were expecting. He won the coin toss, and so I embraced the mystery of not knowing...

Tola, age 3, meets her sister for the first time.

The children, at home with Oma, eagerly awaited the news of their new sibling's arrival. They thought for sure they would know before bedtime on Sunday June 22.

We headed in for an induction after Mass that morning, thinking we would have a baby by day's end.

Tait, 5, couldn't wait to hold "it."

But this baby had other plans and she kept us waiting until 8:28 the following morning, Monday June 23.

Oles, age 8. Such a tender heart this one has for babies.

 Weighing in at 7lbs, 11 oz and somewhere between 19 and 20 inches. (The hospital said 19. The next day she had stretched to 20 at the dr's office...)

We did not have a name for her yet. She didn't have a name until today, June 25. We needed a little time to get to know her, to stare at her and try out different options.

Biggest brother Ziven, 10, the same age I was when my sister Colleen was born.
He's feeling protective already.

 Each of our children have Polish names, and so we scoured the lists of Polish girl names and tossed a few back and forth. Finally, we realized we kept coming back to one name in particular. And it just seemed to fit this sweet soul.

Oma and Tola with baby girl.

 And so, without further ado, we are happy and proud to introduce our daughter,

Zoja Florence.

Zoja (Pronounced Zoy-ah. In Polish, the "j" is pronounced as a "y") is the Polish form of Zoey, meaning "Life."

Florence was Chester's maternal grandmother, and it means "Prosperous, Flourishing."

Zoja Florence

Welcome to our family, sweet girl! You have 3 big brothers who simply adore you and a big sister who absolutely beams when she holds you. They all want to sit by you and hold you and kiss on you...You are well loved and we are so happy God brought you to our family! May you have a Flourishing Life!