Our Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,



It's hard to believe that 2010 is already drawing to a close. Once again, the year has brought many blessings for myself and our family. The biggest blessing of the year came in a 7 lb 2 oz bundle on May 31st that we like to call Dylee Pickles (Dylan Lawrence). Dyl is now 6 1/2 months old and brings so much joy to our lives. He is constantly on the go, rolling and scooting all over the house,but loves playing in his jumper most of all. Dylan is always full of smiles his brothers adore him, and he in turn is constantly in awe of them.

Ronan is now 22 months old. He is able to say his entire alphabet, count to 10 and talks well beyond his years. Him being able to tell us what he wants/needs is nice, but whispering is still somewhat lost on him and it can make church seem rather lengthy early Sunday mornings. Ronan is full of energy, and is my sweety snuggly boy. Even though he is very independent these days he still loves to be held and rocked and would dance in mommy's arms all day if I let him.

Collin is now 3 years old. He is 100% potty trained, knows all of his shapes (even cresent and octagon!) colors, numbers, letters and a little more than half of his letter sounds. He loves to learn new things and is forever seeking new adventures. Though very independent and somewhat ornery, Collin has proved to be the best big brother Ronan and Dylan could ask for. He is very helpful around the house and loves to play with his brothers. His new thing is to say "I don't need you mommy" when he is going down for nap or going to use the restroom, but I know he still needs me when he surprises me with a hug and an "I love you."

Dan continues to teach first grade in Maize and still rocks at being an amazing husband/father. Our boys adore him and I can see in Dylee's eyes that he cannot wait until he is old enough to wrestle Daddy like his brothers. In the past Dan has always coached wrestling this time of year, but decided to take a year of from the demanding sport to spend more time with us. He is going to try to help out once a week, but didn't want to feel obligated 3 nights a week plus every Saturday.

Now for me. I am in my second year of being a stay-at-home mom, and couldn't be more thankful. Our boys do so many cute and crazy things during the day that I can't even imagine not being here for every one of them. I am still watching a few other children to supplament our income which keeps me very busy, and sometimes leaves me feeling guilty for using the phrase "mommy is busy" so many times in one day. However, this allows me to be with my children every day, and for that I am thankful. Being home all day every day with rarely leaving the house for more than church on Sunday can sometimes make me a little stir crazy. Dan has been wonderful at letting me have some time to myself to work on sewing projects, items for my Etsy shop or even just running to the grocery store to get away for a while.

The fun never stops around the Berry house, and we wouldn't change it for the world.

Wishing you all a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.



The Berry's

a new place to play

Collin and Ronan are best friends, which can make my life easier at times. The other night while Dan was at the library tutoring and I was cooking dinner, I went back to check on the boys in their room to find this.

The toy chest itself isn't new, but they have just recently discoved how fun it is to play inside of it.

6 months

Today I took Dyl to the doctor for his 6 month check up. The boy is a stud. He weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz and is in the 60th percentile. His height is in the 30th and his Berry noggin is in the 80th. My boys have big heads to make room for all them brains!
At this point in time Dyl is working on getting his first tooth. It's just starting to poke through. He can get up on all fours and rock, but army crawls like a champ ALL OVER the house. He also enjoys rolling everywhere. He loves to play in his jumper. The kid can go 30 minutes non stop. I can't help but laugh at him whith his chunky little thighs hanging out the bottom.
Dylan's sleep routine has gotten better. He's napping in his crib really well, and sleeps 4-5 hours at a time at night. He eats every 4 hours, and really only cries if he's super hungry, overly tired, or hurt. I try not to let him get hurt, but let's face it, he has 2 older brothers that LOVE him and want him to be big enough to wrestle.

we're the chipmunks

For Halloween, my sweet boys dressed up as Alvin and the Chipmunks.
I must say, they looked pretty stinkin cute!

Doesn't he make the perfect Simon?

Happy Halloween!

Klausmeyer Dairy Farm

Today we visited Klausmeyer Dairy Farm with some friends. We all had a good time, but the boys especially enjoyed the outing. They got to bottle feed a calf, feed goats, sheep and cows, watch pig races, take a hay ride and pick out a pumpkin. I'm so $15 and came home with 3 pumpkins. I call that a good deal.

cowtown

Today was National Museum Day, and being lovers of free things, we cashed in on some free tickets to the Old Cowtown Museum today. I had never been there before and was excited for the experience, but more so was excited to spend the day, outside of the house, doing something with my family. And bonus, it was FREE. Did I mention that we love free things? I would share some amazing pictures with you of my adorable children walking through the saloon, pumping water from the well, or studying in the one room school house, but alas, I forgot my camera. I swear I get more forgetful the more children I have. However, I do have many new photos of the boys that I have taken, and promise to post them soon. Right now I am in the rocking chair snuggling a sleeping Dylan who has decided that a nap in his bed just isn't going to happen today.

Oh, the point of this post: Cowtown was a fun experience and I highly recomend taking your family to explore the past. When the boys are a little older we'll go back. And next time, I'll take my camera.

family pictures

We had family pictures taken at the end of August and they are online for viewing. It is going to be so hard to choose which ones to buy. The shoot was quick, but she got some great shots. In the past we have always gone to Portrait Innovations but this time we got to go "fancy" as Collin would say. Dan has taught 2 of the photographer's kids and for Christmas last year she gave us a gift certificate for a free shoot and an 11x14. A pretty awesome gift, but of course I have to buy more than that, and being on a tight budget is going to make choosing that much harder. To view the pictures, click on the link below, go to 'clients' and enter password 'berry'.
Photography by Christa Danielle
If you have a really small screen, as I do on my laptop, you will not be able to see the buttons at the bottom to find 'clients'.
Enjoy oohing and aweing over my beautiful family!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Collin!

On Wednesday my sweet baby boy turned 3 years old. How has 3 years gone by already? I remember everything about his birth as though it was yesterday. It's hard to believe that he my little baby, once so small and dependent on his mommy, is now so big and idependant.

He's grown so much in the last year, though not destined to be tall. He wears mostly 3T now but can still fit into most of his 2T and even has a pair of shorts that are 18 months. My kids have tiny hinies.

Collin is my puzzle wiz. He does 24 piece puzzles all by himself, and even has a couple 48 piece puzzles that he can do.

He loves picture finds such as "Where's Waldo?" and loves to sing and dance.

He knows all the letters of the alphabet, upper and lower case, and is beginning to know the letter sounds.

He knows all of his colors, counts consistently to 12, knows his basic shapes including octagon.

He is fully potty trained with very few accidents and even sleeps in his underwear now. He is getting good at dressing himself and even picks out his own clothes some days. (I have to just let it be when he doesn't match cause it's not worth the fight.)

Collin can be a feisty, stubborn little dude, but mostly he is my big helper who loves to give hugs, play with his brothers, and help me make cookies.

I love every minute of watching him grown and learn and am so thankful that I get to spend my days at home with him. In just 2 short years he'll be off to school.....sigh.

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet Collin! I love you!

Surprise!

The theme at iheartfaces this week is Surprise! I thought this picture was perfect. It expresses how surprised and delighted Collin was with the way our Banana Chip Cookies turned out.

Priceless.

what moms can't do

There is a really cute book series that my boys love and one of them is titled "What Moms Can't Do". This book is all about the things we do every day that the kids just HAVE to help with. I'm sure that every mom can relate. In the last year or so I have learned that I can not make cookies without help from Collin. Or without making a mess.

On Saturday Collin helped me make Banana Chip Cookies. They were super yummy and we had a lot of fun making them.

First my super cute helper mixed the batter.

Then said helper taste tested the batter. (This is a very important step.)

Next he made sure that there was sufficient mess to keep mommy busy cleaning for a while.

We put the batter on the tray.Cooked them to perfection. And most importantly, tested the finished product.

I think they were a hit.

the countdown begins

So 2 weeks from Monday, we're back to reality. Dan doesn't actually go back until Tuesday the 10th, but everyone else, including myself, begin work on the 9th. That means no more sleeping in until 8:00am every morning. No more Berry Family Fun Day each Thursday. No more having my husband home with us every day. I'm somewhat ready to get back into more of a routine, but a little frightened at the thought of being home alone with 5-6 kids every day. Collin being the oldest. Yikes! Lord give me strength!

On the bright side, next week is Dan's last week working at the Y. He is more than ready to be done with it. That means he'll have one whole week of nothing to do before school starts. Nothing but paint the shed and lay new flooring in the kitchen anyhow. :)

But I don't like to think about returning to work, or all the work that has to be done around the house. Instead, let's all think about my super cute children.

weeks 2-6

I can't believe that Dylan is already 6 weeks old! Actually 6 weeks and 3 days, but who's counting?
I don't know where his 1 week picture is. Maybe on the other camera disk, but here are pictures for weeks 2 - 6.

2 weeks
3 weeks

4 weeks

1 month

5 weeks

6 weeks

I'll try to get better about posting pictures, but no promises. Life with 3 boys under the age of 3 is BUSY!

our newest miracle

One week ago today we welcomed the newest member of our family into our lives. Even though he's been a huge part of our lives for months now, Dylan Lawrence is finally here and has already brought immense joy into our home.

So here's the short on how his arrival went.

Last Sunday evening Dan and I sat down to watch a movie (Lakeview Terrace). It was the first time in months that I was able to sit through an entire movie without having to pause it to use the restroom. As soon as the movie was over (about 10:30pm) I headed upstairs to the bathroom and I kid you not, my water broke while I was sitting on the toilet. Great visual, I know. But seriously, how lucky is that? I was a little unsure at first because it felt like he had punched my bladder and something popped, but a couple steps out of the room and the continual leakage made me certain. Knowing how quickly things went with my first 2 children we went ahead and called Dan's mom even though contractions were still far apart. We finished gathering the last few things for our bag and after Grandma arrived, we headed to St. Joseph's Hospital. Because it was late we had to check in through the ER. After being taken upstairs they checked out the situation to make sure my water had really broken (even though it was pretty obvious) and then moved me to a labor and delivery room. Dan and I placed bets as to what time we though he'd be here by (we both lost horribly) and began the waiting game. Several hours and many laps around the maternity floor lead to little change and after about 7 hours the doctor (not my OB but the one filling in for her) wanted to start pitosin. Fortunately my amazing nurse could tell that I wasn't thrilled about the idea and convinced the doctor to let us try some natural measures first. After another 3 hours my contractions were still 10 minutes apart and hadn't intensified at all. So... we started the pitosin. It still took several more hours, and let me tell you, the pitosin made my contractions twice as strong and I never want to have to use it again, but at 11:45 am we were finally ready.

At straight up noon on May 31st, we welcomed our precious baby boy into the world. He weighed 7lbs 2.3 oz and was 19 inches long. He resembles is brothers, but definitely has his own features as well.

Dylan has taken to nursing like a champ and though I'm sore, it is so rewarding to sit and nurse my baby in the way God intended. By the time we left the hospital Dylan had lost 5oz, which is perfectly normal, but a week later he has gained it back plus another 5oz. I guess I now know that he is indeed eating enough.

It's amazing how much, and how quickly such a small person can change your life. Even more amazing is how the love I have for my children continues to grow. I don't have to divide my love among them giving less to my first 2 children to make room for the new baby. The love I have is simply multiplied.

Collin LOVES to hold Dylan.
Dressed and ready to go home

Trying out his cradle

My 3 perfect boys

100 and more

It's been a while since I updated my blog and posted pictures of my precious children. It's about time, right? I thouht so. Here are some pics of things that happened in April.

My children got goggles for Easter (to play in the pool at Mama and Papa's house of course) and had to wear them in the bathtub.

My husband turned 27 on the 23rd and I made him an amazing 2 layer triple fudge cake with Reeces Pieces in the middle.

The boys enjoyed the cake thoroughly.

We made some music in the kitchen.

Painted sticks to decorate a pencil can for Papa's birthday.

Played dressup...nothing makes a mommy more proud than to see her little boy wear a purple skirt.

Collin hung out with is "wife". They fight like an old married couple anyhow :)

And every Tuesday we've been having a playdate with a friend.

It's been so nice to have some adult interaction every Tuesday. I still have my daycare kiddos, but my friend Denise and her little girl (Collin's "wife") come over and play. We go outside and to the park when the weather is nice and eat picnic lunches.

In other news: I'm now 35 weeks pregnant and counting down. I'm starting to feel fat and swollen and ready for this baby to be here. Only 4 more weeks of daycare and then my baby boy is free to come. My "nesting" goes in spurts. One (okay maybe 2 days) day I scrubbed the entire kitchen floor on my hads and knees because I didn't feel like the mop did a good enough job. Wow was I tired after that! I've been wiping down cabinet doors and counter tops like nobody's business and disinfecting every inch of my house. I will not bring my baby home to a germy disorganized house!

Oh, and this is my 100th blog post. Yay! I feel like I should have a giveaway to celebrate. But I have nothing to give away, so I'll just say "Thank you to all my faithful readers! I hope you enjoy watching my beautifl babies grow in pictures 1/100th as much as I enjoy actually being here for it."