Who's Who?

First of all, thank you to everyone who participated! We had lots of fun reading your comments and seeing your guesses! You all did a lot better than I would have done had someone else hosted a similar contest. :o) (Carol, a contest with photos of seven L'r babies would be well nigh impossible!)

A big congratulations goes to the three who identified every photo correctly:

Aunt Janie, Carol, and Aunt Heather

Wow! My hat goes off to you!

And our randomly selected winner of the gift certificate is . . . Sherry! Congratulations! :o)

And now, [drum roll . . .]

Who's who?

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A: Peter

12/15 Correct

I specifically chose pictures that minimized it, but the vast majority of his baby pictures scream "Peter" because of his particularly square forehead. He also tended to be very serious, and it was challenging to catch his smiles on camera. This was a special one for sure! :o)

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Peter

4/15 Correct

I agree . . . it does look like Matthew like most of you said. But it was taken on June 3, 2007. :o)

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C: Hannah

14/15 Correct

You all did better than Hannah's Daddy! This particular picture looks quite a bit different than most of her baby pictures and it actually took Chris three tries when he first saw it!

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D: Matthew
9/15 Correct
Mr. Chunky himself . . . but without his customary smile--that would have given it away! :o)
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E: Hannah
14/15 Correct
Most of you didn't have too much trouble at all with Miss Petite. :o) She was six months old before she passed 15 pounds!

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F: Peter
12/15 Correct
Ah, the benefits of black and white. In color, Peter's eyes are quite a bit darker than Matthew's which makes it easier to tell them apart.

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G: Hannah

11/15 Correct

Taken at 2 months, 1 week, Hannah-bug's round face was just starting to fill out. :o)

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H: Matthew

8/15 Correct

Another one that was more challenging, had I posted it in color, you could have picked out Monkey's steel grey eyes versus Peter's chocolate brown ones!

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I: Matthew

11/15 Correct

Here's a secret . . . I was dashing out the door and jotting the pictures down real fast so I could compare your answers with the "correct" ones as I got notice of your posts at work. I wrote Hannah for this one! Oops! Hannah's eyes were always open really wide, so I think that's why this one reminds me of her . . . but these wide eyes belong to Sir Matthew.

I hope you all had as much fun as we did! Thanks again! :o)

Then and Now

I've had lots of people ask me who Matthew looks like--Hannah or Peter. I'll let you decide . . .

Here's Hannah at about 2 months . . .

And Peter at about two months.

So what do you think? For what it's worth at two months of age, I think Matthew resembles Peter in looks and Hannah in personality. It was fun looking back through the pictures--so many memories! I was, however, reminded of Peter's distinctiveness soberness as a baby. He was not naturally "smiley" and we have very few captured on camera. So glad he's gotten more cheerful! :o)

And where are we today? Well, we have an artist . . .

A budding athlete . . .

And two VERY big helpers! :o) It has been a blessing to see sibling kindnesses regularly and voluntarily extended in recent days:

Hannah helping Peter put on his sneakers . . .

Peter encouraging a very sleepy Hannah after her nap . . .

And both of them helping out with Matthew . . .

Hard to believe how quickly they grow!

Just for Fun!

We've had lots of people ask us who Matthew resembles, and it prompted me to go back and look at baby photos of Hannah and Peter. My conclusion . . .

it depends on which photo you're looking at. :o)

Each of them has some pretty strong distinguishing characteristics, but they're all definitely siblings. However, looking back at photos inspired the idea of a little contest--how many baby photos can you identify?

The prize . . . a $25 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate!

Nitty Gritty:

• Enter a comment with your guess for each photo. You'll get one entry just for leaving a comment and an extra one for each correctly identified photo.
• I'll post the answers and randomly select a winner Friday evening.
• For what it's worth, the photos are arbitrarily ordered based on the day of the month the photo was originally taken and there's three of each child . . .
• If you're feeling confused, it's okay--even we have to stop and really think on some of these! (They were not chosen based on the prevelance of distinguishing features!) :o)

Have fun!! :o)
And thanks for guessing! :o)

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A

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B

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C

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D

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E

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F

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G

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H

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I

Our Furry Friend

We definitely enjoyed having Toby visit last weekend! :o)

Just as we had suspected, Peter quickly got over his nervousness and had a blast playing with his new friend.

His only disappointment was that Toby didn't get nearly as excited about playing fetch with him as with Daddy.

Balls that only travel about ten feet don't breed much enthusiasm . . . :o)

It must be documented that Hannah tore the knee in her first pair of pants in her efforts to retrieve a ball Toby was ignoring. (She does not like balls that run away.)

But she still enjoyed spending time with Toby and cried when he went home . . .

Charting His Own Course

Happy Two Months, Matthew! :o)

Our "little" Monkey is defintely charting his own course! :o) At his two-month checkup today his weight of 15 lbs. 4 oz. put him at the 96th percentile and his length of 26.5 inches puts him at the 99.8th percentile for length. Ummm, I think he's going to be tall like his Daddy . . . what do you think?? He's almost exactly where Peter was at at four months . . . and closer to six months for Hannah. No wonder I have to keep reminding myself that he's only two months old . . .

He's actually off the curve of the growth chart!

Here's a few snap shots from the last couple weeks, in no particular order . . .

I'm so glad we didn't sell the mobile! I thought about it . . .

Hmm, how much longer before his heels will be hanging off the end?


He enjoys bath time . . . :o)

And attention of most any sort!

It's very easy to coax a smile, but here's his pretty typical expression when he's "just chillin'."

Somehow I suspect we'll someday be shopping in "Big & Tall" department for this young man! We love you, Monkey!

Happy Father's Day (and more!)

Happy Father's Day!
(and Happy Grandpa's Day!)

We love you!

It's been busy around here . . . but that's pretty normal. :o} Going back to work has definitely increased the potential for feeling overwhelmed, but the Lord gives grace day by day. Besides that, what's been going on?

Well, last weekend, with temps nearing (or surpassing!) 100 degrees, Chris and the kids did some yard work while Mommy held down the fort with Matthew and "lunch train."



With the heat, the kids have spent most afternoons inside with books and crafts and such . . .

I thought Hannah's picture of our family was pretty cool! :o) You can tell she already has high hopes for being at least as tall as Mommy . . . from left to right, the letters designate Mommy, Matthew, Daddy, Hannah, and Peter. It's funny . . . I remember as a child drawing my skies just that way--as a blue bit at the top of my picture.

Peter's continuing to do very well with potty training. Not perfect, but doing quite well. As long as we remember to take him every hour or so, he does great, but he's still not going on his own initiative. It'll come.

Matthew's growing like a weed and doing wonderfully! Sweet, content, and lots of smiles! Couldn't ask for more! (And he really likes his "new" mobile we rediscovered in our yard sale efforts . . . )

Just about finished with the last of our "reorg" projects--Chris and the kids spent one evening cataloging our music cds so that we could replace the hard cases with paper ones and shrink the space requirement for storage.

Mommy's glad for the perk-me-up of a new haircut! :o) (This was a self-protrait in the bathroom mirror . . .one of the last of 31 tries!)

And then we've enjoyed caring for friends' dog Toby this weekend . . . Other than that, our "major accomplishments" have involved

• getting everyone dressed (and redressed)
• filling (and refilling) empty tummies
• "cleaning" (and recleaning) major surface areas - very loose definition!
• washing, drying, folding, and putting away many loads of laundry
• crashing into bed exhausted each night

We tend to be very project oriented--we like to cross things off to-do lists. (As if this is any great revelation for those who know us . . . ) The Lord is teaching us a good bit right now about enjoying the blessings He's given us in the form of three precious children and being content to get "just the basics" done (or not done . . . ) and not to let our attitude be soured by the number of things outstanding on other lists. We're learning, but some days we're better learners than others . . . thanks for praying for us! :o)