The Handley Family

Addie's Monthly Photo

Cooper's Monthly Photo

Aribelle's Monthly Photo

All about Addie

Addie turns 5!!! The party was awesome. My very sweet cousin Angela came to help me decorate about a week before the party and I still can't believe how beautiful everything turned out.

Sprinklers in buildings - Addie has started a new obsession with sprinklers inside of buildings. Almost everywhere we go, she will notice wether or not a place has them. She also will let us know where all of the exits are. I think it all stemmed from several weeks ago when she had asked what they were. I'm assuming that however me & Shane explained it must have triggered a nerve with her and now it has sparked the curiosity.

All about Cooper

"Left & Right" - Cooper loves to ask us which way is left or right. He will ask if we are turning left or right, ask if this is his left or right hand, ask if the shoe is on the right foot, etc.

Random coughing - He has noticed that he gets a reaction out of us when he coughs. Even when it's a pretend cough, I will say "OH GOODNESS". Recently though, he started making himself sick "trying" to cough. Of course it is now being discouraged and hopefully we can nip it quickly.

All about Aribelle

"Wow, Cool" - I think we mentioned last month that Aribelle loves to say "Wow" and sometimes "cool" but now she combines the two.

"Ball" - She has started saying "ba" for ball. In addition, she has one heck of an arm on her. She loves to roll the ball and throw it and when she throws, she can really launch it!!

Baby #4 -

Baby movement - on 5/1 I felt the baby move for the first time.

E.R. visit - I was home alone (kids were with nana for the day) so I could get some things done before vacation. While getting ready to get in the shower, I started feeling pretty strange. My head started tingling, tongue started tingling, etc. It's hard to describe the feeling, but I thought for sure I needed to throw up. After grabbing the garbage can, I knelt down and put my chin on the edge of the can. That was the last thing I remembered doing and woke up on my back. Apparently I had passed out. I really wasn't sure what to think of it but after consulting with my doctor, she asked that I go get checked out in the E.R. just as a precaution. Luckily, everything came back normal. Hopefully it was just a low blood sugar thing, but will keep an eye out for any other issues.

Gender revealed - On 5/9 we went to springfield, mo for a gender scan. We found a place online that does the scan a lot sooner than my OB does and wanted to find out before vacation. To our HUGE surprise, it's a BOY!! I think me & Shane really convinced ourselves that it was going to be another girl. My symptoms just seemed to really follow the "girl" pattern. After talking names, we've decided on Conner. Can't wait to meet our little guy!! :)

More photos from the month:

Dessert table at the Frozen themed party

"olaf" popcorn cups

Inexpensive chair cover using a table cloth from the

Dollar Tree and tulle ribbon.

Our Frozen themed backdrop

Our makeup table for Elsa to do the

girls makeup and hair

Our gift table

Elsa doing Elsa's makeup :)

Anna made a special appearance at the party

Most of our party crew

The most beautiful princesses and queens

It might not show much in her face

because she was pretty indimidated, but

Addie was the happiest little girl EVER!!

Singing with Elsa

Seeing her birthday cake for the first time

Our food table

Queen Elsa

My sweet girl

Our first St. Louis Cardinals game of the year

Addie's Monthly Photo

Cooper's Monthly Photo

Aribelle's Monthly Photo

All about Addie

TMI - I know this is a bit TMI to keep bringing up her "poo" problems, but I'm happy to report that we haven't had any issues in over a month!! WOO HOO!!! It's such a relief when she goes without issues. She's been my one child that can go a week without "going". Her doctor always told us that as long as she's getting a balanced diet, to keep an eye on things. Some kids just hold it as long as possible and wait until they can't hold it any longer. She's definitely more aware of her body since going through the last few years of vomiting and diarrhea on occasion and I think she's making sure she takes care of these issues before they rear their ugly heads!! :)

Hair - Addie's hair is unbelievably long. Everywhere we go, people comment about her hair and how beautiful it is. People ask, are you giving her extra vitamins? How do you get her hair to grow that long? Well really, we just don't cut it!! ha ha She has made comments on occasion that she wants to cut it, but typically is because of a character on a movie or show that has shorter hair. The very next day, she tells us she doesn't want it cut.

Chalk - I think I've posted about this before, but Addison LOVES chalk. I really thought she would get tired of it, but she just loves to draw chalk outside. She could go through an entire box of chalk in one sitting!! She's actually quite the artist too. She still loves to draw Sheriff Callie, but now she has begun to draw Elsa, Ana, Olaf and a few other characters. I'm pretty impressed with anything she draws because I'm pretty sure at her age, I couldn't even draw a box!! LOL

All about Cooper

A good place to "go"- Cooper has no problem dropping his pants in the front yard in the event that he needs to pee. It's pretty funny because we will all be playing outside and all of the sudden we look over and see his bare rear end over by a tree. On the bright side, we don't have to worry about rushing him in the house to pee.... on the other hand, we should probably start teaching him about time and place ;)

Independent - Coop has started to show signs of being independent. He started with clothes and getting dressed, and now it's shoes. He knows he can't do them himself most of the time but insists that we back off. Eventually he gets frustrated and asks us to come help. I admire his eagerness though and I do my best not to step on toes.

"I Spy" - Addie started the I spy game with us several weeks ago. Cooper wasn't really sure what was going on or how to play but he eventually jumped in and decided to join along. His version is that he will point something out and then immediately yell "I WIN". For example, "I spy a water tower, I WIN". Addie used to correct him but now just laughs with us and lets him do it. Cracks us up every time!

"Welcome" - Any time we say GOOD JOB COOPER, he replies with "welcome". Not really sure where he picked it up. I think it's the funniest reply ever.

Chalk - Since his big sister is so much into drawing lately, Cooper has started to dabble on the concrete with chalk. So far his "masterpiece" is when he draws Blake. The drawings vary, sometimes they look like a half moon, sometimes they look like two lines not connected, but every time he will tell us to come look at his drawing. When we ask him what it is, he always says "I draw Blake" (his cousin).

All about Aribelle

Crawling on all fours - Aribelle started this at the beginning of the month. We thought it was just a fluke because she was on a hard floor, but then it just stuck. She doesn't crawl on her belly anymore and only crawls on her knees and hands.

Walking soon? - Aribelle is showing more signs of walking every day. She is cruising now along furniture, pulls herself up to anything she can reach, almost always lets go with one hand when standing while leaving the other hand holding on.

5th tooth - On 4/10 we noticed Aribelle is getting yet another tooth on her lower middle section. It had poked through and it looks like one or two more will be quickly behind that one.

Up the stairs - I feel like Aribelle's mobility is much more advanced than Cooper and Addie. I'm wondering if it's because she has the older siblings to motivate her to move more. On 4/15 while we were at Nana's house, I put her at the bottom of the stairs and she started to climb up them all by herself. Within minutes, she made her way to the top of the stairs!! I tried to get the whole thing on video but I think only half of it took. We were all very excited. Since then, any time she is around stairs, she is going up them.

All about baby #4 Weeks 11-14

Nausea starting to fade - on 4/1, I started to notice that I was able to eat more of a variety of foods and my nausea was starting to fade. It was a huge sigh of relief because for a month, every smell and every taste was making me feel sick.

Chest pain - On 4/4 I woke up with strange pains in my chest. I couldn't help but think they resembled the same chest pains I had when I was really sick during my pregnancy with Aribelle. I called the doc and they told me to start taking Zantac. After about a week, the pain went away. Not sure if it was related to Gerd, or what but happy the pain is gone! :)

Prenatal checkup - On 4/15 I had my 12 week checkup. The nurse couldn't quite find the heartbeat at first. She was rolling the doppler around by my pelvic bone and we weren't getting anything. Finally she moved closer toward my belly button and BAM, she found the heartbeat. She was shocked that the baby has moved up that far already but then after realizing this is my fourth, she nodded and said "that makes sense". She said the heartbeat sounds good.

More photos from the month of April:

Happy Easter to my cuties. Aribelle was still

sleeping so we let Addie and Cooper open their baskets.