Dear Penelope

Bebe girl, I am crazy about you! You are such a dainty wee thing, weighing a pound less than your sister at 11 lbs 11 oz and measuring 22 1/2 inches in length. You are very fond of your twin sister. Sometimes when you are crying in your cot at bedtime, simply placing olive a wee bit closer to you so you can touch her silences you immediately. It's one of my favourite things seeing you both sleeping side by side, breathing softly together. Unfortunately, you are still not the greatest sleeper at bedtime, but you are definitely improving and managed to stay in your own bed last night for a record 6 hrs. Usually you wake around 4am and spend the rest of the morn snuggled next to me feeding a little. I do treasure those little moments when I get to spend one on one time with each of you wee girlies.

I often call you my little madam because you are very strong-willed Missy. No tears, just full on screaming when your patience has run out. Your big brother, Jack, is really wonderful at comforting you. He sings lovely lullaby's and rocks you gently. He calls you his baby because we tell him how much you look like him. But generally you are the happiest baby around, bar your sis of course. I am constantly telling your brothers and dad to look at your beautiful wee smile; I can't believe how cheery you are.

You are very strong; both your wee neck and your legs...I feel like I'm barely holding you up half the time. It's your fav to be up on my shoulder checking everything out. In fact the other day we sat you in the bumbo next to us at the dinner table and I have never seen your wee eyes so wide! Just taking it all in. I have a suspicion that you may be an early walker like your brothers.

You smile the biggest when you are gazing at the fan in our living room, your new cute nickname is Elope thanks to big brother Pete, and relaxing in one of the baby swings lulls you to sleep within minutes.

I sure adore you sweet babe.

Love you,

Mum. x

Dear olive

oh my wee lovely one, I can't tell you how much I simply adore you already. I can't control myself when it comes to those delicious cheeks of yours. At your 2 month mark you were a whopping 12 lbs 11 oz and 23 inches long, but I'm sure you've already piled the pounds on since then and unbelievably you'll be 3 months tomorrow! Stop growing so fast little beauty! I really love getting to know you; learning all your little habits and quirks.

Your good dear friend is Waterhouse's Lady of Shalott. She hangs on our living room wall and every time you are any where near her your whole face lights up and you can't stop grinning. It's very funny. Another wee pal of yours is your big brother Peter, interestingly enough you are his mini female lookalike. He really enjoys rubbing his head on your belly and although you get a slightly nervous, scared kinda look for a second, you get a pretty big smile on your face when he lifts his head and kisses your cheek.

You are a wonderful sleeper. The first and beginning of the second month you slept for about 4-5 hrs at a time during the night and now you are out for a full 8-9 hrs...it's incredible. Thank you darling!

Eating is very important to you, which is very clear from those little chunky rolls of yours. You gnaw on your wee fist to get my attention for a feeding and even though you are definitely the more mellow twinnie, you are getting a lot more vocal and wriggly. You are very content and happy sitting with Daddy in the rocker, conk out in a minute when you're in the car, love snuggling with me in my bed after you wake up each morning and you are a big time grunter! Granny always knows when I'm holding you when I talk to her on the phone, that's how loud you are!

I love watching you grow baby A, you smell so sweet.

Love you,

Mum x

Dear Peter

You are one very independent 2 year old Mr! You have me ready to pull my hair out one minute and then laughing hysterically the next. What a wee nutter you are. I'm pretty sure you're a wee genius too though, hehe. You are a brilliant talker already and your vocabulary is growing everyday. Granny in Scotland is already amazed at how much clearer your words are and how much better your sentence structure is since she was here in September. I'd have to agree. Life is sometimes easier now that I know exactly what you're saying, but wee man...you are a handful too for that same reason!

You became a big brother to two lovely wee girls that you completely adore just 3 months ago and I'd say you took all the change rather well. There were a few times when you were a tad jealous and told me I was not allowed to feed the babies, but you really love to hold them and walk around singing, "olivepenny, olivepenny", strung together like it's one name...pretty cute. If you don't say "penny", you say "Elope", which I just adore.

Phoning Granny in Scotland to talk to her about "Spidiman" and "Vedom" (we all get a laugh out of how you say them, especially Gandpa McArthur) is a favourite activity of yours. I'm pretty sure Granny loves it too. You dress up as Spiderman a lot and have a fistful of action figures with you most the day. You refuse to go to sleep without all the spidermen on the dresser by your bed...it's a wee bit of an obsession. In fact, Sister Osborne at church, who adores you and you her, keeps Spiderman toys aside until you arrive at nursery! How nice is she?!

Jack is your favourite person in the world, but you're kinda into wrestling and fighting with him too; it's a love/hate relationship. I'm not really sure who you play with consistently at church, maybe no one at this age, but you have wee play dates with Zeke O'Brien occasionally and you really love Joey, Haylee and Katie Stock.

You know almost all the letters of the alphabet and can count to 12 before getting lost in the teens. Jack's favourite colour is green, so you decided blue was yours. You are really fond of Ranch dressing, ketchup and McDonalds...great, I know, a proud mummy moment. But what I love about you is that, unlike Jack, you will eat all your veggies and never complain about any food I make...you eat anything and everything and usually store it in your cheeks while you take another bite.

Colouring all over the kitchen table, window sills and windows with crayons is a frequent find when I nurse your baby sisters and Jack has left his crayons out, but you always say sorry in the sweetest wee voice that it's hard to stay too mad.

Jack may be the double of your Dad as a wee boy, but you are the double of him as he is now! I love it.

You are so loved Petey Pie,

Mum x

Dear Jack

Just a wee note to record a bit about you at this ripe old age of 4...hehe. I say that because lately you've been getting a little bit annoyed at me when I try and explain anything to you. Your favourite one liner is "I know Mum! I'm the big brother remember?!" Hmmm, cheeky :)

You are a wonderful big brother,Jack. Can you believe you have 3 younger siblings already?! Because I can't. I still think of you as such a wee thing and then I look at you and I'm blown away by how big you are getting. According to your "Incredible Hulk" measuring chart you are 3 feet 6" tall and you weigh 38 pounds. Nice growing!

You were fairly obsessed with Sharks a while back and are still a complete pro when it comes to naming the different species. I'll need to test you again,but I think you know at least 20 or so. Your memory for things that interest you is incredible. But when you aren't interested you sometimes have a difficult time concentrating and staying focused..I'd say that's fairly normal though,right?

Presently, you are super hero mad! Batman, Spiderman,Captain America, Wolverine, the Ninja Turtles....you like them all, but those are a few of your super favs.

Your best friends are Peter and Joey Stock. You are friends with Carson Shewell and Ruth Dalton too. You go to Joey's a couple times a week and have loads of fun,even more when Haylee(Joey's big sister) gets home. In fact, you told me yesterday you wished you had a big sister like her. Cute.

You love to draw and colour,especially after the Sacrament is passed at church. I really like the pictures you draw of your baby sisters. You participated in your first primary presentation last month and you made me so very proud. Your part, that you had memorized was, "being confirmed and receiving the Holy Ghost." I loved every minute of watching you up there, it was really special for me.

You make fantastic forts with the cushions from our couch, your lego spaceships are sensational, holding olive and penelope brings an enormous smile to your face, and giving your dad "squeeze hugs" are a favourite part of your bedtime routine.

Your favourite food is spaghetti, but you enjoy a tasty chicken leg (or chicken on a stick, as you call it) and a sweet pickle very much too.

You think I'm super rich and want me to buy you every toy at the "red store" (Target). You love going there to persue the toy aisles.

Thank you for being patient with Peter. He is still really struggling with learning to share, but you let him play with your toys and share more than I know you'd like.

You are much more independent since I had your twin sisters and I am so proud of the great helper you've become too. You are a sweet and very sensitive wee boy, Jack, and your Dad says you really remind him of how he was as a little boy. You look just like he did when he was wee too, that's a very good thing!

I love you,

Mum. x