Getting to Know the Giggles: Koala

Koala

           Now that Koala is 2 months old and (as I've already established in previous posts) NOT a newborn anymore, it is time to Get To Know Koala on Giggle's Zoo :)

         Koala is a sweet darling baby... she's incredibly easy (SO easy, in fact, I wonder what's in store for me in the future... is she God's Butter-Me-Up-Gift to compensate for the next child?!). LOL Koala is happy almost all of the time, she rarely cries, and when she does she's fairly easy to console. 

         She sleeps through the night already!! Well, most of the time anyway :) The only thing I can find to complain about is that sometimes - maybe once a week - she decides she DOESN'T want to keep her self-appointed schedule of going to sleep at 9:30 (then sleeping soundly until I get her up at 7:00 to get kids ready for school)... SOMETIMES she decides she wants to chat -- cooing and "talking" until 11 or 12... or just 2 nights ago, till 1am! But even THEN  she's not crying or even complaining... she's just not ready to sleep. If I get up, grab my Kindle, and go read in a dark room with only my phone for light, she drifts right off... Darling Little Bird will then sleep till 9 if I can let her.

          Koala is a smiling girl... as I've already shown in previous post last week... And here's another picture, taken on her 2 month birthday:

Isn't she just adorable?! -- OF COURSE she is... why am I asking YOU?! 

         Sweet Little Koala also Giggles!! Only 2 months old! 

Giggling, Happy, Smiling, Darling Baby Koala. 

That about covers it ;-)

Getting to Know the Giggles: Mama Roo

Mama Roo: Wife and Stay at Home Mama

hmmm... I'm usually not a big proponent of talking about myself.... so I guess I'll take a cue from Penguin and just list some random facts about me:

1. In High School, I ran track (the mile and the 800) and played Volleyball... I also took an aerobics class in College -- so, once upon a time, I was athletic

2. Also once upon a time I wanted to be an Wild Animal Veterinarian, attended 1 year of college for that purpose before I...

3. joined the Military to pay for further college -- I enjoyed it, was a great experience, but only stayed in a year due to:

4. Gave birth to our first child at the ripe young age of 20. Just 1 year after Lion and I were married.

5. I lived in Belgium and Germany for a year each while in High School. Not, my parents were not in the military, but my Dad's company moved us over there to open up new branches of their business.

6. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters (only 1 natural brother -Dragon- and 1 natural sister -Unicorn - died in a car accident when I was 14) -- my parents and I adopted Peacock the year following the wreck... and Penguin and Moose came with Lion :)

7. My favorite color is blue, but more often than not, I will choose sage-y green when picking colors ... I also really like yellow

8. My favorite book is Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven... my second favorite is The Road by Cormac McCarthy

9. My favorite TV series is Pride and Prejudice - with Colin Frith, not the new movie... the TV series

10. My Jungian Personality Profile is ISFJ: Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging -- it's pretty much spot-on

11. I am wonderfully happily married.

12. I LOVE scrapbooking.

13. I also Cross-Stitch, crochet, and draw trees (yes, just trees).

14. Other made-for-TV series I enjoy are: Sharpes, Band of Brothers, The Closer, Rizzoli and Isles, House... there are more but I can't think of them right now

15. My favorite Disney movie is Robin Hood -- I've seen it over a hundred times... I keep having to buy new copies...

16. I have given birth to 4 out of 5 kids at home by choice. A post on Home-birthing upcoming

17. I have given birth to 5 out of 5 kids without drugs... all natural baby!

18. I really enjoy JD Robb's In Death series of books

19. I read Terry Bishop's Landover series of books to my daughter as a reward for doing extra chores.

20. whew... I can't thing of anything else..... I'm just not that interesting... ummmmmmmm......  OH! I am not a feminist.   Or at least... I'm not what people refer to as "feminist" -- there will be a post on this soon.

I LOVE the beach too... yay me! that's 21 things!

Getting to Know the Giggles: Lion

My LION - The love of my life!

Lion and I met in an AOL chatroom. Really. :) He was in the military, and I had just signed my contract to go to Basic. I was still in college, so the military delayed my entry until the end of the semester. I was looking for someone to tell me what Basic would be like (I like to be prepared)... and Lion answered my questions. We spoke online for a few weeks (where I fell a bit in love with him), and then my friend and I drove to his base to meet him for the first time. It was during exam week... and I brought my Organic Bio book, so he sat with me and actually listened to my Bio info, and asked interesting and intelligent questions... From then on, we were together almost all of the time.... except when I was in class and he was on duty... but even then I would drive to the base and see him as soon as work and school were over. In just a few short months we were engaged to be married... and we've been happily marred since September of 1999... very shortly after my 19th birthday... yes, I was a teenage bride. :) Just after my 20th birthday, Tortoise was born. Then Elephant, Zebra, Monkey, Vixen, and now Koala... the Lord has blessed our marriage and our lives with wonderful years of happiness and love, beautiful children, and a friendship that can never be torn asunder. I can honestly say that Lion is, and will ever be, my best friend.

 The kids adore him!

Here is Lion and Tortoise... he took her to the Daddy/Daughter dance at her school last year -- it was the highlight of her year!

Getting to Know the Giggles: Vixen

Vixen: My Darlin Girl

Vixen is our - until December anyway -- youngest child. She is GORGEOUS but cranky, she can be wonderfully sweet and in the very next moment a complete jerk, she's sunshine AND rainclouds... she's alternately a JOY and a pain, but always my darlin girl. She's the youngest of 5 (for now) so she makes up for it by being a bully to her older brothers (Tortoise is one of her favorite toys, and Zebra has learned when to steer clear lol). Right after she steals Monkey's chair - by pulling him out of it - she repeatedly jumps down and runs to wherever he moves to to hug and kiss him -- this does not have the effect of making Monkey happy though. 

                                                     Vixen's moods:   Brat and Sweetheart

 

                  

Maybe Vixen thinks she was meant to be an only child... when I or Penguin takes her to town or out and about without the other children, she is a complete delight to be around... a real sweetheart.... but she reverts back to bully-behavior as soon as her older brothers and sisters are within sight.

 

If she knows you she's a cuddle-bug, and loves to sit - and wiggle - in your lap, and is in competition with Monkey to see who gets the first big hug. If you are a stranger to her however, she will simply stare at you until you look away or until you are no longer of any interest. Vixen loves stuffed pigs, Tortoise, Daddy Lion, Aunt Penguin, the color purple, and getting her way. :) 

Getting to Know the Giggles: Monkey

Monkey: Our ADORABLE, sweet, smart, funny boy

Monkey is one crazy kid. :) You can't help but smile when he smiles... his personality affects everyone.. when he's bright and sunny and happy, so is almost everyone around him... when he's whiny and grouchy however.... I once told him, while I was cooking in the kitchen and he was running back and forth in the small space asking questions and getting underfoot, that he was driving me nuts, please go away... and he ran around the house telling anyone who would listen "Me driving Mama NUTS!!!" with the biggest smile on his face... lol that's our Monkey.

From the moment Monkey was born, he was looking around... watching... learning. It always amazed me (and still does) how much he learns from watching. This boy misses nothing going on around him. If he asks you a question... he LISTENS to the answer. I can almost see the connections being made in his brain as he thinks... and he's so incredibly FUNNY. My monkey... he's one-of-a-kind.

Getting to Know the Giggles: Zebra

Zebra is an introverted, silly, crazy, sweet, beautiful girl.

Zebra is my Silly Girl. She does her own thing in her own time and flat-out ignores anyone she doesn't consider worth her time. On the other hand, she is a wonderful big sister if Tortoise isn't around, always helping little Vixen up the stairs or into the house when everyone else ran on ahead and left the littlest one behind.  She is not a follower, she makes her own decisions, and will not be swayed simply because the other children want to do something else -- she's perfectly happy to play on her own if the others don't wish to play her game. 

 

Her face is by far the most expressive of the children, so you can almost always SEE what she is thinking and feeling simply by looking at her adorable face or into those gorgeous big brown eyes. She is not a cuddly child, but she can sure make people smile with her adorable expressions, and can make me laugh with her craziness. She's can, more often then the others, catch a "chickenbutt" moment-in-the-making and either ignore it or twist it to make it truly funny...

 My Zebra. 

Getting to Know the Giggles: Elephant

Elephant!! Our firstborn son, he's a sweet, caring, loving, joyful boy.

Elephant... my sweet boy. He's usually the first to offer to help - without being asked.. and is always there with a  hug when someone looks down. He tends to fade into the background quite often, as his personality isn't one that requires him to be the center of attention. He's joyful and caring, and  real delight to be around.<~~He can also be silly and nutty and downright funny in his "chickenbutt" attempts. He's always good for a snuggle or a hug, enjoys riding his bike, playing Wii and Rockband, anything BATMAN, and the color orange. Elephant really loves being the oldest boy. :)

 Only this past month, Tortoise taught him to ride his bike without training wheels... now he's rolling along right beside her most days outside, and teaching little bro Monkey and little sister Zebra to ride their bikes WITH training wheels. :)

Getting to Know the Giggles: Tortoise

Tortoise, my silly, zany, beautiful, intelligent, girl.

Tortoise loves school. She enjoys almost all subjects -science and reading are her favorites, and Math her least favorite. But she makes A's and B's the vast majority of the time.

She is a happy girl, and since we instituted a reward system where she "earns a chapter" (I read a Chapter from Terry Brook's Landover Series) is very interested in helping out with household chores. She is a wonderful help with her little brothers and sister, albeit a bit bossy- lol... more than a bit, but sometimes a simple reminder that she is NOT "mini-mama" suffices to remind her that she's their sister, not their parent. :)

Tortoise is an excellent Big Sister!! This picture was taken while she was teaching little brother Elephant how to ride his bike without training wheels... she did it entirely by herself!! Even set up a chart on his progress!

I look back on the day she was born and find it difficult to believe how much she has grown... and what a good girl God has given us. We Love You Tortoise!!