Merry Christmas 2012!!

Christmas Eve...they were so excited.  And hey, those outfits look vaguely familiar!!  (if you're confused, see prior post!)

Santa arrived!!!

This is as good as it gets with all three.

Time to dig in!



Christmas didn't start off the best.  Emmi actually started vomiting yesterday morning.  I've never seen someone so tiny throw up so much.  It was scary!  And she went 4 1/2 hours without even attempting to eat anything.  That's a very, very long time for our baby who likes to snack *at least* every two hours around the clock!!  But she's doing much better today.  Still not eating a whole lot or quite as often as normal, but she's making more of an effort and she's giving me some wet diapers again!  (for a while there her diapers were remaining completely dry)

Anyway, Santa was really good to the girls this year!  He brought them a few things that they really, really wanted.  And of course, they had to open every single thing they got by the time they went to bed tonight.  Puzzles, gymnastics Dora doll, princess dresses, three board games, a leapfrog learn to read program, etc, etc, etc.  Everything was out of the box by tonight!!  They didn't show the initial excitement upon unwrapping their gifts that I was expecting.  And I must admit, I was kind of bummed.  I was wanting them to be bouncing off the walls with excitement...and they weren't.  With each gift they opened, they were like "great, ok, what's next."  But don't worry...they ended up bouncing off the walls!!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! 



Obsessions

The big girls....are obsessed.  With what you may ask?  With clothes.  What clothes?  Well, it depends on the time of year.  Way back in April, they received new Easter dresses from Grandma J.  Well, those Easter dresses then became wear-every-single-day-that-mom-will-let-us dresses.  And because I wouldn't let them wear them to daycare (because I worried about how they would play on the playground comfortably in a dress), they decided that Easter dresses were the best possible option for pajamas.  And because Nate and I weren't in the fighting mood (pick your battles, right?), we let them wear their Easter dresses to bed almost every single night of the summer.

Fast forward to October.  Grandma L and I bought them new outfits for their birthday.  I know you know where this is going.  This is the *new* wear-every-single-day-that-mom-will-let-us outfit.  I'm on the verge of hiding them.  I let them wear these outfits to daycare since I don't have to worry about the logistics of them playing outside in them (partly because they're not dresses and partly because they now wear snowpants outside anyway).  But they don't care if they wore the outfits to daycare the day before, you can bet they will ask to wear them again the very next day...to which I say "ummm, no."  They whine...and beg...and I have to insist that they're dirty and need to be washed.  Obsessed.

They had their Christmas party today at daycare and there was a little gift exchange.  So I had purchased a gift for two of the other little girls and wrapped them last night.  Well the girls saw the gifts sitting on the table before bed last night and got really excited about their upcoming party.  I figured that was bad news...and I was right.  At 6 o'clock this morning, they were in my room asking if it was time to go to daycare yet.  "No, go back to bed."  Surprisingly, they did.  And they both actually fell back to sleep! 

But it was so cute this morning to see how excited they were to give their classmates the presents they bought for them.  Livi knew that she had gotten a gift for Cierra and Addi knew that her gift was for Abigail.  The whole way to daycare, they kept saying how Cierra and Abigail were going to be so happy to get their presents!

Lastly, we had our Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa J on Sunday.  The girls were just giddy with anticipation.  They scored some really neat and fun things from grandma and grandpa.  One of the things they received was a twin size bedding set.  Nate and I are getting them twin beds for Christmas.  So grandma found an absolutely adorable princess comforter, pillow case and bed sheet for their new beds.  The girls were so excited about it that they had to sleep with their new pillow cases right away that night!  Now we just have to get their new beds!!!

And so it begins

It's that time of year for the sick bug to make its presence in this house.  Yuck.  Surprisingly, I was the first one to come down with it!  I rarely get what everyone else gets (I think my immunities might be a little higher than average from working in the ER), but if I do manage to get the sick bug, I'm not usually the one to start its run through our house!  But yup...this time I did.

The stomach bug hit last weekend.  Just me.  And we were hoping to keep it contained to just me since the big girls were at Grandma and Grandpa L's for a couple of days.  Well it hit Nate on Wednesday.  And then late Thursday morning I got the call from daycare that I had to come pick up Addi because she threw up.  Ugh.  When I went to pick them up, Livi actually wanted to stay.  In the two years the girls have been in daycare, if one was sick, they both stayed home sick.  And if one came home early, the other would come home early.  They simply didn't want to be there without the other.  But on Thursday, Livi completely shocked me...I told her I was taking Addi home and she asked if she could stay and play with her friends!!  By all means, please do...I was already leaving Emmi there because I thought it might be hard to nurse a baby while trying to throw a bucket under my puking child.  So it was best if the healthy kids stayed till Nate was done with work.

Anyway, Addi is on the mend.  And knock on wood, but both Livi and Emmi have managed to stay healthy.  Since we're a couple days out from Addi's sickness, I'm hoping the other two are in the clear...and I'm already wishing the cold and flu season was over!!!

Finally, a little update on Emmi.  She discovered her feet within the past week.  And boy does she love playing with them!  She's given herself a few little scratches on her legs trying to grab at her toes all the time.  She also still loves putting her fingers in her mouth.  Only now it's become a game to see just how many fingers she can fit!  It's not uncommon to see her with at least eight of her fingers jammed inside...sometimes the only digits spared from her little mouth are her thumbs!  And she tried some rice cereal for the first time a week ago.  She was really watching me eat that day so I figured, hey, why not.  She did really, really well!!  I'm not quite ready to make it a daily thing for her yet but I'll keep giving her a taste of solids every few days.

Well you don't say!!

Just too sweet, I tell ya.

She looks nervous to me!

Those big blue eyes get me every time.

She definitely makes me smile!!

The house is eerily quiet...

Because the twins aren't here!!  Even with little Emmi really, really finding her voice the past couple of days, the house is still pretty gosh darn quiet.

We had a family reunion in my hometown yesterday.  And this morning, we came back home with Emmi and the twins stayed with Grandma and Grandpa L.  They have a day of vacation to use up at daycare before the end of the year, so they're staying with grandma and grandpa until late Tuesday afternoon.  If we don't use the day of vacation, we just lose it.  So we might as well try to save a little bit of money by keeping them out for that day!

Leading up to this weekend, I was excited to have a couple nights where I didn't have to battle night time routine, play referee, hear the word "mommy" more times in an hour than I can even count, etc.  But now that we're back home and the twins were left behind...I miss them terribly!

I've called my mom at least four times today to check in on how they're doing.  Do they miss us?  Are they behaving?  Are they having fun?  At one point today, I guess Addi said that she "wants her mommy."  So grandma told her that they could load her stuff up and take them back home...to which she promptly replied with a big fat no.  I guess she doesn't miss me quite that much!

We're in the middle of a snowstorm, so earlier today they went outside to play in the snow for the first time this winter.  They "cooked" grandma and grandpa some macaroni and cheese and hotdogs.  They took a two and a half hour nap...which probably had a lot to do with how late they were up last night because they didn't want to leave the reunion and all of their "friends" (i.e. cousins).  The last I checked in, they were stealing spaghetti and meatballs off of grandpa's plate. 

Overall, they're having a blast.  But I can honestly say that I'll be anticipating their arrival back home.  On Tuesday, I'll take Emmi to daycare as normally scheduled and by the time Nate and I get back from work, the twins will be home!  I can't wait to hear all the stories they'll have to tell about their weekend away at grandma and grandpa's!!

Four months!

I can barely believe it.  Miss Emilia is four months old today.  Already.  So sad. 

She had her appointment yesterday and I was shocked at her size...or lack thereof!  She weighed in at 13lbs 3oz and was 25 1/2 inches long.  Skinny little Addi was 13 1/2 pounds at four months!  Emmi actually weighs less than Addi did!  That's just crazy to me.  Plus Addi was shorter in length than Emmi is.  So Emmi really is a little string bean...long and skinny.  But Dr K isn't concerned in the least.  She's hitting all of her milestones, she's interactive, she's happy, etc.  So we'll roll with it!

I asked Dr K about Emmi "snacking" instead of eating a good "meal."  Unfortunately, she said that there's really nothing we can do to change that.  She said some babies like that feeling of having a Thanksgiving dinner every 4-5 hours (i.e. a very full, almost overstuffed belly).  And some babies prefer to graze all day long.  That's Emmi.  The little girl will act ravenous and when I sit down to nurse her, she nurses on one side for a few minutes and calls it quits.  All the books about breastfeeding tell you to offer the second side once baby is done with the first side.  Ha!!  She's not the least bit interested.  And with the bottle, she rarely, rarely takes more than 2oz at a time.  We'll offer her a 3oz bottle, but without fail, she stops after 2oz.  Because of this snacking (either via nursing or via bottle feeding), she wants to eat every hour and a half around the clock.  BUT...she's healthy.  So that's all that matters.  And if she needs to eat every hour and a half, well then that's what we'll do!!

We got the green light at the appt to begin some rice cereal with her.  Addi, Livi and Elli all started at four months as well.  However, I know the guidelines are kind of changing and some pediatricians are recommending waiting till the baby is closer to six months to start.  But Dr K said to follow her lead.  If she's watching us as we eat and following the fork's path from plate to mouth...she might be ready.  As of right now, she doesn't seem to notice.  So I think we'll wait just a little bit longer.

Oh yes, her shots.  She did fabulous.  She cried for less than five seconds.  I scooped her up off the table, she whimpered a bit, and then she was done.  After the nurses left the room, I fed her.  And afterwards, she produced the biggest smile I've ever seen from a baby who had shots not even 10 minutes earlier.  What a trooper. 

Addi and Livi showering her with love.

Pure sweetness.

Four months old with her bunny.

And a little hammin' it up for the camera!!

Picture overload

Hi peanut!!

You want me to do what in this chair?

So yeah, this is kinda funny!

Chewing on fingers has become a favorite past time.

Beginning of a roll.

 

Bath time.

One step closer to bath time.

No pictures of actually being in the bath because she does this kicking thing now where she jams her heels into the base of the tub.  It lifts her little butt over the ledge of the seat that keeps her in a sitting position and from going underwater.  So I have to keep a hand on her belly at all times to keep her butt firmly planted in the seat.  Bath time with her absolutely wears me out!!

 



Task complete!!!

 

Four year olds...

So somehow we got on the topic of boys and girls the other day.  They were listing the kids in their class and saying "he's a booooy" in a rather disgusted, ewww kind of way.  Out of shear curiosity and knowing that I haven't taught them a single thing about the differences between boys and girls, I decided to ask.  I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to hear the answer...but alas, I asked anyway.

Me:  "So girls, what makes a boy a boy?"
Them:  "They're just a boy."
Me:  "I know, but how do you know that a boy is a boy?"
Them:  "They have short hair."
Me:  "So kids with short hair use one bathroom and kids with long hair use another?"
Them:  "Yup."

Thank you.  Just the answer I wanted to hear.  I love 4 year old logic.

I'm feeling terrible that there aren't many pictures of the big girls.  In the few attempts I make the pictures never turn out because they're turning away at the last second, blinking, running away, yelling at me for taking their picture, giving the cheesiest/fakest smile imaginable, etc.  I just don't have the energy to chase them around and coax them into taking a nice picture!  So here's Emmi.  She's easy...she doesn't move!!!

Okay.  So just kidding about the pictures.  I've apparently maxed out my picture sharing capacity on the blog.  I need to do some trouble shooting.  I'm too stinking tired to do it tonight, so off to bed I go.  Hope to share some pictures soon!!

Randoms

So today I was asking the girls what their names are.  They've known for a long time that their real names are Adalyn and Alivia even though we rarely call them by those names.  So I was explaining to them how Emmi's realy name is Emilia. 

 

Fast forward to this evening and my mom and I were having a discussion about who Emmi looks like.  We've heard so many different answers to that...from mommy to daddy, to Addi, Livi and Elli.  So I asked the girls who they thought that Emmi looked like.  After quite a long pause, they both proclaimed that she does, in fact, look like Emilia!!  Yes, yes she does.  They might just be on to something.  Maybe she doesn't really favor anybody.  Maybe she's a great mix of both of us!!  Therefore, she simply looks like Emilia.  Those gosh darn four year olds...they're so smart.

 

Emmi is absolutely loving her hands.  Those little fingers migrate right up to her mouth so easily now.  She's constantly smacking on them.  One finger, two fingers, a thumb, it doesn't matter.  She doesn't have a preference. 

 

I'm thinking she's in the middle of a growth spurt right now.  The past two days she's been wanting to eat every hour.  It would probably help if she would eat for longer than 5 minutes.  But such is the life of my little snacking baby.  Hopefully this growth spurt (if that is indeed what is happening) will be over soon.  

 

She looks like she's ready to box!

Just chilling in her carseat, watching her sisters run around like crazy.

Getting ready for bath!!

Tummy time isn't as bad as it used to be.

What a ham.

So focused!!

Look at those beautiful blue eyes!!

One paycheck in the books!

So I've finished out my first two weeks of work.  The first week, Emmi was left home with my mom while the big girls went to daycare.  The second week Emmi went to daycare with them (obviously in the infant room).  And then on Saturday and Sunday Nate was home alone with all three!!

Emmi's first day of daycare didn't go as well as I was hoping.  Per the teachers, her day actually wasn't bad...but when I saw that she had a couple periods of fussing on her report sheet, I worried that her day was awful.  It's probably because I'm just used to a baby who rarely fusses.  So any fussing at all equates to a rough day in my mind I guess.  But the teachers assured me that her day was actually quite good.  She's taking about 7-8oz of milk total while she's there.  About 4-5 little snacks.  And she's doing her typical catnapping throughout the day. 

The big girls get to go visit her a couple times a day.  Their rooms are actually just right across the hall from each other.  So it's not a far trip.  But they go in there to show her some sisterly love and affection.  However, they sometimes get sidetracked by the toys in the room...so then they get shipped back to their big kid room!!

Mornings can be a little rough getting everyone ready.  Of course on Emmi's first day of daycare, it had unexpectedly snowed, so I was frantically searching for snowpants and boots to take along.  Which means that day, I had to get three kids into the building, two backpacks, a bag with the snowpants and boots, the bag that had their sleeping bags in it, the diaper bag with nuks, bottles and a change of clothes, and another bag with Emmi's diapers, wipes and the blanket that will just stay at daycare.  Three kids and six bags.  Whew!  I kind of felt like I put in a whole day's worth of work before I even got to work!!

Emmi is getting stronger and stronger every day.  She can hold her head up so well during tummy time.  And she's now a very proficient roller.  So whenever she decides she's done with tummy time, she simply rolls onto her back.  Easy as pie.  She smiles all the time...except for if you put a camera in front of her face.  Then she clams up.  Such a stinker.  And she's really beginning to giggle now, too.  Even though this is our fourth baby, it's completely and utterly amazing how quickly they reach these milestones.

3 months

This little sweetie pie was 3 months old yesterday. 

Time just keeps truckin' along and there's no stopping it.  Three months already.  Emmi is such a sweet little baby.  She has such a laid back temperament.  Just a few days ago, one of my friends wrote on Facebook something to the effect of whether it's a blessing or a curse to know when your baby's cranky time is.  Prior to her asking that, I pretty much forgot that babies even have fussy times...let alone predictable ones.  Emmi is rarely fussy.  Like rarely, rarely.  Elli was the exact same way.  On the other hand, the twins, well, I knew exactly what my friend was talking about.  I dreaded 6pm...all hell would break loose.

So yes. Miss Emilia is a pretty calm, good natured baby.  She doesn't sleep worth a darn.  I'm still up about five times with her at night.  And she catnaps during the day.  Her naps usually last 10-15 minutes...a full half hour if we're lucky.  But again, you would never know that she doesn't get enough sleep because she's always so content and happy!!

The twins' latest thing is to kiss Emmi every night before bed.  When it comes time for hugs and kisses, they always ask if they can give Emmi a kiss as well.  So they both take their turn giving her a little kiss on the top of her head and then they very gently place their little cheeks against hers.  It makes this mommy so happy that they love their baby sister as much as they do.  They are so sweet to her.

Lastly, Emmi starts daycare tomorrow.  I think I was in utter denial that it was happening because I hadn't touched her admission paperwork until late this afternoon.  But I finally got it done.  I actually texted one of my friends earlier today saying that daycare is going to hate me for handing them this catnapping, snacking (she only likes to take 1-2oz at a time) baby.  But hopefully we'll get bonus points because she doesn't cry!!

Halloween Fun

Trick or Treating at Festival Foods over the weekend.

We told them to hug...the bee put the duck in a choke hold.

By far the easiest one to take pictures of!!!  What a sweet pumpkin...

 

Halloween morning and the only picture of all three.

 

I still want to get the girls back in their costumes to get a picture of the three of them together.  But I'm not getting my hopes up.  We'll see.  If I have any success, I'll post the picture.

The big girls had a blast.  They started their day with a Halloween party at daycare where they had treats and got to wear their costumes.  When I picked them up, they told me all about the costumes their friends had.  When we got home, we immediately changed into their own costumes and went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood.  Livi shocked us and even went straight up to the doors where there were "scary" things outside.  In fact, at one house, the man handing out the candy saw that Addi was too afraid to go up the driveway, so he gave Livi some extra candy and asked her to give it to her sister...which Livi so graciously did.  There used to be a day when she was afraid of anything that rolled!  If it was larger than a soccer ball, then you can bet she was afraid of it.  Meanwhile, Addi used to not be afraid of anything.  Not one single thing.  Boy they keep switching things up on us!!

Anyway.  We only went to about 20 houses.  We were willing to go as long as the girls wanted to go.  But they got a little tired walking around the neighborhood (it didn't help that they didn't sleep well at all the night before) and they got a little cold. 

When we were home, the doorbell rang even though we didn't have our light on.  When we told the girls we weren't going to answer the door because we didn't have any candy, Addi immediately jumped up from the kitchen table (we were eating supper) and said "yes we do, I'll just give them some of my candy!!"  Awww. 

Did I mention I'm a working woman again?  I started back to work this week!  What a bummer.  October 30th was my first day.  Mixed feelings on that...but overall, work is good for me.

Appointments and pumpkins

The big girls had their annual check up with Dr K.  Bottom line...they're perfect.  Both of them passed their vision tests with 20/20 vision and they both sailed through their hearing tests.  Livi impressed me so much.  She willingly did every single thing asked of her.  Take off your shoes and step on the scale, check.  Stand against the wall, check.  Cover one eye and tell me what you see, check.  Say "beep" when you hear the beep.  Sit still while I take your blood pressure.  Say "ahhh."  Lie down so I can feel your tummy.  Check, check, check, check.  She was amazing. 

 

We slowly accomplished everything that needed to be done with Addi...it just took a little bit more work!!  But that's the personalities of the girls!

 

Developmentally, they're doing everything a four year old should be able to do.  And of course, they're growing like weeds.  Addi was measured to be 3 feet 4 1/2 inches tall while Livi was measured at 3 feet 5 inches.  And Addi weighed in at 34# 9oz and Livi was 37# 8oz.  Overall, great appointment and no concerns from Dr K.

 

We finally got around to carving pumpkins.  Last year, they were all excited to do it and the minute the pumpkin was open, they wanted absolutely no part of it!!  This year, we've made some progress.  Livi dove right in.  However, Addi took a little prodding before she finally decided she would give it a try (I'm recognizing a theme here!!). 

 



They both helped take the top off.

 

Livi wasted no time getting her hands dirty!!

As you can see, Addi wasn't too sure about it.

Emmi just quietly watched the activity.

Then had some playtime on the floor.

She was laughing at daddy!!