It has begun...

The fighting.  Not that the girls didn't fight before.  But they've started with the "I don't LIKE you!!"  "Yeah, well I don't like YOU either!!"  Ugh.  Five minutes later, they're best friends again.  But I really don't like hearing them say that.  As a mother, you hope with every fiber of your being that your kids will love and respect each other.  So listening to them say that they don't like each other makes me a bit sad.  I know it's fairly normal...but like most mothers, I was hoping they would be the exception and love each other all the time!!

However, Emmi thinks those two knuckleheads are the most entertaining people ever though!  She will sit and watch them forever.  She's pretty content to just sit in the middle of the living room floor with a box of handheld toys...as long as the girls are in eyesight.

She's not yet crawling, which is absolutely ok with me.  She's started to make some attempts in the past few days though.  I really, really dread her being able to move around.  The big girls have so many toys now that include little itty bitty parts.  I've really been working with them on making sure to pick up the little pieces off the floor.  But of course they're four...and sometimes they forget.  So yes, I would be quite happy if Emmi would remain immobile for quite a while yet.  I still need time to train the twins in toy pickup!!

Toothless no more!!

Emmi cut her first tooth today!  It's so exciting yet so sad at the same time.  Our sweet little baby is growing up far too fast.  That stinkin' little tooth was sitting just under the skin for about a week.  It just didn't want to pop through!!  But today it finally did.

She's expanding her horizons as far as solid food goes.  She's found out that she really loves strawberry yogurt!  She also enjoys carrots, applesauce with cinnamon, bananas with mixed berries and yogurt melts.  I never thought we would get to this point.  I mean, she actually willingly opens her mouth for the next bite!  It's great!!

Lastly, she's been getting up 2-3 times a night to be fed, which is a vast improvement from not long ago when she was up usually 5 times.  Luckily, she's strictly business when she wakes...she takes about 4oz and goes right back to sleep.  Overall, I can't complain about that!!

A bunch of randoms

So we're still working with Emmi and her solid food intake.  Little girl just isn't terribly interested.  However, she really does like Gerber's Puffs.  And she's getting pretty good at picking them up by herself and getting them into her mouth.  Otherwise, she eats some pureed bananas and some oatmeal cereal here and there, but nothing terribly consistent.  I'm thinking she's going to skip baby food for the most part and go straight to table food just like Dr K said.

We're still waiting for her first tooth to arrive.  The girls have been all over the board in regards to when that first one showed up.  Elli was 5 1/2 months.  Livi was exactly 6 months.  And Addi was a week shy of 8 months.  Right now Emmi is 7 1/2 months, so I'd imagine she must be close!!

It's so fun watching the big girls interact with her.  Livi is very much the nurturer.  She always wants to hold Emmi.  She gives her a nuk if she's fussy.  She covers her up with her blanket.  She helps feed her the little puffs and knows that she can only give her one at a time, etc.  On the other hand, Addi is the entertainer.  She really doesn't want much to do with taking care of her...she's too focused on trying to make her laugh.  If Emmi is getting fussy, it's usually Addi who will jump in front of her and yell "BOO!"  She'll dance in front of her.  She'll purposefully fall to the ground, etc.  The two of them are a good mix for Emmi - a mother hen and a jokester!!

Here are lots of pictures of our happy little princess...

Snow Play

The past couple of days I've taken the girls to the nearby school to play in the snow.  We climbed the hills that the plows made and then slid down on both our butts and our bellies.  We made snow forts (or snow castles, as the girls call them).  We played on the playground...the girls were quite surprised to find out just how far they could slide across the snow on their butts when exiting the actual slide!! And in general, we just burned off some pent up winter energy.  We're definitely ready for some spring weather here.  A year ago, I was posting pictures of the girls playing hopscotch in the driveway and there really wasn't any snow around!  This year, we still have a ton!!  And getting another snowstorm as we speak that should be dropping about 6" on us!  Ugh.

Anyway, here are some pictures of us making the most out of the snow this weekend!!

 

Livi was in a hurry to get there!!

Addi was too busy trying to catch snowflakes with her tongue.

 

Sweet Livi.

Livi was the "director" and Addi was the "builder"

Miss Sassypants wouldn't smile for me.

Livi still directing and Addi still building!!

Addi's calling out for "more supplies, please!!!"

Blessed

I felt so incredibly blessed the other morning as my bed started to fill up with little girls.   Emmi was in the crook of my left arm. Addi migrated in and laid down on my right side.   Livi followed shortly thereafter and asked if she could lay in bed too.  How could I turn her away?  So she put a pillow down and laid across my legs. And I know Elli was looking down on us and smiling her beautiful smile.   My heart felt so full of love being surrounded by my baby girls.

In other news, last week the big girls went on a field trip with daycare to the dentist.  Livi had no problem getting in the big chair and reclining in it.  But Addi apparently wanted nothing to do with it!  I remember when they were younger and Addi feared absolutely nothing and Livi was afraid of pretty much everything.  Boy have the roles changed!!

Playing with her "new" toy.

Mesmerized by the computer.

Flipping pages of the book.

7 months old today!!

And as smiley as ever!

Photo session over.  She's beating up the bunny again.