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.

Just pictures

Always seems to be smiling!!

And still loves to chew on her fingers.

So focused on sitting!!

The big girls went bowling...Addi had the pushing technique down pat.

Livi preferred the drop it/chuck it technique.

Nothing like a little caffeine free Diet Pepsi.

 

Trying to eat...

 

And as usual, she would much rather just laugh at my attempts.

Addi was having nothing to do with these pictures....

So sweet!!

Livi is such a loving big sister.

The banana diet

That's the diet that Emmi is on.  She will eat bananas...and only bananas.  We haven't tried all foods with her yet.  But so far we've done rice and oatmeal cereal, applesauce, pears and sweet potatoes.  Nope, nope, nope and nope.  What a stinker.  She's actually our only baby who has ever refused the cereal!  I remember all of the other girls refusing the green veggies (peas and beans), so I didn't even attempt those with her yet.  But maybe those are the ones she'll actually like!!  When I talked to Dr K about it at her 6 month appt, she wasn't concerned in the least.  She said that there are those babies who never really eat "baby food" and just progress right on to table foods.  So we'll see.

She's also a very proficient sitter now.  It's so sad.  She's growing up far too fast.  But if you ask the big girls, she's not growing up nearly fast enough.  They ask multiple times a week when Emmi is going to grow up.  I tell them that she is - and they argue with me that she's not.  I think they're ready for her to be another little walking and talking playmate.

I've been flying solo at night for a few weeks now.  That's part of the reason I haven't been blogging as much.  By the time I pick them up from daycare by myself, get all the girls fed, dressed for bed, teeth brushed and in bed...I run out of energy.  Nate's been working a weird shift the past few weeks - he goes in at 5pm and ends at 3am.  So he's able to help me with the morning routine and getting the girls off to daycare.  But I can tell the big girls are not fond of this new schedule.  Only seeing him for about an hour each morning is just not boding well with them.  Each night as I'm putting them to bed, they whine and say "I want my daddy" to which I have to reply that he's at work and can't tuck them in at night.  I feel so bad for them.  Nate's been told that he should hopefully be back to the day shift no later than the end of March.  So keeping our fingers crossed!

Busy, busy, busy

I've had a lot going on in the last couple of weeks that has prevented me from blogging...some great, some not so great.  But I'm back after a little hiatus!!

In my absence, Emmi turned 6 months old!!  I'm not entirely sure where the time is going.  Can it really be possible that a full six months have passed already?  She had her appointment on the day that she turned 6 months (February 4th).  She continues to be a long, skinny baby.  She weighed in at 15lbs 6oz (35th percentile) and was 27 inches long (90th percentile).  She received four shots and was such a champ.  She only cried for a few seconds.  Then she even "talked" to the nurse afterwards!!  As far as development, she's right on track.

We're still working on eating solids with her.  She's not a fan.  However, we found out in the past couple of days that she doesn't entirely mind bananas.  She doesn't gulp them down by any means, but she at least opens her mouth and doesn't shudder when she swallows them!  Baby steps, baby steps.

Twins are good.  Just recently they've resorted to calling each other by Adalyn and Alivia.  I know, not a huge deal.  But prior to this, they've always referred to each other as Addi and Livi.  So it sounds strange when they blurt out each others' full name.  And their imaginations seem to be sky rocketing...I love it.

She's a smiley one!!

Huh?

She looks so shy.

Just playing in her highchair.

Going for a walk in the snow!!

Yes, they're shoveling the yard...no, I don't know why.

Yummy Elmo.

Six month pictures didn't go so well.  First she choked him...

Then she tackled him...

Next she showed pleasure in squeezing his head...

Finally, she showed her flexibility!!

We decided to just ditch the bunny.

Unbelievable

The bugs are still in this house!!!

Nate was out sick almost all of last week with the stomach bug.  Toward the end of the week, we actually shipped the twins out to my parents' house so they could hopefully avoid it.  So they spent a few nights with grandma and grandpa.

Emmi started with some diarrhea early last week, but I didn't know if it was related to the fact that she started amoxicillin or if she also had a stomach bug.  A couple days later she broke out in a full body rash.  It looked like a viral rash, but again, it also could've been an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin.  Then this past Saturday while I was at work and Nate was home with her (the twins were still with my parents), she went through a couple crying fits.  So Nate brought her in and I had her seen in urgent care.  Her ears looked worse, she had white pustules in her throat, the rash was still present and she still had the diarrhea.  So they swabbed her for strep and took a blood draw to test for mono and look at her overall blood count.  Everything checked out just fine. So we were left with the fact that the diarrhea and rash were probably a virus.  But they gave us a new antibiotic just in case the amoxicillin caused some issues.  Whew.  On a good note, she's finally on the mend!!

And then yesterday...Livi woke up a couple of times throughout the night saying she couldn't breathe (she went to bed with a fever and a cough).  Thinking she just had a stuffy nose, I told her to breathe through her mouth and she would be just fine.  She told me a couple of times that she couldn't, but I tried to convince her that she could!!  By morning, when she woke up crying, I heard the very distinct sound of croup.  Every time she inhaled, I heard that seal-like sound.  Ugh.  So when she told me at night that she couldn't breathe even if she breathed through her mouth, she really felt like she couldn't!!  Bad mommy.  I felt terrible.

So the bugs still linger.  2013 has not treated us the best so far.  Maybe our New Year can start in February!!!  And with my next post, I'm probably going to do a picture overload.  I've been wanting to post pictures for a while but just haven't had the time with all the sickies in the house!!

Ear infection #1

And so it begins.  Emmi was diagnosed with her first ear infection on Sunday.  Poor girl put in a pretty restless night that night but I didn't think too much about it because it's not completely out of the ordinary for her to have an "off" night.  But shortly after waking up for the day, she started crying.  And just the way she was crying was so different than her hunger, tired, bored or I need a cuddle type of cry.

So I decided to be *that* parent and take my baby in to be seen for no reaosn other than "fussy baby."  No fever, no tugging on the ears, no vomiting...nothing.  Just fussy.  But I'm so glad I did because she actually had a bilateral ear infection.  The right eardrum is actually bulging, so there's some fluid behind that one.  The left ear is infected, but no fluid.

Poor baby girl.  I knew something was wrong when she cried...which is so uncharacteristic of her.  She may get fussy, but she rarely flat out cries.  So now we know.  I seriously despise ear infections.  We went through sooo many of them with Addi.  I'm hoping Emmi doesn't become my next ear tubes baby.  Ugh. 

Princesses

The girls love them.  They have four different princess dresses...Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Rapunzel.  They usually play princess dress up at least once a day, complete with shoes, tiaras and jewelry.

One of their latest obsessions is watching Cinderella.  They absolutely love that movie.  They usually don't have the attention span to watch an entire movie, but Cinderella is one that they will almost always watch from beginning to end.  They pretty much have it memorized already. 

To top it off, the girls are now sleeping in their own little princess beds.  Yes, our 4 year olds are finally in twin sized beds.  Their first night in their new big girl beds was Monday night.  Up until that night, they were still in their convertible toddler beds.  Hey, they were sleeping well and never complained about their toddler beds, so why rock the boat, right?  But we bit the bullet and got them twin beds for Christmas.  The beds are white and have three drawers underneath with jewel studded handles and the headboards are cut somewhat like a tiara.  Of course the bedding (which the girls received from Grandma and Grandpa J) is also princess themed...and quite adorable I might add!  The girls are absolutely in love.

And luckily, they've been sleeping well.  They ask every morning if they get to keep their new big girl beds!!  I'm not sure where they think we're going to take them, but they sure are concerned!!!

Can I do a no title post? Too tired...

I'm so far behind. I just haven't had a ton of energy to write lately. I'm still getting up multiple times a night with Emmi, which I honestly don't mind. It's a fact of life for me. The running joke in the house is that we make sleepers about as well as we make boys...we don't. She's up about 5 times a night. Usually anywhere between every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Sometimes she'll pull off a 3 hour stretch, but that's rare. However, I'm used to it. I think what's been dragging me down is work. "Tis the season" is what we say at work. The sickness bugs are out in full force. We've just been getting hammered with the numbers of people who've been coming in through our doors to either be seen in the ER or in urgent care. Therefore, I come home...and I'm tired.

Outside of Emmi waking multiple times a night, she's doing well. I feel like she's finally starting to put on some weight a little bit quicker. She's getting stronger every day and now really enjoys sitting/standing in her jumper. She still snacks during they day...taking a whopping 2oz bottle. I'm sure daycare would like that to change, but I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. Oh yeah, and she decided after her first couple tries of rice cereal that she isn't really a fan! She did well the first couple of times, but since then, she gives you such a sour face...like she just licked a lemon!  Poor thing. So we're not pushing it. We just continue to try every few days.

This isn't necessarily a lemon face...but it sure is a look of disgust!

Well, hello, peanut!

Such a pretty girl.

Five months old...giving her bunny the stare down.

Then she laid on him.

Then she bit him! Poor bunny doesn't stand a chance anymore.

And just a flashback...3 weeks old in the tub.

And now at five months.  Growing too fast!!

Happy New Year!

It's 2013 already?  Do you know what that means?  That means that my "babies" will start preschool.  I mean, not until after the summer.  And the new school year needs to begin.  But the way time has been flying, August will be here before we know it!

Over the past week or so, Emmi has really found her voice...and not necessarily in the good way.  She does this screeching/squealing/shrieking thing.  Addi is the only other one I remember doing this.  It can be insanely loud.  The big girls are constantly saying "mom, Emmi's being really loud."  "Mom, Emmi is doing it again."  "Mom, please make her stop."  Knock on wood, but she's toned it down a bit the past couple of days.  But she does it when she's happy, bored, tired, frustrated, getting a diaper changed, playing in her swing, sitting in her bouncy...essentially, it doesn't matter her mood nor where she's at, she's going to screech.  Hopefully it's a short lived phase.

One cute little thing before I sign off for the night.  When I went to pick up the girls from daycare the other day, I walked in and one of the teachers immediately turned to the girls and said "hey girls, tell your mom what you just told me."  My first thought was oh no.  They acted all shy and wouldn't tell me.  So the teacher told me that they said that Emmi is getting too big.  So therefore, we need to have another baby so they can have another baby sister.  Good lord kids!!  I didn't really think they took notice as to how big Emmi is getting so quickly.  But then to request *another* baby in the house?  They already don't like the noise their current baby sister makes!!  They're obviously not thinking this through very well!!