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!!

Big weekend!!

My sweet first born children turned four years old on Saturday.  Wow.  We had a mini party that evening with just Grandma and Grandpa J.  Then Emmi was baptized on Sunday and the girls' bigger birthday party immediately followed the service.  The whole weekend seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye.  Kind of like the girls' first four years of life...ok, maybe minus those first six chaotic months!!  Haha.

The cupcakes Grandma J made for them.

After the Baptism.

Opening presents.

A feeble attempt at a picture with the birthday girls.

Livi was sooo tired by this point and begging to take a nap.

Addi, on the other hand, wasn't the least bit tired!!

 

Our sweet peanut in her gown.

Later in the day I took the big girls to the zoo.

 

Patiently waiting for her third bath attempt to get the baptismal oil out of her hair.

 

Look at this!!

The above is a picture of 105 containers of stage 2 baby food that was given to us by one of the girls' teachers at daycare.  Her twin nephews decided not long ago that they simply don't like baby food anymore. Can you believe this?  We're so incredibly thankful for the kind gesture.  When the teacher asked me if I'd be interested, I told her that I absolutely would be.  I assumed it was like a dozen containers or so.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be as much as it was.  Simply amazing.

The twins are getting more and more excited each day for their big birthday!  Lots and lots of talk every day about turning four years old.  And now that I've finally done some birthday shopping for them, I'm not so panicked about the day.  I still don't like the idea that they're turning four already.  But at least I'm now physically prepared for the day...I don't think I can really emotionally prepare for the fact that my "babies" aren't even toddlers anymore!! They're just kids.  Preschoolers.  Yikes.

Still here, still here

No, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth...not yet anyway.  It just doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to get done.  And of course, by the time we get all the kiddos in bed, I'm pretty much ready for bed myself.

The big girls have become obsessed with their birthday as of late.  It must be someone at daycare that alerted them to the fact that their birthday is just around the corner because it sure wasn't us!!  They have a million and one things to say about their birthday. 

"When it's our birthday, we'll be four."
"After our birthday, Santa will come."
"Do we get to open presents for our birthday?"
"We want candles on our birthday cake."
"Do we get to have a party?"
"Can I have Barbie on my cake?" (Addi)
"Can I have Mickey Mouse on my cake?" (Livi)
"Can our friends come to our party?"

Just eight more days and my little girls will be four years old.  Wow. 

And then there's Emmi.  She's such a peanut.  She recently found her fists.  So she enjoys sucking on them whenever they make it toward her mouth.  Just hoping that she doesn't become a thumb sucker!  We already have one of those whose habit we're having a tough time breaking!!  Emmi has also rolled over a couple times lately.  It's nothing terribly consistent...in fact, I'm not quite sure if it's a semi-purposeful thing or not.  Or if she just gets her head too far on one side of her body and momentum takes over!

Here's our little girl yesterday at 2 months old.

And a couple bonus pictures from the past few days.

 

And in case you're wondering why there are very few pictures of the twins...well, they don't sit still long enough for me to take any!!  You can bet there will be birthday pictures though!!