Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Elli!!  Forever in our hearts and forever loved.  I'm sure you celebrated with some pretty special people up there.  Love you, sweetie!!

Precious little peanut just shy of 3 months old.

End of camping 2012

We went on our last camping trip this weekend.  The girls had a blast, as always.  They did a little bit of swimming, played mini golf, made new friends, rode on a golf cart, played on the playground, made s'mores, skipped rocks and plenty more.  The weather was a bit erratic.  One day it was super, super hot.  The very next day we had to break out the long pants and jackets!  I know it's just a matter of time before they start hounding me about going on the "bus" again.  And I don't think they'll be impressed with my answer...when the snow comes...and then melts.

The girls played choo-choo train in the water with their new friend.

Emmi enjoyed her water time too!

Whenever the tongue comes out, you know she's focusing!!

We're still working on their overall golfing form!!

Big changes ahead!!

Let me start by saying this...

All three girls slept through the night last night!!  Say what?  Yes, it's true.  I think this might just be the first time ever.  Livi is never a problem.  She's a pretty gosh darn good sleeper.  Not the best bed partner in the world though - the little girl is ALL over the place.  But she reliably sleeps through the night.  However, Addi and Emmi are not entirely fond of the thing we call sleep.  Addi usually comes into my room around 2 in the morning proclaiming that she's not tired.  And Emmi gets up a couple times a night for something to drink.  But last night they all coordinated their efforts!!

So in less than two weeks, the big girls will be starting preschool.  That is so incredibly unreal to me.  It doesn't seem that long ago that I was laying on the couch, 24 hours a day on strict bedrest, trying to make sure that they didn't make an early arrival.  And now they're off to school. 

In preparation of starting school, I had them write their names the other day.  I was just curious to see how they would do.  They did amazing!!  Now I'm really curious to see what it will look like at the end of their very first year of school.  But here is their impressive work...

Dancing Queen

Emmi has really taken a liking to music lately...well, I'm not sure if it's really a liking to music or just my singing.  Which is odd.  Very odd.  I'm a terrible singer.  But the twins have a few books that entail me breaking out my not so pleasant singing voice.  And whenever Emmi hears it, she starts rocking back and forth and bouncing up and down.  Such a precious peanut.

She's currently up to 9 teeth.  She has four on the top, four on the bottom and one molar on the top.  Poor girl tends to pop through more than one at a time.  One time she cut three new teeth in one day and this last time was two more.  Yikes!  She actually seems to tolerate teething pretty well.  She's never been feverish with teething (knock on wood) and her fussiness is actually quite minimal...to the point where I can't really say "oh, she must be teething."  She might be a little more restless at night, but that's about it.

Here are a few recent pictures!!

My soon-to-be preschoolers!!!

And sweet little Emmi.

Holy Temper, Batman

My sweet Emmi.  Where did you go?  Never in a million years would I have expected the insane amount of screaming and tantruming this child does at such a young age.  If she doesn't get her way, she gets mad.  And not just a little mad.  I'm talking screaming so loud and so fiercely that you seriously think your ear drums may burst.  Then there are the attempts to hit or pull hair...she has ended up with fistfulls of every female in the house.  And if reprimanded, sternly told "no" and removed from the situation, she doesn't waste any time throwing herself onto her belly and crying.  Yeah, I never, never would've predicted this!  She's been such an easy going, laid back, go with the flow baby.  So this all surprises me!!

The twins handle her well though.  When she ends up with a fistfull of hair, they don't freak out on her and push her away.  They just holler for me so I can release their hair from her tiny fingers.  They share with her as much as possible.  Obviously, being almost 5 years old, they play with things that Emmi simply cannot have.  So then we all just deal with the screaming fit for a couple minutes before she forgets what all the fuss is about!!

She still is a tender little girl though, don't get me wrong.  It's just those few times throughout the day when she gets mad...she definitely gets really mad.  Otherwise, she still likes sharing.  Whether trying to feed me, the girls or the cats, or giving a toy back to her sisters, or giving me my phone when she sees it on the floor.  She is still SUCH a joy.  And loveable and a cuddlebug, etc.  She's just expressing a side that I didn't fully expect!

Hang tight...the blog is coming back

Ok, so I've taken a 6+ week hiatus.  However, I've been jotting down notes for the past month and a half about the things going on, milestones, teeth, A FIRST BIRTHDAY, preschool readiness, etc.  I just haven't exactly put it into paragraph format.

The intention is to write up the posts dating back to the 1st week of July.  The dates will reflect when those events were going on, not the date I'll actually be posting (probably sometime in late August).  That way, in a few months, it will look like I've never missed a beat!! 

Sooo.  When you all of a sudden see new posts appear, make sure to read all the way back to July.  I'm hoping to be posting 4-5 for the month of July and another 4-5 for the month of August.  Stay tuned.....

A Birthday party in pictures...

Waiting ever so patiently.

Gift opening time!!

Trying to read the directions?!?

So happy with her new toy.

She sees the cake coming!!

Dig in baby girl!

Yummy.

Smash!!

What did I do?!

Woo-hoo...all done!!

Peek-a-boo, all clean again!

Maybe her belly isn't full yet?

Pretty little birthday girl.

She's growing, growing, growing!!

Emmi had her one year appt on Monday. She's now 20lbs 9oz and 30 1/2 inches. Growing like a weed, but still long and skinny. She only cried for a few seconds with her shots. And she just flinched when she had a finger poke done for labs. She was more interested in why this strange lady was squeezing her finger and watching what was coming out of it!!

Developmentally, she's right on track.  Not really talking a whole lot though.  In fact, I think she started saying "mama" for real within the past week or so.  But that's about it.  I'll blame her older sisters for never letting her have a chance to speak!!  Haha.  Her fine motor skills are above average and she's a great problem solver.  As for gross motor development, she's SOO close to walking!!  She's fairly comfortable now just hanging on to my finger with only one hand.  The other hand is usually pointing us in the direction she wants to go!!  It won't be long now and then she'll be off!

She really, really enjoys shutting doors right now.  She's a little stinker that way.  The other day, she crawled into my room and I heard the door close.  So I walked down the hallway and slowly opened it up to let her out.  Not 3 minutes later, I heard another door close.  This time, she shut herself into her own room.  So again, I opened the door for her.  And not long after, she went into the bathroom and shut the door.  That's a daring move because the light was off and there isn't a window in that bathroom!  She's obviously not afraid of the dark yet!!

Overall...she's healthy, happy and...perfect, of course.

Some sweetness.

Some sass.

Such a little beauty.

And yes, sometimes she's a health nut (helping me pick raspberries).

Happy 1st Birthday!!

This little ray of sunshine turned a year old today.  How is that even possible?  I still remember that day so well.  It was definitely a whirlwind of a delivery.  Which reminds me, I still have to share her birth story like I did for both the twins and with Elli.  Her story will likely be much shorter because there wasn't a whole lot of hours involved it!  Pretty much two hours from first contraction to baby!

At 11:39pm, one year ago, her 7# 10oz self brought so much happiness and joy and amazement to the family.  And that has continued for the last 12 months.  I simply cannot believe that she's already a year old.

A little flashback in time.....

Just 4 minutes old and not entirely sure of this world.

After an hour, she's settling right in.

Two hours old and as content as can be.

One day old and so, so peaceful.

Just some randoms

Well, it didn't take long at all for Emmi to realize how to cruise around furniture.  She just started pulling up to standing and now she's already walking along the couch, the toy kitchen set, the big girls' picnic table, etc.  She's a little unsteady at times, but for the most part, she does great!

It was a sad day today. I took the kids to daycare and dropped the big girls off in the 4yr old room like I always do. Then I took Emmi to the infant room...but they told me she wasn't on their list anymore. She's now officially in the toddler room (at a little over 11 months). I knew they had been transitioning her the past couple of weeks, but I really didn't expect her to be in the toddler room full time already!! How did this happen so soon?!?

Her latest favorite thing to do is to point...at everything.  I mean, she still loves to play the sharing game where she hands you everything she picks up.  But she's incorporated a little extra piece.  Now she spots things from across the room and points.  Or she sees something on top of the countertop and points.  So I carry her to whatever object I think she MIGHT be pointing at and she grabs it.  To which she promptly hands to me.  It's so adorable the way she points.  Because she sticks her arm way above her head and then points...she doesn't just stick her arm out.  She sticks in waaay up in the air like she's raising her hand to be called on.  Just precious.

Yay...pictures!!!

The first time the girls ever played in a lake!!

She was amazed that her one little finger could make the balls spin and pop!!

Makeshift water slide!!

Hey gorgeous.

Just kickin' back and eating a snack.

She's just surprised as I am that I let her (attempt to) eat yogurt all by herself!!