2015 Weeks 6 & 7

I almost forgot to take pictures for Week 6, but remembered to get a few pictures while the girls were making valentines on Monday afternoon. Miss A is getting better at writing her name all the time, but with a 9 letter name, valentines are a little tricky. Poor girls, all three have long first names with a long last name. 

Little J is so expressive these days. In the first picture she's trying to show Miss A how much she loves her. She spreads her fingers out as much as she can to show how much she loves each of us. So sweet!

This one is her questioning face. Ha!

I'm saving most of the pictures I actually took during Week 7 for an Austin recap, but I thought I'd share a couple of E playing with Baby C at the hotel. Such a sweet Daddy!

Baby C: 6 Months

Half a year. Half a year Baby C has been with us. I think I say this every month, but it's CRAZY how quickly this is going!

Personality: Such a happy baby! So smiley! She's mostly super sweet and relaxed, though she's also starting to voice her dislikes more.

Likes: Her hands. She is obsessed with her hands this month. She can reach out and grab what she wants and thinks it's awesome (until she thinks it's not awesome, then she just screams because she hasn't mastered letting go yet, ha!). Baby C also likes sitting up in her Bumbo or high chair so she can see what we're up to. Her sweet little baby laugh is the best. She giggles when I kiss her perfect little cheeks or tickle her neck. I can't get enough of it! E says the smiles and laughs are his favorite right now. She loves when Daddy tips her upside down. I should also mention she started rolling from her tummy to her back this month.

Dislikes: Socks. Not just socks, but anything on her feet. I've seen her get her feet out between the snaps on her jammies. It's winter in Minnesota. Feet need to be covered (or I get comments from older ladies who see me with a baby with bare feet). Baby C will not go to sleep laying flat. Not great, but I know she won't be in her swing forever.

Sleeping: For the most part sleeping is much better, but it's sporadic. Some nights she sleeps long stretches, other nights not so much. She's gotten in the (bad) habit of waking up for the first time between 11:30pm and 12am, which always seems to be an hour or so after I feel asleep. Hopefully we can get that first wake up pushed back to 2:30am or later soon. During the day she takes a bunch of shorter naps at different times, but consistently takes a nice, long afternoon nap. Love that! Now if only her sisters could do the same.

Eating: Still eating well and about every 3 hours. We'll be starting solid foods soon!

Nicknames: C-bot, C note, baby baby, baby bot, kitty cat

Stats: 17 pounds, 9.5 ounces, 26.5 inches

2015 Week 5

This week was all about Share Bear. Miss A got to bring Share Bear home from preschool, take pictures of her adventures with Share Bear and put the pictures in a book to share with her class. She was very, very excited to have Share Bear. She's been talking about what she might want to do with Share Bear since September, so it was a very big deal that he was finally at our house. The first few days he went everywhere with her, but on Saturday Miss A and Little J went on an adventure with Daddy to the Mall of America (rides, mini golf, lunch and a movie... big day!) and Miss A forgot him at home. Oops!

Thankfully we did remember to take Share Bear ice skating with us. My friend, Miss K met up with us for Miss A and Little J's first time ice skating. Miss A LOVED it. She took to it really quickly, and was so proud of herself for learning to skate. It was so fun to watch. Little J tried for a bit, but got frustrated and asked to put her boots on after about 15 minutes. I got her to try skating a little later, but she was much happier after she put her boots on and could keep up with Miss A. I'm guessing another year and she'll be much more interested.

Creativity Jam: Imagine & Make

Last Friday the girls and I had the opportunity to visit the newest version of Creativity Jam at the Minnesota Children's Museum. I've shared before that I think Creativity Jam is one of the coolest things at the museum. The new Creativity Jam is no exception.

My girls would spend all day grocery shopping in Our World, and while I think that type of play is important, I also love seeing what my girls will do when the play is wide open. That's what Creativity Jam is all about.

When we first walked in to the Imagine area of Creativity Jam, it was like we were walking in to a whole new world. The white fabric and blue lighting made the room so cool. Miss A and Little J immediately disappeared inside a tent. I have no idea what was happening in the tent (as I was immediately kicked out when I tried to sneak a peek) but when Miss A came out, with lantern in hand she said, "Something's attacking the world and we have to find out what." The girls ran off, continuing to explore the room to find their answer.

A little later Miss A found some wings (and kept a tight hold on that lantern... her favorite thing there) and she and Little J transformed into fairies. They decided the red platform was fairy school. In case you're wondering, fairy school is "all about the magic!" and seems to involve a lot of running around in circles.

The thing that made the imagine space so engaging is that kids can use the space in so many different ways. My girls went from a exploring a destroyed world to being fairies within the same visit, and I can only imagine what other kids may have imagined. I'm excited to see what ideas our next visit will inspire.

After leaving the Imagine area we moved on to the Make space (located in the Curiosity Center). When we walked in each girl was given a black tray and told to pick up whatever supplies they were interested in. There were fuzzy balls, buttons, beads, string, wire, paper, tape, cupcake liners, popsicle sticks and much more. The girls made their selections and headed over to a table to get to work. 

Miss A decided to make a "guy" out of her supplies so Little J decided to do the same. We started out with regular glue, but that wasn't quite cutting it, so we moved over to an area with a hot glue gun. Miss A would show me where to put glue, then she would add the different objects. I thought their "guys" turned out great!

Little J's project

Miss A's project

I was alone with all three girls, so we didn't get into anything more advanced than the hot glue gun, but there were tool sets and a variety of building materials available too. If we go back with E or without Baby C we might have to see what we can create.

The Creativity Jam components that are featured at the Minnesota Children's Museum right now are prototype exhibits for the expansion and renovation of the Minnesota Children's Museum set to begin this fall. You can look at plans for the project here.

I'm linking up with Katie today because MCM is one of my favorites!

Full disclosure, my family and I are provided with a free membership to the Minnesota Children's Museum in exchange for being a Smart Play Ambassador.  Of course, all opinions are completely my own.

Winter 2015 DITL: Friday, January 23rd

Time for my Winter Day in the Life (DITL) post. You can see more DITL posts over at Navigating the Mothership. For the Winter DITL I tried to pick a normal, non-preschool day. I am 33, E is 34, Miss A is 4.5, Little J is 3 and Baby C is 5 months. 

12:29am: Ahhh... sweet baby girl is up already. I feed her and put her back to sleep. Repeat at 3:30 and 5:30am. Sleep is not as good as it was a couple of weeks ago.

7:00am: I should really get up, but I don't really want to. So I watch a little of the CBS Morning News and check social media.

7:30am: I actually get up. I make smoothies for E, myself, and Little J if she's in the mood. The spinach is bad, so banana raspberry today. Super tasty. Love our Ninja. I sit down with my smoothie and make a list for the day. I find a sweet picture of our family that Miss A drew in my notebook.

7:45am: Little J is up. She takes a few minutes to really wake up on the couch. 

8:00am: Little J and I have breakfast. She has Raisin Bran and I have a bagel with cream cheese. Little J steals my notebook and pen to make her own list. 

8:15am: I hear Baby C chatting in the other room, so I get her up and dressed. I love watching her arms come up when I take her out of her swaddle. I also love the changing table area. Baby C is almost always happy up there, giving out all kinds of smiles. After she's dressed we take a quick selfie.

8:15am: Baby C lays on her play mat while I put away dishes and clean up the kitchen a bit.

8:40am: Miss A is up and ready for breakfast. She has Raisin Bran too. I try to get a little computer work done while she eats. I also make our lunches for later. When Miss A is done with breakfast both big girls get dressed.

9:00am: I feed Baby C and let Miss A and Little J watch a little of Daniel Tiger. I put chicken in the Crock Pot for dinner. 

9:30am: We get ready to leave for the gym. It's always a struggle trying to get out the door. Baby C is usually easy. I get her buckled in the car seat and blankets bundled around her. Miss A and Little J need many reminders to get their shoes and coats on.

9:42am: Everyone is in the car, buckled up and ready to go. The fact that it only took 12 minutes to get in the car is pretty impressive. And only two minutes after the time I had hoped to leave.

10:00am: Arrive at the gym. We check in at the front desk and say hi to Miss M. Miss M is at the Y most mornings when we go and she goes to our church. The girls love her, especially Miss A. We head upstairs to check in to Kid Stuff.

10:10ish: I leave Baby C in the baby room, drop Miss A and Little J off in the meeting room and head to Body Pump. Body Pump is crazy today (as it has been most of the month). I'm not totally loving the new release (92) but it's starting to grow on me.

10:55am: I take a break from Body Pump. My shoulder has been bothering me, so I skip the shoulder track today. This gives me a chance to spy on Miss A and Little J in their Little Lotus Yoga class. Friday is our favorite day to go to the gym because there's yoga. Miss A and Little J think they're super cool ;)

11:10am: Body Pump is done and I head down to the fitness center to run on the treadmill. I run a mile and a half while listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour, one of my favorite podcasts.

11:35am: I pick up Miss A and Little J from the activity center. Side note: one thing I love about the Y is the variety of things the girls do while I'm working out. In the hour and a half they were in Kid Stuff they did a craft, played with toys, had a yoga class and ran around like crazy people in the activity center. The three of us head back upstairs to pick up Baby C.

11:45am: The girls and I grab a table and eat lunch. I feed Baby C while we're eating lunch, and chat with some of the other moms having lunch with their kids.

12:30pm: We leave the gym and go to Target, which is conveniently next door. Before we go in to Target I write a few notes about the day and the girls color in their seats. Little J loses her marker cap so I search for the cap. It's the purple cap, Little J's favorite so I give it some effort but I can't figure out where it went.

12:45pm: We go inside Target for what will turn out to be a ridiculously long trip. I saw that Cartwheel had 40% off shoes, so we head to the kid shoe section to see what they have. As we're trying on shoes, Little J says she has to go to the bathroom. We drop everything and head to the restrooms. Then back to the shoes. Do more shopping. Pick out a birthday present for a 3 year old. Little J has to go to the bathroom again (why is it that my girls LOVE public bathrooms???). Back to shopping. Baby C snoozes through the store. We're finally ready to check out after what feels like forever, and just as I'm ready to pay the cash register crashes. I move everything to another register and repeat. The cashier gives Miss A and Little J a bunch of stickers. They become Sticker Mouth and Sticker Fingers. Silly, silly girls.

2:30pm: Finally back in the car. We drive by a new house listing. The house is nothing exciting. Bummer. Little J and Baby C fall asleep so we take a long route home. When we get back to our house I clean up the garage a little bit because the girls are still sleeping.

3:30pm: Baby C wakes up and she's hungry so I take all the girls inside. I feed Baby C and change her diaper. We also watch Peg Plus Cat.

4:00pm: Time to put all of the stuff from Target away. Baby C lays on her play mat again. The big girls and I have a little snack; trail mix and applesauce. Next up, I clean the bathroom. Miss A and Little J play babies in their room. I think they also play preschool too. I fold and put away towels and kid clothes. Miss A helps with her clothes. We wrap Little M's present for tomorrow and make a card because we lost the one we picked out at Target somewhere along our trip. The girls keep coloring after they finish the card. They are all about coloring right now.

5:30pm: I finally get a shower, ha! Baby C hangs out in the bathroom with me and the big girls watch Dora and Friends. After my shower, I shred the chicken and mix taco seasoning (I like this one).

6:00pm: I feed Baby C again. Miss A and Little J are WILD. 

6:30pm: I make quesadillas for Miss A and Little J. Miss A helps take care of Baby C while I'm cooking. Miss A tells her, "you're a delicious baby."

6:45pm: We finally eat. E is going to trial on Monday, so he's stuck at work really late.

7:15pm: After dinner the girls and I play some Frozen games. First Go Fish. E calls and says he's on his way home so I get Miss A ready to go out on her little trip. The girls had sticker charts and because she filled her chart up she gets to go for a special dessert with Daddy.

7:45pm: E is home. He and Miss A leave for their special trip. They go check out a pet store and get frozen yogurt. Little J and I play the Frozen matching game. Little J is really good. She recently beat Miss A and I 13-2-1. When she's paying attention she has a great memory. After the matching game we color and listen to some of her favorite songs, All About That Bass and the Frozen soundtrack. Then she wants to play her dancing game (Just Dance Kids for the Wii).

8:45pm: E and Miss A get home. They bough me some winter boots while they were on their adventure, how sweet! We play the dance game a few more times.

9:00pm: Time to get ready for bed: jammies, teeth and right to bed. Normally we read books before bed, but it is way past their bed time. While I get Miss A and Little J in bed E gives Baby C her night time bottle. After her bottle she goes in her room for bed.

9:10pm: Sit down to watch a little TV with E. I can't remember what we were watching, maybe Dateline or Parks and Rec.

9:15pm: Little J is up. Get her back to bed.

10:00pm: I pump. Not my favorite part of the day, but I only do it once now, so I can't complain too much. When I'm done I brush my teeth and get ready for bed.

10:30pm: We go to bed. E is going to work in the morning, so it's an early Friday night for us. Goodnight!