Little J's Butterfly Birthday Party

Little J celebrated her 4th birthday back in November. In fact, her birthday was the same day we closed on our new house, so things were a little extra crazy around her birthday. I didn't want her to miss out on a party with all of the chaos, so we just celebrated a few weeks early. 

 I let Little J pick the theme for her party, and the activities she wanted to do at the party. She decided on a butterfly theme and that she wanted to paint at the party. Miss A actually chose a butterfly theme for her 4th birthday too, which meant we had at least some supplies on hand- awesome! Little J was also in charge of the menu. Mac and cheese for everyone!

We invited a few family friends (and their older siblings who were Miss A's age) and a couple of Little J's favorite friends from the YMCA. We ended up with 9 little girls and 1 boy for the party. The weather was beautiful for early November, so E picked up a pinata the morning of the party and set it up outside. The kids were happy to run around, jump in the leaves and take a few swings at the pinata. 

Back inside, the kids did their paintings. I picked up a small canvas for each kid and used a butterfly decoration to trace the outline of a butterfly on each canvas with pencil. I told the kids they didn't have to make a butterfly, but the outline was there to help them if they did decide to do a butterfly. I used paper plates as their painting pallettes and got the kids to work. They all did a nice job painting their masterpieces, and were excited to take them home.

 

Of course, it wouldn't be a birthday party without cake, and Little J was very specific about what she wanted: chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. Very much like her mommy. She was so happy with the cake, though she was a little disappointed she didn't get a whole cake to smash like Lady C did at her 1st birthday party.

All in all a wonderful celebration of our sweet and silly girl!

Baby #4: 36 Weeks

Wow! There's less than a month to go to my due date. How in the world did that happen?! I'm feeling a mix of totally ready for baby girl to join us, and totally not ready for baby girl to join us.

I'm really trying to enjoy all the little baby movements I am feeling. With just about a month left of being pregnant, I want to remember how cool it is to feel baby wiggling on the inside. I especially love baby hiccups. Such a strange feeling. I'm also trying to love my big pregnant belly, because I know my belly two months from now will not be nearly as cute (ha!).

I'm feeling okay now, but so, so tired. I'm tired all day, but have trouble getting comfortable enough at night to actually sleep. Lady C has also been waking up earlier, which is not helpful. We had two weeks of sickness go through the house (fevers, strep and pink eye... grrrr), but we're all healthy now, and hopefully we're done being sick for awhile! Besides being tired, I've been dealing with heartburn, varicose veins, swelling in my right leg and serious lower back pain. I'm really ready to be able to move around like a normal person again. I'm trying to embrace this last month with the belly, but it does make moving around a lot harder.

Late last month we took away Lady C's pacifier and last weekend we moved her to Miss A's room in the bunk bed, both big transitions for the current baby of our family, and not the easiest transitions either. I knew last weekend was the start of Daylight Savings but didn't consider it when making the bed switch for Lady C. Probably not my best decision. We're on day 3 in the big girl bed and things are going okay. I've been treating myself to ice cream after she's asleep since wine is not an option. Ha! On the to do list this week: stock up on newborn diapers, wash the newborn clothes and get the car seat cleaned up. After that I will hopefully feel much more ready for baby's arrival. And if we happen to decide on a name, even better (though I find that unlikely with our track record).