2015 Weeks 10 & 11

Week 9 of 2015 got a little crazy around here. Well, most of 2015 is crazy, but this felt extra nuts. I remembered that my week was coming to a close and grabbed a couple quick shots of Baby C. She's sitting so well now. I love that she can sit but can't get go anywhere. It makes her a great "helper."

We got some great weather this March, and I have been loving every minute of it. Except last night when it decided to snow. Boo.

Here's a Little J dance party in the kitchen to start off the week.

And a whole bunch of outside work. Many of our leaves fell after the first snow, so we had mountains of leaves in our back yard. The girls didn't mind one bit.

Leaf piles, the perfect place to wrestle/hug your sister.

Another Daddy's girl.

We made chalk outlines of our bodies on the sidewalk. Little J thought it was great fun. Miss A woke up at 5am the next morning crying because someday it was going to rain an wash Chalk A away. Which would have been really funny if it weren't 5am.

Finally, E decided to take over dinner one night and he and the girls made us homemade corn dogs and french fries. Super tasty!

Little J is 3!

My sweet Little J turned 3 about 4 months ago, and this post has been a draft since that time. It seems every December I fall behind in blogging/photos/etc and it takes a few months to get caught up. 

Two was such a fun age with Little J. She is a silly, sweet girl. She loves to make people laugh. It's the best when she can make her big sister laugh. She's big on physical comedy. As I've been looking back on her baby pictures, she was such a smiley baby and is still a smiley kid. 

Daddy says Little J is awesome (though she might prefer "awesomesauce"). He loves her facial expressions and when she drops her shoulders in disappointment, "awww." She's very sweet, and shares well but has a bit of a temper too. He loves when she tries to be in charge. She will say, "I have a great idea!" or point out, "You already said that." I love her big squeeze hugs. She grabs around my neck and squeezes so tightly. It's one of the best feelings. She also likes to 'nuggle and I'll take toddler snuggles any day. I also enjoy when she tells us she's "cute and smart." 

Here's what Little J had to say about herself on her third birthday.

Favorite Movie: Tangled

Favorite Show: Sobia Birst (Sofia the First)

Favorite Song: Spinning Circles (I Don't Dance, Lee Brice), Shake It Off, All About that Bass

Favorite Book: Corduroy Goes to the Doctor (weird), Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus

Favorite Color: purple

Favorite Food: Mac & Cheese, PB & J, ice cream

Favorite Toys: baby, princesses

Favorite Things To Do: puzzles, babies, 'nuggle, dance, pretend to be a mommy

Favorite Game: hide and seek, marble game

Favorite Pony: Twilight Sparkle

Favorite Animal: kitty cat

Favorite Place To Go: Merica Merica (Mall of America)

What do you like to sleep with? blankie, bison

What do you want to be when you grow up? make my kids happy

And now a few of my favorite pictures of Little J between 2 and 3.

This is Little J's favorite picture!

Coffee Date 1

Hi friends! I have enjoyed reading Katie's virtual coffee dates so much that I thought I'd try one myself.

If we were going to meet up for coffee, I would actually order a hot chocolate because I don't drink coffee. Crazy, right? But then I would remember that I gave up chocolate for Lent this year (and it's so hard!) and look for some sort of non-chocolate non-coffee treat. Seriously, I gave up pop a couple of years and thought that was hard, but no chocolate, and trying not to replace it with some other form of sugar (most days anyway) is REALLY hard.

After we got a treat, I'd tell you about life right now. 2015 feels like a year of big decisions for us. The first big decision I recently had to make was about work. I was able to take a one year leave from work after Baby C was born, and I have loved it. Early this year I had to tell work whether I was coming back or not and after much (MUCH) thought and a lot of talking with E and pretty much anyone else who would listen, I decided to resign my position. It was really hard. Actually much harder than I expected it to be. I remember wanting to be a teacher from the time I was really young, so deciding not to be a teacher anymore (at least for now) was hard for me. I may or may not have cried on the phone when I told my principal I wasn't coming back. As hard as it was to make the decision, I haven't regretted the decision at all since talking to my principal about my decision.

I'd also tell you about another big decision we're making this year, the one to move. This has been our plan for over a year and now that the time is here I'm finding it really hard! We haven't seen a house that we really love in the six or so months we've been looking, so while we're trying to get our house ready to sell most of our effort is going in to finding a new house. I'd probably ask you what you like and dislike about your house. I'd ask you for any suggestions about buying or selling a house. I think I looked at (as in went to) close to 100 houses (seriously) when looking for our current house, so I know this process takes a lot of time and work, but it's starting to get me down. Here's hoping we find something amazing this spring!

One push to move now is that Miss A will be starting kindergarten in the fall and we'd like to make the move before school starts. I can't believe she's starting school so soon! It feels like she was my tiny baby yesterday and later this month she'll be five. FIVE. Where did those five years go?! I know she's excited to start school, and I am excited for her to start, but a big part of me is also sad that she'll be away so much. I might laugh about how we'll be working on writing her name from now until the first day of schools. First and last names together are 18 letters. Sorry girls (they all have 18 letters)!

And, because no post is complete without a picture, here's my Baby C being extra adorable.

So, how are you? Any advice for house searching or having a kid start school?

2015 Week 9

I can't shouldn't complain too much about our winter, because really, we haven't had that much snow and it hasn't been nearly as cold as last year. But I'm over it. And oh so ready for spring. Early in the week we had grass showing in our back yard. Then we got snow. Baby C was about as amused as I was. 

Miss A was way more excited. She was happy to try to help. She's been taking on some more big kid jobs recently and it's been really nice to see. Four has not been an easy year for her, but five is coming soon and I'm hopeful it will be a great year.

They day it snowed was also reasonably warm, so Miss A got some time to play with the neighbor kids. She has missed that this winter. I have missed that this winter. We're so ready for warm days and kids running around the backyards. 

After the snow it got really cold again. So we're finding ways to stay busy inside. Lots of coloring and dressing up. One day we got Baby C some snow to play with on her high chair. Her big sisters thought it was funny to have snow inside. Baby C wasn't sure what to think.

We also got out the kinetic sand to play with. Miss A and Little J both got some for Christmas and I had kind of forgotten about it. They really enjoyed rolling it out and backing cookies. I need to remember to get stuff like this out more often.

Baby C: 7 Months

It was a busy month for Baby C. First flight, 5 days with just Mommy and Daddy, sitting up and first foods. My sweet girl is becoming such a big baby!

Personality: A happy girl with big gummy smiles! I can't count the number of times I was stopped in Austin because people wanted to see my adorable girl. She has the sweetest chubby cheeks!

Likes: Sitting up! I'm so happy. I love the sitting but not yet mobile stage. Playing with toys (or dumping them out/throwing them off her high chair). Her hands and feet. Bath time. Blowing raspberries. Fake coughing. Food! Being tickled. Kisses. Watching her big sisters.

Dislikes: Being left in a room alone (unless she's tired). Playing with the same toys for more than 5 minutes. Her winter hat. Tipping over. Not getting food fast enough.

Eating: As I shared in my Week 8 post, Baby C had her first foods this month and she loves them. So far she's had pureed butternut squash, carrots, banana, apple and pear. My Ninja Ultima has made making baby food so, so easy. I've been using the single serving cups to quickly puree bananas, plus the large pitcher to make bigger batches like the butternut squash. I'm sure I'll be mixing up many more things because baby girl loves her food. I think the purees might also be helping extend her sleep, which makes for a very happy Mama.

Sleeping: We've had a really nice week of sleep this week (hello 9pm to 5am!) but the month has been hit or miss in the sleep department. She'll have a day of sleeping like a rock star, then up a bunch the next night. We spent 4 nights in Austin, 3 nights at my dad's house and had some visitors this month, so we were a little out of our routine. We're traveling one night this week but after that I think we have at least a month at home which I hope will help get her sleeping through the night consistently.

All 3 of my girls! Miss A wanted in on Baby C's 7 month pictures, so naturally Little J did to. Love them!

2015 Week 8

This week Baby C finally got to try her first food. We were traveling earlier this month, so we waited until we got home to start her on the purees. I think we was more than ready to get started. I made butternut squash for her and she loved it. She couldn't keep her hands off the spoon. We added in bananas later in the week which she also seemed to enjoy.

I think I've mentioned this before, but Little J has dropped her nap. She occasionally crashes during rest time, but not often. We had a busy day Friday, so I let her rest in my bed and when I went to check on her she was out. My first look at her made me think she was looking like a big kid, but when I walked around to the other side of the bed I could still see a little of that baby face. I'm a sucker for a sleeping kid.

On Sunday afternoon we took a little adventure to the Bell Museum of Natural History. We hadn't been there before, and it was a fun little trip. The girls enjoyed checking out all of the animal displays and the animal bones and furs they could touch. Next time we visit I'll plan ahead more so we can get tickets to the ExploraDome.

And of course no week is complete without some Daddy snuggles.