Friday night movie

This is how Paul entertains Ruthie (watch her eyes around the 1:30 mark). Also, Ruthie is a little concerned that there might be a very sick duck in our house.



PS. I also have to share my funny Emmie story of the day. Today she was playing outside and then I heard a small thud and then she came inside crying. I asked her what happened and she said "I ran into the house". Now she's mad at me because I couldn't stop laughing.

Things I'm Loving

I'm always on the lookout for a good book to read. The last time Paul and I went to see a movie there was a preview for Divergent. I had heard of the books but hadn't read them yet. The preview looked really good so I went home and put the books on my Kindle. SO GOOD! It's a trilogy and the first one is the best and the third one is a little slow but overall they get an A plus. 

amazon.com

Also I recently found a list of 16 books to read before they hit theaters this year and I can't wait to check them out! I have already read Divergent which I loved, Gone Girl which I was not a fan of, and I read The Giver a long time ago but plan to reread it. I think the next book on the list I'll read is The Monuments Men.

• Probiotics. This one may sound strange but if Dr. Oz says that aquaphor is the duct tape of dermatology then in my opinion probiotics are the duct tape of gastroenterology. Ellie was on probiotics back when she was a baby. She had been on Prevacid because her GI tract was super acidic, causing sores on her bottom and when we stopped the prevacid the sores came back so we tried probiotics...problem solved. After we potty trained her we started having some potty issues. Sometimes when she went to the bathroom she would scream and shake from the pain. It was pretty awful to watch. So I pulled the probiotics back out and after a week or two on them the problem was pretty much fixed. Sweet girl feels so much better and so do we!



• I'm almost done with the quilts for Emmie and Ellie's beds. I absolutely LOVE the fabric (Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille) and I can't wait to see the finished product. I have pieced them together so now I just have to find a time to go to Kristy's and pin them and quilt them (she has a mac daddy machine which is much better than mine for the actual quilting part).

• Aden and Anais blankets. These weren't around when I was pregnant with Emmie and registering for baby items. However since they've been around I've heard a lot about how wonderful they are for swaddling. I mentioned to Clara that I was planning to get some to use with Baby #3 and she was so sweet and gave them to us for a present :)  and I absolutely LOVE them!

• I love the big bow but the headbands they go on just don't stay on a baby's head very well. I grabbed this bow the other day at Target to go with Ruthie's Valentine's pants and I LOVE it. It stayed on her head so well! So of course I went back and got some more little bows!

 

• Grassroots Soap Company - My friend Christina started making soaps a year or so ago and she has since branched out to other bath products along with lotions and the most amazing chapstick (I have the honey citrus and it's great!).  I think the Rosemary Mint scent is my favorite (but I definitely want to try the cucumber peel) and I think my favorite product is the key lime sugar scrub. Christina made some diaper cream for Ruthie which is excellent although we haven't been able to really give it a true test run because Ruthie has been lucky enough to not have any diaper rash. I definitely plan on snagging some of the baby soap so she has now!

• Publix baby club. I LOVE the publix baby club especially since the first mailing they send you has TONS of freebies! If you have a baby and haven't signed up yet you should head over to their website and do so!

Disney Jr

For Christmas my parents got the girls tickets to go see Disney Jr (because goodness knows we don't need anymore toys!) The show (Pirates and Princesses) was last week and the girls were so excited! The girls had so much seeing Jake, Sofia, and Doc McStuffins!

They had cute little outfits with Sofia on them.

Emmie was entranced through the whole show. At one point Cinderella came out and she gasped and put her hands over her mouth...she was so excited!

She's recently started posing for pictures and it's really funny!

Emmie's friend Emma was sitting a few rows in front of us and the girls had a great time playing together during intermission. They all stood together to get their picture taken with a pirate!

Mickey and Minnie with the pirates!

 

 

rain, sleet, snow, freezing rain, and earthquakes...oh my!

We had a wintery MESS last week. Tuesday morning we woke up to a rain, sleet, and snow mix and we would go from nothing to snow showers to everything in between in a period of just a few minutes...it was crazy! The big debate was if we were going to school that morning. It was Emmie's turn to be "top turtle" which is a really big deal when you're 4 so I wanted to try to make it to school. I've lived in South Carolina my whole life so I'm well aware that I don't know how to drive on slick roads and more imporantely I'm aware that most of the other drivers have no clue how to drive in rain let along snow (if you ever want to hear a tirade ask me about people driving in the rain...there are lots of drivers who seem to have no clue what to do when stuff falls from the sky!). I definitely don't mess around when it comes to the safety of my babies so I wasn't so sure about getting on the road with crazy people and then when we went to get in the car there was a really heavy snow shower so I nixed the school idea and brought my brokenhearted top turtle back inside. I knew that as soon as we got to school we'd have to turn around and go home. And then two minutes later I looked out the window and there was NOTHING coming down..this weather was crazy! So I loaded up the girls and my little top turtle got to go to school...and we were all happy. They ended up having early dismissal that day and the girls went and played outside as soon as we got home. We got a small amount of snow that day but everytime it snowed it came down in big, beautiful flakes...it looked like a snowglobe outside...gorgeous!

The next morning as the next system moved in we got LOTS of sleet. It think when all was said and done we ended up with about 2.5in of snow/sleet mixture and at least a 1/2in of ice. Emmie had sooo much fun playing outside...I think she would have stayed outside all day if we'd let her! Ellie would go out for a few minutes at a time but as soon as she got a little wet or fell in the snow she was done. She does not like to be cold and it was REALLY cold out! I was so worried about our power going out with all the ice so we ate lots of big, hot meals on Wednesday in case the power went out and we were stuck eating sandwiches and cereal! We fixed a big breakfast on Wednesday morning and enjoyed a yummy crockpot meal on Wednesday night courtesy of our friend Carissa who helped stock our freezer after Ruthie was born. We were lucky and Columbia missed most of the freezing rain which is what was causing all the power outages so we never lost power...with 3 children under 5, one of whom is a newborn, I was so thankful that we stayed warm! One of the upsides of snow days is that we get lots of family time which is wonderful and the girls just love all the extra Daddy time!

They went out in their pajamas first because they just couldn't wait!

Then we had an earthquake on Friday night. Everybody at my house missed it but people right down the street felt it...crazy!

Rolling

Last night Ruthie rolled over 3 times and as soon as I pulled the video camera out she stopped...of course. And of course Paul wasn't home so I was the only one who saw it. So today I was determined to get video proof and I finally got it!



7 weeks 6 days and rolling...crazy!

Catching Up

We did some really fun things in December that I never got around the blogging about between birthday and Christmas and baby so I thought I'd blog about them today...better late than never!

In mid December we took the girls to see Columbia City Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. We have the story at home so the girls knew the basics and that definitely helped their understanding of what was happening on stage. I knew Emmie would love it since she's been taking ballet this year and she's always mesmerized by anything in the arts realm but I wasn't sure how Ellie would do as she was probably border line for even being old enough to take to a ballet but we knew we couldn't take Emmie and not Ellie! Turns out that BOTH of the girls were absolutely fascinated by the ballet. However, Ellie spent the whole second half of the show wanting to know when the rats were coming back out...it was pretty amusing. We went to the Sunday afternoon show which I believe was the only one during the day and it was full of children so nobody really cared if Ellie asked a little too loudly where the rats were. After The Nutcracker we went to eat at Monterrey's and then took the girls to Saluda Shoals to see the lights which they loved (although we had to pry their eyes open when we got there...they were so worn out from the big day)! It was such a fun family day!

The Sunday before Christmas we went over to Lindsay and Mark's house and had lunch and built gingerbread houses. We had so much fun making the houses (and the kids loved eating the candy!)and the guys even got into the fun...although their house was not so kid appropriate. After making the houses Paul and Mark took their house outside and used it like a baseball...the kids were thrilled with the exploding gingerbread.

I wish I had a picture of Emmie's finished house. It was sooo good. You can see the end in this picture. All I did was put on the icing and she did everything else.

Lindsay and Mason

This house had broken in the box so Paul and Mark had lots of fun creating a crime scene...see the snowman on the ground who's been stabbed? Apparently the snowwoman was to blame as she hangs out in the damaged house.

6 weeks

Ruthie is 6 weeks (and 1 day) old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by! Ruthie is so much fun and is overall an agreeable baby.

She loves her sisters and is trying to figure out what the deal is with her furry, white sibling. If spitting up was an Olympic event she would win gold...she can even shoot it through her nose and is excellent on getting it all over everyone and everything around her while keeping her clothes perfectly dry. She generally wakes up at 3am and then a few hours after that...the last few nights she's decided 5am is a good time to start waking up...not cool. She has fat little cheeks and a round face and a big tummy but the rest of her is pretty petite. She loves her pacifier. She is quite fascinated by the craziness of bath time and bedtime for her sisters. When she sees something she's not sure about her eyes get really, really big. She doesn't like being put in the car seat but once we're in the car she's fine. She loves walks, especially if it's warm enough for her to sit up in the stroller so she can see the world. She thinks playgroup is a little too loud and overwhelming for her tastes right now. She loves to coo, especially if someone coos back at her. She gives us lots of smiles and sometimes I catch her smiling at me when I'm not even looking at her and it just melts my heart.

Sisterly Love

People ask me all the time how Emmie and Ellie have adjusted to Ruthie and I must say they have done phenomenal. Emmie, my child who doesn't handle change well, had a little trouble at first and I think it didn't help that she was on break from school and dance so her whole routine was upended. We had a rough week or two but once she was back in her routine things got a lot better. Ellie has barely batted an eyelash about the whole thing.
The girls are very different in how they approach Ruthie as well. Emmie constantly wants to hold, read to, play with, hug, and kiss Ruthie. Ellie will come over and look at Ruthie and give her a quick hug or kiss and then go about her business. The hardest part of Emmie having croup this past weekend was keeping her away from Ruthie...it just about did Emmie in.
Emmie usually gets some one on one time with Ruthie everyday while Ellie naps. The other day I got some really cute pictures of Emmie and Ruthie together and I just love them.

My little bookworm LOVES to read to Ruthie and Ruthie LOVES to listen to books and I just LOVE it all :)

Ruthie is so loved by her two big sisters (I'll have to pin Ellie down one day long enough to get some pictures or her and Ruthie) and I just love how much these sweet big sisters love their Ruthie.

Happy Birthday GG!

Yesterday was Paul's mom's birthday. We actually were able to have lunch with them in Columbia and we were thrilled to be able to sing to her in person on her actual birthday! Paul wasn't able to have lunch with us so he got in on the singing this time around :) Happy Birthday to a wonderful GG to our little girls (and puppy), and a fabulous mother-in-law and mother!



PS. I'm pretty sure Blake is going to be the favorite child after this video!