8 months

I am 8 months old!

• I wear 6-9mo clothes and a size 2 diaper but once we run out of the 2s I'll be wearing a size 3.
• I sleep from 8pm-7:30am and I will sometimes take a 30-45min nap in the morning and sometimes I'll stay awake but I always take a 2-3hr nap after lunch.
• I breastfeed 4 times a day and eat 3 meals a day.
• I have 3 teeth now! This month I got the top right one (and the top left one is sooo close to coming in) to go along with the two bottom ones I already had. I worked really, really hard all month to get that top tooth.
• I can get myself from a laying position to sitting up.
• I'm crawling now!! I am so proud of myself and I love being able to get around. I'm still slow but I'm very determined!

• I eat pretty much all finger foods now. If offered a food on a spoon (such as yogurt, cereal, or baby food) I'll eat a few bites but am generally not very interested...I just want to grab the spoon and feed myself which tends to lead to a very large mess!
• Some new foods this month are blueberries, cherries (which I love but they seem to flare up my eczema so we're taking a break from cherries until I'm older), cheerios, beef (I love a good hamburger!), broccoli, tilapia, and I've had a few bites of cheddar cheese and quite enjoyed it. I also started eating pear slices instead of baby food pears. I love ALL foods but peaches are still my favorite!
• I love to pull up on things to my knees so Mommy always has to be on alert because I'm always looking for something to pull up on and generally beeline for the most dangerous thing! (The open dishwasher is a favorite and those corners are sharp...I get so mad when Mommy won't let me pull up on the corner!)
• I get upset when someone takes whatever is in my hand away from me. (So you don't jump to conclusions, it's usually Mommy or Daddy, not my sisters, taking things from me.)

• Mommy got out some different baby toys this month and I've had a great time playing with them and exploring. These include the singing "toolbox" and the shape sorter. My absolute favorite toy though is the popsicle mold!
• This month Gran came and stayed with us for few days while Mommy and Daddy went out of town. I was such a good girl and didn't give her too much trouble!
• I love to play with my sisters and they can almost always make me laugh!

• I've been pretty grumpy this month. Between teething and my eczema flaring up really bad I haven't been feeling like myself. The eczema seems to be getting better so hopefully life will get easier.
• This month we went to the zoo twice and that was fun although I slept through a large part of the zoo trip both times.

• I have serious separation anxiety and am such a Mommy's girl!
• I still suck on my middle and ring finger...mostly the ones on my left hand.

• I love to stand up and in the last week or so have started picking up my feet while I'm standing. I still have trouble balancing while standing so Mommy still generally holds my fingers or stays right beside me if I'm holding onto the ottoman or coffee table.

• I love to make noises and I love when people make my noises back to me. I think it's really funny to cough and then have someone else do it too. I also have learned to blow which is pretty funny.
• I am into EVERYTHING. I'm so curious and love to explore my world!
• I still adore the pool and am going to be sad when summer's over and we no longer go everyday.
• My eczema has been pretty bad this past month and I've been so itchy. It seems to be getting a little better under control now so hopefully the coming month will be better than the last one. We switched to cetaphil wash and that seems to have helped.

Zoo with Gran and Grandaddy

Yesterday my parents came to town to go to the zoo with the girls and me. The girls have been looking forward to this trip for quite a while and they had so much fun showing Gran and Grandaddy all their favorite things at the zoo!

Grandaddy and Ellie getting ready to ride the carousel.

Ellie was super brave about feeding the birds!


Grandaddy was brave too...

...and he made a friend! For a few minutes I thought we were going to have to stay in the Lorry bird house all day...this little guy loved my dad and was quite happy to ride around on his shoulder!


Feeding the giraffes!

Ellie wasn't feeling 100% so while Gran was holding Ruthie Ellie took over the stroller. She wanted to feed the giraffes but want to get out of the stroller so we rolled her to the giraffe. It was so funny when the giraffe stuck his big old head into the stroller to get the lettuce!


Ruthie was very happy to snuggle with Gran and take a nap!

My little city girl milking the cow.



Ellie is so proud that she's now tall enough to ride the ponies! She's been waiting a long time to reach this milestone.

Riding the train.

Ruthie was pretty happy about her train ride!

Meeting a snake...ick.

After the zoo we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and Ruthie got to try some of the grilled nuggets...she's decided she LOVES chick-fil-a. Then we went home and the little girls took naps and my mom and Emmie and I went to the grocery store. After naptime I took the big girls to dance and my mom fixed us all dinner and my dad made homemade peach ice cream! We don't get home from dance until 6 so it was really nice to walk in and have dinner ready!

Ruthie Crawling

Ruthie has been trying sooo hard to figure out the whole crawling thing. For about a week she would put one arm and leg forward and then stretch herself out to try to get what she wanted...she's been sooo close to crawling and has been really frustrated that she couldn't move as fast as Franklin and her big sisters. Tonight she started really crawling...I think we're in trouble now but hopefully she'll be happier! (Plus one of her top teeth came in today so that should help her feel better too!)





PS. Don't worry...she didn't hit her head when she tried to face plant...she's been there, done that, and not going to make that mistake again! :)

Back into the swing of things

This week marks the week that we slowly ease out of summer and into the school year. We have a busy, but fun and exciting year ahead of us!




Paul and I are teaching Ellie's Sunday school class this year so this past Sunday was our first week. I was a little nervous about how it would go but we have a really sweet group of 8 three year olds who sat and listened so well and they are so much fun too. There are 3 classes of three year olds (we have the youngest ones) and we all combine for music time and then we split up for the lesson, craft, and snack. I think we're going to have a really fun year!

One of our songs from music time...Ellie's been singing it all week. Also, I it really sounds like she says "my God is so big, so strong, and so NAUGHTY" instead of MIGHTY. One of those cute things that little kids do!




Today dance started back. Emmie and Ellie are both taking this year and they're in the same class which is really nice. They're taking dance at Bailey Fine Arts and are in the Creative Movement class where they do tap and ballet. They have the same teacher Emmie had last year...we just love Mrs. Cari! Emmie was sad that none of her friends from last year were in her class but there were three little girls from church in there so that was fun! One is Ellie's age (and in our Sunday School class), one is in Emmie's Sunday School class, and one is a little younger than Ellie. Both girls were so excited about dance and Ellie keeps asking when she gets to dance on the stage!

Sweet church friends!

This week we will also start going to church on Wednesday nights as they have a program for Emmie's age.




We start school in 2 weeks. Emmie will go 5 days a week from 9-12 and Ellie will go on Tuesday and Thursday. Ellie will have Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Terri (Emmie's teachers last year) and Emmie will have Mrs. Jessica and Mrs. Shelly. Even though we've been talking about it for awhile it just really clicked with Emmie that she will be with new teachers and won't be with Ellie. She was upset for a few minutes about this but I explained to her that we would go meet her teachers the day before school started and I would stay with her just like we did last year. She seemed to feel better after that.




Emmie also starts choir at church the Sunday after school starts. I know she's going to LOVE choir.







I must say I'm quite glad that we get to ease into our school year activities!

Little Fish!

The girls have LOVED the pool this summer and Emmie has steadily improved all summer. Ellie has kind of held steady and given me many heart attacks with her lack of fear of the water!
I've been so proud of all that Emmie has accomplished. She has built up the endurance to swim the length of the pool (25meters) without stopping (although if she can touch the bottom she will put her foot down every time!). After many, many days of standing on the block she finally worked up the courage to jump off and now she will jump off and swim to the side. She taught herself to do a front flip. She taught herself to float on her back. She is so proud (and so are we) of all that she has learned and she has so much confidence in the water!
Ellie has loved playing in the pool but hasn't been interested in trying anything new. I couldn't even get her to jump off of the side. Ellie however has always been a child that does things in her own time but does them well when she decides to do them. So yesterday I got her to jump off the side in the deep end and she stood up on the block but wouldn't jump off. Today we went to the zoo and she was tall enough to ride the pony and she went around and told everyone at the zoo that she was "finally old enough to ride the pony". The whole riding the pony thing seemed to have flipped some switch in her brain that she could do ANYTHING. So we went to the pool tonight and since Gran was with us I told Ellie that perhaps Gran could hold her hand on the block and I would catch her when she jumped. She looked at us and said "No! I'm brave!" and hoped right on the block and jumped off. She told everyone at the pool that she was brave. I agreed.
I got my mom to take some videos of the girls swimming so we could have a comparison from the beginning of the summer. Here is the link to their swim lesson video http://fromthecornerofmycouch.blogspot.com/2014/05/swim-lessons.html and here is today!





(Not her best flip but I think it's pretty impressive for a 4 year old!)











Of course we can't leave out Ruthie when discussing the pool. I have NEVER seen a baby that loved the pool as much as she does. She loves to "swim", she loves to splash, especially if the big girls are splashing, she loves when the older kids are splashing around and the water splashes on her, and she is learning to "jump" in the pool (I stand her on the side and she has started bending her knees in a jumping motion). Ruthie can't wait to be able to swim like her sisters!

Super Savings!

Y'all! I discovered a super sale today! I took the girls to Belk so they could pick out a "first day of school" outfit and this is what we left with...





Belk was having a HUGE sale on their summer clothes (75-85% off!). I was paying less for these clothes than I would have been paying for them at a consignment sale...and these are new!  See those black leggings in the bottom picture? $1.40 Most of my items were under $10. The smocked dresses were $20 each...a HUGE savings so I couldn't resist buying matching ones for the big girls (they didn't have one anywhere close to the size Ruthie would be next year).
Total spent: $150
Total saved: $500
(If you think that's good...I called a friend and she went right after I did and spent $175 and saved $800)


You'd better believe I'll be keeping an eye out for this sale again next season!

Charlotte

This past week Paul had a conference in Charlotte for a few days so I decided to tag along. This was the first time since Emmie was 11 months old that we have gone somewhere overnight by ourselves (and I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Ellie at the time and was exhausted so I pretty much slept the whole time).  Charlotte was a bit of an odd place for a getaway (but it was nice because we were only an hour from home so I knew I could get home quickly if I needed to) and the excursions we were supposed to do while we were there got cancelled and it rained pretty much the whole time we were there but we still had a lot of fun and enjoyed our "us" time.

Wednesday night we went to the opening reception for the conference. It was a "carnival" theme and so all the ladies got headbands with balloon animals on them so Mr. Snail hung out with me throughout the reception ;)

After the reception we went to dinner at McCormick and Schmicks with some of Paul's coworkers and their spouses and had a wonderful time and are waaaay too much delicious food. Everyone else was from the Duncan office so these are people that I only see once or twice a year so it was really fun to visit!

Thursday I met up with my friend's Kristy and Jessica while Paul was doing his thing. Jessica lives in Charlotte and Kristy was up there for a quilting convention and staying with Jessica so Jessica and I tagged along to the convention and we all ended up leaving with a new project (and I love the pattern Kristy picked up...I'm going to have to make a new quilt soon I think!).

My new project...a Christmas quilt!

Kristy is a bit of a foodie so I always know that when I hang out with her I'm going to eat well! We had breakfast at Hazelnut Creperie and I had a delicious Nutella and strawberry crepe. After the convention we went to Viva Chicken, and had Peruvian food for lunch. I had the Viva Chicken Salad and it was excellent and I had the Passion Fruit Punch to drink...delicious! I also tasted the Quinoa Stuffed Avocado which was also really good.
After they dropped me back at the hotel I pretty much just hung out and read for the rest of the afternoon. That evening Paul and I went to the WORST Wild Wings ever for dinner...oh well.
Friday I was planning to go sit outside on the deck but it was raining so after a second trip to Hazelnut Creperie I ended up just hanging around the room and reading (I read a whole trilogy while we were gone...The Selection series...really good, easy reads.) I was also planning on sleeping in Friday morning but my internal clock woke me up at 8am..grr.
After Paul finished up his conference stuff we went and met our friend Meagan for lunch. We went to King's Kitchen . You should click the link and read about their mission...really neat! Not only is the whole concept behind the restaurant awesome but the food was really, really good too!
That afternoon we took naps and then went to a reception where we picked up a bag full of swag for the girls :) After the reception we went with some of Paul's coworkers to a Charlotte Knights baseball game. It was kind of chilly for August but we still had fun!
Saturday morning I slept in until 10 (woo hoo!). It was delightful and the first time in a very long time that I have slept that late. I got up and got ready, packed up, and read until Paul was done with the conference. We then headed back to Columbia! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed some time together but I sure did miss my little girls! My mom kept the girls and I think they had a really good time and my mom survived 4 days with the wild ones! (Emmie and Ellie even told my mom that they would let her come back again...so nice of them!) The girls were nice to my mom and slept pretty well at night and Ruthie was agreeable about taking her bottles...all these things make life much easier!

7 Months

I am 7 months (and 6 days) old!
(Mommy was kind of slow getting this out and I'm doing new things everyday so this is the stuff that I was doing as of 7/27...I'm already doing new things though!)

• At 6 1/2 months I was 14 lb 1oz (9th percentile) and 25.5in (20th percentile). I'm petite like Ellie!
• I wear a size 3-6mo sometime but mostly 6-9mo and I wear a size 2 diaper.
• I generally sleep from 8pm-8am-ish. If I take a morning nap it's usually under an hour. If we're out running errands I'll generally stay awake all morning and only nap in the afternoon...from about 1-4.
• I breastfeed 4 times a day and eat 3 meals a day.
• I eat a mix of baby food and finger foods. I started eating yogurt and baby food carrots this month and really enjoy them. As far as finger foods, I eat chicken, turkey, salmon, sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, mango, asparagus, and my absolute FAVORITE food peaches! I eat 2-4oz and breakfast and lunch and 6-7oz at dinner (it's hard to measure dinner as most of it is finger foods). When I first started finger foods I would gag occasionally and only a small amount of my food actually made it to my mouth but now I'm a pro and I do a great job...I can eat a whole peach (cut into slices of course) in under 5 minutes easy!
• I can roll and twist around in order to get where I want to go and I will get on my stomach and kick my legs really fast but no crawling yet.
• I still suck on my middle finger and ring finger and I've pretty much given up the pacifier.
• I sit up by myself really well and I'm trying to figure out how to get from lying to sitting.
• If I'm holding on to something (like an ottoman) I can stand by myself.
• 
• I am such a happy baby. I've started laughing out loud more. Generally when I laugh it's because of something my sisters are doing.
• I love to blow "raspberries" and make other funny noises.
• This month I went to the beach for a week with Gran and Grandaddy and Uncle Ben. I had sooo much fun (even though I didn't sleep well at night...NOT a fan of the pack n play). I LOVED the ocean and the waves!

• This month I went to NC for a few days to visit with my second cousins. I loved hanging out with big girls and getting to know GG's side of the family!

• I LOVE the pool. I get so excited when I get in the water!
• I love my big sisters and get so excited when they play with me. They are really great big sisters and are always bringing me toys and reading to me.
• We're still fighting the eczema battle. Some days are better than others. It was pretty good well contained most of the month but has flared back up in the last week.