4 months

I am 4 months (and 1 day) old!

 

• I weigh 12lb 9oz (18th percentile) and am 23 1/4in (9th percentile). I'm a petite little thing! When she was my age Emmie was 12lb 13oz and 24.5in and Ellie was 12lb 14oz and 24in. Mommy was 12lb 8oz and 25in and Daddy was 12lb 9oz and 23.5in.
• I wear 3-6mo clothing and a size 2 diaper.
• Of all the sisters I look the most like Mommy's side of the family.

• I go to bed at 9:30pm and wake up either around 6 to eat and then go back to sleep for a few hours or I sleep straight through until 8 or 9. I generally take a short little 30-45min nap around 11 and then sleep from about 1-4 in my swing. I sometimes will take a little catnap again in the evening before bedtime.
• I'm pretty laid back about when and where I nap except for my long nap and for that one I really need to be at home.
• I go to sleep so easily at naptime and bedtime. At nap I get my pacifier and my swing and I'm out. At bedtime Mommy semi swaddles me(my hands are out by my face but my arms are swaddled) and I get either my pacifier or my thumb or fingers and Mommy puts me in my crib and I go right to sleep.
• I wake up sooo happy in the morning. I will just lay in my bed and talk and play until someone comes to get me.
• I just started rice cereal. I started it a few days before 4 months because I had 2 nights in a row where I was up every 2 hours and Mommy was desperate to get some sleep! Since I started cereal I have slept through the night every night. I also get really excited when I see the rice cereal box. Mommy thinks it's really funny when I eat rice cereal because. I chew it in the back of my mouth like it's a piece of steak. I also put my hand over her hand just in case she needs help getting the spoon into my mouth!

• I suck on my fingers when I'm really relaxed and I usually save my thumb for when I'm overtired.
• I drool all the time. I go through at least 4 or 5 bibs a day. No other signs of teeth coming in though!
• I went to Greenville this month to visit Gran and Grandaddy.

• I celebrated my first Easter this month.

• I got my first bedtime bottle this month and did just fine that night. (Mommy was very relieved!)
• I got to take a bath with my big sisters this month. It was so much fun although I got cold pretty quick so I didn't stay in the long.
• I really like being in the carrier. I get to ride in it during Ellie's My Gym class. I also really like the moby wrap when I'm having a hard day.
• I love to play with my toys and will reach for them and pick them up.
• I love music and if other people sing I will sometimes sing along!
• I LOVE books and love to be read to. Emmie and Ellie read to me all the time. I also like to hold books while we're reading.

• I'm doing better about riding in the car. I still cry sometimes but not as often as I was.
• I have a baby doll that my sisters gave me to play with that I love.
• This month we went to the playgroup Easter party. I loved seeing the ducks and watching the big kids play.
•  I can roll front to back and back to front.
• I go to the church nursery on Sunday and Wednesday and they always say what a good baby I am.
• I love to put my toes in my mouth especially when I'm getting my diaper changed.

• I smile a lot but don't really laugh. It often looks like I'm about to laugh but no sounds comes out!

• I get in moods where I will talk and talk and talk. It's pretty funny. Other than that I'm pretty quiet. I like to watch what's going on around me!
• This month I went and picked strawberries with Clara and Mary Ruth.

• I like to go on walks in the neighborhood.
• I will sit in the baby swing on the swingset but I don't like to go very fast at all.

Emmie at 4 months

Ellie at 4 months

Greenville Visit

We went to Greenville for a few days during Emmie's spring break. It was the week of April 15th so we didn't see too much of my dad but he did manage to make it home for dinner a few nights and saw the girls in the morning. The girls also managed to get in a few rounds of chase with Grandaddy. Ruthie really wanted to join in...every time they would run through the kitchen she would "talk" and her arms and legs would go 90 miles an hour! The girls got in lots of Gran time and we also had a playdate with their sweet friends Will and Griffin!

Gran with all her grandbabies...even the furry one!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday and we hope you did too!

My mom made these pretty white smocked dresses for the girls...I love them!

We missed all the celebrating in NC this year but had a wonderful, low key Easter at home. My parents came and kept the girls last night while Paul and I went to a wedding and then they spent the night so we were able to spend Easter Sunday with them.

This morning when we got up the girls checked out what the Easter bunny brought them. I really wish we had video of Ruthie. She saw the girls pulling everything out of their baskets and reached right over and grabbed her basket to see what was in it! She got rice cereal since she'll be able to start eating it next week and she definitely knew it was food and she wasn't letting go...it was really funny!

We went to church and then my mom fixed us a delicious Easter lunch! We also celebrated Paul's birthday with them.

After they left we all took naps and watched Mary Poppins which my parents got Emmie for Easter.

Circus

Paul's parents gave the girls circus tickets for Christmas so a few weeks ago we all went to the circus! The girls had so much fun and loved all the acts. I think their favorite might have been the motorcycles in the cage although Emmie also really liked the horses.

 

 

Trying on clown noses!

Emmie's face was priceless throughout the whole show! She was so excited about everything!

 

Poor Ellie was so tired and slept though the second half!

 

We had so much fun spending time with family at the circus. This was definitely a much appreciated Christmas present!

Everyday Crazyness

 

I took these pictures tonight after dinner. Sweet sisters reading together and everyone is happy.  Life looks peaceful and easy. I treasure these moments and take lots of pictures of them. They are part of our reality but they're not all of our reality.

 

Take for instance this picture that I took about 3 minutes before the previous ones.

 

 

Emmie's face says it all. Emmie was sitting in Ellie's seat finishing Ellie's hot dog. Franklin was trying to get any scraps he could. I had just finished moving Ellie from crawling over Ruthie and finally got them settled with a book and Ruthie had let me put her down for the first time all afternoon. (The only reason we actually had dinner was because of the Moby wrap...thank you Kira Stokes!)

 

And the hour before the picture. That was a hard hour. Ruthie had finally fallen asleep in my arms and the girls were playing upstairs and I hard a loud crash followed by a crying child and another child crying that they don't want a spanking. Always a bad sign when they know they're in trouble before I've gotten up there. Apparently Ellie was climbing on their play kitchen and it fell over onto Emmie's finger. We rounded up the boo bunny, cleaned up the mess upstairs amidst lots of tears, I sent them outside to play where they promptly got in a fight over the play lawn mower, cue more tears and yelling, and then me making them come in causing even more tears. (Aren't you glad I didn't take any pictures of that!)

 

There isn't a picture of my jubilation when I managed to get all three sleeping girls in from the car without waking them and my devastation when, as I went to lay down, all three woke up. sigh.

 

There isn't a picture (although I'm sure it would be an entertaining one) of us at the zoo today. My bright idea to hit the zoo right after I picked Emmie up from school. Apparently there are lots of counties around us on spring break this week and they, along with every elementary school in the state, decided to go to the zoo today. sigh. I was reminded of why we always go to the zoo first thing in the morning. Poor Ruthie was so overwhelmed and overstimulated that she wanted me to hold her. the whole time. sigh. So I held her and pushed the stroller and followed after my, fortunately, very well behaved older girls. 

 

Then there was our slightly funny moment today when I went to pick Emmie up from school thinking they had early dismissal. They didn't. I was an hour early. My mom was so proud. (She was the parent who was in line to pick up as soon as she dropped off...first in line every time.) I couldn't figure out how I had messed this up...I KNEW I had read that there was early dismissal. Turns out it wasn't on the calendar but was in the classroom newsletter. Really I was just glad I wasn't going crazy. So we ran home so I could feed Ruthie and get lunches together for the girls to eat on the way to the zoo. By the time we got back I was about 4 people from the end of the line. My mother was no longer proud! Lol!

 

And there wasn't a picture of me up twice last night with a baby who stopped sleeping through the night this week. Really hoping it's just a growth spurt (she certainly acts like she's starving!).

 

Today was a crazy day but not that much crazier than a normal day but you know what? Even though I'm sitting on the couch exhausted beyond belief, wondering why in the world the big girls are still awake in their room at 9:30, I wouldn't trade this life for anything (although I might wish away the moment when all three girls were crying at the same time). It's wild and crazy and exhausting but it's our little family's crazy.

 

Quilts

I finished Emmie and Ellie's quilts last weekend. Making two twin size quilts is a LOT of work!
I did make sure to document the steps as I went so I could share the process with everyone!

So last October I picked my fabric and ordered it. I spent a lot of time scouring the internet for fabric patterns and finally found the RIGHT one. I used Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille. I really loved this fabric because of the aqua color. I used the fireworks pattern by Camille Roskelley. My friend Kristy was great as she would send me pictures of different patterns and links to fabric she thought I might like.


Once I had my fabric I spent A LOT of time cutting out fabric. I had to cut out hundreds of little squares and rectangles.
Once I had everything cut out I had to decide which fabrics to put together. I spread them all out in the dinning room and paired them up. I LOVED this step. After I had them all matched up I recruited Paul to check and make sure they all looked good. He was a great sport about the whole thing.

Next it was time to start sewing. Unfortunately, I was only able to sew for a few weeks before I started having back pain when I would sew for extended periods of time. I also had a lot of trouble with my hands and feet swelling when I would sew. (I was about 32 weeks pregnant when I started the sewing part.) So I very slowly finished my squares. Then after Ruthie was born I became a sewing maniac. I was determined to get the quilts done while I was on maternity leave. (I finished piecing them together a few weeks before I went back.)

The very first square I finished! The squares were 16.5x16.5...huge!

 

After I finished all the squares I had to decide which ones to put on which quilt and how to arrange them within the quilt. Each quilt had 20 squares so this was quite the undertaking and involved lots of rearranging. Paul was recruited to help with this job as well....he's such a good sport.

 

Quilt #1

Quilt #2

Once I had my quilts pieced together I had to coordinate with Kristy and Paul to find a time when I could go quilt at Kristy's house while Paul kept the girls. Fortunately I was able to get the quilting done in 3 "sessions" at Kristy's. She was so great helping me come up with designs for the quilting and I LOVE how the quilts turned out!

Love Kristy's machine!

I especially loved the quilting pattern on the border.

 

The girls were so excited when I brought the quilts home. Emmie claimed the first one and Ellie was so sweet and patient waiting for her quilt. I just love sewing for the girls because they are so appreciative of anything I make them. I think the best compliment I got through this whole process was when I took Ellie her finished quilt and she sprawled across it and said "you did a good job"!

Emmie's quilt

Ellie's quilt

 

I picture of the backing fabric...I love it!

Kristy is already trying to get me to plan my next project but I think I'll take a nice long break! By the way, if you're in need of a baby quilt, Kristy sells them and she has some beautiful fabric right now. (I drool over her sewing room every time I'm over there...her fabric selection is better than the store's!) Her quilting is also gorgeous...she's super talented! If you're interested in a Kristy quilt let me know and I'll get you in touch with her!