Dance O'Clock

The big girls wanted to practice their recital dance tonight. They went and lined up while I was getting the music ready and Ruthie immediately went and joined them...NOTHING stops that little girl from being one of the big girls! I hope Mrs. Cari measured Ruthie for her recital costume!

The video is long but oh my goodness it's adorable!

A BIG Suprise!

Our three little girls (and Franklin) got some BIG news last week...we're having a BABY!

Baby #4 (at 9 weeks) due September 25th!

I took pictures when we told them and realized today that the memory card wasn't in the camera :(
We gave them the ultrasound pictures from our 9 week ultrasound and the big girls immediately thought they were Ruthie. They eventually figured out that if they weren't Ruthie than they were a new baby! Ellie is definitely the most excited. Emmie's immediate reaction was, "another baby!?" lol. Ruthie immediately wanted to sit on my lap...guess she knew her undivided Mommy time now had an expiration date! Emmie immediately stated that she wanted a boy and Ellie said that she wants a girl...guess we'll make someone really happy! Ellie is really funny when she tells people about the baby...she just walks up to them and says "new baby!"....people have no clue what she's talking about :) The big girls have loved rubbing my stomach and Emmie is so looking forward to feeling the baby move.

The BIG sisters!

Paul and I found out the news at the end of January and we were in shock for a few weeks to say the least but we are so, so excited to welcome a sweet, new baby into our family.

We let the girls call the grandparents and the aunts and uncles last weekend and everyone was quite surprised with the big news!


I had my 12 week appointment today and they did an ultrasound and I loved getting an extra peek at baby! Baby is doing great!


12 weeks. That's a little head on the left and the body on the right and you can just make out some arms on the sides!

So far I've been feeling pretty good. I've had almost no nausea which has been amazing. I have been COMPLETELY exhausted. I manage to limp along in the morning till nap time at which point I can usually get about a 2 hr nap and then I manage to make it to bedtime (which lately has been around 9 or 930...super early for me!). I have also been VERY hungry and VERY thirsty. I'm hoping that now that I'm at the 12 week mark the exhaustion will ease up a little bit!

The 12 week baby bump!

There goes trouble...

I was sitting outside today watching the girls play and looked over to see this...

The big girls sit up there all the time and play and I so wish I had captured the joy on Ruthie's face when she realized she was up in their fort. 

She was quite pleased to find that the sidewalk chalk was up there. We had moved it up there because Ruthie loved to eat it. On the plus side she has apparently grown out of eating chalk.

Also I'm not sure how my teeny tiny Roo is big enough to get up the ladder but she does it like a pro! 

Doughnuts with Dad

Today was Doughnuts with Dad at preschool. The girls were so, so excited to get to take their daddy to school and Paul was very excited to get to go! (He missed last year because he was out of town with work.)
Because both girls had DWD at the same time they split their time between the classrooms. They started in Ellie's classroom. She had made Paul a tie, a tile handprint, a placemat, and a book about dad!

Paul took most of his stuff to work so I don't have too many pictures. The best part of course is the book!

top: Mommy, middle: Daddy, Ellie, Emmie, bottom: Franklin, Ruthie

This is what she said about her Daddy:
favorite color: green
likes to eat: sandwiches
good at: working
looks like: brown hair, blue eyes and is tall
we like to: wrestle
I love my Dad because: he loves me!



Next they headed to Emmie's room where she had made him a placemat and picture frame.

On the edge of the placemat she wrote things about her Dad.
name/age/looks like: Paul/18 years old/a workman
job: making the road
favorite food: barbeque
I like to play with my dad. I love my dad because he likes to play with me!

Zoo Trip

Today was GORGEOUS in Columbia. It was supposed to be upper 70s and cloudy but ended up being 81 and SUNNY. IT.WAS.AMAZING. We have had so many days of rain and clouds in the last month and we were all in need of some vitamin D!
Normally on Wednesday mornings I have bible study but I decided it was just to pretty today to sit inside so after dropping Emmie off at school, the little girls and I headed to the zoo!
Since Ellie was the big girl today I told her she could pick what order we did things in and which animals we saw. She had the best time making all the decisions! The first things she wanted to do were ride the pony, ride the train, and visit the barn yard.

Ruthie was so funny on the train. I tried to put her on my lap so she could see but she wanted to sit on the seat like Ellie...she wants so badly to be one of the big girls!

She was very firm that she didn't want to feed any animals or ride the carousel. We did a lot of walking but we did the zoo in the order that she wanted to and she loved every minute of "being in charge".

This was the first time Ruthie had been to the zoo since she was old enough to really enjoy it and she had a great time. The monkeys were all fired up when we got there so she was pretty overwhelmed at first until she got used to all the noise.


She loved all the animals and really wanted to walk everywhere instead of riding in the stroller. I would have let her except she wanted to walk in the opposite direction that we were going!

She was so excited about the giraffes!

Love this picture and look at all those curls!

We loved being out in the sunshine and I think we're going to luck out with another day in the 70s before it cools off again...yay!

14 Months

I am 14 months old!

• I wear 12-18mo clothes, a size 3.5 shoe, and a size 3 or 4 diaper.
• I am a full time walker now and I'm soooo proud of myself. I love being like the big girls. I want to walk all the time now...I don't want to ride in shopping carts or the stroller...just want to walk.

• I have 9 teeth. I have 4 on the top in the front, 3 on the bottom and 2 top molars.
• I sleep about 12 hours at night and take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.
• I still love fruit. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and bananas are some of my favorites. I also LOVE honey toast (that's a favorite of the big girls so I always want some of their having it). This month I discovered that I love lettuce. Lima beans are one of my other favorite vegetables. I love salmon and rotisserie chicken as well.
• I absolutely adore my big sisters. I love to play with them and they're pretty good about including me in whatever they're doing.

• This month I have started talking and communicating a lot more. I say doll, ball, baby, hi, bye, mama, dada, Ellie, Emmie (which sounds a lot like mama), "dat" while pointing to something, yes. I do a funny little motion that looks like the twist when I want to eat...I do this a lot! I have also started shaking my head (whole body) "no".
• I'm learning to find my toes, nose, head and tummy.
• I understand pretty much everything that is said to me and am really good about doing what I'm told.
• When I am done eating I hand mommy (or Emmie because she sits next to me) my cup, plate, and placemat. I will also wipe my face with a napkin or washcloth.
• Once I started walking all the time I got over my fussiness and need to held constantly and now I'm super happy most of the time and I love to laugh!
• I do not like getting my diaper changed.
• I generally wake up so happy and will sit in my bed and talk or read a book. I do like to cuddle for a few minutes once I'm up though.
• I still suck on my middle and ring finger on my left hand.
• I'm starting to really enjoy books. I love books with animals in them. Two of my favorites are Good Night and Little Quack's Bedtime.
• This month I celebrated Valentine's with Ellie's class and I felt so big because I got to sit at the table with the big kids!

• This month I went to Disney Jr and was so fascinated!
  
• I love to have my hair brushed and if the big girls are getting bows in their hair I feel so grown up when I get one too!

Throwback Thursday

I ran across this picture when I was working on Ruthie's 14 month post. This is Emmie right after she turned 3 and that's her buddy Mousie. He has slept in her bed every night since she was old enough to have stuffed animals in her bed. My super talented friend, Kennerly Jordan, took this picture and I tear up a little every time I see it. To me this picture captures Emmie perfectly. I think it's my very favorite picture of her! So thanks Kennerly for capturing the special moments!

(You can check out Kennerly's fabulous photos at www.kennerlyjordanphoto.com)