Her Favorite Things

Ruthie was snuggled in my lap today and as I my heart was melting because she NEVER snuggles (she's go, go, go all the time) I realized that we had all of her favorites snuggled with us. 

 Ruthie has never been one to really sit still for books or drag around a favorite animal or blanket but lately she has established favorites of all of these. 

Her favorite book is Smile, Pout Pout Fish. We read it all the time and over and over. It's a good thing I like the book! I ordered her some more and I'm hoping she likes them as well! (And she's getting a stuffed Pout Pout fish...I just couldn't resist.)

Her favorite blanket is this yellow one. She looks for it at bedtime and loves to snuggle with it when she first wakes up. My mom's friend Melinda gave it to her when she was born and I really love that it has her name on it...we don't have to worry about losing it anywhere! 

Her favorite doll is this super soft Gund doll that someone gave her when she was born. It has been on her bookshelf since we got it and the other day she wanted me to get it down and she has been snuggling with it ever since!

Some MAJOR catching up

I have been so far behind with my blogging! I fortunately have been at least taking some pictures throughout the last month and a half even though by the end of the day I was just way too tired to blog. So without further ado here's your picture overload for the day :)

Dance Theater of Columbia produced Wizard of Oz back in March and the girls were sooooo excited about going. We got lucky and they were rehearsing at the studio one Monday as we were leaving dance so I let the girls stay and watch the first act. I'm pretty sure Emmie and her friend Maggie Ann would have stayed the whole time. Emmie is just in awe of these big girls!

Waiting to see Wizard of Oz. It was soooo good!


Some of Emmie and her classmates have been "planning" a sleepover since the beginning of the school year. One of the mom's volunteered to host a daytime "sleepover" and the girls were just absolutely thrilled. They got to wear their pajamas, bring their sleeping bags, and watch a movie. They also ate cupcakes and painted their fingernails. They had the best time!

All the girls in the tent.

Ellie wanted to get in the tent and go to sleep as soon as we got there lol.

I just love these girls...Emma and Emmie! We've known Emma since we started going to My Gym when Emmie was less than a year old and Emmie was so thrilled when Emma joined her class at school a few weeks into the school year.

This is why I love where we dance! The big girls are always so, so sweet to my girls and make them feel so special. Blair's mom is Emmie and Ellie's teacher and they also go to church with us. Blair is always willing to read a book to the big girls or play peek a book with Ruthie!

Oh my goodness I LOVE these curls! Ruthie has these gorgeous spiral curls mixed with some regular curls and I just love her hair. I really hope it stays this curly!

Sweet sisters snuggling on the couch. They each have their special blanket.

The week before Easter our play group got together and had an Easter Egg hunt. We very rarely see these friends since everyone is at different schools and on different schedules but it was so fun to get together and visit and play!

Emmie and Jackson...they've grown up so much!

Warmer days mean fun treats! On one of the first warm days we went to Rita's Italian Ice. Ellie has been waiting all winter for it to be warm enough to go to the "icee store". Emmie looks so grown up in the is picture!

A few weeks ago one of my friends from work got married and Paul and I were super excited for an evening with friends! There were lots of people there that I hadn't seen in a long time and it was really fun to catch up. We danced, visited, and ate some REALLY yummy food!

The bride and groom! Claire's dress was beautiful!

The weekend after Easter the cherub choir sang at church. Emmie was so excited to sing in big church and all the kids did a great job. I was so proud of Emmie for singing!

Ruthie is such a girly girl. She asks for a bow in the mornings, brushes here hair, is always putting necklaces and rings on and LOVES a bracelet. I'm always finding her with multiple bracelets on. She has also recently discovered our play (plastic) makeup and she loves to pretend to put it on!

And finally...the girls got their dance recital costumes this past week. They are sooo excited and the costumes are super shimmery and extra poufy. They love them!

I also have some funny stories to share..

Awhile back Ruthie went through a toe fettish phase. Not going to lie...it was a little strange and creepy. One night in the bathtub Ellie had her feet near Ruthie's face so Ruthie opened up her mouth and gnawed on Ellie's toes. This happened a number of times over the course of about 3 minutes. The best part? Ellie didn't even notice!
I also had my feet up on the coffee table one night and Ruthie walked over, stuck out her tongue, and LICKED my toes. It was totally freaked out. Then she did it again. Ewwww.
Fortunately we seem to have moved past this stage.

One night I walked upstairs to find Ruthie lying on the floor, perfectly still and Emmie "painting" her belly button with an eye shadow brush. Then Emmie sat Ruthie up, put her in a headlock, and pretend to put lipstick on her. Ruthie just sat there the whole time...hilarious!

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Doctors. Doctors, and more Doctors

Today we finished up a whirlwind of two days and three doctor's appointments. Two of those appointments were long and involved lots of discussion. My brain is tired.

Paul's parents came and kept the little girls for day #1 of appointments and that was so, so helpful!

The first appointment was my easy one. It was my 16 week ob appointment. My appointment was at 940. I got there a few minutes early and was walking out at 943. That's my kind of appointment!

The second appointment was that afternoon and was Emmie's follow up with the ENT. For those of you who haven't heard the saga I'll give you the cliff notes version. Back in January Emmie failed a hearing screen at school. She didn't hear anything out of her left ear and failed a few of the frequencies on her right ear. The pediatrician didn't see any fluid in her ear but the ENT later told us that was probably because she had so much fluid in her ear that there wasn't a fluid/air line. After a horrible time getting our referral stuff straightened out we had an appointment 6 weeks later with the ENT. They rescreened her hearing and it had improved but she had some fluid in her ears still and had negative pressure which is indicative if enlarged adenoids which we pretty much knew she had because she's such a loud mouth breather! We did nasal steroids for 6 weeks in an attempt to shrink her adenoids and followed back up yesterday. We saw the audiologist right when we got there and her hearing had improved even more but her negative pressure was even worse. After waiting an hour and a half we FINALLY saw he doctor. (I was so glad that the little girls were at home!) The ENT took a peek at her adenoids in the office and said she had 90% blockage from the adenoids so they definitely have to come out and he'll put tubes in at the same time. We're waiting for a call from the scheduler but we'll probably do it in late May or early June. 

Today we finished up our appointments with a visit to the allergist for Ruthie. The big girls have been begging to stay at extended care at school so they were super excited to do that while we were at the doctor's office. The trigger for our visit was a possible peanut allergy. Ruthie had gotten hives on her hand and arm and a rash around her mouth when she had peanut butter and while I was pretty sure that it was just a skin sensitivity to the oils I didn't want to take a chance with a possible peanut allergy. After a much smoother referral process we only had to wait a week to see the allergist. After a long appointment of giving the allergist lots of background info I think he was also pretty convinced it was just a skin reaction. 

They had great toys in the exam room!

He wanted us to come back and do a skin and blood test just to be sure but since I had made arrangements for the big girls and had kept Ruthie off her Zyrtec prior to the appointment (thanks to a heads up from my friend Kim!) he said we could go ahead and do the testing. The skin test very quickly showed that she definitely has a peanut allergy (a significant response for a school age child is a hive measuring 8 and for babies it's less than that and Ruthie's was a 9 at 15 months). So we left with a prescription for an epi pen and instructions to rid our house of peanut butter (a very sad day for the big girls and even sadder day for Franklin). 

The peanut reaction is at the bottom of the screen and at the top is the histamine which is the control so it is supposed to react. You can see her book underneath her arm...Pout Pout Fish is one of Ruthie's favorite books right now and we probably read it 20 times while we were doing the skin test...it was a great distraction as I had to keep her from scratching her arm.

We slid in at the lab 15 minutes before they closed for lunch and got Ruthie's blood drawn. He said we would watch her blood work over the years and if it started to look like she wasn't allergic anymore then we would do a challenge in the office. Apparently about 20% of children outgrow their peanut allergy. Ruthie was such a trooper and the only time she cried was when they drew the blood. She was quite the big girl when they did her skin test! This diagnosis will definitely mean a big change for our family as we all LOVE peanut butter. Fortunately Ruthie can have other nut butters and I've heard sunflower butter is another good alternative. We will also have to start reading labels and be very diligent about taking her epi pen with us when we go anywhere where there is food.

It has been a crazy 2 days but hopefully we are done with doctor's appointments until next month when I have my 20 week ultrasound...yay!

16 weeks

Here I am at 16 weeks!

I'm 16 weeks pregnant with baby #4! (Actually almost 17 but I had my 16 week appointment today.)

Overall I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm still tired and hungry. I was starting to feel better but then I overdid it on Easter and I had to take it really easy last week but this week has been much better. 

Baby is definitely growing (see picture above!) and I'm now wearing maternity clothes although they're still a little big but my regular clothes are definitely to small. 

I'm starting to feel little butterfly flutters of movement, mostly on the left side...that must be where baby likes to hang out! Baby also likes to sit and jump on my bladder. I feel like I always have to go to the bathroom and I still have to get up a few times at night. At the doctor today the baby was REALLY low...hence the having to go to the bathroom all the time...baby is hanging out on my bladder!

The girls are getting really excited and will randomly tell people that we're having a baby. It's pretty funny because they'll go days without mentioning it and then they'll announce it to a friend or neighbor or the checkout lady at Publix! Emmie is sooo ready to feel the baby kick...she asks all the time if she can yet. 

I really don't have too many food cravings. I was on an avocado kick for awhile but it's kind of gone away. Fortunately I'm not having any food aversions. I had really strong ones with Emmie and Ellie. 

I go to sleep pretty easily but I wake up a lot during the night...lots of tossing and turning. I am hot all the time so that's part of my problem at night. I had one night this week where I slept comfortable all night and I felt amazing when I woke up. (And I didn't have any weird dreams either...I seem to have lots of strange dreams when I'm pregnant and just after giving birth.)

We're not going to find out the gender but we're starting to toss around some baby names (as in my mom calls me everyday to remind me of her pick for the baby's name lol!). I'm very glad that we have many more months to come up with a name!

This whole baby thing is definitely starting to feel more real and it makes it really fun that the big girls are so excited! Only 23.5 weeks to go!

Cousins Weekend

About a month ago Paul's mom, the girls, and I headed to Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde's house in NC for the weekend for the much loved cousin's weekend! The girls had such a great time. On Saturday they went to a Renaissance Fair that Emma's school was putting on and they loved that and then on Sunday they got to go hear Emma, Mary Jane, and Laura Ann sing at church! Of course we also ate VERY well while we were there and enjoyed getting to visit with the family!

My girls love to play dress up and Suzy has a great stash. Even Ruthie got into the fun! (She LOVES jewelry!)

Laura Ann showed Emmie the basics of playing the piano.

After baths one night Emmie asked Uncle Clyde to play the piano for her. She requested Wizard of Oz songs. She LOVES listening to Clyde play and sing (well, really we all love to listen!).

Clyde opened up the piano and let Emmie watch while he played. She was mesmerized!

Every night before bed the big girls would read to my girls. I LOVE it!

15 Months

I am 15 months and 11 days.

• I weigh 19lb 14oz (9th percentile) and am 31in tall (65th percentile). When Emmie was my age she was 25lb and 30in and Ellie was 20lb and 29 3/4 inches. I'm the tallest and the lightest!
• I wear a size 3 or 4 diaper, a size 3.5 shoe, and size 12-18mo clothes.
• I have 9 teeth.
• I have hazel eyes and curly light brown hair.
• I sleep 12-13hrs at night and take a 3hr nap in the afternoon.
• I love to eat! I eat pretty much anything. We discovered that I might have a peanut allergy so I'm going to see an allergist soon.
• I love to quack like a duck and when I see Franklin I say "bark". 
• I'm working on communicating my needs but still get frustrated some times. This is really the only time I get too upset about anything.
• I can point to my nose and my tummy and sometimes I will point to my eyes, mouth, and toes.
• I LOVE to dance!  https://youtu.be/alcrdjoOqtQ
• I am really good at following directions. If you ask me if I'm stinky I'll go stand by my changing table, if you tell me it's bath time I go in the bathroom, if you say eat I RUN into the kitchen!
• I like to help dress myself. I especially love to wear shoes and I'm also obsessed with everyone else's shoes. In fact, "shoes" is one of my new words!
• I like to wear a bow. I won't always leave it in all day but I do pretty well. I will ask to wear one and when you put it in my hear I expect you to say "soooo pretty".
• I much prefer to walk than to ride in the stroller.

• This month I went on my first Easter egg hunt. I had a great time and quickly figured out the objective!

• I love to play dress up with my sisters' clothes. 

• This month I got to go to the zoo twice and had a great time both times although I really wanted to walk most of the time instead of ride!

• I love to do anything my sisters are doing. I want to be just like them and they are so sweet and patient with me most of the time.

• I love my yellow blanket (in the picture above) and will sometimes use it at naptime instead of the sleep sack. I still use the sleep sack at night though.

• This month I went to Ellie's classes Easter party and I had a great time hunting Easter eggs and eating treats!

• I love to play outside!

• This month I went to cousin's weekend at Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde's house. I had so, so much fun playing with the big girls!

• I love to help clean (and I love to make really big messes too!).

Ellie at 15 months.

Emmie at 15 months

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter day full of worship, family, and fun!




We started the day by going to the sunrise service at 7am at church. (I agreed in a moment of weakness!) Sadly, it was pretty cool out so I didn't get any outside pictures of the girls in their dresses.

Sweet girls with their dresses that Gran made and bonnets that I made!

This silly little girl makes me laugh all the time!

The girls got to peek at their Easter baskets before church. The big girls got princess sleeping bags and bubble bath along with a few other small things. Ruthie got a little toddler backpack with her name on it and yogurt melts and a few other small things. Everyone was quite pleased with the bunny!

After church we came home, did a few last minute things and headed to NC to celebrate Easter with Paul's extended family. We always love these gatherings and as usually we had good food and good company! After we ate the kids had an Easter egg hunt. All of the eggs had stickers with them and my girls were super excited with all their new stickers! My favorite moment of the day was when an adult was helping Ellie find eggs and Emmie mentioned she only had one. Another adult went to help her and Ellie (who only had 2 or 3 eggs) pulled an egg out of her basket and ran to take it to Emmie. So, so sweet. I was especially touched because this was so out of character for Ellie. I think she's spent so much of her life guarding her things from any sister that might want to come take them that she generally doesn't voluntarily give up something important to her.





After the egg hunt we did a very cool scavenger hunt. The church where we gather has an old cemetery and Uncle Clyde had created a scavenger hunt of the gravestones. For instance, you had to find things like the oldest gravestone, the family names in the 4 corners of the cemetery, when certain people were married, and other interesting tidbits like that. He also talked to the kids about how we use the markers to remember those who have passed. He explained that even though know one is alive who remembers the first person buried in the graveyard we still know about them and remember them because of the marker. It was really a neat activity that the adults and kids all enjoyed.
After the scavenger hunt we did the egg toss. Blake and I were partners and we made it to about the half way point. Emmie really wanted Paul for her partner and fortunately these eggs had thick shells so they didn't necessarily break if they hit the ground. In the end Karla and Doug won!

Emma took the egg toss pictures for me and she did such a great job!

The girls were worn out by the time we left but we all had a great time!