Today we had Emmie and Ellie's dance recital! They took Creative Movement this year which is tap and ballet. This was Emmie's second year and Ellie's first year. They had a great time and have been looking forward to dancing on stage all year! They both did great up on stage and had lots of fun. They were also quite pleased to have all their grandparents there...they loved all the fuss made about their recital and it made them feel so special. I'm so proud of both of them!
I made Ruthie a little costume too. She's so sure that she's in a dance class!
Emmie's hair was long enough for a bun and after watching may youtube videos I decided to give it a go! I was quite
impressed with my work!
Emmie is definitely into posing for pictures right now! The girls were so excited about their flowers.
Even Ruthie got some flowers...because she's a dancer!
The girls with Payton and Ella.
The girls with their friend Evelyn.
Visiting with Rylie after the performance!
Earlier this week they had their dress rehearsal and I was able to get some video of the girls dancing!
I wear size 12-18 month clothes, size 3.5-4 shoes, and a size 4 diaper.
I still LOVE to eat and I eat ALL.THE.TIME. and I'm still teeny tiny. I'm not a huge meat eater but I love fruits and veggies! I usually want to eat whatever my big sisters are eating. One of my favorite foods is pancakes or waffles! I also discovered watermelon this month and it's amazing!
I don't drink a ton of milk during the day but I LOVE water and ask for it constantly during the day. I have about 3 cups spread throughout the house so that I can always find some water!
I have 12 teeth (my 8 front teeth and all 4 molars) and many more that should be coming in during the next month or two.
I sleep 12-13 hours at night and take a 2-3 hour nap after lunch. I am always VERY ready to get in the bed!
I almost always wake up happy. I love to sit in my bed and talk, read books, or play with my baby doll.
I want to do EVERYTHING the big girls do and I am super independent. I usually get mad if someone helps me before I've asked for help.
This month I went to the beach for the first beach trip of the summer! I had a blast and LOVED the ocean. I also spent a few days in Summerville with GG and Papa.
This month I had my first pool time of the summer as well. I think the pool is great and I love "jumping" in.
I love books. My current favorite is Little Blue Truck.
I still suck on the ring and middle fingers of my left hand.
I like to color.
I have super curly hair.
I can find my tummy, toes, eyes, mouth, nose, and hands.
This month I got to go to Greenville and spend a day with the Giant. It was delightful.
This month I did field day with Emmie's class and I went to the Children's Garden with Ellie's class. I loved being one of the big kids.
I love to climb on things and can climb on just about anything. I can get in almost any chair, in Ellie's bed, and if I can't get onto something I want to I'm pretty smart about using what's around me as a step up to where I want to go!
I've started using a spoon and fork. Finally! I actually do pretty well with the spoon.
This month I went to Emmie's choir performance and watched her graduate from preschool!
I've started giving kisses this month.
I jabber a lot. You can't understand most of it but I clearly have a lot to say. Even though my words are hard to understand I'm a VERY good communicator.
I have the best personality. I am so happy and I love to laugh and make other people laugh. Every now and then I'll throw a temper tantrum, usually because I'm having trouble communicating what I need or I really want to do something and someone tells me no.
I have very definite ideas about what I do and don't want to do.
I love to play outside especially if my sisters are out there. Emmie is big enough to put me in my swing and I love when she and Ellie push me!
I get along really well with Emmie (I definitely think she's my other mother) but Ellie and I fight over toys a fair amount (generally because I want to play with whatever toy she has so I try to take it from her).
This year Emmie has been a member of the cherub choir (4s and 5s) at church. She has absolutely LOVED it and I can't say enough good things about the choir. She has learned lots about do-re-mi and rhythm and also the basics of singing, such as how to enunciate your words. We have an amazing choir program for all of our kids and I rave about it to anyone that will listen :) The lady who teaches cherub choir and her assistants are all wonderful and Emmie just adores them.
Emmie and Mrs. Nevitt, the director
Emmie and Ms. Laura, who helps with cherub choir and directs the older choirs
Emmie and Ms.Courtney, who helps with cherub choir
This week the children's choirs performed at a local retirement center. The kids all did a great job and sounded wonderful. I was so proud of Emmie and all of her friends!
Once again Emmie has the big white bow on...makes it easy to see her. Also, once again sorry for the camera work...I was trying to video around all the people in front of me and at the beginning I was juggling Ruthie too and I was in the back so you can't hear as well.
The last week of cherub choir Ellie got to participate. She was really excited because she's heard Emmie talk about how much fun it is. Cherub choir definitely lived up to Ellie's expectations and she can't wait for next school year when she gets to go every week!
It's official. My oldest baby is done with preschool. It's ridiculous how fast this year has gone by! Emmie had a great year in the 4 year old class and she's headed of to KINDERGARTEN in the fall!
On Friday the 4 year old classes had their end of the year program. She's been singing me the songs for the last month and they make me tear up every time. I really can't believe she's old enough to go to kindergarten. I got some video of her end of the year program and you'll have to forgive the camera work (it might make you slightly seasick). I was busy trying to entertain Ruthie while still filming Emmie.
(Just a warning this post has a LOT of video...so much cuteness!...Also Emmie is in the back row with the big white bow.)
This is the end of their first song and the beginning of their second song. I had to include it because of the second song. It's called Tooty Tot and they do different motions and then sing a little song. Emmie has been mad for awhile that they were doing this song at graduation and she informed me on Wednesday that she wasn't doing it. I had a little discussion with her about how we don't always like all the songs but it's important to be a good team player and so she should really sing the song. She told me then that she was going to sing the song but she was NOT going to do the dance because you have to stick your bottom in the air. I really couldn't argue with that. As you can see she doesn't do any of the dance!
The girls and boys each did some songs by themselves. This was one of the girls' songs. Emmie was thrilled to have a song based on Frozen!
And one more 4 year old video...I thought this song was really cute.
The 2s and 3s were invited to the stage during the program to perform a few songs. Ellie was SO excited. (She's in the back row with the big white bow. She was hidden for most of the first song.) She did a great job and really going into the songs! Also, the first song goes "Jesus is a rock and he rolls my blues away" but my girls have both always sung it "Jesus is a rock and he rolls my balloons away"...it took me awhile to figure out the real words.
After the performance they had snacks and the girls got to run around and play with their friends.
I had taken my camera to school the day before so I could get pictures of the girls with their teachers (I'll put Ellie's in her 3yr old field trip day). I'm pretty sure I shed more tears on their last day of school than I did on the first!
Emmie and Mrs. Shelley
Emmie and Mrs. Jessica
Emmie and Ellie with Mrs. Karina, their letter land teacher
And a random side note because I thought this was kind of crazy. I realized I was almost the exact same number of weeks pregnant on Emmie's first day of preschool as I was on her last.
Last week my brother (aka Giant Uncle Ben) moved from Arkansas to Delaware and he stopped in Greenville for a few days so the girls and I made a quick trip to spend a day with him! We went up Monday night and came back Tuesday night and packed lots of fun into our 24 hours. The girls were so excited to see their Giant!
Tuesday morning they were up bright and early and my mom made waffles and then they went outside to pick some strawberries. My parents have strawberry plants that are growing bunches of strawberries this year! Emmie was super excited to get to pick them!
The girls also got a ride on some Giant shoulders...always a good time!
We also took my mom her Mother's Day present. This year we made the grandmothers stepping stones with the big girls' handprints and Ruthie's footprint. I love how they turned out!
While Ruthie was taking her nap the girls wanted to play in the little pool and Uncle Ben decided to man the hose...the girls had a great time playing in the water!
Later they pulled out the sidewalk tattoos. These were so much fun. You put them on the sidewalk like the tattoos that go on your skin and then you color them with sidewalk chalk. Emmie especially had a great time coloring them.
My dad came home from work early and made homemade ice cream so we could celebrate Ben's birthday. The girls helped churn but sadly I didn't get any pictures. The girls (especially Ellie) LOVE Grandaddy's ice cream!
After dinner we headed back to Columbia. The big girls were OUT as soon as we got in the car...they had so much fun playing. I'm so glad we got to go visit!
I will stand by you I will help you through When you've done all you can do If you can't cope I will dry your eyes I will fight your fight I will hold you tight And I won't let go
- Rascal Flatts
I adore this picture and I love these Rascal Flatts song lyrics. These two girls are so close and I love their relationship. Ruthie knows that Emmie is her protector and her other mother (Ellie's the fun one!). Ruthie goes to Emmie when she needs help with something or a bandaid for a skinned knee. I love seeing the relationships develop between all my girls and can't wait to see how baby #4 fits into the mix!
PS. For full disclosure I should tell the real story behind this adorable picture. We were at the doctor's office because Emmie had an ear infection. In the exam room Emmie decided to hide behind the table so that the doctor couldn't look at her ear. Ruthie decided she wasn't going to be left in the line of fire so she went and sat with Emmie...she wasn't going to risk having her ears looked at!
PPS. I had to take Ellie Wednesday for an ear infection and it was entertaining to see the behavioral differences in the combo of children I had at each appointment. At Emmie's appointment, Emmie sat in the chair (most of the time) and Ruthie sat with her. At Ellie's appointment she and Ruthie were playing games involving lots of squealing.
I am 20 weeks and 5 days pregnant! It's hard to believe that we're halfway to meeting our sweet baby.
I had my 20 week ultrasound today and am so relievevd that everything looked good with baby! We don't do any of the genetic testing so I'm always a little nervous about the ultrasound. It's such a relief to know that everything is working right and developing as it should! The baby had a little fluid on it's kidneys so they'll recheck that at my 28 week appointment. The tech said the fluid was at the high end of normal so not really concerning. Ruthie also had about the same amount of fluid on her kidneys so we've been down this path before.
I love getting the pictures of the baby and we got a really good profile picture! We didn't get a foot picture (baby had it's feet over it's head much of the time and kept wiggling them around!) but I'm hoping to get one at 28 weeks...the foot picture is one of my favs...I just love baby feet! The girls went with me and Ruthie was oblivious, Emmie was half interested, and Ellie was pretty fascinated. She was interested in the whole process of how the ultrasound worked and the different parts of the baby. Ellie doesn't remember Ruthie's ultrasound so this was all new too her. The big girls loved hearing the heartbeat (also one of my favorite parts). Today the baby's heart rate was 137.
Baby has been moving more and I think that baby moves a whole lot more than what I'm feeling. Baby was wiggling the whole time during the ultrasound and I didn't feel a thing. This baby should be fun to try and swaddle...those arms and legs were going constantly!
Overall I've been feeling pretty well. While I'm still tired much of the time I'm generally not exhausted like I was at the beginning of the pregnancy. I don't have any strong cravings (there were a few weeks of groucho's sauce craving lol) or food aversions but I definitely have a big appetite and am hungry often! I'm also sleeping pretty well which is nice. It helps that baby has moved up a little so it's no longer sitting on my bladder!
Only 19 weeks and 2 days till the due date!
I wear a size 3-4 shoe, 12-18mo clothes and a size 3 or 4 diaper.
I sleep about 12 hours at night and take a 2.5-3 hr nap in the afternoon.
I now have 10 teeth. I got one of my bottom molars this month. It was a rough couple days when it was coming in (or we're assuming that the tooth was the issue). Hopefully the next bottom molar won't be so difficult!
I love to walk! I don't want be carried anywhere.
I love my big sisters and love to play with them. My favorite game is chase.
I have the BEST personality. I am super easy going and the only time I get upset is when I have trouble getting someone to understand what I want or I'm hungry (right before dinner time can be pretty rough). I am pretty content in any situation and can always find a way to entertain myself!
When I see my sisters after we've been apart I give them big hugs. I just adore my sisters.
I still love fruit and some veggies. I have gotten to where I don't eat as much meat. I love spaghetti as well.
I'm generally not very interested in TV. I'll watch for a minute or two but then I move on to something else.
I love to sing and dance!
I'm saying a lot more words this month and "talking" a lot more.
Even though I don't have a ton of words in my vocabulary I'm pretty good at communicating what I want.
This month I was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. Fortunately I can still eat chick fil a.
I love to take my sisters to preschool but I'm always a little disappointed when I don't get to stay. In Ellie's class I will often go over and wash my hands in hopes I'll blend in as one of the big kids!
I love doing anything the big girls do. I'm definitely not a baby. I like to sit in big chairs like them, I don't want to wear a bib anymore, and I love to get in Ellie's bed and pretend to sleep.
I LOVE shoes and I also love jewelry and wearing a bow like my sisters. I'm a very girly girl!
I generally go to sleep happy and wake up happy. At bedtime I get my blanket and a doll or stuffed animal and a few books and I'm all set for bed. I will sometimes even ask to go to bed!
My favorite books are Pout Pout Fish, Little Blue Truck, and Little Quack's Bedtime.
This month I celebrated Easter. I was NOT a fan of the bunny but I liked the presents he left me! I also loved hunting Easter eggs.
