Mommy's Little Helper

Emmie has always loved helping but I think with all the talk about the new baby she's decided that she needs a baby of her own to take care of...and fortunately she has a little sister who is more than willing to let Emmie play Mommy! (Not even kidding...there are times when Ellie says "Mommy!" and when I answer she quickly corrects me...she wants "Emmie Mommy".)
At every meal Emmie gets silverware for her and Ellie (and if I'm lucky she gets some for me too!) and then comes and gets their plates and cups. I must say it is so nice to have such a good helper!
Emmie has also started helping Ellie wash her hands and brush her teeth after we eat. She will get Ellie the soap and turn on the water for her and then she fixes both of their toothbrushes and first brushes Ellie's teeth and then her own.  It's so helpful as it gives me a minute to get the dishes off the table (we have to get them off the table before we leave the room or Franklin will eat the leftovers) and then I go in the bathroom and give everyone's teeth a quick Mommy brushing.
I know that Emmie will be so much help for me when the baby gets here (by the way she got to feel the baby kick today for the first time and was thrilled) and I know Ellie will be glad to have a "Mommy" that's focused so much on her!!

Prima Ballerina

Today Emmie had her first dance class. She is taking Creative Movement at Bailey Fine Arts which is right by our house. The Creative Movement class is a very basic introduction to tap and ballet. Emmie has been so excited about going (but also nervous...she was very worried about me leaving her...I had to reassure her many times that I would stay until she was comfortable) and the class did not disappoint! All the parents ended up staying the whole class today so that made Emmie very happy (although it definitely kept her distracted!). The class was so cute and she learned so many new things today and is already ready to go back!

Getting ready to go...you know she was excited because she was actually willing to pose for a picture!

Ellie joined in about half way through...she sat by me and had a great time doing the same thing the big girls were doing!

first position

They got to wear tiaras and practice their "princess walk" while music from Beauty and the Beast played...all the little girls were thrilled!

 

 

Sisterly Love

For some reason we started talking about Santa in the car today and this is what happened...

Emmie: Mommy, can I ask Santa to bring the baby some toys?
Me: Of course Emmie! That's so sweet of you to think of the baby.

Emmie: Ellie, would you like to ask Santa for some toys for the baby?
Ellie: Yes!
Emmie: That's so good  Ellie...because I don't want to sit on Santa's lap!

Nothing like throwing your sister under the bus...or making her be the one to sit on Santa's lap!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister-in-law and Emmie and Ellie's favorite Aunt Lemily!

20 Weeks

20 Weeks

 

 

 

 

I am 20 weeks and 1 day pregnant with Baby #3 so I thought I would do a little update! We had the 20 week ultrasound today and baby weighs 12oz and is measuring at exactly 20weeks and 1 day. Like the girls, baby's head is a few days smaller and it's tummy is a few days bigger...that's how I prefer it for sure! (Emmie's head was in the 30th percentile at birth and by the time she turned one her head was at the top of the growth charts!)  Baby was breech during the ultrasound but that really doesn't matter right now...there's still lots of room for baby to flip flop around! (During Emmie's ultrasound, she went from breech to head down, back to breech!) We also got to watch baby kick my bladder during the ultrasound...I'm pretty sure that's one of baby's favorite things to do!

The girls went to the ultrasound with us and they had a great time seeing the baby! They carried around some of the pictures for a while afterwards. They also told EVERYONE at the doctor's office that their mommy was having a baby...it was super cute!

For those of you who don't know, we've decided not to find out the baby's gender until it's born...I'm so excited about waiting (and the OB is too...apparently it's really exciting for them when parent's don't know ahead of time what their baby is). Emmie has told me multiple times that the baby is a girl...she is super confident about her assumption...guess she has a 50% chance of being right!

Overall I have felt very well during this pregnancy. I was sick from about 4.5 weeks to 8 weeks and every once in a while I have a bad day but it's definitely manageable! I don't handle the heat well. I tend to feel really sick if I'm outside in the heat for too long but that's easy to deal with...we just try to find things to do inside...or at the pool where we can be in the water!

I really haven't had a consistent craving or food aversion with this baby. Sometimes I will fix dinner and then take one bite and am not able to eat anymore. I do tend to lean toward eating either super healthy (salads or fruit) or super unhealthy (pizza or fast food).

This baby is a VERY active baby which I love. I've been able to feel the baby moving around since 15 weeks. I didn't feel the girls until 18-19 weeks. I've been able to feel the baby kicking from the outside since about 19 weeks. I tried to let Emmie feel the other day but of course as soon as she put her hand on my belly the baby stopped kicking.

A little foot! I love foot pictures from ultrasounds...they look much less skeletal than the rest of the pictures!

Waving hello! The ultrasound tech said the baby had long fingers...just like Ellie!

 

Our sweet baby :)

 

 

 



Girls Weekend

This past weekend Gin-g and I loaded up the little girls and headed up to North Carolina for a girls weekend. Paul's cousin Bridgett is getting married at the end of August so we had a shower for her and all the girls in the family got to hang out which was so much fun! My girls, of course, had a blast playing with their cousins (second cousins really but that's a lot to explain to a 2 and 3 year old!). We stayed with Paul's Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde and the girls were so excited about that...they love Suzy and Clyde so much! We all had lunch together on Saturday and then had the shower for Bridgett. We spent the late afternoon just hanging around visiting before having pizza for dinner. On Sunday morning Suzy and Clyde fixed a delicious breakfast for everyone before we all dispersed.

All the little girls eating lunch.

After lunch we had the shower for Bridgett and the little girls got to make her a dress out of toilet paper. They had the best time! Afterwards they decided to dress each other up with toilet paper...I'm pretty sure Suzy is still picking up pieces of toilet paper from around her house!

coming up with a plan

 

The bride.

Laura Ann wanted to read Ellie her story before naptime...so sweet.

Emmie loved playing dress up with Suzy's dress up clothes!

Ellie spent most of the weekend hanging out with Aunt Suzy.

Suzy has lots of butterflies around her flowers and Emmie, Emma, and Abby had a great time trying to catching them. Emmie actually managed to catch one and she was able to touch a lot of them. She was so excited!