Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Life Lately

These are some sweet moments with my big girl. I love listening to her as she reads to me.


Our little chef had to buy some ingredients for the dessert she wanted to bake.


Daddy built the Eiffel Tower out of Legos and his Paris loving girls were very impressed!


Ella was pretty excited when we brought the exersaucer out of the garage. She thought it was the perfect place to play Ella's Crab Shack. :)


Making Saturday morning pancakes with Daddy is a favorite in our house.


Juliet wearing her first pair of jeans!


When you have twenty thank you cards to write from your birthday and your mommy suggests a change of scenery to get it done...


So, we headed to Starbucks for a date. One of my favorite parts was when I was ordering Abby's hot cocoa and she boldly stepped in front of me to ask the cashier to write Abby on the cup! :)  Abby set up shop with her thank you notes, stickers and crayons, while I worked on our menu and grocery list. She loved every minute of it.



Juliet trying out the exersaucer for the first time.


A brave afternoon out with all three girls to run errands and it was a success. I love that you can see Ella's clipboard in this pic. She is the faithful list girl on every trip to the store! She insists on making the list for us and carrying it through the store. (1.25.16)


I fulfilled Abby's greatest birthday wish with a framed picture of her carrying Juliet.


While going through pictures, I came across this one of Ella when she was about six months old and was stopped in my tracks at how alike Ella and Juliet look.


Afternoon at the library with these lovelies. Ella was so serious about teaching her little sister everything she knew since it was Juliet's first time. "Make sure you are quiet, Juliet. Look at all the big girl books. These little ones are for you. These are my favorite toys. Do you want to play with me?" Juliet was fascinated with her moccasins.


These sweet friends were excited to have a Play-doh playdate at our house after school.


For theme day at school, Ella's class theme was animals and Abby's class theme was crayons.  So,  I sent the cutest little leopard and pink crayon to school.




Ella taught Juliet everything she needed to know about the dollhouse.


"I think I'm gonna like it here!"


An afternoon of girly pedicures by Mommy. After I finished, Ella looked up at me and said, "Mommy, when you grow up I think you should be a nail person. You paint them so pretty."







Family Lego afternoon


A couple of weekends ago, the girls and I loaded up for a family reunion at Aunt Charlene's house. Joe had a conference that weekend, so he wasn't able to come with us. It was my first time traveling  with all three girls alone (two hours each way), so our first stop was Papa's house to pick up Uncle Cory. The girls loved telling Uncle Cory that he was going to be my helper for the day! Just what every little brother wants to hear, right? :)


I was surrounded by guard dogs while I nursed Juliet. Nina was a protective little momma and Cooper was just confused and curious.


It was a sweet day with family and meeting my cousin Chris' new baby girl. Our babies are just days apart. Wasn't it just yesterday we were playing house together? 



Juliet and Leila met for the first time. I hope these little cousins grow up to be the best buddies!


 
  
On our way home, we stopped at Papa's to celebrate Abby's birthday with Papa and Uncle C. There is something special about having Chinese food dinner from Shirley's for your belated birthday celebration. (We forgot to get a picture!)


This sweet little lovebug brings us so much joy!


If you look closely, you can see Abby nursing her baby in the fort. Or as Ella still lovingly refers to it...."milking".


our little Orange sisters




Monday, February 8, 2016

Juliet: 4 months

Our little lovie-

You are getting so big. At your four month appointment, you were 12 pounds 15.5 oz and 23.5 inches. Four months is the beginning of such a fun stage as your little personality has started to shine through even more. You are cooing and making lots of sounds. The changing table is like your stage. This month, you've started intentionally grabbing your toys on the playmat. Your newest and most fascinating discovery is your hands. You hold them in front of you, clasp them together and love getting them in your mouth. We tried out the Bumbo chair for the first time and saw how strong you are getting. Month four really marks a switch from sleepy baby to playful baby.


This month, we made the switch and you are now sleeping in your crib with a noise machine, pacifier and snuggly.  You seem to be ready for bed by 6:30, waking up about twice (once around 11/12 and once around 3/4), sleeping until 6/7. You are starting to have more of a regular nap pattern too, which has been nice. You nurse every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. You are still wearing size 1 diapers are between 3-6 month clothes.


A few of your favorite things:

your changing table
Mr. Elephant 
your play mat mirror
naps 
silly sisters 
your puppy 
trying to laugh (especially at your daddy) 
spending time with your mommy  
tummy time 
blowing bubbles 
 

Not so favorite things: 

sleeping anywhere that isn't your crib 
loud noises
too many people 
overstimulation 


Watching you grow brings so much joy to our family. We love you, sweet cheeks! 






Abby: 6 Years Old

To my beautiful six year old girl-


There is something about six that just seems so much older. Maybe it's Kindergarten. Maybe it's those missing teeth (you have proudly lost four), but right in front of my eyes you are growing into a real big girl. And you want to! You want to be a big kid more than anything. When people tell you how old you look, you look at me and smile like you've achieved the ultimate.  I tell you all the time that you should enjoy being little and you try! I'm thankful that as much as you want to be grown up, you also always want to be my baby. I promise you will! That's the fun thing about six. It's a blended age. On one hand, you're so grown and on the other, you're still so little. If you take your babies out to the store, you carry around your Starbucks hot chocolate like it is "mom coffee", but talk to your "kids" like no one is watching. It is so sweet. I love watching you.

0,3,6

You are so beautiful and smart. Your strong will challenges me in ways I never imagined they could when you were cooing up at me from your changing table. All of your confidence and determination make you a natural leader. You are motivated and love to learn new things. You can be very serious and like things just a certain way, but are also one of the silliest girls I know. When I think about six, I will always remember your goofy made up language and your love for knock knock jokes.


You devour books, ask great questions, write and solve your own math sentences for fun and love a good science experiment. You love art and any chance to create. Going to school is your favorite and then you come home from school each day to start playing school downstairs. This year, you are also enjoying piano lessons with daddy and dance class!


 You are a great big sister. Your little sisters adore you and I'm so thankful for all of your help. Like a little mommy, you are always right there asking me to hold Juliet or help change her diaper. Ella counts down the minutes until you are home from school and looks forward to the times in school when she passes you in the hall or sits next to you in an assembly. You are her best friend. I love hearing you play mommies or school or bakery together for hours. Sometimes I have to step in to remind you that you just can't be in charge of everything, even if you do think you know better. Juliet can't stop watching you. Just yesterday, without any warning, you did something funny and she started laughing hysterically for the first time. It was her first full baby belly laugh and it was because she thinks you are so funny!  

Things you love:

quality time 
movie nights with popcorn 
Odd Squad 
Legos 
Mary Ellen (your American Girl) 
play dates 
sister time 
babies
parties 
dessert (the sweeter the better) 
avocados
fast things 
learning 
reading your Bible to us 
drawing 
Inside Out 
ham sandwiches with tomato, avocado and a little bit of mayo
bubblegum 
glitter 
Food Network
restaurants  
all things crafty 
playing outside 
dancing 
Starbucks dates 
lemonade stands
swimming

Things you don't love: 
blueberries 
cheese 
chores 
milk 
not being in control 
rollerskating 
going underwater 
 

You love Legos. You just finished your biggest set yet of 612 pieces!
annual birthday date with Daddy!


My beautiful girl, you are so special to our family. Being your mom is one of the greatest privileges of my life. I love you more than you could ever know! Here's to being six and a year of making more fun memories. You make life more sweet!

Love, 
Mommy



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w8ag8a-6g8