Anna is 4 Months Old!

Well, as usual, time has flown by at a breathtaking pace, and my little Anna is 4 months old now!  She had her check up today, and received rave reviews from the doctor.  She is long...25 inches, 85% for height, and lean...12 lbs., 25% for weight.  Her head grew a whole inch since her last visit, which puts her in the 10th percentile for head size...she's my little bitty one...much smaller than my other two.  I thought Ella was small, but Anna is even smaller.  Of course, all babies seem small after you've had a baby giant (Aidan was 30 lbs. when he was a year old!). 

This month, she is still sleeping through the night.  She is trying her best to roll over, but hasn't quite gotten all the way over yet.  She is babbling up a storm, and has even thrown a few consonants around lately.  She thrilled Aidan by saying "bu-bu" the other night.  She also tries really hard to say "mamamamama." 

The child never cries.  Seriously.  She cries a little bit when she's hungry, but I don't even know that it is a real cry.  It sounds pretty half-hearted to me.  She is the most laid back baby.  All of my kids have been easy going as babies, but Anna gets the prize. 

Her hair is getting longer on top.  It looks like it will be light brown, or maybe blonde.  She has a big bald spot in the back.  She really wants to sit up, and does a pretty good job of it, with a little help.

She is wearing 3-6 mos. clothes, but in some things can still wear 0-3 months.  She wears size 1 diapers.

She loves to hold onto my hair while she's sleeping.  She laughs if you tickle her, or make funny noises or lift her high up in the air like she's flying (think super baby!).  She uses a pacifier, but what she really loves is sucking on her middle two fingers.  We try to stop this, because when she's older, we won't be able to take away her middle two fingers...this is frowned upon.

 She loves to play with her toys on the floor.  She will talk and bat at them for over an hour.

She is sweet and cute and adorable, and she likes me best.  (Don't tell Aidan and Ella...or Mark for that matter).  I can hardly believe she's four months old and ready to start eating cereal already.  I call her a dangerous baby, because she's so easy I've started thinking I could have another one.  Maybe.  But, then I remember how tired I am and how old mature we are, and I think, maybe not.  I guess time will tell.  :)

Oh, and, she's beautiful.

Right Now

Right now, both of my girls are asleep.  The back door is open and the birds are singing.  And I am just sitting here, writing this.  I should be making the bed or picking up toys or wiping down the bathroom sinks and potties...or washing/drying/folding/hanging/ironing laundry...or working on dinner/dessert for tonight or vacuuming or any one of the zillion other things that need to get done today.  But, both girls are asleep.  That means, no one is climbing/crawling/nursing on me.  No one is asking me questions...or needing me to get them anything...there are no cartoons on...it is quiet and peaceful, and I haven't had quiet or peaceful in far too many days.  I am sitting here looking at my peach trees, listening to the birds, and I don't want to move.  I know that at any moment, one of the girls could wake up...and then it will take me 3 times as long to do any one item on my list than it would if I got up and did it right now.  But, it's quiet, and I'm tired, and I need just a minute to sit here...at least for right now.  Maybe in a minute I'll get up and tackle my list, but for right now, I am staying right here.

 ...stand still and consider the wonders God works.

Job 37:14

A Fairy Wonderful Party

Last weekend, we celebrated Ella's 4th birthday.  Let me start by saying, that I cannot believe she is 4 already.  I don't know where the time went.  She amazes me everyday with what a big girl she is becoming.  This year, she had a fairy party.  At first, she wanted a dinosaur party, but after 9 years of doing boy parties, I was hoping for something a little more girly.  So, after promising her there would be dragons too...she agreed to the fairy party.  I thought it turned out really cute, and Ella loved it.  She has been telling everyone about it.

Check out some of the things I did for her party:

These are Ella's party guests.  You can't really tell in the picture, but I bought fairy wings and wands for all the girls, and light up swords for the boys.  I got the fairy wings from www.haloheaven.com.  They were about $1.10 each, and super cute.  (Ella's tutu is from that website too...it was only $4!)The wands were from the dollar spot at Target.  The swords were $1 each and from Michaels.  I also got some tubes of fairies and dragons from Michaels.  We hid those in the living room and the kids had to find them.  Those went in their favor bags.  We also did a pinata (the pictures didn't turn out).

My favorite part, was the food.  I covered the table with a pink table cloth.  Then I put white lights on top and covered that with green tulle.  Ella received 2 fairy houses for Christmas, so I used those on the table as well.

I loved how the cupcakes turned out.  I made these fairy sillouhettes using my mom's die cutting machine.  I used a star tip for the frosting.  Then I put edible purple glitter on top.  You can't see them in this picture, but I also found edible star glitter at Hobby Lobby and sprinkled a little of that on top also.  I was really happy with how they turned out.

The kids loved these fairy fruit wands.  I cut a cantaloupe in half to use as the base.  Then I put cantaloupe, grapes and strawberries on bamboo skewers and stuck them inside.  The kids liked these a lot, and they looked really pretty on the table.

For lunch, we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I cut out with heart and star cookie cutters--another big hit with the kids!  We also had pretzels, carrots, cheese cubes, broccoli and pixie punch.  (the punch was a bottle of Welch's Mango punch mixed with about 3/4 of a 2 liter bottle of ginger ale...I threw some sliced strawberries in too...it was easy, fast and yummy).

I was so happy with how the table turned out.  :)

Ella got a pink cowgirl hat for her birthday.  She wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up.  I love the cowgirl hat with the tutu and fairy wings.  She definitely has her own style.

Blowing out the candles! 

The birthday girl with some of her presents.  I had a cute purple shirt and purple leggings that would have looked adorable with this tutu, but she insisted on wearing her bird shirt and maroon pants, and I was too tired to argue.  I think she looks adorable anyway.  I can't believe my baby Ella is 4!

So, that's another successful birthday party under my belt.  By successful, I mean it was fun, cheap and loved by the birthday girl.  I could have gotten really crazy with this party...there are so many fun ideas (curse you Pinterest!).  But, this was just enough...Ella loved it, my budget loved it and we all had a lot of fun.  So, how will I top it next year??

The Ice Cream Alarm

So, a few months ago, I got this idea from a friend's post on facebook.  She and her husband put their kids to bed, and then sounded the ice cream alarm...everyone had to get up, get in the car and go get ice cream in their pajamas.  Tonight, seemed like a good night to try it.  It is spring break, the weather was pretty today, and let's face it...I wanted ice cream.  So, we got the kids bathed and in their pajamas.  I didn't want to go as far as actually putting them to bed, because that just sounded like a beating.  So, right before they were to go to bed, Mark got our weather radio and started sounding the alarm on it, and we ran through the house and told the kids to get in the car.  We were laughing and smiling, but the kids were a little freaked out.  They kept asking what was going on.  When we got in the car, I told them, "it's the ice cream alarm!  We're going to get ice cream." 
Here are just a few of the comments that followed...all of these took place on the way to get ice cream, or on the way back:

"What?!?!  You scared us half to death!!"  (Aidan)

"Mommy, don't do the ice cream alarm again.  It's not funny."  (Ella)

"Maybe yelling 'get out of the house! hurry!  get in the car!' was a little over the top."  (Mark)

"Don't worry about us, we're just sitting in the back seat, scarred, eating ice cream in our pajamas."  (Aidan)

"That wasn't funny."  (Ella)

"Ella, I have to tell you something.  Our parents have problems." (Aidan)

"Ice cream alarm.  Bad idea."  (Ella)

"I'm in my pajamas, but I didn't even go to bed.  I don't like the ice cream alarm." (Ella)

"Maybe next time we could just get ice cream."  (Aidan)

"The ice cream alarm is not funny."  (Ella)

So, maybe they were just a little traumatized by us running through the house sounding the weather alarm while yelling, "Hurry!  Get out of the house!"  (Okay, so that part was all me...I get a little carried away sometimes.)  At least they will have a good story for their therapist some day.  Sorry kids.

Still Here

I'm still here.  In case you were wondering...I was chugging along updating the blog on a very regular basis when the virus from #&!! struck our house...it won't go away...we've all had it now, some of us more than once.  Mark is its latest victim.  As I write this, it is 11:40 pm and he is out getting us a frosty.  The man knows how to be sick.  Ella has been hit the hardest.  She has been sick for most of the last 3 weeks.  She started antibiotics today, so hopefully, that will be the end of it.

We took Ella to the doctor today and I was reminded what a tough little kid she is.  The nurse did a strep test, and she didn't even flinch.  They said her tonsils were very red and swollen, and the inside of her nose looked terrible.  But, she has not complained one bit about it.  If it weren't for her fatigue we wouldn't have even known she wasn't feeling well.  I love that little girl.  She is fierce and fiesty, and sweet and loving, all at the same time.  She loves animals, she memorizes the names of everything and everyone (first, middle and last!), she's a scrappy little wrestler, and she would be on an all sugar diet if we let her.  I am so grateful she's my daughter, and I love her.

Anna turned 3 months old last week!  Wow!  That was quick.  She might be the happiest baby I've ever known.  The girl just does not get upset about much at all...she only cries if she is hungry.  Most of the time she sits around smiling.  Even if she's sitting alone, she sits and smiles...just because she is delighted that she can, I guess.  And when she spots one of us from across the room, she lights up.  We are having so much fun with her.  The kids adore her.  She is so peaceful and laid back.  This month, she has started sleeping through the night.  She has also started laughing out loud.  It is the greatest sound ever.  She laughs if you do funny voices, tickle her ribs or sway quickly back and forth with her (especially if you do this while using a funny voice...it's hilarious).  Right now, she is completely sacked out beside me on the couch...arms up in touchdown pose, and I love her.

Then there's Aidan...Aidan is a boy...all boy.  He tears holes in his jeans, laughs at potty humor, eats constantly, grows like a weed, hates homework, loves video games, just earned his bear badge in cub scouts, loves to go fast...except when he's getting ready for bed, or school, or doing homework.  He is sweet and funny.  His hair is too long, but he says all the girls like it that way (heaven help us), and when I lie down with him at bedtime, he tells me everything...everything that happened that day, good or bad, everything he's thinking, everything he's worried about, everything he thinks is funny, everything that 's in his sweet little head...and I love him.

And Mark...Mark buys me frostys late at night, takes off work to help me when I'm sick, and uses sweet little songs to be my ring tone on his phone...and I love him.

So, we're all still here...we're coughing, and feverish, and a little snotty and germy...but we're all still here...and I love us.  :)  I hope everyone else is enjoying better health than we are right now!