Conversations with my Son...

Me: Ben, we need to do your eye drops before bed tonight.
Ben: NO
Me: It won't be too bad buddy, we'll put them in quick.
Ben: No you won't Mommy....I will close my eyes (he closes his eyes as tight as he can and puts his hands over his face)
Me: Come on Ben, it's not that bad.
Ben: You can put them in my mouth.

Jay: Ben, I think it's time to go potty.
Ben: Go back to work Daddy!

Me: Benjamin James, get over here now!
Ben: No, my name is Ben.
Me: Your name is Benjamin, now come over here.
Ben: No, my name is Ben.
Me: I don't care what your name is, get over here now!

Me: Hannah it's time for dinner, come down stairs
(No reponse)
Me: Hannah let's go, it's time to eat!
(No response)
Ben: HANNAH CAKE GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!

Ben: Ellie has a bow in her hair. (touching the bow)
Me: Yes, Ellie looks very pretty.
Ben: very pretty
Me: Do you want to wear a bow and look pretty too?
Ben: No, Mommy (pause) I have a penis.

Ellie at 2 Months Old

Ellie turned 2 months old on Sunday.  We went for her well check up and first round of shots on Monday morning.  She is 15 pounds 6 ounces which is well above the 99th percentile.  She has gained 3 pounds since last month.  She is 23 1/2 inches long which is at the 90th percentile.  She did great with the shots and only cried for a few seconds.  Luckily she takes after Ben and had no reaction to the vaccines.  She slept most of the day on Monday and seemed to be back to herself by Tuesday. 

She is really adjusting to being on a schedule.  She eats around the same times everyday, and sleeps pretty well almost every night.  I have had to wake her up every morning this week to feed her before I take the kids to school.  She is really good about going right back to sleep which is nice on the weekends when I don't have to drop anyone off.  We feel so blessed to have such a sweet baby!

Ellie at 8 Weeks Old

Today Ellie is 8 weeks old!  We have had a couple of rough nights with our smallest princess, but hopefully we can get into more of a schedule and it will help.  She has been smiling a lot this week, and loves when you sing to her. 

Hannah and I both call her pretty girl all the time.  I'm starting to think she isn't going to respond to her name....only pretty girl!  I am loving that I get to spend the day with just her.  I miss the big kids and the fun we have, but it's nice to have time to bond with Ellie and allow her to be the center of attention. 

Ellie is also starting to notice Champ.  Champ just always wants to be in on the action and seems to always be on the wrong side of the door!

He is very protective of "his" baby!  Ellie has also been spending time on her tummy.  I think she does tummy time the best of all 3 kids.  Ben HATED tummy time, but I think that had a lot to do with his tummy problems.  Hannah would do it for about 2 minutes and then fuss.  Ellie doesn't seem to mind being on her tummy and tries to see the star toy light up.

She's a strong girl!

Bottle Boot Camp

With the packing and moving, we decided not to introduce Ellie to the bottle until we had settled into our new house.  Cleaning and washing bottles was just one more thing to add to an already super long list of things to do.  Now that we are in our new home, it's time to get Ellie used to a bottle so I can get a break and she can begin step 1 of her transition to Miss Gloria's in October.  Nana attempted the first bottle and it didn't go over too well.  Ellie gave her the stink eye and didn't drink very much at all.  Since then we have been attempting a bottle everyday. 

It seems like everybody is getting in on the action...

She is finally getting used to the bottle, and having the time in the evenings to get dinner cooked and the kids to bed has been really helpful. 

Life with these 3 kids is always busy, but we love every second of it!

7 Weeks Old

Yesterday was Ellie's 7 week mark.  It doesn't feel like it has been 7 weeks.  We are starting to establish a routine now that school has started back.  We all have to wake up VERY early to get 3 kids fed, dressed, and out the door by 6:50.  Hannah has loved kindergarten the past 2 days, but this morning she sat at the top of the stairs and cried because she was "so tired Mommy!"  I know the feeling!  The first week is always the hardest getting back into an established routine, and Hannah isn't the greatest morning person either.  As long as Ben knows there are muffins waiting for him on the breakfast table he is up and ready to go!

At 7 weeks old, Ellie is wearing size 3-6 month clothes and a size 2 diaper.  She has been consistently sleeping through the night for the past week or so which has been fabulous for her parents.  She has started smiling throughout the day, and yesterday she was smiling at big brother and big sister as they danced around her in her chair.  From about 7 - 9pm she is the grump.  I think she's tired, but not ready to commit to sleeping.  Jay usually walks her around the house to keep her from working herself up into screaming.  Some days I feel like she lives in the car going from one place to another.  She loves riding in the car and usually sleeps the entire time.  Both big kids have had doctor's appointments this week and she has slept through both of those too.  She is a wonderful baby!

The picture above is of Hannah wearing the same outfit at age 2 months.  Some days I think the girls look alike, and other days I think they look totally different.

Ben loves to hold Ellie, but his new thing is to tell us to "put Ellie down".  This is usually when he wants us to do something for him.

Poor Han wanted to hold Ellie too, but by the time Ben was finished with her Ellie wasn't in the best of moods.  Hannah doesn't like it when Ellie cries and can't do anything else until she tries to calm her down.  She is very much the little mother.

Ellie's sweet smile! 

First Day of Kindergarten!!

Today was Hannah's first day of school!  She was so excited when she woke up this morning.  The whole family went to drop her off for her big day.  Ben thought we were going to leave him too and wasn't a happy camper.

He did help her carry in her rest mat and he made sure she had her lunchbox before we left the house.  Ellie, as usual, slept through the entire event which worked out great. 

Mom and Dad both did great with no tears!  I got it all out last night :)  Ellie wasn't herself last night and had a really hard time falling asleep.  I didn't mind rocking her though because it feels like just yesterday I was rocking my other baby girl.  I have to take in all of Ellie's sweet baby moments because I know we'll blink and she'll be off to kindergarten.

Hannah and her best buddy Jordan are in the same class again this year, so she was really excited to see him this morning.  I think it made her feel very comfortable knowing that he was going to be there.  When I picked her up this afternoon, the only thing either one would talk about was recess!

Hannah made a special project for her first day, and she colored a school bus. (which Ben was very excited about!)

Ben had his eye doctor appointment this morning.  He has been doing a funny blinking thing since the beginning of the summer, so the pediatrician wanted him to be seen.  Luckily he doesn't need glasses, and the doctor thinks it is probably allergy related.  We will have to give him prescription eye drops for the next month, and hopefully we will see some improvement.  It's been a long day and I'm exhausted!

New House and Ellie is 6 Weeks Old!!

We are finally moved in!!  We have been living like the Berenstain Bears in the book "Too Much TV"....Jay has been in a war with AT&T about our internet/TV package.  They weren't going to be able to set up our TV or internet until August 11th.  After 6 days of no TV, we decided to go back with Comcast!  The kids were going crazy without their PBS favorites!  Outside of the internet/TV, the move has gone very smoothly.  We have unpacked all the essentials, and now we are moving into the decorating phase. 

Our master bath room has a beautiful bathtub that I have been so excited about using.  As you can see from the picture, the only one who has been using the beautiful bathtub is Ben.  He decided from day 1 that he wasn't going to take a bath in the kids bathroom, he wanted to use mommy's big bathtub.  Ben has adjusted so well to the new house.  When we were making car trips over with boxes, he would tell me as we were leaving, "Go back Mommy....new house so pretty."  He is also very excited to show everyone his room.  He is so proud to have a space all to himself.  The girls have rooms next to each other and Ben's is on the other side of the bathroom so he has his own space away from his sisters.  His favorite book right now is "If You Give a Moose a Muffin".  He asks everyday if we can make muffins.  We have made blueberry, strawberry, and banana nut muffins!

Hannah has also adjusted very well with the move.  She made a friend across the street the first day we moved in.  The little girl is older than Hannah, but Hannah really enjoyed playing with her.  All of our neighbors are very friendly and have made us feel very welcome in our new home.  Hannah will start kindergarten on Monday.  She's already having some first day jitters, but I know once she is there she will do great.  We go this evening to Meet and Greet so Hannah can meet her teacher.  She already has 2 friends in her class (other teacher's kids), so she is already 1 step ahead!

Miss Ellie turned 6 weeks old on Tuesday.  If you can't tell from the picture, we don't think she is getting enough to eat....HAHA!!  She is definitely a chunk!  She has slept through the night the last 3 nights which has made her parents VERY happy.  Ben started back at Miss Gloria's this week, so we have been waking up early to start practicing the routine.  I couldn't bring myself to wake this sleeping princess this morning, so we slept in late (7am) and took Ben after breakfast.  Ellie is the sweetest baby!  She has made 2 trips to school with me this week and has been an angel. 

It has been very difficult not being a part of the beginning of the year madness at school.  Last spring I decided to take off the first 11 weeks of the school year, so I won't be back to school until the end of October when Ellie is 4 months old.  I know this is the best decision for both of us, but I am really missing my teammates and friends at work.  I've been helping my amazing long term sub a bit, and doing some busy work for my teammates while they rush around to get ready for the first week.  I think I'm really just avoiding organizing the kids playroom.  It currently looks like this:

Hannah and I are off to tackle this project today.  I'm hoping to post pictures of each room as we get it organized!

1 Month Old

Our sweet baby girl turned 1 month old yesterday!  It's hard to believe it has already been a month.

Hannah and I took Ellie to the doctors this morning.  She weighed in at 12 pounds 2 ounces.  This puts her off the growth chart for weight!!  I told her this means she needs to start sleeping through the night...haha we'll see if she listens!  She was 23 inches which is at 95th percentile.  She's a big girl!  She had to get a shot this morning, and Hannah had said she was going to hold her hand, but when it came time Hannah couldn't watch!

The doctor has also put Ellie on acid reflux medicine which isn't too surprising since Ben and Hannah had to do the same.  She isn't very fussy, but she has been spitting up through her nose and her spit up has been yellow.  Hopefully this will bring her some relief and maybe she won't be grunting all the time.

We had some unusually cool weather today, so the kids and I headed over to the park.  We are trying to take advantage of all our local favorites before we move next Friday. 

Ben has been fighting taking naps these days.  It's hard to get him to stay in his bed, so I was surprised to find him fast asleep on the couch this afternoon.  He also figured out how to climb to the top of the bunk beds (not using the ladder).  Jay watched him do it last night and decided it was a big accident waiting to happen.  We turned the bed around so the ladder was available to use.  We showed him how to climb up and down, thinking it would be a safer option.  He did great going up the ladder, but fell coming down.  Again we were nervous about an accident, so we called Uncle Tyler at 9pm and had him come help Daddy take apart the beds.  The big kids are now sleeping in separate rooms and Ellie is with us in our room.  Have I mentioned that I can't wait to move??  1 week from today!

Ellie at 3 weeks and Cow Appreciation Day

We've been so busy this week with packing that I almost forgot to put up a picture of Ellie at 3 weeks.

Ellie has been doing wonderful.  She is starting to have more periods during the day of being awake.  She LOVES to be held, and often doesn't want to be put down so I can attend to Hannah or Ben.  She loves taking baths.  In the evenings if she starts getting fussy, we can put her in the bath and she gets very calm.  She is spitting up more lately. (so much for a baby that doesn't spit)  When she spits it often comes out her nose which just seems awful.  She is sleeping longer stretches at night which has been very nice for all of us!

Yesterday was cow appreciation day at Chick-Fil-A.  If you dressed up as a cow, you got a free meal.  Hannah was complaining that she was bored, so I thought this would be a fun project for us to do.  She wanted everyone to dress like cows, but Jay and I decided it was best for just the kids to participate! :)  Hannah and I made the shirts, and then we headed out to Chick-Fil-A with Daddy and Uncle Tyler.  The kids did not want to cooperate for a group photo, so this is the best we got.

Hannah enjoyed "mooing" like a cow!

Ben was very excited to eat at Chick-Fil-A and play in the playground once he finished his nuggets.

Ellie was taking it all in.  She doesn't get out very often so there were lots of new things to see!

Another failed attempt at a group shot, but overall the kids had a blast.  They loved seeing all the people dressed up like cows.

Happy 4th of July!

2 Weeks Old!

I took Ellie to the doctor this morning for her 2 week check up.  She weighed in at 9 pound 13 ounces and was 21 3/4 inches long.  It's crazy how much she is already growing.  When we last took her to the doctor on the 17th she was 8 pounds 4 ounces, so she is really taking off! 

We have been so blessed with all the family and friends that have helped us out in the past 2 weeks.  We have had meals provided almost everyday since Ellie was born.  We have received beautiful gifts from our friends and neighbors.  Mostly we have really appreciated both of our moms taking care of the big kids so Jay can work and I can recover. 

We have been taking pictures of Ellie everyday so we don't forget how little and sweet she was at this age.  She continues to be a great baby.  She loves to be held and I'm sure she is getting spoiled.  She always has her brother and sister at her side ready to give her whatever she needs.  When she is a sleepy girl, I often lay her unwrapped in her crib to get her to wake up.  She had started crying and before I could pick her up both kids were in her room telling her it was going to be okay.  We are so blessed!

Ellie's First Bath

The kids were so excited to help with Ellie's first bath.  We were going to do it on Wednesday night, but things got too busy so we pushed it back to Thursday night.  Ben was excited to play with the bubbles, and Hannah was the big helper bringing all the needed supplies to the tub!

Ellie wasn't too excited about her bath.  She did like it towards the end when we used the sprayer to wash off all the bubbles!

Ben loves being a helper for his baby sister!