"You have to share!!!"

Look at that first picture...I love that you can see the ball in mid-air coming from the ball popper!!! Anyway, "you have to share" is heard too many times to count in a day around these parts. With a four year old, almost 3 year old and  baby, things can get pretty dicey when it comes to staking your claim on toys. I really try to stress that we have to share ALL the toys. I guess that means the baby toys too. Hattie got the Fisher Price Ball Popper for Christmas but the big girls are the ones that always want to play with it. This is a good progression of how things tend to go in this house. It starts out fine and dandy but usually ends in tears. They will grow out of it soon, right?!?!?

Tiny Reader

At four and a half, this girl can read! I'm so proud of my Leah. We've been working on it here and there. She likes to sound out all the letters and for months we have been putting the sounds together. Over her Christmas break from school we really started working on it a lot using the iPad and she picked it up so quickly. Now almost a month later she can read a number of simple books on the iPad and she has read a few little critter books as well. The other day she managed to get through Llama Llama...it was tough, but she did it! I'm so proud of my brown eyed girl!

7 Months Down

So many things are going on with this little one that I don't even know where to begin! In the past month there have been big changes. On December 29th, she perfected sitting up on her own. She can't go from laying to sitting yet, but she can reach for objects and move her trunk around without wobbling and falling over. Before Christmas I told Mitch it was time to get her in the convertible carseat...well, it was decided that she would sleep better (therefore travel better) on the way to Wisconsin in her infant seat so we kept her in that. But on January 10th she moved into her big girl car seat. She is still rear-facing, of course, but she loves it. I think she likes being up a little bit higher so she can see and talk to her sisters. On that same day she had her first taste of solid foods. I was cooking some frozen peas and carrots for big sisters so I gave her some, and sweet Hattie loved them. Now there is no going back. She has had peas, carrots, macaroni, green beans, cannelloni beans, butternut squash, lima beans. So far she is not a picky eater.

And then the biggest change of all...On January 13th she started crawling. Yes, may baby is crawling. I really didn't think she would crawl this young. But I should have seen it coming. Leah and Kiersten both crawled between 6 and 7 months. But they were trying at a much earlier age. Hattie didn't really start trying until the end of December, but apparently she is a fast learner. So now there is no stopping her. I'm having to be much more vigilant with the toys that Leah and Kiersten play with on the floor. Because every little thing is going into her mouth.

Yesterday, was the 21st. So Hattie is officially 7 months old. When I put her on the scale she was an even 19 lbs. That's up 2 pounds in the last month. It has to be the solid foods. She is eating baby food and solids three meals a day, and taking about 5 bottles. She weaned herself from breastfeeding the week between Christmas and New Years. I knew it was coming and I was sad... Not quite ready to let it go, but everytime I would try to get her to eat she would pull away and get fussy. My supply was low, and it makes it much easier to know that it was her decision. Otherwise, she is such a happy baby, very calm and so very sweet. This afternoon she has an appointment with a photographer. I just know the pictures will be amazing and I can't wait. Happy 7 months, my sweet sweet Hattie!

Skating with the Hunt Family

The Decatur Civic Center has open ice skating on the weekends so yesterday we (actually Mitch) decided to take advantage of it. Our friends Joel and Sidney and their kids Charlee and Van had actually planned to go and called to see if we were interested. We had taken Leah skating once the year before, but this was Kiersten's first time giving it a go. We waited until she was up from her nap, and planned to meet Joel and Sid around 4. Hattie was still down for her nap so Mitch decided to take Leah and Kiersten and I was going to meet up with them when Hattie woke up, but she slept until 5:10...since skating ended at 5:30 there wasn't much point in me going.

Mitch started with both the girls on the ice. He told Leah he was going to take Bug for one lap on the ice and then he would be back for her turn. Well, halfway around the ice he could see Leah crying so he cut across and went back to her. Thankfully, another mom was finishing up and she gave Mitch the walker for Kiersten to use. I think this was a life saver for Mitch. Kiersten used the walker and Leah stayed between the walker and the wall so she had something to grab onto while they went round and round. But Mitch said that Leah pretty much skated on her own the entire time. So proud of my big girl!

When the skating was done, they all came home and we ordered pizza. We enjoyed catching up with Joel and Sidney while the kids had fun playing...they always do. When we were getting Kiersten ready for bed, we noticed huge blisters on the inside of her ankles. She didn't complain about them at all and they were bad. She is one tough cookie and had SO MUCH FUN!

It's a New Day

When we were driving home from Christmas in the Dells, it started to snow. So we woke up New Year's Day to a little bit of snow on the ground. It was a minor dusting in comparison to the snow that we saw in Wisconsin, but the girls were still very excited. We got them suited up and they went out for some fun. Kiersten just wanted to eat the snow. And Leah couldn't wait to make snow angels. They lasted about twenty minutes and then they were ready to come back in. I sure hope we get some actual snowfall this winter so they can go out for some real fun. In New Jersey we made snowmen, so hopefully we will get the chance to do that again soon...Daddy is a pro!