Playdate

Leah has a "boyfriend"! She tells us all the time that she loves him. What's even funnier is that Logan tells his parents the same thing. A few days ago Logan's  mom overheard him tell his Dad that he has "always loved Leah since the first day of school." Leah's birthday is May 9th and Logan's birthday is May 10th so Logan's mom, Mandi, and I are planning to have a joint birthday party. When Mandi asked Logan what he thought about the idea he said "that's good because we got married six days ago." Last night in the car Leah was singing her own song..."I love Logan, I love Logan, I love love love Logan." Next year they won't be attending the same school. It will be a very "Romeo and Juliet" type scenario. We will certainly have to get them together for playdates.

Mandi has been an amazing friend. On Monday's when Bug has dance from 11-11:30 and I can't get to school to get Leah she picks her up for me. When the kids had the flu she helped with preschool pick up too. So when her husband had to go to Europe for 10 days for work, I made dinner and sent it over and also brought Logan home with me after school one day. The girls were in heaven. They thought it was super awesome to have Logan at our house all afternoon. And what luck for us that the temperatures were in the 50's that February day. Logan has a three year old brother and a baby sister close to Hattie's age so we are looking forward to many more playdates this spring, summer and for years to come.

Frosty and Friends

We finally got snow!!! It started falling on Thursday afternoon and on Friday the girls were super excited to get outside and play in it. Of course the "play" started with Leah throwing snowballs at Bug, but she didn't seem to mind. They spent almost 40 minutes out there and it was COLD. Leah made a miniature snowman family. There was Mom, Dad, Leah, Kiersten and Hattie...she was so proud. They couldn't wait for Mitch to get home to go out and make a real snowman. Of course, that had to wait until Saturday but Daddy's snowmen never disappoint. They were so excited to make a snowman with Daddy. We even took Hattie out to get a picture with Frosty. On Sunday Leah wanted to make another snowman so Mitch told her to try to make one by herself...and to our surprise, she did. She did a great job with her snowman. I hope he sticks around for a while, she will be devastated when he melts.

8 Month Old Hattie

Sweet Hattie is 8 months old and I wish I could just make time stand still. She is growing up much too fast for me. In the past few weeks she has definitely mastered the speed crawl. We have had to lower her crib mattress because she is trying to stand up. She has started taking baths with big sisters and is eating lots more finger foods. I've been giving her more pasta, different vegetables cut up, cheesesticks, strawberries, eggs...she loves them all. We are regressing a little bit in our sleep habits. She has had a bad cold for two weeks and then the stomach bug, so she has been waking up at night more. She is easily soothed back to sleep but sometimes needs some tylenol. Her fingers have been in her mouth constantly, and Mitch thinks he can feel a bump on her gums where her first tooth will hopefully be popping in soon.

She is still the sweetest little baby, and really goes with the flow. I try to keep her on a schedule and routine but that isn't always possible. And she doesn't ever make it difficult to alter her routine. I am enjoying every bit of this little girl and her big sisters too. She adores them and when you put her down she takes off like a shot to the playroom to see what they are up to. She is also starting to notice when Daddy gets home.When he comes in the door and hears his voice she gets excited and makes a move to go find him. Such a sweet sweet daddy's girl...again, just like her big sister's.

Stomach Bugs

As hard as I worked to avoid it...it happened. And by it, I mean the flu. Although technically our doctor says it wasn't the flu, just a nasty stomach bug. But it sure looked like the flu and it was dreadful. I started on Wednesday night/Thursday morning when Leah came into our room just after 3 AM and said she had thrown up in her bed. The next morning she got up and said she felt okay, and she didn't have any fever so I told her to go ahead and start getting ready for school...it was Valentine's Day and she was so upset thinking she had to miss the party. Well by the time we got downstairs she was changing her tune. She said her stomach hurt and she didn't think she should go to school. I knew she had to be sick. So I called and let St. Pauls know and within minutes of me hanging up the phone she was throwing up again. By noon she had gotten sick at least 5 times and had to take two showers. After that we put her hair in a ponytail and she got the hang of using a bucket. 

Thursday night she was doing better and on Friday she seemed to be on the mend. I put Hattie down for a nap around 9:30. When she hadn't woke up by noon I went to check on her and to my dismay she had gotten sick in her crib...really sick. And then proceeded to lay in it for over 2 hours. Her hair was matted, it was dried in her eyelashes, her clothes were covered and it was even in her ears. I had no idea but she hadn't fussed once. So into the bathtub she went. Friday night around 7 PM Bug started to complain of an upset tummy and was throwing up in no time. She even woke us up 4 times Friday night Saturday morning to change the sheets. And the kicker...so did Leah! Saturday was a lay on the couch with your bucket and do nothing day. Thankfully no one got sick Saturday night. Kiersten had one episode on Sunday morning and by Sunnday night we were flu...or stomach bug free.

I don't know how Mitch and I managed to avoid it, but thankfully we did. We were exhausted all the same from all the middle of the night linen changing and the LOADS of laundry, but so very thankful that our illness was short lived. The one plus of sick kids, LOTS of extra snuggles :)

New Kicks

A couple of days before Valentines the girls got a special treat...new shoes, Sperry's to be exact. They LOVE shoes. I know for some kids new shoes aren't that exciting but for my girls, new shoes is about as exciting as winning the lottery. I think the only thing that tops new shoes is a new dress. So it was fun to see their reactions. Kiersten has the funniest facial expressions and I am always trying to capture them. She helped Hattie open her shoes first. And it was priceless to see the look on her face...so you can imagine the expressions when she opened her own. And the fact that they had sparkles...well that just made them even better. The next morning at preschool they couldn't wait to show Mrs. Stanzione and Mandi (Logan's mom) "Look at my new shoes" and "My shoes are sprinkly", what fun. And pretty stylish too!

Valentine Love

My girls were super excited when our doorbell rang on Valentines Day with packages for them! My parents, Gigi and Papa had stuffed animals and heart shaped boxes of chocolates delivered to the girls. They thought they were pretty special...and felt very loved. Kiersten got a pink bear, Hattie got a brown bear and Leah got a shaggy dog. They love them and now an extra animal is tucked in bed with them every night. Thanks, Gigi and Papa...Happy Valentine's Day.

Growing Up So Fast

I think I blinked and Miss Leah is a person! Not my baby, not a toddler a little lady in more ways than one. She is so sweet and caring and sensitive. She wants to do the right thing and tries so hard to have good manners. She is also a little mommy. She likes to tell her little sisters when they are doing something wrong and then she likes to be sure that I know about it. But really, she has sucha good heart. These days she is all about being Mommy's helper. She loves to help feed baby Hattie. The other day we were getting ready to head out in the morning and I said "I need to get coats on." Since she already had hers on, and I was busy helping Bug she took it upon herself to put Hattie's coat on for me. The other day we ran through Dairy Queen drive thru for sandwiches on our way home. Leah got a burger and Bug got a hot dog. Kiersten was sad that she didn't have any pickles so Leah shared hers. Such a sweet girl.

She is also so eager to learn. On Sunday after church she took it upon herself to sit down with her magna doodle and write sentences. She makes my heart swell with pride.

No Snow

I don't know what's going on, but this winter has been oddly NOT WHITE! And it's ruining the girls winter fun. They have snow suits and every time they see a snowflake fall from the sky they get all excited to make snow angels and snowmen, but alas. All we ever get is a dusting. Hardly enough to  put on the snow suits but we do anyway, because that's part of the fun. The first week of February we got a little over an inch. So they suited up. They spent about 30 minutes outside, and then they were done. Just long enough to make snow angels on the deck...and Kiersten ate plenty of snow. I keep trying to convince her that's not a good idea...that girl has a mind of her own. 

 

Hattie's 6 Month Pictures

Back in January I took Hattie to Bloomigton for the day, to capture some images of my six month old girl. And I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Major props to Laura Kruger photography...she was excpetional to work with. So patient and relaxed with my crazy...got to crawl everywhere baby. Every single image she has taken captures the real Hattie, her smiles, her mischevious grin, her excitement at seeing and feeling out new things. I will definitely be returning to her in the near future. I just love her work, and I hope you do too!

ZONA!

Back in June or July, I was shopping for baby clothes online at Old Navy...and I came across an Arizona Wildcats shirt. Well, for obvious reasons those are hard to come by in Central Illinois. And it was in the clearance "section".  SO I had to have it, right?!?! The smallest size it came in was 6 but I figured Leah would grow into it and she did. I took it out of the closet for her to wear with her jeggings today and she looked super cute. I put a red bow in her hair and my girl was set. We talked about how it says Arizona, and how that's where Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeff live. I told her about how Aunt Laura went to school there and is a coach there now. She was very interested. Then I told her the Wildcats name was Wilbur, she thought that was pretty funny. But she was super excited to learn that Wilbur has a girlfriend Wildcat names Wilma. She asked me if Wilma wears a red bow in her hair. I told her no, but that Wilma wears a blue and red cheerleaders uniform. She was sold, she loved it. Wilma is her new favorite I think. Maybe someday I will have an Arizona Wildcat...but more likely my girls will be little Fighting Illini!

Bug does not have an Arizona shirt...so this is the face I got when I wanted them to do thumbs up so I could send a picture to Aunt Laura. Funny! Gigi thought the picture was too cute, and said she will have to go shopping for some more Wildcat gear before they make the trip home at the end of the month. I think Bug will be a VERY happy little girl!

Go Lions!

So a few times in the last couple of weeks I have been taking the big girls to LSA for some basketball games. Leah will be starting Kindergarten there in a few months so I figured she would enjoy getting accquainted with the school. Well enjoy was an understatement. She and Bug absolutely loved going to see the basketball games. The first game we went to was a girls game and they were eager to cheer on our babysitters, Baylee and Taryn. Leah proclaimed that she was "not going to cheer for that blue team when they make a basket." and she didn't. She was sad when we lost by one point. But I assured her we would probably win the next one. The other games that we went to were boys games and that meant that Baylee was in the stands with us to keep the girls entertained. They still liked watching the basketball, but boy did they LOVE watching the cheerleaders. Our babysitter Morgan is a senior and a cheerleader and so Bug loved learning how to do the Lion Rumble. She was going it for days. Everyone got a kick out of seeing her rumble...it was pretty cute. Even Hattie came to one game with us. You can tell in the picture that she got so excited that she wore herself out, LOL! I think the best part for Leah was seeing her friend Camryn and her teacher Mrs. Stanzione at the games. She thought that was pretty special and she is looking forward to being with Camryn at LSA next year. I think next year we will be going to even more games...GO LIONS!

Big Sister, Bug!

Kiersten has taken the role of big sister, and ran with it. She simply adores Hattie and it makes me so incredibly happy to see them bond. Kiersten has to be the first one in Hattie's room in the morning to say "Good Morning, Hattie Cakes" and then she has me bring Hattie back to my bed so she can snuggle and play with her a bit before we get full swing into our morning routine. She loves to sit on the floor and play with her, although lately she isn't wanting to share her toys...of course she expects Hattie to share hers, Sigh!

She is becoming such an independent and smart little person. She knows almost all her letters and numbers and is working on writing her names. It's a work in progress. She makes me smile, but she is also exasperating. When things don't go her way, she stomps her feet, crosses her arms and says "That's not fair, Mommy!" She says this a lot. But in no time, she is asking for me to rock her and snuggle in the chair...I happily oblige. She is mysnuggle, bug after all. "My girls are the greatest blessing to both Mitch and I. Every good and perfect gift is from above." ~James 1:17