Zeke reads

Zeke is so interested in reading.  He loves identifying letters and their sounds.  He asks me what words say or asks me to read those words all day long.  He even attempts to sound words out and has done a few on his own.  I have decided to casually start teaching him some reading.  We made an "I see ___" book with Cars stickers.  He enjoyed helping make the book and has enjoyed reading the book to everyone that comes through our door.  We are so proud of our boy!



iPhone dump

Alright, let's get real for a minute.  I have been pretty bad about taking picures with our camera.  For one thing, it doesn't want to come on half the time, you have to physically put the flash up from where some clumsy girl dropped it (too early to blame Ellie on being the clumsy girl I guess), and often I don't even know where the darn thing is.  I have been taking pictures on my phone though.  I always know where it is and although it doesn't take the best of pictures I at least document stuff with it.  Here's some pictures from my phone over the last couple weeks.

 My 3 kids!

 Ellie was especially chatty this day (and oh so edible!)

 on a walk the boys kept finding and throwing pinecones

 snuggling with her blanket

 tummy time turns into sleeping time (also check out that hair!)

 Trip to Petsmart (aka we gotta get out of this house and the pollen is out of control so we can't play outside)

Ellie realized her hair is falling out and she is left with a nice old man receding hairline

Photo Card

Framed Love Girl Baby Announcements

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Friday Funday

Friday is Spence's day off.  We typically try to do something as a family out of the house.  This past week we ventured out to the museum.  It started raining while we were in the catch the wind section (if you don't know the museum, this is as far away from being inside as you can get).  We threw Ben in the back of the stroller and Spence, Ben and Ellie took off.  Zeke and I ran as well.  Of course the rain stopped as we got inside.  We decided to not risk it and hung out in the play area inside for the rest of our trip. 

 "Weeha!"

 "Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"

 Ben says this hat is his "football team" hat

This is what she did the majority of the time on her first museum visit

At the carwash

The weather has been insane!  I'm talking 80's before spring actually hit.  If it's this warm in March, I'm a little afraid of July and August.  Anway, the boys and I set up a carwash in the backyard for their toy cars.  They had a blast!  It did turn into them dumping the water, running inside to refill the buckets, and then dump it again.

30 days

Wow!  The time really is flying by with this baby girl.  I feel like she has just slipped into our family so naturally that it's seems like longer at times.  The boys continue to adore her.  Zeke can be heard often saying "I think she likes me" and Ben is obsessed with giving her her paci and calling her "girly girl".  I am so excited for her to have these big brothers. 

New stuff:

Ellie smiled for the first time at me last week.  She has since smiled at both brothers.  She is stingy though with her daddy and hasn't given him one yet.  (we think it's because she knows once she does he will turn to mush and be a sucker)

We took Ellie to the doctor on Monday for a sick visit (her first).  She has had a running nose for almost 3 weeks and a nasty cough for almost 2, so we decided to have her looked over to be sure we weren't missing anything.  Because our practice is so awesome, Melissa (our favorite NP) said she would go ahead and do the well check as well so we wouldn't have to come back on Wednesday.  (side note, so glad I didn't change peds offices even if it is 25 minutes away) 

Stats:

Our girl is weighing in at 8 pounds, 15 ounces which puts her at the 50%.  She is now 21 inches and is in the 55% there.  I can't believe that in a months time she has almost gained 3 pounds.  She is still wearing mostly newborn clothing though.  0-3 month stuff falls off!  We are using up the newborn diapers and movig into size 1's.  They are a bit big and she has leaked once, but newborns are tight around her big ol belly.

Other memories:

She has started spitting up quite a bit.  And by quite a bit I mean she and I both have to change our clothes.  She generally only does it once or twice a day, but when she does it is rough!

I feel like every other night we have a GREAT night of sleep sometimes going 4 hours between feedings.  On the bad nights though, I sleep in the rocker holding her the entire night :(

She seems to like to be swaddled with her arms out which makes me a bit sad because I love me some wrapped up babies.  (she has made it longer than Ben, who decided at 2 weeks to sleep on his tummy)

She naps really well in her swing during the day

She is so much more alert and is having about a 20-40 minute awak time after she eats.  (the boys love when she is awake)

 One month basket pic

 Carolina blue bow

Bib from Keva (worn at first sick visit/1 month dr check up)

Mama tries to be a photographer

I am such a fan of all the cool pictures people are taking of their newborns.  I decided to try my hand at a few with our girl the other week.  These were taken in her second-third week so she was a little older than most people do for newborn pics (generally around 10-14 days) and I was also trying to balance keeping the boys busy while I did a few of them.

 Nobody puts Baby on a bookshelf

 What's that on the stairs?

 Oh wow, look what we found Mom!

 I think she would have stayed in here all day if I had let her

 Love me a girl in a bow

Lindsey took this one to show that I actually am still here

Some other firsts

 First trip to the wonderful world of Target

 Loves her swing

 We got a new playmat that Ellie is getting use of already

OVERSTIMULATED!!!!

Boys and Bubbles

We have been trying to do extra fun stuff with the boys.  We filled our tub and threw in a ton of bubbles the other night.  The boys had such a great time and our bathroom got soaked!

Squeaky Clean

Ellie's belly button fell off.  WAY earlier than either of the boys, before she was even 2 weeks!  Crazy right?!  We couldn't find our baby bathtub (maybe in the attic or we might have gotten rid of it), so she didn't get a real bath until a week later after I got one at the consignment sale (for $1.33!!!)

 Big ol belly

 Woohoo!

 Please check out her skinny little legs and that big round belly

She kinda liked getting sprayed off

BOWS!

Headbands, alligator clips, no slippi hair clippy... have I lost you yet?  I have entered a whole other world here.  I can say I am enjoying it.  I had always said if I ever had a girl, she would have a bow in the hospital.  Well, we accomplished that.  But when we got home I realized that a lot of the bows were too big to fit around her head.  So, I went on a search.  I ordered from Carrie McQuaid, of Caroline G,  who goes to our church.  Hers isn't too big and is adorable and actually came with two bows that can clip on the headband or be used alone.  Carrie is awesome and I can't wait for her new dressline to come out.  I also ordered from itty bitty baby bows.  These bows are pretty different because you stick them to the baby's head.  The bows came with a tube of surgilube (the stuff at the doctor's office).  It doesn't work extremely well, so after I use it up I will use something else to stick them on.

Now onto the cuteness

 First itty bitty bow

 First Caroline G bow

another itty bitty but I just really liked this picture :)

March Madness

Rocking in style

We got a new chair for the nursery!  When we had Zeke, I was way more concerned with what would look good.  We got a white wooden rocker that looked great in the room, but was so horribly uncomfortable.  I now tell soon to be parents to splurge on two things a good stroller (highly recommend our Phil and Ted) and a good rocker.  You are going to spend a ridiculous amount of time in that chair so make it something you don't hate sitting in.  We chose something that we can put into our living room or a play room one day when we are done with middle of the night feedings.  (but with how hard it was to get this sucker up the stairs and into the room, it may just stay there forever)  I have already slept a bit in the chair and have to say it's amazing and perfect!