6 months

A half a year old already! Our little pumpkin is 26.75 inches tall and weighs 16 pounds. That puts her in the 85% for height and 50% for weight. "Long and lean" is what the doc called her.

In the past week she has started sleeping a LITTLE better, waking up twice at night. Doc gave us his "blessing" to officially let her cry it out in the middle of the night. "Expect 2-4 hours of crying," he said.

2-4 hours??? I don't know about this...

Her two bottom teeth came in, and she is eating like a champ...her menu has expanded to a bit of table food. She can feed herself a "mum mum" (a large rice cracker), and today I gave her itsy bitsy cooked chicken for the first time. We were all eating and she just seemed really interested in it, so out of curiosity I gave her some. And then some more :) All this in addition to her baby food puree of fruits and veggies.

She is also sitting up on her own, which really makes things fun, especially when Ethan and Kate are around. They love to play with her. She is also grabbing toys, rolling over very well and can see me from several feet away. I know this because I make funny faces at her and she laughs at me.

Annabel was excited to come with me to the voting booths this past election day. She even posed with her sticker...

Annabel at 5 Months

This little lady has caused a lot of trouble!!!

But she's cute, isn't she?

Shortly after her 4 month birthday, Annabel's night wakings became even more frequent...like almost every two hours. We tried sleep training (allowing her to cry it out), homeopathy, an extended bedtime routine...but nothing seemed to work to get her to stay asleep for longer periods. What made matters worse, was that she also began to roll over. While this developmental milestone was exciting, it also made it hard for her to learn to fall asleep at night because she would roll onto her tummy, and then get upset that she couldn't roll back!

After trying everything, we decided to start her on rice cereal. I had wanted to wait till she was 6 months old, but she was at least within the acceptable age range to begin solids. We are now about five weeks into it and she is sleeping better again. She still wakes up two or three times at night, but I'll take that over what we've been through the last month and a half.

Other good news...her spitting up has almost completely subsided. In combination with solid foods, I think this little girl will chunk up just nicely :)

Right now, she's about 16 pounds. She eats rice, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and bananas. She goes to bed at about 7 pm, wakes up to nurse at midnight and four, and then is up for the day about 7:30 am. She is more interested in her toys now, and she has learned to "yell" ...loudly saying "AHHHH". She takes three naps everyday, somewhere around 9:30 AM, 1 PM and 4 PM. Unlike Ethan and Kate, she's not a very good napper, only napping for about 40 minutes at a time.

Four Years

It doesn't seem very long ago that Kate was learning to walk. Today she runs...fast and hard! Who knew that she would turn out to be such a spitfire! Definitely all girl with her emotional outbursts, unique "fashion sense", and love for anything sparkly, but surprisingly tomboyish as she runs, digs in the dirt and roars ferociously with wild eyes as she plays. Crazy girl. Lovable girl.

Some of her favorite things:

• tight pants
• pistachio nuts
• nail polish
• sucking her thumb (ugh, I know...)
• kettle brand salt and pepper chips
• brushing Barbie's hair
• headbands
• Dancing with the Stars

This picture was taken on her actual birthday, October 2nd. Look at how she stands...triumphant, proud, striking a pose. This is SO her! And in most things, she approaches them confidently, unabashedly, enthusiastically. She's game for just about anything (except for her 4 year old immunizations today. Let's just say it took three adults to hold her down and administer the shots). I have to say--and David would agree-- that although she looks more like his side of the family, she has a lot of my characteristics.

This could be a problem come junior high.

Happy Birthday, Kate the Great! We love you :)

Birthday Momma

The best part about turning 34? Having the family make my birthday cake.

Honestly, it was a rainy labor day weekend. Nothing for the kids to do, but mix, pour and bake a sweet treat! As with most things...it didn't turn out quite like they expected! No matter! It still tasted really good! And watching David trying to fix that cake gave me the biggest belly laughs I'd had in a long time...

Annabel at 4 Months

Annabel is now 14lbs, 25 inches long. We haven't settled into much of a schedule yet. Some things remain predictable...she usually  naps for only 45 minutes to an hour, gets tired and cranky after being awake for an hour to an hour and a half, both of which don't leave me much time to do much else other than hold her! It seems like things are going more slowly for her than they did with Ethan and Kate at this same age. She is also waking up two to three times at night, and usually needs help when going to sleep.

We just started Ferber with her. It's excruciating to hear her cry, but it's also hard that she won't go to sleep on her own. I'm the one who has to both feed her and put her to sleep. Not much fun! But she will only be a baby for a short while so I will cherish these moments--no matter how challenging, and no matter what time of day or night--while they last.

She has this cute little dimple on the right side of her face. And the kids officially call her Annabooboo :)

Labor Day 2012

Today we went to our favorite outdoor spot...Starved Rock State Park. We have had a ton of rain the past few days and we were hoping the waterfalls would be overflowing with water. Sadly, they were not. But that did not prevent us from enjoying the hike nonetheless.

I think one of my favorite memories of this summer would be the elusive jellybean bush we discovered today. David spotted one...

And the children enjoyed the fruits of his labor! It was a long hike, so lucky for us we found LOTS of jellybean bushes along the way. When Kate suggested we look for M&M bushes we told her that sadly, those weren't in season :) 

I think Annabel enjoyed the hike as much as I did...

And she got pretty worn out, just like I did!

Three months

It's August! This summer has flown by, and little Annabel is growing fast...For her three month birthday Annabel surprised us with a wonderful gift: her first full-fledged laugh. She still gets me up in the middle of the night, but on the whole her sleeping is getting much better.

I have no idea how much weighs now...but at her two month check up she 11 and a half pounds and 23 inches tall.

This is Annabel at 2 months:

Annabel at one month. This is when she began to coo and smile at us :)

The Arrival of Annabel Faith

It's been two months since Annabel's birth, and this is about as much as I can write right now! Well, to be honest, there isn't much writing. However, here are the few pictures we took at the hospital. I had planned a water birth, but after two hours in the tub, I decided I was done with the water and I wanted to get out!!! I'll post Annabel's birth story soon (it's kinda funny, actually).
 

The below photos are courtesy of Bella Baby Photography...

Ethan's 6th Birthday

It's hard to believe...6 years old! Ethan's birthday celebration had a lego theme to it this year, and we invited his friends over to have some lego building time.

It started with a little scavenger hunt of lego minifigures I cut out of paper and hid all over the back yard....the more you found, the more candy you got to take home!

 Then the boys spent a good deal of time building lego race cars. As part of Ethan's birthday gift, we bought him a lego set that included a variety of vehicles. Each of the boys drew a number, which corresponded to a car "kit" and instructions. Some cars were definitely harder than others!

Here are the boys outside with their cars...ready to race!

Our makeshift race track...

After a series of rounds and eliminations, we have a winner-- his old friend, Grant (in the middle), along with Ethan "H", the runner up! As the first place winner, Grant got to keep his car!

After the race, was snack time of course! I tried to stay with the lego theme with lego cheese and crackers, lego juice boxes, and square and circle shapes in general. Ethan loves donuts, so that was much easier than a lego cake!

I think they all had a great time. I certainly did!

Some video updates

Some highlights of what the kids have been doing this winter...

In the below clip, you can see Ethan just above the music stand, wearing a white shirt. This is his first choir concert :)

In this clip below, we see Ethan's progress at basketball. This was taken at his last game of the season. It's hard to believe that he couldn't even dribble a ball in October!



Lastly, here is Kate at her pre-ballet/pre-tap class. They are rehearsing for their end of the year recital. Kate's in the middle, the only girl NOT wearing any kind of a skirt. Why am I so anti-tutu??? Of course, you should see what their costume is going to be. Totally, offensively girly! Poofs, sequins and all! But hey, you're only 3 once :)

 

A letter to my little one...

Dearest baby girl,

I hope you do not fault me too much with how few pregnancy posts I have written about you. Truth be told, this may be my first, official one.

There were many reasons for this. It took a relatively long time (in our eyes) to conceive a third time, and after two miscarriages I learned not to get my hopes up. And when we finally heard the great news it took me close to four months to really allow myself to get excited.

And here we are, six months in, and I am indeed excited to meet you!

You move around a lot, which scares me, because we are hoping you are mild-mannered, easy, a good sleeper and eater. Your activity in utero makes me think perhaps you have quite a different personality. I wonder who you are and who you will be.

Your older brother and sister kiss you every day (on my tummy) and can't wait to meet you, help take care of you, and play with you.