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!