Stuck In The House

We're stuck in the house again for the next few days because of this crazy winter weather.

Hannah's school was canceled for tomorrow because of the frigid temps.

We have been doing our best to keep busy. We're reading, playing on our leap pads, doing crafts, playing soccer in the hallway. Mama made puffins (pancake muffins) and m&m cookies.

Daddy will be home late tonight so I told him to pick up dinner on the way home. :oP Maybe we'll start a fire tonight too.

Maybe I'll pick up an unfinished afghan and crochet later today. I haven't done that in quite some time. I really have to finish Hannah's flower afghan so I can start on Hailey's. :o)

We're just trying to make the best out of being stuck in the house.

Stay warm, friends!

Happenings Lately

This last week was a long one! We all had our turn with a nasty head cold. Colson was first, then Nick, then Hailey and Hannah, and then I ended the week of the sickies. Hannah missed school for a couple days. We spent a lot of time in our pjs and we watched lots of cartoons.

I would say that today we are all about 95% better. Just in time for more frigid subzero temps and more snow. Why can't it just be Fall all year long???

This weekend will be spent catching up on house work and laundry, and planning out some meals that actually require some effort. :oP

We also have someone that is turning 3 in a week. It just totally blows my mind that Colson is going to be 3. I swear he was just Haileys size. The big birthday party is next weekend and planning is underway. Hopefully we don't get anymore crazy snow storms and we can actually have his party.

Colson wanted a train party so I have been working on decorations for it. He's pretty excited about it and asks everyday if today is his party. :oP

I'm pretty glad this week is over. It's never fun when your kids are sick. And it's definitely never fun when mama is sick because she doesn't get sick days. :o/ But now the sickies are out of the way and we can finish the details on Colson's party and just have fun celebrating our little man. :o)

4 Month Comparison

HANNAH:                              COLSON:                                   HAILEY:

14.9 lbs (75th)                         14.5 lbs (40th)                             12.14 lbs (31st)

24 in (45th)                             23 3/4 in (10th)                            23 1/4 in (14th)

  
Hailey is by far the smallest. I seem to just make smaller and smaller kids. :o/

I just hope we avoid any issues like we had with Colson. 
If you need to catch up, read about his growth issues HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

All Smiles

Hailey is absolutely fascinated by this orange stuffed toy. It "talks" in this really high pitch voice and whenever it talks she just gets the biggest smile on her face. :oP

I really need to capture it on video because it is just too funny!

Hailey's 4 Month Well Baby Visit

Miss Hailey had her 4 month appointment today.

All looks good.

The doctor was a bit surprised that she is sleeping 10 hours every night.

Asked if I put her to bed awake--yes.

Asked if she sleeps in a crib in her own room--no. :o( And thanks for reminding me. Ah! He said that they usually prefer there to be at least a barrier of some sort so they can't see people, but as long as she is in her own bed and staying asleep being next to us that its not that big of a deal.

He said there is no real rush to start solids because she is sleeping so well...which is what I figured. So I plan to start food around 5 and a half months old.

Hailey got a big thumbs up from the doctor and said Little Miss looks good. Steady on the growth chart so we hope that continues.

Sledding

With all of the snow, we just had to go out and go sledding. The kids absolutely love it!

So we headed over to my parents house to take advantage of their little backyard hill.

Hopefully this will not be the only time we are able to go.

4 Months Old

Miss Hailey is 4 months old today.

She is sleeping through the night--usually from 9-7.

A few weeks ago we decided to stop swaddling. She was fighting it a lot and it was waking her up. She has done well with the transition. She has only woken up a handful of times and it was because her arms woke her up. I have fallen in love with the sleep sack blankets. I never used them with Hannah or Colson but Hailey got one as a Christmas gift. I loved it so much I went out and bought Hailey another one. :oP

Hailey eats about every 4 hours. I don't plan on starting baby food any time soon. With Hannah and Colson I waited until they were almost 6 months old. I figured if their weight is fine and they are sleeping through the night, there is no rush to start food.

She fits in 3 month clothes very comfortably.

We just upped her to a size 2 diaper because she was starting to pee through them at night.

She loves to talk and coo and she has recently found her hand--which are pretty much the coolest things ever. She has also started sticking out her tongue and she makes the cutest faces.

She rocks at tummy time but she still does not roll over yet. Probably because after 5-10 minutes of being on her tummy she falls asleep. ??? I'm not too concerned.

She is absolutely fascinated with her big brother and sister...which is good because they are always intruding in on her space. She just lays there and smiles at them though. It is very cute.

I just can't believe she is 4 months old already. I am trying to soak in every minute of her baby-ness because before I know she is going to be sitting up and crawling. Ah!

Snowed In

On Sunday a huge snow storm went through--Ion, I believe the weather channel named it.

By the end of the day Monday we had about another foot of snow on top of a good 6-8 already existing inches. The starting Monday evening we had freezing temps of -10 degrees with wind chills of up to -50. It was no fun. We were under a state of emergency and were not allowed on the roads.

School was supposed to start back up for Hannah on Tuesday but it was canceled. It was canceled again on Wednesday.

Oh, and did I mention that Nick had a business trip that he left for on Saturday night and was not home until Wednesday night??? Yeah, so I was snowed in, at home all by myself with three kiddos. Lets just say I was super glad to have Nick home on Wednesday. :o)

But we made the best of things while we were not able to leave the house.

We played dress-up.

We built a Sophia Princess cookie castle.

We made m&m cookies.

And we just goofed around.

Another good thing about having a few days of not being able to go anywhere...

Colson is now officially potty trained. 

We started on Friday, just kind of casually....sitting him on the potty every so often to see if he would go. And yes, he did manage to go a few times. So we gave the whole training underwear thing a go. We had a few accidents but he had more successes of going in the potty. 

So we decide that this is it. It's time for him to be potty trained. By Monday, he was telling me when he had to go potty and we would go sit and actually go. 

We have now been accident free for the past 2 days and he has told me when he has to go each and every time. He has even remained dry through the night for the past 2 nights, but we're going to keep him in a diaper during bed for the time being--mostly because he is still in his crib and can't get out! :oP (Toddler bed transition is the next big step.)

I was a little scared to potty train a boy but it honestly was no big deal. Well...until we have to teach him to stand up and pee. Ah! When do we do that anyways? I have no idea. Boy moms, can you help me out?

So, fun times being snowed in. :o) It's supposed to rain tomorrow and be 40 degrees so that will be a big sloppy pile of fun.

Hello 2014!

Here we are...a new year. 2014!

And while I'm not one to make resolutions, there are some things that I would like to accomplish in 2014, not only personally but as a family.

I really want to lose the rest of the baby weight.

We are done in the children department so I know that the hard work I put into losing it will not be canceled out by another baby belly. I have managed to drop 30 pounds already after having Hailey. I am 5 pounds shy of my pregregnacy weight with her. I am pretty excited about that because that is the fastest I have ever dropped the weight.

Sadly though, I am still up 18 pounds from my pre pregnancy weight with Hannah. 18. And I want those 18 pounds gone! Forever! I want to be in the 130s again...by the summer! And I will make it happen! I haven't seen the 130s in over 5 years and I am so ready to get back there!

We are really hoping to start saving money and paying bills down. I would love to not see another hospital bill for a very long time so first up are those, then credit cards.

We would also love to take the kiddos to Disney World. Not this year and not the next but hopefully when the kiddos are 8, 5, and 3--or somewhere around there. But when we go we want to do it right. Hotel with the monorail. Mickey ear hats. Lots of fun. So we want to slowly start saving money for it so we don't regret taking the vacation.

And let's not even talk about our want to move. We technically have 4 bedrooms in our house but the 4th bedroom is currently my office...in our basement...which is unfinished. Granted we could finish our basement and have that 4th bedroom but it is still all by itself on the lower level of our house. Not ideal. I dont want one kid down there by themselves. And I am really not fond of the idea of the kids sharing a room. Just a personal preference...because yes they could share, I just would really like them to not have to. So we really want to move. More sooner than later. So we are hoping to figure things out and in the words of Tim Gunn--make it work!

I also just want to be more present. To go out and live life and have fun. Take the kiddos out to do things, see things, live things!

So I have big hopes and dreams for 2014. 2013 was pretty awesome but I think we can make 2014 even better with a little bit of hard work! :o)