3 Months!

My baby girl is 3 months old!  We love her more every day and it has been cute to see her little personality come out a little bit more.  Had I written this last weekend like I intended to, I would have said that she is a super easy laid back baby, but she's been a grumpy at times the past few days.  She's been acting more like she did the first month of her life--just not content doing one thing for very long.  So hopefully this is a short phase and something is just bothering her now, but hopefully our sweet little girl will return soon.  Otherwise, normally this past month she just loves sitting in her little chair watching her brother and sister. She loves her play mat too, but for about 10 minutes, then she just wants to sit:).  We've heard some slight giggles, but nothing too big yet.  She is a good sleeper at night and most days a good napper, but not always.  Her schedule is to get up around 8 (this week it's been more like 8:30/9), eats, plays, naps from 10-11ish and then eats "lunch" at about 11:30, naps around 1 (the same as Gibs) and sometimes only naps an hour but sometimes a few hours. If she only naps an hour then, then she will normally take a long nap after her 2:30ish bottle, but it works well when her 1:00 nap is her 3 hour nap since that is the same time as Layla's "rest" time and Gibs' nap.  She then eats around 5 and just kind of cat naps in her chair or her bouncy seat until she eats again at 8 or a bit before and then goes to bed right after she eats and sleeps until 8 or 9.  I remember our other 2 kids always going to bed at 7 instead of 8, but I can't remember when they did that, plus right now, we're often finishing up supper at 7 so it works well to finish dinner, put the big kids to bed at 7:30 or a little after and then put her down at 8 (or if she's really hungry one of us puts the other two down while one feeds her which when she has gone to bed at 7:30 she does sleep still until 8ish).  So for now her 8pm bedtime works.  She had a head check (since she has a major flat spot on her left side) last week so it worked well that we could get her 3 month stats.  The dr really doesn't know if she'll need a helmet.  We have excersises to do with her head and she does seem to look more to her right now, but still overall favors looking left.  Every night before bed I flip her head to the right side and maybe 25% of the time she's already looking right.  Hopefully doing these things will help, but I'm a bit afraid the damage is already done:(.  I know lots of kids get helmets and they're not that big of a deal and the kid adjusts and it's a short period of time, but I'll still feel bad for her having to wear it, plus it's really expensive! :(  So we'll see!

I woke her up from her nap the other day since it was 5:30 (I know some people would never wake a sleeping baby, but I like my time to myself at night, so I like my kids in bed on time:D) and she was facing the right way and how her head was on her pipe she was pushing down on the part of that side that now sticks out (like from flattening one side it makes her head stick out on the other side), if only she could always sleep like that:).  I took a pic since I think sleeping babies are cute:).

Oh, and she is having no problems gaining weight!  She was 13 lbs 3.5 oz and 23" long.  She fits still in all her 0-3 month stuff, but wears some 3-6 month stuff now too mainly to expand her wardrobe:). She is still in size 1 diapers.

 Her brother and sister just can't get enough of her:)...

 I think it is cute that Layla has recently taken such a liking to my Cabbage Patch Kid from when I was little.  She's got lots of dolls plus I still have at least 5 of my old CPKs and she picks the one that always my favorite too.  Not sure what it is about Marcy:).  I know that one of the reasons I always liked her when I was little b/c my mom had told me that they almost named me Marcy:).  Marcy now sometimes eats dinner with us and plays with Greta and even gets to wear Layla's old clothes.  Preemie clothes fit CPKs perfectly:).

Greta enjoying playing with Gibs and Layla:) (yes, that is what Layla's hair looks like every morning)...

Layla has been into making forts all over the house recently.  The other morning she thought Greta would enjoy being in a for too:).  Gibs I'm sure would have joined in (and possibly wrecked it), but he was eating breakfast.

This morning Layla thought Greta needed a breakfast of burger buns, a croissant, a McDonald's water and cupcakes:).  And yes, Gibs is about to hit Layla on the head with the spatula:)--thankfully not hard, it was more of a rub:).

Princess Layla

Like many typical 3 year old girls, Layla loves the Disney Princesses.  When I saw awhile ago that Disney Live! was coming to GR and was the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and Belle, I knew Layla would love to go.  We debated taking Gibs with too, but I wasn't sure how well he'd sit through it, plus since we needed to get a sitter for Greta anyway, I figured it'd be cheaper to just drop him off too:).  And he wouldn't know the difference anyway.  Plus it was nice to spend time with just Layla since with 2 little siblings, she doesn't get much time with just mom and dad. 

She had never been to the Van Andel before and I could tell she was a little overwhelmed by all the people at first.  When we saw all the Disney stuff for sale I told her she could pick out one thing.  She wanted a Disney cup, which we have tons of, so I asked her if she wanted something else and she wasn't sure.  But then when we came upon another table full of Disney stuff the only thing she really wanted was a Cinderella thing that spins.  So that is what she got.  I felt bad that Gibs didn't get anything, but again, he doesn't really know the difference:).  And she's been very good at sharing her spinning Cinderella:).  She already talks about "next time" we go to the Princess Show how Gibs can come with and he can get a spinning Mickey.

With her new Cinderella and a fry:)...

Jonathan and Maddy are big Disney fans too, so we met them there.  They both got Mickey crowns and surprisingly Layla didn't even ask for one.

 

When she saw Cinderella come on the stage she got excited since she has Cinderella's dress.  There were lots of little princesses dressed up there, but she didn't seem to mind that she didn't wear her costume.  She's having a Disney Princess birthday party this year and I've tried asking her which one is her favorite (and might then get her a new costume at her party) and she sometimes says Belle, somtimes Ariel, sometimes Tiana, sometimes Aurora, and sometimes Cinderella.  Or sometimes she says she likes them all:).

Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Minnie "hosted" the show, which probably would have been Gibs' favorite part if he was there because he LOVES those four.  We have Disney magnets on our fridge of Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Donald and Gibs takes Mickey, Goofy and Donald with him all over.  They don't do anything, but LOVES them.  Funny what toys kids find interesting--sometimes the cheapest ones are the most fun!  The kids got Happy Meals last week and instead of liking the toy in the box, they both really liked the little cards that you could punch out of the box. 

Layla likes looking at pictures on our computer, so I figured she'd enjoy it if I took some of the princesses (and their friends).

All the princesses together at the end...

 Waving good-bye to Mickey...see you next year!! :)

 We went with the Heukers to the BOB afterwards for a quick dinner before heading home...

And somehow this is out of order...

Play Date

A couple of weeks ago we met Jill, Ella and Kipton and Jamie, Alden and Caleb for a play date.  It was good to see them and the kids of course had lots of fun.  It's so nice now with Gibs and Layla both being old enough to play nicely on their own (pretty much).  Last summer I didn't quite trust Gibson on play ground equipment and with having a baby to watch as well, it's nice that he can go off and play (while keeping an eye on him still, obviously).  I had never been to this play area at Christ Memorial before.  It was great for toddlers--we'd definitely go back! 

Kipton and Gibson both with funny looks...

 Ella and Layla...

 Layla, Gibs, Ella and Alden...

Life This Week...

This week so far has been much cleaner.  After the milk spill issue last week (which seems to be taken care of, yay! We don't need new padding put in!) the day after getting our carpet cleaned I bumped a bottle of hot pink nail polish off the top shelf in our bathroom cabinet which therefore resulted in glass and pink polish all over our tile, rug, carpet, jeans and my foot!  And of coure it happened about 2 minutes before someone arrived to take care of our mice issue we've been having in the garage.  I then answered the door with my hands and foot covered in hot pink.  I got it out of everything except my jeans:(.  Anyway, then on Friday, I had just started to feed Greta when Layla accidentally knocked my coffee over on to our carpet.  Had that just happened two days earlier, the carpet cleaning guys could have taken care of it!  So annoying, but thankfully our little Bissell got that out. 

I thought this was funny, apparently she was sleepy:)... 

 Layla LOVES dressing up in dresses and sometimes Gibs joins in...

 If only Greta had a little Minnie dress on:)...

 "Auntie" Mandi and the kids came over for a bit this afternoon...

 And Gigi watched Gibs and Layla this morning while Greta and I went to get some groceries.  I thought Gigi and Greta should have a pic together since they were wearing the same colors:).  And then of course Layla wanted to join the picture:).

Well, time for bed.  Greta slept 11 1/2 hours last night and a little over 12 the night before, so here's hoping she does as well tonight (otherwise her max sleeping time was 11 hours)!  Only 2 days until she is 3 months already!!  My baby girl is growing so fast!

Oh, and can also say how much I love Pinterest?!  It has been so great for recipes (among other ideas).  I've always been one to like new recipes and probably typically tried at least 3 new recipes a week, but Pinterest has made it even easier and I don't find that I search as long for good recipes anymore.  I saw something on it the other day about how once upon a time I thought Facebook was the easiest way to waste time, but then I found Pinterest.  Totally true! :)  Although normally my "computer time" is while pumping or feeding Greta, so at least I'm multi-tasking:).



Happy (belated) Valentine's Day

We went to MOMs (Meeting of Moms--like MOPS basically) in the morning yesterday and then went to Em's for the afternoon and stayed for dinner.  Unfortunately, when we got home our house smelled TERRIBLE!  I wasn't sure first what the smell was, but then we realized it was from Gibs spilling milk on our floor the day before!  When I wasn't in the room he had gotten the milk out of the fridge and I think was trying to maybe pour it in a cup, but had completely missed and dumped the entire thing (a gallon jug that had maybe 1/4 of the milk left in it) all over our carpet.  I cleaned it up as best as I could and figured we'd get someone to clean our carpet in our living room soon not realizing how awful the smell would get before then!  We had it cleaned this morning, so hopefully that takes care of it and we don't need new padding under our carpet!  Oh, Gibs, there is never a dull moment with him!  At least our carpet is nice and clean now as I'm sure there have been other spills from the kids over the years!

Had Greta not had this pink and red outfit, she would have worn the same shirt has Harper.  Layla happened to have this same one that Harper had on yesterday.  Had I known that, they could have been twins:).

 Greta, Layla, Gibs, Harper and Gavin...

Another Sunday Post

Seems like lately when I post things, it's on a Sunday. I guess the extra pair of hands helping allows for a bit of extra time:).  Layla started gymnastics on Saturday and really liked it. Joe's parents offered to watch Greta and Gibson which worked great so that Joe and I could enjoy breakfast alone (we realized we hadn't even had a date since before Greta was born!) and watch the end of Layla's class plus it was nice not having to have all of us ready to go by 8:30 in the morning:).  Layla said she liked doing summersaults, hanging from the bar and going through the tunnel.  When we got there, they were starting the obstacle course at the end which was always my favorite part too.  They didn't play "California Girls" by the Beachboys though like they always did when I was little:).  Although it still is the same teacher that teaches it!

She wore a leotard, but apparently didn't need it b/c she just kept her shorts and sweatshirt on...

 We had a nice relaxing Sunday today.  Both littlest kids napped over 2 1/2 hours at the same time, so that was nice.  And Greta has been sleeping good the past couple of nights.  She has her "dinner" bottle around 6 or 7 (depending on the day) and then likes a "snack" bottle (like 2 oz--normally she drinks 4 1/2-5 oz) around 8:30, seems a little weird as I'm not normally into giving her "snack" bottles, but that's what seems to work for her.  She then is in bed by 9 and the past couple of mornings has gotten up a little after 7:30.  So nice to have her sleeping 10 1/2 hours!  When she goes to bed too late, she tends to wake up earlier, so for now, this is her schedule.  Tonight her last bottle was at 7:30 so she didn't get her "snack" bottle,  so here's hoping she sleeps good again tonight! 
The kids were having fun playing with stickers tonight:)...

 Greta just LOVES this chair!  I'm so glad we have it. She just sits contently watching her big bro and big sis.  Sometimes I feel like she looks so bored, but she seems to like it and is a pretty content baby now that she likes to sit there and see what's going on.

 Again in the chair with toys big sis gave her...

 

 Layla wanted to take a pic of me with Greta and I thought it was cute that Greta smiled:)...

I'm getting rid of all my boy clothes and have already sold a bunch to a few different people, however, there are a few things I've had a hard time parting with, this little Mickey sleeper was one of those things.  Greta looks like a boy wearing it, but I wanted it to get one more use before we say good-bye to it:).

Matching Nemos

I had gotten these matching Nemo jammies for Layla and Gibs, but Gibs was in his way before Layla ever fit in it. But now Greta and Gibs can match in them.  Layla of course wanted in on the pic too and was sad she didn't have any to match:).