Sunday, April 1, 2012

4 Months

Greta turned 4 months on the 25th.  She is still just a sweet little girl and is still at such a nice stage.  She still likes playing on her activity mat and really loves sitting in her little striped chair and her Bumbo.  She had her 4 month appointment last Thursday and did great!  We waited a bit for the doctor, then she had her appointment, then we waited some more for the nurses to come in to give her her shots.  She started getting a little grumpy and sleepy while waiting for the nurses.  When the nurse came in to give her the oral vaccine, I set her on the table and she drank the vaccine right up and then started falling asleep.  I don't think I've ever had a baby fall asleep on the cold paper on the table (or at least not at this age) before while waiting for shots:).  It was sad to have to wake her up then to give her the shots:(. 
She is currently in size 2 diapers and blows out of them all the time!  She just moved up to 2's since we used up the last box of 1's we had and 2's fit fine.  She has had WAY more blow out diapers than my other kids though!  And I don't think it's the fault of the diaper--there's just a lot of poop:).  She doesn't poop that often, so when she does, she gets it all out at once.  She has had many outfit changes and quick baths!  She rolled over from back to front a couple of days before she turned 4 months but hasn't since then.  She gets close, but not quite all the way over.  She is probably basically on the same schedule she was on at 3 months except we've been putting her to bed a little earlier at night now.  She wakes up around 8:30 normally, eats her 6 oz breakfast bottle, the naps about an hour around 10.  Then eats lunch around noon.  Then takes an afternoon nap for anywhere from 1-4 hours, it just depends on the day.  Normally she sleeps at least 1 1/2-2.  She then eats around 3:30 (6 oz) then naps again around 5:30 and then eats her supper bottle (6 oz) around 7 and goes to bed right after her bottle.  And then sleeps until 8:30ish and does it all again the next day:).  She was getting 5 bottles in a day until recently and four seems to be working better.  It's nice to be able to put her to bed before the other two go to bed except it allows no time for cleaning up supper if one of us is gone since we normally don't eat supper  until about 6:30. So then it's eat supper, quick feed her, put her down and then put the other two down.  Then clean up supper and anything else that needs to be picked up.  And I need to fit pumping into that schedule.  It definitely feels a lot busier having 3 little ones.  I'm wore out by 9:30!  I wouldn't trade it for anything and love having Greta has part of our family, but it definitely keeps us busy!  She wears 3-6 months clothes.  She had a 0-3 month shirt on today and it was really hugging her curves:).  She is still on all breast milk and I'm still getting extra to freeze.  I'm getting sick of putting my milk in freezer bags, but I know it'll be nice for when I stop pumping to have a nice supply and not have to spend money on formula.  I'll probably cut back and slowly quit when the whether starts getting nicer as it's harder to fit pumping in with going outside since I don't trust leaving my kids outside if I can't see/hear them from inside, so I don't pump while they're outside. 

Here are her stats:
Weight - 13 lbs 10.5 oz 50th %
Height - 24.5" 50th %
Head - 40.1 cm 25th%

She is growing healthy and still has plenty of cheeks to squeeze:).   The doctor said that her top of her head looks nice and round, it's just the flat spot on her back left side now.  She starts therapy soon to help her look to her right more and tomorrow is getting and x-ray of her head just to make sure her plates aren't closing early.  He doesn't think that's what it is since you can tell by how she lays looking left that that's where her head is flat, but he just wants to make sure.
Laying on Gibs' panda pillow (he LOVES pandas, I'm surprised he was okay with her laying on it)...
Looking cool in sissy's Princess Tiana glasses...
 She now has her own little prayer doll to pose by for her monthly shots...
 A quick pic before church this morning...
 Gibs just recently started wanting to smile for pictures which worked well since he had his two year pictures yesterday.
 Poor Layla fell down the steps tonight as we about to load up in the car to head over to Auntie Heidi and Uncle Steve's house.  She landed on her face on our landing (tile) and had a bloody nose. Normally Gibs is always the one getting injured, not Layla.  He actually fell down the stairs on Friday which is random b/c they don't normally fall down stairs!
This also isn't about Greta, but today for Palm Sunday the kids all walked in with palm branches which was cute.  Layla stood there pretty sternly waving her branch, but she said later that she liked doing it.  And of course Gibs had fun with his.  As soon as we gave him one (after we picked him up from nursery), he hit his buddy Owen on the head with it.  Good thing they're soft:).
Greta with Harper last week...
 Having fun playing the piano...

 She loves to smile, I love it!  She has also started giggling more and more which is cute.
 Layla wanted a picture of them together in their dot shirts:)...

Harper's Baptism

On February 18, our niece, Harper, was baptized!  We are so happy to be have been able to share in this special day with her!  What's random, is that Em found her baptism necklace shortly before Harper's baptism and it turns out that Harper was baptized on the same day that Em was!


Looking pretty in her white dress!


Layla, Gibs and Gavin...


Enjoying cookies afterwards...
 Greta slept during the service, but got woken up for pictures...

 With Greta's white dressed, it looks as though she could have been baptized that night too:)...



 Grampy and Gigi with both girls...
 It was Greta's bedtime (baptism was on a Saturday night) so she had a hard time staying awake:)...
 The kids had so much fun running in the hallway.  Unfortunately, my camera couldn't capture the excitement in t heir faces.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Greta's Baptism

Yesterday was a special day for Greta.  Not only did she turn 4 months, she also got baptized! (and as a side note, I realized on Saturday that Saturday marked 12 years since Joe and my first date!)  We are so blessed to have three healthy children that are so loved by family and friends, and most importantly, by God!  We love our little Greta Paige and are so glad that God has entrusted her in our care.
She woke up as she normally does at about 8:15 which worked perfect for 9:30 church. Unfortunately, we forgot her sweater (feels like there's always something we forget, especially early in the morning!), good thing she plans on wearing this dress for Easter too, so she'll wear it then:).
 A quick pic with Grampy and Gigi before the service...
 Gibson did better than I expected having him sit in church with us.  He was first mad when we went up there that he couldn't take the Bible up there with him (I didn't think that'd be a good idea as he'd probably drop it or throw it or something while we were up there!), but I quickly handed him a bulletin and he was happy with that thankfully.  It looks like he's looking at a map in this picture, like he's trying to figure out where to go:).  Not real interested in the baptism:).

 After we sat back down, there was a little more church for him to sit through and then it was time for the kids to go up for a Children's Message and then they go to Children's Worship (like Sunday School during church).  Layla went up for the Children's Message and before I could take away Gibs' pencil and coloring book, he went right up there too and sat down.  Guess he's not as shy as Layla was as it took us quite a few Sundays to get her used to going up there by herself!  And thankfully he wasn't too distracting up there, just a few "Lala??"'s as he was trying to look around to find where Layla was sitting. 
 Greta sat happily the first part of the service and then after I left to walk Gibson out to nursery (after the Children's Message) she fell asleep in Joe's arms. 
 I know his seersucker suit and pink flowerd bow tie might be a little over the top, but I figure I might as well enjoy being able to dress him how I want to while I can, right? :)  I thought maybe he'd try to pull the bow tie off (and therefore ordered one that clips in the back instead of velcros), but he didn't mind it at all.  I think he felt like a little stud, probably especially b/c he got lots of compliments on his getup:).
 
We had a lunch afterwards with our immediate family and friends.
 So nice to have it this time of year so we could have tulips, I love tulips!  Thanks to my dad for searching many Meijers and D & W's to find me pink and yellow tulips:).
 Yummy cake!
 Uncle Steve and Greta...

Holding on to her baptism necklace from Grampy and Gigi...
 Family photo attempt...
 And again...(not sure really which is better, Gibs was not excited about it)...
 Greta and her friend, Deacon (and both of their mommies)...
 For lunch I just made bbq to make it easy and pb&j's for the kids in fun spring shapes.  Thanks to our families for helping with the yummy salads and chips to go with it!

Layla and Kali (Layla loves talking about Kali and you can tell she looks up to her.  And Kali is sweet enough to listen and be nice to Layla:D)...

Auntie Em with Harper and me with Greta...
Us with Greta, obviously:)...
After lunch the kids loved running around...
Gibs and Maddy deep in conversation:)...
More running around...
Layla and Jonathan taking a break long enough for me to take a picture...
The kids actually all listened to me when I asked them to sit in a chair for a pic...(that's okay that no one but Layla is the only one smiling, at least they all sat down:D)


 Loving her fingers...
So excited about being baptized! :)
Grets and Mommy...
And Greta and Harper relaxing in their seats while we picked up...