January 31

I took Elliott to 4Kicks4Kidz open play yesterday and he had a ball. They have indoor soccer for kids, and on weekday mornings it's open for anyone ages 2-5 to come play. They even have a coach doing drills and playing games with the kids, so I got to sit back and relax for an hour and a half (!!!) while Elliott burned off some energy. I HIGHLY recommend this place!

Elliott had never played soccer before, so he spent some of the time trying to dribble the ball and shoot it into the goals and he also tried to bowl over some cones with the soccer balls. Once he caught on that he was supposed to kick the ball, there was no going back.

January 30

The boys were tired yesterday afternoon

January 29

The good news: Lucy slept until 4:45am before her first feeding! That's an hour later than normal.

The bad news: I still didn't get much sleep because Elliott had a rough night. He ended up sleeping in our bed with us (so he wouldn't keep the girls up).

Clay took Elliott to the clinic today and he has an ear infection. Poor little dude.

We played outside for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and enjoyed the sunshine.

January 28

Elliott hasn't had a fever since 8am yesterday. He's still kind of whiny, but he's playing and busy again. I enjoyed my two days of sitting on the couch snuggling with him though.

We had a movie night last night and Kat and Elliott snuggled up together - had to get a picture of that!

January 26

I think I am going to have to cave in and start potty training Elliott. He has woken up with a dry diaper twice in the past few days. This was a big sign for the girls that they were ready to potty train. Oh how I HATE potty training!

Matthew came over to play yesterday

"Fwiends" (that's how Elliott says friends). You'd never guess that Matthew is 2 months younger. Elliott needs to grow!

Elliott got out of bed around 5am this morning running a 101 fever. Poor little dude. We're taking it easy at home today and see what happens with his fever. And this means I am postponing potty training... shucks!

January 25

Just so you know how much I love Pinterest, we did 3 Pinterest-related activities last night. I can't imagine why Clay says he is tired of Pinterest? :P

Bananas dipped in chocolate syrup, then sprinkles, and then frozen. This wasn't a hit at my house, although it is pretty. I liked them and Elliott enjoyed the chocolate and sprinkles. The girls and Clay chose chocolate chip cookies instead (I didn't mention to Clay that I got the recipe for the cookies off Pinterest too - ha!)

The girls and I are going to write letters, ask questions, etc back and forth in these "Mama and Me Journals". The journals are being stored in the book slings beside their bed (another Pinterest project). I am hoping these will be fun keepsakes.

Elliott and Kat enjoyed making snowmen out of marshmallows.

January 24

Julia's still got her own sense of fashion (Left in 2008, Right taken on Sunday). I told her to get dressed because I was taking her to the store. She chose knee socks, capri pants, and a skirt. I am not much better with my fashion sense, except I choose to embarrass my family by wearing sweatpants as often as I possibly can.

I can't figure out why some of these pictures are rotating to portrait when I took the picture the other way and saved it to my computer in landscape mode. Can anyone help this idiot? Anyways, go ahead and make fun of me for taking pictures of my groceries (Clay will), but I bought all of this for $27.59 (I saved $71.78 with coupons and sales). I don't normally do this good with my couponing, but it's kind of a rush to checkout and see the price go from $100 down to $28!

January 23

We have a "baby straight jacket" for Lucy. I bought two of these Miracle Blankets before Kat was born. Julia slept on her tummy as a newborn and I was determined that my next baby would be a back sleeper, since that's what the doctors recommend. Well, Kat and Elliott both also turned out to be belly sleepers. Lucy, however, likes to sleep on her back, so I finally get to use these swaddling blankets. As soon as I put her in it she just relaxes and passes out.

January 22

Elliott and Gus wrestling

Lucy wore a dress to church this morning that Mamaw Pat made for her.

January 21

No new pictures today. Kat had a basketball game this morning, but other than that, we had a much-needed lazy day at home.

January 20

Lucy has slept for 6-7 hours between her final feeding of the night and her first middle-of-the-night feeding. Here's what our nighttime routine looks like:

• Eats around 7:30pm (ish)
• Put her in her pajamas, she's usually pretty alert for awhile
• Final feeding between 8:30 and 9pm (ish)
• Swaddle her and she falls asleep almost instantly.
• I go to bed soon after her final feeding of the night so I can get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible.
• Waking up between 3 and 4am for a feeding (lasts about 25 minutes) and then sleeps again until 7 or 8am.
  

I almost feel like I am getting a full night's sleep! I think that's pretty good for a breastmilk-fed 5 week-old.

Poor Elliott. I wore him out at the grocery store! I didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep until I was in the checkout line.

PS - I bought 5 boxes of diapers! They were $9.99 (regularly $19.99)... I love me some deals!!! When you have 2 in diapers, you've got to stock up (or get your act together and potty train the 2 year-old)!

January 19

Last night was "Layers Night" at AWANA. Kat has on 7 shirts, Julia wore 12!

Elliott can pedal a tricycle! He just needs to learn how to steer at the same time.... he pedals it until he hits a wall.

January 18

Yesterday was a busy, crazy day. I took Elliott and Lucy to the grocery store and while I was there, my Mother-in-Law tells me (on the phone) that we are under a tornado warning. The entire time I was shopping I was a nervous wreck. Thankfully we were safe. God is good.

This afternoon Gus had a vet appt to get his vaccines. I took Elliott and Lucy and Gus to the vet. It actually went pretty well. Elliott was on his best behavior, which is good because we were there for an hour and 15 minutes. Lucy slept the entire time. Gus now weighs 53 pounds. He has a yeast infection in his ears, which could explain why he's been such a pest lately... he just didn't feel good. Talk about feeling like a bad pet owner. As we were pulling onto our street to pick the girls up from the bus stop, Gus projectile vomited all over the van (front and back seats, my clothes, Elliott's clothes and carseat, toys, etc). Ugh!

My girls

Thanks Kathy and Brenna for suggesting the Playtex Drop-Ins bottles! Lucy drank the entire bottle without any problems!!!

January 17

Aunt Dawne (my Great Aunt) and her Granddaughter Lucy came for a visit yesterday. The kids had a good time playing together. Last night Nonna got to watch Julia's gymnastics lesson. Julia is still very excited about gymnastics.

Big Lucy and Little Lucy (3rd cousins? 2nd cousins once removed?)

The makeovers strike again!

Playing a game with Nonna

This is apparently Elliott's new look - no pants with shoes

Nonna is taking the girls to breakfast this morning, dropping them off at school, and then heading back home. I imagine she'll enjoy the peace and quiet of that drive.

January 16

My friend Annette sewed the fabric for the girls' book slings last week and Clay hung them up last night. The girls read in their beds with flashlights last night and seemed to like having books right next to their beds. Another Pinterest project complete.

Snug as a bug

Lucy's 3rd bottle. Lucy will accept the bottle, but she gets the milk so much faster than when she is nursing that she chokes frequently. We've tried 2 different brands of bottles/nipples. Any suggestions?

January 15

Picture won't load correctly, but you still get the idea... I found this idea on Pinterest too. I love that site!

Sunday morning in the wee hours we got a little more snow. On our way home from church yesterday we noticed that it was already starting to melt, so we hurried up and got our snow gear on and played in the snow that was left. Elliott was too little last year to really have fun in the snow, but he is enjoying it this year. I am actually hoping we get some more snow this winter. There. I said it.

January 14

Nonna's magic shoulder - works like a charm!

This morning Kat had her first basketball game. She was very excited and seemed to enjoy it. They have dribbling and passing drills for the first 20-30 minutes and then play four 6-minute quarters. Considering that Kat didn't know how to dribble until about 2 days ago, she did pretty good. Nonna got to enjoy Kat's first game too.

During the game, Julia made a fort under the chairs

January 13

The girls went back to school today. The temperatures here were very cold, but there's not much snow. Nonna arrived after dinner for a long weekend.

Another victim of a Julia makeover

I was trying to snap some pictures of Lucy with the blanket and stuffed animal Mamaw Pat made for her. She was not too happy at this particular moment.

Sweet Elliott Moment: He saw that Lucy was awake (that always excites him), so he grabbed his guitar to play for her.
Another Sweet Elliott Moment: He kissed her on the head without me prompting him to.
Not-so-Sweet Elliott Moment: He dug his chin into her head right after he kissed her, causing her to cry.
Sweet Elliott Moment: Feeling bad for making her cry, he immediately went to his room and grabbed his blanky and gave it to her.

Kat gets to sleep with Nonna tonight. She is very excited.

January 12

Not much going on today. The most exciting thing is that the girls are on their way home from school early because of "snow". We're expected to get 1/4 inch, which down here warrants a Winter Weather Advisory. Ridiculous, but at least the girls get to have more time at home today.

Took the Wee ones to the grocery store. This is how we roll at Meijers....

This is Elliott's reward at Meijers for being a good boy. Love this (especially the $.01 cost)!

Our "snow"

I was snuggling with Lucy and watching the snow fall. Here she is doing her Dr Evil impression.