Elizabeth is 6 Months!

Hello all! I've got a few posts here, trying to catch up, so scroll down if you want to. Elizabeth turned 6 months old on the 17th! Sorry, third child, I'm a few days late for this one :) I happen to have pictures of Christa and Abby Kate in the same outfit for their monthly pictures, so I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison.

Christa at 6 months! She posed really well for these!

Abby Kate at 5 months. I was afraid the outfit would be too small if I waited until 6 months. My sweet friend, Kelly, from Augusta made it when I was pregnant with Christa.

And Elizabeth at 6 months!

I couldn't get a great pose out of her, and she had 2 older sisters wanting to be in the pictures, too, so this was the best I could do. She smiled beautifully, though!

The older sisters were patient enough - it was time to add them to the picture, even though they were still in their p.j.s!

Later in the day, having fun outside. We've had beautiful weather lately - a nice break from the heat, so we've been outside as much as we can be!

We've been trying rice cereal again. She sort of likes it, so today, I added sweet potatoes to see if that would help. Abby Kate got very upset when we put Elizabeth in "her" high chair, so we're using the Bumbo seat for now. It worked just as well.

Happy girl!

At 6 months old, Elizabeth shows no signs of wanting to sit up on her own. She is very laid-back like Christa was, and will sit in her bouncer all day if I let her. She's a very easy baby - probably my easiest, now that we've gotten the nursing/feeding issues figured out. She sleeps well at night, but wakes up around 3 am and 6 am to eat and goes right back to sleep. She rolls over, but doesn't go across the room, like Abby Kate was doing by now. She loves to have tummy time on the floor with some toys nearby. She cat-naps in her car seat and in the morning if we are at home, but takes a good nap in the afternoon. She smiles all the time and loves to give slobbery kisses.

Life is good at our house! Thanks for checking in.

Cookies at the Clocktower

Hello all! Christa's pre-K class recently took a field trip for "C" week to the Clocktower. Her class did this last year, and both she and Abby Kate still talk about it, so I was really glad when her teacher this year decided to do it, too. Cline was off that day, so we made it a fun, family activity. The kids ate cookies, ran around, and read the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." It was a fun day!

Daddy loves participating in his girls' activities!

Christa loves her class and loves sharing her fun with her family.

Christa's sweet class, posing for a picture.

Abby Kate Turns Two!!

Hey guys!! I've been terrible about keeping this blog updated lately! I seem to be losing that super-energy thing I had going during and after my pregnancy with Elizabeth. Now I guess I'm back to tired Jessica, who can't stay up until 1 am every morning getting things done after the kids are in bed. Oh well. My sweet husband let me have a nice long nap today, so I'm cashing in some of that time to catch up here. Abby Kate turned two a couple of weekends ago, and we had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday weekend!

On her actual birthday, we really wanted to go to the pool and eat lunch, but it was closed when we got there. Since we were all dressed for water fun, we went to the fountains and had lunch downtown. The day was salvaged!

Mommy even ran through the fountains a few times, and Abby Kate loved it! Christa did too!

We had a small birthday party with a few neighbor friends at a local, kid-friendly restaurant. It was a lot of fun and very easy. The owner of the restaurant took care of all the decorating and clean-up.

Playing with her friend, Amelia! They were best buddies in Kindermusik class.

Abby Kate's adorable cake, courtesy of a local bakery.

All of the kids playing on the inflatables.

Enjoying a hot dog lunch - one of Abby Kate's favorite meals!

A family shot while blowing out the candle.

Enjoying some fun presents. She loves sunglasses, and these are especially fun!

It was a great way to celebrate the last two years with this sweet girl. She continues to add so much joy to our family, and we are so very thankful for her.

Abby Kate is 2 Years Old!!

Dear Abby Kate,

Two years ago today, I was holding you in my arms for the first day of your life. Your birth was such a range of emotions - excitement at being induced on Sept. 1, followed by fear that I'd picked the wrong hospital to deliver you at after a rocky start, followed by patient waiting and reassurance by my sweet nurse, followed by wondering if inducing you was a mistake after I "labored" painlessly and ineffectively for 12 hours with no sign of progress. Between 7pm and 8pm, the night nurse noticed signs of progress, and at 5:12am on Sept. 2, you made your grand debut, missing the kindergarten cut-off date by exactly 5 hours and 12 minutes! You are bright, and very independent, so I've put you in the 2-year-old class at your "school" even though that means we will have to "hold you back" one year before you start kindergarten.
You have been independent and squirmy and opinionated and wonderful from the very beginning. None of my babies kicked me as much or as often or made me quite as uncomfortable as you managed to. You were the smiliest baby ever your first year of life, but squirmed your way through every poopy diaper you had (and there were LOTS!). You were the baby I discovered my nursing supply issues with, and that was a challenge for months. But you were and are so so loved by me, your daddy, your big sister who adores you and who you adore, and now your little sister.
At two years old, you are a very "easy" toddler so far. Because you were so independent your first year of life, you do many things that I never would have let your sister do at this age. You have been walking up and down the stairs for months by yourself, without me even close by. You follow Christa everywhere and play with all of her toys - even Barbie dolls with tiny pieces. You consistently come to me and say, "Sita (Christa) not sharing." You are so sweet to share with her, even though she isn't always as eager to share with you. You are always expressing your sense of fashion with a pair of sunglasses, a hat, a necklace, or a bracelet or awareness band of some sort. You verbalize everything you want or need very clearly.
You love to laugh and run around the room, waving your arms up and down. You "chop" your feet when you run and it is adorable! You have beautiful, short, brown hair, but there isn't much of it. You are starting to express a desire to wear hair bows, but they just won't stay in for long. You love to swim and line up your princess figurine toys. At school, they tell me you love the dinosaurs, and you line those up, too! You think you're a lot older than you are, and you join in with the older kids when they're around.
You are learning your numbers, thanks to Daddy spending hours reading to you and reviewing the page numbers on your Super Why book before bed at night. You are picking up on a few of your letters, too. You are very smart and know different things than your sister did at this age. You are still in your crib, and I plan to keep you there as long as it works. It took us a long time to get you to sleep well, and we are finally on a good schedule with that, with you sleeping through the night and taking a good nap most days.
You love to watch TV and your favorites are Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Strawberry Shortcake, Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, and Go Diego, Go. Luckily, most of these attempt to be educational :) Plus, they're cute shows.
You are a picky eater these days. You used to eat anything and everything, but lately, it doesn't seem like you eat much at all. I'm sure it's just a phase. You like to be held, and come up to me, saying, "hold you," which means, "hold me." You give me "noses" and kisses every night before bed, and I love having a few minutes to give you my attention while we rock and sing a song before bed.
You are beautiful and wonderful and smart and funny and loved more than I can describe! I thank God for giving you to us 2 years ago today and I pray that you will always know how much we love you and how much He loves you.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!
Love,
Mommy

Disney: Round 2

Hello all!! We just got back from a fabulous trip to Disney World!! This was our second trip to the Happiest Place on Earth, and it lived up to that reputation once again. I know what you're thinking: "Who would take 3 tiny children to Disney World in the middle of August??" Yes, good point. It was hot. And it was a challenge to keep Elizabeth cool, since she's still too young for sunscreen. But it was a blast, and I was once again impressed at how well the kids did and how much we were able to do! We did have some extra sets of hands. Cline's mother was with us for one day, and we brought one of our fabulous babysitters with us, as well, so that made the excursion manageable. The reason we picked this particular timing for our trip was because Cline's old high school scheduled a football game at ESPN's Wide World of Sports. Cline wanted to go to the game, and thought it would be a great excuse to make a fun trip out of it. He was right, but it was a lot of work to prepare before and after. We may stick to going during the cooler months in the future, especially with infants! Enjoy the pictures!

Ready with Cline's mom for a day of fun at Disney's Hollywood Studios!

Eating lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive-in Movie Theater - my favorite restaurant there!

Like I said, it was hot, so we let the kids cool off and get messy with some chocolate ice cream. I dropped mine on the ground, so I took that as a sign that I was supposed to stick to my diet :) I promptly bought Abby Kate a Disney dress so she would be comfortable after she covered herself with melted ice cream!

The whole gang at the studios!

The second day we were there, we went to the Magic Kingdom. Christa loved the teacups, and the line wasn't too bad, so she rode them twice.

It rained the afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. It was actually welcome relief from the heat, which drained my energy. We ended up staying a few extra hours after the temperature dropped.

Cinderella's Castle.

Our 3rd day there, we went to Epcot. Our fabulous babysitter, Katie, was a wonderful help holding babies and bags and doing whatever needed to be done. At the end of the day, Cline and I would get everyone fed and back to the room, and Katie would watch the kids while we went back to the parks for "extra magic hours." It was exhausting, but soooooo much fun. I felt like a teenager again, riding fun rides with my hubby into the wee hours of the morning.

We had dinner at Cinderella's Castle. This was a favorite activity of Christa's, even though I couldn't talk her into wearing her Cinderella dress we'd brought from home. Abby Kate looked quite cute in her Snow White outfit, though! The girls loved meeting the princesses, and excitedly said each one's name as they came by.

We got to meet Snow White, Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty! The girls got a wishing star and magic wand and got to participate in a wishing ceremony (which consisted of waving their wands over their stars and saying "bibbity bobbity boo!")

After our princess dinner, we watched the Wishes show and fireworks by Cinderella's Castle. Elizabeth loved the fireworks, and laughed throughout the show. It was really neat - they posted pictures taken throughout the day on Cinderella's Castle. I was amazed at what they were able to do with their digital photography and animation techniques.

We got to meet up with some friends from our Augusta days, Mike, Rosi, and their 3 beautiful children. We ate dinner at Downtown Disney and let the kids dig for bones at T-Rex. It was great catching up, and I could have chatted for hours more! Hope to see them again very soon!

We also went to the Animal Kingdom, but didn't stay too long, and I didn't take many pictures there. We were pretty tired by that day. Our final day, we completed our trip with a Mickey breakfast at Chef Mickey's! It was great food and great company, starting with Minnie Mouse!

Goofy was a favorite of Abby Kate's. She's an expert at saying "gawrsh" and laughing like he does.

And the star of the restaurant - Mickey himself! We also met Pluto and Donald. The kids had a blast, and it was a nice way to start off our trip home.

Good times were had by all!!