A Handprint Frog

Andrew's school has some amazing art books that the kids can check out. He really enjoys doing art projects and this was the latest one from a book. The book was about handprint art and it was a lot of fun. Super easy too which was nice. Sometimes the projects are more complex than this mom can handle (paper mache duck anyone?). Handprint art was right up my alley though. Didn't it turn out cute?

Whale Spout!

I have a theory when it comes to little girl hair. My theory is this: If I want to be able to put my daughters hair in adorable braids and pigtails when she is three I must start to work with her when she is little. And before she learns to pull out the elastics. And she has hair. I suppose that is an important part to add.


Anyway, for the last week I have been contemplating Gwen's hair. I thought it was long enough to put in a whale spout. I just hadn't given it a shot yet. It is still quite short but there is a lot of it right in the center. So, this morning I had a few extra minutes and I gave it a try. To my happy surprise I was able to pull it up into a pony.


I suppose the girly hair insanity has begun. Bring it on!

Hot and Cold

What to do with these two? They are so strange. Half the time they love each other and play beautifully together. The other half of the time they fight like cats and dogs and give the impression of a "To the death!" type battle.

These switches in personality can happen lightening fast and as many as 50 times a day. Some day they will be the best of buddies. I am sure of it. As long as they don't kill each other first.

Sweet Sisters

Eric caught the girls playing ball together last night. It is so sweet to see them playing nicely together.


Lucy likes to play with Gwen and Gwen is ALWAYS happy to try and play whatever the big kids are playing. She is such an observer, I think she may be fighting to keep up with them really early!

It surprises me that Gwen has figured out the game so early. I don't remember any of the rest of them actually PLAYING together so soon.

I hope this means that the girls will be the bestest of friends. We shall see!

Princess Hair!

It only lasted about 3 hours before it fell out but I had to try. I think the main problem is that her hair is absolutely baby fine. There is no girth to it at all and I didn't use any type of hair spray or gel or anything. It certainly looked pretty for the time being though!

Lucy was pretty determined to have clips in her hair. She was also not entirely thrilled with sitting for me to do the braid.

I can't wait until she gets a little bit bigger and I can put in double french braids. I think those will stay in place. She just needs to get a bit more hair first!

Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain

Strict monitoring of the staircase will commence at our house starting tomorrow. Miss Gwendalyn Lily has now figured out how to scale our big stairs. Yesterday she mastered the little steps.

She started off pretty slow. Eric yelled for me to get my camera. It is a good thing I did!

Gwen was off to the races as soon as she figured out no one was going to stop her progress.

Now we just need to teach her how to go down the stairs. The boys both slid on their tummies. Lucy went down on her butt. I hope we can get Gwen to go on her tummy. It makes me less nervous.

Such a proud little lady. Now she can really follow the big kids around the house. As long as they don't go down the stairs that is!

Biking Fun!

Since the weather was so beautiful today I let the kids ride bikes when Andrew got home from school.

Lucy has been longing for the day when she got to ride on the trike with her brothers. (She is watching Andrew speed down the block)


Zane is slowly but surely learning how to peddle. I think this summer he will fully get the hang of it. I raised the seat on his bike (which I realize is entirely too tiny for him) and it seemed to help with the pedaling. It is kinda hard to efficiently and effectively pedal when your knees are about level with the handlebars. He is working on it though. I just figured there was no use in buying him a bigger bike if he was not going to actually ride it.

Since Lucy is so interested in bike riding, Zane has been kicked off the trike and the only option left is a bike. So, he is learning. I kinda told him and Andrew when they both can ride without training wheels that I would let them ride around the block. That was a hit with Andrew. He was pretty excited about it. I think it won't be until at least next summer though. Zane is making progress but it is quite slow. Although the promise of a new bike if he figured out pedaling seemed to make a definite impression.

Andrew, on the other hand, is quite the speedster on his bike. He really enjoys racing it up and down the loop in front of our house. He spends a lot of time standing up on the pedals to increase speed. More power too him. There is just something so classic about bike riding. I hope he always loves it.

Gwendalyn Lily- 9 Months

Gwen had her 9 month well child check today. I was curious to see if the stomach flu had sabotaged her weight gain and sure enough it had.

Weight: 18# 3 oz- 38%
Height: 29"- 89%

We had a bit of a conversation about her weight but our pediatrician didn't seem too concerned. I am still nursing and have plenty of milk. Gwen is much more interested in feeding herself than being spoon fed and she is eating a good variety of foods. The fact that she didn't really eat for about 5 days certainly could weigh in on the issue as well. It was sad to see her so little though. She only gained 5 ounces in the last three months!

Of course after we talked about all the milestones and stuff it was time for shots. I was happy to hear that she only had to have 1 shot (Hep B) today. But she did have to have her iron level checked which was sad. I am so thankful that Eric goes with me to appointments. He is really good about snuggling them after shots and needle pokes. Much better than me.

Gwen stopped breathing for about 15 seconds with her shot. It was really sad. The nurse Eric and I all said "BREATHE BABY!" She howled for awhile after that. But her lips were turning kinda blue. After her iron blood draw I heard the nurses talking about how sad she was and how they hate to have to do those things to babies. ME TOO!

For the Moms

We made these flower pots for my mom and Eric's mom this week. Hopefully they will enjoy their mother's day gift tomorrow!

Because I Couldn't Resist!

I just had to post some more. They were so cute tonight. Zane was being big and tough climbing!

Gwen doing patty-cake with Zane and Lucy. They all love it a LOT.

Sometimes I think Lucy just wants her picture taken so she can see it on the display. It is all a big thrill for her!

Andrew was being quite photogenic tonight. Some nights he is not in the mood and it is pulling teeth to get a nice smile out of him. Tonight I was able to get a super nice one!

LOVE the Sunshine!

Got the camera out tonight to take some photos of my favorite subjects. It was a wonderful sunny evening and the lighting was just about perfect.

My Andrew

My Zane

My Lucy

My Gwendalyn

As you can see Gwen did not follow suit with posing. But that is ok. It was a wonderful night. After a week of cold and dreary the sun was a much welcomed change. Hopefully it will be a frequent visitor in the weeks to come!

Sickies

It has been a VERY long week. After taking the adorable Violet pictures, our family went to a birthday party. That night Miss Lucy woke up at 1 am with the flu. It is not uncommon for my kiddos to just randomly throw up so I was not too concerned. However a trend had begun.


Monday morning Eric woke up feeling nasty and by that evening was down with the flu as well. Zane quickly followed at about 1 am and kept the nastiness flowing until 10 am. It was a long night.

Andrew got bit with the flu bug yesterday at school and was sent home. He proceeded to feel horrible all last night. I think he is over it today. I am thankful that as of yet Gwen and I are both fine. Nothing derails the train like a sick momma!

Dealing with sick kiddos is never fun but just part of the job I suppose. We have been watching movies and just being mellow. All munchkins are napping right now which is rare but good. Hopefully this will be the last flu bug for awhile! It is not fun at all!