Addy Pearl Turns 2!

Yesterday, our baby girl turned 2! This ^ feels like only yesterday, and I'm just not quite sure how in the world she turned 2! I mean, I blinked, and now we have no more babies in our house. 

Adalyn was not in our plans, but she was in God's plan, and I am so thankful that His plans are greater than our own. At the time I got pregnant, DJ and I were thinking that maybe one day we'd have another baby, but we knew it would be later down the road. That same month, I got pregnant, and I remember exactly the day that I found out we would be having a third child. My first words out of my mouth, probably weren't very pleasant. I remember something along the lines of "oh, sh*t" and then feeling guilty because it would be even longer for DJ to get his boat. (PS: he still doesn't have a boat!)

But this little girl and the happiness she exudes is so much greater than a boat. 

I can't even begin to describe how much she's changed in the past year. For one, she is TALL! Like, I can't believe how tall she is, her legs go on for days, and one day, I'm pretty sure she'll relish in the fact that she is taller than her momma! 

Sister also looks just like her daddy! Which is quite hilarious, since the other two are my spitting image. Sometimes I look at her and wonder if I really did give birth to her. Is she even my own? 

Homegirl loves to sleep! We put her down around 7:30, (a little later some nights since it's summer) and I have no idea what time she wakes up each morning! She doesn't ever cry when she wakes up, so she just lays in her bed with her toys and does whatever until we finally come and get her. During the school year, we often had to wake her up, but now we find her jumping in her crib when we come in the room around 8:30. 

Nap times are the same. She goes down somewhere between 1 and 2, and she's more than content to stay in her bed for at least 2 hours. Sometimes, 3. The other girls would cry and let us know they were awake, but Addy loves the peace and quiet. 

Over the last month, she totally skipped shoe sizes. She went from a 4 to a 5 in no time, I bought her a size 6, and those are even a smidge too small! She wears anything from an 18 month to a 2T, because she is tiny! I would guess that she still weighs less than 25 lbs. We'll find out for sure when we head to the doctor later this month. 

She loves bows, does not mind a dress, and is now really wanting to wear necklaces!

Girl loves to eat! She can put away more food than Gretchen and Megan combined! She gets angry when you take her food away, but she also loves to feed our dog! She makes sure that Bailey gets her fill at every meal. Addy will eat pretty much anything I set in front of her! She still loves squeeze pouches, applesauce, cheese, yogurt, strawberries, and blueberries. She does not like water. Most always she drinks milk in her sippy cup, but won't drink chocolate milk or plain water. 

She does love our dog, Bailey. Again, she feeds her at every meal, but also loves to make sure she has food in her own bowl and out of all the girls, she pays the most attention to our dog. She'll lay on Bailey's bed, or cuddle up next to her. 

Her favorite toys are her babies, or Megan's babies! She loves baby dolls and pushing them in the shopping cart or stroller! Her ballet baby is definitely ranked #1 and she takes ballet baby everywhere! Thankfully, my sis in law just bought her two reinforcements, since the original ballet baby seems to get lost a lot!

Her hair is more blonde than brown. It definitely is lighter than her sisters. So is her skin. She burns easily.

She's speaking in 2-3 word sentences, and counts numbers 2 and 3, so long as you say "1" for her. 

She's a cuddler. She loves to be held, loves to sit in your lap, and loves to be rocked. She'll ask to "ock" before nap time and bedtime. I usually sing her "the moon song" and "You Are My Sunshine" before saying her prayers (she says "Amen") and laying her down. 

She's still rear facing in her carseat, at least in my car. She's already forward facing in DJ's truck. We plan on turning her around in the next month, after our vacations. 

She's interested in potty training, and I hope we can tackle that before heading back to school in the fall. She can tell you when she's pooped, and when she's going, but she doesn't always tell us before she has to. I don't think she really has a clue on the whole "pee" thing. 

She adores her big sisters! Especially Megan. She is playing with them more, imitating them, and is silly when they are. It's so fun watching these girls learn to love each other. 

I want to remember her just like this. In her little dresses, bow to the side, sucking her thumb, and holding on to ballet baby's tags (that are on her bum!)

Happy Birthday Addy Pearl! I'm so glad you're mine!

Girl Mom: An Addy Pearl Update!

I was going to start writing my "weekend wrap up" post, since I'm a little off of my blog schedule, and as I was uploading pictures, I realized all of them were of Addy Pearl! So instead of a weekend wrap up, because our weekend was super low key, I thought I'd given an update on Adalyn!

Our poor third child, rarely gets blog attention, but today, it's all about her! 

Adalyn is 18 months old! I reminded myself the other day, that Adalyn is the same age as Megan was when we found out we were expecting! I cannot even imagine being pregnant right now with an 18 month old (and two bigger sisters) but I also know that Adalyn is the daughter that completes our family.

During the day, Adalyn goes to preschool. She loves walking in and seeing her teacher and I am so thankful that her teacher takes such good care of her! She puts up with my obnoxious wants (like cloth diapers, and limited processed foods) and really takes care of her during the day! They do lots of fun arts and crafts, and they even bake together! I know Adalyn has so much fun at school each day! 

Adalyn typically wakes up around 7:30 during the week. Sometimes, we get her up earlier. On the weekends, she'll happily stay in her crib until we get her out- which sometimes may be as late as 8:30! She loves her bed and has always been a great sleeper! (She slept through the night at 6 months old w/ some little sleep training!) When she wakes up from her nap, she'll lay in her crib and just talk and play. 

Once we get home in the evenings, she gets a snack and usually fusses until dinner is ready. Girl loves to eat! 

Her favorite foods are: honey nut cheerios, graham crackers, blueberries, bananas, cheese, lunch meat, applesauce, and squeezable fruit or yogurt pouches. She'll try almost anything though, and if she doesn't like it, she feeds it to our dog, throws it off her plate, or throws it on to the floor! Momma always has a nice mess to clean up! 

After dinner, she gets to play for an hour or she has her bath. By 7:00 or 7:30 (if she's in a happy mood) she goes to bed. We say her prayers, lay her down with her ballet baby, and she's out within minutes! Her bedtime routine is super easy right now!

She says "Amen" after we pray, and throws her baby in her crib, before we lay her down. 

On Sunday, Adalyn wanted to put lotion on just like mommy! I had just gotten out of the shower, and I put my foot on the edge of the tub to put lotion on, and Adalyn was doing it too! It was the funniest thing ever!

She loves her ballet baby. Ballet baby goes everywhere with us. Addy also loves sucking her thumb. 

She loves to play with her big sisters baby dolls and she pushes them around in a stroller. She'll put lots of toys (blankets, a cup, and a baby) in her stroller and push it around the house. 

She loves to be held and to snuggle.

She laughs a lot! If she's crying, she'll instantly stop if we start to tickle her or if we can distract her in some way. 

She also loves to throw away her diapers (when we're not using cloth.)

She enjoys getting into my kitchen cabinets, and taking everything out! She's also learned to open her own dresser drawers, and empty them. Which, reminds me so much of Gretchen when she was that age! 

Adalyn loves her shoes, her house shoes, and her coat. She always wants to wear her coat and have shoes on. She also requests her hair bow on days that she goes to school. I'll tell her to go get her bow, and she runs to the bathroom saying, "bow, bow". Thankfully, she lets her teacher fix her hair at school because I don't always have time, and she never sits still for me! 

Adalyn can say mamma, dadda, Bailey, bow, Gretchen, baby, Amen, shoes, more, please, thank you, bye bye, hi, hello, up please, down, eat, nose, eyes, uh-huh, ho ho (for Santa)& mine. She also loves to answer yes and no questions- she shakes her head and I honestly have no idea if she really means what she's answering but it's so funny to see her answer questions like she really knows what she's talking about! Thanks to daycare, she can sign: eat, more, please. Back when I was a mom to just one child, she knew around 50+ signs by Adalyn's age, but ain't nobody got time for that and I'm still very pleased with Addy's language development. 

I'm so thankful that God surprised us with Adalyn. He knows the perfect plan for our life and I'm grateful that he added her to our mix! 

Check out all my "Girl Mom" posts HERE.

My Girls....

I had planned to have this post written for Friday and I totally ran out of time. That seems to be happening a lot as we near the end of the school year, and as we approach summer. Our lives begin to be hectic, and over scheduled and we're just constantly swimming to stay afloat.

 

That being said, I want to pause for a minute and remember my girls, just as they are today, because they are growing up so fast. 

Gretchen Rose is now 6 years old. 6 years and 3 months to be exact. She is all girl. She loves princesses, dresses, and hair bows. Well, honestly, she'd wear a tiara rather than a bow if I let her. She is almost finished with her first year of kindergarten and I cannot believe how much she has learned! She is reading at a first grade level, knows all of her kinergarten sight words, knows my phone number, can count by 5s and 10s, and is able to tell time to the hour, and can identify money.

 

Her favorite things right now are Frozen and Princess Sofia. She can sing every single song from Frozen and can act out the movie. She wants to be an actress.

 

She is finally becoming a big help around the house. She puts away all of her laundry that goes in her dresser, and finally cleans up her room without too much complaining.

 

She loves riding the bus to school, and her favorite colors are pink and purple.

 

She is the best big sister and plays so well with Megan. She rides her bike with training wheels, but prefers riding on her scooter instead. She loves to draw, and she's pretty crafty. Right now, she's making loom bracelets out of their pony tail holders, and I finally bought her a few bands of her own that she could use.

 

She has a little boyfriend at school, and they play soccer together on Monday evenings. They play together most days at school, but she also has a few good girl friends.

 

Gretchen is kind and helpful and caring, but she's also sassy and argumentative. I think she'll make a great lawyer one day!

Megan Claire is full of mischief. She continues to make us laugh every day, all while making us want to pull out our hair! I cannot believe that she will be three at the end of May! I still see her as just turning two, and I still pinch myself that she's not the little baby that I still believe she is.

 

She's shy and timid, but she's also brave and daring. She has so many personalities all wrapped up in her little self that it's shockingly hilarious.

 

She's potty trained during the day, still wears a pull up at night, and most nights it is dry, but not always. She has a horrible time going to sleep, but over the last few weeks, it's better. We have a little routine of DJ and I both tucking her by saying her parayers, and then I stay and count to 10 with her and then we sing a few songs including the "AB,D's", Jesus Loves Me, and the moon song. Often times she crawls in bed with DJ and I. In fact, we started a sticker chart to encourage her to stay in bed, and she could care less. In three weeks, she has earned 4 stickers. And she doesn't care to earn more.

 

DJ takes her to daycare every day, and he reports that she runs in, but then gets shy right at her classroom door. Her best friend is Harper, and she blames everything on Harper.

 

She enjoys playing with babies and her big sister. She also believes that her little sister belongs to her, and i'm pretty sure she'd 100% try to take care of Adalyn if I let her.

 

Supposedly, she eats great at school, but she's not the best eater at home.

 

She says Me for I, knows her colors most of the time, and counts out of order to 10. She doesn't know any of her letters or their sounds, which just tells me how different she and Gretchen are, because by age 3, Gretchen was so smart with her letters and their sounds, and with counting! 

 

Megan is a daddy's girl and still loves to cuddle. She's also whiney and emotionally, she's more fragile than Gretchen was.

 

We probably let her get away with more than she should. She makes us laugh every single day.

Adalyn Pearl is 9 1/2 months old. She is finally crawling on all fours (as of last Thursday 4/24). She weighs all of 15 lbs and is not even on the growth chart for her age. She is long and skinny.

 

She nurses or takes a bottle 4-5 times a day, and is now eating baby food and small finger foods 3 times a day.

 

She naps wonderfully at home, but not at daycare. Her naps are just awful at daycare.

 

She is happy most of the time, and is more happy now that she can crawl and move around! She enjoys putting everything in her mouth, and loves to suck her thumb.

 

She is babbling and talking, and loves to be tickled near her chest and neck. She has the best belly laughs and squeels.

 

She has two bottom teeth.

 

Over the weekend she was able to pull up to standing, but my mom didn't get a picture and DJ and I weren't there to see it, so i'm going to pretend that it didn't really happen!

 

Because she has been tryign to pull up, DJ finally moved her crib down to it's lowest level.

 

She's in size 3 diapers, but wears cloth diapers at daycare.

 

She wears 6 or 9 month clothing and often goes barefoot. We lost the only pair of shoes that fit her, and her feet are so long and skinny that the other shoes we have don't stay on well.

 

She sleeps with her ballerina baby doll every single night and looks for it as soon as she lays down in her crib at night.

 

She's a mommy's girl and hates when mommy puts her down. She often wants to be held.

These little girls are my blessing. They are my gift from God, and I am so thankful for each of them!

5 on Friday!

Happy Friday! Usually, I'm so excited for the weekend, and don't get me wrong, I really am excited, I just don't feel like it should be Friday. With two snow days earlier this week, and a sick day at home with Megan, my week is just totally thrown off. 

So, here's a little 5 on Friday for you, even though it doesn't feel like Friday!

#fastestweekever

1.) Megan dressed herself on Wednesday when we were home for her sick day. She loves to get dressed! She must get that from her daddy, because i'm 100% happy to stay in my pajamas all day long.  She begged to get dressed and instantly asked for her "frog shirt". She had on matching leggings, but had an accident, and so she dressed herself in sparkly leggings, heart shorts, and snow boots. 

2.) I remembered to take a picture for next week's WIWW! Yay me! I bought this scarf in January and I just love it. It's like a comfy warm blanket wrapped around my neck. 

3.) Miss Addy getting her bath Thursday night!

4.) Thursday night was parent-teacher conferences at my school. DJ and I had a great little plan figured out, but this little girl through a huge kink in it! She has been running a fever off and on this week. We went ahead and sent her to daycare on Thursday. Yes, we were totally those parents. At 5:30, I got a phone call that Megan was running a 104 temperature. I called DJ and he was already on his way to pick up the girls. I called our pediatrician and they let me know that 105 is the point of concern. DJ decided that he wanted to take Megan to the doctor anyway. My principal's at work were so understanding and let me leave to get the other girls so DJ could take Megan to the doctor. Because daycare had given her tylenol, her temperature was reduced to 99. The doctor's best guess is that she has a viral infection. Remember, last week when Adalyn had a mysterious rash? Well, we're kind of thinking that Megan picked up that viral infection, whatever it was, and now i'm thinking that we'll see a rash on Megan in a few days. If not, then who knows what viral infection Megan has. The doctor was concerned with how Megan's lip had been healing, since she bit it so severely on Saturday, that he gave her an antibiotic for her lip. The downside, is that her antibiotic can cause diarrhea. 

When I was talking to my school principals tonight, I told them that I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. I'm just so thankful that i'm in a position with women that understand what motherhood entails. I'm just so over our family being sick.

5.) Gretchen had Read Across America/Dr. Seuss week at school. Wednesday was "Wacky Wednesday" and this was her outfit of choice. 

Oh my! Y'all have a great weekend lovelies!

Today's Post….

Today's post was somehow published yesterday, so make sure you check it out here.

I was able to try Shakeology for a week, so you'll have to read the post to see how much I loved the product!

You may also want to check out the weekend wrap-up that was also published yesterday, in case you missed it!  

In other news, yesterday I was able to stay home with Adalyn and take her to the doctor so we could find out about her mysterious rash. She still has the rash, but it is looking better, and we still don't really know the cause of it, other than it's a viral infection, and will run it's course and the rash will eventually go away. 

This is how poor Addy looked at the doctor's office today. 

After Adalyn's appointment, I took lunch to Gretchen at school. She was suppose to buy her lunch for pizza day, but when she realized I'd be home, she begged me to bring her lunch because she sees other mommy's do it all the time! Thanks to her little guilt trip, she got McDonald's for lunch. 

This is Gretchen and her little BFF. They sit together every day.

Once Addy and I got home and I got her settled down for a nap, I went upstairs to work on a few projects:

I'm so excited that my girls are going to have matching Easter pajamas this year! I finished Megan's today, and wasn't able to start on the others since Addy woke up before I was done. 

This design can also be done on a shirt or a dress with a variety of fabric options! 

I also made this little bird for Adalyn. It's just so sweet and simple, and I decided to use lots of bright fun colors for spring!

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Weekend Wrap-Up: Spring is in the Air

Our weather this weekend was once again fabulous, and every day that we have a day full of sunshine and warmth, I'm thankful all over again that DJ was able to take the job at Tulsa and move us out of the cold in Indiana! This southern girl just could not take that snow! 

DJ takes the little girls to daycare every day, and Meggie wanted to take this little bottle of ketchup with her to school. This girl loves her ketchup! 

We had a typical Friday evening. I got home late, made the girls fish sticks for dinner, had a glass of wine with our neighbor, and DJ brought home Pei Wei for the two of us.

This book came in the mail, and I spent most of the evening reading! I spent most of the time in bursts of laughter and DJ just kept looking at me like I was the weirdest girl on the planet.

The book was written by, Melanie Shankle, the author of Big Mama blog, and to be quiet honest, I don't even read her blog (although i'm going to start reading it!) the book was so highly recommended by several blog's that I do read, that I had to get the book for myself! 

I suggest that you get it too.

Megan fell asleep in the hallway again, by her sister's stinky shoes. If you're a regular around this blog, you'll know that this is a very common occurrence as of late.

Saturday morning, DJ and I cleaned house, and thank God that recruiting Saturday's at the football office are over, because our house was clean before noon and that my friends is a record.

After lunch, Gretchen and I headed to Hobby Lobby and Reasor's.

She road in the buggy at Reasor's, and I just laughed at how ridiculous she looked! 

Addy Pearl slept most of the day on Saturday. She slept from 9-12 in the morning, and I finally had to wake her up to feed her, then she slept from 1-4 that afternoon!

We cuddled a lot when I got back from the grocery store.

DJ grilled pork chops and asparagus for dinner and the girls played outside for a little while.

Then, this happened.

Y'all, this NEVER happens! She fell asleep in her own bed! 

We went to church on Sunday morning and I didn't get a picture before church, so I took this one as soon as we got home, and Addy Pearl was NOT happy! 

After naps & rest time, DJ took the girls outside to play.

Meggie sported her Hi hoodie from Vine & Ever. 

And, I cuddled this baby girl most of the afternoon.

And, here's why:

Sunday morning, I noticed that Adalyn had a rash on her belly. I sent a picture to my mom and sister in law (both nurses) and we figured it was an allergic reaction. After church, DJ and I gave her the tiniest amount of Benedry. Her rash got progressively worse, and I decided to take her to urgent care. However, there were like 15 people in the waiting room, and many of them were wearing masks and the clinic is notoriously slow and I didn't want to risk getting Addy really sick.

So, I called DJ and my doctor, and he answered the phone and I explained what was going on. He told me that it was probably Fifth's Disease, and what it was. He told me not to worry about coming in, because there was honestly nothing that could be done for her. That we could give tylenol to alleviate any secondary symptoms. And while I know this sounds like a doctor who just didn't want to work on a Sunday afternoon, I assure it was not. We spoke for around 15 minutes and he told me that she probably needed to stay home from daycare on Monday, and that I could bring her in to the office on Monday. He reassured me and made feel lots better, and I'm so glad that I did not wait the entire afternoon at that walk in clinic! 

Addy's rash still looks horrible, so I'm home today, and we're heading to the pediatrician's office. 

Because my hubby was home and is so awesome, I was also able to complete these projects:

My dear friend, Kelly, asked me to make a bib for her son's 1st birthday party! 

And, I had an order for a Sofia the First inspired pajama set.

I'm also have a sale on appliqué shirts this week! Buy one get one free! You can contact me via Facebook to place your order! This would be a great time to buy a brother/sister set, for a birthday, or even for football season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas! 

Friday Ramblings!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

I usually link up with 5 on Friday every Friday, but today, I have so much more than just 5 things to share and I just could not narrow it down!

This baby girl is a mover and a crawler now! She started army crawling on Sunday, and she's trying to get up on her knees now! She army crawled over to get the remote control and was so proud of herself!

I also think that we may be getting on a better schedule with her this week. I'm not 100% sure yet, so I don't want to jinx us, but i've been getting home, getting things put away, nursing her, then feeding her solids, and then putting her down for a late evening nap. I'm trying to let her only sleep one hour when we get home, and then I can get her back up around 6:30 or 7, keep her awake for another hour or hour and a half, and then get her back in the bed. I was really hoping to give up the late evening nap all together, but Addy Pearl is not sleeping well at daycare (still) and I may just have to let those hopes go. I have used a babywise routine with all the girls, and she should be getting three 1 1/2 hour naps per day, but she's taking about two naps at daycare and those are anywhere from 45 minutes, 1 hour, or 30 minutes. Home girl just likes to know what's going on!

Addy is also arching her back and throwing her head back when she gets upset. This little girl is going to have an attitude just like her big sisters! 

Sigh, Megan is still falling asleep on the living room floor. Actually, she did not last night, but she did Wednesday night. I digress. Let her sleep where she falls. We'll still put her to bed and tuck her in around 7:30 or 8:00, but she'll fall asleep wherever whenever. Whatever.

Gretchen had her Valentine's party at school yesterday! I'm not sure who thought February the 13th would be a good idea for a Valentine's party, but oh well. So, my plan for all three girls wearing matching pants and applique shirts & matching bows just went right out the window. I let Gretchen wear her Valentine's outfit on Thursday, and look how cute she looks! Yes, I may be a little partial. I'm her mom, I made her shirt, I made her bow, I bought her pants.... I just think she's precious.  #sorrynotsorry

She was suppose to take pepperoni to her class party. I remembered at 4:00 yesterday afternoon while I was driving home. Mom Fail.

Thankfully, Gretchen didn't notice.

I also really became thankful for all the moms that stay at home or that were able to take off work to be at the party yesterday. I was able to see a few pictures and I just had a come to Jesus meeting, about how awesome it is that those moms could be there, when other moms couldn't. They were able to take care of the party. They remembered their snacks. They helped plan, helped with the games. They were there for my daughter when I could not be, and I am so thankful to them!

Happy Valentine's Day to my hubby! He was less than thrilled when I took this picture this morning! And, I just have to give him props for letting me sleep in a few more minutes AND he made the bed this morning! This guy is speaking my love language. He's a hottie.

And, my little girls this morning!

This is a grainy pic- DJ snapped it and emailed to me, but it's horrible quality. Thankfully, I have some on the "real" camera as well, so i'll post those next week.

All of the girls were suppose to have pink minky dot ruffle pants to wear today. I bought Gretchen a size 6, and thankfully, she'll be able to wear them next year. They were a little long, so I just rolled up the waistband twice yesterday.

DJ put Megan's on her this morning and holy cow, were they big! I bought her a 2T, and even with her pants rolled up, they were too long. I bought Addy Pearl a size 9 months and they were even longer! Like, they were so long, they were as long as she is! So, after a bit of fit throwing (on mine and Megan's part), Megan ended up in the size 9 month pants that I had bought for Addy, and they fit Megan perfectly!

Thankfully, I had a pair of pink pants that I could put on Addy.

And here are all my little Valentine's! Poor Gretchen had just come downstairs after putting on her dress, and I hadn't fixed her hair and she was barely awake anyway!

And, thank you to Andrea for creating this "Hey girl" picture.... I shared it with my hubby, and told him i'd be happy with just ONE PAIR, and he told me that I should've married Ryan then! Ha!

One more thing, our family photographer, Madison, and her precious family, have just added a new bundle of joy to their family! I found out last July that they were planning on adopting, and yesterday, they got a phone call that their little baby boy was waiting on them! They had about two hours notice, and they now have the most perfect little boy in their house today! What an amazing Valentine's gift! You may also want to check out their super cute "Hi" hoodies, and canvas prints over at Vine & Ever. 100% of the proceeds will help to fund their adoption, and once their adoption is fully funded, they'll be supporting other families! My girls have their "Hi" hoodies, and I told Madison that they needed to make them in adult sizes because they are the softest sweatshirts ever!

Hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's day! May you be loved!