It's that time again!

Yep..it's time to make baby food again! I can hardly believe it. My friend Danah was my inspiration for this project with Margaret and Madeline. She made baby food for Kaitlyn and shared some with my girls. They loved her apples and pears! I couldn't believe how easy and inexpensive it was to make baby food. All you have to do is puree cooked fruits and veggies with either water, breastmilk or formula until you get the desired consistency. Then freeze individual servings in ice cube trays. The few times that I bought baby food for them when we were traveling they wouldn't eat it. To this day the thought of Gerber peas makes me gag. Yuck! I started giving Evelyn some cereal last week. She's becoming more interested with her cereal every day. I made sweet potatoes tonight. Hopefully they will be a hit! Evelyn now weighs a little over 14 pounds and is changing every day. Our little baby is growing up!

Halloween

I'm seriously behind on posting new pictures. Here are some pics from Halloween. M & M paraded down Main Street that morning in costume with their preschool class. The area businesses gave out candy. Margaret was SO disappointed when someone gave her $1 bill instead of candy! Evelyn and I joined along and had a great time. That night we attended the Fall festival at our church. Thanks to Danah, Evelyn was the sweetest mermaid for Halloween! Ariel and Cinderella were quite sweet too!

Madeline's Special Day

Madeline had an awesome special day at her preschool. We made Fall crafts and had Cinderella (of course!) cupcakes. We also made candy necklaces for Halloween. Grandma Donya, Grandpa Darrell and Mammy came also. Madeline gave a presentation to her classmates showing off her signing skills. Our deaf family says that she's a natural. Margaret also knows many signs but is too lazy to communicate! We had a great day celebrating our special girl.

The Pumpkin Patch

I'm way behind on updating pictures! Here are some pictures of our family at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. My wonderful friend Danah sent Evelyn some of the sweetest clothes. She wore Mackenzie's Halloween outfit to the pumpkin patch.

Updates

Our family has been so busy lately! Between preschool, work, dance and lots of other activities there never seems to be a spare moment. Margaret and Madeline love preschool and have quite the social life. They are bringing home homework (called FUNwork) and worksheets. I had a phone conference this afternoon with Margaret and Madeline's teacher. She told me that Margaret does not know her phone number and address and we must work on that. I asked Margaret to tell me her phone number and address and she did, perfectly. She told me that Ms. Joy didn't need to know that information so she didn't tell her. These girls are quite the characters! Evelyn is such a sweet and happy baby and growing by the minute. It makes me so happy to see her grow but also so sad. My baby won't be a baby for long! She smiles and coos all the time and loves to snuggle. We are gearing up for a trip to the pumpkin patch in the morning so I will post pictures of that soon.

Evelyn's new favorite thing

Evelyn Grace has recently taken a liking to "Miss Bunny". She loves to hold her close to her face. Too cute! She sucks her right thumb while she holds Miss Bunny with her left hand. I wonder if I have another lefty on my hands??

Happy Birthday...to me!

On August 16th I celebrated my 30th birthday. Since Bryan had to work, Sara and I got babysitters and she entertained me for the day. We had the greatest time! We enjoyed a morning at the spa and a yummy lunch with gossip and baby talk. It was so great to spend time with her (uninterrupted, of course, by our children)! Bryan bought me a new camera and I LOVE it! I know that all of my friends are so happy to not have to hear about my crappy old Kodak anymore. Turning 30 was much easier than I thought it would be. I'm exactly where I want to be in life and I have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Birthday Margaret and Madeline!!

We can't believe that our little pumpkins are now 4!! Where did the time go? It's so sad how fast our babies have grown. I do have to admit how great it is to have two 4 years old helping me out with Evelyn Grace. They are so mature and we have actual conversations. Margaret has a dynamic imagination and she is so creative. Madeline is athletic and is fantastic at sign language. We had their 4th birthday party at Mayo Lake park with all of their friends. They had the best time! We decorated princess sugar cookies with colored icings and sprinkles. They loved playing with their friends and opening gifts. They are both blossoming into sweet, smart little girls.

Beach Girls

Back in July, I decided to take a trip to N. Myrtle Beach with the girls. My mom had already planned on taking Margaret and Madeline that weekend to watch the Jr. shaggers dance. I decided to follow them down with Evelyn so I could visit with Jessica and Dale. Jessica was celebrating her 30th birthday that weekend and I really wanted to meet her precious little boy Dale. Evelyn was a super traveler and we only had to stop once going down and twice coming home - fantastic for a three week old! I only took Evelyn to the beach for a quick picture. It was so hot and humid that weekend. M & M played on the beach with Mammy and Pop and had a great time. That Sunday I drove down to Mt. Pleasant to visit with Jessica and Dale for a few hours. It was SO great to see them both! Jessica looks amazing and Dale is the sweetest baby. He is gorgeous! Big blue eyes and lots of dark hair like his mommy. It was a great getaway but an exhausting trip! Evelyn was still nursing every hour or two at that point so I was pretty tired. At least we got a change of scenery for the weekend!

Update and photos

OK, I'm WAY behind on posting! There just aren't enough hours in the day. Our summer has flown by and I can't believe Margaret and Madeline are starting their 4 year old preschool class at Long Memorial next week. It is their 3rd year there and they are so excited about seeing their friends. Evelyn Grace has grown so much! She has the sweetest smile and we all spoil her rotten. I LOVE to watch her sleep - I'm totally addicted to taking naps with her. She loves our bed. She does sleep in her crib at night but I sneak her in bed with us in the early morning. What can I say, I'm lazy - I love to sleep while I nurse at 6am! Evelyn's weight as of last week was 11 lbs. 2 oz. Her colic and acid reflux is diminishing and she is finally settling into a nightly routine. The last couple of weeks have been so great since she hasn't been fussy in the evening. I started working this past week getting my classroom ready for my two year olds. It was SO hard leaving Evelyn but I have to remind myself that I'll only be leaving her two mornings a week. At least she is with Bryan and I know she is being spoiled the entire time I'm gone. I'm really excited about teaching preschool and so far I love the students. I will have 6 boys and 4 girls - not sure how that's going to work out! Margaret and Madeline have grown so much over the summer. Their hair is so long and they will not let me trim it. They are writing their names and are starting to add numbers and recognize words. They will start dance again this year in two weeks. We had a great summer and stayed really busy going to playdates and meeting friends at the movies and McDondalds for a special treat. Margaret and Madeline both love Evelyn and are very sweet and gentle with her. We are all looking forward to Fall and starting a new routine with preschool. We have settled into life with three kids and love every minute of it.

Life with three daughters

Wow - I never realized how much free time I had with twins! Life with our little Evelyn Grace has been wonderful. I just can't believe how busy and hectic our lives are these days. I have friends that have three children and they all seem to constantly run in circles. We are finally beginning to settle into a routine. We try to keep Margaret and Madeline's routine as normal as possible. Both of my big girls are handling having a new baby sister beautifully. We have had difficult moments adjusting, however things seem to improve daily. Evelyn is the sweetest baby and we hold her constantly. None of us can get enough of her sweet baby scent! She eats frequently throughout the day but only wakes twice a night to feed. When the twins were infants I had to feed them on average 10 - 15 times each night until they were 10 weeks old. So far, one baby is a breeze! However, it has been challenging trying to keep my big girls entertained while I attend to baby duties. I'm very proud of Margaret and Madeline and love to see them kiss their baby sister. We love to listen to her grunts - she is a very vocal baby! We can't imagine life without all three of our girls. I've included pics of Evelyn with her buddies Baby Liam and Baby Nate!

She's here!!!

Our sweet little Evelyn Grace was born on her due date, June 23rd (also our 7th wedding anniversary!) She is just beautiful and we can't get enough of her. Margaret and Madeline are super big sisters and help me out alot. They have had a few difficult moments adjusting to a new baby in the house, but all in all, they are doing just great. So far Evelyn has been an excellent baby. We are so delighted to have her here with us! My labor was FAST, especially considering this was my first labor since I had a c-section with Margaret and Madeline. After my water broke Evelyn was born within about five hours. She is healthy and gorgeous. I will post more pictures soon - life has been pretty busy the last week!

Just too cute

Here are some too cute pictures of the girls. Margaret and Madeline love playing "baby" and climbing into the baby's crib for "night-night". Bryan and I have been telling them for months that the baby will be here in June. Madeline says everyday "Mom, it's already June - Where's the baby?". Thank goodness there have been no inquiries from them about the actual birth. They did however get an up close and personal view of my friend Sara's baby today during a diaper change. They have been inquiring about baby Nate's "stuff" all day. The more mature and sophisticated they become, the more complex their questions are. Sometimes I have appropriate answers on the tip of my tongue, and occasionally I resort to saying "go ask your Daddy". I have tried to prepare Margaret and Madeline for the baby in regards to such things as the belly button, poopy diapers and spit up. Margaret is my squeamish child and literally lost all color in her face when I explained to them about the cord stump and belly button. Maybe I'm giving them too much information? It will be interesting to see how they react to their baby sister. We are all anxious for her arrival and can't wait to meet her!

A little tired of being pregnant...

We finally have the nursery put together and are ready to welcome our new little girl into our family. We still need some artwork on the nursery walls, but have everything else done. I have 3 1/2 more weeks before she is due - hopefully she will arrive a little sooner than that! This has been a great pregnancy, uncomplicated and easy. Aside from horrendous acid reflux, I still feel great and have lots of energy. It feels tremendously different from carrying twins. I'm trying to cherish each moment of this pregnancy. I know that I will miss her kicking and having Margaret and Madeline kissing my belly everyday. However, I'm looking forward to bending over again and sleeping comfortably. I wonder if I will still need my pregnancy Boppy when the baby is born?? We have compiled a list of names (and no, we are not telling what they are!). We will name her when she is born. We have received some wonderful gifts from friends. A HUGE thank you to Jill, Sara and Jessica for planning a super fun day for me! Latane - we missed you! My very best friends planned a relaxing day at the spa for all of us. It's a long story, but spa day didn't happen. We had to make last minute alternate plans when Skin Sense screwed up our day of R&R! However, it turned out to be the most perfect day and I loved every minute of it! Thanks girls!! Thank you to Jessica and Jill for traveling so far to spend the day with me. It was so much more fun than a baby shower. My only regret is that I brought my camera and didn't take any pictures. We were laughing too much for me to even think about taking pictures.

A Day at the Zoo

On Thursday, Bryan and I took M & M to the NC Zoo. We didn't tell them where we were going until we were almost there. We all had a great time! I was prepared for lots of walking, but not the steep inclines! I received many sympathetic glances from people when they saw my belly and swollen ankles. I hung in there, but I soon realized that pushing a stroller up a hill isn't as effortless for me as it was a few months ago. Madeline and Margaret both loved the lions the best. However, Margaret asked us when we left where the doggies were at the zoo. I think she would have been just as content spending a day at the SPCA looking at puppies! They also enjoyed seeing "Willy" the polar bear, but he never would turn around for us to see his face very well. Bryan and I were so impressed at how super they were. They walked (and rode strollers) all day without the first complaint. It was such a wonderful treat to spend an entire day with my family.

Margaret and Madeline's 1st Dance Recital

We survived our first dance recital! After a very long week last week of dress rehearsal, the girls had their first recital on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. They were fabulous! Madeline was a little timid on stage but did a great job. Margaret seemed to love performing. We were so proud of them! I don't have any pictures from the actual recital because we were prohibited from taking any. They danced to "Candyman" from Willy Wonka for their ballet, and "You're Never Fully Dressed" from Annie for their tap. It was a wonderful weekend but exhausting! It was a little challenging to be 8 1/2 months pregnant and run at top speed at the Kirby to make it to the balcony in time to see them perform. Margaret and Madeline are looking forward to taking dance again in the Fall.

Princess Party

Margaret and Madeline went to a birthday party on Saturday. Their friend Mary Margaret is turning 4 and hosted a Princess Party. All of the guests were asked to wear their princess attire. Madeline dressed as Cinderella and Margaret dressed as Ariel from "The Little Mermaid". Margaret was very anxious to sample the castle cake! The photographer took pictures of each "princess" on a throne. There was even an appearance made by Cinderella's fairy godmother. All of the girls had a wonderful time!