Mouse

Lily is the first of our kids to have an imaginary friend.  It took us a little while to realize who she was talking to because she's always been one to ramble on to herself under her breath.  One day, Chris realized she kept saying Mouse when she talked and she was telling him to do things. I am a little worried because a lot of the time, she's being bossy and saying things that I know she hears us say to her or the boys.  She'll say, "Mouse, you better listen to me or you'll get in time out" and things like that.  She also seems to work through some of her fears with Mouse.  I'll hear her saying, "Mouse, are you scared of the fireworks?  I'm not, are you?"  It's the sweetest thing and I have been able to get a few pictures of her playing with Mouse.

Teaching Mouse how to use the stapler

"Do what I do Mouse" (jumping as far as you can)

She wanted a picture of her and Mouse.."He's right here beside me Momma"

Moving On...

Well, we did it!  We officially sold our home in 2.5 weeks.  To say we were shocked would be an understatement.  We basically put our house on the market just to see what would happen.  Much to our surprise and happiness, it sold almost immediately.  Now, the home we've known longer than any other (3 years, 3 months) will be a home of our family's past.  For the first time that we've moved, I'm actually feeling a little bit of sadness.  This is the first home that Lily and Hattie both knew.  It's also the house that holds the room that was fixed for Hattie that she never even had a chance to sleep in.  We searched for 3 years for the perfect house until we found this one.  Needless to say, we won't be going right out and buying another one.  In the meantime, we'll rent until we find where we want to settle down again.  This time, hopefully permanently.  In the 10 years Chris & I have been married, we've lived in 5 homes, 3 of which we have owned.  Landon is only 8 and he's lived in 4 homes.  Nixon is 5 and he's lived in 3 homes.  I guess you could say at least they're used to change and they are able to adjust to new things well.  In reality, we move move than a military family and at least they receive benefits!  Goodbye old home..hello new!

This was right after we moved in..long enough that Chris had finished off the flower beds, adding the brick border.

Our first Christmas and our first snow in our house...also the first month as a family of five.

Our last month here and our one and only picture at our house as a family of six.

Hattie - 4 Months

My sweet baby girl is 4 Months old!  She's growing up so fast!  She's really becoming an active baby girl!  At four months:

-she weighs 12 lb, 13 oz (21%)
-she is 24" long (30%)
-her head is 40.4 cm (44%)
-she eats 7 ounces every 3-4 hours
-she sleeps from around 8 or 9pm - 7 or 8 am
-she is trying her best to roll over but can't figure out how to tuck her shoulder blade in
-she loves to coo and talk to everyone
-she is definitely an attention hog..she loves for anyone and everyone to talk to her
-she still loves that paci
-she recognizes mommy, daddy and her brothers and sister and smiles so big when she sees us
-she loves to watch tv!
-she is so ticklish on her shoulders, belly and pretty much everywhere else
-has started sleeping in her crib (FINALLY!) and wakes up in a good mood, talking away instead of crying
-she has started gnawing on those hands like crazy.  She is definitely teething and loves for you to rub her gums
-she already has a few nicknames: Patty Deweeze (from her big sister, but somehow has stuck with everyone else), Weezy (from her wheeziness early on and also her middle name) and Pumpkin head.  Chris has tried to call her Spits because she spits up all the time but I refuse to let that be her nickname!

She tried out the pool and loves it!  In fact, the rocking of the pool put her to sleep one day when we were at the beach.  She still loves to snuggle in my arms which I love.  Her crib is still in our room.  Knowing she's the baby, I think me and Chris both are hesitant to let go of this phase.  We love to look in on her before we go to bed and of course I check her out as soon as I wake up in the morning.  It's crazy how she already fits into our little family and it's like she's always been there.  She's so laid back, which I'm assuming you have to be when you're the baby of four!

Flavorfy with DASANI DROPS

A while back, I saw that some people I know had received some free goodies from Influenster.  I decided to find their website and see what it was all about.  I didn't hear anything for a while after I signed up, but all of a sudden, I got an email saying I had qualified for their Flavorfy box.  I was so excited to get my box.  It finally came in this past weekend.  I received a bottle of water and two packs of Dasani Drops - the Mixed Berry and Pineapple Coconut.  They also threw in some coupons for $1.00 off when I go to buy my packs.  Believe me, I'm pretty sure I'll be using those!  These drops are so good!  My kids tried them and they like the mixed berry.  I'm kind of partial to the Pineapple Coconut.  Both of them are really light tasting and the best thing is they have zero calories...unlike most inserts you use to liven your water up! This product is definitely something I'll be using so I can try to get my water in everyday! 

**I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes**

Hattie - 3 Months Old!

My baby girl is officially 3 months old.  So hard for me to believe.  I feel like she's growing so fast!  At 3months old, Hattie:

-still eats 6 ounces every four hours
-sleeps around 9 hours a night..she's been known to sleep as much as 12 hours at night depending on naps during the day
-will only sleep in her swing.  It started because of her congestion...now I think it's because of her reflux.  It's something I hope to break in the next month because I can't stand her not sleeping in her crib!
-just switched formulas about 4 days ago.  So far, it seems to be better for her and her spit up has decreased tremendously
-finally started holding her head up.  She still can't hold it up long enough to sit in a bumbo, but she can control it enough to look around
-laughs at all kinds of stuff.  She loves for you to makes funny noises at her and she loves to be sung to...her favorite is Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker.  It seriously calms her down when other things can't.
-is wearing size 6 month clothes.  That's right..my little chunk is already out of her 3 month size!
-is wearing size 2 diapers..we just moved up on those in the last week.
-has so much personality..I can't wait to see it grow as she gets older and how she'll fit in with her two brothers and sister

Five Things Friday

1 - I've been on maternity leave for 13 weeks now.  I have one week left.  I don't even want to think about it.  While I'm extremely lucky that my boss lets me work from home/go in the office 20 hours a week so I don't have to use all my vacation/sick time, I kind of wish I was one of those people that could just let everything go for those 14 weeks.  It's been a stressful time to have maternity leave and I don't think I was able to completely enjoy it because of that.  On the other hand, I got 10 weeks with just me and Hattie that I loved and I'll have 4 complete weeks with all four kids.  Our parents are helping us with the kids this summer like they did last summer so Hattie will be 5 months old before she ever has to go to daycare.  Talk about good timing!

2 - This maternity leave has made me realize I would be a horrible stay-at-home mom.  I'm one of those people that can not start and stop things.  I'd just rather not start something than to be interrupted during the middle of it.  If I stayed at home all the time, nothing would get done in our house!

3 - I started a new running program two weeks after Hattie was born.  I'm now running 3.8 miles three times a week.  4.5 miles if you include my warm-up/cool-down.  I still don't consider myself a runner.  I have to push myself every.single.time.  but I'm hoping eventually I'll be able to just go do it without dreading it.  I'm proud to say I've only missed one week and that was because it rained everyday but one, in which I ran.  I've been trying to count my calories also since week two after Hattie was born.  I've lost 30 lbs since she was born, but i seem to have hit a plateau.  I'm hoping to lose 20 more so we'll see how that goes.

4 - I finally made Lily start potty-training.  She was the kid who had absolutely NO interest.  She was scared to death of any potty, big or small.  Her first week out of daycare, I was determined to get her potty trained though so we went straight big-girl underwear, giving a sticker for every successful bathroom trip.  Once she reached 10 stickers, she got a special trip for a toy with Daddy.  The first two days, I won't lie, she held it until nap time when we put a pull up on. Then, on the third day, it was like she finally figured out how to go and it wasn't scary anymore.  She has been wearing them 3 weeks now with no pee accidents and only one poop accident.  I'd say that's a good start.  Now, if we can only get her to go on the big potty.  Currently, we're having to take her frog potty everywhere! :/

5 - Hattie has been such a great addition to our family.  Believe me when I tell you after two kids, you don't even feel the additional child.   It's like they've always been there.  She sleeps about 12 hours at night and she's just so laid back, it's wonderful.  I hope she stays like that!  The only problem we've had is her congestion.  She's had it like 6 weeks now.  We have to continually use the saline and bulb for her nose and I'm hoping eventually it'll get better.  She also has these crying fits where she just can not be consoled.  I almost feel like it is colic, but when I thought about how much she spit up and the fact that she can't sleep flat on her back, we feel like it's reflux.  The doctor doesn't want to call it that, but Chris has it and I feel like that's what it is.  We finally made an executive decision to change her formula to the Enfamil AR.  We just switched yesterday but so far, no spit up and she hasn't had a crying fit.  Fingers crossed this works because she's so happy and has so much personality otherwise.  I hate to see her in obvious pain!

Hattie - 2 Months!

Hard to believe my baby girl is already two months old!  I've been very purposely enjoying every little detail of her knowing she's my final baby.  But let me tell you, it doesn't slow things down one bit!  Baby girl still is growing so fast!

At two months:
-she weighs 11 lbs, 4.5 oz (50%)
-she is 22.5" long (50%)
-her head is 38.9 cm (70%)
-she is eating 6 ounces every four hours.  At night, she'll usually sleep around 5 - 6 hours at a time
-she laughs/coos/smiles constantly while she's awake...she seems to be such a happy baby!
-she is getting so close to rolling over..she can roll about halfway before she gives up
-she still loves that paci..when she's fighting sleep, she doesn't like to take it because she knows it helps to put her to sleep!
-she can lift her head for short periods of time, but then gets tired and lets it fall
-she has taken her first beach trip and was really good under the tent on the beach
-still loves the swing..puts her to sleep every time!