Oh, Baby

Wow, if there is anyone out there still reading this blog (and not checking Facebook to already have the news) I am pregnant and due to have baby #4 the first of August!!! We are all pretty excited and I am starting to feel a little bit human as the second trimester approaches.

Since my doc couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat at my 12 week appointment and he wasn't sure of my dates, I got to get an ultrasound. The baby is doing great and wiggling around a bunch! I swear I've felt some of it, but it is just so early that I've decided surely it must be something else!

We haven't made a lot of decisions, but it does make us wonder what we should do about our house. It's small, but the basement is unfinished and there is room to add on in the back. For now, we've decided to stay here and decide the rest as it comes!

Well, I probably won't get on this thing for several more months, who knows? Perhaps I'll update you when we know the sex of this child in March...

Natural Beauty Products

They may not need beauty products but my girls sure love to use the natural stuff anytime they can! I love to catch them at it!














Who knows? Maybe they have softer skin and hair because of it!!

Potty Training

I'm not sure why this makes me happy today, but it does! My 19 month old is becoming aware of her...functions. I think I'm ready to start potty training for the last time. I'm not excited for the actual process, but the thought that I never have to change diapers on a regular basis again, is REALLY exciting!!!

She is also being incredibly cute while she carries her singing puppy around and dances along to the music it is playing! She is so easy to love!!

Artist in the making?

So, is it just me, or does this look a little bit like Picasso's Don Quixote??

In Which I tell you why I am such a bad mom... (Otherwise titled: "I didn't blog about my daughter's Fourth Birthday!")

I still feel bad about not blogging about Princess's fourth birthday, and I felt a lot worse before I started writing this, but I do feel bad.

I just haven't been blogging lately and I think the pics are still on my camera. (Two weeks later!)

Anyway, she is adorable and she turned four!

Lately, whenever anyone asks her how old she is, she stops, looks over at me and asks how old she is first. I guess it takes some getting used to!

She is really fun and loves to have fun. She loves to ride her bike up and down the sidewalk. She'd swing all day long if someone would push her. She loves to be read to and will "read in her head" because she doesn't know how for herself! She is a really helpful kid. She is always asking to help with cooking, dishes, weeding, you name it! She loves to help!

She is also pulling out of her thunderous threes!!! (I hope!!!!!!!!!!) At least when she wakes up there is now hope that she'll be in a good mood for the day rather than fighting us at every turn! Three was WAY worse for her than two years old was!

This should be a fun year of learning and playing for her!

Look Who's One!

This has been a really busy year and so in some ways it went by so fast, but in others it has seemed really slow!

I'm so happy to have Doodle in my life! She is an amazing little girl! She is just bursting with excitement and energy all the time!! She is so funny and fun to have in our family! I'm so glad she's ours!

Here's her life in pictures!!

Starting with me very pregnant with her. (This is at our false alarm! You'd think I wouldn't have one of those with my third baby!)



New Born



One Month Old



Two Months Old



Three Months Old



Four Months Old



Five Months Old



Six Months Old



Seven Months Old



Eight Months Old



Nine Months Old



Ten Months Old



Eleven Months Old



One Year Old!!



Happy Birthday!!!

Baby Wearing at its Oddest!

I made this mei tai for her:




But it was requested that I put it on him:



He doesn't strike me as the motherly type, but hey, Princess likes it that her toys can wear other toys!

I think she needs a Ken doll!!!

The milk box is the daddy in her little family!

Great Site

I just thought I'd share this amazing site with you!

A friend of mine homeschools and uses this link to show her kids all kinds of things! They have TONS of virtual tours listed and it looks great! I can't wait to show my kids!

A lot of them are pictures and some have video tours! It is a neat collection of websites with lots of info for kids.

"Look, Ma, No Hands!!!"

Wow!


And this one was just too adorable not to share, since it was taken at the same time!

Doodle's Eight Months Old

Wow! I can hardly believe that my tiny little (8 lb 7 oz) baby is 8 months old! She is huge and adorable. She is such a happy baby!!

Doodle loves baths, food, her family, Freckles, eating grass (wire, paper, leaves) and being big. We all just love her! She is so easy to love!

She LOVES to eat. She hasn't turned anything away. She'll eat baby food and she loves and can handle small bites of many "adult" foods, too! She loves nursing as well as anything I'm willing to give her.

She can crawl, sit up on her own and pull up to standing. She is on her way to walking by 10 months like her siblings! She is so proud of herself, too! You can see it on her face when she does her newest tricks!

She has more hair than either of her siblings (definitely more than Princess had even at a year old)! She has two teeth already, which is also early for our family.

I just love this grin!! She loves to share it with us all the time!


She is already a "ham" at picture time. She makes it difficult to get a decent picture because she wants to come up and stop what she was doing to see the camera.

Why?

Why does my baby think that this is the most comfortable way to take a nap???


It freaks me out!

I guess I like to have the covers around my face, too! CM hates it because I pull the covers off of his feet to be on my face! But I HATE to have them covering my mouth and nose like that!

My Mom Toolbox/Bookshelf

Now that I am on my (most likely) last child, I have found all of the books that help me be a better parent. You know how they say that kids don't come with an instruction manual? Well, I think this list of books is really close to being the perfect pregnancy and parenting instruction manual for me!

Planning Your Pregnancy and Birth

This is the best pregnancy book I have ever read. It was produced by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. I love to have books written by people who have researched and know the most about a topic. I wish I had had this book when I was pregnant with all of my children, instead of just Doodle. It is a really informative and helpful guide to know what is normal, and what is not. I also have the "What to Expect..." books, and I don't like them. They always gave me things to be paranoid about. This book is very straightforward and organized well.

Nursing Mother's Companion

Breastfeeding is difficult at first and remains that way for many people. I'd recommend this book and you should start reading it before you have your baby and keep it close by for the first couple of months. It is amazing! I think I would have been able to nurse my first baby for a lot longer if I'd had this book!

Babywearing

Okay, so this isn't so much a book as a way to help take care of kids. I found this when Princess was about 18 months old, so I got to carry her around a bit. She is actually still small enough, so this summer, we may still use them for her. I don't carry Doodle around in a carrier all the time, but when I know we're going to be walking around a lot, I do. I love my Mei Tai ("May Tie")! It is so nice to have her so close. Shopping is wonderful and I don't have to carry a heavy car seat everywhere we go!

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

No matter how old your kids are, go read this book! It is the best book I have read about sleep. The author teaches why sleep is so important and tells you what to do to make sure your child gets enough quality sleep. I read a little of this book when I was pregnant with Princess and she was a lot better sleeper than Indy, still is! Now, Doodle is a great sleeper. We are still working on night time, but she puts herself to sleep so well! It makes life so much better!

From Baby to Toddler

Again, I like this one better than the "What to expect..." books that I also got. It goes through each month and helps you to know what your child may be doing and how to play with him or her to get them to their full potential.

Diaper Free Before 3

This book is what gave me the confidence to get Princess out of diapers. It is written by a pediatrician and mother of three. She talks a lot about why we potty train the way we do and how it is completely wrong. She says that waiting until the child is "ready" is a bad idea. Instead, she says to start putting your child on a potty when they are six months old. You don't expect them to do anything at that age but get used to it as a normal part of life. Then, at one year old, you get them out of disposable diapers and into cotton underwear. It may sound crazy, but I am going to try it with Doodle. With Princess, it is a little different, but I just get her to "go" every couple of hours. After three weeks, she sometimes tells me when she needs to go. There are still accidents, but it is working! Go read this book!

Supernanny: How to get the Best from your Children

So, this one isn't written by a doctor or anything, but I really like the way that Jo does things. She has a no-nonsense attitude about child rearing. She goes through several "issues" and teaches you how to have control of yourself and teach your children.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone out there. I just wish I could have had these tools all along. I have learned so much and I'm always learning new things. If you have any questions about them, just ask!

What are your favorite parenting "manuals"?

Doodle's Six Months Old

Sorry about the lateness of this post. I should have done it last month!

Doodle loves to eat anything! She is a great nurser and does well from a spoon and little cup. She'll laugh when you put something extra yummy in her mouth! Not only does she love cereal and mashed fruits and veggies, but paper and wires! It's great fun! We're in BIG trouble when she starts to crawl! Which, won't be too long! She can get up on her hands and feet and hands and knees. She'll rock back and forth a lot. She can pivot, roll and scoot all over the room. She can only go backwards with the occasional and accidental forward movements. I think if she knew that it was possible, she'd be crawling!


Doodle is very curious and loves to find anything she can! She can sit up, but only for short times. She loves to eat her toes, but only when she's not dressed. She usually leaves them alone even when she isn't wearing socks. I don't quite get it!



She loves to babble and is very social. She she still dances when she is going to sleep. She loves to be sung to.

She loves her brother and sister! There is definitely some idol-worship going on between those two!



She has had almost a constant cold since she was 2 months old. Her loving siblings won't stay out of her face. I think the fact that we are exposed to two new schools and a different set of germs in the neighborhood and church make it all that much harder! Hopefully, it will lead to a strong immune system??

She is an awesome napper, but won't sleep for more than 3 to maybe 4 hours at a time at night. I think a lot of that is the stuffy noses she keeps getting!

Anyway, we are loving our little Doodle! She is amazing and such a sweet little girl! I'm so excited to have her in our home!

Another Pottytraining Update

Friday was a horrible day of potty training! I'm not sure Princess "went" in the potty even once. I wanted to quit! It didn't help that the dog had made a huge mess of our carpet the day before with Amish bread starter! She ate almost the entire bag. Bag included! Then, on Friday, she threw it up! Just one more nasty mess on my carpets. I think we may be getting new carpets when our last child is done potty training. OR at least getting them professionally cleaned!

But, we kept going and today has been wonderful! She hasn't had a single accident and even went #2 after telling me she needed to! She went on my MIL's toilet with a potty seat on it and it has been a day to be happy that we are doing this!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Sweetheart

Princess loves to sing. I caught her at a great moment and got her to sing several songs!

Woodworking

Indy loves to help his dad. CM recently tore down our coal room (yeah, we still had one!) and turned it into a work bench since he's been doing a lot of projects. This has led to great things. One is that we are REALLY organizing the basement. It is awesome!

Another thing that has come of this is that Indy got the chance to really help on a project. We needed another set of coat hooks for the kids' room.

Indy got to choose the router bit and paint. He had a lot of fun and is learning to work with wood.

Here they are together while Indy uses the drill.


And here is the finished project.


He is so proud!



I'm so glad that CM has the skills to teach the kids these things. I am learning as we go as well! It is so nice to be able to say, "Hmm I'd like a ...." and one of us can usually make something to do the job!

Baby Dancing

Doodle has become quite the mover and shaker in our house. She loves it when we sing to her. Usually, she wiggles around, but today she started doing this:



I thought it was too adorable to pass up getting a video of her.

She started getting around by scooting on her back around Christmas time. Now, she has added rolling all over to that and she can get into some decent trouble for a not-yet-six-month-old. It is pretty cute.

Sisters, Sisters

Most times when I see my girls being cute together, I start singing the song "Sisters, Sisters" from White Christmas. Usually just: "Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters."

I got them to be adorable for pictures in their new Christmas dresses. It's really nice to have a MIL that is practically a seamstress. She is amazing! I usually (when I actually sew clothes) go to her for the hard parts. She usually finishes my project for me... It's nice! I feel bad, but they end up better than I would have done it.

She has started making Christmas and Easter dresses. I love it. I don't have to do all the work that I don't know how to do. Perhaps I should get her to teach me more...I guess that would involve actual sewing, from an actual pattern. I do like to sew, but not generally clothes.


And, in case you are unfamiliar with "Sisters, Sisters" here it is!

Webelos Cookies

The Webelos made cookies at our house yesterday.


They were for pack meeting.

Needless to say, I'll be making cookies today! (At least they're my favorite kind.)

The crazy thing is that these boys had never baked cookies before. They are 10 years old. I can't cook anything without a helper and I love it! I think the great thing about it is that my kids love to be our "sous chefs" and they are learning while they do. They ask lots of questions and we teach them along the way. So many people are afraid to cook and don't know what to do. I never want my kids to be afraid, so they are working with us and learning how to do things. Maybe they'll only eat Ramen by choice...

I hope they are always helpful like this. Do any of you have experience with this? If you have expected and allowed your kids to help around the house, are they still willing (and wanting) to help when they are older?