Bye Bye November

This stinking cold virus just doesn't seem to want to leave our house. It's been over 2 weeks, not sure if it's the same one or a new one or what (Corey says the old one just mutated on us.) I certainly hope this isn't a preview of what cold/flu season will be like.

And in other news NaBloPoMo is ending, I actually managed to post every day for a month. And it wasn't that difficult to find things to post. Maybe now I'll be more motivated. Corey is anti-NaBloPoMo so he refused to post on his blog for the month of November so I guess he can begin posting again. I told Corey maybe I'd post every day in 2009 but I'm not sure I'm that motivated (and he doesn't seem to think I am either.) I must admit though a big part of me wants to prove him wrong.

Hair

I used to want a bald baby, I always thought they looked more baby like that way. After John it became obvious that I just don't make bald babies. And now after Phoebe I can't imagine it any other way. With Bella I hated it though, this kind of hair on a baby gets us a LOT of comments in public (and I really prefer for people to leave me alone personally.) And it would not lay flat, I tried everything to get it to stay down including brushing it wet and then holding her upright until it dried. In the end it was just a lot of work with no real results. So this post is dedicated to our family of crazy baby hair.

My personal favorite of Bella's



John



Mine as a baby





And since we can't leave Corey out. I think we can tell which side of the family the hair comes from.

Phoebe or Bella?

Bella and John are fighting right now over whether these are pictures of Bella or if they are pictures of Phoebe. I would have to say that the girls are definitely related. And they are all pictures of Bella.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a nice day here. Ate lots of turkey and spent time together. Corey being on call was a little annoying but not too bad (well maybe for him since he had to get up almost every hour through the night with his phone going off.) We have so much to be thankful for though, three healthy kids, a happy baby, a good job, nice home. The kids are getting excited about Christmas now, our tree is up and I started putting a few gifts under it already so every morning John runs downstairs and throws himself on the floor to look under and see if there are any new ones under there. I hide the new ones under old ones but he still manages to see them, and like a good boy he never touches them.



Bella peeling potatoes (it took her like 20 minutes to peel half of that potato and dropped it in the trash at least 4 times.)



Phoebe being cute. I finally got a video of her laughing today so hopefully I get that uploaded soon.



John was a grumpy boy today and barely ate any of his Thanksgiving dinner. And he asked me several times if he could suck his thumb (he usually only does that while sleeping so he asks for permission to do it if I'm around.)

Swings

Phoebe's first time on the swings out in the backyard. She seemed to enjoy it.



And Bella pretending to feed her bear Booga-Booga. Notice John in the background feeding his lamb Lamykins.

Little baby on a big couch

Seriously could she be any cuter?

New Dress

Bella finally got new church clothes (which she very much needed.) She loves them of course. And John got a new sweater as well. Now I'm just one step closer to actually getting a new family picture taken.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Since I'm getting things ready for upcoming Thanksgiving I thought I'd share the recipe of one of my favorite holiday treats, pumpkin cheesecake. We make this instead of pumpkin pie, I like it better because it seems just a bit lighter than the pie but still has all the yumminess of it. That and it's super easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Blend in eggs.
3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the batter and stir. Spread batter into crust.
4. Bake 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

4 Months

Phoebe is 4 months old now. The last 4 months have definitely gone by quickly. She's doing great, though she's been waking up in the middle of the night for over a week now. I'm not sure if it's because she's sick or if it's a growth spurt but it's not too bad so I can't complain really. I have no idea what her weight is right now (she hasn't been weighed since her 2 month appointment.) She goes in for shots on Dec. 2 so we'll find out how much she's grown then. I've got to do her 4 month pictures, hopefully tomorrow if I have time. I really need to do Christmas pictures of the kids too but I've been putting it off. Gotta get them new sweaters for family pictures so I'll probably wait till then.

Oh and I think her hair has finally hit the point where more is laying down than is sticking up!



I've seen this sad face a lot in the last week, it's what happens when I clean her nose out. It's pitiful.



And she figured out how to kick her feet and make the toys on her bouncy seat move.



And Bella helping me pound out the chicken for dinner.

Happy Cow Milk

I guess John's been paying too much attention to commercials on tv lately because this morning he told me he wants some "happy cow milk." When I asked what he was talking about he said "happy cows from 'corny-fornia." I gotta admit they do have some funny commercials.

John's Letters

John's been learning his letters for awhile now but today I realized he knows almost all of them. Just need to teach him not to say "um" everytime. That drives me nuts (he only does it when you ask him questions though.)

Ikea

We went to Ikea tonight to buy some Christmas presents and eat dinner. The kids were so excited (we haven't been in awhile.) Anyway I found these cute little brooms/dustpans for the kids and they love them. Best of all Bella is actually good at sweeping so it helps me out.



And John with his new ornament.

Smile

A Day in the Life

Today's post will be a summary of our day. And for the record it was a good one.

3:00am - Phoebe wakes up and wants to eat. Feed her and try to go back to sleep with no luck.

3:30am - Get a snack go back to bed.

5:00am - Just as I'm finally falling back to sleep Phoebe wakes up to eat again, feed her and go back to sleep.

6:00am - Corey wakes up, feeds Phoebe her regular morning bottle and goes to work (clearly Phoebe is having a growth spurt.)

8:30am - Hear Bella and John up playing in their room and try to ignore them

9:00am - Drag my butt out of bed and start the day.

9:15am - Get all the diapers changed, kids dress and make breakfast. Feed the baby while the kids eat and then pump.

Then the kids play in the playroom for awhile while Phoebe naps and I spend some time on the internet. Feed the baby a few more times and play with her.



12:00pm - Have preschool time with the kids. We're currently working on the sounds letters make and shapes.

1:00pm - Play outside, go for a walk with the kids and check the mail

2:00pm - Lunchtime for the kids, feed baby while they eat.

2:30pm - Put John and Phoebe down for naps and eat my lunch. Bella plays by herself in the playroom (hopefully.)

4:30pm - Corey gets home and and we get ready for dinner. Pizza Monday tonight! Quickly feed the baby before we leave and wrangle three kids into the van.

6:00pm - Get home. Clean the living room and kitchen, start a load of laundry.







Go down to the playroom to clean it and discover the kids have "decorated" the walls.



Spend 20 minutes scrubbing the markings off.



I also found some cute drawing (in more appropriate places.)



6:45pm - Baby is hungry again



7:00pm - Bath time! Find the bathtub clogged from Corey's shower so I plunge it clear. Discover lost bath crayons in the drain. Bathe Phoebe while it drains.



Phoebe wouldn't look at the camera because she was busy watching her feet splash in the water.

Then wash the other two.





7:30pm - Call Nana so the kids can say goodnight.

7:45pm - Read kids a story and put them to bed.



8:00pm -Sit down and watch TV!

I still have to feed the baby a few more times and pump again but this is definitely my favorite part of the day.

829 ounces and counting

After almost four months of pumping I have 829 ounces of breastmilk frozen in the freezer. I hated it so much in the beginning and wanted to quit every day. I'm so glad I stuck with it though because now I only have to pump twice a day and that's really easy. I now freeze an extra 8-10 ounces per day. If my freezer ever goes out on me and ruins it I will be very mad.

Gotta love it

Cold & flu season. We have our first cold of the season, lovely. I truly dread this time of the year and all of the germs everywhere. Luckily this one seems to be pretty tame. And as a plus K-Mart had tissues on sale.

Cara

For the past few weeks I've heard John saying "Cara" while he's playing with Bella and of course Bella has repeated it. He never said it around me though, just while off playing alone. I could not figure out where he came up with it though because we don't know anyone named Cara. Today I figured it out, my little boy has his first imaginary friend. We were down in the playroom doing our preschool time when he informed me that Cara was down there with us, in fact she was sitting right next to us. He has spent most of the day talking about her and taking pretend pictures of her. She apparently has pink hair, wears a black shirt with a jacket and a tutu. And for the record Bella cannot see Cara and by the weird look she gets when we talk about her she thinks John's a little crazy but she seems to enjoy playing along anyway.

Sisters

Bella kept closing her eyes when the flash went off so she tried to hold them open in this picture. It didn't exactly work.

Not quite right

I posted awhile back about words the kids say wrong. Now two words Bella uses wrong.

"fit" She uses this to mean something is too small
example: I can't wear that, it's too fit for me.

"comfy" To her this means heavy
example: I can't carry that, it's too comfy

Sad Baby

What could make my happy baby look so sad? I think it was a combination of reflux and a really poopy diaper. Frowning babies are just too cute.





And I meant to post this last picture yesterday but I guess I forgot.