What a Chubber!!

Georgia had a weight and measurement done today, and is she ever getting big! She is now measuring at 21 1/2 inches long, and is now weighing in at 9 pounds 12 ounces!! I've been constantly told that babies 3 months and under should be eating every two to three hours, which is something Georgia doesn't do-she eats about every 4. However, there is obviously nothing to worry about since the last time she was weighed about 3-4 weeks ago she weighed 8 pounds exactly. She is obviously getting plenty to eat, and you can tell by her steadily getting chubbier cheeks and double chin!! She has her two month check up in about 2 1/2 weeks, and I would bet she'll be 10 pounds by then and even possibly in 3-6 month clothes. It's amazing how fast they grow!!

Happy Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day!! Hooray!! It's also about time for an update.

Robbie is doing well, and so am I...nothing much new with us. Robbie keeps pretty busy with school and work and exercising in the wee hours of the morning, and I keep busy with all the household stuff plus 2 very active little girls and 1 very small one. I have been a bit busier than usual with packing up all the maternity stuff (hurrah for getting back down to my prepregnancy weight...now I just gotta loose all the weight I gained after having Gwen) and deep cleaning our apartment in anticipation of all the family we will have here in about 2 weeks for Georgia's blessing. Robbie's been awesome and has been helping me so much with the girls so that I can get more done in the day and have time for myself. He is amazing. He was also thoughtful enough to get me something for Valentine's day...my first quilt project (been wanting to try this for years)...I'm so excited!! He's kept himself happy with the waterproof watch he got for Valentine's day-he uses it for the swimming workouts he does 3 times a week up at the school.

Gwen is doing well-still not potty trained though (and is that ever frustrating). She is learning so quickly and has got such a stuborn, independent and hard headed personality. She is a very bright little girl though and loves to help with the baby. She tells me all the time how much she loves her baby Georgia, and this morning the girls were even fighting over who Georgia belonged to (she's mine...no, Georgia mine!!)

Grace is doing well too. She has a bit of a cold, but it seems to already be subsiding. She too is learning quickly and we are able to understand more and more what she is trying to tell us. She still has that very loving, soft personality, but she is starting to show more signs of being hard headed like her sister (oh joy). She is very easy to please though and that helps.

Georgia is now a month old!! How time flies...she is getting really big too. If I had to guess I'd say she's probably about 9 pounds right now, judging from how fast she's been gaining weight. She likes to be awake more and more and is starting to get the hang of tummy time-she can hold up her head a little bit longer now. She is trying to reach for toys and even gave Robbie her first official smile the other night-though no smiles since then. She calms down while listening to her sisters and will follow their movements when laying on the floor. We have hopes that her eyes will stay blue like Rob's (Grace's changed from this blue color that Georgia has now into a more hazel color) and we are excited for her blessing. She's such a sweet baby.

The girls have been very excited for Valentine's day and hopefully we'll find time today to do everything that I promised them-sticker art (they decorate paper with stickers that family has sent to us), making heart cookies and watching the new movies they got for Valentine's day (we added to our Disney collection). Along with laundry and running errands it should be a busy day. Hope your Valentine's day turns out great!!

Sleeping Issues

So while my mom was out here, she decided that she would buy a toddler bed for Grace, since they had also bought Gwen's toddler bed. Grace has taken to it really well-she never had a problem switching from the crib to her bed. However, it didn't help the issue of her wanting to sleep with us in our bed all the time. She is still spending most of the night curled up between Robbie and I. It's a bit of a pain, but we are trying to work on it.

We've noticed something strange since getting Grace's toddler bed though. Gwen likes to sleep in Grace's bed and not in her own. There have been countless times since my mom left where we have gone to lay Grace down and Gwen is asleep in Grace's bed. We've asked her why she can't sleep in her own bed and she says that it's too scary. So, we are going to try switching beds and letting Gwen sleep where Grace is right now and let Grace sleep in Gwen's old spot (which she's already done on a few occasions and not seemed to mind). The past two nights though we've found this:

We don't know what Gwen's problem is, but even if Grace is in her bed, Gwen still seems to have to sleep in that bed and climbs in with her. Hopefully switching spots will fix that since last night Gwen woke Grace up climbing into bed with her and we were up with Grace until close to midnight.

Even the baby is having some sort of sleep issue. She's been keeping to a pretty good routine as to when she wakes up and eats (every 4 hours, starting at 6 every morning). Don't know how she got on it, but it works well for me and I have no complaints-she's been such an easy baby!! However, when it comes to her 6 pm feeding, she decides that she has to stay up for 2-3 hours before she'll sleep. So I have now taken to sleeping on the couch from about 8 at night till she wants to eat again at 10. We can't figure out why she likes to stay up right when we are ready to go to bed, but I joked with Rob that she does it because it's the only cuddle time she can get alone with us. Oh, and we've been taking pictures of her for her birth announcement and this one turned out really good-she was wide awake without needing to eat and not screaming because she was tired. We'll see if the blue eyes keep (Grace had blue eyes until close to a year old, then they changed to hazel).

Errands with 3 Kids

So this has been the 2nd Thursday in a row that I have ventured out to run errands with all 3 girls. It has been a challenge. Our car is a 2002 Nissan Exterra, and there's not a whole lot of room in the back. In fact, all three car seats are just kind of squeezed in back there. So I have had to come up with a way to get all the girls in the car in a way that none of them run out into the street/parking lot and get hit by a car. Grace is on the driver's side, Georgia in the middle, and Gwen on the passenger side, and here's how it goes: set the baby in her seat on the ground; put Grace in the front passenger seat and shut the door; help Gwen into her seat; go around to the other side and find a way to work the baby into the middle without too much bumping; go back around to the other side of the car and strap Gwen in; get Grace out of the front of the car and strap her into her seat. Then there's always the challenge of how to get them out and walk into the store without getting hit by a car. So far it's working out, but it is interesting.

Today's big errand was taking Georgia to the pediatrician for her 2 week check up (she is now 2 1/2 weeks old). She is doing really well-very healthy. She was 7 lbs. 10 oz at birth...3 days later she was 7 lbs. 3 oz...and she is now exactly 8 pounds (little girl likes to eat a lot). She has also gained 2 inches (although the doctor's office thinks that she was measured wrong at the hospital)...she was 19 in. at birth and is now 21 in. long. She has all ready outgrown the newborn outfits that we had for her. The only complaint that I would have is that she doesn't want to nurse. I have had a consultant over and talked to the same one on the phone and have tried and tried and tried to get her to nurse, but alas...the stuborn little stinker doesn't want to do it (the consultant believes that part of it is because she has a very tiny mouth). So, while it's made me depressed and I've felt like a failure, I've kind of gotten over that and moved on. I am pumping my milk and giving it to her in a bottle, so she is still getting that nutrition from me, even if it takes longer and is a bit of a pain in the butt. I'm still trying to get her to nurse, but we'll see how it goes. Other than that she has been my easiest baby and I am excited to see her grow and her personality bloom.

Gwen and Grace are doing good. Once again I was asked today if I had twins (he he he)...they are starting to look more and more alike, and since they are almost the same size, complete strangers will just guess that they are twins-until they hear them both talk (and there's an obvious difference there). Gwen is still a very funny little girl, although I could do without the extreme tantrums that she has. We're really having to watch what we say and do around her lately. Diana and Quinn took the girls for a little while after Georgia was born, and I guess they went to Burger King. While standing in line, a boy came out of the back of the restuarant (and Diana said he was a big boy) and Gwen took one look at him and said "He's a fat boy!" They're pretty sure that he overheard her. Oh, I can't wait to see what other embarrassing things she says in front of others. Grace is still my little sweetheart. She decided to play peekaboo with me the other day, and it was the first time I'd really heard her say an understandable sentence. She said "Where's da mama? Peedaboo!!" over and over. It was really cute. She is really starting to talk and is trying to learn her ABC's and 123's. Oh, and her and Gwen like to sit and pull each other's socks off and look for "toe fuzzies" (lint between their toes) and laugh like crazy when they find something.

As for Rob and I, we are both doing pretty good. We are both tired, but functioning as best we can. School and work are still going pretty good for Robbie, and I am still trying to adjust to a new baby along with everything else I have to do. It's been interesting. Robbie has been such a help though and it has meant so much to me when he makes sure that things are picked up so I don't have to worry about it the next day, or to watch the girls while they take a bath so I can have some "me" time (that's actually what he's doing right now) or making sure that I take a nap after the girls go to sleep because I have to feed the baby at 10 or 11 (when we usually go to bed). He is amazing and my love for him grows more and more each day.

Our family is well, and adjusting. I never knew it was going to be this challenging, but I welcome the lessons I learn and I know that this is what the Lord wants me to be doing right now in my life, and that Georgia was supposed to come when she did (why else would she come a week and a half early if she wasn't so anxious to join our family?). I am so grateful for my little family and for the love we all have for one another. I have been truly blessed to have such a caring and wonderful husband and 3 beautiful loving spirits as my children. I'll continue to give updates!!

A Thank You to My Momma

I am so very grateful for my momma...when she found out that we had gone into labor early, she moved up her flight so that she could be here to help us out that first week home. I know that it probably cost more to do that for us, but we are so glad that she did. A few days after coming home my back really started to hurt from all the back labor, and I could hardly move for almost 2 days without a lot of pain. I can't imagine having to take care of 3 kids all on my own during the day feeling like I did. And my mom did so much while she was here...cleaning, cooking, laundry, playing with and feeding my kids and Rob and I. You were such a help mom...you may not have thought so, but just having you here meant so much to us, even if you hadn't done anything to help around the apartment.

The girls had so much fun with their Nana. The day she left, Gwen came out into the family room and asked, "Where's my Nana?" She still talks about having her Nana here with her. And it was great to have Diana and Quinn come up with Madison to visit while she was here too. You are amazing momma...I keep thinking that if you could do it with 6 kids, I can do it with 3. Still, I am amazed that you had 6 kids when I find it hard with 3...can't even imagine what it was like for you sometimes. And I can't imagine how you went through labor 6 times...

Thank you momma, for everything that you did while you were here. I sure miss you and wish we could be closer to you and all of our family. I can't wait for the girls to get to spend time with you again, and to spend time with their papa and their Grandpa and Grandma Congdon in another month. Thanks again momma...you are truly inspiring.

Family Picture

Once again, this is being posted a bit late due to the fact that Georgia came a bit earlier than expected. We took a picture of our family the Sunday before Christmas, like we did last year and I'm finally posting it. It was fun for Robbie cause he got to use some of the new toys he got for Christmas. Hopefully we'll take another one of all of us soon (and one where I look better than the one from the hospital...).

Gwen's Birthday

I feel really bad that this is coming so late, but Gwen had her 3rd birthday on Monday, the 12th. Yes...the day after Georgia was born. I had originally wanted to throw her a party with all her friends but I am glad now that I didn't. I would've had a really hard time coming home from the hospital and having to prepare for a birthday party. Anyways, we decided to wait until Tuesday to celebrate her birthday so that my mom, who flew out early Tuesday to help us out, could be here and that would make things a little more special.

Gwen was so excited about her birthday. Robbie brought home a ton of balloons and she and Grace just went to town with those-running all over the place with them, sitting on them and bouncing, and throwing them around. It was fun to watch. Gwen was also pretty excited that she had a new baby sister at home too. Mostly she was excited for her cake and her presents. I didn't do a special cake this year like the crayon cake I did for her last year. I let her choose between having a special cake or a cake that had those little candies on them. We found Tinker Bell candies so Gwen decided that she'd rather have those instead of a special cake, and called her cake the "Tinker Bell Cake." She helped my mom decorate the cake with the candies and some sprinkles and of course Grace helped a little too. Gwen was really thrilled about the candles too...little twisty ones.

She had a blast opening her presents as well. Lots of money (oh, she loved that), princess stuff, a my little pony, art stuff (man she loved digging through that box!), minature tupperware (Grace stole most of it from her), a savings bond and from Mommy and Daddy...a Fisher Price Kid Tough camera. She has so far taken almost 300 pictures with it (most of them of cartoons on TV). Once I figure out how where Rob's screwdriver is (the port to download the pictures to our computer from the camera is right by the batteries, protected by a screwed-on plate) I will put some of her pictures up...some of them are actually good for a 3 year old.

I can't believe my baby is 3 now...I still remember bringing her home from the hospital in an outfit that was way way too big, and then going through the constant heel pricks for jaundice and having to get a billy patch to fight off the jaundice. I remember her first birthday cake and having to give her a bath because she smeared it through her hair and all over her face and chest. I remember her learning to walk, getting her first tooth, learning to talk, saying I Love You and her second birthday. How big she's getting!! My sweet peanut is 3!!