Star - 4 Months

Age: 4 months

Weight and height: 12 pounds, 4 ounces and 24.5" long.  She's in the 21% percentile for weight and 58% for height.

Wearing: Size 1 diapers and 0-3 Month clothes.  Some of the 0-3 Month clothes are getting too small for her so it won't be long before I get the 3-6 Month box out!

Likes: Being talked to, laughing, squealing, playing with her feet or hands, wearing only her diaper so she can play with her toes, taking baths, tummy time, having her diaper changed.

Dislikes: Having her arms put in sleeves.  Honestly, she's so easygoing and happy that I had a hard time coming up with any dislikes for her!  

Eating habits: Star eats about 5 1/2 ounces of formula every 3 to 4 hours during the day.

Sleeping habits: Star takes 3-4 naps during the day and usually one of those naps is several hours long.  She goes to bed at 7 pm and is up between 6:30 and 7 in the morning. 
 
Milestones/Accomplishments: Her legs are getting really strong and she can support her weight on them pretty well.  We brought the jumperoo home from my sister's house this past week and Star loves to sit in it and watch what's going on around her. 

Miscellaneous: Star started sucking on her thumb earlier this month, but only did it for about 2 weeks before moving onto her fingers.  At any given time, she generally has a few fingers (sometimes several from each hand!) in her mouth. 

Comparison pictures from 3 months to 4 months: 

3 Months

4 Months

 
My sister took some super cute pictures of Star recently.  LOVE her eyes in both of these!

 
 
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The Rainbow Party

After having to postpone her birthday party last week because I had the flu, we finally celebrated Princess's 5th birthday today.

Shortly after her 4th birthday, she picked out a rainbow theme for her 5th and she's been reminding me about it frequently since then. 

Of course, I had to make her a new skirt to wear for her party.  I made her a paneled circle skirt with all 6 colors of the rainbow.

 
She immediately fell in love with it and started twirling.  We added a pettiskirt from Cotton Candy Chic to give it some extra poof and fullness.  I finished the outfit with a basic white shirt she already had in her closet and tied some strips of tulle in her hair.

I'm about as far from a cake decorator as you can get (my artistic talent is apparently limited to sewing), but I'm kind of proud of how the cake turned out.

Now to start planning Little Man's birthday in May!



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A to Z of Me

Dawn over at Mom-A-Logues did this and I thought it looked like fun!  Here's mine!
 

AGE = 27

BED SIZE = We started out our marriage with a very uncomfortable double bed.  When I was pregnant with Little Man, our landlady (who is also a close family friend) was looking to downsize so she traded beds with us.  She took our double bed and we got her super comfy king size bed!  It made a huge difference in my sleep while I was pregnant.  With the double bed, I'd always wake up stiff and so sore I could barely walk.

CHORE YOU HATE = Laundry.  Hands down!  I don't mind washing, drying, or even folding (I save it for after the kids go to bed and then sit down and watch a few tv shows while folding laundry), but I hate, hate, hate putting it away. 

DOGS = No thank you!  I don't mind dogs, but it's just one more responsibility and expense right now.  When the kids are old enough to clean up after the dog ( I am NOT becoming a poop scooper!) and help pay for vet bills, they can get one.

ESSENTIAL START TO YOUR DAY =  Waking up before the kids.  If I have a few minutes to do my devotions and drink a cup of hot chai before they wake up, I can handle them so much better.

FAVORITE COLOR = Blue.  I love just about every shade of it!  My wedding colors were blue and yellow.

GOLD OR SILVER =  I've always like silver better, but all of the jewelry my husband has ever given me has been gold, so it's growing on me!

HEIGHT =  5' 5"

INSTRUMENTS YOU PLAY = I used to play the flute, but asthma made that difficult.  I play a little piano, a little mandolin, a little guitar, and a little violin/fiddle.  I really should buckle down and get good at one instrument :)

JOB TITLE = Small business owner.  I have my own children's clothing boutique and am starting a new business selling pdf sewing patterns for clothing I've designed.  I also count wife and mother as my job titles :) 

KIDS = Princess (5), Little Man (2), and Star (4 months).  I always wanted to have 4 or 6 kids (not 5, I grew up with 4 siblings and nothing divides evenly among 5!), but I'm happy with my 3 precious little ones.

LIVE = In a very small town in southeastern Minnesota.  We have to drive 45 minutes to buy anything other than the basic groceries we can buy in town here.

MARRIED = Married to my dear Hubby for 6 years now!

NICKNAMES =   My older sister calls me "Nanna" and she's the only one who's allowed to call me that.  I've been called Hannah Banana A LOT by pretty much everyone, but I generally try to discourage that, lol.

OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAYS = Um, yeah.  When I was 6, I was in the hospital for a week (and in a coma for 5 days) because I stopped breathing due to an asthma attack.  Asthma attacks put me in the hospital again at ages 10, 13, and 15.  I've also been in the hospital 3 times to have babies :)  The last time, I was kept 2 extra days because I developed cellulitis in my leg after giving birth.  After it was completely better, I finally looked it up in a medical journal (I didn't want to freak myself out while I still had it).  By the time cellulitis gets to the point where you're spiking a high fever like I was, you're going septic and will slip into a coma and die if you don't get help immediately.  Glad I didn't know how serious it was while I had it!

PET PEEVE = Inconsiderate people.  I always try to consider how my actions affect others.  It really bugs me when people completely ignore that and just do what they want.

QUOTE = "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  Philipians 1:21

RIGHTY OR LEFTY = I'm so right handed that I could probably cut my left hand off and not miss it.  When I was 6 (yeah, it was a bad year), I broke my right wrist.  Boy, did that make things interesting for a while.  Incidentally, that's when I finally learned to tell my right hand from my left.  Even now, I stop and think, "okay, I broke this wrist so this is my right hand and that's my left."  Pathetic?  Probably.

SIBLINGS =  I have 1 older sister, 2 younger brothers, and a younger sister, in that order.  I loved growing up in a big family.

TIME YOU WAKE UP =  If it were up to me, I'd sleep until about 7:30, but Star usually gets me up between 6:30 and 7. 

UNIVERSITY ATTENDED = I attended a community college during my senior year in high school and then took online classes several years later.

VEGGIES YOU DISLIKE = I'm a bona fide picky eater (sorry, Mom!) so there aren't too many I like.  Actually, it would probably be faster to list the ones I like than the ones I don't.  I like spinach, greens, green beans, carrots, potatoes, and corn.  Ok, corn is technically a grain, so that doesn't really count.

WHAT MAKES YOU RUN LATE = My kids!  Somedays, it can take over an hour to get out the door.

X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD = I had an x-ray on my wrist when I broke it and I've had quite a few x-rays for asthma related stuff.

YUMM FOOD =  I could eat pepperoni pizza 6 days a week.

ZOO FAVORITE ANIMAL = Elephants.






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January 22nd, 1973

40 years ago today on January 22nd, 1973, Roe v. Wade was decided.

35 years after that day, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

55 million innocent children have not.

Ironically, Norma McCorvey, who is better known as Jane Roe, of the infamous court case that legalized abortion, never actually had an abortion.  She worked in an abortion clinic for years before the love of a little girl opened her eyes.  She now dedicates herself to pro-life work and has her own ministry, Roe No More.  

"I'm one hundred percent sold out to Jesus and one hundred percent pro-life," - Norma McCorvey

5 Years

5 years ago today, I became a mommy.  It's hard to believe that it's been that long already!   I've been so blessed to be able to watch Princess grow up from a wide-eyed baby to a little girl.

Last week, I was getting ready to head to "the big city" for my monthly stock-up shopping trip when I realized that Princess's birthday was coming up very quickly, and I hadn't even thought about getting her 5 year pictures taken yet.  I remembered my sister-in-law telling me that she had her daughter's pictures taken at a photo studio that had the pictures ready to take home within an hour.  Since having to go back up to "the big city" to pick up printed pictures a week after a photo shoot costs me at least an additional $20 in gas, I sprinted to the computer (5 minutes before we needed to be out the door) and googled portrait studios.  2 minutes later, I was on the phone booking a last-minute appointment for Princess's pictures later that afternoon at Portrait Innovations.   

When we got there, I was impressed with the open layout of the spacious studio.  The photographer got Princess to warm up within seconds of starting the shoot, as you can see by her beautiful smiles in the pictures.

After the session was over, the photographer helped me select the shot I liked best (most commercial studios I've been to are not helpful at all in that respect and spend most of their time convincing me to buy the most expensive package with add-ons) and filled me in on the $14.99 package deal. 

For $14.99, I got a package that included two 10 x 13 pictures, two 8 x 10's, four 5 x 7's, four 3 1/2 x 5's, thirty-two wallets, and five bonus cards with envelopes.  

After picking my favorite picture, I took Princess into the changing room to change back into her regular clothes.  When we came out of the changing room five minutes later, the pictures were ready and waiting for us.

Fast, painless, and, for the first time in 5 years, I spent less than $20 on all the pictures I needed to hand out to relatives.  After visiting their website again, I noticed that they have a 10% military discount.  We're not military, but I support our troops and their families so military discounts say a lot about a company to me.  You can find a location near you here.
When I got home, I had an email waiting for me with a link to the entire session.  I was thrilled to see that I could select my favorite pictures and automatically share them on Facebook with my friends and family. 

In case you're wondering, this picture was the finalist :)

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Back In the Land of the Living

Last Wednesday, I woke up feeling a little achy.  I figured it was a result of an all-day shopping trip the day before.

It wasn't.

By 11 am, I was rapidly getting worse and I knew what it was.  Several of my friends and family had recently had the same thing, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before it hit our family.  Honestly, I was hoping it'd be Hubby or one of the kids (*bad mommy!*) though.  Not because I didn't want to get sick (although I realllllllly didn't), but because I knew I'd be out of commission for at least a couple of days if I got it.  Mommy can't be out of commission with three small kiddos.

But I was.

Wednesday, I toughed it out and got all three kids to bed by myself since Hubby was gone, before I collapsed into bed.

Thursday, I woke up and swore that a semi had rolled straight over my bed and then backed up and rolled over me again.  But, I knew I couldn't count on Hubby to help me out since he had a silly excuse about working or something like that.

This is my Facebook status from that morning:
"Worst flu ever.  I want my mommy."

My mommy was working so she sent my daddy.  I'm a bonafide Daddy's girl, but I've never been so happy to see him as I was that morning.  I'm not even sure what he and the kids did that day since I was so out of it.  In the afternoon, he took me to the doctor while my landlady came downstairs and watched the kids.  She also did some laundry, washed the dishes, and got the kids to clean up the living room while I was gone.  Best. Landlady. Ever.

The doctor diagnosed me with Influenza A and sent me home with a prescription of Tamiflu.  Did you know Tamiflu is over $10 a pill?  At that point, I was so miserable, I'd have spent $100 a pill.  And then regretted it later, of course.

Thursday night, despite being tired out from just having recovered from her own bout of the flu, my mom came over while my dad went to work.

Friday, my dad came over again and spent most of the day at my house.  Let's just say, I owe my parents big time.

Saturday, Hubby took all three kiddos to his mom's house to stay the day and I got a peaceful, quiet day to rest at home.  Oh, blessed quietness.  And to make the day perfect (if you forget the fact that I had the flu), my little sister went shopping for me and got me SIX new tops!

On Sunday, I finally felt better, but with absolutely zero energy.  I couldn't even pick Little Man up.  Thankfully, Hubby took the two older ones to church and then to his mom's the rest of the day so I got to hang out at home with Star by myself all day.  Star spent the day eating, sleeping, and playing with me.  Have I told you what a perfect little angel she is?  Seriously.  Just look at these innocent little eyes...

Star's first pigtail!!  Princess was 18 months old before I could do that with her hair!

Absolute cuteness.

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2012 Freebie Recap

Last January, I wrote a post about how I got Hubby a Wii gaming system for only $20 out of pocket using various websites to earn free Amazon gift cards.  I continued to use the websites this past year to earn more free money.  Here's what I used those Amazon gift cards to purchase in 2012:

• A Wii fit board ($100)
• A rechargable battery for the Wii board ($6)
• 2 Wii games ($40)
• A charging station for the Wii controllers ($10)
• An extra Wii controller ($40)
• An additional Wii Nunchuk ($28)
• A Wii steering wheel ($20)
• A sewing book for me ($17)
• A twin pack of printer ink ($34)
• A triple pack of printer ink ($30)
• A new mouse for my computer ($6)
• A diaper genie ($30)
• 8 canvas storage bins for the kids' toys ($40)
• A children's book ($6)

That brings me to a grand total of $407 in free products.  Here's how I earned that money:

 

Swagbucks: Earn points that can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards along with many other rewards by using the Swagbucks search engine, completing the daily tasks, watching Swagbucks tv, shopping online through Swagbucks at participating websites, and completing special offers and surveys.  You can sign up for Swagbucks here. 



 
MyPoints: Earn points that can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards along with many other rewards by clicking through on the daily emails they send, completing surveys, shopping online through MyPoints at participating websites, using the MyPoints search engine, playing games at MyPoints games (which earn me points on MyPoints PLUS rewards points on the game site which can also be turned in for Amazon gift cards), and completing simple offers in the "Easy Points" tab.  Invites are by email only so send me an email at annaliesbabyboutique@yahoo.com if you'd like to join.

 


Listia: Earn credits which you can use to win Amazon gift cards (or just about anything else!) in auctions put up by other members of the site by sharing auctions from the site on Facebook and selling stuff you don't want anymore in your own auctions.  You can sign up for Listia here.    



 

Bing Rewards: Earn points that can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards along with other rewards using the Bing search engine and completing a simple daily offer.  You can sign up for Bing Rewards here. 
   


 


Ebates: Earn Paypal cash (or opt to have the site sent you a check in the mail) by shopping online through Ebates at participating websites. You can sign up for Ebates here.







*Note: When I'm shopping online, I either get free shipping or a percentage off my order by searching for coupon codes at sites like retailmenot.com and coupons.com.  NEVER pay full price when shopping at a big name store online.  Combine those savings with cashback through one of the sites mentioned above and possibly rewards points on your credit card and you can save a lot of money!




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Houston: We Have a Thumbsucker!

I've always though babies sucking their thumbs were so cute.  I was secretly disappointed that neither of my 2 older kids ever had any interest in sucking their thumbs.  But, I reassured myself that it was a good thing because it's much easier to take away a pacifier than a thumb.

So, guess what Star figured out this week?

She is now an avid thumb sucker.  I gotta say, it's adorable. 

She hasn't figured out how to fold her fingers down so unfortunately, she keeps poking herself in the eyes when she's sucking her thumb.   

And yes, she is in a laundry basket.  She needed a nap, but her big sister was "napping" in my room which is where her cradle is.  So I stuck her in a laundry basket.

As you can see, she thought it was hilarious and decided not to nap after all.


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What I Want For My Birthday

My birthday isn't for a few months yet, but I know exactly what I want.  I want a Day.

That's right.  Just one Day to do whatever I want with.  ALL BY MYSELF.  Here's what I want to do with the Day that I probably won't be getting for my birthday.

• I want to empty the dishwasher without stopping every other dish to take care of someone else.

• I want to pay the bills without someone trying to steal my calculator to play "computer" on.

• I want to close the door to the bathroom and not have anyone barge in or bang on the door repeatedly while acting like my absence is literally destroying them.

• I want to sit down and read an entire chapter of a book without interruptions.

• I want to watch a whole movie (not just part of one!) without little voices yelling from the bedroom "Can I get up yet?" every 14 seconds.

• I want to vacuum the living room without children screaming from the back of the couch because they're positive that I'm trying to suck them up with the vacuum.

• I want to fold a basket of laundry without any little "helpers" to unfold things as fast as I fold them.

• I want to sit down at the sewing machine and sew a dress from start to finish without having to get up 27 times to break up a fight, change a diaper, get someone a drink, etc, etc.

• I want to sit down to eat my supper while reading some more of that book I started earlier without anyone asking me for a bite or touching my food.

• I want to clean up the living room in the morning and have it still be clean in the evening.

• I want to brush only my teeth, put on only my pajamas, and put only myself to bed.   

You don't think I'm asking for too much, do you?


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Tree Hugger

Today, I was changing Star's diaper on the living room floor when I heard a little voice somewhere behind me saying, "I gib' tree a hug.  Tree nice.  Not poke me!"

When I turned around, this is what I saw:

Yup, Little Man loves to hug our Christmas tree.  And if you're wondering why it's still up sans decorations, I explained my dilemma here. 


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Star - 3 Months

Age: 3 months

Weight and height: Approximately 11 pounds (I weighed her on the Wii Fit Board as a pet, haha), 23" long.    

Wearing: Size 1 diapers.  She's in size 0-3 month clothing.  A few of the 0-3 month outfits are getting a little tight, but most of them still fit her pretty well.

Likes: Being talked to, laying on the floor to kick and wave her arms, napping, eating, taking a bath.

Dislikes: Having a dirty or wet diaper.  Being held all the time.  Having her arms put in sleeves.   

Eating habits: Star eats about 5 ounces of formula every 3 to 4 hours during the day.

Sleeping habits: She takes one long nap during the late morning/early afternoon and shorter ones the rest of the day.  She usually falls asleep on her own in her cradle next to my bed.  Bedtime is between 7 and 8 depending on when she ate last and she sleeps for about 12 hours through the night.
 
Milestones:  She rolled over from her stomach to her back for the first time on December 10th at the age of 10 weeks.  She also celebrated her first Christmas!

Miscellaneous: Star got her third cold this month :(  Oh, the joys of having two germ-ridden older siblings especially one in preschool!  All three colds she's had have been pretty mild and she doesn't seem too bothered by them for the most part.
About 2 weeks ago, she started holding her right arm at a stiff angle behind her body.  Not sure why she's doing it and she still has full range of motion in her arm and shoulder, but if she's still doing it at her 4 month checkup, I'll ask the doctor about it.
Star loves to hold her hands in front of her and study them.  She's very "grabby" and will often hold her hand up to see what's in it.
She also figured out how to blow raspberries and bubbles this month.

Comparison pictures from 2 months to 3 months: 

2 months

3 months

She was being a little goof during picture time.  She kept arching her back and pursing her lips at me.

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My Kids' New Years Resolutions

Being the little darlings they are, my children are always looking for ways to better themselves.  The precious angels even sat down this New Year's Eve to write New Year's Resolutions for themselves.  Here they are...

Princess:
1. I will not ask my mom the same question 17 times in a row when she answered me the first time.  Even if I don't like her answer.

2. I will pick up my toys when asked to instead of acting like using my toy-picking-up muscles will most likely kill me.

3. I will stop using my special powers to make it look like Mommy hasn't washed my face in weeks when we go to school or church even though she scrubbed my face thoroughly right before we left the house. 

Little Man:
1. I will stop thinking it's funny to make Bob the Builder cry by peeing in my Bob the Builder underwear.

2.I will accept the fact that Mommy and Daddy have to say no to me sometimes and hearing "that word" does not, in fact, destroy my entire universe.

3. I will stop getting out of bed at night 38 minutes after my parents put me in there to walk out in the living room and announce that I had a "goooooood nap." 

Star:
1. I will continue to be the sweetest, happiest baby on the planet.  I will not allow myself to go through one of those phases that completely change a baby's personality.

2. I will take notes on my brother's potty training progress/non-progress so I will be ready to potty train myself in 2 days flat in the year 2014. 

3. I will not stop eating food when I turn one like my older siblings did.  I will embrace new and unusual foods and will not change my mind about what I like to eat every 94 minutes.

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Random Observations

It amazes me how little boys can pee ON the potty chair, UNDER the potty chair, and AROUND the potty chair all in one sitting, but somehow avoid getting even one drop IN the potty chair.

Our neighbor gave us her old Christmas tree this year.  Which was really sweet and awesome and I love that it looks so much nicer than the $20 Walmart tree we had before.  Except that when I took all the Christmas decorations down yesterday, I realized that we have absolutely nowhere to store our awesome new tree.  The kids think it's neat that Christmas is over and there's a random pine tree "growing" in our living room.

I have the best baby in the world.  Seriously.  Total cutie, amazing sleeper, hearty eater. 
  

Laundry.  Blech.

I desperately want to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy again and see The Hobbit in a theater.  But no one's offering to take my kids for 10 hours so I can watch the trilogy or pay for my gas and ticket to a movie theater.  Are they?  *hint hint*

I hate potty training kids.  Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.


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