4 months

Gemma is sure tricky to keep on her back these days. She rolls very quickly and works hard to get to her belly. She very badly wants to be crawling and is making some progress towards the army crawl. Thankfully, she is slow going still - our house is nowhere near ready to have a crawling baby again! We have a lot of Legos to pick up!

Gemma is working hard on sitting up by herself and is doing a good job until she becomes distracted and tips over! She loves being upright and you can see on her face how proud she is to be doing it on her own.

Gemma adores her brother and sister. They make her laugh, smile and giggle on a daily basis. Her face lights up when they are around.

4 months old!

Gemma is 4 months old today! Which means it was time to make time to break out the camera and take some pictures. Not the easiest task on a busy day in the middle of a busy week. But, here are some new pictures of our littlest one (rest assured, there are many more high quality pictures on our nice digital camera. Phone is just so much easier!)

Running Ragged

Crazy busy appears to be the new normal standard at out house.  I feel like I am just barely keeping up and not ever getting ahead.  Only the most serious fires are getting my attention and even then, things that are important to me are getting dropped.  For instance: this blog.

My kids don't have a baby book.  I'm not jotting down milestones anywhere else.  This is it.


I'm resolving to do this more and make time to sit down and write the precious moments DOWN now while I remember.  All too often, I forget.  So, here are two from the last few days.


1.  William overslept this morning.  He has been very tired lately which has led to some more difficult behaviors.  So, I let him sleep in which meant he missed the bus.  He took it well and we got ready without incident.  I drove him to school and I hit the timing perfectly. (side note: I rarely get the timing perfectly.  Especially with 3 kiddos to cart around).  On the way to school, I was mentally congratulating myself and giving myself some 5's for being so awesome.

I pulled up to the drop off loop.  This was my first time dropping him off and I was nervous about getting it right.  I wanted to get him in the correct door, stop in the right place, not hold up the line or otherwise embarrass myself.  I didn't want to look like the newbie.

I stopped at the right place.  I high fived my kid on his way out the door and told him I loved him as I directed him safely around the car.  Just as I started to congratulate myself and get back in the car to drive home, I realized I had shut the sleeve of my fleece jacket in the door of the van at the very top of the sliding door next to the luggage rack.  I shut the sleeve of my fleece at the wrist, so I couldn't move my right hand at all.  It was high enough up I couldn't reach the handle with the right hand and my left hand was positioned in a way I had to reach around awkwardly to open the door to release my jacket.

During this short period of time, the line of cars behind me grew and grew.  Everyone waited patiently while I danced around and tried to free myself.  So much for not looking like the newbie!



2.  (the kids are at home playing with Grandpa and Daddy on a Saturday morning)

William: Hey!  Guess what!  I know a "F" word!
Daddy: Whaaaat? (heart stops)
Grandpa: Well, I don't think that is something .....
William: Felipe!  Felipe!  Isn't that a great F word?
Daddy/Grandpa: Laughing....relieved laughing



3. (at a restaurant on a Sunday morning with Grandpa and Grandma)

William: Hey!  Listen to this joke!
(reads from menu)
Question: Why did the football coach go the the bank?
Answer: To get his quarter back!

(everyone dutifully laughs uproariously)

Amelia looks around and surveys the situation.

Amelia: Hey!
(pretends to read from her menu)
Question: Why did the guy go to the bank?
Answer: To get his penny back!

(Amelia looks around expectantly, everyone humors her with uproarious laughter)

3.5

Amelia turned 3 and a half yesterday. I meant to take some pics and write a post. Didn't happen ;(

Sent from my iPhone

ugh...a stomach bug

William woke up earlier this evening with a stomach bug.  Yuck.  Sadly, it started with him sweetly asking for me and then...unloading his stomach all over me.  This mom gig can sure be hard work sometimes.  For some reason, unexpected vomit (is there another kind?) creates a big adreneline rush after dealt with, so I can't sleep right away.

For the record, here are my tips for dealing with the stomach bug:

1.  Tag team it.  If you have the luxary of another adult.  Split the work.  One takes the kid, one cleans up the area (sheets, pillows, etc)

2. Shower curtain.  William is currently sleeping on the floor next to my bed on an old shower curtain with an old comforter on top.  I don't care about either one.  But, it protects my carpet and the plastic is easy to wipe clean.

3.  Beach towels.  There are some old beach towels I hang on to for occasions such as this one.  They are spread out to make a pathway to the bathroom.

4.  Buckets.  I highly recommend two big ice cream pails.  We store ours in the laundry room.  My personal rule is food bowls should not be doubled up for vomit duty.  The ice cream buckets can be washed/bleached/thrown out easily.  They are also good for watering outside plants, cleaning and washing cars.

5. Wash it now.  It isn't going to be less stinky or less gag making in the morning.  I promise.

6. Take it slow and small.  Small drinks of water at first.  Let it settle.  Dry crackers - just a very few.  Let it settle.  Patience will pay off here by not creating more of a mess to clean up when it comes back up again.

7. Remain calm.  Your poor kiddo is sick.  They do not need to see you panicking.  Do I like vomit covering most of the front of me?  No.  Tested that one out tonight.  Don't like it.  But, it doesn't do any good to throw a tantrum.  The first priority has to be the sick kid.  Be calm.  Be loving.  If they get more upset, likely they'll either 1)wake other kids for a real fun fest 2) work themselves up enough they throw up again.

8.  TV.  I limit how much my kids watch TV as well as what they watch.  That would be a whole different post, but when they are sick, the TV can be on.  I used to worry and try to get through the sickness without my TV's help.  Trust me.  A stationary vomiting person is much easier to clean up than a running one. 

9.  Have a spare.  A spare set of sheets and an extra waterproof mattress pad cover will make it possible for you to change out the dirty stuff and make the bed up right away again.

10.  Explain what to do.  After things settle down, make sure you talk things over with the sick child.  Make sure they understand what is happening with their body and what you would like them to do if they have to be sick again.

Lunch at school

Friday we had the pleasure of having lunch at school with the big guy!

It wasn't what I expected- I'll be honest, it's given me a lot to think about.

William was thrilled to see us and then promptly ignored us to goof around with his friends!

We then went on to have a great discussion with the four girls sitting around us before heading home.

Why yes, that IS a princess tiara Amelia is wearing!

On the way out, she turned to me and said "why does everyone want to talk to me?" Sorry big girl! When you wear your tiara out in public, you're going to have to talk to your adoring public!

Braids

Amelia let me braid her hair this morning. We had a little extra time, so I went a little fancy with a French braid. Reminder to myself: this requires both time and patience. Do not attempt without both. It isn't straight and isn't perfect. It probably won't last all day. But, we did it!