Matthew and I have been saying that we really need to do something with our flower bed this year. A couple of weeks ago Robbie said that he wanted to plant flowers and my great idea was born! Saturday we took the boys to Lowes and let them each pick out 3 packets of seeds and we bought a little planter. Sunday evening Matthew and the boys filled the planters and added seeds. I figured it would be a couple of weeks before we saw anything sprout, but we started to see some green Wednesday. A lot more have sprouted in the 2 days since then. The boys are super excited about their flowers and I'm super excited about our cheap flower garden! :) The only downside is the boys will be losing their dirt. But I'm ok with that!! (And they still have their sandbox.)
Filling the pots
"Let me out!!"
Robbie picking seeds.
He went with Foxglove as his first choice.
Alex's turn to pick.
He went with Cypress Vine (aka the star flowers).
We did let Catie come outside, but she wanted to dig up everything.
Our little seedlings! The only ones I can identify for sure right now are the sunflowers and that's only because some still had the shell on.
Our flower garden will include sunflowers, foxgloves, gaillardia, hollyhock, zinnia and cypress vine. I have no idea which ones will thrive as we just let the kids pick whatever they wanted.
I can't believe my baby girl will be 1 next month. She is such a sweet, happy girl. We keep thinking she's going to start walking because she cruises all over the place and will walk if you hold her hands, but she's not ready to let go and walk on her own.
Catie has 6 teeth now. Her other top 3 finally came in!! It's cute to see them, but you can really only see them when she's laughing.
Catie loves to play peek-a-boo. It does help keep her entertained when I change her. When I ask "How big is Catie?" she puts her hands up in the air. I love it!
We have Catie's 1 year birthday pictures scheduled in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to it because I love Robbie and Alex's pictures. Hopefully the boys will cooperate a little more than they did back in October and we can get a better family picture. But I really want a cute one of Catie. Not that it will be too hard to do. :)
A cute video of Catie playing. I don't know why my phone kept focusing and unfocusing.
I can't believe that Alex is 3 years old! It just doesn't seem possible. I'm pretty sure he just turned 2. Three doesn't seem right.
We started his birthday celebrations Saturday. We did a joint birthday party with his friend Xavier again this year. Luckily it has worked out both times and the boys don't seem to mind sharing their party with each other. I think they're just happy to get cake and presents. :) Alex had a couple of friends from school come and several church friends. Unfortunately the park we usually do birthdays at needed some fixing up, so Amber found a great new park to celebrate at. All of the kids played so well together. We are lucky to have such great friends. It would have been a perfect day if the wind wasn't blowing! Of course, it's hard for us to complain about winter when most of the country is covered in snow!
We did a Cars in Space birthday party since Alex wanted a Cars birthday and Xavier wanted a rocket ship birthday. Amber did a great job combining the 2 and found cute snack and drinks to go along with the theme.
The snacks: Asteroids - Corn Pops, Nuts and Bolts - trail mix, Saturn's Rings - Fruit Loops
Flo's French Onion Dip and Mater Tater Chips
Rocket Fuel (lemonade with green food coloring) and Motor Oil (sweet tea)
The delicious chocolate cake made by our friend's mom (with a little help from Ava and Zac)
Snack and cheesy face time!
My cute (almost) 3 year old!
Jim and Catie
Alex running on the playground.
Ready for the cake!
Looks like Alex is singing "Happy Birthday"
Xavier blowing out his candle
Alex blowing out his candle (though I think the wind got it before he did).
Jim and Jean came up for the weekend to celebrate as well. It's always nice to have grandparents around. We figured the boys weren't going to nap, so we let Alex open up his presents from Jim and Jean. He loves his new space ships and they have both kept the boys entertained.
Jim and Jean also offered to watch the kids so Matthew and I could go out. It was especially nice since it was Valentine's Day. We tried a new (to us) restaurant, Saucy Taco, that we both liked. It's always nice to go out without kids, no matter what day it is!
Matthew made lunch Sunday so we didn't have to go anywhere. It's nice to just be able to sit and talk and not worry about the kids getting up and running around. We also did Facetime with Patrick, Mariruth, Caitlin and William. I'm definitely glad we don't live up north after seeing all of the snow they have gotten!
Monday was Alex's actual birthday. We spread out the celebration. Alex opened a couple of presents in the morning.
Birthday pancakes!
Since it was also President's Day, Robbie didn't have school, so all of the kids got to go to the gym together. I made sure my friend Meg was taking her boys, too, because they all like to play together and Robbie has asked when he gets to play with Lawson at the gym because Robbie is in school Mondays, so he doesn't get to see him.
It really wasn't a good time to take their picture, but I tried!
I left my class a few minutes early so I could change before getting the kids and going to Mama Fu's for lunch. Alex loves their ninja noodles (teriyaki noodles and chicken) and Robbie loves that it's next door to Moe's. Matthew met us for lunch with a Cars balloon for Alex. Then we went to Sweet Frog for some frozen yogurt.
We let Alex open a couple more presents after lunch, they watched shows and then it was nap time. Matthew went in to wake up Alex so we could go to dinner, but, apparently, he wasn't quite ready to wake up!
Yes, he did lie down on the changing pad and fell back asleep!
Sweet angel face!
We finally did get him to wake up so we could go to Five Guys for dinner. We also had to go to Publix where Alex picked out cookies to take to school the next day to celebrate with all of his friends there.
When we got home Alex had a few more birthday presents to open. Matthew got him some Cars to play with the Infinity game that Jim and Jean gave the kids for Christmas. While the boys were playing, I took the side off of Alex's crib so he could have a toddler bed. He was so excited to see it!
Unfortunately, after bath time, Alex started crying. It took us a while to figure out what he was saying, but eventually I figured it out. "I want my crib fixed!" Rewatching the video makes me think he was worried about falling out. Thanks, Robbie!! So while I read the boys books, Matthew put the side back on.
The Eikelands gave Alex a bubble blower for his birthday and the boys wanted to use it yesterday. Just remember that it's nice and warm here (or it was yesterday!) and that is why Catie is only in a diaper.
Today was Alex's 3 year check up. I think it might be the best one because he didn't get any shots. Alex was great with the nurse and the doctor, even better than just a few weeks ago when he had an ear infection. Alex is 29.6 lbs (26%) and 36 3/4 inches (33%). He's happy and healthy and growing like he should.
Alex asked yesterday and today for a big boy bed, so I thought we'd try it out again. I won't say that the boys napped today, but at least Alex didn't cry asking for his crib to be fixed!
Catie is now in double digit months. We have even started talking about her 1st birthday. I know the next couple of months will go by quickly and we won't have a baby anymore. That's not true, I tell the boys they will always be my baby (and I will tell Catie the same thing, too).
Catie crawls and is fast! She's quiet, too. She's surprised me more than once showing up in a room that I'm in. It's just another sign that she's growing up that she no longer stays in the room I left her in. She's also walking a lot. Ok, not walking-walking, but she'll hold your hand or hold on to furniture and walk. I even put her behind the boys' space rover and she took a few steps. Robbie was holding her hands the other day and walking with her and they were both laughing the whole time. It was so cute!
Catie's 3rd tooth came in New Year's Day. I keep waiting for more to come in, but they haven't yet. She has been pretty fussy the last couple of days, so maybe they are coming soon.
Catie was diagnosed with her first ear infection last Saturday. I knew it was coming because at her 9 month check up the doctor commented that she hadn't had any ear infections yet. I knew the doctor jinxed us! We never even realized her ears were bothering her. We only took her to the doctor because she had a high fever (102+) Friday evening that had gone away by Saturday. Guess it's a good thing we still took her! For a few days all 3 kids were on amoxicillin because they all had ear infections. Fun times! :)
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1 month
2 months
3 months
4 months
5 months
6 months
7 months
8 months
9 months
10 months - Catie's hair seemed to get longer and fuller this month!
It's weird having Catie's check up schedule a month after she turned 9 months, but really, it was only a week ago. I know with the holidays and her doctor is one of the favorites, it can be tough getting in right away.
Catie is growing and perfect, though I don't need an MD to tell me that! I've know it since day 1! :) Catie did surprise us by popping out a tooth yesterday. It's a top one, but not the very middle one, but the one right next to it (on the right side). When the doctor was checking her out, she did a gum check and her other 3 top teeth seem pretty close to coming through, too. We'll definitely be keeping our eye on her mouth. She's going to hate us because she hates to let us see her teeth. But now we know that her gums are probably just sore with so many teeth coming through. Matthew bought some Motrin so we'll have it on hand if she gets too fussy. But other than a short nap yesterday we really didn't know she had a new tooth coming in...and I certainly wasn't looking for a side one to come in first on top!
Catie is 18 lbs, 0.5 oz (45%) and 28 1/4 in (70%) long. Her head is 45.5 cm full of brains, but the doctor didn't get the percent for that. I always forget, but the soft spot should close between 9-18 months and the doctor thinks it will close around 12 months because it's pretty small already (according to her).
Matthew and I both think Catie is starting to favor Alex more, though many people thought she has looked like him since birth. I'm glad they all look alike...especially since they are all super cute!
