Monday, October 20, 2014

Robbie is 4 years old!!!!

Robbie sure does know how to celebrate his birthday!  It started Friday when I brought cupcakes and juice to school so he could celebrate with his friends there.  Unfortunately his good friends weren't at school Friday and I was afraid they wouldn't be able to come to his party the next day.  It was nice seeing his classmates that he talks about, though.  I bought 2 dozen mini cupcakes because there are 11 kids in the class, plus the teacher, plus I thought I was going to have Alex and Catie with me, so I wanted to make sure everyone got a cupcake.  Matthew took Friday off and ran errands with Alex and Catie and there were only 6 kids present.  Luckily for them their teacher allowed them each to have 2 since I did have plenty (and I didn't want to throw them away).  We did keep them to just 1 juice box each, though.  My favorite part was taking a birthday picture with Robbie.  When the teacher counted down Robbie gave me a kiss on the cheek!  It was so sweet and spontaneous!!

Saturday was birthday party day.  Jim drove up the night before and brought us bagels in the morning.  The kids enjoyed a chocolate chip bagel and I loved my cinnamon crunch bagel.

Matthew had the awesome idea to rent a bounce house.  Apparently the company charges the same whether you have it for 1 hour or 12.  We rented it for 9 so Robbie could have some time before and after the party to play.  We didn't tell them what we were getting, so the boys were super excited when it showed up.  We all enjoyed some bounce time before everyone else arrived.  I was a little worried that Robbie would be over it by the time the party started, but I had nothing to be afraid of.  They pretty much bounced until they came to pick it up.

We expected 16 kids for the party and all but one came (Robbie said she was coming, but her parents never RSVP's so I wasn't 100% sure anyway).  We were happy that his school friends were able to make it.  Two are twins and their mom kept them home Friday to make sure they weren't getting sick or contagious and the other kid's mom was in a car accident Friday morning.  Luckily she is ok, just very sore and stiff.  I was very impressed that she came, but she said Niko wouldn't let her not take him.  Almost all of my Mom to Mom friends came with their kids.  It's been so much fun watching them all grow up together!  And it's nice that the kids get along when we want to have play dates...for the kids, of course! :)  The 16 kids also included 5 cousins.  Jonathan and Lisa brought their kids over for the fun, too.  We didn't tell Robbie that any of the family were coming, just that he had surprise guests and since no one arrived at the same time, the surprises just kept coming! :)

I guess I should add 2 more kids to the guest list.  My parents also enjoyed time in the bounce house.  I was quite impressed they got in and went down the slide!  But the biggest big kid had to be Jonathan.  He may have had more fun than any of the kids! :)

The bounce house!


Robbie loved it!


 This present received the best wrapping award.


Matthew was the master chef grilling up hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs.  He had 2 grills going!


Proof of mom's fun






After while the kids went down every which way but on their bottoms.


Mom and dad with the youngest grandkids.


Delicious cake from Costco.




Mia and Kayleigh


And Elise


Smile, Elise!


Kayleigh and Catie


Elise loved Catie!  She kept asking to hold her.


Big kid Jonathan


Elise also helped feed Catie.


Mia


Robbie


Nathan and Matthew


 Alex


Trying one of his gifts from Lisa and Erik


Proof of my dad having fun



Mia finally got a chance to hold Catie.


The original plan was to grill some chicken for dinner, but everyone was too pooped to cook, so we ordered pizza and the kids bounced and played until they took the bounce house away.  Neither Robbie or Alex took a nap and they fell asleep before I finished reading them a book after bath time.

Even though Robbie's birthday wasn't until Sunday he insisted he turned 4 at his birthday party.  We let him open his presents from us Sunday morning.  We got him 4 Transformers and he asked me why he got so many.  I told him it was so he had plenty to share when his friends came over.  He liked that idea.  Now I'm going to have to have his friends come over! :)

I love how he says Optimus Prime! (Octimus Crime)




Alex was eating his bagel while Robbie was opening presents.  Catie barely took her eyes off the bagel and would have grabbed is if Alex ever put it down.




Patrick and Mariruth got him a stomp rocket.  Of course, the first rocket to get shot off by Matthew went on the roof!  He was able to get it down easily and there were 3 more, so we didn't have to stop the fun.



Jim had to leave early to get home and everyone else stayed until after lunch.  Of course Robbie cried when everyone left because he was sad to see them go.  Hopefully we'll get to see them again around the holidays!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Family Pictures

My mom has been bugging me about getting a new family picture.  In her defense, the one she has doesn't have Catie in it and she's been with us for 6 months!  My friend is starting her photography business and offered cheap photo sessions.  Of course I wanted to help her out and make my mom happy. :)  Meg got some great pictures of our cute little family!











Friday, October 3, 2014

Video Proof

I took a picture of Catie crawling this morning.  She loves the boys' book readers, so I knew I could use that to get her to move.  Unfortunately the boys were playing with the camera and, as you can see, Alex is not too happy about me taking a turn!  It's probably best to watch the video without sound.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Catie's 6 month check up

Catie had her 6 month check up today.  Matthew had to take her because I had a meeting at Mom to Mom that I couldn't miss since I was leading it!  I'm glad I wasn't there when Catie got her shots, but I do like being there to talk to the doctor.  Matt did good asking questions, though.

The good news is that Catie is doing great on the formula and growing like she needs to be.  She's 15 lbs, 14 oz and 26 inches long putting her up to the 50% for both categories.  That's a nearly 2 lb gain and 1 1/2 inches grown.  I thought she was looking longer lately!

The doctor said that Catie is delightful and I certainly couldn't agree more!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

I was wrong

Catie is crawling!  It's definitely an army crawl, but it also looks like she's crawling to the infirmary tent.  Look out brothers!  Catie's coming for you (and your toys)!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Catie is 6 months!!!!!!

I can't even believe that half a year has passed since Catie was born!  It just doesn't seem like she has been with us for so long.  We decided last month to just give her formula and she took to it like a champ.  I'd like to say that it has helped her sleep at night, but she's still getting up 3 times (on a very rare occasion, only twice).  But she seems much happier now!  She gets her check up Wednesday, so we'll see how much she's grown since her 4 month appointment.  I think she's had a little growth spurt because she looks longer to me.

We have been letting Catie sit in a high chair in restaurants and occasionally the cart at the store.  She's pretty happy about it as long as she has some toys to entertain her.  She is starting to sit by herself, though I stay close by because she can't catch herself when she starts to fall over.  She doesn't get herself into the seated position yet, though.

Catie loves her big brothers and it's fun to see them try to entertain her.  Often it will be Robbie trying to make her smile and then Alex copying what Robbie does, but when Robbie's at school Alex will take on the entertainer role.  It does a mom's heart good when she sees her kids getting along!

Catie isn't crawling yet, but she's starting to lunge for toys that are just out of her reach, so I'm sure more mobility is coming soon!

We have tried giving Catie some cereal and carrots and she hasn't been too thrilled with them.  I'm roasting some butternut squash, so we'll try that tonight.  Hopefully she's not a picky eater already!!

1 week


1 month


2 months


3 months


4 months


5 months


6 months


It was so hard to get a good picture of Catie!  I tried to do it by myself Friday (when she turned 6 months), but she either had her fingers in her mouth or would roll over as soon as she started smiling!  Matt and I tried again on Saturday and got a couple of good pictures, but she was in such a good mood Sunday morning we tried again.  I think it looks like she's falling in her picture because her dress is blousing, but it's just from her rolling around!

Some highlights from Friday's and Saturday's attempts!








Riding in the cart at Costco.


"Catie, look at me!"


"Robbie, look at me!!"


"This is how I have to get your attention???"