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)!

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???"

Alex's first day

Alex's orientation for Mother's Morning Out was September 8th.  I was definitely more worried about him going to school because he doesn't always like going into new situations.  We found out that Alex is in the Tiger room, which is the same room that Robbie was in last year.  I was kind of happy to find out that it wasn't the same teachers that Robbie had - though Ms. Stacie and Ms. Amanda  are still at the school, just in different rooms - because anyone who has a sibling who has gone to school before them knows there's naturally going to be comparisons.  I figure there's no way around it eventually, but at this age, when everyone develops so differently, I'm glad he has different teachers.

Alex was being shy at orientation and didn't want to participate.  He cried at drop off the next day, which does make me feel bad, but I know he's going to be fine.  The teachers told me that he was happy in the classroom...as long as they didn't try to take his backpack! :)  Thursday's drop off was so much better, though!  I think it was better because there were less people at drop off (because everyone wants to be at their kid's first day!) and they brought out the ring rope, which is just what it sounds like...a long rope with different colored rings for the kids to hold on to.  As soon as Alex saw the ring rope he went right up to it and picked up a ring.  I'm sure it's because he saw Robbie using it last year.  Whatever the reason he was much happier Thursday and has been fine ever since!

The best part of pick up is seeing how excited the boys are to see each other.  Of course I want them to be excited to see me too, but there's nothing like brotherly love.

Alex's first day

He really wanted to read "Interrupting Chicken"

Of course, Robbie had to have his picture taken, too, just like Alex did on Robbie's first day.

Alex with his backpack.  The stars light up when it moves, so it's no wonder he didn't want to take it off! :)

Robbie's first day

Robbie has been talking about going to preschool for months!  (I used it as motivation to get him potty trained in January because he had to be potty trained to go.)  Meet the teacher was August 27th and we found out that 3 of his friends from Mother's Morning Out were in his class, including his best friend.  Hopefully those 2 are behaving themselves!  Robbie wasn't feeling too social that day, but he really is shy in new situations.  I'm sure by now he's warmed up and he likes his teacher.

The biggest difference between preschool and Mother's Morning Out is car line.  Last year I had to get the kids out of the car and wait for Robbie's class to be called.  This year I pull up and a helper gets him out of the car and all of the kids sit by the wall inside until car line is over and they go to their classroom.  It is so much easier, but I do miss talking to the moms while we waited last year.

Robbie's first day picture:

Alex wanted his picture taken, too.

Bye Robbie!!

He didn't even turn around!

Picking Robbie up after a great first day!  (I'm sad that my phone focused on the mirror instead of Robbie.)

Robbie's teacher gives the kids a sticker at the end of the day if they've been good.  Last week Robbie got an ant sticker and, when I first saw it, I thought there was a bug on his hand!  I almost smacked him!  He loved it and was so happy that he got the bug he wanted.  Boys! :)

Catie is 5 months old!!!!!

Time is going by too fast!  I know I say this all the time, but I can't believe that Catie is another month older and another month cuter!  I can't imagine how cute she'll be when she finally starts sleeping through the night...ha!

She had a great 5  month birthday.  This morning I took the kids to MOSH.  We met a couple of our friends there.  I think the boys had a great time, though Alex was a little nervous at the beginning.  I don't think he knew what to think about the big mouth you had to walk through to go in one way or the dark "underwater" exhibit to go in the other way.  He felt much better when we got through there and met up with friends.  After spending some time there we went out to lunch.

My aunt Barbara and uncle Jack drove up today, so we went out to dinner with them.  We tried a new Mexican restaurant that was a hit.  Today is Barbara's birthday and you can't have a birthday without ice cream, so we took them to Sweet Frog to get some frozen yogurt.  The boys love Sweet Frog!  I had a candle that we put in Barbara's ice cream and (some of us) sang "Happy Birthday."  It was so nice to visit with just them.  Usually there's lots of other family members around and it's crazy, so tonight was nice.  And they paid for our dinner and dessert, but really, they don't have to bribe us to visit with them!  We loved our time together!

There's not much more that I can add from my post yesterday (though I don't think it posted until today), but we did decide to just switch her to a bottle so Matthew and I both know what her schedule is.  Hopefully it helps her at night.

Pictures of my cutie Catie bug!

1 week

1 month

2 months

 3 months

4 months

5 months

Catie's 4 month check up

Catie had her 4 month check up a couple of weeks ago.  She is 13 lbs, 1 oz (16%) and 24 1/2 inches (30%)...over 2 feet!!  Obviously she hasn't grown much, less than 1 lb and 1/2 inch in 2 months.  The doctors is mostly concerned that Catie hasn't gained much weight and wants us to start giving her formula.  Catie has done well taking a bottle.  My friend gave me a bunch of bottles when she moved that Catie really likes.  I'm glad we didn't have a lot of trial and error like some of my friends when they have had to give their kids bottles!  I have another friend whose mom works at our OB's office and she can get me formula samples, so hopefully we won't have to spend too much money on formula!

Catie is still acting older than her age, more like a 6 month old than a 4 month old.  She once again impressed the doctor holding her head up and not having any head lag when she is pulled into a seated position from laying down.  She's found her hands, feet and tongue and reaches for toys.  She's also talking and giggling...I love it!!  And Robbie loves making her giggle, too.

We have given Catie some cereal.  It's hit or miss, though when she wants to eat it, she gobbles it up!

Yum!

What is this again?

Yes, I do think I'll have some more!

Oops!  Let me wipe my mouth!  I'm such a lady!

Apparently Catie also thought she should have a tortilla chip when we went out to Tijuana Flats.

Yummy chips!

Get in my belly!

Hey, that's mine!

Don't look at me like that.

I said that's MINE!!!

Don't make me go in there and get it.

Fine, you can have it.  Talk to the hand!

Superhero Room

After I painted Catie's room yellow back in January Robbie has said that he wanted his room painted.  About a month ago he cried that his room wasn't "cool enough" and couldn't sleep in it.  (How does he know that??)  Matt's mom had already planned to come down for his birthday, so we planned to have her watch the boys while we painted.  Thursday morning Matthew moved some of the furniture out of the room and pushed the rest into the middle.  We pulled Robbie's mattress into the computer room because we knew they couldn't sleep in the room that night.  I painted around the trim and ceiling while Matthew did the middle parts.

All ready to paint!  The blue stripe at the top is where Matthew taped around the maroon stripe that was there.  Robbie cried because the tape that Matthew bought was too dark (this was Wednesday night), so we got some of the blue paint and did a little by his bed (to the left of the mirror).  He was, and still is, thrilled with the blue we picked.

Let the painting begin!

Superman blue

 Matthew had to retape the stripe so we could paint it red.

Closer look at the red stripe.

Barbara took the boys to Chick-fil-a for lunch and we were going to put the decals on the wall while they were gone.  Unfortunately we were delayed by the guy cleaning out our dryer vent, so they got home before we had really started putting them up.  It was hard keeping them out of the room, but we told them there was a surprise that wasn't ready yet.

I'd say they were excited.  :)



Alex kept wanting to go in his bed to see the planes and cars and then go to Robbie's bed to see the superheros.  We finally told him we're not going to keep taking him in and out of his crib, our arms were sore from painting!

Dusty Crophopper and friends

Lightning McQueen and friends.

Superheros!!