Happenings

We try to walk Audra to school as much as possible. It's about a mile walk one way. I'm grateful for the exercise and for the time with my girls. We've come up with a game where we make up stories as we walk. It pretty much always involves either Cinderella or Snow White, and often involves a playground as well. Anyway, if you live close to your school, I highly encourage walking over driving for that quality time.

But, there is one disadvantage: Sometimes it is a little too far of  a hike for Claire- especially since it winds up being 4 miles a day. We technically have a double stroller because our bike trailer can act as one, but it is a little harder to navigate so I haven't used it yet. Never fear, though. Claire is quite adaptable and came up with a great solution: climbing into the basket of our baby stroller!

 I call her my little kitty, and we get LOTS of comments from everyone at how cute she is curled up in the basket. It's awesome! Sometimes she even falls asleep on the walk.

Yesterday I was reading to Claire and Ben said I should read to Camille, too. Here's how she ended up, and it was pretty cute:

We ended up bringing up the Exersaucer. Camille is quite happy with it:

And, lastly, Camille is totally rolling over. At least from her back to tummy,  not the other way around. She's been doing it now for a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yet another Birthday has come upon me. They sure keep coming, don't they?

Audra was pretty funny today. She started out by saying, "I'm so glad it's your Birthday. That means it is now Halloween!"

The rest of the day she kept calling me "Birthday Girl." Not mommy, just Birthday Girl. It was really cute.

Tonight we went out to dinner as a family- Ben's parents came and that was nice. It really is such a blessing to have family around! I just need to get some of those High's to move out east and join us!

I don't have any great philosophizing to do. Instead, I'm just grateful for what I have and look forward to what will hopefully be a great year!

Playing Soccer

Yesterday the girls attended their first organized sports practice. Well, kind-of practice. A lady from church thought it would be fun to get the young kiddos together and play soccer. As this was their first time playing in some sort of team experience, I had to get some pictures.

Please notice their perfect soccer outfits:

Camille did a great job looking cute and cheering her sisters on:

Feeling Blessed

This week has been a rough one. I won't get into the details, but it was not a good week as both Ben and me questioned our decision to have children. Cats would have been much easier.

Nevertheless, we survived and today the kids were super cute. I got a few snapshots, and when I look at these I am reminded that we are incredibly blessed- even if there are tears at times.

Ben Takes The Girls On A Hike

This morning instead of going swimming Ben decided he wanted to take the girls hiking. He HATES taking the girls swimming, so he says, "Hey, do you girls want to go to a CAVE instead?"

They were all sorts of excited.

Claire LOVES the mountains and being in the outdoors.

I was able to worm my way out of going. You know, because the baby probably wouldn't enjoy it and she needed to have a good nap. And if it also meant I could take a nice, long, relaxing bath then so be it.

They had a great time and nobody got hurt- the sign of a true success.

Claire was VERY excited about this hole she found:

What Do You Think?

If there is one thing I know women have an opinion on, it is mothering.

So, now I come to you with a question.

This little love bug had some fun in the Jenny Jump Up today:

It was really cute (of course, she is always cute!).

This is the first time any of my girls have been in a Jump Up. I have heard they are absolutely wonderful and moms all over the world love them.

Here's my questions: Aren't they pretty much the same as an exersaucer? That is what I used with the other girls. Or is the Jump Up so much better? I am borrowing the Jump Up. Should I keep it because it is different than the exersaucer, or give it back and haul up the exersaucer from the basement? The big con of the Jump Up is that the only place we can put it is in the hall, so I can't be making dinner while she's jumping away. But is it worth it?

Discuss.

Four Months

In some ways it is hard to believe that four months have already passed. But in other ways, it seems like she is older than four months- she is so big, and it seems like she has always been a part of us. Isn't it weird how that happens? How you can go your whole life not having kids or knowing how many kids you'll have, or what their gender will be, but then you have them and it is just perfect and right and feels like that's just how it always was? That's how it feels.

Camille is still a really sweet baby. She is figuring out her vocal chords and using them to her advantage. She coos quite a bit, and can definitely be fussy, but for the most part is a perfect baby.

At four months, here is what she is up to:

-Rolling onto her side, but not all the way over quite yet
-Nursing about every 3 hours. It only takes her about 5 minutes to nurse. She has always been the best eater I know!
-She is still sleeping in the swing next to us or in bed with us (after she wakes up around 4 to nurse she usually sleeps the rest of the night with us). I did put her in her crib once last week for a nap and she did fine, but I still love having her close to me. I can't bear to put her in her crib at night yet.
-She is still a pretty bad napper. She takes about 4 one-hour naps a day. Again, it is in part my fault. With two older sisters, we don't stay home and we have places we have to get to. But, she is a trooper and sleeps well at night, so I'm not too overly worried about it. I try and be home and get her a good nap when I can, and that's all I can do.
-She is starting to play with toys.
-She LOVES her hands. She eats them a lot.
-She LOVES pressure on her feet. She wants to stand A LOT and is often pushing off on our hands if she is laying down, or grabbing the sides of the floor mat with her feet.
-She opens her mouth in the biggest smiles, but doesn't laugh a whole lot yet. Still, her big smiles are the best.

I will have her official stats next week when I take her to the doctor.

Every day I feel incredibly blessed that a) I have 3 healthy, beautiful girls, and b) that I get to stay home with them and just be their mom. I love my girls!