baby playdate

last friday i decided to have a baby playdate with some of my girlfriends.  we all had baby girls this summer so i thought it would be great to get together, chat about baby girl cuteness, share about mommy challenges and questions, encourage each other, and enjoy some tasty foods and adult conversation.

i collected all of my quilts and layered them out on the floor, moved a little furniture, put trader joe’s frozen almond croissants in the oven (so delish!), and waited for my friends and their sweet babies started to arrive.

thankfully anabelle did a good job ‘testing’ the quilted floor out before anyone showed up.

vivienne is the oldest of the bunch at 4 1/2 months.

ella is almost 4 months.

and olivia is the littlest one at 7 weeks.  she took a record long nap this day!

i loved having friends over!  sarah and stephanie, so wish you could have joined us.  xo.

best buddies!

i definitely hope to have these girls back to visit again soon!

jellybean

these girls of ours – great hair and so many sweet faces!

jellybean – you are such a bright shiny light in this little world of ours!

sharing

anabelle is all about loving on and sharing with her little sister these days.  she wants to hug her, kiss her, lay on her, pick her up, give her toys to hold, sing to her, feed her cheerios and pancakes, help wipe her face.  it’s pretty darn sweet but obviously not all of them are safe quite yet.  sometimes i try to stand back and just watch them interact.  a few days ago i watched as anabelle shared her trains with emilymae.

thanks, big sister!

anabelle loves to lay next to emilymae whenever i have her down on the floor.  here she is moving the mirror so that emilymae can see herself.

some more floor time

emilymae is still crying a bit in this video but it was so sweet to listen to anabelle since ‘twinkle twinkle’ to her.  can you hear it?

just checking in on the little one

ok, so she did nibble on one of emilymae’s fingers but overall she’s doing great with her.

anabelle’s accessory of choice while chris was away? . . . his socks.

socks and undies – a great look!

anabelle has been singing more lately and i love to listen.  it’s some of the best music around.  last week she sang ‘I love you, a bushel and a peck’ for the first time by herself.  my mom used to (and still does) sing this one to me!  i still remember hearing her sing it softly to me while i was in labor with anabelle.  when I was little, i made her a card and tried to write out the words.  i put ‘busha whena peck and a hug around the neck.’  that’s what the song sounded like to me back then and as a kid i never questioned the words.  it was an ‘i love you’ song so it didn’t really matter.

i love you too, anabelle.  you too, momma!

*just found out, my daddy taught my mom that song!
they’ve been together since elementary school i think. they’re the best!

love you too, daddi-o!

catching up

 

i’m getting some great chunks of quiet time with emilymae lately to just snuggle, stare, and relax

    

emilymae is still proving to be a pretty easy baby.  she’s eating great and sleeping great.  she even slept 8 hours one night last week!  i’m pretty sure the picture above is from that morning.  i thought she was going to giggle out loud!

this is my most recent favorite picture!

so far emilymae has slept through every workout at my gym.  thank you, little one.  my muscles are sore but in just the right way.  i was able to do ghd situps (for those of you who know what they are) and pullups on the first day back which was a pleasant surprise.  the coaches have been so welcoming and have made the transition so easy for me.  i’m loving being able to work hard, sweat, and have fun at the same time!

i’m getting more and more grins and sweet coos from her

it was a busy two weeks just the three of us.  chris is home now – hooray! 
and next week is only a two day work week for him – double hooray!

touch-a-truck

saturday we made our way to the touch-a-truck event at qualcomm.  it’s basically a kids' carshow put together as a fundraiser for kids’ cancer.  there are all sorts of vehicles there and the little ones can climb in, beep the horn, touch whatever they want.  what a great idea!  thankfully i was able to recruit deidre to come along to help.  it was such a cool event - would have been even cooler in december.  gosh, it has been so hot here!

anabelle seemed mostly fascinated with the horse and cart/carriage from wells fargo (just like in the commercial).  you could go for a ride in the carriage but it was such a warm day we decided just to watch the horses and then move on.  she kept saying ‘sit horsie’.  i’m still trying to find a place to take her to meet some horses.

trying out the four wheeler.

watching the horses again.

driving a hummer.

waiting in line to get on the school bus!  she was quite excited!

she did great about waiting her turn too.

so glad she’s not really hopping on the bus for school quite yet.

me and my jellybean, trying to be sun smart.

anabelle checking out the jump ropes and the jump rope team from coronado.

more exploring with auntie deedee.

waiting to drive the patrol boat.

she made it!  it wasn’t long before the big kid to her left cut right in front of her at the controls.  it wasn’t long before the boy to her left cut in front of her, dang.  i’m pretty sure deidre told some big kid on the boat to say ‘excuse me’.

 such a special friend of mine!

deidre and i have been friends since our chi-o days back at UF.  we have both learned a lot, been through a lot, and changed a lot since then.  she has been amazing to have out here in cali.  she does a great job keeping an eye on me, especially when chris is away.  i’m so thankful she’s a part of our little world and that anabelle has such a wonderful godmother.

   

big girl bed

after nap on friday i decided it was time to adjust anabelle’s crib and give the big girl bed a try.  anabelle was pretty excited to watch the transformation take place and kept talking about her big girl bed and her new bunny rabbit (i had bought her a new sheet, blanket, and bunny to add a little extra ‘special’ for her and hopefully help the adjustment).

i got a gate for her door to help keep her in.  i wasn’t quite sure what to expect and honestly didn’t have super high expectations.  i slid her bin of toys and books into her closet, we talked about staying in bed, keeping her big girl bed dry (she had woken up wet in her crib everyday for over a week and didn’t seem to mind at all), read a couple books, and then said goodnight.

she was up and down a little the first night.  at one point she was running her hands along the rails of the gate like a little prisoner.  overall she did great!  she just has trouble staying in the bed once she’s asleep.  i decided to take all of the pillows off of the futon and put them on the floor in front of her bed which seems to have helped.

i peek in on her a couple times before i go to bed and usually it looks something like this.  i help her back in, give her a little kiss, and she usually doesn’t even open an eye.

she’s waking up pretty darn happy too.  bonus that she’s waking up dry!

i posted a couple days ago about missing my anabelle, which was true.  maybe the girls read the blog one night when i wasn’t looking because the last two days emilymae has slept for short chunks of time so i could play with anabelle.  anabelle has been sitting and reading with me and even threw in a few “hold you's” for some extra lovin’.  yesterday we gave painting a try (which she thought was fun until she got paint on her hands), tried on every shoe in her shoe bin, played with muffin cups, and sang to emilymae.