Catch up again

I. Can't. Keep. Up.

Really though. 

I love my books that get printed every year, but good grief it's hard to stay on top of this damn blog.  So for the sake of my sanity, I'm skipping the writing and just uploading the thousands of photos that I can't help but take of my uber-cute girls.

You're welcome.

 addicted to cartoons?

possibly.

 I love how girly my girls are.  

They make up for my lack of girl-iness.

 For Charlotte's daddy/daughter birthday outing, we wanted to bite the bullet and take her to the ridiculously overpriced Build-A-Bear store.  

Aaannd then we decided Sage should get one too.  

Maybe this is why we have zero dollars.

But it's worth it.  The girls LOVED every second of it and their little animals go with them everywhere. 

 I love how serious they are about rubbing the little hearts that go in their bears.  

So sweet.

 This big girl has been begging me for "mommy time".  I've been riding the "I feel guilty all the time" mom train lately.  I worry that I'm not giving enough time and attention to each of my girls.  When Ivy is plugged in all day, I feel bad about not being able to spend time with the older kids.  And when Ivy is in her car seat all day taking kids to/from places, running errands, etc...I feel guilty for making her be in her seat too much!  I think that's normal.  I hope.

 

Charlotte making faces, and the girls enjoying family movie night dinner in style.

 Emery's facial expressions crack me up.

On the left, this is her reaction to me singing that song "ROAR" pretty loudly.  I tend to go a little overboard in the car when that song comes on.  Sage and Charlotte do, too.  They LOVE that song.  Emery thinks we are crazy.  And on the right, I love that she is looking at Ivy like--"What are you crying for?"  I also love her little piggies.  When she sits still long enough for me to do her hair, it reminds me of why I have yet to cut the mullet.

  Nap time with daddy.

 This chick does so well in her chair while I am at the gym every morning.  I'm back to coaching Crossfit, which means I'm there for two hours some days.  I always feel bad leaving her in her chair for so long, but she just catches up on her beauty sleep.  And I mean BEAUTY sleep.  She gets prettier and prettier every day.

 

 Sage had a short performance with her class at their "Cottage Fair" last night.  She is LOVING school and I am thrilled that she does.  I love how excited she gets every day and how she comes home singing new jingles and songs about colors and things.  So fun.  She was a brave little champ but I could see her chin quivering and could tell she was so nervous.  My heart just explodes with the love I have for this kid.

Week TWO and THREE

 The many positions of Ivy:

 Three weeks old, and breaking my mommy's heart 

because I'm growing so fast:

August is over already

 How my baby is almost three weeks old is beyond me.  

And how I'm supposed to pick what pictures are sweet enough to include in my yearly books is too hard, so I'm including all of them.  

Little Ivy is such a wonderful and sweet little gal.  She was 5 lbs 7 oz at one week old, and I'll take her in for another weight check in a week or so.  I'm skipping her well visit to save some cash.  She is filling out though, that's for sure.  She still sleeps a ton, but definitely has her "awake" times.  She's usually awake for about two hours after eating each morning, where I try to keep her in the sunlight a bit.  She's still looking a little jaundice to me.  She is also awake in the late afternoon for a few hours.  She's always super happy and content, which I'm hoping doesn't change!  She has a super hard time staying awake to eat.  The first two weeks she usually ate for about 4 minutes on each side and that was with me really working to keep her awake.  She's getting better now, but meal time for her takes FOREVER.  I have to set her down after she eats on one side to get her to wake up.  Then we change her diaper, burp her, wait for her to get the hiccups because she gets them after EVERY meal, and then she eats again for a bit longer.  On a good try, it's an hour long process.  So I feel like she's hooked up a ton, but I LOVE it.  It makes me slow down and sit down and relax and enjoy my sweet little newborn.  I love my time with her so so much.

We have started going on walks most mornings, just to get out of the house before it's too hot to step outside.  Yes, Emery is naked.  And Charlotte is always way ahead of us.  That girl can run all day.  And I love that some days they all want to stay right beside me and help me push the stroller.  So sweet.

 Almost two weeks in this picture, and it's my FIRST photo with her.  Aside from the hospital anyway.  How did that happen?!

 We took the girls down to the box I coach at just to hang out and watch daddy work out.  Ignore the belly chub.

 Whoa!  Whoa.  

Seriously, my toddler is HUGE!!!!

 I tried the whole "water colors in the bath tub" crap that's all over pinterest.  Big fail.  It will not be happening again.  These pictures were taken right at the beginning of the bath.  It does not do justice to the extreme catastrophe that was the bathtub.  Yes, they had so much fun and stayed busy in the bath for over an hour.  BUT?  It took over an hour for me to clean all the paint off and the messes they made while I was cleaning the bath.  Totally not worth it!