5 Months

Time is flying by and suddenly my precious new born, is a roly-poly, sweet baby girl. She is just adorable and we are all having so much fun with her right now. The girls love to give her toys, sing and dance for her, and "read" books to her. She loves her Daddy. We think it might stick and The Guess Family may have our first official Daddy's Girl. This month she started playing in her Jumperoo and in her Saucer. She rolls all over the floor and loves her musical toy in her crib. We are working hard on her nightime sleep and I am happy to report that she only woke up once last night! This is HUGE improvement from the 6 or 7 times a night, we were dealing with last week. I am loving every second with this 3rd little Guess girl. Can't wait to see what month #5 brings.

Addison's Dance Recital

Addison had her third ballet recital yesterday and she did a great job. She danced as Aerial, to "Under the Sea". She is an old pro at it now, and wasn't nervous at all. She just couldn't wait to get her costume on and have me do her hair and make-up. She was precious on stage and we were so proud of her.

Her "Pinkness"

I don't know where we got this little pink taggie blanket....I believe I have had it since Addison, but neither she nor Reagan were intersted in it. And, I don't know why we started calling in Pinkie and Pinkness, but this little blanket is Gracyn's lovie. She is my first child to have such a thing....the other girls were paci babies. Gracyn holds this all the time and sucks on the tags. She wraps it around her thumb and then sucks on her thumb. I am anxiously awaiting the day she is old enough to have it in her bed....perhaps it will help her sleep more than a three hour stretch? I know also, from my friends whose children have had lovies.....I probably should be tracking down a second....just in case.

She got a Helmet

Still no pictures of her mad bike riding skills, but here she is in her helmet.....pretty precious! My sister did suggest that pants might be a helpful addition to the outfit!

Ballet

This little cutie loves ballet, though I am not sure what she thought of the audience today.

Gracyn was happy to hang out and chew on the camera cord.
Reagan, ready to dance.

Addison leaping across the floor.

The girls had their last summer ballet classes today. The teacher always invites us in to watch the last class. They did a great job. Addison was definitely putting on a show for my video camera. Reagan was very uncertain about the audience and didn't really do anything she was supposed to. Her teacher assured me that wasn't usually the case! Addison got her costume for her recital on Sunday. Reagan isn't in the recital until December....not sure how we are going to explain that one to her.

Where have you been?

That is pretty much what Gracyn seemed to think when we introduced her to cereal Saturday evening. She loved it! I have never seen a baby so intent on eating their first foods. She knew exactly what to do with it, right with the first bite. By the 2nd or 3rd bite, she was like a little land-shark going after the spoon. You can see that by the 3rd, feeding time is less of an ordeal....no bib, no highchair. However, there were many helpful hands. The girls love to feed her! I don't know how much longer we can feed her in the Bumbo. We have to pry her rolly, little thighs out of there. I started her on cereal in hopes that she would sleep better.....baby girl has been getting up every 3 hours. No success with that.....she was happy to eat, but she is still getting up all night!

Almost....

Before Gracyn was born, I practiced with the girls and got them used to getting themselves out the door and loaded into the car. While I am running around the house, gathering our bags, diapers, snacks, etc......They get their shoes on and head out into the garage. Addison opens the car door. She helps Reagan into her carseat and then buckles herself up. They are great at it and it helps us get out the door in time. By the time I get out there with Gracyn, they are almost always loaded and ready.

This morning when great....I told them to get shoes on and load up. I was backing down the driveway minutes later, when I realized we had one minor error. Reagan had gotten shoes on just as I asked. The problem..... they were my shoes not hers!

Lots of Dots

This is what happens when you live in a neighborhood full of girls, whose Mama's all shop at the same store! They made quite the group at the park yesterday with all 8 of them in the same dress. There is one more baby sister joining this group in January!

Pre-K

The little sisters and I just dropped Addison off for her first day of Pre-K this afternoon. She went in with confidence and a smile.....she didn't appear to be the least bit nervous. We said a prayer for her in the car and she was ready to go. I am excited for her. I know she loves school. We are so blessed to have found a spot at Cherry Hills.

Reagan has news of her own as well, though I will have to take a picture tonight. She graduated from the tiny little bicycle and is riding Addison's old 12 inch princess bike. She is "you-know-what on wheels" with that thing. If you know my Reagan, than you are not surprised to hear that she is fast and fearless! She gets going so fast on hills that she rocks the whole bike. She only remembers the steering and brakes about half the time, so it is quite a sight. Tommy is usually jogging beside her, while I am lagging behind with Gracyn, holding my breath. Daddy has made quite a few great saves and she has actually only fallen once. At which time, she stood up, said, "I'm okay," and took off again." One of the funniest things was when she was trying to stop last night. Instead of actually applying the breaks, she just screamed, "Brakes, Brakes, Brakes!!!". It is possible she may have heard me do this while riding in Daddy's passenger seat. We are headed to Target, ASAP, the girl needs a helmet!

Pass the Cheese, Please.

Gracyn is smiling, because Mommy is back on dairy!!! Nothing too crazy.... just a little cheese, butter and Chick-Fil-A in moderation. We have been testing it out for about 3 weeks now and baby girl is doing just fine. Praise God, I believe she is healed from all of her allergies and intolerances. I am so happy that it looks like she won't be having to deal with allergies all her life, because I know now, after a few months of dealing with it, it is no easy task. We are going to try soy and nuts next, one thing at a time and see how she does. We are also weaning her slowly of Zantac and she doesn't seem to have any problem. She is a smiley, happy, content baby and we are having a blast with her.

Sister Love....

Reunion

Baby Suzy finally arrived home today, from her stay at the American Girl Doll Hospital. She looks amazing! They did a great job, she came home with a new body, as ordered. And, they did a wonderful job just cleaning her up. She had a few bad spots on her head and a little orange marker. They cleaned it all up and she looks brand new. I will even have to mark them somehow. We have never before had trouble telling the difference between Addison's "Suzy" and Reagan's much newer "Bailee". I am not sure we can differentiate anymore.

Addison was so excited. She really has missed that little doll a ton. We all celebrated this afternoon when we found the box on our porch! What a happy reunion.

Dear Daddy,

Dear Daddy,

You may want to stop and pick up some shaving cream on your way home. Yours was all used up in a spontaneous back porch painting project. Gracyn, the potential Daddy's Girl, would like you to know that she had nothing to do with this.

Love,

Your Girls

Back to her Roots

Often in the evenings, as we are heading home from the park, Reagan tells me to "Give Gracyn to Daddy!" She wants the little one handed over and she wants in the Bjorn. Who can blame her? She spent most of her first 8 months of life riding around in here....it must feel like her home away from home. Good thing she is a little tiny one, she doesn't weigh all that much more than Gracyn....although it is a little hard to walk with her feet bumping into my knees.

Man's Best Friend

Okay fellow stay-at-home-moms, please tell me I am not alone here. Does anyone else often wonder why in the world you have a dog. As if taking care of, feeding and cleaning up after the kiddos isn't enough, what in the world possessed us to throw a dog in the mix???

I am mostly kidding, I do love her. But I have had enough of her running out the front door....retrieving her from the park 2 miles away isn't the easiest job with my girls in tow. And, she keeps having ear infections..... each of which costs about 10 x's what a trip to the doctor for one of us would cost. And finally, she can't seem to make up her mind.....she wants out, I let her out, she barks to come back in, she wants out, I let her out, she barks to come back in......repeat continuously throughout the course of the day!

She is my walking buddy, my kids love her, and I absolutely think every house should have a dog. But seriously today I think I could give her away! Am I heartless?

Happy Girl

This little girl is all smiles lately.

Look Who's Jumping

What do you want me to do in here? Oh wow, I think I like it!

Fun Times!

Taking a break.

Maybe I need to hold my breath in here???

Look Who's Jumping, Too

Reagan took a break from coloring with the blue marker you see all over her face, to try out the Jumperoo! Funny, she loathed that thing when she was a baby. We kept it out for a few weeks, she hated it more each time we tried it, and I finally put it away!

Future Cake Boss

Monday afternoon, the girls and I headed out to the gazebo behind our houses for Brenna's 5th birthday party. She had 11 girls and 4 baby sisters, all from our street, there to celebrate. She gave each girl an apron embroidered with their name on it (which Addison hasn't taken off yet) and then they set about decorating cupcakes. They had every color icing and every type of sprinkle imaginable, and they used them abundantly!!! They loaded down their cupcakes and then ate them right away. Reagan never actually decorated, she ate every bit of icing, as fast as she could squeeze it out. After cupcakes they tore into a cupcake pinata. I have never seen a pinata broken open so fast. At this point, a huge storm began blowing in. It never rained on us, but the loud thunder scared a few kids and the wind nearly blew us away. We wrapped up the festivities quick and headed for shelter. They are ready for the sugar!

Addison and Clara decorating, Reagan licking.

Hard at work.

They took time for a group shot before the wind got too bad.

The Pinata was blowing in the breeze.

I think I could have lost Reagan in the wind.

The baby girls, all within 6 weeks of each other. Gracyn is in there behind that precious flower bow!