Tell Me a Story...

From yesterday: Caroline is much too big for the bouncy seat. I should just take it apart and put it in the garage. She takes no more naps in it. But every now and then I plunk her in it so she can feel like she's close to us, when she's not quite happy being left. Like after school. It's time for her to nurse, but every day I get the other kids a snack before she gets fed. She's learned to wait. I think she's had to. Being the fourth baby, and all. She knows no other way! So there she sits, most patiently, sucking her thumb. And lounging...


The same little girl was fussing while I made dinner. I kind of just ignored it {she was fine, really, just wanted attention...}, as it was Awana night, and those are always a big rush. After a few minutes I realizd she was quiet, and this is what I saw when I peeked in her direction:


What a sweet brother!!! He adores Caroline and often will play with her, which was very helpful this afternoon. What most impressed me, is that he was actually reading the book! I helped him sound out a few words, but most he could figure out with the pictures and sounding out.


And today. Lauren was busy playing Pollys again. I knew all but two of their names, as I've heard her making them "talk" to eachother when she's making up stories for them. Today they were having birthday parties; Alex was the birthday boy. First they had the Taylor party (not sure how that was thought up???) and then they went to the next party. Here are Lauren's most-played-with Pollys and her comments about some of them:

1)Alex, the birthday boy
2)Alexis, the one who missed the Taylor party (the first name I hadn't heard before)
3)Jesus (and why not? She hears about Jesus often enough. In Spanish they say Jesus, after all... still not used to hearing it for a Polly, though!!) He's a boy because he has boy hair. [No matter "he" is wearing a dress...]
4) Bless Us-- She plays for a million days. (second name I hadn't heard)
5) Daisy
6) Cuckoo
7) See-You-In-The-Mountain Polly
8) Betty --Betty and Daisy were the first friends. (This is true, I remember her only having Betty and Daisy converse for weeks, then SYITM Polly showed up, and the rest followed.)


Just a few outside before Caroline's nap:

Don't you think about eating that geranium, Baby!

A few notes about Caroline: She has a tooth now! Her first tooth poked through on Monday, April 27. Still no crawling. She reminds me a lot of Julia at this age. Julia crawled at 10 months; it'll be interesting to see how close/far Caroline is from that. They were/are both content to sit and play and look at things, observing.

You know, when I was pregnant with Julia, I was almost concerned, wondering if it was okay how infrequent she seemed to move. I told my doctor, who had me count her kicks, and they were always fine, well within the acceptable range. But I remember wondering. When I was pregnant with Caroline, I had the same feeling of wondering about her infrequent moving, and I mentioned it to my doctor. He told me do kick counts as well, which again were always fine. He also said it's hard to remember from one pregnancy to the next how much/often a baby moves. That may be true, but I remember the feeling I had with Julia and it was the same feeling/wondering I had with Caroline. And I did not wonder about that with Austin and Lauren. It's just interesting. But I definitely think there is something to how much they move in utero that relates to their personality/temperament. And that that personality is already formed before they are born! Amazing!

I mentioned Caroline having her 9-month appointment in an earlier post. She weighed 16 lbs. even, and was 27 inches long. That was the 15th percentile for weight, and 40th for height! What a peanut!! She is wearing 6-9 mo. and 6-12 mo. clothes, and a few 12 mo., but she's not even at the minimum weight of 17 lbs. for the 6-12 mo. stuff. Funny! When my parents were here, one time my dad lifted her up in the air, to kind of fly her around, and her little jeans slipped right off and fell on the floor. LOL

Rescued

I was making supper Saturday night, and put Caroline in her high chair with some crackers. They amuse her for a few minutes and give her a little snack, too. I went to check on her:

Realizing I'm close to her, but a bit irritated I'm not getting her out of her chair:


Trying to tell me!!! "Get me out of here! I'm done with these crackers!"


Well, I left her in the chair and went back to work, but look who rescued her. She's Daddy's big helper. ;) I went outside too, and he took some pictures of her with me. Then back to making dinner.

Austin had been searching for his turtle, Timet, for weeks. He finally found it Saturday and was SO pleased about that. Sunday afternoon Austin built this house for Timet. He said there's enough room for Lauren's sock elephant, Ellie, so she went in there too. Tonight Austin put Timet to bed in the little house. He said Timet would sleep good in there and wake up happy in the morning. :)

Austin was given the turtle at his baby shower, when he was oh, maybe 2-3 weeks old. Of course at that time he had no idea he even had a turtle, and big sister Julia nicely claimed the turtle and named him Timet. But not claimed him so much that she kept him; just claimed enough to give him a name that stuck. Even 6 1/2 years later!

Project 365, Weeks 6-12

I worked a lot on my Project 365 album when my mom and dad were here, pretty much catching up all of February and most of March, except the last week when April starts. I don't have any April pictures printed. I got all the writing on the little journaling cards done before our trip to Yosemite. While Brian drove, I worked on sticking all the pictures and cards down in the car. I like to keep busy on long drives like that, anyway. I feel like I'm wasting so much time if I'm just sitting there.

Week 6


Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

I'm really liking how the pages are turning out. It's fun looking back at them even though we're only partway through the year. And it's neat reading the journaling cards, because a lot of things I've forgotten, even just in the last three months! The kids like looking through the album, too. However, Lauren reminds me now and then that I need to make her baby book. Always something.... :)

Caroline's Nine-Month Portraits

April 10, I took Caroline to Sears to get her picture in their wash tub. I've gotten all the older kids picture in the wash tub when they were 6 months old. Lauren wasn't sitting up well then and clunked her head on the side. Poor baby! Caroline was even less stable at 6 months, and I just hadn't made time for her session. I thought I just better do it and get it done with, as I knew I'd regret it if I didn't, considering all the others had their picture in the tub. And they're all hanging in our bathroom. Can't leave out one child. ;)

Since we were at Sears anyway, I thought we might as well try to get Caroline's 9-month pictures. I took her 3 and 6 month portraits, but thought I'd just get it done at Sears. Well, Caroline was not in the mood to smile much at all! I have to say, her wide-eyed stare is pretty cute, but almost all of the pictures had that same look. I don't want to get in trouble for posting pictures that I didn't take, so in case you didn't know, the next four were all by Sears.


The photographer was kind of loud, and Caroline just kept staring at her, trying to figure out this whole strange situation. And then there was Lauren playing with the props and trying to climb on the carousel horse prop. What a day. I ordered a very few, but was shocked at how expensive Sears has gotten, and I even had a 20% off coupon! At least we have her wash tub picture now.

I was so fed up with that whole Sears experience that I decided to just take Caroline's 9-month pictures myself. Too bad I don't have my own wash tub, then we could have skipped them altogether. ;) Oh well...

I love how these turned out. Though I have to say, for some reason it was really, really hard to get her skin tone correct. And I've spent far too much time analyzing them. And my eyes were all confused at what was "correct" and what wasn't, after staring at them so much. So if any of you reading this think they're too green, too pink, too yellow, too light, what have you, let me know! Ha ha! I've asked Brian several times too!

My assistant's idea for props:

I recently bought a portable backdrop stand, and I have to say, it was so, so, SO much nicer to use than the ghetto setup I'd used in the past: my fabric clothespinned to the French door and a pole lamp. Or between the pole lamp and a ladder. Craziness. "But it worked," you might say. Wellllll.... yes, and no. It held up the fabric, yes. But there were tons of wrinkles to deal with. Most of which I'd try to clone out in Photoshop after the fact. Major nuisance!!! I thought, with four kids, if I take their pictures and get them printed myself, I will most certainly save money, not going to Sears and Penneys. And most of the time I like my pictures better. I want professional results, but not willing to pay professional prices (not talking Sears, either, but "real" professionals). Although I admit, I am not close to having their skill, as I still have lots more to learn and there is room for improvement! I am so thankful Brian is supportive. He kind of looked funny about it when I mentioned getting the stand, but he doesn't say much and was most understanding. :)

An assistant-induced smile. I think my assistant was prancing around on her musical stick horse when this was taken.

Then the assistant had to try out the prop. There lays the subject on the floor, time for an outfit change.

Conveniently, the kids got those butterflies at Gracie's party on Sunday, the Dora party. They kind of worked for a prop, maybe??

Maybe you'll notice the blue background is a different color above and in these next two. Well, that's what you have when you're using the sun for light. Sometimes it goes behind clouds and moves in the sky. :D Caroline was bored of the whole situation and took to amusing herself, by clapping her hands, of course.

Brian's grandma made the afghan she's laying on. She'd made it long before Julia was even born. Probably before Brian and I were even married. I think she made one for all her grandkids, not for them to use, but for their kids to use someday. I am told she loved to knit and crochet. I'd have liked to not used the bow here, but I thought I should, or Caroline might appear to be a boy, with no clothes on, and on the blue background. ;)

Little Clown

We found another Fuzzy Wuzzy on our walk to school last Monday, the day it was 98 in the shade. It was already hot early in the morning. Lauren got to take him home, where she put him in the bug cage, and again, gathered leaves and grass for his home. Julia set the first Fuzzy Wuzzy free before we left for Yosemite. He was still alive! Brian put this second guy out yesterday, as the kids have lost interest in the caterpillars, and just leave them sit on the windowsill, not giving them any fresh leaves or sprigs of bushes or water. The novelty has worn off I think. We were told they are Woolly Bear caterpillars and eventually will turn into big moths. Julia said, when she brought Fuzzy Wuzzy 1 into her class to share, a boy said they will turn into giant moths that will eat you up! Hmmm...

Lauren got the binoculars at her friend Gracie's birthday party the day before. It was a Dora party, and the kids got to go on a Dora adventure. Fun, fun... The tattoo is one from the Easter egg hunt at the park. We have about 20 more in the bathroom cupboard.


That afternoon Lauren wanted me to take her picture with that Polly bedspread over her nose. She saw in on my camera display, and giggled, and said, "I'm a little clown!" No truer words were spoken! ;) Notice the tattoo is even more gone, here. When it didn't come off in her bath, Lauren started picking it off! Little clown, indeed. She was the one who wanted it on in the first place...

It was so, so hot, I just felt lazy and sluggish most of the day. We sat out in the afternoon sun at Tball practice and were hot. Our house was hot. I didn't feel like making dinner, even though it was only spaghetti, and salad out of a bag. It was just too hot. Outside was more pleasant, and Brian played out there with the little girls. While I made that spaghetti. Obviously (from the pictures below) I took a break from that hot kitchen to go out too.

Lauren said, "Remember when you let me take a picture of Tarowine with your camera? I want to do that again." Here is Lauren's picture.

And the entire little group parading around the backyard. Lauren wore those binoculars all day long! Except when she slept.

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands!~~40, 41 weeks

Caroline learned to clap her hands awhile ago, probably over a month ago, I think. Now she claps all the time. It is the cutest thing. She claps when she hears/sees other people clapping. She claps when we say, "Caroline, clap hands?" She claps on her own when she is excited or frustrated or happy. It is the new thing to do. :D


It was SO HOT last week, Sunday through Tuesday. Monday it was 98 degrees in the shade!! Then a few days later it was back to normal, about 35 degrees cooler. Absolutely crazy. Our poor hydrangeas and cyclamen do not like the heat! They wilted, and a couple hydrangeas (we have 5 total) got some crunchy leaves on top now. They got sunburnt I think! I did give all the extra plants and seeds extra water. Just a cute picture of Caroline.

And Caroline's 40 and 41 week pictures. I can't believe were in the 40s now, for weeks!