Tiny dancer

It happened. Probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. Eve had her first dance recital. Oh my goodness! I mean, little girls dancing around in tutus is cute all on its own, but when it's my Eve, it's just to die for. She did such a great job! You could tell she was taking it very seriously, she was focused on her steps, and was trying so hard not to miss any. She was really excited to wear her costume, and gasp! Wear make up! She said later that was her favorite part, not the getting dressed, or dancing, wearing make up. She did an outstanding job, and even her aunties April and Candace were able to make the journey to come and see it, it was such a special day for us. 

Spring?

Spring, is that you? We've been waiting for so long!!

Please stay. We need to play outside! 

Eve lately

My good friend Maggie Nillson got to hang out with Eve a little while back for a few hours while we went to the airport. I was amazed at just how accurately she captured shots of her, her demeanor, and her little curious personality. She really is so incredibly talented.

Eve, my sweet Eve, is the best helper of all time. She is a second mommy in the house. She helps get Graham his shoes helps him reach things and sometimes picks out his clothes. She is so thoughtful, when she disappears to get into her pjs, usually she returns with her hands full of pjs for the babies. 

If you make it, Eve can give Greta her bottle. And LOVES to do it. 

Recently. I made Greta a bottle, and left it on the counter, and was going to give it to her after I got the older two seated and settled for dinner. Greta stated fussing, and Eve jumped right up, put her cute little hand up and said "it's ok mom, I will take care of it". And she proceeded to take care of it. It was amazing, right before my eyes, she just grew up a bit. She's really aware of things going on around her. 

She is doing really well with her preschool work books, she gets excited to work in them, and picks up the material very quickly. I've noticed she learns and reatains information really well to music. This girl can pick up song lyrics crazily fast. The radio will play a song, that I think is pretty new, haven't heard it much before. And to my amazement she is singing along in the backseat! She remembers little rhymes if they have a tune to them, thank you Daniel Tiger! 

She's letting Graham be her buddy more, and he loves it. He just thinks she is the coolest kid, and I'd have to agree. 

She repeats everything, and can use it in correct context. Just yesterday, I was asking her to clean up her toys, and was getting a little annoyed that she wouldn't listen. She replies with "mom, I understand you're frustrated. But I don't want to do it". I didn't even know what to say, she nailed it. It's like I saw my very own parenting methods being used against me, by my 4 year old! Scary....

I had her put curlers in her hair Saturday night, and Sunday morning she had the cutest hair ever. I told her a few times "you look so cute!" Before getting in the car, is found her crying on the couch. I asked her what was wrong, and she said "I don't want to be cute, I want to be pretty! I want to be pretty mommy!" I was so sad she felt that way, and also nervous for what teenager hood is going to bring. 

She can be firstly, and throws a really good fit from time to time, but overall she is pretty stellar. She is showing to have a future with my frame, poor thing is going to be short like me. her brother is catching up quickly, he's a big boy. She's got tiny feet, and loves her hair to be "one pony in the back, but wih a bow".  She is currently obsessed with the movie Frozen, the only other hair from one pony in the back, is braids like Anna from frozen. She "freezes"'us at home all the time. 

She loves being in primary, and learns the songs quickly. She "practices" at home a lot. It's sweet t hear her sing, it's such a joy. She's a good girl, and sweet, with a heart of gold. We sure love our Eve and feel so blessed she's part of our family. 

Happy late Easter

Happy Late Easter from our little chickens!!!! It's late, but better late than never right? Here's a few of my favorite shots we managed to catch with 3 very active littles. 

This one is my favorite. This sums up how it all went down after about half hour of taking pictures.....no smiles, just bored, cranky kids. Graham refused to lay down, instead he stood up, put his hands on his "hips" and started scolding me in his nonsensical babble....we were done after this, but I thought it was just too candid not to share.

Greta 8 months

8 months and counting, she's growing quickly! The day she turned 8 moths she decided to start crawling. Not full on crawling, but she's got an efficient army crawl. It's a little more sophisticated than Graham's side stroke crawl. 

She really wants to be big, she watches her siblings and just wants to do what they do. When they run by her, she starts rocking and almost trying to crawl faster to keep up. 

She is so patient with her siblings, she is constantly smothered with hugs, kisses, and hair playing. Having ponytails stick out of her helmet makes it irresistible. But it's a wonder she hasn't eroded into thin air from all the love. 

She can feed herself puffs and Cheerios, and is so far pretty ok with all babyfood purée flavors (knock on wood). She gets the high chair now like a big girl, and loves it! Good for mr G too, as he has graduated to sitting at te table. Good of him, bad for mom, as now I can't contain him or his mess at meal times. 

She's weighing 18 lbs, and far too quirky to get an accurate height reading. But she is filling out 12 month clothes in length. 

Greta's new accessory

Well, turns put the plate problem cannot be corrected on its own. Since she was tiny, we kept increasing her tummy time and excercise still try to get things to round back out. I even had her sleeping on her side or tummy (breathing monitor present). We were thinking it was from being on her back too much, but not the case. We went to the cranial specialist, and they took a lot of digital scans and such to show me what was really happening. 

The left side of her head, the growth plate was stunted, or not moving outwards. Because of that, her right side has been overcompensating to accommodate her brain growth. So her jaw Isn't lining up on the left side. The head also hasn't gotten enough length in the back. This cranial corrective band is going to put pressure in the right places, and open space where there needs to be growth. This will get things evened out before the plates permanently fuse. I will add length in the back that will allow her spine to come up straight as well. 

they think it got stunted in utero, and now the only way to fix it is to wear this little beauty. She wears it 23+ hours a day, just off for bathing. It has strict instructions for cleaning, and cannot get wet. So Greta's hair has to be blow dried after baths, and put into pony tails up top, to alleviate irritation on her skin. It's an unsightly thing, so we tried our best to paint it and make it cute. And now, I love it on we. I think she rocks it, she's so adorable.