Noelle is All Grown Up...

... If you ask her ;) My sweet Noelle is 4 years old now! We had so much fun with her birthday. We didn't do a big giant party like last year, this year just enjoyed time with family. She asked for a Minnie Mouse party, but wanted a Jake and the Neverland Pirates birthday cake haha. All in all, she was completely spoiled by friends and family, I can't even begin to express how much I appreciate everyone who showed her love for her special day! At her checkup she weighed 32 lbs, which is actually a fairly respectable number haha. She got to have her first vision test, and she had her hearing checked too. Poor girl had to get her finger pricked to check iron, and 3 different immunizations, but now she is all done and will be ready for school when she turns five.
Noelle is an absolute joy to have, she is my buddy. It is fun to talk with her and hear what a 4-year-old thinks of the world. She is funny and whimsical and pretty sharp too! She loves puzzles and learning to read, my little bookworm. She also loves painting or any kind of art/craft, swimming, and horses. She got to take riding lessons last summer and it was just the best thing! She was a complete natural. We ended up not doing any during the winter, and she is fairly dying to start up again. This girl is basically a mini-me :) She is also becoming super helpful around the house and has her first official chore: clearing the table after meals, she does a good job! It is so fun to see my first baby grow and learn, such a blessing to be her mommy.

My Sweet Growing Boy

Today Jude turned 5 months old! It is so fun to watch my baby grow :) He started on rice cereal about a week ago and has been doing great with it! But it is clear he still very much prefers nursing haha. Our little man really enjoys his sleep, except when it tries to interfere with eating. He takes 3 pretty long naps during the day, but still wakes up twice during the night. Can't miss a meal!! Jude loves to talk and sing and he is constantly smiling :D Especially when he sees his mommy ;) he likes to stand up but still isn't doing much in the way of rolling. Or sitting. I think I kind of spoil him and hold him too much while he is awake, but he is so sweet, and Soleil is just loves on him a little too much any time I set him down. He is able to put himself to sleep and that is a huge blessing. His big sisters love him to pieces and are always sure to say hi to him every time he wakes up. We love our sweet little man!

Jude Erik

Well my sweet baby boy had his 4 month check up today! He weighs 15 lbs 2 oz, and is 26 inches long :) And perfectly happy and healthy. Those stats put him in the 75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. No surprises there :) How I love my sweet little man! At 4 months he can babble up a storm and will tell you all about it, he rolls side to side, but not all the way over yet, he can grab for things and stick them in his mouth, he watches me everywhere I go, and he has started giggling!!! He adores his big sisters and will smile at anyone who smiles at him.

It's time

I haven't blogged for nearly a full year. My poor Soleil didn't get to have me brag about all her milestones. The blogging world doesn't even know about my son!! It's time to get back into this.

I'm F'wee!

Our sweet Noelle is 3!!! I can't believe it, but my first baby is 3 years old :) We had so much fun for Noelle's birthday. We decided to plan a great big Princess party for all of our friends and family to come to. Noelle was so excited, she talked about it for weeks before. Her birthday was Saturday the 25th, so we got to have her party on her actual birthday! That morning she got to go get her fingernails and toenails done with her cousin Anya, then she got to open family presents. And then it was time for the party! We invited everyone there to dress up as kings, queens, princesses, princes, fairies, trolls, witches, or anything fairy tale! We had lots of pretty princesses, some fairies, two kings, and even a Peter Pan! We played Rapunzel, and when the kids asked Rapunzel to let down her hair, their treat bags were attached. Then we had a pinata, and then presents. After all that fun we had dinner and cake and just relaxed and visited and played. We are so grateful to everyone for coming all the way out to our house to show their love for Noelle! She had such a wonderfully special day :D

The Royal family ha ha ha

Our two princesses patiently waiting for cake

The AMAZING princess castle cake my dear friend Natalie made (she's the one in the yellow dress:) Not only did it look great, it tasted awesome too! It was really perfect and exactly what we (I) wanted.

Lost in a sea of wrappings :)

Presents! She really was just spoiled.

Our house was packed! That brown paper is the Rapunzel tower. It was so much fun :)

Noelle had her dress, glass slippers (pink jelly sandals) her crown, necklaces, a glow wand, and her stick pony. A true Princess!

Opening presents earlier in the day from Mommy, Daddy, and Ladybug.

The birthday girl getting measured! She really didn't like it, but it was a must!

When Noelle went to bed Friday night, there were no decorations up or anything. When she woke up Saturday morning, all the decorations for her party were up and there was a big pile of presents waiting for her on the kitchen table :)

At 3 years old, Noelle weighs 26 lbs, only 5 1/2 pounds more than her little sister ha, and is 3 ft 3.5 inches tall. This puts her in the 10th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. Yes, she is very much my child :) We love our little Noelle so much! She loves anything horses or princesses, and she also loves to color and read. She will watch as many movies and play as many video games as we will let her. Her favorite movies are Cinderella and The Lion King, and her favorite tv show to watch is The Backyardigans. She has lots and lots of books, and she loves going to the library to pick new ones each week. She is very good at saying blessings on the food, but is still practicing being reverent during prayers. She LOVES playing with her friends and cousins, and is learning all the things little kids have to learn, like how to share and not hit :) She loves to make her baby sister laugh, and especially loves to help me in the kitchen to make meals. She is very good helper at unloading the dishwasher, and would love to help load, but I'm not ready fer her to be that helpful yet cause she still doesn't quite get the idea of germs and where they can be and how you keep from spreading them. She is still kinda picky, but does a pretty good job of eating all the bites of everything we tell her she has to eat. She is fully potty trained hooray! Except last night she was hugging Erik and for some reason decided to pee on him hahahahaha. It made no sense at all, but was secretly pretty funny. We are so happy to see the cute little girl our Noelley baby has turned into, and love hearing all the wonderful and funny things she has to say about the world and life. She truly is a joy and a light in our lives. Happy Birthday Sweet Noelle!

Let's Talk about 9 Months :)

How we love our sweet baby! She is such a joy, so happy and smiley. She loves to laugh at our crazy antics, and she LOVES her big sister. Any time Noelle plays with her she is in heaven. One of their favorite things to do is to hide under Noelle's favorite blanket and pretend they are in a "tent". Gotta keep a close eye on it, but Ladybug just smiles the whole time :)
At 9 months, our little Soleil weighs 19 lbs. 8 oz. which puts her in the 70%. She is 2' 4.5" tall, in the 85% for height. At her checkup she had to have her finger pricked for an iron test and she had to have one shot for immunizations. She barely even noticed the finger prick, and she cried for literally 3 seconds with the shot. My tough little lady.
Soleil is still not quite crawling yet, but is getting so close! She is very adventurous and inquisitive, not much misses her eye. She loves to screech at the top of her lungs still, but we are gently trying to help her express her exuberance/boredom/hunger/frustration/pain/discomfort in a slightly less noisy way. She loves to mimic our sounds and can say ya-ya, la-la, and va-va in addition to her previous vocabulary. She is getting very good at finding her balance when she stands up, and she loves playing with people or other babies. She can roll all around now, but still prefers for me to just pick her up and move her, or get her what she wants, or just be carried in my arms all day long, riding along as I do all the mommy things I do throughout the day. She doesn't have much interest in movies, which is fine but kind of a bummer when you need something to distract your kids for a bit while you try to get work done. All in all, we just love our baby girl! She is so bright and happy and fun :)

What a beautiful little lady!! My heart melts :)

First time sledding. Ha ha she looks like a plucked chicken, but we had lots of fun!

Noelle likes to hide behind the high-chair and peek at Soleil through the little handle hole. They both think it is hilarious.

Mmmmm, toast

So deliciously cute!

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

A veritable smorgasbord of videos of my cute girlies! Some are kinda long. I just barely found out that you can edit videos in youtube to just put on the good parts, but I was too tired, and anyway I like seeing the whole video :)




Cute laughing baby :)



You think this is just a video of a baby trying to poop ;) Until you see Noelle haahahahahahaahaha



Just moved in. And loving the piggy tails :) Oh, and the dishwasher arrived, which is why I had to end so quickly



Christmas Morning with Noelle



Underwear hat. Also, Noelle loves the garbage truck and we anxiously await its arrival every Thursday.



The reason I love this video is that it shows Noelle figuring out, remembering, and anticipating the timing of the song. Something new for her :)



To go with the pic in the last post, our big girl holding herself up :) That little coughing sound she is making is her "I'm-so-utterly-pleased-with-how-accomplished-I-am" sound :) Cute girl.