Easter and Carolyn's visit

A bit out of order but I finally downloaded my camera pictures- hey, at least I took some!  A few from our trip to Malta in late March for Easter:

 And some more recent ones when Nana (Carolyn) came to visit last weekend, stopping by on her cross-country journey to see the kids and buy a new car!

April updates

 Life has been too busy too blog :) Some much overdo updates below:
Remember hiding under the covers with a good book and flashlight after we were supposed to be asleep in bed?  Apparently this generation gets in bed with their LeapPads instead.

 Reese had her first soccer game yesterday.  They've had a total of 2 practices so far, and Reese spent most of the first one pouting because she couldn't be first in line for the drills.  So we were happy that even got out on the field.  She still resisted playing most of the time but her coach did a great job of getting her out there and even let her take a throw in (which she did surprisingly well).

 This is how she spent most of the time...holding her coach's hand running around the field.  However, another little girl spent the game in tears in her mother's arms (brought back memories of our first swim lessons a few months ago) so I guess we're making some progress?

 Sisters sharing a cuddle on the couch

Emily smiling for the camera at 5 months

The county finally put up our street sign (you know, about 3 years later) so it's official:

 and CK finally got a relatively nice day to pour the front porch.  Finishing it man-lift style below...

Kid pics

Some recent pictures of our smiling butterball

 Reese and Asher enjoying their homemade "Shamrock Shakes" on St. Patrick's Day

March updates

Reese loves to color and draw and she's gotten pretty good.  Here's her latest family portrait.  

 The kids and I got geared up for the Duke-UNC game.  My lucky shirt is simply fading; don't think I have crossed over to the dark side...

 And finally, CK has a (not so secret) admirer at daycare.  It's one of the owner's daughters and today she made him this declaring her love for him.   Guess I'd better start making him some chocolate chip cookies so I can compete.

Emily @ 4 Months

Our little girl is already 4 months old- how time flies!

CK took her in for her 4 month check up and immunizations.  Here are her current stats:
Height: 24.5" (60th)
Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz (90th)
Head: 40.4cm

She's cooing and smiling all the time now and she has started to blow bubbles back at us (we've been doing it to her and now she does it back which is pretty adorable).  She's a pretty happy little girl and is generally only up once a night which is way better than her siblings were doing at this age.  Third time's the charm, apparently.

Rough mom moment

So last week was the first week in awhile where I was gone ALL week.  Literally I left the house at 445am Monday morning and didn't get home until 830pm Friday night.  It was a long week for me, and apparently for the kids.  As I was driving home from the airport Friday night I called CK and he asked how far out I was as Emily was hungry.  Given that I'd just gotten off a 3 hour flight, I was similarly ready to feed her :) So I got home about 15 minutes later and tried to feed Emily.  Well, little Emily wanted no part of Mommy.  She screamed her little head off and wouldn't eat.  I tried calming her down and then retried feeding her to no avail.  I'm pretty sure she was shooting daggers at me behind those tears, too.   Anyway, I finally gave in, handed her to CK, who warmed her up a bottle of frozen breastmilk which she eagerly (and immediately) scarfed down.  I, then, sat in the corner and pumped all by my lonesome :(  A very sad mommy moment to be rejected by your infant daughter who was clearly not happy that I'd been gone all week.  If this had been my first, I probably would have ended up in tears on the bathroom floor ready to quit my job.  Since it's my third, however, although I still felt the sting of rejection, this also isn't my first rodeo.  CK and I were even able to joke about it later.  And, of course, come 2am that night when she was ready to eat again she eagerly accepted Mommy's direct feeding.  Lucky for CK, right?  Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Jumperoo and Lindsey's birthday party

Reese and Asher like coming into our room in the mornings and playing with Emily while she's still in bed.  She's happiest first thing in the morning and loves all the attention from her siblings.

 Since Emily's neck muscles seem to be so strong and she wants to be upright looking around all the time we decided to break out the Jumperoo a bit early.  We tried it out yesterday for the first time and she seems to like it (in short bursts at least).
"Mom, this is not my most flattering angle"

 Making funny faces at Reese (who is also responsible for draping my blanket over the back

 Smiling because I can "stand" up by myself- finally!

 We celebrated Lindsey's 11th birthday yesterday with her friends and family. The girls played a photo scavenger hunt game and I was one of the photographers.  I'm proud to say our team won and Kaitlyn was a champ for volunteering for the "cover one of your teammate's faces with stickers":

We got extra points for getting adults in the pictures...Clint was a good sport.  Here he is in the "surfing" picture.

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Sisters

Emily loves being entertained by her big sister:

Video 12 from CK LaFond on Vimeo.

A little chef on our hands?

For the past 6 months or so Asher has often been found playing in what was originally Reese's play kitchen in the playroom.  He likes to take bowls and measuring cups from the real kitchen, bring them into his kitchen and then return with a plateful of lego "brownies" or "cookies" for us to eat.  Well, yesterday while CK and I were having a conversation in the other room, here's what he managed to do:

 The funniest part was that Reese herself found the situation a few hours later and came running up to me, "Mommy, Asher's cooking in the playroom.  Mommy, he has real food!"  Luckily the damage was minimal; perhaps he has a career as a chef if the housekeeping/vacuuming thing doesn't work out.

And an adorable picture of Emily:

3 months

I'm 3 months old today.  Can you believe it?

Back to work

It's 5:30am and I am feeding Emily for the first time since 10:30pm last night.  Woo hoo!  She has given us 5 hour stretches here and there but this was the first true all night sleep.  Unfortunately, Asher was up at 1:15am last night so neither of us truly got to enjoy our full night of sleep but such is life with three kids.

I went back to work last Wednesday after 11 wonderful weeks at home with my adorable little girl.  I flew to Houston for a meeting and am heading back there tomorrow for another trip.  I'm not officially assigned to a specific project yet so my travel is somewhat sporadic (good) but also unpredictable (not so good).

After two days at home with Dad (and Grandma who is here for the week) Emily went to daycare for the first time on Friday (since it was the beginning of the month). The kids loved showing her off to their friends and I'm pretty sure the daycare women loved cuddling with her so much that she was pretty much held by someone all day.  Rough life Emily. :)

Traveling for the first time wasn't too bad.  It was a short trip and I was pretty busy the whole time.  I'm adjusting to the schedule and challenge of finding time (and a private room or, as is often my case, an airport bathroom stall) every 2-3 hours to pump.  It's a lot of work but worth it.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

Emily sporting her ASU pride

 This scene is familiar not matter what the setting

 Tanner and Asher riding in style

 Doesn't everyone decorate with tie-down straps?

 Being goofy

 A rare moment without a goofy smile

 And..the pout

Emily is starting to smile and coo a lot more which is fun for parents and grandparents alike.  Even Reese and Asher are able to generate some smiles when they talk to her as long as they're not simultaneously tugging her arm or shoving their nose in her face.  We've tried to teach them the concept of Emily's "personal space" but apparently that's hard to grasp at 3-4 years old.

Emily video

Waiting for Dr. P at my two month appointment and working on my motor skills...

IMG 0147 from CK LaFond on Vimeo.

Emily @ 2 Months

Emily had her two month checkup and first immunizations today.  The pediatrician walked in, looked at her stats, and said "So I guess she's eating well, huh?"  Her 2 month stats:

Height: 23" (75th)
Weight: 12 lb. 8 oz. (85th)
Head circumference: 38.5cm

 She didn't quite keep up with Reese who, at 2 months, was off the charts at 14 lbs. but she's growing fast and has the chub to prove it.
Emily's been smiling and cooing a lot more.  Here's proof:

We also took Reese and Asher to gymnastics for the first time today.  Reese loved it and did great (although she's a bit more "assertive" than the other kids in the class).  Asher didn't really have any interest so we'll probably wait until the fall to try again.

Swimming lessons

Reese and Asher started swimming lessons last night.  We started them in the same beginner class.  As predicted, Reese did pretty well and Asher clung to Daddy and screamed like he was being tortured.  The classes go for 4 weeks and are twice a week so when they go back tomorrow night we're going to keep Reese in the instructor-only class and move Asher (and Daddy) to the Aquatots (kids 3 and under with their parents in the water) and see how it goes.  Not sure if we'll be able to continue the lessons after I go back to work in a few weeks as it took everything we had to get all 5 of us to the pool on time, the kids changed, Emily fed and R&A from screaming...but hey, it's a start, right?

Reese holding on to the edge and learning how to kick.  She wanted to be sitting up on the edge of the pool and was not thrilled with this.

 Reese's preferred spot.  Her instructor looked all of 15 but he was pretty patient with the kids.  There's definitely a reason it's worth paying someone else to torture your children in the water.

 Asher clinging to Daddy for dear life...

 Reese's first dunk.

Kid pics and Kindergarten registration (already?!)

Since returning from Arizona for Christmas we've been settling back into a routine.  The kids are happy being back at daycare with their friends (ok, the parents are happy to have a break as well).  Emily is still battling a stuffy nose/cold and so is sleeping best when held.  Great for her, not as good for Mom.  But I am enjoying these last few weeks with her and trying to appreciate the 1-on-1 time I have with her while it lasts. I go back to work on the 30th with a trip to Houston so it's coming soon.  

Michelle and Jeff got the kids some fun re-usable stickers that came with a bunch of different scenes to put the stickers on.  Reese, however, decided it was more fun to decorate the windows in our living room.

 I know everyone says you aren't as good at taking pictures after your first child and that has definitely proven true with #3 so I've been trying to get the camera out more often these last few days.  Here are some recent shots of Emily at 7-8 weeks.

 Reese and Asher love playing with, kissing, hugging and otherwise "bothering" their little sister.  As you can tell, she's a bit apprehensive now that she can see them coming but it's still pretty cute.  Asher, who is normally full speed run-into-you-with-full-force man actually slows down and gives Emily very gentle kisses on the cheek.  It's pretty adorable.

 Reese got a hold of CK's iPad a few weeks ago and we found 60+ self portraits on there.  Here are some of the best.

On January 2nd I signed this crazy kid up for Kindergarten.  Can't believe it's that time already but she'll be 5 in August so will just make the Sept. deadline.  Because the elementary school we live closest to is so small and hasn't grown with the growing population of the Northern Helena Valley, they don't have enough spots to accommodate all the kids who geographically qualify to go there.  There are 3 Kindergarten classes and they give preference to kids who have siblings already at the school (makes sense) so a class and a half of slots are already taken.  So...asking around we found out that you need to get in line super early to get one of the last coveted spots.  So at midnight on the 2nd I headed down to the school and stood outside in 7 degree weather with 20 or so other parents to try to get our kids in public school Kindergarten.  Nuts!  My efforts were successful, however, as I was #7 in line and the principal (who nicely showed up at 2am to start registering even though the official start time was 8:30a) said at least the first 10 were "good to go".  I had no idea I would be using those Krzyzewskiville skills 15 years later...