Happy Birthday Claire!

Here are some highlights of you as a 3 year old:

• You are still wild and crazy and into everything. You are desperately trying to give up your nap, but Mommy still needs it b/c I need a break from your constant motion. You are consistently working on a "project" and often need scissors, tape, glue, or some other such item that you will climb on counters and scale furniture to get to. You aren't trying to be difficult, you are just fiercely independent and loathe to ask for help. You'd rather do everything yourself and not bother anyone. Reminds me of someone I know quite well.
• As mentioned above, you love to do crafts, so we got you a craft table for your birthday. You love it and would sit up there all day with Kaitlin (or "Kaylee" as you've taken to calling her) if you could. However, you have recently also begun coloring on the walls and couch, which you plainly know is unacceptable, but I think you are also a bit short on attention lately and thus are acting out a bit. You are ever so willing to help clean it up though, as cleaning is another favorite activity.
• You are still an excellent eater and will try anything once. You still favor meat above everything else, and often ask for sausage at each meal. You still love hummus and anything garlicky, although you will often tell me after eating it that I "stink like a skunk."
• Your sister is the be-all end-all for you. She is just the coolest. If she has a side pony-tail, you want a side pony-tail. She is wearing a dress, so must you. On and on. It is so sweet, although somewhat annoying to Kaitlin at times.
• You astound me daily with the things you observe and know. Because you are so rapid-fire, I often mistakenly assume that you don't notice details, but you do. You will repeat stuff back to me that I didn't even know you had been around to hear. You also have a memory like an elephant like your sister. We mentioned your new niece that is on the way, Chris and Dien's baby Ruth (who live in Colorado so we never see, we literally told you about it one time) and then a few nights later during prayers after we said "Amen" you yelled "YOU FORGOT BABY RUTH! GOD BLESS BABY RUTH!" Such a sweet girl.
• You are incredibly silly and easy going. You love to make your sisters laugh and will do anything to illicit a chuckle. We tend to use a lot of bathroom humor, which cracks you up. You dish it out like a pro, and as Daddy is so proud, can toot on command, and often do it on your sisters. You make the funniest faces, all the while with your beautiful big brown eyes open huge. Cracks me up.
• You are a little talker like your sister, often going on and on in soliloquies about random subjects that you sometimes do, sometimes don't know a lot about. You talk and talk and talk without taking a breath b/c you don't want anyone to cut you off. It is endearing, but maddening at bedtime.
• Speaking of bedtime, you put up a battle most nights, coming out up to 10 times asking for something silly or saying we forgot something. Once we threaten the spanking, you are usually down for the night and (knock on wood) we don't see you til about 6:30 or 7am sometimes. Lately though you have been doing better as we have been telling you that big 3yo's don't come out of their room, so we've a couple runs of no coming out nights, which we reward handsomely with gummy snacks or a piece of gum in the morning.
• You are not near the fish that your sister was at this age, but you have recently begun putting your face in the water and jumping to me in the pool, which is huge. Hopefully next summer you will turn the corner and you and sissy will be swimming all over the pool together. This year you were content to play on the steps with her and "make cookies" and play with your mermaids in the water.
• You and Kaitlin play so nicely together about 90% of the time. You guys will go upstairs, or play in the pool or in your room for hours, and I love to listen to you guys play together. There are the days that you get in fights, but I usually choose to let you guys work it out or have to stop playing, and you do it surprisingly well for 3 and 5 years old. However, you are a bit more aggressive than Kaitlin and have had to serve some time outs for biting, hitting and pulling hair. I pray you guys are always so close.
• You are the light of our lives and we can always count on you to bring some humor into the house. You help us all stop taking ourselves so seriously. We love you more than you will ever know!

Happy 6 months Bryn!

We have been blessed to know Brynny-Bryn for half a year now! These 6 months have gone by much faster than the 6 months she was inside cooking! Here are some of her latest antics:

• Eating cereal and a couple veggies and loving it. She also loves to blow raspberries as soon as she gets a mouthful. Now is when I always start thinking about the next great baby invention - some sort of bubble to place infants in while you feed them to contain the mess. Not my favorite milestone to be sure.
• Now that she is eating solids, I feel no remorse on commencing sleep training. And admittedly I am pretty hard core (some may say unfeeling). But I know she is fine, she just needs to learn to go to sleep on her own, and after the first night when I turned off the monitor, she proceeded to sleep for 10hrs the next night and 12 the next. Since then she has a few off nights, but for the most part is pulling 10-12 hours. Now if those older sisters would get their act together I might know what it's like to get 8 in a row!
• She is rolling around everywhere, occasionally getting up on her knees, but with a booty that size, it doesn't stay up there long. She scoots and rolls and she gets where she needs to go (and into a few places she doesn't). She is sitting up very well now too, and that is usually her preferred position. Kaitlin loves to "protect her" by sitting behind her in case she falls back, but she's really pretty steady these days.
• She may be the biggest momma's girl of the 3. The first 2 were also momma's girls, but Bryn takes it to a new level. If she sees me while someone else is holding her, they either have to leave my prescence or hand her over, as she starts squealing/screaming/moaning and lunging for me. I don't mind. :-)
• Her 6 mo stats:
• 27.25 in (90-95%)
• 19lbs 9oz (95-97%)
• 17.5cm head (90-95%)
• Because of the above noted size, we have already moved her out of the bucket seat into her big carseat (backwards of course). We were having to almost break her arms to get her in and out of that bucket seat.
• Typical additional child - I feel guilty that she never gets to nap in her crib and there are days that she naps for maybe 30min total. We try and stay home to have her sleep at least one time in her crib, but that is hard for us.
• Overall she is a very happy baby. As long as I am holding her, she pretty much just hangs out and watches the circus that surrounds her. We love having her in our family!

Chubby Bunny

Getting a beauty treatment from the sisters

Her first movie at 6 mo - The Lorax!

Claire shared her headband

Such a happy girl

Bryn's First Cereal

In honor of Independence Day, we decided to give Bryn freedom from just the boob.  Hah.  She got to try cereal for the first time tonight over at Nanny and Papa's after our 4th cookout.  She was quite a big fan.  Here's to hoping this brings more sleep to all of us!  (She has slept through the night the past 2 nights - woohoo!  This was prior to any cereal, so it can only get better, right?)

Game face on, ready for this

Pep talk from biggest sissy - Kaitlin told her "Don't be scared, it's just a little cereal"  Such a good big sister.

And there was no fear involved.  She loved it.

You guys have been holding out on me!

Kaitlin's First Dance Recital!

I am so far behind on blogging!  Kaitlin had her first dance recital on May 19.  She had been pretty much dreading it all spring.  She loved dance class, but did not like the idea of going on a stage and dancing in front of everyone.  As usual, she claimed she was "too shy."  The week of the recital she seriously woke up every day and asked what day it was, and was always relieved to hear that it was not Saturday.  And then Saturday she was not so happy, but at least Nana and Pop were coming up to watch so that was the carrot I dangled out for her.

That morning, I had to trick her into going up to the high school for dress rehearsal.  I told her she wasn't going to dance at all, that she just needed to try on her costume and go stand on the stage and they were just going to test the lights and make sure they were working.  She was ok with that, and once we got up there she was fine to get up on stage with all her little friends.  The actual show was no drama either, but afterwards I asked her if she had fun and she said "It was fun, but I don't ever want to do it again."  Thus ends her dance career for now!   We are now back in gymnastics, where she always claimed to want to be but I just had to try her in dance b/c she loves to do it so much at home.  Here are some pics:

The whole gang came to watch (Pop was taking the photo)

Bryn wore her ballerina onesie in support of big sis

Posing before the big show

In action

She did great at keeping the smile on her face!

With her flowers and trophy after the show