Smiles and Beds

Little Miss Violette reached a developmental milestone at the beginning of week, she started to socially smile. She isn't as free with her smiles as I remember Noelle and Max being at this age. She makes you work very hard for them, only giving them out when she deems you deserving! I haven't been able to capture any on camera, yet, but they are heart stealing when I get one. Noelle gets the most and Tom has yet to see one directed at him! She seems to be the chubbiest baby yet. Her cheeks are little bull dog cheeks and her arms and legs are developing prominent rolls. It's adorable, if I may say so myself!
We have been playing outside enjoying the warm weather a lot this week. Max is eating sand like it is his last meal. Add a bit of water to their sand table and they are kept occupied for awhile. The resulting mud mess is a pain, but that is children. My floors seem to be suffering the most. Between the children, me and the dog I can't keep it clean. Sand has become my enemy these days. We are having a patio put in and that should cut down on the sand that gets into the house, thankfully.

Saturday, Tom went to buy a mattress. We gave Noelle the new twin mattress and put together a Big Boy Bed for Max. I figured we would try it Saturday night, but because he could easily climb in and out I thought it would be a challenge. We put him in his bed and didn't hear a sound from him! Today he took both of his naps and again went to bed with no problem. Obviously, he was ready for a big bed!
Noelle has really been into being a model and having fashion shows. Here are some pictures of Saturday's fashion show.
I let Noelle play with my camera during the week and she captured some pretty cute photos:

Max is talking more so I thought I would share a bit of it.

When he goes number 2 he tells us by saying "ewwww" and then Tom and I usually call out not it. He nows says "ewww not it".

Pop bottles are his favorite objects and loves to play with them. If he sees a bottle he shouts, "boddle" with much exclamation in his little voice.

Any vehicles, including lawn mowers, instantly grab his full attention and he points and says, "vroom, vroom" over and over. Typical boy.

He has many more words in his vocabulary including, sand, pizza, mine, night-night, fuffa, saw, water, juice, milk, cup, food, dude and dog to name just a few.

An Actual Busy Week

They are few and far between but this week was actually fairly busy. On Tuesday the Mitzel's visited with us. The girls seemed to enjoy each other's company and had minimal arguments. Having some three-legged races kept them busy for awhile and encouraged team work and coordination for them. Karen and I enjoyed chatting with each other, both of us looking forward to the warmer weather when we can send the monsters outside to play while we sip margaritas on the porch. Well, that's my little wish for the summer!

On Thursday, Violette turned one month old! She is holding on to her blue eyes and seems to be getting bigger. Her personality is still somewhat hidden, but I can tell she is going to be a child that demands attention just like the other two. Vi is my poop shooter. I have been pooped on more by her, during diaper changes, than by Noelle and Max combined. We view her as kind of a little Noelle clone. They are very much alike in features, although she has blue eyes and a little bit bigger lips. She has not yet started to socially smile, I have come across a few that may have been directed at me, but I'm not positive. When she is crying Max enjoys jumping up next to her and attempts to pick her up to comfort her. The ending result is not a good one, but thankfully I never leave the two alone in a room so he hasn't actually caused any harm. Violette has started to sleep for, on average, a five to five and a half hour stretch at night. This seems semi consistent and I'm not complaining!
Beautiful, warm, sunny weather descended upon on Friday. We headed over to the Mitzel's house to enjoy some good company and food. The children played outside the entire time, running and delighting in the warm weather. It was a lovely time that thoroughly tired out the children, always a big plus!

Saturday Tom was heading to the Red Wings game. He invited Andy, a good friend, to come along with him to the game. Not wanting to be left alone I made sure Andy's wife, Amanda, came along. She brought her little girl, Mia, who is exactly two weeks younger than Violette. Olivia, their little one that is Noelle's age, was unable to come. It was wonderful having another Mom to help me out, chat with, and make the time sans our husbands go by quicker. Meaning to get a picture of Vi and Mia together, we failed to remember until late Saturday night. We gave it one attempt and only Mia was truly awake. Mia has a gorgeous head of hair and Violette is seriously lacking, as seen in the picture! Sadly, Violette has the most hair out of the three of ours!

They left early Sunday morning, needing to get back to their much missed Olivia. It was really nice having company and we all look forward to our next visit with them. It will be great to see Mia and Violette grow up together. Hopefully they will be best buds!

The rest of Sunday this is what we did:

Relax. I'm pretty sure there is some room left for another little one in Tom's arms!

Now, two kid stories:

Standing directly behind Zeus, staring at his backside, Max crinkles his face and exclaims, "Ewwww!".

Trying to discipline Noelle she says to me, "That's child abuse. Don't child abuse me." Hopefully, that doesn't come out while out in public.

Easter Bliss

Another week has gone by. Tomorrow Violette will be four weeks old! She is awake a lot more during the day. Newborn clothes are now fitting her and she is not drowning in them. Her little baby blue eyes seem to be staying blue. Noelle refers to her as "creepy face" because, well, she tends to have very creepy newborn faces! Hopefully this nickname does not continue as she becomes less alien like and more human like over the next few months! Man, I am so kind to my babies.

Someday this past week (I can't remember which day exactly) Noelle and I dyed some eggs. Thanks to a good friend of mine who provided us with a silk dying kit, the eggs turned out fabulous and they were so easy! Max was very interested in smashing them, note the little hand sneaking in the picture below!
Saturday evening, with the children fast asleep, Easter Bunny Daddy began to put together Noelle's present of a bike. Well, the bike did not exactly have parts that fit together properly. So, at 10:30pm I made a run to the store to exchange the broken bike. Needless to say it was a late night! In the morning Noelle was very excited about the massive amounts of candy and her new bike. Max loved the candy and his gifts as well. The real meaning of Easter was not lost on Noelle as we had discussed it for weeks in advance.

Here is a picture of Noelle preforming surgery on Daddy with Max's new saw. Obviously, stories of my c-section were not lost on her!

Kickin' Week One's Butt

I am very proud of myself during this past week home alone with the children. I prepared myself for the worst (no sleep, tantrums, cranky newborn, run ragged mom...) and the reality was pretty darn good. I keep thinking we can handle a few more children with no problem (don't worry Mom, we'll take a bit of a break for my body to recover). We had a few tantrums and I was tired and sore, but nothing compared to what I had prepared for. Noelle and Max have adjusted wonderfully and continue to help me out. Of course Noelle helps more than Max, but he tries and melts my heart with his caring ways.

On Thursday, Violette had a weight check appointment and Max his 15 month well baby visit. Tom came to help me out, thankfully. Violette is gaining weight well and looks great. Max's weight fell in the 25th percentile and his height in the 97th percentile! I was surprised by that, but then again Tom isn't too short. Max had to get two shots. Noelle was very excited about this and actually woke up Thursday morning and exclaimed, "Max gets shots today!" with an evil grin planted on her face! On the ride home she kept asking him, "Are you okay Little Man?" and I think there was genuine concern in her voice.

Max has discovered a new talent for holding Violette. After doing it once on his own he signs more and please and begs to hold her again. It is precious!
I'm off to get lunch ready and feed Miss Violette. Have a great weekend!

A quick story:

"This is ridiculous" shouts Noelle. I give her a look because of the attitude in her voice, she interrupts this to mean I did not approve of her word use. She looks at me with her hands on her hips and says, "Mom, ridiculous is NOT a bad word. Stupid, Shit, and Damn it are bad words!".