Nursery Reveal

One month in with Emerson.  Probably about time to showcase the nursery!

Closing day on our house was first thing in the morning.  Keys were handed over at possession and I wasted no time getting into our new digs, popping open the paint cans, and getting to work.  First up was  P & T's room and second on the list was the nursery.  Not yet pregnant but knowing it was on the radar (as in the next month),  I choose a mix of yellow (safe color for boy or girl) and pink.  Just like Teagan's nursery at the old house. I figured if we had a boy I'd only have to repaint half the room.  Turns out I was able to leave it in tact :)



I used the same artwork from the old house as well as the decals.  Target supplied the nine cube organizer (which we have three of.  Perfect storage solution for wee ones) and bins.



One month, one day old Emerson enjoying her room.  Nice and neat.  Easy when I keep minimal toys in the space!



Per Parker's request, a snap with her and not so thrilled Emerson.



Same crib, same rocker, new fun bright sheet.  The E and frame above the crib was a Michael's purchase.  I painted it white, hung it up and viola. The quilt on the rocker was hang crafted by my Grandma Eva and look, our new doors are also in view! I do not miss the plain Jane flat white doors and gold doorknobs that we trashed.



This shelf was also from Teagan's nursery.  Very easy to make. Cut some wood, buy some brackets, paint white.  The pictures I downloaded from Pinterest and the yellow pom poms are from Parker's first birthday party.

There you have it.  Another nursery fit for a princess :)

Now let's go to today.  What a mix of weather we had! An afternoon rain storm kept us indoors but when it quickly passed and Emerson was sleeping soundly, it was the perfect time to hop in rain boots and puddle jump.

I bought this maxi dress for Parker and obsessed doesn't even describe how she feels about it. I was on the fence about maxi dresses for preschoolers (all I saw was a huge trip hazard) but this girly girl rocked it.

I did not get a maxi dress for Teagan because I guarantee you this sassy pants would trip, fall, you name it.  My oh my does this girl keep us on our toes. 

Parker really does capture iPhone pics in such an artistic way!

 

I do not like bugs.  I do not like dirt.  I do not like worms.  However, my daughters (who typically side with me on the anti bug front) were fascinated by this nasty thing and requested a picture. 

Tomorrow the girls have their last day of preschool before we break for summer.  Since Emerson's arrival they've been attending half a day, twice a week.  But with me on mat leave, it being summer, and our pool, I feel like it's a great time to take a break.  The pool patio should finally be installed on Friday (it's taking absolutely forever) so hopefully it will be done for our first full week of home full time! If not I'll need a plan B :) 

Adventures with three girls

Happy Memorial Day! We kicked the day off with the Rochester parade.  All parties were out the door on time, we scored a great parking spot and found an even better spot to sit, spread out, and wait for the show. Emerson started the show off with a bang in the form of an epic poop-splosion.  Back up clothes to the rescue.  By the time E was all cleaned up and stylish once again the big girls were up to their eyeballs in candy, flags, and even a Frisbee.  Score!

The rest of the day was spent around the house enjoying the weather.  The grill was fired up, we walked toting the big ones in the wagon and the little one in the Moby, a little landscaping was completed, and we just really enjoyed the entire day.

Pre-parade with my ladies. Parker's outfit of choice for the day: her spring 2014 recital costume :) I promise Teagan is not flashing toddler gang signals, though her gloves tell a different story. 

In other news, miss Emerson will be exactly one month old tomorrow.  One month! We've had a lot of fun as a family as five and have learned a lot along the way.  One big learning experience comes from getting out of the house. The sheer act of physically getting from point A to point B with three children age four and under is an...adventure.  I learn something new with each trip out of the comforts of our home.

On this particular day I was determined to pick out some new clothes.  After months of maternity slob apparel I was back in action.  With only six pounds left to lose I'm able to find styles that fit and that fit well.  I feel my best when I look my best so I that motivated me to not give up when the only parking spot I could find was literally the farthest one back in the lot.

Let's see here.  Only one stroller that fits E's car seat.  Yet I have three children, one of whom is a runner (not naming names, but she's not the oldest.  And the youngest can't yet walk).  So with Parker helping push the stroller and me gripping on to Teagan with all my might we made the seemingly five mile trek into the O.N. successfully. I walked smugly over to the shopping carts and then the smugness was gone.

Both girls wanted to push their baby dolls in separate shopping carts.  With Parker this is not problem.  Girl can navigate the narrowest of shopping aisles with ease.  Teagan is in the midst of her tornado phase and would take down the entire store if I gave her free reign.  So I did what any parent determined to make some solid post partum clothing choices would do.  I put my eldest in charge of literally carting her younger sib around while I loaded up the cart.

About to get the boot to make room for miss t

If they are smiling, it's working

The next hurdle was the dressing room.  A cute, trendy girl in her early 20s was on dressing room shift and I'm pretty sure she will hold off on having children for a while.  Between the sisterly arguing and the baby cries and my desperate pleas to pleeeease, pretty please find me this skirt I'm obsessed with in a different size, like really soon if you could because I have ticking time bombs on my hand and I'm half naked in here, that's probably all the dose of little ones she needs for a long time.

I finally smarted up and busted out a Sofia episode, Emerson calmed down, and I left the dressing room with lots of fun new outfits.  Win all around!

Once we arrived back at home it was time for a little food activity.  Making Jello jigglers! I pushed aside the amount of Red 40 about to be consumed, topped those bad boys off with some whipped cream, and we all indulged.  Except Teagan who was not a fan of the "sour," aka cream.

Another family fun activity that we have absolutely perfected is selfie taking.  Why not?

Tomorrow will be another learning experience as well.  Skipping naps for the big girls in order to get E to her one month well visit with our favorite pedi. Three kids, two adults, small rooms, inevitably long waits.  Fingers crossed all five of us make it out in one piece tomorrow so we can come home and chill :)

(we totally could have handled twins ;)

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day!

Warm, sunny Memorial Day weekend

Talk about a perfect weather weekend.  A mix of 70s and 80s.  Sunshine with a bit of clouds.  Unfortunately the pool is still under construction rendering it basically unusable until (fingers crossed) late next week but we were able to find activities to fill our time.

Kris' fam visited from Ohio and we headed out to the Rochester Heritage Festival.  I'm not quite sure of the history behind this event.  All I know is that there are camel rides.  So yeah, that's really all I need to know.

Emerson finally woke up.  Four weeks old today and this girl has been snoozing around 23 hours each day but not when there are sights to be seen at the festival.

Snow cone break in front of the lumberjack event.  Apparently camels and lumbering have something to do with Rochester's heritage?!? I've never liked history so I know all I need to at this point. 

CAMELS! 

Pre-camel smiles.  Camels bring out the best in us all.  Must get a camel.  Our backyard is all sand and camels like sand so it makes sense.

After some playground fun and small business shop browsing we headed back home for a cookout.  The outside fun continued well into today when we got up and ready for the zoo.  Five years of going to the Detroit zoo, many times each year to capitalize on our annual pass, and we still see new things each and every visit.  This time our new sighting was the gorilla feeding.  Obviously when royalty visits (see T's pristine white princess gloves?) you see things you never would on commoner day.  

The girls were WAY more interested in the animal statues than watching gorillas stuff their faces with apples and cabbage.  Of course. 

Tomorrow's activities are up in the air.  Another warm day is on the radar so the possibilities are endless.  Sneak into the pool even though it's off limits? Head off to the beach? Have a lazy day at home and get these two rascals to take a solid nap (probably the wisest choice)? We shall see! I do know that we will make it to the Rochester parade because it's against the law to miss a great parade :)


Happy Memorial Day!

Blast from the past

And by past I'm talking 2 to 3 weeks ago.  When you take a bagillion pics daily ones from mere weeks ago get pushed way back in the camera roll.

The Thursday before Emerson's arrival Parker and I pampered ourselves with manis and pedis.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but I love having girls ;) If we try for a fourth I'll be rooting for a girl again (though I bet Kris will be on the other side :-P)

Triage! Last belly pic at 39w2d.

Yes, I was ordered to walk the halls of the hospital to get labor going but I wasn't about the trek around for hours without my delish Starbucks lemonade/tea beverage.

All smiles after I was finally permitted to sit my pregnant butt in a bed!

Now we'll flash forward to the present. This is how breakfast goes in our house now.  The girls have to move their chairs right next to Emerson. You know, since their white table is just SO far away.  Big girls are munching on one of our fave warm weather goodies--yogurt pops.  So simple to make.  Mix greek yogurt with honey and cut up fruit.  Add to popsicle molds.  Freeze. Get your kids psyched to have popsicles for breakfast.  Genius.

You better believe we're enjoying this pool every second we can.  Managing a pool with these little fishies plus a newborn is a skill I'm still trying to master but with each swim I'm fine tuning the best ways to enjoy our backyard vacation.

See the red inflatable? It's a motorized speed boat.  Motorized! Purchased at the place where all amazing things are born--Costco, of course.

Post pool snack and relaxation time.



Parker found giving Teagan bunny ears to be absolutely hilarious.



Best buds :)

Miss Teagan has by far been the most challenging kiddo since Emerson's arrival.  Tantrums, deliberate disobeying, and really just looking for trouble.  My oh my does this girl keep me on my toes! Now I know why T was such an easy baby and smiles all the time...to make up for all her two year old shenanigans!

Parker is doing pretty good with the adjustment but can go from 0 to 60 on the emotional outburst scale.  And nighttime is pretty tough for her.  She cries, real tears of sadness, when I kiss her goodnight.  Literally wraps her arms and legs around my entire body so I can't leave.  Heartbreaking.  So we still try to get in a couple sleepovers a week.

Minnie needs to be properly restrained.  I'm running out of room in my Acadia.

Our Mother's Day tradition is to spend it at the zoo.  Even though the forecast showed a rainy day and even though it rained on the drive, I was not about to give up on our zoo trip.  Sure enough, the rain stopped and the day ended up being sunny and warm.  I should be a weather woman.

I never, ever carry cash including coins.  I honestly do not even know the pin to my debit card (I'm an AMEX/Amazon Chase girl for all the perks). This works for us until we see the fountain (why is this is thing to throw money in water?!).  Thankfully as we were unloading our car a dad was walking back to his car for coins and reminded us before we entered.  Thanks for the reminder and I actually had four coins on me.

Good thing because last time I forgot Parker asked me for my credit card to throw in ;)

This is what I get when I asked the girls to smile for the camera...

But when I bribe them with the playground they grin ear to ear.

Almost a darling shot.  Just cut out my weird friend to the right and me telling Kris to watch out behind him before he tripped trying to catch our cuteness.

Parker has deemed this location as our picture spot.  Of course, the area with uneven, jagged rocks which do not play with with an adventurous two year old.

#obsessedwithbabyselfies

Parker's picture obsession is below.  Stealing my phone and snapping away.  Not a bad shot of me and my little!

Speaking of pictures, look who got a selfie stick!

My ladies :)

Big sis is always making sure Emerson has toys to play with. And always makes sure she has a story to go along with it :)

That's all for today.  I'm looking forward to date night tomorrow with my big girls.  We're going to see Pinkalicious the musical! Shhhhh, it's a surprise.  Can't wait to see their little faces light up. Pinkalicious is adored in the S house!