4 Months and 5 Months!

Olive is now 5 months

I skipped her 4 month update!  School started and my thyroid is at the point in recovery from the pregnancy where it's exhausted and returning to it's old horrible functioning state.  So, my housework and my blog have suffered!

We'll start with 4 Months

4 months old with Olive The Other Reindeer

She had her 4 month check up and is doing great.  She weighs 12 lbs 1 oz and is 23 ¼ inches long.  Shockingly, she is smaller than Maisy was at this age.  She has Reflux pretty bad so much of our time is spent managing it so that she doesn't hurt too much.  Babies with Reflux sleep terribly.  As her Reflux has progressed, her sleeping has digressed.  Which is why I feel like a walking zombie most of the time.

One day in September Olive made a shocking, yet exciting discovery!

While getting her diaper changed, she looked down and saw her toes!  Her toes and feet are her favorite toys.  She gets very (VERY!) upset when you put her in a sleep sack because she can't play with her feet.  This is hindering my nighttime attire choices for Olive because I love using these for my babies.  Both Johnny and Maisy used these until they were walking.  (actually, after they were walking too!)

5 months old with Olive The Other Reindeer

Olive's personality is really developing!  She is very soft and sweet and silly.  She likes to laugh alot and still loves playing with her toes.  Everything she sees, she puts in her mouth.  You can watch her make eye contact with an object and open her mouth even before reaching out for that object.

Olive's friend Parker loaned her this exersaucer.  She loves to play in it and tries to get the toys into her mouth.  Recently she let go too quickly and hit herself in the face with her hand.  She has a very sad cry when she gets hurt or scared.

Parker and Olive had a play date while Maisy and Brynn (Parker's older sister) had a play date.  They seem to be great friends and spend most of the time trying to grab each other's faces.  Parker was born in December and is 5 months older than Olive.

When I was pregnant with Olive I had a very vivid dream about my baby and she had red hair.  I woke up and told Gabe all about it and we laughed and spent the entire pregnancy talking about my "red haired" baby.  Sometimes the light catches Olive's hair in the right way and it looks red, which always shocks us that there is a tiny bit of truth to my dream.  She still has very blue eyes and looks like both Maisy and Johnny at various times.

Both Maisy and Johnny over-love Olive and sometimes I have to feed her in a separate room with the door shut and closed so that she can actually get some quiet while she eats.

School is in full swing and for the most part Johnny is really enjoying 3rd grade and his teacher, Mrs. Barber.  But some mornings he still looks like this

The vote is still out on Maisy's thoughts on preschool.  We had a conference with her teacher this week and learned that she is very VERY quiet at school and barely talks.  We were completely stunned by this news.  I wonder how we can get her to act like that around the house!

Our weather has returned to rainy, but Maisy did not let that stop her from enjoying the outside.

She spent the morning outside playing in the pouring rain, just like this.

Our next post will probably have the kids in their Halloween costumes, which we've been planning since July!

It's October!

It is Fall at the Rutledge house! 

Maisy is learning new things every day.  She learned how to climb up the couch and sit on the window sill, just like Johnny.  Thankfully she forgot after this one time!

She also gets tired out easily and crashes wherever seems to work.  She has attached herself to this little blanket that I knitted her, after attaching herself to a scrap I had made while learning to knit years ago.  Johnny nicknamed it her "fuzzy"; but Maisy calls it her "FUDDY".  When she's tired she runs around saying "BOPPY?  FUDDY?".  Which is "paci" and "fuzzy" meaning she's ready for "night night" as she will tell you.

Johnny LOVES to jump off everything and loves having his picture taken while jumping.  He has many alien battles to fight in our house and does so on a daily basis.

Maisy got very offended when I did not include her while mopping the kitchen, so I got the swiffer out for her  Uncle Joel helped also, only he didn't realize it.

Momo knitted Maisy a poncho.  Whenever I put it on her she won't let me take it off.  It is very warm and soft like a blanket and Maisy loves all things snuggly.

Our front porch is finished and Johnny has totally enjoyed decorating it for Halloween.  This is Johnny's holiday.  He LOVES spiders and this is the only time of year that is filled with spiders.  We have a web out front and Johnny has collected all the spider figures he could find and put them inthe web.

Maisy continues to harrass Don.  He's so tolerant of her.  I love to hate Don, but really appreciate how gentle he is with Maisy.  Also, I am working on a new creation for my Maisy Cakes store....a Tutu Tie shirt.  (Also a plain old Tie shirt for those wishing to go tutuless.) 

As usual Maisy is my model and guinea pig for all designs and creations!

Momo showed us her cat's Halloween costume and I tried it on Don.  I'm pretty sure he LOVED it and wishes he had his own.  She also got Maisy this furry coat and Maisy thought this was an opportune time to go for a ride on Don.

Johnny is doing great in 1st Grade.  He's enjoying it and working very hard.  We had his conference today and his teacher said that he is always willing to answer questions, always does his work and tries his hardest.  Wow...I wish we could move into the school and have him act that way around us!

If you remember Johnny begins planning his Halloween costumes in November.  After last Halloween he wanted to be a spider.  But, during the summer he changed to wanting to be something that I really never understood what it was.  Then he changed to wanting to be a character from Teen Titans that was on the screen for probably 30 seconds one time...and a costume that would be impossible to create.  Then he decided he wanted to be a Spider King.  (I even bought the fabric for this one)  And then he decided he wanted to be a spider king that turned into something else that I have no idea how that would work or what it was.  And finally, I convinced him to be Ben 10 Alien Force.  Which has been his favorite tv show for years.  I've purchased the costume, ½ price even!  And he is very excited so I think this one might stick.

Maisy is going to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  She even had toto in a basket.  I'm pretty certain she's very excited about this!

On Halloween we will be going up to baby Bailey's birthday party and then staying to trick or treat and spend the night.  Johnny is going to sleep in Bailey's room.  This is a big deal!  Last summer I asked Johnny if he wanted to have his friend Haven spend the night and he said "ok...but he can't sleep in my room".  When I explained that a "sleepover" involved sleeping in the same room together he said "I guess he could spend the night, but he can't talk".  (we decided to wait for a sleepover)  I will be spending the night also so it will be a safe place for Johnny to experience sleeping in a room with someone else.  (Have I mentioned that Johnny is VERY set in his sleep routines?!?!)  He's pretty excited and has listed about 200 items he wants to bring to sleep in bed with him.  (I'm assuming that Aunt Kim and Uncle Adam are giving up their king sized bed for this endeavor!)

Johnny LOVES to make videos of himself playing with his toys, with hopes of putting them on youtube someday.  Recently he made one and Gabe was the camera man.  Gabe sang along to some of the songs.  When we playedback the movie on the TV Johnny said "daddy, the camera makes you sing really bad".

Johnny lost another tooth.  He was pretty excited about a visit from the "pretend tooth fairy" as he calls it.  He's got alot of space in his mouth right now.  I have been hoping his front tooth will be in by Christmas, but I'm not too hopeful.  (This is the one he knocked out when he was 5!) I actually had hoped it would be in for school pictures, but it was not.  This will be his 3rd school picture missing a front tooth!

Maisy's development has exploded.  She's used the toilet a couple times.  (I remind you her brother was almost 5 before this occured)  She is sleeping all night.  (PHEW!)  She talks a ton and it is ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!  She will burp and say "CUSE ME".  (I never realized how much she burps) 

She still loves shoes.  She likes to paint and color at the easel and I think we are pretty safe in saying that she is probably a lefty.  She loves to kick the ball and loves climbing...everything.  She's also quite assertive with her buddies Brynn and Murphy and often (almost always) steals their toys.  Sometimes she pushes, she's also been known to bite and hit and sometimes even kick, and more recently spit.  As she's slowly learning that hitting isn't acceptable she will hit the air near her friends while looking at you.  She LOVES to tell on herself.  She has a certain voice she uses when she is doing something she knows she shouldn't and can't wait to come show you.  (Usually this is when she has broken into Johnny's room and is either coloring on something she shouldn't or eating a crayon or marker.)  She gets super excited on Sundays when Grammy and Grandpa and Uncle Joel come to visit and she runs around yelling "bee paw"; which means Grandpa.  She sometimes tries to get Joel to move where she wants him to go and will try to push him and then look at us and say "stuck".

Johnny and her absolutely LOVE each other.  When he's at school we spend most of the day saying "Johnny cool".  She gets so excited when she sees his bus coming.  He loves to hear about her playdates with her friends.  Maisy tried out a gymnastics class a few weeks ago and Johnny was so sad he couldn't go and watch her.  That is the best part.  Since they are so far apart in age I never thought  they'd be as close as they are.  It is wonderful watching their relationship....even if Maisy does spend a fair amount of time harrassing Johnny!

Both Maisy and Johnny are in really great places right now.  I wish I could freeze time.  As someone in our household (who shall remain nameless...GABE) thinks we are done having babies; I find myself sad that Maisy is getting older.  This evening I was reminded of a Dr. Seuss quote I've heard before need to my mantra..."Don't cry because it's over.  Smile because it happened".