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!

The Countdown Begins

Submit your vote for Rutledge #3's Birth Stats!

Rutledge Baby #3

(this is an amazingly awful picture of all of us!!!)

Rutledge #3 is due in exactly 1 month!  The atmosphere in our house is excited (Johnny), confused (Maisy), worried (Gabe) exhausted (Kristi), and looking like he's having a sympathy pregnancy (Don).

(Johnny pouring himself a "small" bowl of cereal!)



Johnny can't wait.  He was pretty bummed when he realized that the baby would not be sharing his room; he really wants #3 to sleep in his room sometime while she's still cute and tiny and not bossy like Maisy.

(Maisy decorating cookies)



Maisy's just confused.  Sometimes she thinks the baby is her stuffed toy, sometimes she thinks she has the baby, most of the time she has no idea.  She has accepted that the baby will be coming to live with us and doesn't want to send her off to Elmo and Papa's.  Also along the lines of acceptance, Maisy has finally admitted she's 3.  She was refusing to be 3 until just this month and told everyone she was 2.

(The Academy Awards, 2011)



Gabe is worried.  He has alot of shows scheduled at various times and is hoping that the baby cooperates with his schedule.  Maisy was not quite as cooperative and Gabe had to call in his back up for a Christmas party he was supposed to preform at.  Let's hope #3 is more thoughtful!

Kristi is exhausted.  I had no idea it was possible to feel so tired!  So Gabe is able to be at home for an extended period of time after #3 arrives, he's had to do alot of traveling.  Being a million months pregnant, by myself, with 2 kids who do not grasp the concept of "mommy wants to sit" is shocking!  With Johnny, I was terrified of giving birth and having a new baby.  Even though he was 15 days late, I could have gone longer!  With Maisy I was eyeing her due date and ok with waiting and hoped she came a little early so she wasn't born on Christmas.  With this one...I'm ready now.  I have no sleeping places set up for her, no car seat in the car, no bags packed, but I'm ready.  (by this point I know, you only need the carseat in place, everything else is a luxury!!)



And Don....Poor Don is suffering from the horrible northwest weather.  We had a wet, cold summer last year and Don didn't spend nearly enough time running around working off his "winter weight".  Then he added "winter weight" from this winter and his looking huge.  People keep asking if our cat is having kittens.  I prefer to think that he is having a sympathy pregnancy right along with me!

We'll keep you posted!