Fire Station Visit

On Monday while Rosemary was at Preschool, Ben, Charlotte, and I went to one of the local fire stations with our MOPS group. It was so fun having a morning out with just the youngest two. Charlotte cozied up in the Moby so it was a bit easier to keep up with Ben.

Cheezin’ for the camera as we waited for everyone to arrive.

Ben’s best buddy, Landon, was there too. Every night for the past several weeks (maybe even longer) Ben has asked that we pray for Landon at bedtime. Landon’s about the be a big brother too.

Heading in to see the fire man put on all his gear.

Ben didn’t sit up here very long. He was somewhat reserved that morning and wanted to hang back. As soon as he stood up from sitting here beside Landon and Zach though, he bumped his head on that table beside him. But, in true second-born fashion, he whimpered a bit then moved on. Had the same thing happened to his older sister, there would have been a little bit (or a lot) more drama.

Outside, the boys got a good look at the fire truck. A call came in while we were there so before we got to go through it, it had to leave. Instead, they let us check out the chief’s truck. Soon the big engine came back, but Ben chose not to go through the inside.

Cheezin’ again.

The boys

It was a great morning out!

I was a little nervous about how Ben would adapt to being a big brother, but he has been great and we are SO proud of him! He’s so loving with his baby sister.

We’ve also noticed his vocabulary increasing since Charlotte arrived. He’s putting more words together and learning new ones everyday, which is so exciting. The latest words? Well, today, he said ‘tutu’ when Charlotte was getting her picture taken in hers. Yesterday, it was ‘juice box.’ and last week he added ‘poop’ to the list. Kinda gross, but I gotta say, it’s pretty useful!

Rosemary turns 5

On January 31, 2006, we met this little lady…

And today, she turned five years old!

All decked out and ready for school.

Rosemary picked out her birthday party theme months ago so we started getting things ready even before Charlotte arrived. The theme she chose? Ballerina, of course, a perfect theme for Rosemary. It ended up being a super easy theme too because we had a bunch of pink ballet stuff already at home.

We knew we wanted to make sure this birthday didn’t get overshadowed by all of the other excitement in our lives at the moment so we asked for help from the grandmas and from friends and together were able to put together a pretty fun party without going crazy. We decided just to do pizza and juice boxes to make it easy. Brandi agreed to make the cupcakes so we didn’t have a cook a thing. Mom helped with favors, decorations, and setup and Janice helped with setup and keeping up with Charlotte at the party.

We made the invites in December and bought a whole bunch of tulle and netting during Joann’s after Christmas sales.

A little happy birthday sign. I got the tile at our last MOPS meeting and painted it one night and added some scraps of netting and ribbon. The pointe shoes were my first pair. They’re about 20 years old now.

It’s hard to see, but Rosemary helped to make the pennant at the top of the pic above. She picked out the paper she liked, I cut it into triangles for her and then she threaded it on the twine.

Brandi made the day infinitely easier by making the cupcakes for the party.

We had a craft table and two eating tables.

Little tutus my mom and I made for the girls.

Another pair of old shoes. I don’t know that there are very many types of shoes where you could get away with using them as party décor…especially ones this old. Keds party anyone? :-)

Rosemary’s model pose with Dynah, Brandi, and Karen

These two have known each other pretty much their entire lives. Dynah actually attended Rosemary’s baby shower.

Once everyone arrived, the girls colored some ballet coloring pages.

Next, we did a little ballet lesson.

Check out those beautiful girls! There was a lot of pink and purple in that room!

Then the girls started doing a bit of Ring around The Rosie.

After dancing a bit, we headed over to make some ballerina hair bows. I don’t have any photos of the craft time, but you can see the results in the pics below. I tried to pick a craft that the girls could do and would be useful later. I think the girls liked the bows, but the adults had to basically make them. Ah, well.

Enjoying their pizza

Getting ready to sing happy birthday

Present opening was a whirlwind!

Ben wanted to help with the presents too.

After presents, we headed outside for some playground time. It was a gorgeous day so it was nice to get out and let the girls run around a bit.

At the end of it all, Rosemary declared that it was ‘awesome.’ I was happy it went well and that the girls had a good time. While it wasn’t stressful getting it together, we were all absolutely exhausted by the time it was over. That afternoon, every single person in our house passed out.

Today was Rosemary’s actual birthday. Per Rosemary’s request, we met Jonathan for lunch at Chick-fil-a.

Birthday girl and Charlotte – it was also Charlotte’s first dining out experience

Ben and Rosemary

Opening presents at home tonight

Showing off her new ballet outfit

A new dress

Another model pose where she’s holding up a 5

Cookies, ice cream, and candles…happy birthday, sweet girl!

More visitors

Over the past week we’ve had lots of friends stop by to meet Charlotte, bring gifts, and drop off a dinner. We’ve not remembered to get a picture with everyone, but it’s been great seeing friends! It’s easy to go stir crazy with a newborn and cold weather.

My brother and his family sent this very cool baby clothes bouquet.

Jen meeting Charlotte

Krystle and Landon came over with lunch one day last week. Ben was SO excited to see his buddy!

Chris & Renae brought dinner by one night

Bob meeting Charlotte. She missed sharing Bob’s birthday by just 2 days!

“She Looks Like a Peine”

Upon meeting Charlotte for the first time a few people have said, “She looks like a Peine.” And she does. Here are a couple comparisons between Charlotte and her siblings when they were infants.

Life with Charlotte

Charlotte’s first week has flown by. My mom spent the first week with us and now Jonathan is taking a week of paternity leave before I attempt to fly solo with the kids next week. Mom took care of us. She left us with lots of food, clean laundry, and a super clean house, all while keeping up with Rosemary and Ben. What did I do that first week? Well, I was pretty lazy attempting to catch up on sleep and start to feel like a normal person again. By the time Mom headed home, I did manage to feel a bit more like ‘me.’

Charlotte’s a great eater and a decent sleeper. By the end of week one we’d gotten down to two feedings. She just gets so drowsy when she eats. One night, to wake her up a bit we went ahead and gave her a bath.

A quick sponge bath in the kitchen

And Rosemary isn’t the only one excited to have a baby sister. Ben has proven to be a very loving big brother. It’s so sweet to hear him say ‘baby.’

Charlotte was on her blanket the other day and Rosemary gave her her sheep to ‘play’ with so Ben had to give her Thomas. If you know Ben, you’ll know that’s a big deal. He loves his Thomas.

Loving their baby sister

Charlotte and grandma

Charlotte’s first bottle. Nursing’s going great, this was just so that she learns how to take a bottle too and she did great with it as well.