Toddler Brain

It's obviously been a long time since I have had a toddler in my house, because I have forgotten how exhausting and wonderfully amazing they are at the same time. I watch Gabrielle and sometimes wonder what is going through that tiny brain of hers.  She is so expressive and animated, so sometimes I feel like I can read what she must be thinking.  Like when I am dancing along with her to the Fresh Beat Band and she gets a look on her face that I immediately tells me that she thinks I am the worst dancer in the whole world! It helps me figure it out when she pushes me over to the couch and says "go" so she can dance and spin alone. 

However, there are moments that I feel like I have no idea what she is thinking.  She can be happy playing along with me, her daddy or her sisters and then the next minute she is completely irritated that we are even looking at her so she grabs our faces or pulls our hair (usually Veronica or Presley's).  Immediatley after that she will kiss you and give you a hug because she is sorry she hurt you.  She has the highest pitch squeal I have ever heard in my life.  I remember the other two screaming as toddlers, but not as much as this.  Today on the way to the babysitter's house I seriously thought she was going to crack the windows because of the ear piercing squeal she let out.  And I am sure that she thought that me having the CD on the wrong song in the car was a completely valid reason to scream that way, I on the other hand, found it a little uncalled for! However, I had to smile because I love her little personality and how she already knows what she wants and is not afraid to vocalize it.

I am amazed every day and how much more she has learned and what she has picked up.  Over the last month she has changed so much.  She is saying so many words, imitating her older sisters (which isn't always a good thing) and trying new things.  She loves to take care of the animals and boss them around and she loves to see them first thing in the morning.  She is so loving with them when she wants to be, but as soon as she has had enough of the cat rubbing all over her, she makes sure she puts an end to it. She loves to wear sunglasses now...mine, hers, the girls, it doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter how she wears them either, she just loves to have them. She insisted on keeping mine this morning when I dropped her off at the babysitter, which was hilarious since they are way too big for her little face. The girl loves music! I have never seen a little girl who sings and dances along as much as she does at this age.  Her personal favorites are Adele, Katy Perry, Victoria Justice, and the Fresh Beat Band (of course).  She even knows the appropriate times to sings the aahs and oohs in the songs, as well sing on key! It cracks us up every day.

Gabrielle is such a picky eater and times and other days she will eat almost anything.  As you can tell from the pictures below, one thing she always loves is cereal.  The cabinet that we keep our cereal in is down at her level, which she thinks is her invitation to go and get the cereal out whenever she feels like it.  Sometimes she is good and will sit down and eat it and at other times she dumps the whole bag out on the floor.  She usually thinks that is a good thing to do right after I have swept the floor and just bought a brand new box of cereal!

As you can tell, I am in love and amazed with this sweet, ornery, beautiful and independent little girl. There are days when I feel like I am going to pull my hair out, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I know I neglected the other 2 girls in this post, so I will have to do another one soon all about them!

Things to remember...

Over the past month, when thinking about things that I am thankful for, I decided that I wanted to write down some things about the girls that I want to remember.  Time goes so fast and I want to remember how they are right now.  They are all so very different and in very different stages, but I love them all!

Veronica: I want to remember how you are always so concerned about how Gabrielle is doing.  You areso good with her and always takes care of her without being asked to help.  I want to remember how you giggle when you talk about that one boy in your class that you like, but try to deny.  I want to remember how you love to go to the store, etc. by yourself with me so we have one on one time.  I want to remember how you and Brook team up on me and tease me and how funny you think it is! I want to remember how you love to help me in the kitchen and how good you are getting at doing more on your own.  I want to remember how hard you try at learning to play basketball with girls who have been playing it for a few years.  I even want to remember how frustrated I get while helping you with your homework or how you get irritated and stop to your room and slam the door...just like your Aunt Kim used to!

Presley: I want to remember your silly personality.  I want to remember how you always want to help me clean.  You will clean the windows, table, kitchen counter all day if I let you.  Now, getting you to clean your room, that's another story! I want to remember how you play with Gabrielle and how much you make her laugh! You both crack up everytime you play together.  I want to remember you always wanting to be home with Brook and I and how you get upset if I am gone for long periods of time.  I want to remember how every day when I get home you meet me at the door and ask "how was work?" I want to remember how you don't like to hurt anyone's feelings and how caring you can be.  I even want to remember the mean looks you make when you get mad...even though they drive me insane!

Gabrielle: I want to remember how big you smile everytime you see me when I get home from work and you come running to me with your arms up.  I want to remember how much you love music and try to sing along to songs and dance everytime you hear music.  I want to remember how you love the animals and always try to hug and kiss them.  I want to remember how much you enjoy being outside and run to the door everytime you hear it open!  I want to remember how you say "hi" as soon as you wake up in the morning and see Mommy or Daddy.  I want to remember how much you love your big sisters and will always give them a smile.  I want to remember how much you love your Daddy and think it's funny to constantly say "Daddy" when prompted to say Mama.  It's very rare that you say Mama, but I think I smile everytime you say it.  I want to remember how you always go to the cabinet and drag out the cereal everytime you think you need to eat. I even want to remember your ear piercing  scream that you always do...especially when you are buckled in your car seat!

I know there are so many things that I left out, but these are the first ones that came to mind for all 3 girls.  They are all growing up and changing so quickly and sometime it makes me sad.  On the other hand, it makes me proud to see what polite, smart, funny girls they are all becoming! I love them all and can't imagine what it would be like without them here with us.

Time flies!

It is amazing how fast time seems to go.  It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant with Gabrielle and complaining about how I hated being on bedrest...and that was a year ago already!!! She is growing up so quickly and it makes me sad, which Brook teases me about all of the time!

Last week Gabrielle started walking, well taking several steps at a time.  She is still not fully walking, but she is definitely getting there. She stands up for long periods of time and is getting good at getting to a standing position from sitting without any help.  She loves to stand and look out the door, but loves it even more if I let her go outside!

In the last month she has learned to dance, say "Aww" and pat us or her baby dolls, do the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "If You're Happy and You Know It", and "Pat-a-Cake", to drink from a straw, walk, play peek-a-boo and refuses to eat baby food.  She is also a very nosy little girl! She will stop everything she's doing outside if she sees the neighbors walk out and will try to go over to see what they are doing.  I can't take a shower without her crawling into the bathroom and sticking her head into the shower to see where I am, which of course soaks her head, clothes and the bathroom floor!  Oh and I can't forget to mention that she loves looking at herself in the mirror (windows, oven door, etc). I have no idea where she gets that from! As soon as she sees herself, she will get a huge smile on her face and stick her face against it and kiss it.  She also enjoys licking mirrors for some reason (and floors, driveways, whatever she can)! :)

We are all enjoying her so much and she makes our family complete! Here is a picture of Gabrielle eating her "big girl" food and a picture of Veronica and Presley on their 2nd day of school this year!

Sweet Summertime

If I haven't ever mentioned it before, I absolutely love summertime! I love being able to take the kids swimming, playing outside, wear flip flops everyday and just enjoy the sun! There hasn't been a lot of extra time to spend taking the kids a lot of places this summer, but I do try to play outside with them everyday. 

Veronica and Presley love riding their bikes, well Presley enjoys it more than Veronica but she can convince Veronica to ride with her most of the time.  The two of them take their "babies" for walks around the block on almost a daily basis.  Every once in awhile they are actually allowed to take Gabrielle for a walk in her stroller, which they enjoy even more. 

Gabrielle even enjoys playing outside already and will follow me to the door if she hears me calling the dog to go outside.  Grandpa Paul made a stand to hang a baby swing on for Gabrielle and she LOVES us pushing her on it! She starts cracking up the minute we start pushing her.  I need to try to get it on video! Thanks Dad, she loves it!

I know that the warm weather isn't going to last much longer so we are trying to enjoy it as much as possible! I hope everyone else is having a wonderful summer too! I will leave you with a couple pictures of the girls enjoying being outside!

Catching up

I have obviously not kept this updated as I had originally planned, so I am going to try to update this a lot more frequently from this point on!

A lot has changed since the last time I posted...obviously since it has been about 3 months! Veronica and Presley are out of school for the summer and are enjoying getting to go swimming a lot and spending time with different family members.  They went to Florida with their dad at the beginning of this month and had a great tme! They are now spending a few days with my grandma and my nephew, Carter, at my grandma's house.  She lives close to Lake Erie, so she plans on taking them swimming every day, as long as the weather allows it!  They go back to school on August 30, so it is sneaking up on us already! Veronica turned 9 at the beginning of this month...it is so hard to believe!

Gabrielle is now 9 months old! She started crawling about a week before she turned 8 months and has been non-stop ever since! She is pulling herself up, walking around holding onto things, and is standing up for short periods of time without holding onto anything.  She also claps her hands and waves.  She waves all the time...and always has a big grin on her face when she does it! She is such a happy baby and so fun to be around.  All of us enjoy her so much! Veronica and Presley miss her when they have to go away and I think the feeling is mutual...she gets so happy when they get home!

Here are a few recent pictures...

                                                     Veronica at her birthday party

Gabrielle standing like a big girl!

The 3 girls and myself at the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life (looking right in the sun)!

Trying to take pictures for Daddy for Father's Day...she preferred to chew on the letters I wanted her to hold.

                                                              Presley posing for me

                              Veronica, Presley and Gabrielle at Brook's family reunion

Presley and Gabrielle swinging

She is quick...and sneaky!

Apparently Gabrielle is starting early trying to be sneaky and get into things.  The other day, I had her sitting on the kitchen floor while I was putting away the dishes.  I saw that Veronica or Presley had a bag sitting on the floor with Easter gifts in it, but I didn't realize there was open candy in it.  When I turned around to look at Gabrielle, this is what I saw!

She found a peep! By the time I saw her, she had licked all of the sugar off of the top of it and made a huge mess! This was probably all done in a matter of 1 minute or less.  I should have known when she was being so quiet that she must have found something.  I let her have it long enough to take a couple pictures, but then I took it away from her.  She was not happy about it! Silly baby! :)

Florida Trip

We got back from our trip to Florida a little over a week ago.  We all had a terrific time and did not want to come back to the cold Ohio weather! The whole time we were in Florida it was between 75-80 degrees...gorgeous!

We spent the majority of our time at the house we rented.  It had a heated pool that all of the kids loved and they would have stayed in it all day if we let them.  Veronica and Presley are doing much better in the water and even swam in the deep end (with Mommy right beside them) without any floaties or anything. This was Gabrielle's first time swimming and she seemed to really enjoy it as well! She even didn't mind it when one of the other girls accidentally splashed water in her face...or when she splashed water in her own face!

One of the days was spent going to Disney's Magic Kingdom.  We spent the whole day there, which we were kind of nervous about, because we thought Gabrielle would get tired of it! The kids all did really well.  At the beginning of the day, Veronica wasn't feeling well and I was afraid she wasn't going to get to spend the day with us.  After going with Grandma Jan to get some medicine and eat a little lunch she felt better and was able to join us.  We stayed to watch the Light Parade and the fireworks at the end of the day and they loved it all! Even Gabrielle loved the fireworks and stared at them in awe!

Brook's niece, Morgan was singing at Downtown Disney one of the days we were down there, so we went down there as well.  The girls got to pick out some souvenirs and enjoyed watching Morgan sing.  It was a little chilly that day and kind of rainy, so they were ready to go, but we had a good time there as well.

Overall, it was a great trip! The ride wasn't even as bad as I had anticipated...not that I want to do it again anytime soon though! I will leave you with a few pictures from our trip.