Rub A Dub Dub

 

Clara is such a poser!

 

When I look at these pictures of these 3 cuties in the tub a few thoughts go through my mind.  First, how lucky I am to have such adorable happy kids.  Second, is that I better be careful with Clara, she is going to be a serious heart breaker.  She's absolutely adorable, inside and out.  She's got plenty of spunk and personality to be whatever she wants to be.  Luke is such a great big brother.  Luke has so many qualities in him that make him awesome.  Ellie is lucky to be the center of attention of her older siblings.

 

Life with 3

 

Adjusting to life with 3 kids has seemed like no big deal.  I expected Ellie to be an easy baby like Clara was, bust that's just not the case.  She's not as difficult as Luke was, but she's just Ellie.  She has a different look about her, and seems to fit right in to our family.

 

 

She likes to whine when she wants something and other times she likes to be left alone.  I would imagine she likes some peace and quiet every now and again because Luke and Clara are terribly loud!

 

 

This week we are adjusting to strict time schedules.  Luke started back to school and is riding the bus with a pick up and drop off time that we have to meet him at the bus stop.  Clara will start preschool next week, and she's beyond excited to have something just for her!  Ellie is completely on her own schedule that she makes up daily.  She's unpredictable with good days and bad days.  

 

Clara often does her own thing and is completely into princess stuff right now. She loves to dress up and have tea parties.  Clara has a wild imagination and tons of creativity.  She's very independent except when she is in desperate need of attention.  She still loves to cuddle, especially with daddy.

 

 

Luke loves his little sisters, but is still all boy.  He's rough and tough and full of endless energy!  He is constantly wanting to hold Ellie and is quick to notify when he thinks she needs mom's attention.  He doesn't like the Ellie throws up a lot and thinks diapers are so gross.  Typical boy this one is!

 

Comparisons

This is Ellie, 6 weeks old

This is Clara 8 weeks old

This is Ellie, 2 weeks old

This is Clara, 24 hours old

kindergarten

 Today Luke started kindergarten.  He seemed nervous leading up to today, but he was so excited when it came time to actually get on the bus.  Today was hard for both me and Clara.  I would rather Luke just stay home forever.  I love having him home.  Clara had a break down because Luke gets to grow up and she's not old enough to go to kindergarten yet.

 I was nervous to have Luke ride the bus.  Thankfully, I enlisted the help of some older neighbor kids to watch out for him and help him get to the right spot.  Luke also has a buddy who is riding the bus that he can always sit with.  He didn't even look back.

 When all the kids got to school, they had them all wave and say "bye mom!"  Luke was waving excitedly at me, there were a few moms crying and a few kids crying.  Luke was ready!

So then us girls went home.  Clara will learn her turn will come soon enough!

Happy Anniversary

 

Happy 12 years to us!  We celebrated by going to one of my most favorite vacation spots, Bear Lake!  August seems to be a little unpredictable for the weather and it was a little colder than we would have liked, but we still had lots of fun!

 

 

The kids mostly enjoyed the massive hot tub.  They swam their hearts out.  Ellie and I sat pool side in the shade most of the time.   

 

The kids loved playing on the water slide.  They thought of all kinds of tricks to do.

 

 

We spent the afternoon on the beach building the best sand castle ever.  

The water was a little cold to totally immerse yourself, but it was still sunny.

 

1 month Ellie

Ellie is already 1 month old, and it has gone by so fast!  I can't believe how quickly she grows!  Her first month has been tough.  We figured out so reflux medicine that is mostly helping.  We saw improvement finally at about 3 weeks old. 

 Ellie seems to love noise.  She loves the vacuum.  If I hold her and vacuum at the same time, it will put her to sleep in no time.  We have a white noise maker sound machine that even I find to be soothing.  She also seems to enjoy the bath.  Her reflux bothers her a lot, so anything we can do to help her feel better is worth it!

 

  When Ellie is sleeping, she seems to make some funny faces.  She opens her eyes half way and rolls them around.  It's kinda creepy and hilarious at the same time.

 

Thankfully Ellie seems to be pretty tolerable of her older siblings.  They try to handle her a little too much.  Clara doesn't quite understand that Ellie isn't a play baby doll.  Luke loves to hold Ellie too, but they think its great to pull her arms and legs around to make her do punching and kicking actions.  It's a good thing that Ellie likes noise because its rarely quiet in our house!

 

 

We also figured out that Ellie likes to sleep on her side.  This probably helps her tummy feel better and then when she throws up it doesn't go down into her neck quite as much.

 

 

Ellie has a different look at her that is changing every day.  I hate how quickly they grow.  She has now grown out of newborn size clothing and weighs over 9 lbs.  She's got some chubby cheeks that we love.   

End of the summer camping

 We tried out camping again this year at Starvation Reservoir.  Last year on this camping trip we had to rush home because Clara got sick and ended up in the hospital for 8 days after.  This year we brought our 4 week old Ellie along.  We did true camping involving tents and sleeping bags.  The kids absolutely loved it.

  

Mostly the kids loved playing on the beach and going for tube rides.  Clara is a true dare devil.  Luke is a bit more cautious.  Ellie was a trooper.  We sat on the beach with our toes in the sand under an umbrella and enjoyed the relaxation a lake has to offer!

 

 

 

We are already planning our return for next year! 

Our newborn babe