saturday

according to michael's phone

first michael woke up in a panic that he'd forgotten to turn in an assignment

so he took noah and hazel with him to turn it in

bright and early

they're in front of his desk

 eleanor lounging on our bed

 quick trip to old navy where they were doing a safety fair

 then to springville heritage days

where olive got in the fountain fully dressed

and soaked herself

 we listened to some bluegrass and the kids danced

 happy birthday springville

and hazel colored in the pattern on the floor with crayons

i should probably try to clean that off soon..

she's just so darn artistic 

our blue eyed girl

is it as crazy to anyone else as it is to me

that i have a blue eyed child?

at least her right eye has a little speck of brown at the bottom

so there's a tiny part of me in her

otherwise, i say michael's genetics definitely won out this time

PS: eleanor's hair was super gold when she was born
but lately it is getting more and more strawberry!
where did this sweet girl come from?!

PPS: her voice sounds just like olive's
and now that she is mumbling words like mamama
i actually think it is olive saying it!
it totally throws me off 

two dollar skirt

being poor can make dressing how you want to hard

and so can having four babies

but alas, we went to a garage sale today

and i found this skirt for $2

i'm in love with it

i'm pretty positive this skirt was handmade

which is making me think i should make a few more of them

i love the length and

 it even has pockets!

(don't mind the scowl, the sun was getting the best of me)

i also got this necklace that ties all cute in the back with ribbon

at the same garage sale for $1

and this shirt was recently purchased for $3 at DI

yay for cheap clothes
that get me through the poor college/haven't lost all the baby weight times

what they said

 i was getting breakfast ready i was making noah and olive toast

hazel said "mom, wash your hands before you get my cereal.

i don't want it getting toast on it"

picky picky picky

i was tickling noah's back to help him not be grumpy

and get dressed for school

and he asked 

"mom, did you go to back tickle school?"

i'm guessing because we tell him i went to hair school

he thinks if i am skilled at something

i must have gone to school for it :)

eleanor's check-up

eleanor had her "4 month check up" today

only 5 weeks late..

she weighed 15 pounds (50%)

and is 26 inches long (75%)

and her head is in the 90%

as soon as i went over eleanor's health history

the doctor was quick to refer us to a GI specialist

which is great 

except her appointment isn't for almost a month 

i haven't given eleanor any solid foods

and the pediatrician thought that was really good

because we know nutramigen is all she's had

and what she is currently reacting to

he recommends holding off on solids until we see the GI specialist

which i am happy to do because i don't know how she'll react

and it seems really stressful

my plan has been to try to get her health under control

and then work on solids and when/what to introduce

even if it's really late

i assume that eleanor won't be eating cake on her 1st birthday at this point

but we'll just have to wait and see 

hopefully things can get resolved sooner rather than later

ps: eleanor loves chewing on her blanket

i think it's super cute

ups and downs

our poor eleanor isn't over her troubles

she had a bit of blood in her stool again this week

she hasn't really had much since she's been on formula (since 3 months)

the week we made the switch she did (which is normal)

then when we tried liquid nutramigen she did (not normal)

and now she has it again for no reason

she's seeing a pediatrician tomorrow

for her 4 month check-up (a month  late)

and to talk about what to do next with her

i'm sure we'll be seeing a GI specialist shortly

i just wish we knew what was wrong with her

it may have never been an allergy at all

she is also increasingly fussy

which may be teething pains or related to the blood in her stool

who knows?

in other news

olive's potty training has had it's ups and downs

she has refused to pee anywhere other than her pink ikea potty seat

pretty much since day one

which made going in public really difficult

she is almost 100% at home

and even went pee on our big potty at home once recently

so...she's not "potty trained"

but she's doing awesome for being 26 months old

and we're really proud of her

and definitely using less diapers which is always nice

i'll keep you posted on eleanor..

sewing: nightgowns

 hazel recently discovered nightgowns and wanted one

i hadn't sewn in a long time with moving, having a new baby, etc.

but i took this as the nudge i needed

and made hazel and olive nightgowns

with some flannel my mom gave me a couple of years ago

i used a dress of each of theirs to trace around as a pattern

and hoped for the best

since i sewed them while they were asleep

so i couldn't try them on

they're pretty happy with them

and now i'm excited to sew again

hazel's first day of preschool (and ballet)

hazel started preschool this week

she was beyond excited to go

 here's her preschool backpack that they gave her

 olive put on her backpack, too

she thought she was part of it

 here's hazel in front of her preschool

and hazel at preschool

hazel is very social

she loves friends and doing things with other kids

this is her first time being away from me

she is fine with it but she did hug me very tight

and listen very intently to me as i told her i'd be back in a couple of hours

olive kicked and screamed the whole way home

because she wanted to go to preschool, too

ps. when michael realized a few days ago 

that hazel will be in kindergarten next year

his mind was blown and he may or may not have said

he was going to shoot someone :)

hazel also had her first day of ballet with the academy of ballet in utah
we were considering doing ballet at her preschool
but it felt like it would have been a step backward since she has a year of experience
the academy of ballet feels like a step up

she really likes it

and i think it is a good fit

sheesh we have had a lot of milestones this last week!

eleanor is five months

eleanor is the sweetest 

we are so in love with her

she is so loving, easy to smile, and perfectly content

she rolls like crazy

has started to say mama

likes toys and getting them in her mouth

and is starting to try to scoot places

mostly using her toes

speaking of toes, this girl can't get enough of hers

it is truly hard to believe she is five months old

part of me wants her to get bigger 

so she can do things like hold her bottle and get where she wants to go

not to mention defend herself against olive's "affection"

but the other part of me loves this little baby 

and does not want her to get big, ever!

labor day

for labor day we went to thanksgiving point

first we went to the museum of ancient life

 it was fun but we were definitely glad

our science center pass from pullman got us in for free

because it was pretty overpriced

 then we went to the petting zoo

which, with our children who fear animals (mostly noah), went really well

 hazel was the only one of our children brave enough to do the pony ride

so she got to do it twice and use noah's ticket

as a former member of a pony club i was very proud

 we went on a wagon ride

and eleanor loved the bumpy ride

this is maybe my favorite picture of her ever

 then after a long day spent at thanksgiving point

we went to noah's school per his request and let the kids play at the playground

before we came home

and apparently we hadn't done enough yesterday

because busy miss busypants still had enough energy

to get into my lipstick, smother her face with it 

and even got some on my purse, it's contents and the carpet

but at least she looks smug about it

i really don't think she thought a thing of it unlike hazel
apparently it's a right of passage in our family

hazel and olive's room

hazel and olive have shared a room since we moved to utah

it's pretty fun finally having two kids of the same gender sharing

it makes for much simpler decor

we got them toddler beds and some new bedding from ikea when we got here

and painted, too

since it was all sorts of blue in there

and that was not going to fly with hazel

here's a "before" picture
from our landlord

the only thing left i'd like to do in there

is find a little end table or stool of sorts for in between the beds

but other than that we're pretty happy with it

yay!!!

instead of going to bed last night

noah worked on wiggling his very loose front tooth

it is amazing that his baby teeth

have held on this long

especially after this and then this

those poor teeth! 

we'll see what the permanents look like when the other top front falls out

and they come in

hopefully they're fine despite the trauma they've been through

backyard

we have been in utah for a month now

it finally feels more normal

and less like we need to get back home to washington

we are getting all settled in our house

our boxes are all unpacked and things are in their place

and the kids love having a backyard

 they have found worms, snails and ants

 olive loves that i let her run around naked outside

something i rarely did at our apartment, where other people could see her

 we bought some yellow chairs on clearance

so we can eat outside and sit and watch the kids play

 noah has kept his hot wheels collection spread all over the patio

pretty much since the day we got here

and really, we don't hate it

it gives him a place to play happily and out of the way

 we can finally play with balls outside now that we're not right on a hill leading in to the street

though they do occasionally make their way over the fence

 hazel likes picking flowers and playing make-believe outside

and michael likes having a yard to tend to

grass grows fast in utah!

we're enjoying our time here

and are so grateful to have a nice home to live in

swiss days parade

yesterday my friend miriam was over

and mentioned that swiss days is happening this weekend 

so we decided to head that way for the parade this morning

 don't mind our rain boots, there was a huge storm last night

and it was really rainy this morning, too

luckily it cleared up for the parade

 the kids (especially olive) ate waaaaaay too much candy

she even tried to eat through some wrappers

 michael wanted a picture of us and then suggested we kiss

i think he really just wanted a kiss

but here's the picture

 we are trying to save money so we didn't buy anything

other than a little picnic lunch

that we ate right outside the grocery store there

we're ghetto like that but it was a fun day