4 Month and 4 Year Appointment

How do we have a 4 month old and a 4 year old? Beats me, but we do. Time is flying by and we are having a blast! These ages call for a well child check at the doctor. With our new schedule I was able to leave work 2 hrs early and we were able to do this appointment together, otherwise I don't know that either one of us would have taken both of them at once alone :) And we are soooo happy to report we have two overall healthy girls! Linnea does need to see an eye doctor and Harper still has some reflux but we will gradually wean her off her meds and she will be fine. 

Linnea drew a beautiful family picture of us four, with Harper nursing. I hope I can somehow get that drawing :)

Both are growing right on track...I believe Linnea was 38 inches and 34 lbs! Harper was 13.6 lbs (7.5 at birth so she has almost doubled already)...I will have to double check her length but she sure seems long! She's growing right out of many of her sleepers. They both needed shots which was less than pleasant of course :) But those shots are much better than the sicknesses they prevent. Linnea insisted again on getting hers in her arm, and after much persuading she got on daddys lap where he gave her a big bear hug squeeze and in went the needle and out came the screams. Harper had to get three which she also screamed for. 

After all this screaming we decided to treat ourselves Snuffy's Hamburgers and malts. 

Afterwards since it was so nice out, Linnea and I went for a night walk and then made a quick snowgirl before bed. 

such a peaceful morning before work :)

our snowgirl :)

Fun Family Times

Here is our sweet, cuddly baby Harper in one of her cute cloth diapers smiling away! Even though she is getting one of her "fangs". Why that tooth is coming in first and so early beats us but Linnea also got teeth early so I'm not too surprised. By 4 months she had her two bottom middle teeth.

Linnea was so nice to share her stuffed animals with her baby sis:

Cuddling before bed:

Daddy and two of his girls.

daddy/daughter love :)

Hanging out while Linnea napped.

mommy/daughter love

I came home to this earlier this week:

Notes from Linnea. She worked very hard on these and was so proud of her work :) I especially liked the one that said "Mommy, please come back." 

Linnea enjoyed driving her toy car around along this "road". Thank you Pinterest for the idea :)

Reconnecting!

Last Friday the girls and I met my friend/supervisor, Leon, from AmeriCorps at a storytime and Linnea adored him. Harper gave him a few smiles as well. He read at least three books to Linnea after she already had listened to stories at the storytime. It was so nice to see him again and introduce Harper to him. Linnea had met him a few years ago but I don't think she remembered that. Afterwards we headed to Choo Choo Bob's Train Store to watch the trains for a bit before heading home for lunch, naps and then movie night before daddy came home. This evening's show was Aristocats! It was okay, but she hasn't asked to watch it again so it must not have been loved. Linnea has really been into kitties lately so I thought we'd give it a try.

Saturday morning we went to our usual Saturday Live (there was a juggler this time) with a few moms and kids from the New Parent Group. Brian, Megan and the kids were also there and so was my friend Brooke from HS with her hubby and daughter. So fun to catch up with everyone! It was also the beginning of the Winter Carnival so on our way back to the car we looked at the ice sculptures which are in Rice Park which is right across the street from the library.

After lunch and naps, we headed to reconnect with another friend, actually another friend from AmeriCorps! She had met Linnea when Linnea was about 1 and sadly that may have been the last time we have seen each other besides facebook which is awful and we want to change that. We had so much fun but are looking forward to a time with just each other. It was great to have the girls there so Jess could meet Harper and Linnea could re-meet her cuz she was a hit but we can catch up even more with just the two of us :)

That night I was able to head out to a concert! We were very sad Chris couldn't come since Free Energy is one of his fav bands and two of the band members went to HS with him, but someone needed to stay home with the gals and he had already worked 12 hours and had another 12 ahead of him so he opted to stay home and try to sleep...he didn't get that much more since Harper had a hard time but it worked out anyways. My phone battery died and I forgot the camera so no pictures :( But it was blast and I saw many friends there too. 

Sunday we had a birthday party at the Children's Museum for two twin girls who belong to another friend from AmeriCorps! We had so much celebrating Claire and Abby turning 5!!!

 We stayed until close and I was so happy we did because it gave Linnea a chance to crawl through the "ant" tunnels which she has always wanted to do but it always super crowded and full of big kids who I know would just crawl all over her or she would get scared and cry in a corner. This was the perfect time for her to do it! There were maybe 5 other kids crawling around.

So that was a fun and busy weekend!

Below Zero, Forts and Slime

Brrrrr!!! WIth a high of -4 on Monday and all of us home from work and preschool we planned to just stay home. We tried to get cleaning and putting Christmas stuff away most of the day and then after nap it was time for some fun! We made slime...which was not a hit....but boy making forts sure is fun! And staying in jammies all day :)

sorry so blurry!

yuck!

fort!

We put the Lorax on (thank you netflix watch instantly), popped some popcorn and snuggled with each other and toys on the cold cold night!

New Winter Activities

Since MN winter was going to be here in full force with the coldest day in 4 years I figured we better get outside and do something fun on Saturday. Maplewood Nature Center was a winter family fun day with snowshoeing and hot cocoa so my dad, Linnea and I headed over there. It was a short snowshoe around the little pond and Linnea made it halfway with her snowshoes on and then took them off to finish in her boots. There wasnt a high need for snowshoes but it was fun to try something different. The Nature Center has a very fun play area inside where we will go another day when we have more time to take advantage of it. We did stay for cocoa and Linnea got to see the animals get fed.

After naps at my parents house we headed to see GG on the blustery night.

We hadn't been there since Christmas since the dreaded flu was going around. She was certainly happy to see us!

Sunday we tried another "fun" new activity. Ice Skating in River Falls with Erik, Dylan and Papa. Linnea was so excited to go and enjoyed it for the most part but we have a LONG way to go before she skates on her own which is to be expected. She did like me pushing her along. We went around the UWRF rink probably 3 times. Smiling for most of it but she seems to just remember when she fell down and was crying really loud and hard. What a trooper though. Both kids were, but I think they enjoyed playing with Dylans toys, eating cookies and playing games on the phones and wrestling with papa and Erik back at the house more :)

weee!!

Harper enjoyed sleeping :)

4 Months and Cookies!

Harper turned 4 months old last Friday! She was not too happy about it in the evening...we had a great morning at yet another storytime involving a puppet show and then a nice afternoon but then came 400 and she looked like this on and off:

So Linnea and I made cookies, not that she could eat them but it made us feel better :)