London Turns 4

I can not believe that my little girl is already 4 years old. The time seems to go by so quickly. London asked for a kitten chasing a butterfly on her cake. My mother and I spent a good chunk of Saturday working on the cake. It took so long because my mom was trying to teach me how to decorate the cake. I think it turned out pretty well for my first cake.

London's birthday was a while ago, but we just had her party. We kept telling her that she was already 4, but she insisted that she was not 4 because she had not had her birthday party. At the party her uncle asked her how old she was and she said 3. "But I thought this was your 4th birthday party." "No, I am not 4 yet." After she blew out her candles he asked again "Are you 4 now." He got a resounding "Yes" from the birthday girl. If blowing out the candles on the cake is what makes you turn another year older I know a lot of people who would stop putting candles on the cake.

London has grown out of her Princess Jasmin dress up outfit, so we got her a Bell outfit with shoes. She loved it, and changed into it right after she finished her cake and ice cream. We had a hard time getting it off of her when it was time to change into her PJ's.


Joseph loved the cake and ice cream, and I think he was even more thrilled that we would let him eat it by himself. Rob tried to help, but Joseph just took Robs spoon away. Its not really a party if there is not a mess to clean up.


Here is Uncle Drake reading one of the stories that he got for London.


It was a great night, and London seemed to enjoy herself. I felt kind of bad that I was not up to having a friend party for her, but she did not seem to know the difference. Maybe next year.

The Pediatrician

Guinevere is now one month old, and has been to visit the Pediatrician twice, plus seeing the Pediatrician at the hospital everyday while she was in the nursery. Is all this really necessary? I know they need to get there shoots, and I would never forgive myself if something happened and I did not take them in for all the check ups the Ped says they need, but give me a break. The Ped wants her back in at two months of age as well. I also took Joseph in for his 18m check-up, and she wants him to come back in a month to be re-checked as well. She is not very happy with how he is developing, and also wants me to schedual an appointment with developmental specialist (which I am not going to do). Is my Ped just paronioid, or is this how they all are. Yes, my 18m old is not running yet, and does not talk, but he is only 18m old. I think that now days Peds see so many kids that are only children that they think all kids should develop at this rate. Let me explain. With your first child you spend so much time reading to them and trying to get them to talk and learn all there colors and body parts that of course they are going to start doing all these things sooner then kids that are from a big family. Joseph does not have to talk, because some how both London and Jacob understand what he wants when he grunts and they tell me what he wants. Plus parents with multiple kids understand that sometimes it is better if they can't talk. If you have a non stop talker like London you know what I mean. So what do all the other parents out there think, am I just not concerned enough, or is my Ped too concerned? As a side note, all my children measured in the upper 90th percentiles for there hights, go figure.

December

I would not recommend having a baby in December. Not that we had planed to have Guinevere in December, but life happens. Not only do you have to adjust to having another little person in the family, but you also have to deal with all the holiday parties, decorating, and baking that needs to be done. It makes for one tired family, not just mom.

December 12th-15th we celebrated Christmas with extended family on my mothers side. The grand kids (that's my generation) all got a hands on cinnamon roll baking lesson from my grandma. We played games and ate lots of food. And a few of us even made it to the zoo after the partying was over

Grandma with all her grandchildren and great grandchildren


London holding Hailey



Guinevere was born on Dec 18th, and after five days in the hospital she came home on Dec 23. The next morning I woke up and made sugar cookies to decorate that afternoon with Nana and Grandma Brown. Then we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.

Nana

Grandma Brown helping Jacob, he really liked to goob on the frosting and sprinkles

London just liked to squeeze the frosting out and call it good

Joseph just ate the already frosted cookies

We had fun opening presents on Christmas morning with Grandma Brown and Papa Steve

Grandma Brown had to show the kids how to play hopscotch

Guinevere with candy from Santa

After the New Year we celebrated a late Christmas with my siblings and parents. Instead of a traditional Christmas dinner Christopher and Kendall decided to have us all make our own pizzas. After dinner we opened presents and played games.

Mom and Aunt Brenda preparing there pizzas


Travis and his wife Chris

Christopher and Kendall showing off there pizza

Jacob and Papa getting ready to put there pizza in the oven

Barbara and London proudly displayed there pizza for the camera

Guinevere just eat, slept and looked pretty during the party.

I love Christmas time, but I am sure glad that December is over. Hopefully next year I will not be pregnant, or sleep deprived from staying up all night with a new born.