Another 2 weeks have flown by. The weather has been nicer and it is finally feeling like SPRING!  The big girls are enjoying their time outside and feel that they should be able to go out and play whenever they want – no matter the time of day or temperature outside. (While it IS spring, often the mornings are quite chilly!)

I suppose each sister deserves her own update this week.  Let’s start with Katherine, the poor 

middle child!  She has been acting a bit like the middle child. She is having a hard time with my attention being on Abby so often. She gets frustrated when I can’t jump immediately to help her because I’m feeding Abby, or changing  a diaper. She likes to help me, but doesn’t like it if I can’t help her!  She is always excited when DADDY comes home, because then she KNOWS that she’ll be the center of attention for him. I am working hard to recognize her needs, and spend as much one on one time as I can with her, but I also know that she probably won’t be permanently scarred from this experience!

 One thing I have been doing is reading stories while I’m feeding Abby. It’s a good chance to read stories, and it makes her feel important –even though I’m also feeding Abby (2 birds, 1 stone, Multi-tasking!)  But really, what is even cuter than me reading to Katherine, is having Katherine tell ME the story. She has  a newer book from Gram that is a collection of stories (Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, etc)  She can tell most of the stories by looking at the pictures, but her interpretation is often a bit creative!

 My favorite is hearing her pretend to be the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. (using a Katherine voice) “Nibb-o, Nibb–o wike a mouse, who is nibb-wing at my cottage?” (Really, if you’ve just learned the vocabulary word “COTTAGE” why bother with rhyming Mouse and House as written?)

Maggie seems more grown up every day. This is her last week of preschool, and she will “Graduate” next Tuesday.  This Friday we’ll spend the morning at Kindergarten Open House,

preparing for next year. How did she get so old already?  She continues to surprise us with her reading ability. Chris and I were talking at dinner about a commercial for a news story that night. Maggie piped up with “The guy from the news isn’t going to be on the news anymore.”  We were both confused, and asked her what she meant.  “That guy from the news, he isn’t going to be on the news anymore, I read it in the newspaper today!”  Sure enough – there HAD been a blurb in the paper about a reporter who was leaving the TV station.  We knew she liked to read the weather page to check the forecast (and to note what time the sunrise/sunset would be) but we had no idea she was reading OTHER parts of the paper! I’m proud of her, but we’ve been keeping the paper out of her reach now – she doesn’t need to be THAT grown up yet!

 

She is LOVING the role of “BIG SISTER” not only is she a huge help with Abby, but she is even more mothering toward Katherine. Some days are better than others – she likes to get a bit bossy. And they certainly have their moments of squabbling.  But overall, it’s quite helpful to be able to ask her to run “errands.”

And what about Abigail?    I’m afraid to say it out loud, but she is still a GREAT baby!  Chris will tell you she sleeps all the time, but really she’s having more awake time as she gets “older.”

  When she’s awake she often has HUGE eyes as if she thinks if she opens them wide enough she’ll be able to process all the craziness around her!  

She’s eating all the time, and is still happy to go with the flow. She hasn’t complained yet about going to and from preschool, or needing to sit in the bouncy seat while we eat our dinner. And she’s still sleeping a nice 4 1/2 hour stretch at night – which is DELIGHTFUL! She cries during diaper changes, or if you wait an extra minute to start a feeding, but that’s about it.

 

So that leaves Mom and Dad. We’re surviving too! It is busy, but so much fun. I have more energy everyday, and it feels GREAT to be able to get back to “normal” activities. I took the girls to the library today and I think it lifted everyone’s mood to get out of the house and take a field trip!  Chris has just one month left of school and I know he’s excited to start the summer schedule – including more time to just be home enjoying the family!

This is a ridiculously long post, so I’ll stop now with just one more picture. Here’s Abby showing us all that sometimes – you just need to stop, relax, and take a power nap!