Emiline May

Emiline May Robbins has joined our family. She was born Jan 11, 2012 at 10:54 am. She was 6 lbs even and 19 1/2" long. Both Emiline and I are doing great.

I got to the hospital about 10 am and by the time the anesthesiologist arrived I was ready to push. So she came without pain medication. The doctor had a hard time getting his gloves on but other than that everthing went about as smoothly and quickly as it could. We got home thursday afternoon. Henry loves her very much. He didn't like the idea of her having a pacifier at first, but he is coming around. Eliza likes having a baby in the house. She doesn't let it stop her from her normal activities for very long though. Maren wants to baby both Emiline and me every chance I will allow. We are all glad Emi is here safe and that mom and baby are doing so well.

Catch-up

Wow! How could I be so neglectful? Halloween and Maren's birthday have come and went. My oldest has been 6 years old for 2+ months. She got her 6 year old molars in and found her first loose tooth (front, bottom, right). She seems to be doing better in school. She is at the top of her class for reading, but could work on handwriting neatness and remembering to turn in and retrieve her homework everyday.

Eliza has really stepped up to the plate and turned into quite the big helper. She is such a sweet girl.

Henry is entering the 18 month seperation anxiety phase, but really does quite well compaired to how Eliza did. He can say so many words and do so much more than I remember from my girls. We could work on his signing vocabulary so he could get more across without the frustration he gets occasionally.

Emiline is getting ready to make her grand appearance. I have had some contractions ( mostly at night) but none that are continously consistant. My due date is in a week so she should be here sometime in the next 3 weeks (hopefully sooner).

We are all well and will let you know when this baby does arrive.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Eliza Jane!

Eliza turned four years old. She has grown 1 3/4" in the last 5 months. She is getting so big. She is very observant. I know I have not given her the personal teaching that I did with Maren, but she has picked up so much on her own. She is a perfectionist and like everything to be a certain way. If it isn't the way she had planned she bags the whole thing. She is my girl that takes her time with everything. She doesn't notice peoples feelings as much as she just notices details. We will be sitting in a restaurant and she will point out the fly sitting on the wall across the room. She says things that seem so irrelevant, but under closer inspection can usually be related to what is being talked about. I love my sweet 4 year old girl!

For her birthday, we made a princess cake and had a pretty layed back day. We held preschool at our home Tuesday morning. She liked celebrating with school friends. She got to watch her favorite show "Diego". She got to choose what she wanted to eat for each meal. For breakfast she had Rice Krispies with milk, for lunch peanut butter and jelly, and for dinner she wanted meat and cheese sandwiches. I was a little surprised corn dogs or mac and cheese weren't in there somewhere with how much she likes those. Her favorite part of the day was helping to decorate the cake.

Hap is also getting big. He is so much fun to have around. He loves the rocking horse Papa and Grandma Sally got for the kids and has become quite the jockey (he likes to stand in a squatting position when he rides). He loves to do the things he notices the big kids are doing. Eliza likes to tease him and Maren smothers him with mini-mothering. His collar bone is all better. He says "me" and raises his hand before we eat (in an effort to volunteer for prayer), says "I do" when I say "who wants something to eat?", knows "hat", "ball", "baby", "cereal" (comes out "ya-yo", "outside" (it comes out "ow- sigh"), he calls dogs "uff-uff" and cats "me-o", can answer "do you want down?" or "do you want to go downstairs", knows "up", and "water" (comes out "wa"). He nods his head for yes and shakes his head for no with only a small amount of confusion. He likes baths and can find his own way into the tub, so I have to keep an eye on him or he will climb in with his clothes on. He has picked up on the girls whining and mimics that as well. He is a sympathy crier, but can't muster up real tears for others. He gives just about anyone that shows any attention to him a death glare, but he is one happy and fun boy.

Maren is doing well in first grade. She is super curious. The other day her teacher told me that Maren came up to her and asked her to teach her about the world. The teacher was a little taken back and said that she would teach her anything she wants to know, but was unsure what Maren wanted to learn about specifically. When Maren and I talked about it later she said "all of it", meaning lands, cultures, places /landmarks, space, and what the world is made of. We went to the library yesterday and I left Maren and Eliza in looking at books while I stepped out to give somethings to a friend. When I came back Maren was asking the librarian if they have any books on languages. This surprised the librarian, but she recovered quickly and said "I don't usually get those kind of questions from kids your age". She looked and could only find books written in Spanish. Maren was hoping for a book that would be able to teach her a few words in another language. Then she asked if they have any books about princesses that don't ask like princesses and we had better luck. She is a fun girl to have around.