April was a pretty jam-packed month, so I’m going to split it up into two posts as well. This one will cover the normal daily activities of the month, and the next one will cover Easter, Brooklyn’s field trip, and Savannah’s birthday festivities.
April 1st – another day…another mess in the playroom :)
…and another afternoon spent at the playground after school!
Travis left today (April 1st) for Missouri on a business trip. The girls and I ate an early supper tonight, and then went for our first ever “family bike ride” around the neighborhood. I don’t have my own bike, so I pushed Abigail in the stroller. Brooklyn and Savannah had a blast, and it was great exercise for all of us!
I’m spoiled by the fact that I don’t normally have to get everyone up in the morning to take Brooklyn to school because Travis usually takes her on his way to work. But when he’s out of town, we have to make it work. So I had Savannah and Abigail eat some dry Cheerios in the car, and then they finished their breakfast after we dropped Brooklyn off.
Savannah still loves trying to climb this fire hydrant when we wait for Brooklyn to come out of school in the afternoon :)
On April 3rd, Savannah and Abigail enjoyed playing outside in the backyard. Abigail tried out this little giraffe riding toy and had fun!
When you start going down the slide and change your mind but it’s too late…she was just holding on for dear life and fussing for me to come to the rescue – ha!
Yummy chocolate cake!!
Savannah was holding up Simba where he could see the TV too :)
Savannah loves to help pick out the apples when we go to Sprouts!
We were all ready for Daddy to get home on Thursday that week (April 4th). Brooklyn and Savannah drew some pictures after school to welcome him home!
That same afternoon, Abigail climbed up in one of our pink movie chairs and used that chair like a step stool to climb up onto the coffee table. I got onto her, moved her to the floor…and 30 seconds later she did it all over again while looking right at me. I got onto her again, moved the pink chair away from the coffee table, and set her back down on the floor. She then looked right at me again, threw her leg up on the coffee table and pulled herself up with her arms. I just laughed and said, “Fine, you win!” She is a stubborn and persistent little thing!
Daddy’s home!!
I think he appreciated all the artwork showing him how excited we were to see him :)
April 4th was also Abigail’s last night to nurse. I surprised myself and never cried about it…not even a little bit. I’m sad that this stage of my life is now over, but it had to happen sometime I know. She wasn’t super interested for the last couple of months…she would nurse a little bit but not always for very long. So it was mostly me just not quite ready to be done ;) She never had any trouble going straight to bed without nursing (not even the first night), so the transition couldn’t have gone better. She is getting to be a big girl!
On April 6th, there was a reunion for all the NICU babies born at Huntsville Hospital in 2017. Unfortunately, it happened to be at the same time as Brooklyn’s first soccer game of the season, so I took Abigail and Savannah to the reunion, and Travis took Brooklyn to her game. We were originally thinking that Travis and Brooklyn could come to the reunion and just be late, but it didn’t work out. The NICU reunion was held at the Matrix Gym in Huntsville. We’d never been there before, so it was fun to check out a new place in town.
Savannah and Abigail had fun playing and running around while we were there, but overall the morning was kind of a disaster from start to finish. (Just being completely honest). There were no parking spots by the time we got there, and it took a long time to even find a place to make a parking spot. Savannah fell in the parking lot on the way in and busted up her knee. Blood was dripping down her leg as we walked up to the front door. Thankfully, there were paramedics outside who cleaned her up and gave her a bandaid. It was super crowded and hard to keep track of both girls at the same time. And Savannah was losing it during the awards ceremony and complaining so much that I could hardly hear what they were saying. Basically, we left as fast as we could after the awards were given out ;) It was just one of those mornings!
Despite things not going very smoothly, I am still glad we decided to go. It was a chance to remember and celebrate how far Abigail has come since her early days in 2017. She may not be very big for her age, but she’s grown SO much since her time in the NICU!
Savannah loved jumping into this foam block pit, although she had a hard time climbing back out once she got in there :)
They took a big group picture before the awards ceremony. There were a lot of people there that day! During the ceremony, we learned that there were 1100 NICU babies born at Huntsville Hospital in 2017. I had no idea there were that many! The smallest NICU baby in 2017 weighed 1 lb even. The biggest was 10 lbs 13 oz!! And the baby with the longest NICU stay was there for 187 days. Having a baby in the NICU for almost a month is hard enough…I can’t even imagine doing it for half a year. Makes me thankful that Abigail was there for such a short time in comparison.
I was proud of my little NICU graduate, but as you can tell from the picture, it was definitely time to make our escape! :)
I really hate that I missed seeing Brooklyn’s first soccer game EVER, especially after the way our morning went at the reunion. Travis was texting me updates during the game, and he even took pictures and videos like I asked :)
“Which goal are we trying to kick the ball into??” It’s good to clarify these things before the start of the game :)
Brooklyn scored 3 of her team’s 5 goals!! I couldn’t believe it when Travis told me. He said she did great!!
They don’t keep score in 6U, but Travis said he was keeping score in his head ;) Brooklyn’s team lost 5-10…haha. But Brooklyn had a great time, and that’s all the matters!
“When is somebody going to let me ride a bike or scooter??”
It was a nice afternoon to play outside!
Monday, April 8th was the start of one of the roughest weeks our family has had in recent history (probably since Abigail was born). Savannah threw up twice in her bed early Monday morning. She never threw up again after that, but I could tell she didn’t feel great the rest of the day…
Now, if this isn’t pitiful, I don’t know what is. When you have to go pick up Big Sister from school, what else are you supposed to do?? Savannah fell asleep holding the trash can in her lap. I was thankful she didn’t get sick in the car.
She was feeling a little better by that evening. I thought maybe it was something she’d eaten the day before since she only threw up twice and never again.
Tuesday, April 9th was a better day. We played outside in the backyard a little bit. Savannah has become interested in soccer since Brooklyn started playing :)
…and Abigail was being silly walking around with this green bucket on her head :)
Brooklyn drew a sweet picture for her favorite lunchroom lady at school, Ms. Penny. I just had to share it! Brooklyn told me that she always chooses to go through Ms. Penny’s line if she is buying her lunch that day. I love how she draws little notes and cards and isn’t afraid to share them with others. It makes me smile!
We made it all the way to mid-day on Wednesday before the next one of us got sick. Abigail threw up all in her crib during naptime and then shortly again after that. What do you do with a puking baby who can’t tell you how she feels? I didn’t know what else to do with her other than stick her in the bathtub while I cleaned everything else up. I felt so bad for her. At that point, I realized that we were probably dealing with a stomach bug and not food poisoning or something else. I am so thankful for our wonderful neighbors who walked Brooklyn home from school that afternoon. I was too afraid to get out of the house not knowing whether Abigail would get sick again. (Thankfully, she didn’t, but I didn’t want to risk it or share the germs). After that, Travis got sick in the middle of the night Wednesday night and was throwing up off and on for 3 HOURS. It was awful. And I got sick on Thursday morning. Travis and I both felt terrible for pretty much the entire day on Thursday, and the worst part was that we still had to take care of the girls who felt fine and were full of energy. It was bad. Really bad. We kept Brooklyn home from school on Thursday and Friday just to be safe, and somehow she never got sick. I couldn’t believe it. She must have a stomach made of steel. I spent the entire day on Friday bleaching and cleaning as much of our house as I could. I wouldn’t wish that kind of a virus on anyone!
By Saturday (April 13th), we were thankfully all feeling better (and Brooklyn still hadn’t gotten sick), so we decided to take a chance and go to her soccer game that morning. They were having pictures made before the game. It was a rainy morning, and they ended up taking the pictures but not having the game. It was the first of many games that would end up being rescheduled/cancelled. The pictures turned out better than I expected with the rainy weather! Love my little soccer player!
Brooklyn’s coaches were Coach Craig (left) and Coach Mike (right). Teammates were Campbell, Darby, and Lauren (back row) and Layla, Cece, and Caroline (front row). Brooklyn enjoyed making new friends, of course!
Look at that sweet girl all dressed up in her Sunday best!
I figure this is the last spring/summer she can get away with wearing a bonnet, so we’ve been wearing them a lot!!
It’s hard work looking so cute ! :)
For lunch, we went out to eat with Baugay, Michael, and the Loveless crew at Red Lobster :)
Abigail had gotten her appetite back by that point, so she was ready to chow down!
April 15th – more playtime after school at the neighborhood playground. I was thankful that the stomach bug was behind us and we could get out and enjoy the nice weather!
Big slides don’t scare this little gal! She never goes down the little slide…always this big one ;)
On Tuesday, April 16th, Brooklyn’s team (The “Champions”) played in the game that had gotten rescheduled from a few days earlier. This was my first time to see her play in a game, so I was excited that they found a time to make it up :)
Travis said there was a big difference in the girls’ energy level playing on a Tuesday night vs. the first game which was on a Saturday morning. I’m sure the girls were all tired from being at school all day and then having a soccer game on top of that!
It was so funny to watch them all out there. It really was just like a swarm of bees going after the ball. Very entertaining from the sidelines!
The game lasted 20 minutes total (there were two 10 minute halves), and then they all lined up and shook hands with the other team. They had fun out there, and I was proud of Brooklyn for playing hard!
“1…2…3…Champions!”
Each of the girls has their own binder with their Bible class lessons and take home crafts in it. It’s been a great way to organize everything since we are bringing home so many papers now. Savannah enjoys looking through her binder from time to time!
Yum yum!
I took this picture before Bible class on Wednesday, April 17th. Savannah and Abigail are wearing the same outfits that Brooklyn and Savannah wore in a family photo session in April 2016 :)
They didn’t cooperate too well for these pictures, but oh well!
On April 18th, I couldn’t’ believe it when I caught Abigail sucking her thumb! She looked SO much like Brooklyn as a baby with her thumb in her mouth and her pointer finger sticking up in the air. I wasn’t sure whether it would be a one time thing or not, but I haven’t noticed her doing it again since that night. I guess her paci tastes better!
Brooklyn had a half day of school on April 19th. Usually, the half days at Mill Creek are “House Day” where the kids get together with their house families. The school posted this picture on their Facebook page, and it just warmed my heart. One of older kids in Mrs. Waite’s house family came to pick up Brooklyn and another kindergartner and take them where they were supposed to go. So sweet!
Savannah has recently started coloring in the lines. I was so impressed with these Easter eggs that she colored!!
We had a bit of a catastrophe on April 23rd when BOTH of the buckles on our double jogging stroller broke in the same afternoon. The fabric straps literally just fell apart in two pieces. It wouldn’t be too big of a deal except that I can’t trust Abigail to actually sit in her seat and stay still, and we use that stroller every day when we walk to school to pick up Brooklyn. Thankfully, Cici came to the rescue and had them fixed just a few days later. She’s amazing!!
Brooklyn had soccer practice that evening, and they had an international Challenger coach come to help them work on skills.
The girls enjoyed having Coach Izzy there. They did several drills that they’d never done before, so it was a fun change from the normal practices.
It was a fun evening!
They had another game on Saturday, April 27th. Her team wore blue at this game :)
Cici came to watch, so it was fun for Brooklyn to have a special fan in attendance!
Brooklyn scored 2 or 3 goals in this game…we were all excited! She also fell down several times ;)
Yay Champions!
That afternoon we went to Korah’s 4th birthday party at a park in Athens. Korah and Savannah were born 8 days apart, so they have been friends for life :) The girls had fun playing with Korah and enjoying the nice weather.
Abigail was happy that the playground had a slide :)
The cake was a big hit too, of course!
Korah got a bowling set as one of her birthday gifts, and Abigail tested it out after the big girls were finished playing with it :)
She did pretty good!
High five from Daddy!
It was a fun afternoon, and we were glad for the chance to celebrate Korah and her special day!!
Brooklyn woke up on Sunday (April 28th) running a fever, so she and I stayed home while Daddy took the other girls to Bible class and worship that morning. I think she was complaining of her throat hurting, but she didn’t feel too bad overall. We built an epic tower using all the Magna Tiles we had up in the playroom.
She was still running a slight fever on Sunday night/Monday morning, so I kept her home from school and took her to the doctor on Monday. I was worried it might be strep again (she had it 3 times over the course of the school year), but it turned out to just be some sort of virus. She was better and able to go to school on Tuesday!
April was definitely a rollercoaster month. All 5 of us were sick at one time or another. In between the sick days though, we were able to have a lot of fun too!
Quotes and Notes from April:
- 4/3/19 – Brooklyn came home from school and reported, “Mommy, I can read with fluency now!” (I assume she was parroting something Mrs. Patterson said). I replied, “Cool! What is fluency?” And Brooklyn said, “I dunno!” Ha!
- 4/16/18 – Abigail stopped nursing on April 4th, so she is now part of the bedtime Bible story routine at nights. She has recently started yelling “By-boo! By-boo!” and going over to the drawer where the Bibles are when it’s time to read :)
- “Milla Nafers” – what Savannah calls Nilla wafers
- 4/17/19 – Savannah (whining): “Momma, every time I toot, it feels like my feet hurt!”
- 4/18/19 – Abigail is definitely turning into the stereotypical annoying little sibling. She gets a huge kick out of taking things that belong to Savannah and Brooklyn and running away with them (or speed walking, really) as fast as she can…laughing the whole way. It’s a big game for her, and it makes her big sisters so mad!
- 4/30/19 – Savannah was singing loudly at suppertime, and Brooklyn exclaimed, “Stop! You’re hurting my nerves!”
Thanks for reading!!
