More Mud

It rained a lot last week, so we had a lot of fun in the mud puddles! Mae ended up pretty clean because of all the splashing from Arabelle and Bo. :)

Mae's turn!

Arabelle and Bo made some 'cow patties', then jumped over them with their bikes.

I took a break and sat in the wagon, so Mae joined me. She wasn't too sure about how crowded it was! 

G-Day Game

Two weekends ago, Jared took the big kids to the G-Day game (UGA Spring Football Scrimmage Game) in Athens. They were SO excited! Both kids wanted to sleep in their game day clothes, but we convinced them to get dressed that morning. 

Mae and I were left for a day to ourselves, which was nice! Mae took over Bo's job of cleaning the silverware out of the dishwasher.

She 'helped' me get the baby car seat cleaned up.

And we played outside a lot!

Mae's Vintage Dress

After Mae was born, Mamaw found some of my old dresses from the mid-80s. Arabelle still fit into one of them at that time and there were several more that were sized 2. Well, Mae fits into them now!

She wore one to church a couple of Sundays ago. She wasn't too interested in pictures, but Arabelle and I tricked her into a few. :)

It will be so fun to put her in a new 'old' dress for a few more Sundays this Spring and Summer!

Our Big Girl!

Well, I think it's safe to say that Mae is pretty well potty trained!!! She had been waking up dry from naps and in the mornings (around 12 hours dry!) and would tell me when she was wet or dirty and ask for a diaper change, so we (well, I) decided to give potty training a try a couple of weeks ago. We started on Wed. March 30th and planned to stay home a few days! She was super excited about her 'undies'. 

My method is to get rid of diapers during awake time (I was still putting a diaper on her at nap/night time to start), push fluids, stay close to the potty, focus on staying clean and dry (Mae would say "keen and dry!!!", and rush to the potty when the accidents started.

First day....so excited!!!

We did spend a lot of time outside and she got to drink a lot of those flavored water 'juice' drinks and eat a lot of popsicles.

It was a loooonnnnggggg few days with lots of accidents while she learned.....

She also did some funny faces while she was in the bathroom. Ha!

By Sunday, she would tell us she had to potty about 2 seconds before she would go. We were getting some in the toilet, but not 100%. Something clicked about 5 days in and the pee accidents pretty much stopped! Now she will tell us in plenty of time to get to the toilet for pee and she has stayed dry through naps the whole time and has wet maybe once or twice at night. She is always SO proud of herself when she uses the toilet!

Our struggles are public restrooms ("big potty potty!!"), where she won't let me hold her on and going #2. She *knows* she needs to go before hand, but she gets nervous about sitting and doing it, so we go back and forth to the bathroom tons of times and she holds it awhile before she finally goes (either in her undies or on the potty). It's frustrating, for sure, but I've got some new ideas to work on this week and hopefully she will catch on. 

Potty training this late in pregnancy is ROUGH (I did the same thing for Arabelle before Bo was born and for Bo before Mae was born), but is worth it to be DONE with diapers! 

Pre-Baby Beach Day!!

When we found out we were expecting another baby in early May, we pretty much decided to skip our summer beach trip this year. For me, it's just not worth spending that much money and taking a young infant to the beach and dealing with the sand, heat, etc., but I knew I wanted to surprise them with day trip to Fernandina Beach. We went last week, on Thursday. They were SO excited when I told them on Wednesday that we were going!!!

Jared took the day off and our awesome baby sitter, Alyssa, went with us. We left a little after 7:30 and we were on the beach and ready to play around 10:15. The weather was PERFECT that day....I had been stalking the Weather Channel app for a good week. Ha!

Obviously, Mae didn't remember the beach from last year, but the big kids were so excited that she kept saying, "BEACH!!!!" and was thrilled when we got there!

The salt water and air made her hair really curl up. I love it!

Lots of pictures of Mae because she was always closest and wasn't moving/running around as much as the other two. ;)

Picnic!

The water was pretty COLD, but Arabelle and Bo did't seem to mind. Fortunately, Alyssa was willing to go out with them. Jared and Bo dug a hole for Mae, so she could have a 'pool'.

Arabelle LOVED riding the waves! She spent most of the afternoon out in the water. It's her favorite part of the beach.

Mae's pool!

Bo really enjoyed the waves too. One hit him in the behind when he wasn't expecting it and he said, "Whoa!!! That wave spanked me!!!". ha!

We were cleaned off and back in the van around 3:30 with some tired kids (and adults!). Mae was asleep before we were off the island and Bo kept saying, "I wish we were still at the beach". Needless to say, we have three beach loving kids! 

36 weeks with baby #4

I can't believe we are under a month from the due date!!!

Some friends from church gave me a little girls' night out/baby shower on Monday (so nice!), so we have diapers and I've pulled out some of Bo's baby clothes, so I'm slowly getting ready. :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

• How far along: 36 weeks on Wednesday April, 8th. 
• Size of the baby: The estimated weight at 36 weeks is 6lb 7oz. Dr. G commented that this baby shouldn't be as big as the others, but he has said that the last two times, so I'm still expecting a 9+ lb baby. Mae measured 6lb 4oz at her u/s around this same time. Baby boy's head was too low for a good picture of his face on the u/s. 
• Total weight gain: +27 lb. I am about 5 lb from my usual end of pregnancy weight, so looks like I'll end up about the same again...phew!
• Gender: Definitely a BOY on this last u/s. 
• Movement: Lots of big movements now and they often hurt. I do love this part of the pregnancy though!
• Sleep: Waking up more for the bathroom and because I'm sore from laying on one side and I need to roll over, but still getting a good night of sleep (for another month anyway!). 
• Cravings: Pretty much enjoying food (except steak and hamburgers). 
• Symptoms: Started having some sciatica here and there in the last week, so I've started going to the chiropractor weekly and will continue until delivery. 
• What's next: Weekly Dr. appointments from here on out!

One month to go!

Easter 2015

Well, I pretty much flopped on getting some pictures from Easter. We did a few Sunday morning and that was it.

Mae wore the dress Arabelle wore the Easter before she turned two. It's one of my favorites! Arabelle LOVES to shop and she found this dress at TJMaxx several weeks ago and just LOVED it! Bo wanted to wear a superhero shirt, so he was unhappy with any kind of dress shirt. Haha!

Easter basket goodies! They each got bubbles, play-doh, sunglasses, and a little coloring book/activity pack (Bo got Ninja Turtles, Arabelle got Frozen, and Mae got Elmo).

I let Mae hold her bubbles to avoid crying, which you're about to see did not work.

Trying to pout, but starting to smile.

We had a great day....church, lunch and family time, rest, then lots of outside time at home!