Bad Luck Chuck

Mike and I just got back from a wedding we went to in L.A. We had a wonderful time but the weather was kind of rainy and cold so we decided to go and see a movie Sat. night. We both decided on Good Luck Chuck so we walked across the street to City Walk at Universal Studios, which is a fairly good walk, especially when you are carrying a baby. Anyway, we got in line and when we started purchasing the tickets we were told that we couldn't bring Rylee in because children were not allowed in pg13 or up movies after 6, even a 6 week old. So after getting a refund we walked back to our hotel, looked up directions to another theater and literally raced to hollywood to catch the next showing. There was a ton of traffic but we managed to make it. When we got there, they made us buy a full priced ticket for Rylee too, it cost us $42.00 just to get in. But since we had gone to so much trouble to go to the movies we decided it's vacation we'll just do it, but let me tell you it took every ounce of my willpower not to walk away. So we get in the theater and the movie premise is good but man, it is really like watching an adult film, (I'm assuming anyway, never seen one myself!). Then on top of it, this buzzer keeps going off and on for about 10 mins. So Mike and I said this movie is too graphic and the alarm was annoying, we weren't paying that much to listen to that. So just as we get up to leave, they were coming in to evacuate the building. There were probably close to 2000 people in this huge theater and they all had to leave. I guess they thought there was a fire, we never found out. So Mike insisted we find a line to get a refund but we never did get one as they were just shoving people out the door. He is going to dispute it with our credit card so it should be fine. At the end of the night we were just laughing. So, don't go see Good Luck Chuck!! I said I think God really didn't want us to see it either.

Emily's First Field Trip

Emily had a great time on her first field trip, thank you to all who helped fund her way there! They went to a farm and learned where healthy food comes from. They also had a huge trampoline to jump on and she had a blast doing that. Mike took a few hours off and went with her so I didn't have to drag around a newborn and a 1.5 year old with me, did I mention I have an awesome husband? They had a really good time and Mike found out why they call her the next Celine Dion. I guess every day she makes the kids sit in a circle and she sings to them. And the funny part is that they all do it! The other funny thing is that her BEST friend at preschool is Bryndon. She loves him. So after the field trip Mike dropped her off at Applebee's where we were eating lunch. My mom asked her who was there and he was the first person she mentioned. Here is their conversation. And a quick background, Emily says Elijah from church is her husband and she is going to mary him.

nana: Since Bryndon is your best friend who are you going to marry?

Em: both Elijah and Bryndon.

nana: but you can only have one husband.

Em: Well, I'll marry Bryndon.

nana: What about Elijah?

Em: He has his own life to live.

My mom and I started cracking up. Where did she pick up that line?

First Photo's Of The Three

Here are the first photo's of the three girls together. These are just some of the poses. I went to pick up the pictures today and the lady offered me a cd of the pictures plus a signed piece of paper giving me the rights to them so I can get copies wherever I want. I'm SO excited as I wasn't able to get all of the poses so now I can, and for much cheaper. I was so excited I called up Mike. Do you know what he said? "That's very nice" So you know what I said? "I'm calling my mom" she was much more enthusiastic!! Anyway, I have the disk if anyone wants pictures. You will most likely be finding some coming you way anyway as I bought enough to pass around. By they way, it took almost 2 hours from start to finish and my girls were angels. I was so proud of them. Picture taking can usually wear a person out!

Rylee and the girls

Well, life never seems to go as I think it will. Ally just loves her baby sister and I would have bet money that she was going to really dislike her presence. But as you can see, she loves to look at Rylee, kiss her, hug her, watch her, etc. The other day I caught her with her baby doll, (which she never used to play with), on the changing table with her clothes off and one of her diapers trying to change her baby. It was really cute. And when Rylee is in bed she tries to climb up so she can look at her and kiss her. Both girls also love it when Rylee is in the bouncer, which hasn't been but twice. And the main reason is they love to bounce her, and especially Allyson, they aren't that gentle when they bounce her. They are both very good with her for the most part. The only thing Allyson is trying to do right now is get into everything that's Rylee's. She's tried to get into Rylee's car seat with her in it, and just now as I type this I've already had to pull her out of Rylee's crib and stop her from getting into Rylee's bouncer with her. I'm sure they all just look like fun to her and she wants to imitate. But other than those small things, they really love their sister.

Small bizaare fact: Do you realize that 20 months ago, just over a year and a half, we were the parents of just one child, now we have 3. I find that weird to think about!

Already??!!

Calling all family and friends. I wasn't expecting to have to hit people up until much later in Emily's school career, but she is already having a fundraiser. Yup, in preschool. They are doing a bike-a-thon. Which I'll definitly have to post pictures of that day. Anyway, it's this Monday and I just got the form. It's either a flat rate or a per lap rate. And she says on there that they won't accept below a $1 per lap so I'm assuming since they are preschoolers they won't get very far. Anyway, I have the form if you are interested. This is really the only time I'm mentioning this, I'm not big on asking people so if you aren't interested then you don't have to say no, I hate doing that. It should be pretty interesting to watch all of them on their little bikes! Emily is actually really good at riding, she rode over a mile the other day. So be careful if you pledge instead of the flat rate. You do have the fact that there are other kids to distract her so she might no last long for that reason. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the money is for field trips. And guess what, it's 100% parent participation for every field trip, which means we get to haul all of our kids there! Yay! And the teacher says she LOVES to go on lots of field trips.

Just A Few Pictures...

Betunia Sandwiches

When I picked Em up from school on Wednesday, one of the aides in the class informed me that Emily helped make the sandwhiches for lunch today. So in the car I was asking her about it. Here is our conversation...

J: Em, I heard you helped make lunch today.
E: Yup, I served the kids their fruit with my hands and the teacher said not to.
J: Yeah, you have to use a spoon, so what kind of sandwiches did you make?
E: Betunia.
J: You mean tuna fish?
E: NO! Betunia, you know, like we had that one time. Remember?
J: Yeah, we had tuna fish sandwhiches.
E: NO MOMMY! BETUNIA SANDWICHES!! NOT TUNA!
(At this point she is getting annoyed).
J: I'm sorry, Em, I'm not sure what a betunia sandwich is.
subject dropped, and actually we went around and around with that a lot longer. Later in the day our friend Leslie came over to watch them so I could run some fast errands, so I was telling her the betunia story. So she asked Emily, "what did it taste like?" Emily said, "like fish" so she said, "so it was tuna" emily: "yup, it was tuna." I couldn't believe it, I mention tuna and get the third degree for thinking betunia was tuna fish. I guess Leslie has the magic touch! At least we know for sure what it was because she still asks for betunia sandwiches.

Growing Up

Emily: Emily started her first day of school this week. She officially started Tuesday, Monday was just an orientation day. She is doing really well so far, not too tired when she gets home and is doing well during school. I think she was really ready for preschool. We have her at the local elementary school and she is going five days a week from 8-11:30. It's gone smooth in the a.m. thanks to Mike dropping her off, it's a little hard to get her in with three kids. She is doing great as a big sister, she is super helpful, always getting me the things I need when I can't get up.

Allyson: Ally loves baby Rylee, what she doesn't love is mommy paying attention to Rylee! She's doing a lot better than expected but has started throwing screaming kicking tantrums. And bewitching hour is not 4-5 anymore, it's basically sunup to sundown. But in her defense we were very active pre-Rylee and now we've parked ourselves at home and sissy isn't around as a distraction as much. But overall she's doing great!

Rylee: Rylee is two weeks old today. She is a dream baby! She sleeps all day and pretty much all night, last night she slept uninterupted for 8.5 hours. She is so sweet and we are asked a lot about if all our girls had that much hair, I thought so but I guess not because no one really commented with them but they sure do with Rylee. I know it's probably the darkest so far, our girls seem to get darker hair each time. She had her 2 wk checkup today and is the smallest of our girls at that age. She weighed 8lbs even. Em was 8.4, Ally a huge 9! I think Rylee would have weighed less after her appt. though because she had a major diaper explosion when we got home, soaking her third blanket for the day! Rylee was also the only one to lose any weight at the beginning and it wasn't much! But since she is our last for SURE, sorry grandparents, I want her to stay small for a while. That's about it for Rylee, I'm sure with a newborn you can fill in the blanks with the rest of her life.

That's it on our girls for now, it's amazing how fast they grow up and how fast the years go by once you have more than one. If anyone figures out how to stop time let me know. These years are going by way too fast! Also, scroll down a little to hear about Rylee and Jackson, her first little friend!

Rylee and Jackson

As most of you know, Jennifer and I were pregnant neck and neck. She being due Aug. 9 and myself August 11. Well, me being early and Jenn being late, we had our babies nine days apart, with Rylee leading the way. So when we visited her in the hospital we got some cute pics of the two together for the first time, Rylee 9 days, Jackson fresh from the oven. The next set of photos are when Rylee was 13 days and Jackson 4 days. They were so cute together, I couldn't snap a photo in time but when we laid them down together on the table, Rylee rolled next to him and cuddled up. But as most little girls realize, boys have cooties,(probably spelled that way wrong), so she scooted away. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures...my next goal is to take some of the all 6, Tessa w/Em, Bella w/Allyson, and Rylee w/Jackson. It's totally funny watching us all walk together, we look like copycat families!

Rylee's First Week

Rylee is now one week old. I can't believe it. She is such a good baby. She is still sleeping well at night, I generally have to wake her up to feed her once at night. It's really, really nice. In the a.m. I'm able to get the girls and I ready while she sleeps. She is opening her eyes a lot more, that's been fun. I took some pictures of her eyes open but she looks kind of funny in them, I guess that's a newborn trait! I also included pics of the girls coloring and painting. As you'll see, Allyson couldn't help but to taste the markers! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Rylee Madison

As most of you know, Rylee madison made an entrance into the world a little before 6 on Wednesday night weighing 7lbs 8oz. 20.5 inches. She came out super quiet, never cried and for the most part has stayed that way. I've yet to hear her really go for it. Hopefully this trend will stick around and she won't show her true colors in a few day! She is really cute, we feel so blessed to have such a sweet, cute baby. Emily and Allyson are in love with her too, Ally loves to pet her and Emily is great at holding her. They both have been really good during the huge change in our house. Mike has been an awesome husband as usual, cooking cleaning, playing with the girls to give me a break, and being at my beck and call. There is no way I could do this without him. I hope you enjoy the pictures, I'll do my best to keep them updated.

August 8th!

Mike has been telling me I need to blog, he says its been a long time. But I haven't had too much going on lately. But today, my doctor gave me the go ahead to get induced tomorrow, Wed. August 8th, at 7 a.m. I had asked a few weeks ago because my doctor will be gone for ten days starting the day before my due date. So after meeting with her today, she said I'm totally ready to have this baby, it would only be a matter of time anyway. So hopefully, if all goes well, we'll be welcoming our newest little Littau girl tomorrow. And be praying for her, we still don't have a name. We've always had a name by this time, so hopefully tonight we can figure out a name we agree on! It might be a few days but I'll try to blog some pictures asap. I'll also try to get my mom to blog some pretty quick and if you haven't visited her blog, it's http://devonemyallybragsite.blogspot.com/

Allyson's First Haircut

Allyson had her first haircut today. Only the bangs but she still looks cute. I was trying to grow them out but then she got a cold, and let me just say that long bangs and a runny nose don't mix. So that finally spurred me on to have her hair cut. She did really well, sat very still in the chair while Tricia cut it. She still has forward growing hair and a lot in the back, still looks like a mullet. Oh well, it's still cute!

New Floors

This past weekend Mike installed Pergo flooring. He got it done all by himself in two days. They only thing he got help on was the baseboards from our friend Jed, (thank you, Jed). He obviously learned a lot from our first house because these floors are flawless, he really did a nice job! It is so nice to have them again, with all of the spilling that comes with having children, carpets aren't too practical.

And for a quick baby update, my dr. did another sonogram, she thought the baby might be too small. She wasn't, I guess I'm just hiding her well, she is just below average for this gestation, 36.5 weeks, so she was perfect. She did finally get to confirm girl, YAY! So I guess Mike and I should start at least discussing names seriously. The most we really do right now is kind of joke about names for about 2-3 minutes and then move on. This poor child! Anyway, we're both doing good. Just over 3 weeks!

Ally's First Big Girl Bed

Last night we finally put Allyson in her new bed. To give a little background, I planned on starting her in there during naps around mid June, but I never did figure out how June could fly by that fast. So here it is, into July and I have to make myself realize, yes, there is a baby coming in 5 weeks who needs a place to sleep. So since her room is the hottest in the house and Redding hit 114 yesterday, when it was time to put her to bed it was way too hot in her room. So we decided it was time. I put her in there with her blanket she is used to and her binky and told her nigh night. She got up once, daddy came and tucked her in again and then she went to sleep, AND slept longer than she normally does. She didn't get up until after 6:30, (normally she starts yelling for us at 5:45!). I hesitated starting her at night because of early access to us in the early a.m., but I just didn't want to give up my nap time during the day to make sure she stayed in bed. But it turns out it didn't matter, she did really well. Her crib looks so sad and empty now. My mom says that won't last for long but it's still sad to see your baby hit a new big milestone! My other big worry was her climbing the ladder. Mike, (thanks a lot honey), taught her how to go up the ladder, but now down. But she didn't climb it last night.

What A Week!

This week has not been too exciting for us, but looking back, kind of humerous. My friend and I are both 33 weeks pregnant so we decided it would be great to take the girls 6 hours to the coast to stay at a trailer her family owns, it's much cooler over there. We planned on leaving Monday but Sunday night Allyson was throwing up all night. By monday afternoon she was fine so we figure it's food poisoning. Tuesday, we all pile in the car last minute and head off. Everything runs really smooth until that night. Allyson starts throwing up again and in a small trailer no one gets good sleep. Especially since she needed a bath and the shower/bathroom is all the way across a backyard, (which is difficult enough when you are pregnant and have to go to the bathroom every five minutes). The next day we are really tired but feeling better. But Jenn and I under-estimated our energy levels. So by Thursday we high tailed it out of there a few days early. About 35 miles from home, Emily threw up all over the car, she was in the very back of my moms van so we're pulled over on the highway with cars flying by, cleaning up. Today she is fine, thankfully, but it was crazy. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be home. The girls were even happy when we cut the trip short, which means it really wasn't meant to be! Redding may be super hot but sitting in the kiddy pool while the girls happily play is much easier! And by the way, isn't it June? Aren't stomach bugs supposed to be during the winter?!

Don't Mess With The Girls

On sunday our church hosted a tri tip bbq and car show. To keep the kids entertained, Joel had rented a bounce house. Tessa and Emily spent the majority of their time in there. Tessa, though, kept running to her dad every few minutes to tell him there was a boy in there who kept hurting her. Her dad figured it was just him bumping into her and told her to bounce somewhere he wasn't. So about an hour later, I was over there watching Allyson jump around with the girls when the little boy entered and headed for the corner. Tessa at the time was in the opposite corner when she got a look on her face that I can only describe as a raging bull about to charge. In what felt like slow motion, she jumped really high, threw out her arms and body slammed him into the side. He seemed a little stunned but it didn't phase him. When I told Tessa that wasn't nice and she couldn't do that, she promtly and calmly told me, "It was an accident" and went on her merry way. I was laughing too hard to say anything else, it CLEARLY wasn't an accident. Our girls won't let those boys get them down!
Later, I was talking to our friend when Emily accidently knocked my soda on the ground. My friend said, ooopss! Emily looked at her and very calmy, and with no expression on her face, said, "I meant to do that."then walked off. I have no idea where she learned that.

Allyson's Prayer

This morning I had just given Emily her breakfast, (Allyson had already been eating for a minute), and I reminded Emily to pray. I looked up right as I finished saying it and Allyson, who had been mid-bite, put her food down and folded her hands. As soon as Emily said Amen, she picked up her food and resumed her eating, as though it was a normal occurance. I'm glad she is starting to realize what we are doing, it was so cute! I wanted to get my camera so bad but don't want her thinking prayer is a game so I stayed put and called my mom instead!

My Wonderful husband!

Tonight, as Mike walked in the door from jogging, I immediately told him, "honey, I'm craving cake." He didn't even hesitate, he turned around and went to the store and bought stuff to make a cake. When he got home, he made a double layer confetti cake with yummy frosting. It was SOOO good. He even wrote 32 weeks on there, saying that is what we are celebrating! So sweet! It was really really yummy. We even let Em come down and have some and Allyson got to wake up and have some, she ate it all in her half awake state! Big thanks to my honey for being such a great husband!

Poor Nana!

My mom was over eating dinner before women's group the other night and she got to have a lovely conversation with Emily...

E: Nana, do you have a baby in your tummy too?
N: No, just your mommy. I don't have a baby in my tummy.
E: Then why is your tummy big Nana?

This would be somewhat my fault...a while ago I was explaining to her that my tummy was getting big because I have a baby in my tummy. I guess she took that as anyone having a tummy had a baby. Don't worry mom, you don't look pregnant!

Em also got to go to my 30 week sonogram...yeah, I said 30 weeks. Where has the time gone? I feel like I should be 20 weeks! This baby is coming FAST! The baby is looking good but Em, in typical Em fashion, really didn't care about the sonogram. All she kept asking the Dr. was, "is this book a kids book?" " Can I look at this?" She's four and a half and still in Emily land. At least there's no jealousy. However Allyson is going to be a different issue. All I can ask for is prayer, please pray! I don't think Allyson will think this little sister is something she wanted!