Birthday Party

We had an actual birthday party for P1 this year. Mostly because he has been telling his friends for a few months now that they are all invited to his birthday party. I tried to limit how many kids we invited, but it still was probably too much. Especially with a new baby in the house.

We did a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party. We watched an episode from the '80s cartoon. We decorated treat pizzas which were just sugar cookies with red frosting. We got little ninja turtle masks so the kids could each have one. And we had some ninja turtle pages to color. Really, I felt like we kept it low key, but it was still stressful.

Here's the birthday boy!

Decorating treat pizzas! Most of the kids could only eat a bite or two out of it once they were done. One of my sweet friends made the sugar cookies for me, and another sweet friend made the frosting. I'm grateful they were willing to help out with the party. Although it was still crazy due to our toddlers and babies. All the 4 and 5 year olds were pretty manageable.

 

 

It was challenging to make sure everyone was having a good time. We had talked to P1 beforehand to remind him to make sure he played with everyone. And I think he tried his best, but he still doesn't really know how to play with a large group of friends. When I checked up on them in the play room, I found one girl near tears and she said she wasn't having fun. So we changed gears and started coloring. And one of the boys was more shy, so I was worried that he wasn't having fun either. But I think everyone left happy.

So during the party, I was surprised that 2 of P1's friends didn't show up. Mostly because they said they were planning on coming. As we were saying good-bye to the last of our friends, I saw a van pull up. It instantly dawned on me that I sent out the wrong invitation to 2 of our friends. Originally we were going to have it in the afternoon, but we switched it to morning. Well, all the physical copies that we handed out had the correct time. But I texted the invitation to 2 friends, and I sent the one with the wrong time!!! I felt so bad. Epic mom fail! Ugh!!! But we just rolled with it and it worked out. We had a short play date with the one friend, and then after he left, the other friend showed up and we had another little play date. Honestly, I like the one on one play dates much better than the large group ones.

So all in all, we survived our first official birthday party! P1 had a good time even though we had a few hiccups. I think we'll wait a few more years before we do another birthday party.

5 Years

I now have a 5 year old. How did that happen?!?!

We are very blessed to have P1 in our family. He is typically very happy and energetic. Although, he can go from laughing to tears in 0.0001 seconds. He is very sensitive, and doesn't handle discomfort or change well. But he is learning to control his emotions better. We tell him that it is okay to cry if he is scared or hurt, but not over having to wear a red shirt.

P1 is very creative and resourceful! If he doesn't have a toy that he wants, he will build one out of Legos or draw it on paper. He loves to draw, and we go through a lot of paper at our house. P1 has a hard time picking favorites, because he enjoys most things. I love that he lives in the moment and thinks whatever he is doing is the best thing ever! P1 enjoys making gifts and surprises for people, especially for his aunt.

P1 is an early riser. He is good to stay in his bed though, until he hears us get up (or until the sun comes up on Saturdays). He loves to eat cereal for breakfast (raisin bran or cheerios). He likes meat sandwiches for lunch. All in all, he is a pretty good eater. He still has trouble with a few things (potatoes, squash, tomatoes), but he is usually good to try new things.

P1 loves to say bye to people. If he hears the garage door in the morning, he will jump out of bed and run into the garage to tell Dad goodbye. One time when we were leaving on a date, he ran out to say bye and told us to have a special day! He is a super sweet boy, and I love his smiles and hugs.

P1 is a great big brother. He loves to run around and play with P2, and is good at helping her. P1 also loves his baby brother, and helps to keep him happy. He has been a great help to me!

 

P1 loves preschool! He enjoys learning new things. He is starting to learn to read, and can do simple addition and subtraction. He also always thinks that he is right and will tell you that you are wrong. So it can be very difficult to correct him when he misunderstands something.

5 Year Stats:

Weight: 38 lbs 4 oz (32^nd percentile)

Height: 43 in (52^nd percentile)

5 Years in Review:

1 Month

P3 is growing up fast! We love having him in our family! He still only sleeps in 2-3 hour stretches at night, so I am quite sleep deprived. But somehow we survive. We've already had a few growth spurts, based on his fussy days when he is constantly eating.

We can already tell P3 is quite the character. He is always pulling funny faces, and has very expressive eyes when they are open.

P3's Baby Blessing

 P3 was given a name and a blessing my his father. Both of P3's grandpas were in the circle, as well as our bishop. There were 2 other baby blessing that same Sunday, so we had a full house. It was a sweet blessing, and there were no surprise name changes. P3 did great during the blessing, and slept through almost all of sacrament meeting. He woke up and starting crying during the closing song. He wouldn't take his binkie, so instead I let him suck on my finger and he was content with that.

I had a hard time getting his outfit. P1's blessing outfit was a 3-6 month size, which was much too big considering P3 is still in newborn size clothes. I bought a 0-3 month outfit, but it was still too big. I finally found a newborn white dress shirt on Etsy that worked perfectly!

 

 

Family pictures are getting harder to take! It's almost impossible to have all 3 kids smiling nicely for the camera. P1 was especially goofing off during these photos.

 

2 Week Check Up

P3 had his 2 week wellness check. His umbilical cord stump fell off that morning in his pajamas, but it was still a little oozy, so the doctor gave me some antibiotic ointment to put on it. Other than that, he has been a very healthy baby. He nurses very well, and still wants to eat every 1-3 hours which is pretty normal. I sure would like to get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time though. 

P3 hates his carseat, and screams most of the time that he is in it. During one of his sponge baths, all the hair on the top of his head came off while I was scrubbing off dandruff. Sorry buddy!!! P3 took his binkie pretty well for the first week or so, but has now decided that he doesn't like it at all.

Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz (21st percentile)

Height: 20.5 inches (42nd percentile)

Brothers

P1 was very excited to have a baby brother! He wants to hold him all the time, and is constantly making sure P3 has his stuffed animals. P1 likes to tell P3 how cute and adorable he is (probably because that's what he hears everyone else say). P1 is a great help with the baby. I am excited to see their relationship grow and develop as P3 gets bigger.

 

 

 

This is my favorite picture so far!