Wedding weekend

The wedding finally happened. Coco and James tied the knot. Sadie has been talking about this trip for the past year, since they got engaged. In preschool last year she told her class about it so much that her teacher kept asking me when we were taking our Texas trip for the wedding. 

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay very long because Daniel had lots of work stuff going on and I had no vacation days. Because of weird stuff with flight prices and redeeming Skymiles for tickets, Daniel and the older girls flew to Austin the day before me and Camille. The girls wasted no time harassing Ruby the dog.

 On Thursday morning everyone (except me and Camille) attended the wedding rehearsal. 

Apparently it was like 100 degrees with 100% humidity, so everyone was drenched with sweat when it was over. Sadie made fast friends with James' nieces while Elise threw tantrums in the back.

Camille and I flew very uneventfully and then picked up the rental car and drove to the Nielson's house. That night was the rehearsal dinner at the County Line BBQ restaurant. 

 Courtney and Camille's first meeting

Needless to say, we ate a lot of meat.

During dinner it poured rain and lots of places around Austin flooded. Elise stood in the doorway and yelled songs about rain. Sadie picked back up on her bonding with fellow flower girls.

Friday was wedding day. Sadie got ready early so she could go with Mimi to the house where Courtney and the bridesmaids were getting ready.

The hair and make-up people were nice enough to make a 5-year-olds dreams come true by doing some simple makeup and a basic hairstyle on her(I had already curled Sadie's hair).

 We didn't see Sadie again until right before the wedding that evening. She spent the day bonding with the bridesmaids and doling out advice on getting married (go to BYU- which they basically all did) and just acted like the 16 year-old she thinks she is.

Back at the house Elise was treated to a visit from Spike, the mascot of the Round Rock Express. She wasn't too sure how she felt. She was sure how she felt about me curling her hair. She started ripping out hair, trying to make her hair flat again. Then she crawled around on the ground in her flower girl dress.

When we met everyone at the wedding venue Coco and James were taking a few pictures so we hung out at the Lady Bird Johnson gardens library. Lots of botany books.
How breathtaking is Courtney? Sorry James, but I don't think many people were looking at you.

 

Elise continued with the demon attitude. She started to get happy when everyone cheered for her during flower girl pictures. Then she spun and spun around until she fell off the walkway into the rocky landscaping and was right back to being crazay. 

At ceremony time Daniel was supposed to be an usher and help guests get to seats, but Elise sat by him screaming about it. 

Sadie, on the other hand, rose to the occasion. During the ceremony she leaned over to me and whispered, "Mom, this is my first time being a flower girl. And I like it. When am I going to do this again?"

 

 Daniel ended up sitting 25 yards away from the ceremony with angry Elise, so he didn't get to hear much.

The party that followed was complete with delicious dinner, lots of dancing (including some ultra-dorky stuff from me), and lots of fun.

Sadie stayed on the dance floor the entire time, but almost all my pictures of her came out blurry.
We stayed until the bitter end with all 3 of our kiddos. Camille and Elise fell asleep right before it ended.

Saturday I woke up to Round Rock donuts for my birthday. Officially 30 years old and eating the most delicious donuts in the land.

 Later that morning we had Camille's blessing. We have had our other 2 girls blessed around more of the John extended family so we wanted to have this with the Nielson. My favorite thing Daniel blessed her with was a sense of humor.

That afternoon Carolyn and I took the older girls swimming at the Parkers while everyone else watched the BYU football game.

 
That evening everyone indulged me and went to Chuy's for my birthday. Chuy's is one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. It has the tastiest Diet Coke and creamy jalapeno dip.

 Our kids were actually all well-behaved. Well, Camille had a blowout in her carseat and then  promptly went to sleep.
Our girls loved hanging out at Mimi and Paco's house and playing with all the old Polly Pockets. They keep telling me they want to ask for some for Christmas. Can you buy them on e-bay or something?

Sunday morning we got up, packed and headed to the airport. All 3 girls were completely out when we went to return our rental car.

 Daniel argued with the Delta ticket agents for 20 minutes about baggage fee stuff and Elise opted to just lay on the floor. I took pictures.

 We were the last ones on the plane, which may have caused a bit of stress, but hey, less sitting.
We were kind of a travelling circus with our 3 kids, 3 car seats, a stroller, 2 checked bags, and 6 carry-on items. We had so much stuff that when we got off the long-term parking bus we accidentally left a bag on it. We realized it when we were 10 minutes from the airport, so we turned around and had a little adventure tracking it down.

Phew. And all of those pictures are from 3 1/2 days.

In the Fifth Month of Millie...

 

This bald-headed beauty is just the best. And she has been hitting milestones like it is her job. 

Well, I guess it is her job.

#1 milestone in my book is that Camille sleeps through the night. At least 8 hours, but usually 10 or 11. My newest hobby is watching her on the video monitor. 

Her hair on top has grown about 1/2 inch, resulting in a very fuzzy head. Elise loves to rub it. Today at Costco Elise told a man that he could rub Camille's head if he wanted to.

She has gotten very good at grabbing things and putting them in her mouth. Still not great at releasing things when she doesn't want to hold them anymore. She has ripped out chunks of hair at the back of my neck multiple times.

She has developed a squeal/yell. It's usually cute, but gets annoying when she is doing it so loud that everyone has to yell over her.

She continues to smile pretty much any time I make eye contact with her.

She rolls all over the place and even scooted herself backwards to get stuck between crib slats the other day. Within a week of us putting her in a crib she figured out how to roll from her back to her stomach and now sleeps mainly on her stomach. It scares me and I'd really like her to sleep on her back, but when I roll her back over she a)wakes up and b)rolls herself right back over onto her stomach.

She started eating rice cereal last week. Her first reaction (below) was slightly confused, but then she ate every bite I gave her. I gave her some pears, which she did not enjoy. We'll stick to the rice cereal for now.

And finally, she's been playing the Disneyland for babies- our exersaucer. She doesn't get much chance to push any buttons herself because her older sisters love to show her how everything works. I have caught both Sadie and Elise sitting in it when Millie is not around.

A 5 month old:

Sleeping Arrangements

We've been putting it off for months, but we finally did it. We moved Sadie and Lou into the same room. They have surprised us with how well they have done with it. Elise has had a few nights where she is in a silly mood and keeps Sadie up, but they usually go to bed well. We took the opportunity to cut our bedtime routine in half as well. The biggest change is that they get up together at 6:15 and play. Elise used to sleep a little longer than that, so she ends up tired some times, like at church when she slept for the last 2 hours.

Camille has thrived with her crib. It took her 2 days to decide she liked it, but now she rolls all over the place like she always wanted the space. Oh, and she sleeps 8-10 hours in it. Changed my life.

But we still don't turn down any opportunity to snuggle with Mills in our bed either.