test, test, 1, 2, 3...

(I'm choosing to ignore the time that has past since the last update.  Please allow me to continue to drop the ball and ignore it.  Thanks, Management)


I have holes to fill in, but quickly - the C monster is 9 months old!  Or will be in 9 days, but today was her appt and so we have stats.  drumroll

15lbs 7oz
26" in length
17 1/2 " head size

What does this all mean?
A.  She is in the 5th percentile for weight
B.  She is in the 5th percentile for height
C.  She is in the 75th percentile for head size
D.  She is an adorable Q-Tip
E.  The mystery still remains why she seems bigger to me than her sister at this age when the exact opposite is true.  Clothes fit her sooner than they did H, or maybe I was squeezing her into too small of clothes for too long, but I don't think so.  H at 9 months

fin.  Many more things to come.  maybe.

4

Blink!  We had a baby 4 months ago.  I'm less surprised this time around by how fast it goes, but looking back at pictures and comparing that little face is still fun.  Chasing a two year old around at the same time makes it go even faster.  Its a busy, hectic, chaotic, insane life.  But these girls make me smile on a daily basis and I'm so lucky I get to be the one to watch them grow up!  Just a quick post, look back and some new stats.  More to follow soon.

Miss C at 4 months:
11lbs 14oz
23 1/2 inches

 

 

As you can see, Big Sister is more than happy to help the ladybug pose for pictures!

A whats what

Just a hodge podge of whats been new around here...

First, a few weeks ago we got to go up to Fort Worth for the first time! :)  It was great!  We were up there to celebrate with our wonderful friends as they prepare for their second daughter's birth (only a little over a week away!!  eekkk!)  It was so wonderful to see them, their families, and celebrate together - and what a treat to have it up in a city we hadn't been to before so we could check it out.  We will be going back - fun, fun times!

The kids playing and waiting for the "herd" to be driven down the street

 said herd

The first born girls!  H is already a big sister and A.J. will be very very soon!

Mr. Yee-haw himself!

The whole reason for the celebration.  Man do we love the snot out of this family! ;)

The onesies I made for the new misses

A hit! :)



 Speaking of little Misses.  Our littlest hit the 2 month mark!  Time, as usual, has grown enormous wings and we can't keep up!

Big sister was happy to color her sign for her ;)

And finally, a little crafty/handy inspiration for you today.  Do you know what I hate?

These!  Ugh!



We don't need them all over our house, thankfully!  But we do have the one set of stairs up to the Man Cave that need to be blocked.  My idea when we BUILT the house was to have a door at the bottom of the stairs.  Apparently this request fell on deaf ears and so we ended up with this ugly thing there once H became mobile.  But...Not Anymore!  Mwah ha ha. 

I saw an idea online for putting a half door in instead and couldn't shake the idea. I had to have my door, half or not!  And thanks to my handy dandy Husband and Father-in-law, I got just that in July!  My poor in-laws, they come to Texas KNOWING I will have a project cooked up for them to do.  It never fails.  They literally pack their work clothes/gloves/supplies when they come.  Without prompting.  No joke.  Without further ado....our new door :)

They even put a locking handle on it with the lock on the inside so when H is tall enough to reach it (she almost is now) she still can't run up there.  Awesome.  Love it.  And see, I told you I'd get that door eventually...





What's your poison?

Do you know what these two things have in common?

If you've been at our house for the last week, you would know the answer to that.  And now for my disclaimer.  If you:

A. Don't have children

B. Don't like children

C. Don't care to read about bathroom activities

D. All the above

Stop reading now and revisit the NEXT time I update this blog thang.  Thank you, Management.

Now, if you stuck with me, you are either sickly curious or just have to know what M&M's and Gummi Bears have meant to us in the last week.  Well, last Saturday we did it.  We took the plunge.  We started potty training.  Duh duh duh!  (Can I get some dramatic music, please?)  I decided potty bootcamp was our method of madness and we were jumping in with both feet.  The last two months of changing two sets of diapers - I was done with.  So I prepared slightly ahead of time and here is what we did.  Hopefully if you are entering this point or will soon these tips will help.  Obviously everyone is different but when I say in ONE day, Miss H was potty trained..its worth a shot, right?

Prep work:

I bought little girl panties!  Eeekk!  And anyone who knows me knows I HATE that word.  But in that size, its the only appropriate term and kinda adorable (she said begrudgingly).  I also had a small potty already, and got the above mentioned treats.  The morning of day one, I also took dry erase marker and wrote all over her bathroom mirror things like "Way to go!" "Yay" "You did it!" etc..and added some Elmo stickers that were potty/bathroom themed I found in a coloring book from Target.

Go Time: (Not THAT go time)

The key for us was to load her up with fluids so she would have LOTS of chances at getting it right.  Its difficult to get a kid to keep drinking on their own, so we kept snacking almost constantly that first day (after a healthy breakfast) so that she would want to keep drinking.  We also let her have juice for the first time.  I bought Naked brand juice which has no sugar in it and watered it down half/half.  Popcorn at 10 AM, sure, its a special occasion. I also blended up some fruit and a little juice and froze them into Popsicles for her to have to push more fluids.  So it took until about 11AM for all the fluids to hit and for her to really catch on to getting to the bathroom BEFORE she had to go, but from then on, she was a pro!  We kept it exciting and cheered loudly, made washing hands fun, and of course let her pick an M&M out (just one, and we didn't have the other treat at this point).  We had no accidents the rest of that day and she even went the dreaded numero dos correctly.  VERY IMPORTANT POINT:  We devoted ALL of our attention to her.  As much as possible.  When I wasn't tending to C, I was playing and interacting with her.  No one was allowed to get sucked into cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming a room, laundry, a movie or t.v.  I think she really loved having that nonstop attention and it only helped the success we had.  Day two went similarly, again slow start in the morning, but by 11, when lots of fluids hit she was doing it perfectly again.  During her nap that day I went to the store and got the Gummi Bears and a new fun soap for her to use.  Purple grape foamy soap.  This helped to re-energize her and she again had a perfect day.

Its been a week now and we've only had one or two accidents during that time.  She's successfully used the potty out at other people's homes and at restaurants as well!  No accidents while away from home at all!  She does still wear a diaper during nap and bedtime.  I made that decision because 1. I don't think she would wake up to go at this point.  2.  She has a child proof handle on her door and couldn't get out if she wanted to.  3.  I don't like the idea of putting the potty in her room, b/c we don't go to the bathroom in her room.  Only in the proper place.  I don't want that confused.

So all in all, I am thrilled!  She was ready and I'm sure even doing all this perfectly, if she wasn't ready, it wouldn't have worked.  But we are one down, one to go!  I've already told H, I trained her - its her job to train C ;)

The newest lady in our life!

Whats new with you, friends?  Nothing much here.  Except the small fact that we are now a family of FOUR.  That still sounds odd.  Four.  "Rostorfer, party of four".  What?  This will eventually sound normal right?  Add in going to dinner with some friends and it will be party of 7, 8, 9...unbeliveable!  But true!

Our sweet Collins Kate joined the world at top speed on June 14th.  From moment one she was already calling the shots.  On Wednesday, June 13th, the little miss was starting to kick things into gear and I had a couple hours of consistent contractions but nothing that was earth shattering at this point.  Around dinner time I called the Dr like a good little girl and she said to head up to the hospital just in case.  The Bubbe and Papa were summoned to stay with H and off we went.  Long story short, everything came to a screaching halt while I was there and by 10:15 pm I just wanted to go home and sleep.  Back home and in bed by 11:30.  At 1:30AM, I woke up to that earth shattering I mentioned earlier.  No one was having fun, least of all me!  As the hubs said, he woke up to me sucking all the air out of the room doing my best Bill Cosby bit routine.  We woke the Bubbe and Papa up who conveniently had stayed the night and said we were headed back and this time we weren't coming home without a baby or some serious drugs (my exact words).  We were back at the hospital by 4:30am and on our way.  At 5 I was put on an I.V. antibiotic and shortly there after got my epidural.  Sweet, sweet lovely epidural.  Will you marry me?  Since I had the antibiotic, I was told if I could make it 4 hours before Collins was born (9am), there would not be a blood draw done on our sweet girl.  Deal - I was up to the challenge.  Challenge it was, b/c we all were holding our breathe for the last 30 minutes and the nurse didn't even want to look my direction let alone move me at all for fears I would have that baby on the spot!  My doctor came in at 9:03am, asked for a practice push, yelled at me to "Stop practicing!"  got suited up and Collins was born at 9:13!  Hello!

Fun facts.  C was born 3 days early, H was born 3 days late.  C was 6lbs 12.9oz, H was 6lbs 9.9oz  (a difference of 3 oz)....is 3 our lucky number?  And don't ask, we aren't having 3 kiddos, so thats where the fun facts end!

She's our little ladybug and we are enjoying every minute with her.  H is a fantastic big sister and loves to kiss and hug on her, get her things and try to soothe her when she is crying.  She is proving to be a great night time sleeper, waking only twice a night since the beginning so all in all we are hanging in there!  And now for the pictures...

can she make it to 9??

Sooo excited to lay eyes on her sister!!

The sweet nurses gave her a braclet like Mommy and Daddy's too!

summer of the pinwheel

Its a good thing you have me here to tell you these things.  Otherwise how would you know?  I have officially named this upcoming season {the summer of the pinwheel}  You are welcome!

Why?  Really no reason but that I forgot how cute they are and for some reason I am obsessed with them.  So now you must be too.  Go now.  Go forth and pinwheel.  I don't know what that means, but don't hurt yourself.

The latest creation (alright, honesty is a good policy...my only creation thus far, but there will be more!) is my front door wreath I just threw together today during, wait for it....naptime!  That was the point of this blog in the first place, wasn't it?  So here is the beauty.  Please just humor me and pretend you love it as much as I do.  It is by no means professional, but it makes me smile at my front door and with the current state of my house/landscaping/and lack of sidewalk or driveway - its a big deal.

I wanted to switch it up to a summer wreath that could cover early summer and late.  Being that this weekend is Memorial Day and I've already got my mind on 4th of July things as well, a nod to the patriotic seemed appropriate.  So - I chopped a bit of a pool noodle off and then taped the two new ends together to form the size I wanted.  Then the burlap with the red stripe you see is actually Jute Webbing.  It is what typically is forming the support to a great upholstered piece of furniture like a chair.  Its about 4 inches wide and I buy it by the huge spool at Hobby Lobby.  Cheap and versatile.  Remind me to show you our family growth chart I made from the same stuff a while back.  Of course since it is the SOTPW (it'll catch on) I went searching through the interwebbings for a tutorial.  I knew I started with a square but thats all I had and knew someone else already had it all figured out.  Cue my buddy, Martha.  I used this handy template:  {pinwheels}.  Easy peasy and it cost me nada because I already had the noodle, webbing and paper to make the stars/wheels/awesomness with.  Go do it!  I'm already planning my next pinwheel move...

-a litte of this - a little of that-

Its already April 10th.  I'm already going to the baby doctor every 2 weeks.  Easter has already come and gone.  Miss H's birthday HAS to be next on my radar.  I suppose I should also prepare slightly for the arrival of Miss C.  STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF.  No I don't.  I'm enjoying it to the fullest, but if I could just get my hands on the knob and slow us down a bit the tightness in my chest might fade.  On to updates, I will let pictures that are clogging up my computer and begging to be released lead the way...


Harper needed to experience the joy of flying a kite - so we did just that!

 i love being a spectator when he's teaching her something!

twins.  With heads cocked in the same angle :)

April 1st rolled around and we had to continue a tradition...

April 1, 2010 (the day we picked up our dear Marilyn.  That's H in my belly!)

April 1, 2011 (Just back from a car show, H is now 10 months old!)

April 1, 2012 (H is 22 months old - and dang, that woman is pregnant AGAIN!
7 months pregnant with C!)

Easter arrived! 

H checking out what the Bunny brought

Max's bunny I made

butterflies on our wall behind the table

thoroughly THRILLED with her giant rubber duck from Bubbe and Papa

H and Max

making sure they have a reason to hate us someday

eggs ripe for the hunting

Lo and her Daddy very focused on  their technique

That catches us up mostly...onto the 500 other things I should be doing instead of waiting for pictures to upload...