Recitals

It's my favorite time of year for the girls...recital time!!! It is one of my favorite things to watch them do and they both get so excited for it! Here is Juliette getting ready for her dress rehearsal!

But before the actual recitals, we had the May Crowning Mass at school, which was important for the second graders because they got to come in their First Communion outfits and process into the Church for this important all school mass.  So of course we attended!  Here I am with some of my favorite friends!

Ben ready to process into the Church, looking very Holy :)

So handsome!

Good job Ben!

And then came recital weekend!  Unfortunately the girls were not in the same show this year, so we attended two different recitals on Saturday.  Here is Juliette all ready!  She practiced at home and really knew the routine well.

And here is her cheering section!

She did awesome!  They did a ballet routine to a song called "Flowers in the Garden" and it was so cute!

Here is our little flower coming out of her flower pot!

You can see the excitement on her face when she is done - so proud of herself!  She really did awesome!

What good supporters!

Flowers for Juju!

Cutie pie is so happy!

After Juliette's recital, we had two soccer games to get to for Ben and then Abbey.  We had a few hours at home after that to rest and then it was off to Abbey's recital.  She is ready!  Unlike Juliette, she refused to practice at home.  I was a little worried she didn't know the routine that well.  But, unlike the previous two years, she wasn't nervous!  She did not cry in the car on the way saying she didn't want to go!  She was actually excited and looking forward to being on stage, which was great!

And she nailed it!  She had me fooled because she knew the whole thing so well.  You can tell by the smile on her face how much she is enjoying this routine - it was a tap routine to "Broadway Baby".

Great job Abbey!

 And I love how Matthew is watching his sisters too!

She was very happy after the show, but in true typical Abbey style, did not want to pose for pictures.  I was lucky to get this one!

She wouldn't put her hands down for a nice picture with the flowers though. 

And then after we tortured her by trying to get cute pictures, she was off doing what she would rather be doing, playing!

Such a pretty girl though!

I was so proud of both girls!  I will try to get their videos uploaded onto the blog so you can see how amazing they did!

4 Months!

When I last updated about Matthew for his 3 month check, he was in the 7th percentile. I knew my previous experience with all my kids was that they began to lose weight around this time and we usually have to switch to formula. Turns out Matthew was not different in this regard. Around 3.5 months I took him in for a weight check because I just knew he wasn't growing and sure enough, he had lost about 6 oz in two weeks. So, we started the transition to formula. It is always sad for me when breastfeeding ends, but it just doesn't seem to work for me after around 3-4 months. He went 16 weeks with all breast milk though, so that was pretty good. Once I start supplementing, it goes very quickly to being all formula. The good news is that when I took him in for his 4 month appointment two weeks later, he had gained 2 pounds! I think he was making up for lost time! So his stats were 13 pounds, 8 oz and 23 3/4 inches tall. He was still only in about the 10th percentile, but gaining weight again so we were happy with that! He continues to be a happy baby and his sleeping continues to improve, although still not quite consistent yet. He smiles a lot, loves it when we play with him, and loves grabbing into his toys that are hanging above him. He is a sweet baby!