Disneyland!!!!

This year, Nate's (immediate) family decided to have their first annual reunion.What better place to do that than the Happiest Place on Earth? So we packed our bags and headed cross country to Disneyland!

The drive was an adventure in and of itself. It's about a 23 hour drive, but that doesn't include the many stops you have to make when you have two toddlers and a nursing baby. I was pretty stressed and thought the drive would be pretty miserable, but by some miracle it wasn't! Don't get me wrong, there were miserable moments/hours. But the vast majority of the time we were able to keep the kids entertained, fed, and happy. We listened to music, colored, played with stickers, ate snacks, watched movies, and opened little surprises from Grandma all along the way. Even Adeline did well. She's pretty notorious for screaming her head off while in her car seat but she really started to grow out of that a bit this trip. We took our time and even stopped in Albuquerque so Nate could go to the temple and I could meet up with my old roommate Jayrin.

Our first day there, we were able to go to the beach. This was the first time any of our girls had been in the ocean. They were a little nervous at first but I think they had so much fun playing with their cousins at the beach.

We walked around the the temple ground at Newport Beach before hitting the beach. 

Adeline was not so sure about dipping her toes in the water. 

Sand wrestling 

We had 5 days to visit Disneyland and California Adventure. I thought it might be too many, but we were busy every day. It was a good time to be there as well. The new Frozen show just opened (which we all really LOVED) and the new Soarin' ride was opened while we were there.

My little Anna, Elsa, and Olaf ready for our first day in the park! 

Before our trip, we made sure to do our research and watch lots of Disney movies so the girls would know the characters. That was one of the best parts actually! They loved meeting all their favorite characters from the movies and they just thought it was so magical. 

Anna and Elsa were of course their favorite princesses to meet. Immediately, our two Elsa's ran straight to Elsa and our two Anna's ran to Anna. It was so cute!

The girls (and adults) really enjoyed the rides as well. Both Eden and Lydia conquered their first roller coaster and informed me they were so proud! The nice thing with going with a large group is you get to trade off with who has the kids and get a good mix of adult rides and kiddie rides. 

Tower of Terror

Splash Mountain

Even Adeline enjoyed the rides

Adeline did great on this adventure. I wore her in the carrier a lot and she would sleep or snuggle. When she would wake up I would feed her (sometimes on a ride or during a show; you gotta do what you gotta do!). Then someone would take a turn holding her so I could go on some adult rides. Then when she would get fussy, I'd just put her back in the carrier and she'd go back to sleep. She was relatively easy throughout the trip. 

Adeline is snoozing on the ride in her carrier

Public breastfeeding! How scandalous! 

I love, love, love my carrier. Adeline could face in or out depending on her mood, and it was so comfortable for me to wear. 

 We stayed at a hotel directly across the street from the park which was really convenient for taking a break during the day for naps and swimming.

Papa and Adeline had a grand time together! Lydia crashed before we made it back to the hotel that day

Eden and her Funcle (fun uncle Brady)

What's a family reunion without matching shirts???? I made and embroidered these. Man, it was A LOT of work, but they turned out so cute. It was so much fun to spend time with all the family.

Adeline's update- 4 Months

I loved that I kept monthly updates of Eden and Lydia for their first year. They changed so much in that time, and I honestly don't remember most of it! So while it's great having those blog entries to look back on, it also makes me feel sad and guilty that I'm already falling behind on Adeline's updates! I'm the third child and I always gave my mom a hard time that my older siblings have more pictures than me, and their baby books are more finished, and they had fancier birthday cakes when they were little, etc. Now I totally understand it! It just gets really hard to keep up. But I'm going to try my best. I missed Adeline's 2 and 3 month updates and we're closer to 5 months than 4 at this point but I'm going to call this her 4 month update.

After having my twins, I was afraid to have another baby because I just didn't think I could love another one as much. Boy, was I wrong. I LOVE Adeline so much and she has brought such joy to our family! She is constantly smiling and chatting and giggling. She loves watching her older sisters and they love hugging and squishing her! She still likes to be held quite a bit (which I love!) but she's also getting really good at playing by herself on the floor with her toys. She loves her swing and takes most of her naps in their. Her other naps are usually in the carrier or her car seat while we're on the go. She rarely naps in her crib, which may be a problem down the road, but for now this works. At nights, she's been in a Pack N Play in our room, but we've moved her to her crib in her room.Eden and Lydia were only in our room for a few weeks because none of us were getting any sleep! But with Adeline, I've liked having her close by. Also we now live in a two story house, and I haven't wanted to get up in the middle of the night and go up the stairs.  Call me lazy, but it's true! She was doing really great and sleeping through the night quite often, but then we went on a month long vacation that totally threw her off. She now thinks she's a newborn and likes to get up every 3 hours to eat. Hopefully, as we get back into our groove, she'll start sleeping better again.

Loving my cuddle time!

Daddy got his cuddles (and nap) in the foyer at church. 

 We had her checkup earlier this week and she weighed in at 13 lbs 15 oz. I can't remember her length for sure, but I'm thinking it was 25 inches. Whatever it is, she is definitely taller and bigger than my other two were. It's crazy that she is wearing outfits right now that they didn't wear until they were probably 9 months old. She is growing so fast, but I think she is just perfect! Her doctor commented again at how crazy strong she is. She rolls both directions and scoots and rolls herself all around the floor when she plays. She is definitely not safe on the bed or couch and even the bumbo any more. (She just arches her back and practically tips the bumbo over now.)

She doesn't take a bottle which is fine most of the time. I'm pretty much with her 24/7. However, I do go and play soccer once a week and it would be really nice if Nate could give her a bottle while I'm gone, or maybe we could even go on a kid-free date someday, gasp! If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear it. She doesn't take a pacifier either but she's rarely fussy so I'm not that concerned about that.

I can't think of anything else important to update on at the moment. Basically, she is loved so much by us and is just changing so rapidly!