Our First Garden

We began to make plans once we started getting settled in North Carolina to do our very first garden with the girls. We talked about having a garden when we lived in the mountains, but we were on the deer path, so we decided not to do a garden then. In North Carolina, where we are living now, we have a great spot for a garden. Brent was watching the weather last weekend and noticed that we were going to have one sunny day followed by a couple of really rainy days, so he said it would be a great time to put the garden in.

Papa and Nana have a local hardware just a short drive from where we are living so Monday,we started at Royal Trustworthy Hardware choosing all our plants for our garden. They have both seeds and seedlings so the girls picked mostly seeds with a few seedlings as well. I was impressed with their selection. They willingly chose beets, radishes and honeydew along with our potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and peppers.

Here is Bethany helping to measure out our field peas.

The big girls made sure to include Allie too.

Brent had to do some repair on my grandfather's tiller to get it up and running and then it was time to make the garden plot. This was right at the same spot where my grandfather always placed his garden. I thought it was fitting when I realized that we were planting our first garden on what would have been my Poppy's 89th birthday.

We asked Nana for some paint stirrers to make labels for our garden. The girls made labels while Brent started tilling.

Allie and I  offered moral support.

After the garden area got bigger, we had the big girls help rake out the grass. Isn't Bethany doing a great job supervising?

Finally, the garden plot was ready to plant.

Sweetest little garden helper ♡

Everyone took turns planting some of the seeds and seedlings.

Rachel added the labels and we are ready to watch our garden grow!

We are excited to see what actually grows and look forward to enjoying our harvest!

Back Together Again!

The big sisters went to stay with grandparents the night before Allie was born since the doctor said she would be coming soon. They were with the grandparents while we were with Allie in the hospital and for just a couple of days after that for us to get Allie settled a little bit and try to sleep when she actually slept!

She definitely has her days and nights confused and sleeps great during the day! Here she is catching a nap on Tuesday afternoon before her big sisters arrived home later that afternoon.

We met family to eat supper, pick up the girls and let them meet Allie. They all wanted to help Grandpa as he carried Allie's carrier inside.

The biggest big sister is loving being big sister again. She is very good with Allie and has actually even been able to get Allie to sleep while she held her.

The bigger big sister is loving Allie lots too. If you ask her, she doesn't remember too much about when Bethany was born since she was only 2 at the time, so she is enjoying big sister again now that she is older. She is doing a great job being a big sister again!

The newest big sister can hardly stand it because she is so excited that Allie is here. She will walk by her when Allie is in her basinette or while I am holding her and say "Aww, Allie is so coot" ( Bethany has not quite gotten the word cute mastered yet and it is SO cute to hear her say her version of "cute"!
I reply "You are so cute too, Bethany." She replies every single time with "No, I'm not. I am the big sister" Apparently to her 2 year old self, only tiny babies can be cute...
So I just smile at Bethany now and tell her she is beautiful.

We are so thankful for all 4 of our beautiful girls and that all the big sisters are enjoying Allie so much too. We are looking forward to watching Allie grow and watching the unique and special spot she fills in our family just by being Allie♡

Allie's Two Week Checkup

 Miss Allie was doing so well at her newborn checkup that they decided that her next checkup would be at 2 weeks.

 Here she is headed into the doctor's office. She is doing very well. We are seeing some issues with acid reflux so they are keeping a check on that. She is gaining weight very well though. They wanted her to gain an ounce a day and she had gained exactly 1 ounce each day since her newborn checkup. The PA was very pleased and so she will go back next for her 2 month checkup.
Weight at 2 week checkup: 6 pounds, 14 ounces

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from her 2 week old pictures♡

So thankful for our girl and that she is doing so well!

Allie's Newborn Checkup

 Since Allie came home from the hospital on Saturday, her newborn checkup was scheduled for Monday morning. We started with a new pediatrician ' s office with our recent move as well and we were looking forward to our first check up there.

 Allie, as you can see, was not a fan of getting weighed or checked at this visit, but she got a great report. She weighed 6 pounds, 3.5 ounces when we were discharged from the hospital and was 6 pounds, 4 ounces at her checkup (which is exactly what big sister Rachel weighed when she was born). They were very pleased with this half ounce gain because it means Allie has stopped losing weight, as all babies do the first couple of days after birth, and has already begun to gain weight again!

 She was much happier once she was swaddled back up with Daddy holding her.

Allie was doing so well with gaining weight that her next checkup is scheduled for when she will be 2 weeks old.
Weight: 6 pounds, 4 ounces
Length: 19.25 inches