May 2015, in pictures

Just when I thought I found some margin in my life to blog on occasion, I was reminded that life is but a series of seasons.  And seasons in parenthood come and go sometimes as often as we change our socks.  So, I am trying to find some sort of balance so that I can blog on occasion because it is something that definitely "fills my tank". 

May was a beautiful month full of mild weather that brought lots of time outdoors to play and visit.  I am so glad I had children because they have reminded me how much I love being outside.  I had to keep reminding myself to take advantage of the high 80's and low 90's this month because triple digits were certainly around the corner.  

Katherine no longer takes a morning nap, however, she forces the issue when she has a huge tantrum and then passes out on the floor.  I could have started a series this month on places that Katherine slept, on mostly tile surfaces.  In this particular photo she was found sleeping outside my bathroom door by a pile of laundry!

Richard is eating pureed foods and table foods like a boss!  He got to taste his first strawberry and loved it.  I LOVE the way his sweet little baby hands grip onto things.

On our way north for Mother's Day weekend, Anna's and my crews were able to have brunch with the Smith-Zimmerman-Hobson bunch.  I'm so glad I know these sweet friends and I love watching all our kids play!  Tammie made liege waffles and they were amazing.  Day made right there.

We found ourselves in jackets once we arrived in Cottonwood on Mother's Day weekend.  It was chilly!  

HB and Bassie enjoyed their cake at the Gracie and Pete's celebratory lunch following their first communion.  

The hubby was working on Mother's Day, but we enjoyed breakfast out with my mother-in-law.  Meals out with three children are still daunting but my trio did pretty well this morning.  I declared it was time to go though after HB jumped over the back of our booth into the empty booth behind me.  

May has also brought a lot of interesting messes compliments of HB.  This particular concoction occurred during naptime when I dozed off while nursing Richard.  Chef HB cut up a stick of butter with child safety scissors, dumped a whole bottle of sweet relish, cut open several packets of tea and squeezed a nearly new bottle of strawberry flavored toothpaste into this bowl.  Next time he can hold the toothpaste (wink, wink)!

Richard turned 7 months old and is now officially closer to being a toddler than a newborn!  Can I go cry for a second? He is still the sweetest, most mild mannered baby ever.  And he has the most squeezable thighs to boot!

We celebrated Katherine's second birthday with a weanie roast (hot dogs, bratwursts, and smoked sausage) and this delectable leaning tower of chocolate cake, nutella, whipped cream and strawberries.  It actually fell over in the fridge but it still tasted amazing.  She really loved opening her presents this year and made the cutest gasps of delight when pulling tissue paper out of bags.

My Dad received his honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Arizona.  It was really neat to watch him get hooded on stage in front of roughly 30,000 people in the football stadium.  Receiving this award was a neat blessing for all his hours of volunteer work and advocacy on behalf of the University.  

Happy half birthday, Richard!

Richard Allan has brought such joy to our lives the past six months.  He has truly fit right into the fold of our family, and made our transition from a family of four to a family of five much easier than we anticipated.  Since I was absent from the blog-o-sphere during the majority of the last six months, I thought I'd provide a quick recap of our son's growth and notable milestones.

At birth.  8 pounds 7 ounces of pure, screaming joy.  His delivery was the easiest of my three.  And he was super sweet from the beginning.  I love baby burrito pictures!

One month old.  Despite having a hard time getting rid of his jaundice, this big boy was on track for growth his first month!  He had a busy first month of life with his first portrait session for family photos, first trip to bible study with momma and first trip to church.  Oh, and who can forget his first "outing" to Costco.  (Does Costco qualify as an outing?)

Month two brought Thanksgiving which was celebrated with lots of extended family in Buckeye, his first smile, first birthday party (for Kendall Rovey), and the start of the some tummy trouble which was alleviated when momma removed dairy from her diet.  He weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces and measured 24 inches long at his two month well check.

Three months.  Met his Papa Jim (Kelly's dad), had his first cold, celebrated Christmas and went to his first livestock show.  He made some new friends in the church nursery when he stayed for the first time and most importantly, he had his first full night of sleep this month, woohoo!  

Four months old and full of smiles! We visited Aunt Anna and her crew in Maricopa this month, had our first play date at Chick-fil-A, started grabbing toys, traveled to Cottonwood for the first time,"played" at the park, and laughed for the first time!  He weighed 14 pounds 3 ounces and measured 25 1/2 inches long at his 4-month well check.

Five months.  Richard is getting stronger and stronger, which is totally evident in this picture.  He is trying to sit up on his own by grabbing at everything within reach, especially food on people's plates. He has finally started getting in the groove with our night time routine and is ready to fall asleep right after HB and Katherine go to bed.  (Praise the Lord!)  He also got his first haircut and handled it like a pro!

Six months.  Brother bear cut his first two teeth (on the bottom) at the same time.  He has been grabbing at food while sitting on momma's lap, so he started eating a few purees (green beans and sweet potatoes so far) and loves them.  He is proficient at rolling all over, and occasionally ends up on the tile and off his blanket.  He loves to be tickled and kick his legs when is sitting in his bouncy chair.  

Richard Allan, aka little bear, we are so in love with you and rejoice daily that you are our son.  You are a bright ray of sunshine to our family and we delight in hearing your giggle, seeing you grow and know it's only a matter of time before you're trying to keep up with your siblings.  Happy half birthday, sweet boy!

Richard is 5 months!

At five months old, our handsome son:

-is starting to be a real ham.  He loves to laugh and smile!
-has started laughing at the antics of his older siblings.  Even if they are driving me crazy, he thinks they're hilarious.
-is trying to grab everything.  Plates.  Food.  Hands. Hair.  Phones.
-can be found chewing on his thumb or pointer finger a lot of the time.
-is becoming more and more vocal, squawking and babbling all the time!

Katherine is 7-no-8 months!

2013 came and went without a hitch, except for posting my sweet little daughter's memorable milestones at 7 months.  It's a good thing there are no rules to blogging because as soon as I make a decision in  my head about posting more, seasons like the holidays come and go and I essentially stop blogging for several weeks. Enough on that though and onto the subject of today's post.

Miss Katherine Beth has recently gone through a growth spurt and while I don't know her actual weight and length statistics, she seems to be growing longer and longer.  She is still one of the sweetest, most laid back babies I have ever known and I love watching HB dote on her.  She finds her big brother absolutely hilarious and now giggles and snorts and growls at him across the dinner table and often when she is in the swing.  He loves to run around in front of her which just tickles Miss K to no end.

She is finally able to hold herself up sitting and really enjoys the exer-saucer (pictured above).  She is just now starting to push herself in circles - well, no circles yet, but little pushes nonetheless.  She is eating Cheerios in this picture, thanks to HB.  He just gave them to her like it was no big deal.  Sometimes I wonder what other snacks he might have passed along to her when I wasn't noticing.  She has her two center bottom teeth and overall she is a great eater; she loves most all purees and is cute as a button when she smacks her lips like she is actually chewing.  I provide plenty of "real" food in addition to the purees so she can practice feeding herself and experience different textures.  She really loves chewing on a piece of steak, she loves avocado and really enjoys noodles and veggies from the various soups she has tried.

When we take Katherine outside she growls like crazy with excitement.  She loves when the leaves rustle and is absolutely mesmerized by any type of animal - you can see my dog is also quite infatuated with her (or the snack in her hand) in the picture above.  My dog would love to lick her face all day long but thankfully I run interference on that.  Just the other day Katherine got an awesome hold on Johnnie Reb's ear and was ready to put it in her mouth to investigate this object a little further when I promptly removed it.  Johnnie Reb didn't seem to notice or mind one bit.

She can't believe she is 8-months either!

Katherine sleeps like a champ at night but leaves a little to be desired during daytime napping.  She goes to bed at 6:30pm or a little after and wakes around 6am, give or take.  She has been known to sleep in until 7am a time or two!  She takes a short morning nap and then a nice afternoon nap at the same time as HB.  This afternoon nap time with both of them going down at the same time is my favorite time of day, lol!

I am already getting a little sentimental about her first birthday coming up although we still have another four months.  I am really, really enjoying this stage with both of my kids and am grateful for new chances each day to snuggle my children and show them how much I love them.

Happy half birthday, Katherine

Wow, my little girl is six months old.  Where does the time go?  Having two children has certainly made time seem to slip through my fingers even quicker.  Katherine is becoming more and more fun the older she gets.  She still seems rather serious at times but her personality is coming out more and more with each passing day.  Here are a few of her milestones at six months...

• She has rolled to her tummy once or twice but she is much more inclined to stay on her back.
• Whether she is in the tub, on the changing table or playing on the floor, she loves to chew on her feet.
• Baby purees and solid foods are now making an appearance in her daily diet.  She has an oatmeal cereal concoction in the morning that includes milk and prune juice.  Doesn't that just sound delightful? She has only tried green beans so far but seems to really like them.
• Girlfriend loves to grab at your cheeks and pull your face close to hers.  If she isn't able to grab your face she will gladly pull your hair, or ears, or whatever she can get her hands on.  She loves to nuzzle your face though and with an open mouth, ha!
• Her sleeping habits are improving all the time (thankfully).  She goes to bed at 6pm or a little after and wakes sometime mid-morning for a bottle - if it's before 4am I give her the pacifier, if it's after 4am I oblige and then she will typically sleep in until around 7am.
• Although her weight is average, she has the most delightful chunky thigh rolls.  She weighed 16 pounds 1 ounce (50th percentile) and measured 27 inches long (90th percentile) at her 6-month well check.  
• She has found her voice and I think we may have a screamer on our hands!  She actually sounds like a pterodactyl, or at least what I think one would sound like.  
• Bath time is prime play time.  Her favorite toy is a plastic bath book.  She howls in despair when I remove it from her death grip to dry her off.  She actually rolled her head to the side this past week and put part of her face in the water.  

Prepare yourself for a picture overload.  I.can't.get.enough.of.her.  

Clockwise, from top left.
1-Playing with Grandma while visiting Grandpa at the hospital.
2-Just chilling with the Baby-ators on.
3-Sitting in her big girl high chair preparing for some actual chow.
4-Daddy helping with the monthly "chair photo."
5-Smiling at Daddy instead of at me while I took her six month photo.
6-A girls picture after church.

What was big brother HB like at six months?  Check him out here.

3-and-4 month milestones

Who would have thought that my precious baby doll is four months old already?  Where has the time gone friends?  I now understand the absence of some of my blogger bodies after having an additional child - I am lucky to get the dishes done, most toys put away  and possibly a load of laundry at night before succumbing to sleep much less writing a blog entry.  Ah, but I found time for this one!  Finally!!

Katherine is rather serious in her 3-month photo but don't let her fool you folks.  She is a smiler, more and more everyday in fact.  She has the cutest chuckle - I wouldn't call it a laugh yet - and is very ticklish under her arms, over her ribs and under her chin.  Here is a small list of her achievements at four months old:

• She weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces at her 4-month old well check (50th percentile) and measured 25 inches in length (75th percentile). 
• She has just started grabbing items and bringing them to her mouth.  It was just this past weekend that she managed to get a set of plastic keys far enough in her mouth that she was gagging herself, repeatedly.  If that's not a milestone, I don't know what is.
• She also loves to grab her pacifier and try to re-insert it in her mouth.  She is not very successful at this yet but she has a mighty strong grip.
• I am still pumping four times a day so she can eat a hearty 3 1/2 ounces of milk roughly every 3 hours.
• Praise the Lord, she is sleeping through the night!  She hits the rack early though - 6pm - and wakes mid-morningish for a quick snack before sleeping in until 6am or so.
• She holds her head up rather well although she despises tummy time.  She loves to sit on my lap and watch her brother roving about as he lovingly destroys any semblance of order in our living room.



I almost captured a smile this time around.  Maybe next month.

HB continues to dote on his little sister bringing her toys and continually wiping her face and re-inserting her pacifier even if she does not want it.  He has brought new meaning to the phrase "temper tantrum" as of recent and is truly challenging my patience.  He continues to sleep great at night and eats almost anything I place in front of him.  He is a bit nosy and loves to watch everything going on around him.  And he is a lover of all things outside - dirt, sticks, livestock troughs, mommy's dog and all our livestock.  I take him outside each morning when Katherine goes down for her first nap.  We can be outside for an hour though and he still throws a fit when we come in.  Boys will be boys, right?  All in all though, he is a good natured, charming little guy that has stolen mommy's heart.

Loving on his sister in the swing.  He loves to lean in for a "hug"!

Two Month Chair Photos

 I attempted our classic chair photo on the actual date but I learned, yet again, that timing is everything with infants.  Katherine had already been up for about an hour and I was hustling to fit one more thing in before putting her down for a nap.  Well, she wasn't going to have any of that!

I love the little mini Keds she is wearing.   Makes her look so adult like!

Take two happened two days later.  I actually managed to get a bow put on her without any crying ensuing.  And her hair looks semi taken care of.  Girlfriend has some crazy hair.