Catching up photo dump - August

 This may be all I can do for awhile, but it's something!!

Blue eyes:

We went to the Tellus Museum for a morning of digging for fossils and exploring the hands on science stuff. Audrey and her friend Wyatt loved it:

One night Daddy worked late and Mommy took the kids to Moe's. Total win.

All summer Grace came to watch the kids so I could do some work. Now she is headed off to college and we will miss her GREATLY!!

Football season is almost here!

Ethan is a fan of carrots. They mostly ended up in his mouth!

Audrey started back to school!! She was SO excited!!! She's in a Pre-K class with 3 other girls and 11 boys. Bless her teachers' hearts. I think it will be a good year for her.

I am 6 months old today (well, yesterday)!

I didn't do a good job of updating the blog the last month, but I did want to at least document Ethan at 6 month old. We go Friday to the doctor for his well check. I think he's about 18lb and maybe 27 inches, but we will see! Audrey was 15lb and 25 inches.

• Wears 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diaper.
• Drinks 6-8 oz at 7, 11, 4, 7, and 11. I'm planning to drop the dream feed soon, but I keep chickening out. I like my sleep!
• He sleeps from 9:30-11 in the mornings and 1:30-3:30 in the afternoons. He then sleeps from 7pm-7am except when I wake him at 11 to top him off.
• I started him on solids this week. I tried bananas last week and it didn't go well at all, but tried again this week and he seemed to catch on better. He has also had carrots and apples. He liked the carrots a lot, but no so much the apples.
• He loves to play with (eat) his feet, his hands, his bib, and toys. He will grab anything within reach and it goes straight to his mouth.
• Still not teeth. Copious amounts of drool.
• He razzes with his mouth and does this fake cough thing, which is pretty funny. Talks to us some with babbles.
• He's always smiling and laughing, especially at Audrey. She just has to look in his direction and he starts to cackle. 
• He still just rolls from stomach to back. He's close to rolling the other way, but can't quite get over. He's so much more content than Audrey was - she was ready to go, go, go, and he is ok just to stay where you place him. He's always moving and kicking with excitement, just doesn't seem to need to get across the room like she was.
• He is no fun from 4pm-7pm. He only wants to be held, which is tiring. But it is sweet that he loves me so much. And it won't last forever so I will enjoy it while I can!

I am 5 months old today!!

Can't believe our little guy is already 5 months old! These days are just flying by!

He is wearing 6-9 month sized clothes, is going to graduate to a size 3 diaper as soon as we finish the box of 2's, and weighs around 15-16 lbs. He has had two haircuts and it's coming back in blonde and very thick. He is happy and content pretty much all day long unless he is in the car. He absolutely cannot stand to be in the car. He drinks 6-8oz 5 times a day and sleeps 7pm-8am (I do wake still wake him up at 11pm for his last bottle). He laughs and coos and loves to interact with people, and loves to watch his surroundings. He's happiest in my arms, but doesn't mind playing on the floor or in his jump-up seat or Bumbo. I'll probably start solids sometime this month, but I'm in no rush to add that t to our day. He is fairly consistent (up until this last week anyway) with two solid naps a day and an occasional catnap in between if needed. He loves the pool, being outside, and is really still a very easy baby (outside of the carseat - did I mention that?). We love him to pieces and still keep praising the Lord for this wonderful gift of a son.

It's official!!

We went before a judge on July 15 and made Ethan a permanent resident in our family. It was just a technicality - he's been official since we got him in our hearts. But it was nice to mark the occasion and have the paperwork signed into record. We love our sweet boy!!

Catching up photo dump - July

Here it is a month later. I'm so bad at this! Here are some highlights from July:

Ethan discovered jumping:

We celebrated Nick's birthday, without a ton of fanfare:

Ethan got his first haircut:

We took walks, despite the heat:

Ethan loves his Bumbo:

And Cousin Henry took a turn as well!!

We went swimming with friends as much as we could:

And graduated to the little bit bigger boy bathtub:

We slept through thunderstorms:

And got ready for college:

Adorable siblings:

Audrey rode a horse named Peanut:

And got more allergy testing (boo!):

And Ethan got more and more adorable:

Meanwhile, I even found time to paint this table for the kids' playroom:

We've stayed quite busy this month, and celebrating all the July birthdays is only beginning. Next up, Audrey's birthday week!

I am 4 months old today!

Ethan is 4 months old!!

Here's what he is up to:

• Drinks 4 6oz bottles of formula a day. The dr wants us to switch from the Neosure formula he has been on, so I will be doing that once I finish the stash we have.
• Sleeps 7pm-8am most nights, and I wake him around 11pm to feed him once, putting him right back to sleep.
• Sleeps 9-10:30am and 1-4pm for his naps. He just goes right to sleep when I put him down. Such an easy baby!
• He weighs 14lb 5oz (39th percentile) and is 24.5 in long (37th percentile. By comparison, Audrey was 13lb 1oz at her 4 month appt and 23.5 in long (around 20th percentile for both).
• He was proclaimed "perfect" by the doctor at his 4 month check up today. He received his vaccines and didn't have any reaction, not even fussiness like last time. 
• He smiles and laughs easily and loves to interact with anyone who is around. Every time he laughs, he hiccups.
• He wears 3-6 months sized clothes, and a size 2 diaper. He can fit into some 6-9 month clothes and I don't think he will be 6 months before we have to move him up.
• He sucks his thumb while he's sleeping and is starting to do it more when he's up as well. I have to admit, it's super cute, even though I know it will be harder to break him of it down the road. But no more paci hunts!!!
• He still loves to be in a carrier snuggled up to me, and frequently takes a catnap between 4-7 while I cook dinner.
• He is easy going and almost never cries. The car is just about the only place he's not happy. We switched him to a convertible carseat from his infant carrier to see if the position change would help, and it's a marginal difference at most. He doesn't mind other seats; maybe it's that he has no one to talk to.
• He rolls from his tummy to his back and can get up on his elbows while on his tummy to look around. He's got great neck control.

He is simply the most wonderful boy in the world and we love him more every day.

Happy belated anniversary to us! And other items of note

Nick and I celebrated 13 years of marriage this week. We went out on the 2nd, the day after our anniversary, for a wonderful dinner ALONE. I forgot how nice it is to be served food and NOT worry about feeding anyone else or food allergies or crying etc etc etc. Just us. We both feel so blessed to be celebrating a milestone, even if it isn't a big one.

Last week Audrey, Ethan and I went with our MOPS group to a small farm not far away. Audrey got to pet lots of different types of animals, and even retrieve an egg from a hen who had just laid it. She LOVED being at the farm and all the animals, but far and away her favorite was getting to ride a pony for the very first time. She just loves horses and thought this was fantastic. She told the lady who was guiding the horse to "let go and let me go fast!" I am in real trouble if this continues to be her favorite thing. Horseback riding is not a cheap hobby!! But she was pretty stinking cute up on that pony. Farmer Audrey!

Meanwhile, Ethan has perfected the pouty lip. He has always done this when he is getting ready to cry, and boy can he stick it far out there!!  It is just too cute and I admit, I let him go for a minute when he's getting upset just so I can see it. And then it promptly breaks my heart and I cuddle him to make it all better.