Six months

Six months. Her first year is almost half way over. To say time is flying by is an understatement, and the fact that she is most likely our last baby makes it very sweet. But, it's also so amazing to watch her change and grow and see who she is becoming.

At six months C is still exclusively breastfeeding, although she just recently started some solid foods and has tried peas and carrots. She is not a huge fan, thus far. Nursing is still going amazing and I truly love every second of it. She has no teeth, thank goodness, and despite lots of drool we don't see any peeking through yet. Just this last week we transitioned her out of her snuggle nest, because she was getting too big for it, and moved her into the pack in play in our room. She still ends up in our bed sometimes between midnight and two when she wakes up to eat, but hey, baby steps. 

She's gotten a good amount of pool time lately, especially now that she can wear sunscreen. She really likes it, although gets annoyed when she splashes and the water hits her in the face. I've also been trying to work on getting her to nap in her crib, instead of exclusively napping on my chest. First, she hates this. Second, I'm sad to let go of the chest naps, even though it's time to start moving her towards that. So that has been a fight that sometimes I win, but a lot of time she wins. But we are working on it. 

She is super close to crawling! She is getting up on all fours and rocking, or going into plank pose. She can also sit unassisted with no problem, and rolls all over the place.

She also really likes Jello, but Jello is smart enough to keep her distance so her hair doesn't get yanked.

Flagstaff visit 2018

Right after we got home from our California trip, we spent one night at home, repacked up, and headed up to Flagstaff. We try to go at least once a summer, since it's our favorite place and you can't beat the gorgeous weather this time of year. We spent out first day out at the lake, where we surrounded by storms on each side, but had unreal blue sky directly above us. 

We also spent time swimming (and snacking!) at our hotel pool.

We hit all our favorite breweries and took the kids around campus.

And then, as we usually do we went to the pound to see the puppies and kitties....

And then this time this special little girl, who was the last of her litter and had no tail, caught our eye and stole our hearts.

So, world, I introduce to you; Miss Jello. She was named by the boys, and she's very sweet and calm. She's actually been sick since we got her, but after several vet visits we are hoping she is on the mend!

California Summer 2018

We took our California trip a few weeks ago to visit family, celebrate S's bday (34!), and escape the ridiculous Phoenix heat. It was an amazing trip, with LOTS of beach days.

Some mini gold adventure:

Birthday Celebrations and fun with friends:

Including a visit from this special girl:

Yes, I'd say a good time was had by all!

Except maybe Stella, who was worried we were going to leave without her so she kept climbing in the stroller and crying.

Five Months

Our little blue eyed girl is five months old! She is still incredibly happy and easygoing, although she still lets her dissatisfaction be known if she gets hungry, tired, spends too long on her tummy, or is stuck in the car seat for too long.

We are still breastfeeding on demand, but will probably start introducing foods when she hits six months. She automatically flips onto her tummy when you lay her on her back, although she hasn't quite mastered rolling back over to her back when she gets sick of it. Instead she just screams at us until someone either flips her back or picks her up. She can sit up for a few seconds by herself and she loves the new playmat we got her and bouncing in her bouncer. She's also pushing up tall on her forearms when she is on her tummy and starting to pull her knees under her.

She is still sleeping with us, and sleep is about the same. She wakes up once during the night and then in the early morning hours, although lately when she wakes up around 5:30am she wants to stay up, which mama doesn't love

This month she had two big firsts: her first airplane ride, and her first time being sick. She did amazing on the airplane, both ways. she slept pretty much the whole time, fussed only a little bit, and was easily comforted by nursing. But on our last day of vacation we noticed she was being fussy and we realized she was running a low fever of 101. It came down pretty easily with Tylenol, but you could tell she didn't feel great. By the next day, when we flew home, I started seeing the telltale spots, and sure enough when I took her to the Dr. Monday she was diagnosed with Hand/foot/mouth. All of our kids have had it, and thankfully none of them have ever had  really bad case, her included. The worst part, besides them being uncomfortable, is that it is super contagious and so we have been pretty much quarantined since we got home from vacation. Luckily she seems to be pretty much over it now, and no one else seems to have picked it up.

Anyway, she is pretty much still the sweetest little thing ever and she gets prettier by the day. We are loving watching her personality develop and I love seeing how she has her brothers and her Daddy wrapped around her little finger!

Happy five month, baby girl!

Madison trip 2018

So, you all know we have our annual cousin/family trip every year where my sister and her family come and visit us, and that it's one of my favorite time of the year. Well, this year we decided it was our time to hop on a plane with all four of our kids and go visit them in Wisconsin. To say the kids were excited is an understatement.... they had literally been asking me how many days until the trip since January, and last week it was finally time to head to the airport!

(He was so excited!)

The flight actually went amazingly well. C slept pretty much the entire time and the boys took turns on the iPad and the kindle. There were no fight or tantrums and S and I were feeling pretty proud as the plane landed. And the, as we were waiting to de-board, R puked everywhere. So then we were that family with the puke covered kid. But we pulled it together, stripped him down, cleaned him up, and went on our way.

The first part of our trip was just having out in Madison. Sunday was Father's Day so we let the guys have a "guy's day" and my sister, mom and me took all the kids to a local splash pad. It was so nice to be outside in the middle of summer and not dying in 120 degree heat, and the kids had a blast and also tired themselves out!

We also had to take the kids ice skating, since that is a foreign concept to our kids. One of their cousins plays on a hockey team and we also got to see one of his games. It was pretty impressive. I think L, R and I made it around the ring about four times before we threw in the towel, and L2 refused to even put on skates!

Mid week we went up to the "River House", a cute little cabin in the woods that my sister, her husband and our parents own jointly. It was adorable, and so green, but the bugs were Killer! C and I stayed inside for the most part since she is too little for bug spray and because..... well, because I don't like bugs!

(braving the outside for a few moments!)

And everyone took turns holding her on the screened in porch, so it was kind of like she was outside!

But really, most of the trip was spent sitting on the front porch, enjoy the beautiful weather, drinking cold beers and spending much needed time with family. 

And napping.....

But really, my sister lives in an awesome little neighborhood and the kids got out scooters and bikes and went up and down the street while they made memories that I hope will stay with them forever. Don't get me wrong, they also spent a lot of time enconssed in the basement playing video games, all of them taking advantage of the fact that all of us adults enjoyed the peace and quiet and were giving them a lot more leeway than normal.

Our last day took us to their downtown Farmer's market, where I fell even more in love with this amazingly progressive city. Seriously, I felt like I had found my people walking around there! We walked around with the kids and got some goodies and then my mom, sister, niece and I spent some time shopping.

It was the perfect trip and I'm so glad we were able to pull it together this year. Traveling with four kids is no joke, but it was worth every second of insanity. We all can't wait to go back!

See you next time, Madison!