Six Months - Yes, Really

Little Sprout is officially half a year old today!  Our sweet girl is amazing me every day with her newfound skills and happy spirit.

 This month, the girl decided to speed things up and mastered the art of sitting up independently, crawling, and pulling herself to a precarious standing position in her crib, all within the space of two weeks.  

 The siblings are starting to realize that they had better put away their stuff or baby sister might get a hold of it and destroy it!  Little Sprout loves demolishing pancakes, bread slices, crackers, and pretty much any food she can get her hands on.

 She has some favorite toys now - this IKEA bear being one of them.  She also has a yellow Toad (of Super Mario fame) that the Nerd gave her way back at Christmas.  She loves that thing - slobbery legs and arms are evidence of that.  Little Sprout is also becoming quite attached to a certain animal-print blanket.  Of course, it is a thick, fleecy blanket - so perfect for summertime.

This is the face of a definite mama's girl.  She loves her daddy and grandparents too, but if I am in the room, she wants me.  Unfortunately, breast feeding has become a bit of an issue this month.  She still loves nursing and hates bottles, but at the beginning of this past month, she decided she didn't like one of my breasts and chose to only nurse on one side.  I've tried hard to keep my milk supply up, but I can tell it is quickly diminishing.  I think it will soon be time to wean, but stubborn baby girl hates bottles and refuses to take them.  Anyone have any good ideas on going from breast to bottle?  My other kiddos never had any trouble with it, although this is the longest I have ever been able to nurse one of my children.  

Ah, my heart aches as I look at these pictures, knowing how fast they grow up!  I will try to hold fast to the moment today...

Little Sprout Vs The Watermelon

Iphone Photo Phun - The Nerd and I

The Nerd and I, we know all kinds of ways to have fun.

Like last night, for instance.  We stood on opposite sides of the dining room table and folded four huge baskets of laundry.  Intensely exciting, as you might well imagine.

Other times, he'll sit at one end of the living room checking a bunch of stuff on his Iphone while I sit at the other end, doing the same.  Occasionally, we'll share something funny or profound that we come across, and since it's too much trouble to get up and show the person what is so stinkin' hilarious, we'll just text each other the link.  Yeah, 'cuz we're cool like that.  I'm pretty sure we are going to be the "fun parents" as the kiddos get older.

Apparently, we need to get out more.  So we did.  Friday night we had a "date night" at the bowling alley.  (I put date night in quotes because a. the baby was with us, and b. it was a church activity.)  Still.  It was loads of fun.  I should clarify here that neither the Nerd or myself are talented bowlers.  Unless you count bowling on the Wii, at which I am a pro.  Also, neither of us are really sure what proper bowling etiquette is.  Nonetheless, we joined up with a couple of young men from our church and bowled away.  (haha, young men = men in their early twenties, otherwise known as practically babies).
I am pleased to say that I came away with the high score of the night - from our lane, that is.  People started clapping as I celebrated my victory - the clapping quickly faded when they realized my score was only a 138.
Regardless, it was rather a good time. No one was seriously injured, and we never did accidentally send the baby down the lane.  We probably ought to do stuff like this more often.
Just look at that handsome man-face!  No way I'm gonna say no to spending more time with that! ;)

Little Piglet

Ah, Momma's milk just isn't enough for this little piglet anymore.  Thus we have begun our adventure in "solids."
Here she is giving her take on rice cereal.  Not bad, Momma, but the pureed pears you gave me yesterday were infinitely better than this!
Yeah, I should have held off on the liquid sugar a little longer...

They Can Be Cute

We had an eventful Easter, to say the least. Who knew that the combination of sugar, church, and overly exciting activities would lead to such drama?! The story behind that will be the subject of another post.

For now, feast your eyes on my cute offspring in their matching (of course!) outfits:

Sisters! I am so excited to be able to say that now that we have added Little Sprout to the family. The Drama Queen was pirouetting in her turquoise and black dress all day, and Little Sprout was irresistible in her bubble dress, even more delicious than any old chocolate bunny.

Brothers! I caught the boys relaxing together on the recliner in their matching outfits. I wonder how many more years I can pull off the whole matchy clothing thing before the kids start protesting?

My new blog header is my favorite picture of the day, but this one is a close second. No question that these kiddos are related, eh?

Grandma and Papa came over for a heart-attack-inducing Easter dinner. Can you tell the grandkids love them lots?!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Warning: Cuteness Overload

Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts. As a whole, we are doing much better. We are still waiting on test results, though, so until we get those, sweet Hosanna has to keep taking the bottle while I pump. So not fun.

Meanwhile, I realized that I had 172 pictures on my phone - apparently I use it a lot more than our actual camera to capture moments around the house, especially of our new addition. Here's a few (okay, more than a few!) pics of little miss Hosanna Joy to show how much she's grown over the past month:

*waiting at the hospital in January to have an ultrasound to test for hip dysplasia*

*first smile at just a month old*

*love this face*

*getting ready for church at one month old*

*playing with Daddy - of course she adores him*

*another church photo (and the lock screen on my phone, I love it so much)*

*she is definitely not a leave-her-in-the-swing-or-bouncy-seat baby - she wants to be with me. all the time. so here she is in the laundry basket...*

*found these antennae at the store on clearance and couldn't resist*

*trying on her piggy hat*

*hooray for the bumbo - she loves to be upright due to her stomach issues so the bumbo works wonders for us*

*just last night, after she screamed for an hour and I couldn't get her to calm down. We finally put her in a warm bath, and this was the instant result.*

I promise not to make every post about the baby; in fact, I'm working on some "interviews" with the other three kids, and maybe I'll worm in something about the Nerd too. Still, these pictures are just too cute to not share with the world, am I right?

Sibling Love

One Month

Well, I forgot how much a newborn changes the routine and schedule of a family. I forgot how many times I have to stop whatever activity I'm engaged in to feed her and change her. Homeschooling and housework and kid time have to fit in around her schedule. So suddenly, computer time is not so much a priority. Still, I have to find time to make sure all the important moments are recorded. So, a week late, I present to you our one-month-old:

Like her big brother Spud, she is very much a morning person and quite cranky in the evenings. She is already developing her own personality, amusing and delighting us with the cutest facial expressions. Little Sprout weighs a little over ten pounds at one month old and is filling out 0-3 month clothing well. Sadly all the newborn outfits have been already tucked away.

I am trying my best to relish every moment of the "littleness" as I know it will fast be replaced by toddler chubbiness. :)

Newborn Sweetness

Sometime between one sleepy feeding and another stealthy diaper change last night, I looked down at our sweet Anna and realized that the newborn look was starting to fade away. At that moment, I groggily determined that I would find some time the next day to capture that "new baby" look before it disappeared. (Now if only there was some way to capture that new baby scent!) After a long morning nap, Hosanna was in a good mood; and I quickly pulled out the camera for a photo session:

I honestly can't get enough of her! She has been kissed and cuddled endlessly by all the members of our family, although I am pretty sure Daddy would win the prize for person-most-infatuated-by-the-new-baby. I am so glad I was able to catch some of those cute little newborn expressions on camera!

Best. Christmas. Ever.

This Christmas was definitely a little chaotic. But I consider it our best Christmas ever. (so far, of course.)

Because the kids took such care in making and selecting their cookies for Santa. And because I got to watch them anticipate the magic of Christmas in a way that only a child can.

Because they posed in their new Christmas jammies. (And because this year I think we got the cutest ones yet!)

Because we were blessed with an abundance of loot. :) And because it helped wile away the last days of pregnancy by choosing the best wrapping paper and eagerly anticipating the kids' reactions to all the gifts we chose just for them.

Because we could take time to sit down and remind ourselves of the real reason behind Christmas. And because it's such a powerful story - I can read it to the kids all year long and remind them that although Santa's a lot of fun, Jesus changed the world that night!

Because we got new matching Christmas stockings for the kids this year. (see Hosanna's peeking out behind the Spud?) And because I got to see the simple joy on my kids' faces as they pulled out Christmasy chapsticks and "grown-up" electric toothbrushes.

Because, this year, the Spud really "got it." He ripped into each present with great excitement, screeching what it was at the top of his lungs. Because he was the first to check to be sure that Santa had eaten his cookies and drunk his Pepsi.

Because my sweet girl showed genuine appreciation for each gift. ( and took this cute little fellow to bed with her that night!)

Because my kids spent the entire day experimenting with their new toys, taking baths so they could try out their new bath sets, and cheerfully playing together. Those are picture-worthy moments!

But, most of all, because we received the best Christmas present of all this year - the present of a new family member, who just so happens to be cute as a button. We are all thrilled with this gift and thank God that He saw fit to bless us with such a wonderful bundle of joy.

Christmas 2011 was a blessed day for us! I hope your Christmas was equally full of joyful memories!

Iphone Photo Phun - Holiday Fun

It's time for yet another edition of Iphone Photo Phun. I didn't remember taking very many photos with my phone this week, but when i checked my album, I was shocked to see over fifty new photos had been added! A quick perusal showed that a certain little someone who was supposed to be playing Angry Birds on Mommy's phone may have been taking a few extra photos as well. I would share these masterpieces, but they are mostly shots of knees, hair, and really dark objects.

So it's back to the few I actually took this week.

Even though I am laid up and cannot take the kids anywhere by myself, I still wanted to make Halloween a fun-filled day for them. We had these pumpkin pancakes with sausage and scrambled eggs to make dinner a little more special.

Lunch was fun too - ghost toast, jack-o-lantern carrots, and hairy hot dogs dipped in ketchup blood made up the menu. The Spud promptly dipped his ghost toast in the ketchup and declared it his "bestest snack ever."

On Sunday morning, a helicopter was supposed to fly over the fields next to our church and drop candy for the kids. Fog and rain thwarted the helicopter flight however; so the Nerd and several other miserable-looking men took buckets of candy and spread the candy out on the field by hand before the kids rushed in to claim their sweet treats. The kids were soaked!

All the Spud cared about at the Fall Festival that evening at our church was eating his hot dog that he had roasted over the fire pit.

And this big ole pumpkin needed to rest; so I basically just watched from the sidelines while Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy took the kids around to the different Fall Festival attractions.

I can't believe it's November already! Never fear, there will still be pumpkiny activities in the future for us. . .