Seven Months!

I think I just posted a 6 month post sometime last week. I CANNOT believe how fast this last month went! Grace spent her last month bouncing between Fishers, Ft. Wayne, and New Castle. All the changes are sort of causing turmoil with our sleep schedule and established routines, but we are all VERY happy to be on the home stretch. This month, Grace got to go swimming in a swimming pool for the first time! She gets a little bit better every day on sitting up, and she has started having a bit of separation anxiety. Our little lady loves bouncing in Grammy and Packaw's exersaucer, and most of the time, she is very content to chill in her bumbo or in the exersaucer and just watch whatever is going on around her.

I really need to get my one month onesie together, but it probably wouldn't have fit in this picture. Grace also thought 6 month would taste excellent.Look at this big girl! 7 months...

Christmas #453?

We finally got to get together with Grandma G and Grandpa Marc for Christmas. It was our last Christmas celebration in our Indy house!

Winter Wonderland at Lake Tippy

After our time in Ft. Wayne, the kids and I headed over for a few days at Lake Tippy with my cousin Anne, her kids (Ebie and Claire), my Aunt Betsy and Uncle Todd and my Grandma Shirley. Grammy and Packaw even came up for a night. It snowed on the drive over and that night, so it was a beautiful time to be at the lake...very peaceful. Well, I guess outside was peaceful. Inside was everything it should be with two preschoolers and two infants!

The big kids ate...I mean made browniesAnd all the kids did a great job posing for pictures! Ebie and Evan put their heads together to finish a puzzle and Grace and Claire put their heads together to conquer accurately getting a hand or object into their mouths. Hey you...we match. Can't wait to play this summer!

Science Central

While visiting Bret for a few days in Ft. Wayne, the kids and I had to get creative to ward off cabin fever in our small hotel room. One afternoon we visited Science Central. Evan was the only child in their special section for little ones, and I think he kind of liked having it all to himself.Grace liked the water table too... They had a fun jungle gym of sorts that Evan ran around and checked out from every angle...

We also spent a lot of time in the indoor pool at the hotel, but something was wrong with my photog skills because EVERY single one is blurry

Sibling Love

You can really tell how much Grace's hair has lightened up recently in this picture! The kiddos LOVE being cheesy together and they love holding hands....i'm secretly praying that they always love holding hands! how cute!

Happy 6 Months!

Has it really been 6 months already? The time really has flown by because I still think it was just a few minutes ago that Bret and I were driving to the hospital to have this 7lb 10oz, 20" beauty. Now, she is our 18lb 3oz, 27" beauty! We are blessed with a little girl that is very, very calm and content. Happy 1 month! At 1 month, Grace was already a seasoned Lake Tippy resident. She barely dipped her toes in, but she liked the sounds and the light off the water. A two months she was really becoming alert...her favorite subject was her big bro that is always on the go and willing to do something silly to get her to smileat three months her curiosity started to get the best of her, and she would reach and grab onto anything and everything. a very tactile baby, her favorite toys were anything that would make a nice crinkly soundand just after 3 months, she rolled over for the first time. she must have decided that it wasn't all that much fun because she rarely did it again. she was content to lay on the ground on her back and either look at whatever came into her view or play with whatever toy was tossed on her bellythe smiles and laughs came easily by month 5! evan is still the go to guy if you really want to get her going.and month 6...just after a hair growth spurt, so she has some CRAZY hair! she REALLY wanted to sit up on her own this month and would pull her head and shoulders off the ground to attempt it....really made us laugh since she barely even rolls over. I guess she is only going to hit the milestones that she thinks sound fun....kind of my approach to piano when I was little! She has always been chatty, and now she says dadadada, mamamama and babababa non stop! She totally knows what she is saying too ; )Just a few few short days ago she started sitting upright on her own for an extended period of time. before, she might lean forward or just straight up face plant in between her toes! She is not sturdy enough for me to feel confident plopping her down and walking more than a few feet away, but she gets stronger and better every day! a very happy little lady!

2012 Starts with a Boom

After Grace's 6 month Dr. appointment, I will do my 6 month post with pics from the months and covering her firsts. This post is about a 1st for Evan. He started out 2012 with his first (if I get to vote, then I vote for it to also be his last) trip to the ER. It was NOT fun. What started as a simple trip upstairs with me to change Gracie's diaper ended up with me running down the stairs carrying my baby boy and blood everywhere : (. Evan had run into the room ahead of me, and literally jumped on the bed once. He jumped up, came down and when he went back up, he ended up flying backwards and right into the outside corner of the wall. I knew it wasn't good from the sound and his shriek, so I put Grace in the middle of the bed, called for help and ran downstairs to have someone look and tell me what I already thought...we were headed to the hospital. Grammy and Brian both took a look and came to the same conclusion. I am SOOOOOOOOO blessed that I was home with my family when it happened. Kate and Brian took charge of getting Evan and I ready and out the door, and the rest of my family took care of Grace and Zoe. On the way to the hospital, Evan and I sat in the back singing "No More Monkey's Jumping on the Bed". He was a little bit dazed and asked if we were going to see reindeer or if Kate and Brian were going home with us. I cannot thank Kate and Brian enough for being with us in the ER. They kept me calm, helped distract Evan, and Brian even helped hold Evan down when they were cleaning his cut and and gluing him up. Evan did a great job too. Sure, he cried, but he never pushed or fought. He even got a pillow pet blanket from the nurses and nurse practitioner for being such a trooper! He stayed up late that night, slept soundly (after I finally let him go to bed), and woke up happy in the morning. It took him until that evening to remember what happened, but I am happy to report that he is doing great.

Of course he got anything and everything he wanted when we got home from the hospital. Packaw even spoon fed him one of his favorite foods - Cars Mac and Cheese

Christmas #3 with Zoe! (and Kate and Brian)

New Year's Day was my family's Christmas this year. Kate, Brian and Zoe came in for a long weekend, so we crammed as much family time in as possible! It was a lot of fun with the kids. Zoe and Evan may have unwrapped every single person's gift together. Grace's gifts were their favorites! Opening gifts with Daddy. Making Reindeer cookies with Aunt Kate...wearing his brand new cooking apron that Grammy made. Evan loves his (and Grace's) train table that Packaw made...it is AWESOME. It is getting a lot of use in my parent's house right now, and I can't wait to move to Ft Wayne and set up their playroom! Showing off his craft apron....also a Grammy creation. Zoe showing Grace how her rain instrument works. Grace LOVES this gift...she is totally mesmerized by it, and she bust out in tears a couple of times when the bigger kids took it from her

Zoe loves the BABY. In fact, when I picked up Kate, Brian and Zoe up at the car rental place, she immediately started signing and saying Baby when she saw me. We Skype quite a bit, and I am typically holding Grace. So, Zoe was very disappointed when I didn't have her with me when I picked them up. I personally thought the girls looked cute in their holiday matching sleepers! Evan had a blue version, but he never slept in his because his new thing is to have me rub his back while he goes to sleep. BUT, it can't be through any clothes, he wants to have pjs on that have a separate shirt. More than once, he has strolled into our room in the middle of the night, made eye contact with me, and then he turns around, pulls up the back of his shirt and says "mommy rub my back" while walking back to his bed.another gift was foaming soap and kid's shaving cream. the shaving cream was depleted in just one bath. he LOVES it

Grace's First Attempt at Eating Cereal

Since Grace is now 6 months old, she gets to try some new foods! This was her first attempt at cereal. She was a little not sure about it, but didn't totally reject it She REALLY enjoyed the spoon Thanks to A. Di and U. Jer for the adorable Christmas bib!!

Since this picture we have had 3 more rice cereal attempts. She was dive bombing the spoon on the 2nd attempt, but we got some serious bitter beer faces on the 3rd and 4th attempts. I cooked and pureed some apples today, and she seemed to be ok with those. I mixed some of it with cereal, and she definitely made a face on the bites that had the cereal mixed in!

The Boys on Their Morning Run

Evan is obsessed with going running, so if anyone says they are going for a run, you better believe this toddler wants to go to. The compromise was to let Bret go for his run, and then, Evan got to go for a run with him. Is it normal that he can run for almost a mile without walking much?

The Holidays are Exhausting...

Its hard to be a little one around the holidays...Grace fell asleep with Uncle Phil one night

Then took a nap with Daddy almost as soon as she woke up the next morningand took another nap with Daddy after we got home to our house that afternoon No rest for Evan though...this was a no nap day, and he managed to stay up until after 9pm. he had a blast playing with Elizabeth. Pretty sure they were talking about all the cool things they are going to do this summer at the lake.

2nd Snow

This was the 2nd time that snow fell, but it was the first accumulation. Evan and I bundled up and headed out for a walk.he wanted to walk through the field behind my parent's house, and we even saw a deer! he was super excited and was adamant about continuing to walk to see if we could find santa's reindeer.Grace watched the snow from the cozy comfort of her bouncer.......with her little slice of heaven...a frozen teether. totally crazy that this 6 month old doesn't have any teeth! she has been drooling and chewing on anything and everything since she was 3 months old. evan had 6 teeth by the time he was 7 months old!

Christmas 2011 (Christmas #1)

Santa found our house! I recorded E coming down the stairs, but I missed the best expression. He had the most surprised/confused/sweetest look on his face...almost like he was thinking, "oh wow! he really DOES exist!"

Grace taking it all in...By this picture you would think that he opened his presents and studied all of them, took his time, and savoured the moment. In reality, he tore through stockings and presents for all four of us in 50 minutes.After enjoying our Christmas morning, we got dressed and headed over to Grammy and Packaw's house. Bret said I dressed Grace up like an elf. Phil said Christmas threw up on her. I love it!Family Wii bowling. Evan "played" alongside each of usThen he wrapped up his Christmas in Grammy and Packaw's super cool tub!