Ian

 

9/14/2012

Ian at almost 6 months old and 17 lbs 4 oz.  He is sitting on his own. He loves to sit, but does not like laying down. If we put him on his back it is like he is stuck and just cries. He still cannot roll over. It is kind of funny. He is a happy healthy little boy! I just love holding and snuggling him!

10/11/2012

Ian loves playing with hair.  Anyones!  He will pull mine the entire time I nurse him.  If he is on Collin's shoulders he will play with his.  If any of the girls are laying on the floor and he sees their hair, he goes straight to it.  And best of all, he plays with his own!  He will sit and pull at the little bit he has if mine is in a pony tail.  This is something that he gets from his dad!!!

 



 

11/10/2012

He loves bath time.  As soon as he hears the water turn on he gets excited!  It is really nice to have kids that are old enough to hold him in the water.  Although, I don't have a bathtime picture of just him!  :)  On October 30th, he was 19 lb 15 oz!

12/06/2012

 Pulling himself up to standing.  He loves standing at the top of the stairs and watching us below.  He loves peek-a-boo.  He has a good bruise on his head here.  While he was learning to stand up, he was constantly bonking his head and always had a bruise.  He always pulls himself up on my leg and whines or screams until I pick him up.
 

 

 

12/6/2012

Ian crawling across the room.  Collin was hiding behind the bed and scaring him.  He was laughing so hard.  It was the cutest thing.  I was filming it and these pictures are from the video.  That is why they are blurry.

 

Around Oct. 3rd, Ian had his 1st ear infection. By the end of the month, his ears were bothering him again.  I took him to the doctor again and he got his second prescription for antibiotics.  It only took a few more days after that dose was done to notice that they were bothering him again. This time I tried everything I could do on my own. It seemed to help a little. Finally, the next week, Nov. 20th, I made an appointment with a chiropractor. It was the best thing I could have done! He had several follow up visits, but no more antibiotics. He had a rough couple of months. He had those ear infections, cut his first two teeth over Thanksgiving, learned to crawl and pull himself up, and finally over Christmas cut 4 more teeth. During this time, we were so exausted constantly rocking him and he would never sleep. He also got several colds, from the weak immune system after all those antiobiotics. Now, I have been giving him, Kefir, Vitamin D and rubbing oils on his lymph nodes at the first sign of any cold or ear aches.   He has been great since.  And so much happier. 

 

12/16/2012

He crawls all over the house.  He loves to go up the stairs. Someone has to run over and get behind him each time. He also loves to clap when we say "yeah" and waves "bye-bye". If we growl, click our tongue, or babble, he will copy us. He has eaten bananas, applesauce, avacados, sweet potatoes, peaches, pretzels, and cherrios. 

 

It is super fun to have the older girls watch him learn and grow. A couple weeks after Ian had his 5 and 6 teeth pop through, Addison came running and yelling to me. I thought for sure Ian was hurt, but Addi had just noticed he had FOUR teeth on the bottom and had to tell me! Ha ha! Clare always calls him "Ian Buddy". So cute. Of course, Kylie and Breah are extra good helpers. They all get excited when he does anything new. It is much fun!

 

Halloween 2012

Mom of the year here:  no picture of Ian on his first Halloween.  :(

Kylie's 9th Birthday!

For Kylie's 9th Birthday, she got to get her ears pierced!!!  As you can imagine, she was so excited!  And also nervous!  This picture is before, she couldn't wait to open her presents.  We told her that if she was going to have a friend party, she wouldn't get any.  (It is so much work!)  But,  I was just as excited and bought a few things anyway.  A new backpack, robe, books, and earrings.  Then we went to eat at IHOP.  And, finally, went to the mall to get her ears pierced.  The after picture is on my phone. 

Even more excitment followed on Saturday for her Birthday Party.  We invited her friends to wear their scariest costumes.  We played pin the skull on the skeleton and colored some halloween pictures while they waited their turn to go through the SPOOK ALLEY!  We spent about two weeks planning, rearranging and decorating our basement for it.  I wasn't sure how scary it would be.  We invited Grandparents and Shad's family to dress up and scare people.  Shad provided scary music and flashing lights.  It. Was. Awesome!  The girls were super scared.  Half of them would only go to the bottom of the stairs and come running back.  I don't think any of them made it through the entire thing. 

After the fun of the spook alley, we ate chili and hot dogs wrapped as mummies.  Then had cupcakes and opened presents.  Lastly, they wrapped eachother as mummies and destroyed the house while they waited for their parents to come.  :)  It was a lot of fun.  I am glad that it worked out.  The next week, Greg had his friends over for his birthday.  They did not act scared one bit!

September

Back to school!

 Breah and Kylie are in the same class this year.  Kylie is in third grade and Breah is in second.  But their class also has first graders, which means next year Addison will be with Breah.  It is called spectrum and their teacher, Michelle Ball is amazing!  There are pros and cons to having them share the entire day together, but we decided it was worth it.  They are both being pushed beyond their grade level.  So it is nice to see them have to work instead of everything being easy for them.  We were given these stars to decorate at back to school night, so they had them ready to bring on the first day of school. 

Addison was soooo ready for Kindergarten.  She was asking all day if it was her turn to go yet.   I asked Collin to come home and sit with Clare and Ian while I walked her to class.  I helped her do a scavenger hunt to get to know her classroom.  The last thing on the list said, say good-bye to Mrs. Meldrum and we will see you tomorrow!  So she walked back home with me and was pretty disappointed to not stay the whole time.  Of course, it would have helped if I read the entire Kindergarten packet.  Then I could have warned her she would not be there very long!  Oops!

We went to Jackson Hole to go swimming at their Recreation Center!  When we got there, a swim meet was going on.  So, we walked around a little and then ate at Bubba's first.  It is not a very family friendly place, so we were glad we only had to wait a couple hours.  And of course, the awesome swimming pool was worth the wait!  They have a big and small water slide and a shallow kids area.  It is perfect for our family and the kids could stay there forever!

 This is Kylie and Breah's first play this year.  It was about life cycles.  Breah was a gardner and Kylie was a plant.  It is a fun way for them to learn.  They get so excited for it.  But then Kylie didn't crack a smile the entire play.  But they did have their parts memorized and spoke loud.  :)

Ian - 5 months old

 

 

Clarissa's 3rd Birthday!

Clare's birthday was lots of fun.  She wasn't quite sure what the big fuss was about... until she woke up in the morning and saw a birthday poster with her name and presents wrapped for her.  She asked if she could open them all day.  She loved everything she got.  We did not have to do anything fancy for her.  Just a picnic in the backyard and jumping on the trampoline!

  With three older sisters, Clarissa has access to every kind of baby doll, Barbie, Polly Pocket, My Little Pony, dress up clothes, etc. there is.  Seriously, our house is little girl heaven.  Because I could not stand buying more of the same things she plays with everyday, I had the older girls give her some things they never used anymore.  They choose these three princess dolls and a princess jewelry box.  They each put some lipgloss or necklaces in there too.  Clare was beyond excited and carried her jewelery box around forever.  And it brought life to some toys that had not been played with forever.  Life can be so simple with little kids.  But this post will probably haunt me in a few years.  :)