Looking Back: Halloween 2013

The kids in their costumes:

 A close-up of the cutest fleece monkey that ever was (3 1/2 mo old):

Henry's very first "real" trick or treating (It was my job to stay at home and hand out candy. But who could miss the chance to witness this?!):

Looking Back: Pumpkin Farm 2013

I can't even remember the name of this farm, but it's in Payson, UT. We have have to find a substitute for the farm we've been going to for years in Snohomish, WA. This farm will not be it. But it was good and Henry loved it and has talked about it ever since, asking to return to the pumpkin farm to see all the animals. Any pumpkin farm is good enough for some photos, I say. And here are ours:

Checking out the noisy piglets. Henry's leaning into me because they make him a little nervous.

And here's another clue that Henry is nervous - and this one is a Henry classic: the "shoulder raise + eyes closed."

I, on the other hand, took the opportunity to pet the cute (yes, I think they're cute) cows.

In the small pumpkin patch.

We were willing to put June in the dirt in the hopes of a cute picture and instead she gave us this "really?" look.

Hayride.

Our Fall Family!

Home for Christmas

Boy were we excited for our trip home for Christmas! We had only been away from the Seattle area for four months but we were anxious to see family, be with cousins, show off our Baby June, enjoy the holiday, and even see how it felt to be "visitors" in a place we've lived our whole lives.

I pulled off pictures from my phone and it always bothers me a little to post pictures that aren't excellent quality, (I know that's silly) but at the risk of not having the trip documented at all, I decided that, of course, I should post anyway!

First off, our little June. I tell you what, this girl is a charmer. Everyone commented on what a good baby she was. And she was... the trip didn't even mess up the work we had done in sleep training like I was worried it would. She greeted everyone with big smiles and loved all the attention she got.

Of course, being with our cousins was the best thing about being home! Here is June with Elijah. These two are two months apart.

And these best friends/cousins...

 

Henry and I went on a date to buy gifts for Dad and to get Frostys at Wendy's. He requested this date and I shortly realized that by "going on a date with Mom" he really meant he wanted to go wherever Alicia and Xander were at the same time on their date. He kept asking to see them and was bummed to be with just me, so obviously he has some dating skills to learn before he's 16.

Sunday before Christmas in their Christmas outfits.

 

I made these next pictures large hoping to capture the beauty of our Christmas Eve morning in Silverdale. Rob and I took Henry to the park on the beach and remembered what it is about Washington that can never be replaced.

This girl on Christmas Eve day.

No pictures of Christmas Day, these last few are from Dec. 26th which is our traditional day to have a get-together at the Quigley's house where the cousins act out the Nativity. Rehearsal:

Izzy, our cutest angel:

And the Holy Family. This year we had two contenders for Baby Jesus. June got the part, I guess because she's the youngest. And maybe because we weren't sure if the manger could hold Elijah (sorry if you're tired of chubby baby jokes, Elijah).

People have asked what we did on our trip. And the answer we've given is "not much." Just what we wanted to do - hang out with family. The exception to this was when James, Rob, Greyson and Aidan went indoor skydiving for their Christmas gift! It really was awesome to watch and they all said it was awesome to do.

June at 6 Months

What? Six months already? She'll be one before we know it!

Rob and I recently were talking about how June hasn't changed much. Yes, she is very different from that tiny newborn, but since about three months has seemed to look and act the same even though she has, of course, made the normal developments. I feel that finally, this month, that is not the case. Here are some new things about our baby:

She is sitting up! By total surprise to all of us, one day I thought I'd better start helping her learn so that she was more ready to start solid foods. Turns out she didn't need my help - she sat all by herself! I don't totally trust that she won't fall so we don't let her sit without us or pillows all around, but for the most part her balance is awesome and she doesn't need the support.

Instead of reporting, yet again, that she is losing her hair I get to announce it's finally growing back! It's coming slowly and I didn't even realize it at first (Rob's mom made the discovery) but it's looking blonde! I do not know why that excites me so much and I worry that I'm jinxing the blonde just by mentioning it. I guess because she's been so dark haired I'm super curious and excited to see how what blonde June looks like. I loved that Henry was so light at one time and to have another baby with the same blonde... but wearing pigtails - that's such a fun possibility.

June isn't babbling much at all, she's pretty quiet. She's happy and cooing but the only syllables are when she's complaining about being tired or hungry. That's when her sweet, "dadada" is heard.

Can we talk about the outfit she's wearing in her photo? It's a vintage romper I found at a thrift store shortly after we found out we were having a girl. I knew I would be getting a lot of baby girl clothes and so I was going to try to hold off buying clothes but I couldn't not buy this when I saw it! It's a unique peach color and has great vintage details (she's covering up a little mouse applique), but mostly I love that it's something my mom could have put me in when I was a baby in 1979.

Her growth has slowed a bit. She gained only 14 ounces since the last time she was weighed two months ago and the average baby gains a pound a month (she weighs 14 lbs). I had been noticing that she still seems so small and I've loved it! I'm excited about all the ways she's growing up but I've felt blessed that I still get to enjoy cuddling a small baby. But I've been encouraged to let her nurse longer and reduce distractions while nursing. I'm bummed that we're already at the phase of needing to nurse in another room, away from a crowd. Even then, just making eye contact with June while nursing her makes her smile and stop eating.

We've been back from our Christmas trip home to Seattle for a couple weeks now. Everyone there was smitten with our baby girl. She really can't meet anyone without them remarking about how sweet she is and how big and blue her eyes are. We love her!

June at 5 Months

How cute is our June!? She is just all smiles these days. I know I say that every update, but really, she is just so happy. The smiles are now joined by laughter and happy "screeches." I'm starting to see that she may be the extravert I am - getting all her energy by being in the company of a lot of people. Two recent examples of this are when we were on the airplane on the way home to Seattle. She was so happy during the flight, looking at and "talking" to the passengers all around her. As soon as we got off the airplane she broke down, crying and tired for the first time. I also just had a get together with friends that I took her to. It began past her typical bedtime and was almost three hours long. I brought her thinking that she would get tired and I would nurse her to sleep while I visited with my friends. Nope, she was at her happiest the entire three hours and then as we left, being the last to leave (because I'm the extravert like her!) she started crying as soon as that party was over and fell asleep on me on our walk to the car! Silly baby.

Just like our trip at Thanksgiving, we are excited to be home for Christmas for a couple weeks where we can show her off to family and friends and where she can get constant attention. We left when she was only five weeks old, so of course she's a very different baby for them to get to know now.

June is giving me a run for my money in the napping department. Actually, nothing too difficult - just the back-and-forth that I think is common when starting out with sleep-training. It's just so easy to slip into "bad" habits of nursing her all the way to sleep a couple times, then she begins to depend on it, which makes it a struggle to get her to sleep in the first place and also stay asleep. The other problem is just that extravert issue - the world and the people in it are too exciting, she doesn't seem to want to miss it in order to nap!

She's starting to hold onto toys better and manipulate them in order to put them into her mouth. She plays with her Sophie giraffe, a tag blanket, a small plush bunny and an oball (I had to look it up in order to know what it's called). But, like I reported last month, she's still just as happy holding onto and chewing on a burp cloth.

June has suffered her first cold this month. It's been two weeks and running, which seems like a long time. Her cough sounds bad but doesn't wake her up at night, although it does sometimes get in the way of falling asleep.

It's official, she's totally balding (again, I think I report this every month). It's hit an ugly stage, I think, where it's beyond baby balding and in the realm of old-man-who-just-should-just-go-ahead-and-shave-it-off-already.

I feel bad that this is all I have to report on for this new month, but I can't think of anything else to say.

We love having a five month old in our house again and think our particular five month old is the best!

June at 4 months

Sorry June. It takes us three days to take your picture and write these posts. You're a second child, you'll be used to the mild neglect soon enough.

On November 17th June turned four months old. What fun four months is! She continues to be a happy baby, always eager for someone to look at and talk to her (maybe it's the second child neglect again?). We've begun sleep training and although it's not a walk in the park, she is doing better than would be expected after the few days since we started. We have had to hear her cry when going down to bed or in the middle of the night (poor sweet baby) but only for a couple days or inconsistently and her "cries" are more calling out than full on crying. Which just means it's more bearable for her parents.

Have I mentioned yet that June has the cutest chubby legs and belly? I don't think you can classify June as a "chubby baby" but after our skinny skinny Henry, it's so fun to see her little rolls on her legs and to cuddle with her and her chubby belly.

She has begun to enjoy holding toys and bring them to her mouth - her Sophie Giraffe and her taggie blanket are what I offer her but her favorite is actually just a burp cloth. I think she can hold onto it best. She also loves to grasp onto my hand and hold it at her mouth to suck on my hand or fingers. I like that too.

She's strong - loves to stand and doesn't mind being on her belly because she's able to hold her head up for a little while. We can sit her against the couch cushions and she can stay upright for a long time. New possible positions seem to add to her continuing to grow into a more and more complacent baby.

Her Grandpa and Grandma Nyland visited us last week. I was so excited to finally show her off to family after months since anyone has seen her in person. She charmed them, just as I knew she would. She's not the most photogenic at every opportunity, but in reality she is so so cute and beautiful. Big blue eyes, an always smiling open mouth (as the above picture captures). Or maybe I'm just her biased Mama:) I'm looking forward to next week when I'll see Alicia and her family along with our good family friends for Thanksgiving in Idaho and be able to show her off for the whole weekend. And it's only one month until we fly home to spend a couple weeks with all the rest of our family! Honestly, what I'm most excited about is for everyone to get to know our adorable happy baby girl!

June at 3 months

Our happy baby has returned! Right after her two month update on this blog where I mentioned what an easy baby she is, she developed a sore on her lip that got worse and worse. I didn't know how it would heal since it was constantly being bothered by nursing, spitting up, and her rubbing it with her hands. It was obvious that it was painful for her. Now, finally, about a month after it formed, it has begun to heal. It's now even more apparent how much she was hurting because, now that it's better, she's back to being cheerful pretty much all of the time.

She really is so much fun. She is so easy to get to smile- just smile at her and she returns with the biggest smile of her own! She remains pretty chatty, but mostly with just Rob and I (I can't usually get her to "talk" to anyone else). Speaking of Rob - she loves her daddy! If he's around she just stares and waits for him to look at her, she'll also follow him around the room with her eyes, it's sweet and also comical.

June is still our good sleeper, although wakes up more than I last reported. This is due to falling asleep earlier at night. If we can get her to nap around 7:30-8 for even a half hour then she'll last until 10 or so at night and then only need a feeding once. But, without that nap she's pretty tired by 9pm and then I know she'll be up twice in the night. Oh well, it could be worse.

I think I've figured out that she's not quite the comfort nurser that Henry was. In fact, if she's mad then trying to get her to nurse can often make her even more angry. The other day I accidentally hit her head on something and she was so upset, but would not nurse. After a number of attempts I tried what I know always makes her happy - I took off her diaper. She quickly became happy, talking and smiling. I wonder how not being that into nursing, besides when she's hungry, will play out differently than it did for Henry. It's so funny how much she loves to be without her diaper on. We take it off most nights for the last hour or so that she's awake. The second it comes off she gets super wiggly and begins scooting herself all over. She's at her happiest - she must just love the sense of freedom!

The only other new thing that I can think of her doing this month is that she holds her hands together, like in the picture, and puts them in her mouth. Before now if her hands made it to her mouth it was a sign that she was hungry and now she does it all the time. Oh, and she doesn't hate the car so much. I'd better be careful saying that, because it's a brand new development, but she didn't cry the last few car rides we've been on. It's life changing.

We love our little blue eyed baby girl! Now that she's begun to develop a fun personality, we're anxious for the coming months to see how that continues to develop.