For my birthday Ryan surprised me with an ipod... something that was not even on my b-day list. Basically it was a gift to lightly push *cough* force me into keeping up with technology. Since then, I have figured out how to check e-mail, Facebook and now Pinterest on the ipod. I have not done any blog posts because I still do that on my computer. So here is my sad attempt to catch-up on the last two months.
Oh yeah, the kids have kept me rather busy so when they finally go to bed, I am DONE for the day.
Audrey: She is about 2 weeks away from being nine months old. She can stay awhile in a sitting up position but the little booger purposely "falls" down because she prefers laying on the floor. She can roll both ways and at 8 months we started giving her Cheerios which she uses the pincer grasp to grab them and feed herself. Today Ryan gave her a piece of banana so probably in the next week or so we'll start more finger foods. He also snuck her some ice cream the other day. Bad daddy! She enjoys rolling around the floor, strumming her hand against a basket or the fire place screen which is dangerous because it could easily fall on her. On Valentine's Day she looked at Ryan and said, "dada". The look on Ryan's face was priceless... a mixture of Daddy pride and just wanting to eat Audrey up due to cuteness.
Ryan and I always have a friendly race to see who's name each of our kids will say first. I was trying to get her to say mama but then realized Ryan is gone so much he misses out on a lot of cute moments. So I switched to her working on da da. He won the race but I could not be happier about it.
Yesterday she finally said, "mom".
Her stats for the 6 month mark are:
weight: 16lbs. and 0.7 oz
length 26- 1/2 inches
Head circ. 16-1/2 inches
Oh and her feet are a size 1. They have hardly grown since she was born. At her 6 month check up the doctor said she would just have small feet but I still find it odd.
Leia: She talks up a storm and her imagination runs wild. We are constantly different characters in her imaginary world. I am usually the mom or grandma of whatever she is imagining at the moment... ponies, blue mermaids (obsessed with blue mermaids), cat, robot, dragon or monster. You know it's going to be a good morning when I wake up to her screaming and she begins the day referring to me as mommy monster. Lovely.
Leia also loves music. My sister gave her a Dora microphone for Christmas and whenever she plays with it we always stop what we're doing and sing along. Leia does a little dance and holds the microphone up to us when it's our turn to sing. At night she has been requesting songs and I made up a little bedtime song just for her. Most of the time it is a complete joy to put her to bed.
She has grown at least 6 inches in the last 6 months! The other day we were at Target and she asked for me to measure her. She is at the halfway point for a 3T. Leia is so thin though her 2t clothes still fit but I have noticed some of her leggings and 2T dresses are short. She is now taking after Ella and is requesting to wear dresses all the time.
I have kind of started potty training but with everything else going on have not completely committed into teaching her. I keep telling myself "next week" I'll really start the training but next week is just like tomorrow... it never comes does it?
Ella: She has grown to love school but is completely happy to not go to school on Fridays. Funny. She is so social. Everyday I pick her up she pokes her head out the car and rambles off goodbyes to all her classmates. She already is "bored" with homework but is excited to learn how to read. She likes to figure out the whole sentence before reading it out loud to me.
She also loves to draw. Sometimes Jonathan and Ella will sit side by side just drawing. She LOVES these moments because most of the time she doesn't leave Jonathan alone and he become easily bothered by her.
Ella and Leia are becoming great playmates. They have many moments where I hear screaming, usually from Leia because Ella is trying to force Leia to do something she already has said no to. Once those moments pass the girls play well with each other until Leia gets distracted or Ella is tired of Leia following her around... sound familiar?
Ella also does a fantastic job at making her bed and cleaning her room. I usually have to tell her to do these things but once in a while she surprises me with a clean room and neat bed.
Jonathan: He has really taken off in drawing and I think he is quite good for a 9 yea old. He mentioned to his art teacher he was sad to move because he would not be able to do all the cool 5th grade projects. She told him that if he comes early on certain days she will let him work on those projects. It is a challenge to get everyone out early and some days we don't make it but most of the time he is able to work on them.
This past week Jonathan participated in his first Pine Wood Derby and placed 2nd! He had so much fun he actually did not care if he won or lost. That attitude made Ryan one proud papa.
Jonathan still loves to read and is requesting new books for the read a thon that started today! He still plays the trumpet but is not as excited to practice. I think he sounds great. In May is the 4th grade concert???
Ryan: Extremely, extremely busy. I cannot even put into words how busy he is. I am so impressed that despite the amount of work he does, complaints are minimal. He just keeps plugging away trying to get everything done. He has a master check off list and slowly things are getting crossed off.
Me: I am just trying to get through the next 4 months. With Ryan gone a lot, Audrey still not sleeping through the night and just trying to take care of the kids and household duties while sleep deprived, well, life is keeping me busy. Household duties meaning everything except bills. Yes folks, I am a jack of all trades. I may not do things well, but I attempt to get everything done... chores, meals, keep track of school work, daily prayers, scripture study, FHE, clean kids, put them to bed, wake up if they wake up at night, outside doggie clean up patrol, my church calling, lawn, Ms. Fixit from chairs to tables, changing light bulbs, unclogging toilets,cleaning up waste products from kid or beast. I am on duy 24/7. Now I am in packing/ what to keep/ donate/ throw away mode.
Years ago, before kids, I didn't understand why people would want to take vacation where they just sit on the beach all day. Now, I totally get it and long to do that some day.
Jak Jak: I mention Jak Jak because he may be our dog but is considered a member of our family... and he is not doing well at all. The past week and a half he has started going to the bathroom a lot more than normal. Ryan thought it was a bladder infection but after being on antibiotics JAk JAk has not improved. To make matters worse his back legs are getting very weak. There are times where I need to help get him get up the stairs on our back porch. He no longer eats his food right away and it will sit there for hours. So unlike him. I don't think he can jump on the counter anymore. He has lost a lot of weight. He also wakes me up at night. When he hears Audrey up he will also bark to let me know he needs me. I feel like I am watching him slowly die. I feel so sad for him and the struggles he is going though. At this point we don't think he will be with us for the Arizona move.
With all of that going on, you can see why blogging has been delayed... now to just add some pictures. I think I'll tackle that next week.
