We have started eating the props. There's not much that doesnt end up in her mouth. please excuse the double negative I hate it when people use them.....sorry Nicole
I am loving 5 months! She is so much more portable than the big girls at 5 months. The biggest difference is that she doesnt mind her car seat. By this age BOTH big girls had moved out of the infant seat, in an effort to get them to "like" the car! Brynlee does fairly well in the car and that makes me happy considering how much time we spend in it. Some days her hair seems super curly and others it is so straight, I am still putting my money on curls for her though! She loves her bath, and would stay in it for hours if I let her.....I cant wait to get her in the pool and see what she thinks. She still isnt sleeping near as well as the big girls did at her age, but I probably shouldnt complain, because it could always be worse! She started solids, when I say started i really mean we tried them for a few days but she stopped poo'ing so we stopped the solids. She is good with her diet breastmilk for now. She has rolled over a few times, still isnt too fond of her belly, sleeps on her side (arms swaddled, darn you startle reflex!), seems super ridiculously interested in my cup when I drink. Is most happy in my arms, but will go to just about anyone. She will watch her sisters for hours and be completely happy. She doesnt nap consistently (my fault) but when we are home she likes a super long afternoon nap which is quite nice. Overall I couldnt ask for a better baby. We love her to pieces! I cant believe she is on her way to being 1/2 a year!
I think I told you guys a few months ago my dad gave the girls a birdhouse he made with the children at Madonna Learning Center. Well I never got around to doing any lessons on birds like I wanted to, but they have gotten some lessons the ol' fashion way.......by experience!
Here is Ainslee checking out the eggs for the 1st time!
Kaylee shows her emotions way different, but she was so excited. She was trying to wrap her brain around what she was looking at.
Here are the 3 tiny blue eggs. It was really hard to get a picture through the plexiglass
I know you can hardly tell, but there are 2 little birds in there
This shot seems to be a bit better. Im not quite sure why 2 of the eggs have hatched and the 3rd has not. I hope that baby bird is going to make it into the world safe and sound.
This one is ready to eat
This video reminds me of Brynlee (and the big girls too) when they are itty bitty newborns and they are trying to nurse. They look like blind little baby birds trying to find food from their mommy. It is so neat to witness this perfect slice of nature.
I enrolled Kaylee in a homeschool class at the zoo a few weeks ago. She was more than ecstatic about this, and I was thrilled that she had a great time. Too bad I didnt get any pictures of her spider monkey she made, or her behavior chart, or even her on this day........but here are the shots I did get.
This is the first time since last year we've been able to ride the rides. Ainslee was SOOO excited about riding the train! And NO I'm not pregnant again! That's Brynlee in the sleepy wrap
Amma came with us too
We have to ride the cow, she nearly fell off this time
stopping to smell the flowers.......man I love this little girl!
over Spring Break when Johhny was home we went to the zoo. He and his girlfriend joined us.
Here they are on the bridge
It was so cute watching them walk and talk
This video was taken a little too late. Ainslee had been walking over the grates all day. She insisted on holding someones hand, and she was VERY cautious when standing on the grate. Each time she would walk ever so delicately and then jump off at the end. I tried to get it on video, but this time happened to be the time she wasnt as exaggerated, but it was still cute.......to me at least!
We I finally moved Kaylee up into her new room!
I removed all the office "stuff", and cleaned it out
I paint it
repaired parts of the wall thanks dad
I drug the bed rails out from the back of the tiny attic crawl space and set them up just to realize they dont go down to a full size. So i asked my mom if we could trade rails. She had a set just collecting dust in her attic.
I set up the new rails
Put the foundation together, its my old select comfort bed, so it is a solid foundation made of plastic, not a box spring
I fixed the zipper on the cover of the mattress, which included ripping it apart and resewing it, after watching a YouTube video......YouTube is awesome for stuff like that!
put the mattress together and inflated it
washed all her linens
hung the curtains my mom made for her
and am almost finished with her desk....so far i have painted 3 coats of white on the desk, and 3 coats of purple on the drawers, my mom has decorated it ever so awesomely with a quote and some flowers.........see pics below, I have put 3 coats of shellac on it to seal/protect it. And when doing a 4th and final coat on the top surface I accidentally grabbed the wrong paint brush and ruined it! UGH! Now there are little specs in the top coat of shellac because of lint/dust/paint residue from the darn paint brush! Oh well it is definitely a one of a kind piece, and I know Kaylee will just adore it!
Here she is coming into her room for the first time when I told her she was going to sleep in it.
She was so excited. Even though she has no furniture**, the desk isnt completed, and there are no decorations are not on the wall, she LOVED it anyways!
She walked around looking at everything. This is her beloved "fishy light" Amma gave her for her birthday. It is a source of power when it comes to naps and bedtime. If she doesnt do as she is told she gets her fishy light turned off. Which is a huge deal to her!
Climbing into bed for her first nights sleep
All tucked in
The first night went surprisingly well. The second night not so much......
This was the end of a nearly 2 hour fit she threw. i didnt catch the good stuff on camera. Since this night she has slept much better in her new room, but man that fit was C.R.A.Z.Y!!!
Now if Ainslee's bed would just arrive and then I can get her moved into her room and Brynlee in her crib. Brynlee is now spending her nights and naps in the bassinet in Kaylee's old room. We have gone 2 nights now with her out of my room. I have to ask, why are transitions always harder on the parents than the child? Part of me wants her back next to me, and part of me is thrilled to pieces that I have my room back. She is growing SO fast, but anyone with children knows thats the way the cookie crumbles!
notice the highlights on the word Imagination
**Kaylee is getting my grandmother's furniture. It is still at the furniture repairman getting a make over. More on that in another post.
This post is ALL OVER THE PLACE! I had some pictures and videos I wanted to share so I just threw them all into this post! But I have to admit the reason why I've been able to get all these blog posts together is because of these first few pics.
My parents took Kaylee OUT OF TOWN with them! They are a bunch of travelling fools now that my dad is retired, they are always on the go! I mentioned on FB to my mom something about Kaylee wanting to join them on this trip and sure enough mom called later that day and told me they wanted to take her. What was even better was that the trip was A WEEK LONG! Dont get me wrong, I love my little girl, but in most cases (especially this one) absence makes the heart grow fonder. Here is what my big girl has been doing with Amma and Abba. Im sure there are WAY more things that have happened that I havent been told about ;)
on the steps of the castle at Ha Ha Tonka State park where they went hiking
riding a ride......because thats what Amma and Abba let her do
outside the Mexican restaurant where they ate
in the condo before bed, she has gotten to stay up WAY past her bedtime every night, I hope she doesnt think she can do that when she gets home
Amma did put her to work......she has to earn her keep
playing a photo scavenger hunt inside on a rainy day, mom has even been squeezing in some of the school work i sent
there is a playground on the property, Kaylee has been a regular visitor
out to eat AGAIN
Then she got to drive the boat, and everyone survived
AND drink a ROOT BEER!!! This is a big deal since she never gets drinks like that!
Needless to say she isnt missing us too much. And we have had a productive week at home. It is amazing how much of a difference one child makes when taken out of the mix. I am ever so thankful and grateful to my parents for this opportunity not only for me but more importantly for her! She is making memories that will last a lifetime and that is just plain awesome!
Ainslee's 1st swim of the year, the water was FREEZING cold! But she still tried to talk me into getting in with her.
The girls saying the "Our Father"
I converted Ainslee's crib into a day bed. She wasnt too thrilled with it at first. She demanded her crib back, but overall it was a pretty smooth transition. And she now sleeps in the big girl bed at Amma's house. We are still waiting on her's to arrive so I can move her into her new room.
Kaylee came down from playing in the playroom one day with this get-up on. She claimed she was "wearing" her baby, and she made this wrap. I did not approve of the strap tied around the baby's neck, I have no idea where she got that idea.
Brynlee chillaxin' in the wagon on a walk
We've been clothing diapering around here! And LOVING it! It started when I borrowed a few diapers from a friend and I fell in love, so we bought some. So we are officially cloth diapering. Im so thrilled that Marcus is totally on board with the whole diapering thing too. I am just regretting not going through with it when Ainslee was little like I wanted to.
Could she be any cuter/fatter?
I always knew about sunning diapers, but Ive obviously never tried it until now! Do you know the power of the sun? Holy Crap it is amazing how it just zaps those stains right out of the diapers!
While on the diapering subject, I might as well update you on the potty front. She goes on the potty EVERYDAY! Some days she doesnt poop in her diapers at all. I would like to think that she doesnt like to poo in her diaper, I mean who does? But she will tell me when she needs to go, and if I happen to miss her cue she will only go a little in her diaper and then finish in the potty. She gets so proud of herself when she goes. Here she is on the throne in all her glory
This is evidence of our first attempt at a new hairdo. Ainslee took it upon herself to cut this chunk of hair off her sister's head. This wasnt even all the hair
And this happened 10 minutes after the hair cutting incident
can you see the huge dent in the wall? That was from Kaylee's head hitting it!
I went to the homeschool conference a few weeks ago. This is the stack of paperwork I came home with on the 1st day. It was so fun and informative, and I was SO happy I went. A lot has happened in my head over the past few weeks. I have made up my mind to change a lot of things in my life and approach things differently. And I have to say that the changes have made a huge impact on our family. It has been nice!
oh and Kaylee's curriculum arrived in the mail yesterday! I am so excited about the coming year. While at the conference I also decided to not be so consumed by all the hype that can come with homeschooling. I am not going to try and cram 5 subjects and a foreign language down her throat when she is 5 years old. We are taking it slow and easy and just taking time to be a kid and grow as a family. I dont think that this approach will put her behind in any way should we eventually put her in school. But the more I delve into this whole lifestyle Im beginning to become more open to the idea of continuing on the homeschool path longer than originally planned. Im not saying for sure what will happen in the future but i know that for now i have an open mind.
