Sunday, November 25, 2012

Kate ~ 7 months

Kate is getting to the age where she is truly growing and learning so much each and every day!  It really is such a joy for all of us to watch!  At 7 months, Kate...

...is eating solid food!  She took to eating solids really well the first few days, but after that, she wanted nothing to do with it.  I know that starting these babes on solids is such a big thing for them.  She really has no idea what is going on, so we are taking baby steps to make the process a little easier for her.  If she starts to fuss or get upset, I just stop and try again later.  We'll get there, eventually :).  I want to make sure that she enjoys eating, so I will do whatever I need to to ensure that.
...is finally rolling over both ways!  Yay!  This was a big one for Kate.  All of the other children were rolling over and sitting up by or before 6 months, so I was a little worried when Kate wasn't doing either.  One day, she finally figured out how to roll from her back to her belly, and she has been steam rolling all around ever since!  Now we just need her to sit up.
...is turning out to be a fussy baby.  Oh my...this is really starting to wear on me.  At first I thought that she was fussy because there was something wrong with her.  Turns out she just wants me to hold her all.of.the.time.  Whenever I set her down, she cries.  Seriously...almost every time!  If she is in her bouncer, high chair, on the floor, in her crib...she'll fuss about being there.  But, the moment that I pick her up, she's fine!  It is getting to be difficult sometimes because there are times where I *have* to put her down...like when I make a meal, or change out the laundry.  The baby sling and carrier have become my best friend, because listening to Kate cry breaks my heart every time.  And her cry is not just a fussy cry, it is a total heart wrenching cry...with tears!  Oh my...this girl is so spoiled and she totally gets her way 99% of the time.  I'm hoping that she becomes more content when she can sit up by herself.  We'll see.
...will put anything, and everything that she gets her hands on in her mouth.  And, of course, her item of choice to play with is my phone!  Yuck!  Whenever my phone is nearby, she'll snatch it up and put it in her mouth.  I'm learning to not have it near her at all, because I so don't want her chewing on it.  And, she is not a fan of the toys that she can have.  She prefers Isaac's toys to hers...go figure :).
...is still a wonderful little sleeper!  Thank goodness for that!
...is becoming quite the mama's girl!  She definitely prefers to have me hold her, which I totally don't mind at all ;).  Yes, she'll let other people hold her too, but if she sees me, she'll fuss until she's in my arms.  Makes me feel good.
...is still a huge fan of bath time and we absolutely love giving them to her!  All of us love to watch her laugh and giggle and splash in the tub.  It's definitely a fun time when Kate's taking a bath :).
...is still a tough one to get to smile.  Yes, she'll smile here and there, but not all of the time.  Isaac was seriously the happiest baby ever...he was constantly smiling and laughing at anything and everything!  It was awesome!  Part of me kind of wishes Kate was like this.  So, when she does share her smiles and giggles, we totally get excited and have fun with it.  She's a tough crowd....that's for sure!
...is the happiest when she wakes up.  I think one of my favorite moments of the day is going in and getting Kate out of her crib.  It may be hard to get her to smile sometimes, but she is so bright eyed and bushy tailed when she first wakes up...I love it!
...is super duper chubby!  Especially in her legs.  I absolutely love pinching her cute little rolls whenever I change her.  Love it!
...is growing up way to fast as of late.  I know...I KNOW...I say that all of the time, but it's true!  I really do love every stage that my children are in, but I absolutely LOVE the baby stage.  Having a baby in the house is the best...and it makes me want to cherish every moment with her that much more.

Here is some eye candy of Kate from this past month.  She's a beauty...even when she's sad ;).

Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving ~ 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful day here in the Smith household... We woke up and everyone jumped in our bed to cuddle...

After breakfast, we enjoyed watching the parade...
As per tradition, we decorated our Christmas tree!
Then we headed to Doug's sister's house for an incredible dinner with our amazing family! I am truly thankful for each and every one of them! The children had such a wonderful time playing with their cousins, while us adults enjoyed catching up and chatting :). It really was a great night! As for what I'm thankful for...

...these precious angels...
...and this amazing man!
My family is my life and I am so thankful that they are in my life. I am truly blessed!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Kate's First Cereal

We started Kate on solids this past week. I had a feeling that she wasn't going to take to it too well. For one, she has been super duper fussy lately, mostly due to the fact that she has been sick for the past month. And, second, she is such a picky little thing and I felt that adding something new to her little life would be too confusing to her, yet I knew that we needed to start introducing her to solids! So we bit the bullet and just went ahead with it. Here's how it played out...

Kate all ready, and a bit confused, about what was going on.

Then she started crying the moment I started to give her the first bite.
She didn't really like the food, but she liked the spoon!
And she wasn't at all happy when I took the spoon back to give her another bite!
So...I just gave her the spoon and let her play/bite on it :).
We ended up just getting another spoon and she was as happy as can be to eat, but, of course, she preferred to chew on her spoon then have food.
I think that introducing solids is such a huge milestone in these little ones lives! It really is so new to them, and I don't blame them for being confused. Over the course of the week, I have given some more cereal and she doesn't want anything to do with it. She just cries and cries and pulls the spoon out of my hand so she can play with it. We're working on it...baby steps :). It just seems like yesterday that I was introducing solids to my other babes {Leah {there's a pic of Noah in Leah's post}, Isaac}. Oh...how the time flies!

Noah Playing Basketball

Noah really started to enjoy playing basketball over the summer. I loved it when he would ask me if he could "go outside and shoot hoops"! He would spend a good chunk of time almost every day outside shooting the ball. This, obviously, made his daddy very proud :). We decided to sign Noah up for Junior Jazz Basketball, and he has *loved* it. This is the first time that he has actually played the game, and he is catching on so quickly. I can definitely see him wanting to play basketball more in the future!

The Park

After the first snow of the year, it all melted and got warm! Like SEVENTY degree weather warm! It was so nice! We definitely took advantage of the warmer weather and went to the park lots and lots. I am not a fan of the cold weather, so I wanted to make sure that we got in some good trips before we weren't able to go anymore {sniff, sniff}. There is a huge park close to our house that has become our favorite. We usually bring our scooters with us because it has a trail that circles the entire perimeter of the park...love it! And love these precious ones!

Kate's first time in the swing. She *loved* it!
We have made it a habit to go to the park whenever we pick up Leah from school. This was one of the last times that we went.

Trains

I so treasure the moments that I spend one on one with my little ones. When Leah is gone at preschool, Isaac and I play hard! I make it a point to give him my undivided attention as we play, read, draw, eat, etc... Lately, Isaac has been obsessed with the wooden train track and will spend a very long time every morning playing with the track that I put together. I seriously love these moments...

First Snow

One thing that I will always remember from my childhood is looking outside to see the first snow of the year. It snowed a week before Halloween this year, and the kids were so excited to see our yard covered with a pretty white sheet of snow. Isaac was so excited that he went and found his winter hat! Love it!

Feeding the Ducks

Last month we discovered this beautiful area near us that has a little lake with ducks. We ended up going back over there a handful of times before the weather got cold so that we could feed the duckies and do some exploring. I so enjoy watching my kids do new things. We have never fed ducks before, and they honestly had a blast! And the ducks are so adorable! Leah was SO scared at first, but she was fine after she saw that Isaac had absolutely no fear. I'm so glad that we were able to find this place and we definitely plan on going back many times next year :).

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Kate Swinging

We went to the park yesterday for what may be one of our last times of the year...sniff, sniff. I decided to put Kate In the swig ad she LOVED it. Love the giggles that came along with every push :).

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Halloween ~ 2012

Happy Halloween!
We look forward to Halloween every year, and boy, oh boy, were we excited this year!  There was only one downfall...Noah was sick the night before!  Boo!  Why, of all the days, did he have to get sick on Halloween!?  He ended up staying home, but felt well enough to come with me to his class party.  But, as soon as it was over, he was feeling under the weather again and opted to come back home with me.  I put him in my bed, and he slept for FOUR hours!  The kid was exhausted!  Thankfully, he woke up feeling so much better and was excited to get dressed up and to go trick-or-treating.  

We were especially thankful for the wonderful weather this Halloween...made for an even better night! The kids all had such a wonderful time, and didn't complain at all when we decided to come home.  We only went out for an hour, but everyone was grinning from ear to ear when they came in the door to inventory their loot!  Man, I so remember doing that when I was a kid!  Needless to say, everything turned out wonderfully and we are already looking forward to dressing up next year!  

Noah's 7th Halloween as a MAGICIAN
{Noah knew exactly what he wanted to be this year...there was no swaying his decision!  I made his cape, which, thankfully, was a lot easier than I anticipated.  He was really happy with how it all turned out :).}
Leah's 5th Halloween as an INDIAN
{I made most of Leah's costume, and I was happy with how it turned out.  Leah especially loved the tutu...what little girl wouldn't?!}
Isaac's 3rd Halloween as a PIRATE {Arrrr!!!}
{Oh Isaac...he could have cared less about what he was for Halloween.  I pretty much told him he was going to be a pirate, and that was that.  He spent the whole month mastering his "Arrrr Matey", yet he refused to say it on Halloween.  Go figure.}
Kate's 1st Halloween as a PRINCESS
{I have been looking forward to putting Kate in this dress for a looong time!  I love reusing old costumes.  It brings back so many memories from when Leah was the same age.}
What a bunch of cuties!

Carving Pumpkins


I'm going to admit that carving pumpkins is not my most favorite thing to do.  Cleaning them out is such a pain, and then I get so scared that I'm going to cut myself when I'm actually carving them.  Ugh. BUT, when it's all said and done, I'm so happy that we did it :).  

Noah was especially excited to carve pumpkins this year.  As soon as I told him we were going to do it, he became my little helper and brought in all of the pumpkins from the porch.  Love that boy!
He was also a champ when it came to cleaning out his pumpkin!  
Doug was a sport and didn't complain once when it came to the dirty work.  I guess I'm the only one that doesn't like cleaning out pumpkins!
Now, Isaac did NOT want us to touch his little pumpkin.  He ended up taking it off the table and sat in the chair with it for about 15 minutes.  As soon as he saw what we were actually doing and that we were going to make a face on it, he became pretty excited and let us cut into it.
Here's our front porch with all of our pumpkins.  I made a Utah Utes pumpkin {I do it every year...GO UTES!}, Doug did a face on his and Kate's, Leah's had a face, and Noah's was a pirate ship!  Our 6 little pumpkins definitely made our porch very spooky for Halloween night :).