A Peanut

Six months. Six months ago almost to the hour I was about to deliver my final baby.  I knew time was going to fly with you and that fear is coming true... you are growing up so fast.  WOW!

Bennett, child, you are so amazing!  I love you more and more everyday.  You have found your voice and will "talk" to us and let us know what you want, when you want it.

Happy boy despite getting two shots today..  notice the artwork- Ashton created it for him and insisted it go in B's crib

You had your 6 month appt today.  I am shocked with your weight... so much smaller than what you look like you should be.  But you are healthy and meeting/ surpassing all your age appropriate milestones.  The doc suggested I try to increase your solids a bit.   I must admit I kind of like that you are smaller for two reasons.  1) feel like a baby longer though you are itching to be on the move  2) excuse to buy clothes for you in the fall because I don't have many 9-12 months fall/ winter clothes!

Weight:  15.10 (16%)
Height    26.75" (58%)
Head      17.75" (93%)  --- he gets it honestly.  ha

6 month comparison shot.  Doesn't look 15% to me (onesie and shorts are 9 month)

 

I am happy to report that you are sleeping in your crib at night and have been since we got back from the beach.  You also started sleeping through the night when I moved you to the crib! A normal night for you is bed around 8:30 and eat again between 4:30 and 6:30.  If it is before 6:30 you will go back to sleep which works great for me!  :)  You, like two of your brothers, are a blanket sucker.  You love love love your blanket--- and really anything that you can suck on ie- towels, paper, your pants.

Napping is still not perfect... still 3 naps a day... normally 2 smaller naps (under an hour) and then one large nap (under 2 hours).  You almost always fall asleep in the car and even if it is just 10 minutes, then you count that as a nap.  Still loving your sleep for one of your naps, normally the morning one.  If you are truly sleepy, you can put yourself to sleep without being rocked.

You are loving some solids.  You basically have tried a ton of stuff.  I have never been good at enforcing that 5 day wait rule.  You love to eat, I guess we just need to eat a bit more. 

Munching (sucking) on an Angry Birdy cookie (he LOVED it)

You and Hunter are great roommates.  I could not have asked for it to have worked better.  Shep and Ashton love you dearly and rarely do things that justify crying yet you still fuss at them.  haha.  You love to play with toys and are sitting up like a pro. 



Another sweet shot showing off his Grover sticker from the doc

You are truly a God send.  I love you sweet baby!  Just stay little!  :)

Kitchen is Done!

I have the first room in the house officially complete.  I had to start in the kitchen because, lets be honest, that is where I spend the vast amount of my day.

I loved this kitchen the minute I saw it... you could argue that it sold the house.  It is spacious.  Chad, who is on the larger side, and I can easily move around in the kitchen.  When we have had my family over, 3 or 4 adults can easily be working in the kitchen without interfering with eachother.  With that being said it is not huge.  It is laid out really well. 

It had been totally updated a couple years ago with granite, stainless steel, and nice maple cabinets so the expensive stuff had already been done.  The walls were a nice clean white which I just cant do.  I like white walls... just not in my kitchen. 

Ok enough chatter.

Before

 During the painting process

Surprise surprise,  I striped.  I must say doing diamonds was not my easiest project.  There are definitely some mistakes.  I did start with a template but it wasn't working well so I just starting eye balling it. 

Used plain old masking tape for 2.00 a roll.  I just cant pay 5.00 for a roll of painting tape or frog tape.  I definitely suggest going over the masking tape with the base color before the new color... if nothing else for ease of mind.  For example, I quickly brushed white over the creases of the all the masking tape.

Painted over everything.  Paint color is mountain smoke by Valspar (the kitchen and bath paint- semi gloss).  It is a true dark grey.  The diamonds look glossy here...which I actually really like, however that is just the tape underneath.

Pull the tape back... this is a section behind the fridge where I did not go over with white paint before I applied the grey.  It is not bad but you can see where it bled through a tad.

This one I did go over with white before applying the grey.... much less bleeding.

 

 AFTER
I love it.  I don't think I love it quite as much as the kitchen I did at the old place but when was I ever going to have an all white wall to do this to?  Never!  It adds a real depth to the kitchen and I love the contrast of the grey with the blacks and tans I already had.  Plus it didn't take nearly as long as the other kitchen.

View from kitchen

View from dining room... trying to find a cool storage thingy to put under the table with the computer.  Right now I just have a basket for papers and such and it is a hot mess. 

View from laundry room/ garage ... new barstools from wayfair

was able to reuse my curtains from the old house... perfect fit for both windows.

Don't know which room will be next.  The den/ hallway, laundry, or one of the boy's rooms are calling me right now but I haven't "found" my inspiration just yet.

I will leave you with the best view... the view that I see all the time...


The best view in the house!

Slippin N Slidin Part 2

Two more things about the slip n slide.

First, Bennett had his turn.  Look at that face.  I could eat him!

This is the typical cynical Bennett face

1/2 grin 1/2 smirk. love this baby

Second, I cant tell you the last time my abs and sides hurt like they do right now- soooo sore... perhaps I should do the slip n slide every day maybe then I could get some kind of waistline back.

That is all for today.

Slippin n Slidin

Love days that unexpectedly turn out to be fun.

The weather was great, the boys were well behaved, Bennett took a real nap and not one of these cat naps that he has become so fond of. 

We did a bit of running around and found a slip n slide for $10.  We  attempted the slip n slide either last year or the year before and it just didn't work right.  I thought perhaps it just wasn't as fun as I remembered... but today put that thought to an end.

I will go ahead and admit that I did the slip n slide... not just once but numerous times... too many to count.  It was so fun.  And I was definitely better than the boys, just sayin'.

Hunter snapped a couple pics of me...

I tried to use the timer on this one.  haha, I have learned the only way I get pictures of myself is to use the timer.  I am such a loser!



Look at that form and that mountain of a butt I've got going on.  Oh pre-child having body, where are you?

Enough of me... here are the boys attempts

ASHTON
His method was on his knees and he ran from a long way away each time.

 

 

 SHEPHERD
definitely the funniest.  He is a clutz and a half

 

 HUNTER
He had the hang of it on the belly

Just a sweet shot from earlier in the day.  Such stoic serious faces.  They really were having a good time.

 

 

DORK!

I know some of you want to see the new house... but I like before and after pictures and no room is completely done so you  must wait. :)

Cow Day... Year 4

Yesterday was almost an awful day.  I almost forgot about Cow Appreciation Day.  Thankfully my dear husband texted me and reminded me.  I probably would have connected the dots when I looked at my facebook page and saw the cow pictures but Chad saved the day. 

Though we moved recently, I knew exactly where my once a year tshirts were.  There are some things you just don't misplace and my cow shirts are some of those things.

Bennett's first Cow Appreciation Day.  All decked out in a the same onesie Shepherd wore for his first Cow Day (click here for link of our first Cow day)but with cow baby legs and a cow bib... he sucked on his first French fry and shared some ice cream with me.  Not a bad day for a 5 month old

 

We were already headed to the mall so we decided to do the food court CFA for lunch.  They proved to be a bit more selfish with their food then the stand alone CFA's which is odd to me because you have to have a lot more self esteem to strut into the mall with a cow shirt on.  Regardless, I spent $1.78 for $17 worth of food.  They only did free entrees when not dressed head to toe.


We then decided that we would hit CFA for dinner as well.  It was crazy crowded for dinner but we persevered and got everything totally free. 



Pausing for a quick pic...  picture quality stinks as I was using my awesome flip phone... ha ha

Thanks CFA for some yummy food!

Yay for Internet! And Beach post part 2

Internet is officially up and running at the casa! 

Anyway- to finish up the beach post.

The first half of the week was a bit of the dreary, rainy side but we still managed to squeeze out a bit of beach time each day.  Thankfully the weather only got better and we finished the week with sun!

Here are some pics of our cloudy days on the beach.

 

Hunter all ready to boogie board

He spent so much time on this thing... thanks Zach.  He even shared with me and laughed at me when I did it.

Shepherd tried to do it...

... Hunter "coaching" Shep on how to boogie board

Playing in the sand/ water

Smashy

Beach baby on the bed... thanks Queenie for the cute outfit.  He rocked it!

Some of the men... and Molly

My kids :)  Molly loves the ocean and I am so happy she got to come with us

so cute

 

:) - He brought home a bag of shells that he collected... I am beginning to think he is a hoarder

These two share a room at our new house

And these two share a room.

Seriously, my loves!

 We also walked out on the pier.  It was so cloudy and we saw 3 baby sharks caught. 

good pic



Bennett just hanging out

My crew

Uncle Tom Tom and Charlee

This picture of Charlee cracks me up... it is cousin it... haha

And there she is...  her hair is so pretty but it was blowing all over the place on the pier.  If I had an extra hair band, I would have put it up

 

And the pictures from the sunny beach days.

 

tommy and Sami in the sand

love this picture of Ashton and Charlee

playing in the sand

Nothing like a nap on the beach.. it seemed to put him to sleep every time he came down

And then...he woke up.  So little hair. 

Trying to avoid my camera

But, I win and got a beautiful Sheppy shot

Ashton busy at work

Chad and Hunter

 

Sweet pic of Chad and Hunter walking down the beach... if only I could get rid of all the other people around them

Sweet Sami

Bennett unsure of the massive water

Open or shut?  Chad says his eyes are open, I say shut... you decide

Getting ready for our boat ride

 Thursday, the whole group minus Sandee, Patsy, and Sami went to on a boat ride into the ocean to see dolphins.  It was definitely worth the money and we all had a great time.  We rode on a huge speed boat and got wet so the kids were all about it.

On the boat

 

On the calm part of the ride

This is what Bennett thought about it all

and he woke up just in time for the dolphins

Kid shot

 Firework time.

H, A, and Charlee watching the show

Shep and I watching the fireworks

The adults and Sami.

 

From Wednesday to Friday, the weather was great.  Our family went to play putt putt Wednesday night and we had such a good time.  They loved it.  We kept score but decided not to tally it up to see who won.  Ashton had so much fun he didn't even ask who won so we just let it go at that.  We then went to get ice cream at CFA. Bennett loved him some of ice cream!



The house we stayed at was only 3 houses from the pier where the fireworks were shot off so we had front row seats... everyone but Bennett stayed up for the show which ended early because of a misfire. 

On our way home

Hub and Patsy... thank you thank you thank you for such a fun week.  We all needed the break and had such a great time.  From the food to the fellowship, it was a great trip!