6 months!

I am 6 months old!

• I weigh 15lb 13oz and am 25.5 inches tall. At my age Emmie 15lb11oz and 25 3/4 in  Ellie waswas 14lb15oz and 26in tall, and Ruthie was14lb 1oz and 25.5in.
• I wear size 6-9mo clothes and a size 2 diaper but once we finish the 2s I'll go to a 3.
• I sleep from 8pm-730am (on the weekends as during the week I have to get up by about 715 to take Emmie to school).
• I take 4-6oz bottles 4-5 times a day and then an 8oz bottle at bedtime.
• I rarely use my pacifier anymore. I like to have it at naps and I will occasionally use it at night but that's it. I still like to have it in my carseat during the day because I like to play with it.
• I have been getting 2-4oz of baby food at dinnertime but now that I'm 6mo I get to start eating finger foods!! I'm so excited as I will sit and watch everyone eat and just make a chewing motion with my mouth the whole time.

• I give great hugs!

• I am getting better at siting up by myself. I am also pretty good at scooting myself in a little circle on the floor to reach whatever you I need. 

• I LOVE my sisters. They are so much fun to watch and they love to entertain me by reading and singing to me.

• This month I played in a sandbox for the first time and swung in the swing on the swing set. I loved both of them and especially liked it when Emmie pushed me in the swing. 

• My right thigh is ticklish right in the middle where my fat roll is!
• I love to laugh and smile.
  

  
  
• This month I went to the zoo with Ruthie, Gran, and Mommy. We did lots of fun things like riding the train and I enjoyed looking at the animals.

• I love riding in the stroller when we go on walks and I love that Ruthie will sit behind me and rub my head. 

• I love to have burping contests with daddy. I usually win.
  

  
  
• I am so easy going. I will sit in the car seat and drive people around as long as I have to. All I ask is that you keep my tummy full!
• I love Franklin. I watch him all the time and I love when he gives me kisses.
• This month I went to my first cousin's weekend at Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde's house. It was lots of fun although I was the ONLY boy cousin. This could be a problem in the years to come!
  

  
  
• This month I had my first visit to the Easter Bunny. I LOVED the bunny. I smiled and cooed and just had the best time!

Emmie at 6 months.


Ellie at 6 months.


Ruthie at 6 months.

Reading

I couldn't be prouder of my little reader. Emmie started reading in the late fall and I feel like she improves by leaps and bounds every day! She's gotten to where she can read a lot of books by herself and she is loving it. She reads all.the.time. (not quite sure who she gets that from ;) ). She has been up later at night reading and I often find her reading in her bed when I go to wake her up in the morning. I really love that she will read to her sisters in the car and they can often be found snuggled together in a chair or Ellie's bed reading. She also loves to read to JP and he loves listening to her. I have always hoped that my children would love reading as much as I do and I've known for awhile that Ellie loves books like I do and it seems like Emmie does too! Yesterday she was so proud of herself because she could read her Bernstein Bears books all by herself! This was exciting for me because now maybe I won't have to read them as much (they're SO long and we read them over and over) but at the same time I can no longer get away with skipping every few sentences in an effort to shorten the book!

Here's a video I took of Emmie doing her reading homework the other day. I have been so impressed with her ability to sound out words she doesn't know and I've enjoyed seeing her apply all the "rules" she's learning in class (for instance, did you know an "e" at the end of a word makes the vowel say it's name? I didn't! Ex: ride, came, etc).

Easter Bunny Visit

Today I took the kiddos to see the Easter bunny! The big girls were SO excited. Ruthie was not quite as excited. That's an understatement. I ended up having to be in the picture because she absolutely refused to let me put her down. She couldn't get out of there fast enough once we had our pictures. JP on the other hand would have hung out with the Easter bunny all day. He LOVED the bunny. He smiled and cooed and petted the bunny. (Paul said maybe JP thought it was a bigger Franklin...he adores Franklin.)

Ruthie and JP didn't have specific requests for the Easter bunny. Ellie wants a zippysack and a specific lalaloopsy doll and Emmie wants a rockstar Barbie and a Barbie car. Emmie was a little upset when she found out Ellie asked for a zippysack because Emmie suddenly remembered that she wanted one too but I told her that she'd already put her order in to the bunny (aka amazon) and it was too late. I assured her that Ellie would let her hang out in the zippysack.

Cousins Weekend

Two weeks ago we went to Paul's Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde's house for cousins weekend. This has become such a fun tradition. My kiddos don't have first cousins so I'm so glad that they have the opportunity to grow up and be close to their second cousins. We always have so much fun and I couldn't have asked for better role models for my children!  The weekend is always very relaxing and we definitely eat well! (Kim and her girls couldn't come this time but we're looking forward to seeing them at Easter.)

Emma, Gin-g, Ruthie, Suzy, Ellie, Laura Ann, JP, Mary Jane, Emmie

On the way to NC (don't worry...Gin-g took the picture). My kiddos were SO tired and at one point they were all sleeping!

Saturday morning everyone came over for a big breakfast and afterwards the kids all went outside to play.

Laura Ann and Ruthie

After JP and Ruthie had their naps we headed to a local park. In addition to the playgroud the park has a carousel and train. The carousel has been there for many, many years and it is absolutely beautiful! My girls always enjoy this part of our trip.

Uncle Clyde and Ellie

Aunt Suzy and Emmie

Me and JP

Laura Ann, Mary Jane, and Emma

Getting ready to ride the train!

Papa and Ruthie

GG and Ellie

Ellie was pretty much attached to Emma the whole trip. I think she liked that Emma is quieter and is happy to sit and play quietly...just like Ellie :)

After the park we went to Emma and Mary Jane's house. Danny and Jennifer are working on starting a farm and it's always neat to see the progress they've made. They are so smart and have done a LOT of research and always have lots of interesting tidbits! Right now they have chickens and are at the point where they're starting to sell the eggs. While we were there they were working on clearing out some land to make room for goats!

Emmie was very nervous to pet the chickens but finally worked up the courage.

Gathering eggs. They sent a dozen home with us...yumm!

I LOVED watching JP's expressions while he was watching the chickens.

Petting the bunnies.

LOVE these sweet cousins!

This kid cracks me up all.the.time.

While dinner was being prepared the girls sat down and colored for a bit.

Aunt Sonja joined us for dinner and I love this picture of her and Ruthie. She was giving her some instructions about listening and kindergarten (Sonja was a teacher). Ruthie listened very intently! (Also she was boycotting wearing a shirt...we pick our battles.)

Ruthie was very interested in the piano. Practicing her skills with GG and Karla.

Practicing with Karla and GG.

Bedtime stories with Uncle Clyde.

Sunday morning the older girls slowly trickled in and everyone had a great time making things out of play doh.

JP of course got lots of cuddles throughout the weekend.

No cousin's weekend would be complete without a bedtime piano serenade from Uncle Clyde. I could seriously just sit in listen to him play all night. Ruthie got in on the singing and playing this year. Holy Holy Holy is one of her favorite songs and she just loved that Uncle Clyde was playing it with her!

After lunch on Sunday we headed back to Columbia. We had such a great time and are already looking forward to the next Cousin's Weekend!

Peek a boo!

There isn't much JP loves more than a good game of peek a boo. And if you won't play with him then he'll just play by himself! I love when I put a burp cloth beside him and he picks it up and starts playing peek a boo...he gets so excited!

Kisses for Daddy

Ruthie apparently decided it was too much work to climb up on the couch and give Paul a goodnight kiss...so she kissed his toes instead!

5 months

I am 5 months old!

• I wear size 6mo clothes and size 2 diapers.
• I get my last bottle at 8:30 and then go to bed and sleep until it's time to take Emmie to school at 715. I snooze in the car sometimes while we're taking everyone to school and then take about a 30min nap at 10. I take another nap from about 12-2 and then another 30min nap at 5.
• I take 4 6oz bottles everyday and then an 8oz bottle at bedtime. I also get baby food at dinner. So far the only food I don't like is peas. They make me gag.
• This month I transitioned from the rock n play to the crib. It was AWFUL and nobody slept for 4 nights but now I do great! I do prefer to sleep on my stomach.

• I love when my sisters play with me and I also love watching them play.
• I love when people sing to me.
• I love dogs and I love when Franklin licks me and also love to watch him play.
• I give great hugs!

• I don't like loud machine noises (like the hair dryer and vacuum cleaner).
• I love to play on my stomach so if you lay me on my back I will quickly roll over!
• I don't mind all the car riding I have to do as long as it's daytime. I DO NOT like to ride in the car when it's dark!
• I love to be held, especially while I sleep. I'm such a snuggle bug!