6 Months!

Well, it happened...we are halfway to the one year mark. It totally snuck up on me. But she is the cutest 6 monther I know, for sure! We decided for December we had to do it in her Christmas jammies (technically they are Kiersten's Christmas jammies, but whatever). And I keep putting bows on her head to cover up her crazy comb-over hairstyle...but I don't think they suit her. Anyway, yeah...6 months.

I feel like I blinked and it happened. She is moving all over the floor, not really crawling but scooting for sure. And once in a while she gets her booty up in the air and gets herself in the tripod position, so crawling is most likely just around the corner. My girl eats 3 square meals a day now. She is eating fruit for breakfast, and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Always mixed with a little oatmeal, and she would lick the bowl clean if I'd let her. We are transitioning away from the breastfeeding. I'm not ready but as hard as I try, I'm just not making enough milk. I pump and get nothing. So in the past week we have weaned down to breastfeeding twice a day. We lay in bed and cuddle and I nurse her first thing in the morning and there is no better way to start the day. I can definitely tell that the formula is filling her belly though. When I weighed her yesterday she was 17 lbs even, that's up 4 pounds in 2 months. We have our 6 month well child check up on Wed. the 26th, so more accurate stats to follow. UPDATE: Yes, my scale was almost right on the mark. They weighed her at 17 pounds even and measured her at 26.25 inches. Which puts her in the 50th-75th percentile for both. She's growing and doing great!

She is working hard on sitting up, but is really struggling. After a minute, sometimes less...never more, she topples over. She is infatuated with her feet. Tries and tries to get them in her mouth repeatedly. Hence, she is reaching for them in the pictures above. Most days, I would say she is so quiet I could forget that I have a baby in the house (I won't) but she rarely makes a peep...4 o'clock in the morning when she is hungry is a whole 'nother story. But really Sweet Hattie is such a good girl. She loves to lay on the floor in the playroom and watch her big sisters play. Of course, I have to be diligent about what toys are on the floor. I would speculate that this girl is teething but if she is, she is handling it much better than the first two. Everything goes straight to the mouth. 

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Christmas with my family in Charleston. It's the last time I will have a Baby's 1st Christmas. I guess it's the beginning of a lot of the last "baby's first"...I can tell one last I am certainly looking forward to...The last diaper. But overall, I want it all to slow down. I want to cherish and treasure this time with my babies when they are innocent and carefree. My Christmas Wish...make time stand still.

Daddy Time

This past Thursday, Mitch had an outpatient surgery. So he has been home the last few days with us. I was worried that he would be in pain and I would have to take care of him to some extent (which would have been fine), but he was great. The girls loved having a little extra time to snuggle with their daddy and I couldn't help but snap these pictures of him with the girls. On Friday night we were even able to go out and catch a movie. We went to see "This is 40" and it was so funny. Happy to have had a little extra time with Mitch...and I know the girls were too.

In the Face of Adversity...

On Friday, December 14th a young man shot his way into an elementary school in Newtown, CT and violently murdered 20 children all age 6-7, and 6 adults. I'm heartbroken. I can't imagine this type of devastation. But I know one thing...when you fall away from God, the devil will make his way into your lives. We have removed God from our government, our schools and for many people even our homes. I pray that the victims, families, responders and even communities affected find peace. May the Lord comfort them in this dark hour.

This is a poem that I saw posted on Facebook, and it brought me to tears:

twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

 

Miracle in a Manger

 

This past Thursday, December 13th St. Paul's Lutheran Preschool had their Christmas program. They had been rehearsing and preparing for a few weeks. So imagine my surprise when two days before the "show" Leah declared at lunch "I'm the mother of the Christ Child." I said "What" and she said "Mrs. Koch says I am the mother of the Christ-Child, Mary." What a big roll...certainly big shoes to feel, but she was SO EXCITED! It was adorable. She went on and on all week about being an actor on the stage. She rehearsed her songs day in and day out.

Gigi and Papa came to Decatur to see the show. On the big night she did not disappoint. Her smile was radiant and Mitch and I could hear her little voice bellowing out the songs. She knew the words and hearing her sing "Away in a Manger" almost brought tears to my eyes. She sat at the manger with the entire school around her and stroked that babydoll Jesus, and looked lovingly at him while Mrs. Koch told the Christmas Story. It was so precious. I was so proud of her. And she just loved all the praise she got when the show was done. Gigi told her she did a good job to which she replied "I told you I was gonna do great!" It cracked us up. 

As a parting gift the kids got little bags with a book, toy and coloring book with crayons all fitting the theme "Miracle in a Manger". The next day the girls had fun playing with it and Kiersten informed me "Look mom, Mary wears flip flops too." Don't you just love what comes out of the mouths of babes?!?!

Fun with Frankie...The Elf on the Shelf

Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? We got ours 3 years ago while living in New Jersey. I just had to have one. Leah and I would read the book, but at 19 months, I knew she didn't really get it. Last year she kind of got it, but this year...Whoa. She is totally into it. She actually commented the other day that Chuck E Cheese probably watches the kids at the restaurant and goes and tells Santa if they are naughty or nice. Hmm, she's really worried about Santa getting a bad report on her, ha!

Every morning after making her bed and brushing her teeth, she hauls it downstairs and gets to work trying to find Frankie's new spot. When he first arrived from the North Pole, he rode down the Chimney on Bug's train. She was not happy. She wanted it back. On day two he took Prince Charmings clothes. This really ticked Bug off...she took un-clothed Prince Charming into the living room and declared "Frankie, you give him back his clothes....Not Nice, Frankie." 

Frankie has caused all sorts of mischief so far this year. He has played basketball in the house. He has gotten tied up in a slinky. He made his own ornament for the tree to match Leah and Kiersten's, and even got to take flying lessons with our friend Tink. Apparently he is an avid reader, and he likes to drink cocoa and eat gingerbread. Shocking right?!?! Who knows what this silly elf will be up to next.

Run, Run, Run As Fast As You Can...

My girls and their Christmas Joy is just infectious. They are so excited and to see their excitement is totally helping to get me in the Christmas spirit. Sometimes I feel like I'm not the "best" mom I could be...I'm busy trying to run a household, teaching a class and just doing everyday things, never mind taking care of a baby. So Pinterest has me totally bummed. All these mom's post on facebook about all the cool stuff they do and it all comes from Pinterest. Who has time for Pinterest??? So, last week I busted out the old Betty Crocker gingerbread Cookie mix. Yes, I used a mix but the girls loved it all the same. Bug kept singing "roll the dough, we gotta roll the dough" from Bubble Guppies but they both thought that using the cookie cutters was super cool. I thought that they would get bored just using the Gingerbread man so we did the trees too. Leah thought it was awesome to use the sanding sugar (in yellow) to make tinsel on the tree. It definitely got them in the Christmas spirit. But I think their favorite part by far was having the cookies for a snack. And I'm not gonna lie...it was my favorite part too!

Where A Kid Can Be A Kid

Well, we finally did it...we broke down and took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. We were in Bloomington on Saturday for our Santa photo shoot so it seemed as good a time as any. The girls LOVED it, and they were really well behaved. Almost so well behaved that I would consider taking them back...of course, not any time in the near future. It was surprisingly NOT busy for a Saturday at noon, so they had their pick of the liter, so to speak. They played Skeetball, whack-a-mole, MarioKart, and did lots of rides. They got excited to see Chuck himself come out and sing. It's nothing like I remembered. Didn't Chuck and his friends used to be people in costumes? Now it's a big electronic robot type of thing...not cool! But I digress, the girls loved it. Leah even commented a few times "it's where a kid can be a kid." Thank you Nick Jr. for the commercials that prompted this visit, Ha. But honestly, it was fun for them and fun for us. They are only little once...so I intend to make the most of it. 

Santa Session, 2012

On Saturday morning we got the girls up and ready and drove to Bloomington to do a Santa Session. Since it's Hattie's first Christmas I wanted desperately to get these done. Laura Kruger Photography was doing a Mini-Santa Session. She sent the email out in early October that she would open up for reservations on Nov. 1st at 9AM. I set a reminder on my phone and good thing I did. She only does them from 4-7PM on Friday, and from 9-4PM on Saturday. The sessions sold out in 3 hours and I got one, YAY ME!!!

I was so happy to get them, but a little disappointed in the expressions. The pictures, of course are beautiful, but I thought I would see more excitement from the girls. Instead they are more timid. Laura said that is common, since we are asking the kids to sit on the lap of a perfect stranger. And of course I had an adorable bow for Hattie to wear and left it at home, UGH! But really, it went well...something I for sure will try to do again in the future. I love her work and will hopefully get the chance to work with Laura again in the future.