play til you drop!

Nicholas has played pretty hard today. So hard in fact, he just laid right down on the floor and fell fast asleep!

He's really on the move now. He's just about got his inch worm crawl mastered and now he's even working on the real crawl - getting one hand to move at a time and his knees right behind him. I'm guessing he'll have that figured out this week. His little knees are bright red and hot from all the moving around. He's all over the place and when he is after something, his mouth opens up real wide until he gets to it! He's even working hard at pulling up on things, but he needs some more strength for that.

He's also doing some immitating that gives us lots of entertainment. He'll repeat some sounds you say like "a-ba" or "duh". Then if you sort of cough a little, he'll do a little cough too...it's really cute!

I'm also so very proud to report that Nicholas has been sleeping (pretty well) in his own bed the past few nights. It was awfully coincidental that we were getting ready to play hard ball with him and he just started doing it on his own. We had the help of a little tylenol the first night (because of his shots), but he's been doing so much better. I have to say, we're all feeling so much more rested too - it's really nice and refreshing!

We went to take his 6 month pictures this weekend and did family pictures too. They all turned out really nice and I'm anxious to get them later this month. We got lucky and had the same great photographer, Nicole, again this time! She did a really nice job.

We didn't really do a whole lot this weekend. We hung out at the mall after pictures and then went to dinner with Laura, Aaron and the girls and then hung out with them last night. We were pretty lazy today. I went shopping and we had dinner. I can't believe McKenna starts Kindergarten tomorrow!!! It'll be our big year next year when Hannah starts.

We went to see the model home of the new development across the street from us.....we REALLY want to buy one!!! They are really great. We know this isn't in the realm of possibility for us right now, but we're going to work on making a plan to make it possible as soon as we can. We'd totally love to build one of theee homes - they're really great, really affordable for what you're getting right now and the same great side of town we already live in and love. We've got several things to do to this house yet and then hope with all our might we could sell this house with some sort of profit and then be able to get into the new one....we've got a BIG goal to work toward and hopefully we can do it!

Similarities

My post last night made me think of a picture I took of Hannah when she was about 10-1/2 months old.

This is like the same thing as the one of Nicholas from this week, just that he's younger (but about the same size she was!)

Just funny again to compare how much alike they really are - but they're SO different too!!

Nicholas is 6 Months!

Today is Nicholas' half birthday!!!
Amazing - truly amazing!

I can hardly believe he's already six months old, but at the same time can hardly believe we have been this family for only 6 months.

So much has happened and it is all good stuff (except for the lack of sleeping at night!). So, at six months, Nicholas has just about finished nursing and the breastmilk is dwindling down and will probably end completely in about 2 weeks. We are still supplementing him with the Nutramigen. He has been through all of the stage 1 vegetables (likes carrots the least and peas and sweet potatoes the best). We started fruits this weekend and he has rice cereal twice a day. He has two bottom teeth in and more working their way in - both on top and on bottom. He sits up unsupported and is working so hard at crawling. He is mobile, but it's more of an army crawl - I call it "inch-worm". He imitates certain sounds and still raspberries a lot. He is so strong and likes to jump and move around. He is VERY ticklish! Has a very silly laugh. Starting to babble more. Sucks on a binky and is becoming quite attached to it. He's very cuddly and lovable. He adores his sister and loves to watch her every move. He is still a terrible sleeper at night (more on that later).

Official stats from the doctor's visit today:
weight: 19 pounds, 14 ounces - 90% and up 3 pounds in two months
height: 26-1/2 inches, 75% and grew one inch from two months ago.
head: 17-5/8 inches, 75% and up just under an inch from two months ago.
BIG BOY!!!
Here are his 6-month pictures from today. We're going for professional ones Saturday (and family pics too)






He's such a delight and we all love him so very much!

So, let me think what's been happening lately for us....well, we've all been really busy. Hannah's summer gymnastics wrapped up this week. We'll be switching her gym this fall. I met with the director of the new gym last week and I really like it. I think it will either make Hannah serious about gymnastics or let us know if she's ready for a break. Her new class will be once a week, but for an hour and 45 minutes!

I had Bible Study at my house this month. It was a really good lesson and I enjoyed the discussion.

We had my company picnic last weekend, but it was so super hot, we didn't stay long.

I got rid of more of Hannah's old clothes by selling them to Children's Orchard. The good news was that they took a lot of the clothes, but I only got $123 for it all. I guess it's good because it's money I didn't have before and I got rid of her stuff, but boy, they don't pay much for stuff! And you then realize the markup they get for stuff - but it's still a great way to buy good kids clothes. I'll probably do another children's resale this fall and then take what's left to another second hand store and hopefully get rid of most of it!

Night times have been just awful with Nicholas. We had 2 nights of sleeping through the night, but it seems that each night has gotten worse and worse. He wakes up throughout the night more often each night and he is getting harder to soothe each time. More and more, we give in and bring him into our bed. I realize this is becoming a routine and pattern, so today, the doctor advised it is now time for hard-ball to break it. This is going to totally suck, but we have to let him cry it out without going into his room. He's not going to like this one bit, but I really don't want a kid in my bed now or in the future, so it's time to set a new pattern and new behaviors that will last going forward. I also enjoy cuddling with him, so I'm sad to have to nix it now, but after he gets the hang of night time, maybe we can snuggle for a nap here and there still!

I'm not sure what else is all that noteworthy about the last week, but here are a few more pictures from recent days.


How studious!


Hannah and Nicholas have been playing in her room together! It's awesome!


This is the top to the jar of beads that were Hannah's as a baby. She used to wear the top her her head too as a "hat"!

Nicholas didn't get so big from missing many meals....he's now eating anything he can get his mouth around

Including his toes!

Little Monster

And another view - crawling so "freely"!!

Daddy's little buddy!!

Now, this is LOVE!

Baptism Weekend

Today was Nicholas' Baptism Day. It was a wonderful day!
We got up early and everyone got ready and we made it out the door in plenty of time (nice for a change!). We got to the church and got settled and took a couple of pictures before the service began. Here we are with Nicholas' Godparents, Laura and Aaron Hardin.



Nicholas' Baptism was a the beginning of the service and went really well. It was a nice ceremony and he was so good during the whole thing.

After church, we went for a luncheon with everyone. In attendance with us were the Hardins, Aunt Dawn & Uncle Jack and Krista, Kendal & John, Grandma & Grandpa Roberts, Great Grandma Tilton, Aunt Nadine, Grandma and Grandpa Kamburoff and Aunt Susan & Uncle Will. Lunch was really good and we were so glad we did it this way. Worked out perfectly!







We had cake (and still have a ton of it!!)




It was a really terrific, special day and we're all so glad that our family and newly extended family - in the Hardins - were able to join us and were all so generous!



Yesterday, Tony and I took the kids downtown to Family Day at the Browns Stadium. It was a nice time - a perfect weather day! We had a nice time. There was some cool Browns-mobiles to look at - these fans can get really original!

Then there were some things to play in outside the stadium.

Hannah got to take her picture with Chomps!! (I kept calling him Chubbs!!)

Then we took some seats and watched the first quarter of the scrimmage. It was fun! Doesn't Tony look so "manly" at the football game?



He wouldn't have it any other way - taking his kids to the football stadium is right up his alley these days - pretty cool!

Then we went to Shooters for lunch. It was great! Nice view of the water and watching boats come in. We had such a great day!

What a nice weekend!

Love the Love

I know I've said this a thousand times already, but I LOVE how Hannah and Nicholas love one another. I'm just so in awe of their bond and I'm so glad it's such a special relationship. They're the greatest!

Last weekend, we went to Jack and Dawn's for Kendal's 15th birthday. It's just wrong that she's 15! I can remember when Tony and I were just dating that she was a little girl and loved that I was reading her a book of nursery rhymes one day. Anyway, she's a beautiful young lady and we're glad we could celebrate her day with her!

Hannah was a total fish in the pool. She didn't get out once (well, once to pee) for over 2-1/2 hours. She even braved up and started jumping in.

She felt most comfortable with her water wings AND floaty, but she did lose the float for a while and swam with just the wings for a while. John was great and played with her most of the time. I loved how much confidence she gained in the pool in just this one day!

Sunday, I took Hannah and Nicholas to the park. Nicholas loved the swing! He laughed the entire time! It was great!!! He's just getting so big!

He's not a fan of the carrots, our new vegetable this week. He eats them, but certainly not as quickly as the peas or green beans. We'll try squash in one more day. He's so close to crawling. This week, he's really been mastering his "inch worm" crawl this week and is able to turn himself around much better. He'll be on the move soon. His top two (maybe four) teeth are working their way in. I can see them in the front of his gums, so I'm guessing they'll break through in another week or so. I hope they do soon - he seems to be bothered by these teeth this week.

And the last bit of news for us is that Aunt Susan is back in town!!! We're so happy she's back.....and with an Uncle Will now too! YAY!