Mid-Week Randoms

The girls had a week of dance camp this summer and absolutely loved it!  There were crafts, dance routines to learn, snack time and brand new tank tops.  It was geared for girls ages 5-8 and the girls knew everyone that was there.  On the last day, I took the boys and watched as the girls put on a show for all of us.  It's safe to say that Jack cheered the loudest of anyone in the audience.  I love that kid and his enthusiasm for life.

Shaking her booty:

And then, when I was turned taking care of Jimmy, Jack snuck over to pose with the girls in their group photo.  I turned around as many of the parents were snapping pictures -- with him in them!  I quickly trotted over and removed him for the pose!  Ha!

Sam and her best friend, Ainsley:

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Jack is forever working.  He loves it; no task is too large for him.  The more interactive, the better.

Washing Grammy's car for her as a surprise:

Digging worms in the woods.  In his underwear.  Of course.

Helping the neighbor shovel rocks for their landscaping:

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Once in a while though, Jack is willing to take a break to enjoy the simplicity of life. 

On a boat ride, with the mist of water and the blowing wind in his face:

On the neighbor's hammock, taking it easy:

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This is summer ...

Shucking ears of farm-raised corn:

Building a campfire in the backyard and using poker sticks to let the smoke rise high into the air:

Ice cream cones while the sun sets after swimming in the lake:

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A fun craft project that the girls and I did together one afternoon to surprise Aunt Minnie.  It is a tissue paper fox that will hang in her classroom this Fall to coordinate with her "Woodland" theme:

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An impromptu trip to the park with Aunt Minnie and Louie ...

These bars swung around:

The girls loved them.

Jack must have gone down each of the slides there no less than 20 times each.

The higher the tower, the better for my little daredevil that has no fear.  None.

Getting ready to swim around on the giant mushroom:

All of the kids after a sweaty morning of playing:

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This girl is going into 3rd grade this far and has the legs of a giraffe.  I can't believe that she is going to be 8 years old this Fall.  Hold me.  (And, we *might* already be planning her birthday party.  What can I say?  She's a planner, just like her momma).

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Baking zucchini muffins with the neighbor girl in our kitchen one afternoon (during naptime for the boys). 

Grating the zucchini:

Samantha is always in charge of two things -- breaking the eggs and reading the recipe:

Team work:

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Jack's First Trip to the Dentist

Jack had his first dentist appointment this week and he was very excited to go!  We have talked about it for months now and he has been with me every time that the girls and I have gone.  We talked about what to expect and, of course, the bag of goodies that he would receive including the toy from the special toy box afterwards.

All set up and ready to go:

The hygienist was so patient with Jack and took the time to show him all of her "tools."  This was critical because Jack loves tools and knowing what they are used for.

Using the suction hose inside his mouth "tickled" him:

At this appointment, we learned something very interesting: Jack has an extra tooth!  Along the top, he has another tooth right before his left eye tooth (making 5 teeth in a row on top, instead of the traditional 4).  Sadly, I never really noticed before -- despite brushing and flossing his teeth with him on a regular basis -- because the alignment is not that far off.  The extra tooth is just very narrow there.   I guess that this is a genetic thing, but neither Steve nor myself know of anyone in our immediate family that had/has an extra tooth ...

The question now is whether there is an extra adult tooth there too.  We won't know until we have x-rays done and he's too little for those now.  He may be lucky and lose that baby tooth and not have an extra permanent one there.  Time will tell.

In the meantime, all of the kids had perfect teeth and do not have to go back to the dentist until March!  Yay!

Jimmy's First Meal

On July 8th, Jimmy had his first solid "meal."  He had just turned five months that week (on the 4th) and I have typically waited until six months of age to introduce solids to my little ones.  But, he has been showing signs of being ready for a couple of weeks now -- reaching for spoons, opening his mouth while sitting on my lap as I am eating, etc. 

So I called Samantha into the kitchen, mashed up an organic banana (I try to begin with as many organic fruits and vegetables as I can) and grabbed my camera to document the first meal. 

If the look on his face is any indication, Jimmy wasn't quite sure what to think:

Pausing to look at me with the biggest/brightest blue eyes EVER, as if to tell me that the banana was semi-satisfying:

Yup, he was a fan of it after a single taste.

Let's take a moment here to note the stark difference in eye color below.  Sam's are a gorgeous brown color and Jimmy's are a stunning blue.  I am so sure that his will stay blue ... and that makes me smile because it will mean that I will have a brown-eyed girl and brown-eyed boy (Samantha and Jack) and a blue-eyed girl and blue-eyed boy (Sophia and James).  How perfect.

Still enjoying those bananas:

Licking it off the bib:

It was only a half of a banana, but Jimmy decided that he needed a little water to wash it down:

It was then that Sophia rounded the corner and wanted to help:

And, of course, Jack did not want to feel left out!  I think that my heart nearly doubled in size when I saw Jack (the sweetest big brother that ever lived) helping to feed James. 

Since then, we have slowly introduced a few solids and there isn't one that Jimmy doesn't like, yet.  He has solids about twice a day, sometimes only once, as he still relies heavily on breastmilk for his nutrition.  I make all of the foods myself and try to maintain a little texture to them so that he will transition to other "table foods" more easily down the road. 

I am so excited for this new milestone with little one and even more excited that it is happening during the summer when produce is in abundance!

4th of July

As is our usual tradition, we began the 4th of July holiday this year with the parade through our subdivision.  The girls and Jack decorated their bikes the day before and were more than a little excited to be a part of the event.  James rode in the stroller with a festive flag and we rolled out of our driveway about 15 minutes before the parade was to start.

Jimmy's first 4th of July:

Steve and his boys:

Jack was farther ahead of me on his bike as we walked to join in with the parade.  As soon as the fire truck (that was leading the parade) let out a loud honk, Jack burst into tears and high-tailed it back to me.  He kept saying that it was "too loud."  Not wanting him to be scarred for life about fire trucks, we made sure that he got to sit in it once it arrived down at the park. 

Mission accomplished.  Jack was content with fire trucks again.

While the girls were doing some water activities, Jack grabbed a donut and scarfed it down faster than I have ever seen him eat.  It must be that all of that bike riding in the parade worked up an appetite.

Duck, duck, goose with a cup of water:

Meanwhile, Jack and I headed over to a nearby picnic table so that Jack could decorate a cupcake with lots of frosting and sprinkles.

And a flag.

A water balloon tossing game:

The girls got to the park earlier than the rest of us (I swear, they practically rode their bikes on the bumper of the fire truck) and managed to score some tattoos.  Sam opted for one on her cheek.

Decorating cupcakes with one of our neighbors after stripping their clothes off; I learned my lesson years ago and make sure to have the kids wear their swim suits under their clothes each year.

Why?  Because they always want to play at the beach while we are down there!

Those long "giraffe legs" get me every time.  She's so tall ...

Working together to make a sandcastle:

This boy could play with a bucket of sand for hours:

Cooling off one last time before we headed home for lunch:

Later that afternoon, we went over to a neighbor's house for a cookout.  The kids swam in their pool while the adults socialized (and took turns holding Jimmy).  Then, we headed home around 7:30 pm to begin baths.  The girls and Jack showered and changed into clean clothes while I bathed Jimmy and got him down for the night.  Then we enjoyed the fireworks together with the neighbors across the street.  It was Jack's first time staying up late to watch them and it is safe to say that he loved them! 

James is Five Months Old

Our little firecracker is five months old today (on the 4th of July!) and is fully recovered (yay!) from our trip to the doctor's office last week. 

Last weekend, I noticed that he had a slight cough at church and mentioned to Steve that James was likely coming down with a little cold.  That afternoon, when I went to get him from his crib after his afternoon nap, his right eye was completely sealed shut.  Lots of crusty gook.  I used a warm washcloth to clean it up and he managed to smile weakly throughout all of it.  That night, he struggled getting settled down and was up more in the night than usual.

By Monday, his eye looked worse -- tears galore, lots more crusty gook and the right eye was shrunken in appearance compared to his left eye.  He became disoriented whenever I went to pick him up because he couldn't see very well and it was obvious that he was clingy and not quite the same jovial little man that we were used to.

Sleeping in his car seat, with his eye sealed shut a mere hour after I had cleaned it:

Originally, I figured that I would just let the cold run its course, but by Tuesday morning, I decided to make him an appointment.  I worried that the eye infection (the cough was minimal and there was no other apparent nasal drainage) could be contagious, as most eye infections are, and I didn't want to risk spreading this to the other kids.  Plus, I was hoping for some eye drops that would clear up the infection even faster to flat-out make him feel better.

It turns out that in addition to the conjunctivitis, James had a double ear infection.  What a trooper.  I would have never known if we weren't in being seen for the eye issue.  So, I picked up the antibiotic and the eye drops from the pharmacy on the way home and within a single day, he was already looking so much better.  And, I learned that he had gained almost a half pound (up to 16 lbs. 13 oz.) in the last month.

He loves the taste of the antibiotic and grabs the syringe away from me to "self-medicate" each time that I try to administer it (twice a day for 10 days).  We will head back to the doctor's office in two weeks for a quick "ear check" just to make sure that the ear infections have healed entirely. 

James is still exclusively breastfeeding, but I plan to start a few solids this next month.  He is starting to show interest whenever he sees us eating and I suspect that he is going to take to it quickly.  We have given him a taste of a few things (sucking on piece of watermelon, a dab of applesauce, etc.) and each time, he became overly excited.  I, myself, am very happy about beginning solids in the summertime, as that allows me many options (more so than in the winter) for homemade purees. 

I had an opportunity to sub three times this last month for teaching (I've been away from the classroom for six months -- the longest that I have ever gone since being hired at the college nine years ago), and James did great for Steve for the 4-5 hours that I was away.  It felt good to be back on campus, but I was also anxious to return home to my babies when I was done.  I will be teaching on Wednesday and Thursday nights this Fall, beginning in August, and feel confident that it will go smoothly.  James will be nearly seven months old by then.

We have settled into a nice routine at night with the kids now.  Jack goes to bed first, at 8 pm.  Then, Steve settles the girls in, likely around 8:15 pm.  At that time, I am usually feeding James (following his bath) and once I put him in his crib (between 8:30-8:45 pm), I check on the girls and tell them goodnight.  James will usually sleep until about 5:30 am.  Occasionally, he will wake up earlier but I just feed him and he goes right back to sleep.  Often, I hear him talking on the monitor in the middle of the night, but I only go and get him if he starts to cry.  He can put himself back to sleep most of the time.

Sitting in their pajamas before bed:

James is also following a pretty good nap routine now that it is summer and we are not constantly on the go for school drop-offs/pick-ups and dance classes.  He likes to take a long morning nap, which is usually in his crib, but can be in his car seat if we are running errands.  He's not too picky.

He also takes an afternoon nap (usually at the same time as Jack!) and a small catnap around dinnertime.  It doesn't take a lot of effort to settle him in as long as his belly is full, his diaper is clean and he has his favorite blanket that has been with him since birth. 

James is still a favorite among everyone in this household and I find myself breaking up a few fights over who gets to hold him ... or bring me a diaper ... or pick out his outfit for the day ...  Samantha is the only one that is allowed to carry him any sort of distance and I often find her just sitting with him. 

This last month, we hung the jumperoo for him so that he can practice putting a little weight on his feet.  Jimmy's legs are still very "rubber-like" and lack any kind of strength.  While the jumperoo is still a bit big for him (hence the blanket stuffed in the back), he will stay in it for at least 20 minutes at a time.  I consider that a victory.

While his legs are still very weak, his back muscles are starting to become a lot stronger.  He is nowhere ready to sit unassisted yet, but I work with him daily on sitting up and balancing.  After a couple of minutes, he begins to fall from one side or the other.

I suspect that he will follow in his older siblings' patterns and begin sitting alone between 6-7 months of age.  We're never in any rush around here to encourage early rolling/sitting/crawling/walking, as we know that things only get more complicated when the little ones are "on the move."  Right now, I enjoy putting him in one place and knowing that he will be there when I return; that is, unless Samantha gets her hands on him!