October thus far

Look at me, trying to be all caught up with my blogging. Ha.

October has been busy. (Then again, isn't every month?!) We spent a week in Las Vegas as a family and a couple days with all my siblings as well as my paternal grandparents and Dad and Rachel. This was such a great opportunity for us to get together. The last time all 5 siblings were together was July 2008. Izzy was just a baby and Brad wasn't even married yet. Now we have two new little girls in the picture, Kim, and Alyce and Maria's significant others. Fun times!

In case you were wondering, yes- I am the shortest one of the bunch :P

Two family pictures in one week. That's some kind of record :) The M&M Store on the Strip

In other news, we decided to put our house up for sale. It isn't exactly a great time to be selling. It IS however a great time to be buying and building. Which is what we would love to do IF we can sell this house. We sort of have plans for something in the works. But it may fall through if our home doesn't sell in the next 3-5 months. Which we are very aware may not happen. I am prepared for whatever. I figure what's meant to be will happen. We are so blessed either way.

With Halloween approaching Travis is trying to out-do himself by making a bigger and better costume than last year's. (Remember THIS?) Hey- it won him $1,000. Therefore designing the perfect costume this year cannot be taken lightly. Last year he spent about two weeks on it. This year he got started at the beginning of October with the building process. Which means coming up with an idea was in the months leading up to it. STAY TUNED FOR PICTURES :)

Being the mean mom that I am Lucy got her ears pierced last Friday. At 4 1/2 months old. Izzy had hers done at 5 months and Riley at 6 months. I kept saying I would do it earlier with Lucy and almost missed the opportunity. This kid does so well with her immunizations. She hardly cries and never needs tylenol. I figured ear piercing would be no big deal. Man was I wrong. She was the biggest drama queen. She cried more than the other two which was shocking. The good news is that just an hour or so later she was back to her usual self and giggling and happy. Her ears have looked great. I have always said if any of my babies ears had looked red/painful/ etc. for more than a few hours or anything like that I would promptly remove the earrings but thankfully all 3 have done well. Just before...and just after, being consoled by a bottle.But just look how cute they look!And she's happy :) My pretty little baby...I can't get enough of this face. I was thinking that the other day and that's when the chorus of Smash Mouth's "I Can't Get Enough of You, Baby" started playing in my head. Random.
Also in October I started Lucy on rice cereal (to my dismay). Let me explain. The other two girls started it right at 4 months. But also right at 4 months I stopped nursing Riley and Izzy. My experience breastfeeding was pretty miserable. This time around, I spent my whole pregnancy telling myself this time would be different. I was determined to make it work and feel better about it. And it has been (mostly) successful. I have had a way better experience and wanted to hold off on any "solids" aka MUSH for as long as possible...say, 6 months? But Lucy was ready. She watches us eat and chomps on everything and just seemed ready. Not to mention my milk alone has not been able to satisfy her. She has one bottle each night before bed. I introduced bottles with all three girls right away, that way if I ever needed to be away from them, they could still eat. So the routine has been that Lucy gets a small supplement of formula each night. But even with that, she was ready for more. I also feel like my milk supply has been really low this time around. Maybe it is because of the bottles, I don't know. Regardless, I nurse her as often as I can if I am at home during the day. I am still determined to keep going with it as long as she seems happy and wants to go with it. My goal is 8-9 months. I have already outlasted myself the first two times...so I see it as success either way. I wanted to hold off on cereals and baby foods to keep her my "baby" a little longer. The minute the first two started eating baby foods, they grew chubbier and bigger even faster. I don't want that to happen!!! It's sad! They don't stay small long enough as it is!


The below video clips are of Lucy's first attempt at rice cereal, Riley making Lucy's laugh in the van on the way home from getting her ears pierced, Lucy's second attempt at cereal, and Lucy enjoying her bottle. She GRABS it from our hands most nights. We are impressed. She still can't really hold it on her own. She can, but she doesn't hold it up enough/at the right angle to eat. I love holding her and feeding her anyway and she is too little to need to know how to do it on her own. Still, sometimes it's fun to see her try things for herself.

Lastly, Izzy FINALLY got her first haircut. That's right, she is almost 4 and NEVER had ANY trims or anything. I love long hair on little girls. But let's be honest...it was getting a little ratty on the end. That fine, tangled baby hair and those sweet curls had to go. The first picture is just after a bath and we had blow-dried her hair so the curls aren't even there. But she still had them, if we let it air dry. a few really good ringlets. So that's why I have been putting this off...I will miss the curls.
Yes-her jeans are on backwards. LOL. This girl puts everything on backwards or wrong. Her shoes are often on the wrong feet. Almost daily we have to turn at least one item of clothing around. As you can see, her hair wasn't even, it was a few inches shorter in front.


Much better :)