My Girl

Oh this girl.  She has my heart.  She is becoming more grown up by the day.  Speaking in sentences, becoming a great helper, singing and dancing and testing boundaries a bit :)

  

Just a few things that I want to remember about Amaia at this age.

She thinks every song is about God. (as it should be!)

Making animal sounds is one of her favorite pastimes

She sings all day long!  Almost literally.

She has named one of her dolls "Jenna" and if Jenna enters the room and I don't say hello to her I am reminded to do so by Amaia.

If we haven't been to the zoo in a week or so she starts asking over and over to go again. She's obsessed :)

If we go shopping for clothes, she walks around saying "Oh, that is so cute!"

She greets her daddy upon his arrival home with "Hi stinker!" 

Basically she oozes cuteness all day long :)

Haddon at 7 Months

Our sweet Haddon is 7 months old!  Actually, he was 7 months old over a week ago, but I am running a bit behind due to the fact that moving is A LOT OF WORK :)

I don't know how many more ways to say that I love Haddon!  He is simply the best little guy.  He melts my heart over and over again.  He is such a happy, sweetheart of a guy.  He did have a bit of a whiny phase this past month (though it was a crazy month for us all).  I was just sure that he would be getting some teeth, but none have appeared yet.

This month we have been working on Haddon's sitting skills.  We still have some work to do, but he is getting better and looking good doing it.

And his eating skills...

The squeals of delight really start coming out when he is in his high chair.  He loves banging his spoon around and probably just having a new perspective on the world in general. So far we have mastered peas and carrots.  We have also ventured into applesauce, peaches and sweet potatoes but Haddon does not seem to be a fan.  

Haddon continues to adore his sissy.  Oh how he loves her.  Amaia can't sit next to me while I am feeding him because he will just stare over and her and smile and not eat :)  I don't blame him, she is a pretty awesome big sister.

He is officially on a longer schedule now eating at around 6:30 in the morning, 9am, 12:30, 5, 8 and then bedtime.  He is also taking a 3 hour nap that coincides with big sissy's 3 hour nap in the afternoon. I have been working on making that happen for awhile and it is so worth it!

My favorite little guy in the world!

The Good Life

Summer life is the good life - can I get an amen?!?  Don't get me wrong fall is totally still my favorite season, but there is something about summer that is sweet and relaxed and wonderful.  We have been busy with a lot of home selling/buying and packing type activities this summer, but we have been also been doing much more fun things life going to the pool and listening the country music :)  So here is an update of what we have been up via the pictures from my phone!

We are an ice cream loving family!  Amaia particularly loves ice cream and knows just where we are when we pull into the orange leaf parking lot.  The night that we bought our new home we went out for an ice cream celebration.  Haddon was there too, though he did not get to partake in the ice cream.  Next summer buddy!

We have been loving the zoo this spring and summer!  Amaia is ALL about the zoo right now.  Seriously, if it is getting close to a week since we have been she starts asking me over and over again if we can go to the zoo, so we have been going most Sundays as a family.  She also loves to talk about the sounds that different animals make or runs around the house acting like different animals.  Her current favorite animal is the flamingo and of course she has inherited a love for lemurs from her daddy.

Is it strange that Mexican food makes me feel like summer??  Well it does.  We took Amaia out for her first mexican food experience last weekend and she was so cute!  I could tell she was observing us eating our chips and salsa and then she just took a chip and slid a bowl of salsa close to her and started dipping.  She just kept eating the salsa though and not the chip.  She was double dipping over and over :)  It was the cutest thing!  Also, as you can see from this picture, Amaia is starting to really enjoy accessorizing.

Haddon has been being his cute, cute self this summer.  Here we are hanging out at the splash park together.  We have been going the pool/splash park a lot this summer.  Amaia loves it SO much! She, however doesn't have a lot of fear so I must have my eyes on her and hands available at all times while we are at the pool...thus I don't really have any good pictures of her in the pool.

Haddon has also been entering the wonderful world of solid food this summer.  So far he has had rice cereal, which was not really a hit and peas, which are going much better.  Next up - carrots!!  He has also been lengthening out his eating schedule, which is exciting for me!  We still have a lot of work to do on his spoon/swallowing skills, but I can confidently say that he has actually ingested some peas.  Amaia is slightly confused about why Haddon is sitting in "her" chair now :)

Just a little bit of what we have been up to so far this summer!

Happy 6 months to my blue-eyed boy!

Haddon is officially 6 months old! I know that I say this every month, but he is seriously the sweetest little guy.  So full of smiles and such a happy boy.  He brings so much joy to our family and oozes cuteness all day long! The past couple of months have been crazy at times as we have been selling our current home and looking for a new one, but holding him and seeing his sweet smiles make me calm down just like that.

Haddon continues to take after his sister by being long and lean as well as having a big head :)  Here are his current stats from our doctor visit this morning:

Weight: 15 lbs. 13 oz. (18%)

Height: 27.75 Inches (91%)

Head: 17 1/2 Inches (82%)

Haddon adores his sister!  He is happiest when she is around and surprisingly doesn't seem to mind when she pokes at him, lays on top of him or drops things on him :)  You can't tell from this picture (Amaia isn't the best at smiling for the camera at this point in her life) but she adores him too.  She is beyond sweet to him and it makes my heart melt.  She greets him the in the morning, sings him lots of songs, always gets his toys out for him and gives many hugs and kisses throughout the day.

She loves to do tummy time with him too!

Haddon is quite proficient at rolling over nowadays!  Though he still does not enjoy being on his tummy for very long.  We are making progress on sitting up but aren't quite there yet. He mostly likes to roll around on the floor and check out what is going on.  He loves shaking his rattle around and playing peek-a-boo with him is a sure way to get him to giggle.  He is starting to become more easily startled lately.  His lower lip comes out and it is so cute and sad at the same time.  He typically recovers pretty quickly but he doesn't like anything too loud or to much in his face.

We started on the some rice cereal a couple of days ago.  He is doing well and opening his mouth for food, but I don't know if he has actually swallowed anything yet.  I plan on making some peas and carrots for him in the upcoming weeks, so that he start his journey into the world of big people food!  He looks so tiny in that chair!  And yes....I need to get him some non-girly bibs :)

Haddon is sleeping wonderfully.  He goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 and sleeps until 6:30 or 7 in the morning, eats and then back to sleep until 9.  After that he is still eating every 3 hours during the day and taking 3 naps a day.  I do think he is ready to go a bit longer between feedings so we need to try that soon as well.  He is so easy going that I often go in his room to get him up and he is awake just patiently waiting for mommy.  

Aaahhh!  I just love my Haddon.  It is simply a privilege to be his mommy and spend my days with him. 

Family Update: Moving!!

Over the past couple of months we have been busy, busy putting our house on the market, decluttering, cleaning and then disappearing for lots and lots of showings, looking at houses and finally a couple of weeks ago selling our townhome!!  

We had been praying and hoping to move for a year or more now, but this spring we felt that it was the right time.  I mentally and emotionally prepared myself for it to be a long process.  The market (obviously) is not ideal to sell and home and even harder for a townhome.  Keeping your house always ready for a showing is not for the lazy - especially with two little ones around!!  Although, Haddon doesn't make too much of a mess - yet! 

Thankfully - and totally an answer to my prayers - it only took a little under two months for our place to sell and we found a wonderful new house to move into! I am SO excited to have a yard and quiet neighborhood for our kids to run around in and explore and SO excited to have a larger home that is much more conducive to having people over and hopefully filling with more children.

So, now we are busy, busy with lots and lots of packing! The last time I moved I had bedroom furniture and dining table....we have accumulated quite a few more things since then :)

So excited!

Haddon at 5 months

Haddon is 5 months old!  This milestone totally caught me by surprise.  I really do feel like he just turned 4 months old, but alas these kiddos keep getting older.

I absolutely love my Haddon.  He such a blessing and a joy to me.  He has the sweetest little personality.  Life can be a bit crazy at times for me right now, but Haddon's smiles are a calming force in my life and such a blessing to me.  That sounds awfully cheesy, but it's true.    

Haddon had a bit of sleep regression right after he turned 4 months old.  I have heard that this is really common, but I couldn't seem to figure out why.  He started waking up earlier or even in the middle of the night for a few nights there, but I think we are back on track with sleeping well at night and for naps.  He is still on a 3 hour schedule during the day and sleeping 9 or 10 hours at night.  He usually has a longer wake time in the morning, mostly because we are often out doing things at that time of the day and then has a couple longer naps in the afternoon. 

Haddon still enjoys his playmat, LOVES playing peekaboo and being talked to and he really likes being held to stand up.  One of the biggest things going in Haddon's life right now is the roll over.  He has totally perfected rolling from his back to tummy.  He does it over and over again, but can't seem to figure it out the other way around (although he has done that before too), so he just cries until we come rescue him.  Silly guy :)

Haddon also really loves his big sister Amaia (as do I!).  He smiles and smiles when she comes around and doesn't complain too much about her poking.  Amaia is really great big sister too.  She sings Haddon songs when he needs cheering up, she tells him sweet dreams with me before naptime, she loves to bring him his toys and she tells him "it's okay buddy" when he cries :)

Amaia even offered to take a picture of Haddon and I and I took her up on it.  Not bad for a two year old.

We haven't tried any solid foods yet, mostly because I don't want to :)  He is doing really well breastfeeding and I want to keep my little guy little, but soon I won't have a choice and he will get to venture into the world of solid foods.

Haddon is our sweet, sweet lil' joy.  I love him so. 

Lilac Arboretum

I have lived in Des Moines my entire life and I had never even heard of the Ewing Park Lilac Arboretum until the past couple of weeks.  How is the possible?!?!  Well, I am glad that I now know of this south side gem.  Adam and I both thought it was so beautiful!  I am pretty excited that we will hopefully be moving close by sometime soon.  

We had a pseudo-picnic this morning, which really only consisted of cookies and chocolate milk and exploring of course.

I was trying to teach Amaia to smell the flowers, but she kept wanting to pick them.  Silly girl :)

A rare picture of the masters of the household.  I love him more all the time! 

Haddon loved our outing too, but he is pretty easy to please.

It was a beautiful morning and I can't wait to go back!