Easter 2013

Easter this year was a little untraditional for us. We had been at the beach for the weekend and traveled home on Easter Sunday which meant we didn't make it to church on Easter Sunday. Gasp! I know, at first I thought not going to church on Easter wouldn't be that big of a deal, {since we go to church almost every Sunday} but it really felt kind of weird. Like it wasn't really Easter or something. Anyhow we did celebrate Easter at the beach in the morning with Easter buckets, and egg hunt and a yummy breakfast {you can see here}. Then we went over to our friends the Hammagren's house for a yummy Easter dinner {for the 4th year in a row}.

Here are some pictures from Easter dinner...

 Yes, the kids look like they are dressed for summer... it was 70 degrees on Easter!

{That's pretty much unheard of for the Willamette Valley on Easter}

It was fun to change it up a little this year, but I think next year we will make it a point to go to church on Easter :) Hope you had a great Easter!

Here is Easter 2012

Beach Trip 2013

A couple weekends ago {Easter weekend, the last weekend of spring break, to be exact} we had a little vacation over to Lincoln City with Russell's side of family. It was fun weekend full of playing on the beach, eating good food, wedding prep {my sister-in-law Kacie is getting married in June and she brought the wedding invites for us to help put together and I had the privilege to take their engagement pictures!} and some outlet shopping. And we had BEAUTIFUL weather the whole weekend... sunny and warm! {for the Oregon Coast}

We started our trip by going to the Oregon Aquarium.

This boy was sure happy with his hot cocoa for the car ride over and then McDonalds for lunch.

Checking out the "passages of the deep"

Lily enjoyed seeing all the fishies too!

Enjoying a yummy lunch at Mo's. When visiting the coast this is a must for us!

Lily sat in a high chair {at a restaurant} for the first time! {yes, there is a tear in my eye, she is growing up too fast!}

 Walking to the beach for some kite flying fun!

Like I said, the weather was beautiful!

 Friday night we dyed Easter eggs, since it was Easter weekend after all.

 He is a cheese ball.

Future brother-in-laws

 Wedding invitations in the making!

 Blake found a treasure on the beach! 

{Don hid a glass ball, the kind that are hidden on the beach that are really hard nearly impossible to find, for Blake to find}

 The guys

 Lily's first time on the beach!

 Seriously beautiful.

Nana Pam and Lily {Lily was not a fan of the wind}

All that fun on the beach tuckered her out!

Since we woke up Easter Morning at the beach the Easter Bunny made a stop by the beach house!

 Checking out his Easter loot

 Hunting for Easter eggs and checking out the Easter Bunny's foot prints!

 And while doing that we saw a real bunny! What are the odds of that?!

One last stop at the beach before we all headed home.

And this is what Blake did when we said it was time to leave... 

It was a fun, great, relaxing weekend! Looking forward to going again!

{Here is our beach trip from two years ago}

Lily: 6 months 2 weeks

How is my baby already half-a-year-old?! Geesh, if the next six months go by as fast as the last six months, she will be one before we know it. Time needs to slow down!

{pictures take at 6 months}

Lily's 6th month:

Weight: Closing in on 15lbs

Still mostly just nursing. We keep trying solids but she's just not interested. 

She has started really rolling and moving around! I don't think it'll be long until she starts scooting or crawling!

Starting to wear 9 month size clothes.
Loves smiling and laughing at her brother.
Is still waking up 1-2 times at night, nurses and then goes right back to sleep.

Blake: 6 month

Lily and solids

I mentioned in Lily's 4 and 5 month post that we had been given the go ahead from our pediatrician to start solids, so we did shortly after that appointment and she hated it...

I tried pretty persistently for about a week and it seemed like the more I tried the more she HATED it. And I hated it too for that matter. {It's no fun trying to shove food into a screaming babies mouth ha!} So we stopped.

Then a few days ago tried again. Still didn't want anything to do with it. Wouldn't even open her mouth. I even tried banana {what baby doesn't like banana!?} So we stopped again.

Fast forward to tonight...

 I bought a sweet potato and dusted off the Cuisinart and tried to remember how to make baby food.

Surprisingly, she did accept the sweet potato better then I thought she would! And did better if the spoon was coming from dad. Still having a bit of a hard time convincing her to open her mouth, so we try to sneak it in when she smiles or talks. Once it was in the majority went down.

{But definitely likes her fingers best}

 I think we will stick the the sweet potatoes for a few more days and see if they get any easier. Then maybe try carrots or another veggie. 

If any of you have experienced a hard eater I would love to hear what you did to encourage solids. I've read little about the Baby Led Weaning approach and would love to hear more or know of some good resources out there on that approach. I am also somewhat hesitant to do that since she seems to gag a lot, but maybe that means she's not ready for solids? Would love to hear any advice!

Fun at the park with cousins!

On Wednesday Michelle and the boys came to visit. It's great that they live close and are able to just come and spend a day with us! We played at the house in the morning, and then in the afternoon, since the weather was so nice {sunny and 65!} we headed to the park!

Teeter-totter 

I swear he has no fear

 B and T ... Best buds!

 0, 1, 2, 3! {those are their ages in order!}

{a behind the scenes look at trying to get that picture}

Lily's first swing ride! Logan wasn't so sure about sharing.

She is really getting the hang of sucking on those fingers!

 Any day now he will be off and running!

Loving that the days are longer, the sun is shinning more and cousins live near by!

Lily: months 4 and 5

Wow! The last 2 months {more like the last 5!} have flown by! Lily turned 5 months {how is that possible!!} on February 24th  and since I never did a 4 month post {but I did take pictures} here are months 4 and 5... {hopefully the month 6 post will be on time :)}

4 months

Weight: at Lily's 4 month check she weighed 14lb 3oz

Hight: 25in

We spent a week in Medford and she mastered rolling from her tummy to her back but hasn't quite figured out tummy to back.

She now sleeps un-swaddled. Still in the pack n play in our room. 

Still wakes up 2-3 times a night.

Still only nursing but Dr. gave the ok to start solids! {is she really old enough for that?!}

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

big brother always wants to be in a picture and usually wants to take one too

love this smile!

5 months

Weight: I'm thinking she has to be closing in on 14 1/2 -15lbs!

She just started sharing a room with Blake! Which means instead of waking up 3+ times a night, she only wakes up about once, eats and then goes right back to sleep! It's great!

We have tried solids but she is not a fan {gaging, spiting it out, awful faces and screaming usually ensues}. So far we've only tried oatmeal and banana. We tried it for a few days and then stopped and will wait a little longer.

She loves smiling at her brother! Its so fun to see the two of them starting to interact!

She loves playing on her play-mat thing reaching for her toys and sitting in the bumbo watching what is going on.

She is kind of on a routine... 7am wake up, 8:30-9 nap for 30-45min eat at 10am, wake till 1pm eats then naps till 2:30ish eats at 3pm naps around 4ish and then bath, nurse, bed at 7pm-ish then wakes up between 2-3am to nurse then sleeps till 7am. 

Still exclusively nursing! {So different then from Blake}

She is still a pretty happy easy going baby!

We love her so much and can't believe she's already 5 months! She is growing up too fast!

Hello there

It's been a while. I feel like I'm so far behind on blogging. There's so many things I want to write and share about mostly because this is like my scrapbook of what's been going on in our lives, but for some reason it's been difficult to make the time to blog.

So here is a quick update/recap of what's been going on with us in 2013 thus far...

• Lily is healthy now! {I'm working on a post about her hospital stay, hopefully it'll be done soon}

• We've been working hard getting the house ready to be put up for sale and as of January 25th it's for sale! So far we have only had one showing but we are hopeful it will sell and thankful we aren't in any time crunch to have it sell. I'm hoping it doesn't take too long because it's a lot of work keeping a house picked up 24/7 with a 2.5 year-old that is continually making messes!

• Lily turned 4 months on the 24th {working on a post for that too}

• Blake is now {mostly} potty trained! On Saturday in early January we went to Portland and Aunt KK took him to change is diaper while we were in the Nike Employee store {the reason I mention this is because he would tell you about it... "I go potty in the Nike potty" is what he would say hahaha} and he went potty on the toilet for her there. That Monday I decide it was time to pull out the underwear and we haven't looked back since! I am shocked at how well he has done. He still has an occasional accident and wears diapers for nap and bedtime.

Those are some January highlights... here's to hoping I get better at keeping things up to date! {and a cute picture of Lil}