Six Years Ago Today...

I was watching Elf (a tradition we continue to this day) and having a baby.

My baby is not a baby anymore! This big 6-year-old has a big imagination and loves ninjas, Legos, animals, bugs, the human body, science, space, and marine biology.

He can read many sight words and is getting better at sounding out and spelling words as well. William LOVES school.

He tries really hard to be good and is a sweetheart, though his emotions get the best of him sometimes. William still loves to snuggle, and is still loving his Baby Puppy.
William is a pretty good helper and listener, though his room is kind of a war zone and he can't keep socks or pants on to save his life.

His best friends are Max and Charlie. Those 3 could play Legos for HOURS. So we gave him a big Lego mixed set to round out his collection. And when he found out that Ninjago combined Legos and ninjas, it made his birthday complete.

Here's the yearly survey:
1. What is your favorite color? Sea Foam Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? Legos
3. What is your favorite fruit? Banana
4. What is your favorite tv show? Wildkratts, Octonauts, Cat in the Hat
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza 
6. What is your favorite outfit? Ninja clothes and exercise clothes
7. What is your favorite game? Don't Eat Pete 
8. What is your favorite snack? Cheesaroni (his recipe...melted cheese topped with pepperoni. We have yet to make it).
9. What is your favorite animal? Elf Owl
10. What is your favorite song? The Ninjago theme
11. What is your favorite book? Any book about ninjas
12. Who is your best friend? Max, Charlie, Daniel. And all my friends at school.
13. What is your favorite breakfast? Birthday Waffles
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Hunt for things at the cabin
15. What is your favorite drink? Root Beer
16. What is your favorite holiday? Saturday
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baby Puppy
18. What is your favorite thing at school? Art. 
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Sushi. For real. We are actually doing this.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Nature Police (forest ranger???)

We had a great day celebrating his birth. We started off with a race (kids' 1k, and a 5k for me). I placed 2nd, and gave my medal to him. He's a natural. Look at that form!

William got to have a big party with all his cousins and many of his friends. We had a total of 25 kids, most of them under 6. 

We dressed up like ninjas.

Played ninja games. 

Hit a pinata with a ninja staff.

Ate Ninja food.

And let William get buried in presents and friends.

He was literally SWARMED at present time.

 

William's favorite gifts were a Ninjago car/motorcycle from George and Addie, and a Ninjago playset from Grandma Garff.

And LOTS of Legos.

It was crazy, but William LOVED it.

We are still so happy to have William in our family.  He is still our Silly Billy,
but won't let us call him that anymore. William is a full name kind of guy.  Happy Birthday Billy Buddy!!!

Meet Cricket

It's been almost a year since Nike died.  That means that I have been without a dog for nearly a year.  Folks, this is a big deal.  So meet Cricket.

Originally, we waited because I was going to have a baby.  We got a few foster dogs to tide us over until we felt ready for a full-time dog.  And a bunny for some fluffy companionship.  But lets be honest...although Dandelion is lovely, a bunny is just not the same.

We were planning to get a puppy.  Because PUPPIES!!!

I mean, right?  Who wouldn't love a floppy, loving, silly puppy?  We were thinking fall, but most likely springtime, to make potty-training less of an ordeal.

I thought we'd get a foster or two (or 5) until our perfect dog came along. But then, I was straight up asked by a lady in my foster group if I was willing to take a Great Dane mix (since she knew I was a fan since I volunteered for the last one). I wasn't going to do it.  Steve was only willing to consider an adult foster if she was potty trained and/or crate trained.

And, she was.  Not only that, but Cricket is great with the kids, doesn't hardly bark, and she may even be ok with Dandelion (the jury is still out on that one).  Since she was supposed to just be a foster dog, I let William pick her name. William picked Cricket because he likes bugs.

Cricket follows me around like my shadow, and wants to be everywhere I am.  It's very sweet.

And in case you were wondering about the bandage, she either sliced her foot before she came here, or the day we got her. 5 stitches.  And then she got spayed two days later.  So mostly she has been recovering since she arrived.

But I have gotten to take her running a few times. She LOVES it.  You should see her gallop across the lawn.  She's like a greyhound. We still have a ways to go with leash work, but it's coming along nicely.

We don't know much about Cricket, other than that she is a Great Dane mix from Nevada, about 3 years old.  Apparently she was living in a trailer, and doesn't like being picked on by other dogs.

Like I said, we were originally going to get a puppy, but we all got so attached that we couldn't let her go. Even Steve likes her, and he's not exactly a dog person.

We're all glad she's a part of our family.

Halloween

Life has been really busy, so I'm a little behind on posts. We've had a very sick baby, kids with colds AND stomach bugs, orchestra practice, and a new dog...so time is becoming a little more limited. But I'm going to try to keep up on the blog for our family's sale. The kids love looking through old pictures, stories, and videos. 

I was resigning myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get too many more years with family themed costumes. But then Lily saw me looking at superhero costumes with tutus and was sold. The boys were easy to convince.

We started our Halloween season with a Disney store Halloween dress rehearsal. I let the kids wear any Disney costume they wanted. Caleb was Captain America, William was a Jedi, and Lily was Anna.

Our Ward Trunk or Treat was the following week.

Wonder Woman was a popular choice. There were three at or trunk or treat.

At the twins club party, we hired a photographer for photos. It was awesome.

How cute is my super family? Super baby, especially, cannot be beat.

William loved being Flash. He was running everywhere.

I volunteered for the Hallowwen party. Kindergarteners are too cute. 

And of course, we wouldn't be complete without a "super" adoption photo featuring Cricket. It was a win with our rescue group.

And in case you were wondering, this wasn't a costume...I really am Super Mom. ;) I made that comment when I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home from a party and it got a lot of kudos.

                                                           

Halloween morning I surprised the kids with a themed breakfast. I haven't been up to doing many "extras" this year as we are still adjusting to a new baby, but this was a hit. Pumpkins, ghosts, and spider eggs.

The kids had 3 trunk or treats, went trick or treating at Foothill Village (one of their favorite traditions), and also made it up and down most of our street. They only made it a few more houses than last year, but the buckets were more than overflowing. We might have to skip out on some events next year just to avoid so many treats! But we had a great time, the kids loved it!

Fall Fun

We had some 80* afternoons up until a few weeks ago, so it has been difficult acclimating ourselves to fall. And jackets for our morning walks to school.

Snails, of course, for the boys.

We spent an afternoon at Wheeler Farm for the fall festivities.

It's become a yearly tradition, that I sadly had to miss last year because the smells made my pregnant self overcome by nausea.

We also took advantage of the warm weather and went on a hike. 

We only went a few miles, but I was impressed we even made it there, since it was just me and 4 kids.

Last month, we made it to the zoo for Steve's work party. Super fun.

Halloween activities start tonight! I LOVE fall!

Jane: 5 months

 

Jane is 5 months old!!! She is such a sweet, happy baby.  She is usually perfectly content to be held (as long as she can see what is going on) and is getting more interactive and smiling more every day. She does occasionally get mildly upset, but usually only when she is tired and/or bored.  She doesn't even cry to be fed unless it's at night.  We all just adore her.

Can you blame us?

I especially adore when she gets excited. Her face lights up and she kicks her little legs.

Movement and Coordination:

Jane has pretty much mastered getting her fingers (and any object in her hands) into her mouth.  She's a big fan of sucking her first two fingers (like Caleb and Lily before her) but always seems so pleasantly surprised when those fingers make it to her mouth.

She has mastered the tummy-to-back rollover, but is still working on the other direction. 

Jane LOVES to sit up...but is nowhere near being able to do so on her own.  Which is funny to me because all my other kids were sitting up at 5 months, or at least could solidly tripod, but Jane has no interest in the tripod position. She is getting better, though, so maybe by next month so we can get started on solids.

Doctor visits!

Jane had her 4 month appointment.  She was 12 lbs, 6 oz, which is the 9th percentile...so she is staying small and not growing as fast as I'd like to see. I've had to force her to keep eating multiple times and try to encourage her to eat on both sides for a little extra milk.  I also have to make sure it is totally quiet or she won't eat because she wants to check everything out.  And it's close to impossible with 3 other small children, but I've at least tried. Which has made a difference.  When I took her to the urgent care a week after her appointment (she would stop breathing and it freaked me and the doctors out, but it only lasted a day, so she's totally fine) but her weight was up to 12 lbs, 14 oz, which was up to 11th percentile. So that's a plus.

And she got her vaccines.  She's really sensitive to them.  Every time I touched her legs for 2 days after the shots, she would cry in pain.  It's kind of a bummer. And she broke out a little. I'm thinking she's allergic to the Band-Aid adhesive like I am, though it was a mild enough reaction that I didn't get her checked at this point. If you look closely, you can see a faint outline of red from day 2 in the above picture.

Sleeping:

Jane seemed to be doing well with sleep so we decided to wean the swaddle.  We tried for a week before giving up. It was a disaster. Naps were terrible, she would wake up 4-5 times a night, and seemed to have a real struggle putting herself to sleep, even though she is perfectly capable of doing so without a binky or crying.   Every so often, she would find her fingers and suck herself back to sleep, but for the most part, it was just a terrible idea for her at this time. We're planning to try again after my half marathon next week, so hopefully an extra month will have her mature enough to handle it this time.

Naps are getting a little shorter (usually a little over an hour in the morning, and a longer one in the afternoon, sometimes a catnap in the late afternoon), and she alternates 3 nap days and 2 nap days.  Which means we are quickly heading toward the 3-2 nap transition.  She has made the nap transitions on the early side every time, so I am not surprised, though I'm trying to hold her off until we start solids at 6 months because 2 nap days mess up our feeding schedule. But the 3-2 is the last transition for at least 8 months or so, which means we can get a little more consistency in our lives.  I'm a big fan of consistency. Nights are still usually 1 feeding, sometimes 2 (especially if it was a 2-nap, early bedtime kind of day), but she is so small and distracted by the day eating that I'm resigning myself to keep to it until solids are well-established (hopefully by 7-8 months).

We also tried Jane out on the baby swings, propped up by blankets.  She loved it.  I loved that all 4 of my kids were entertained by the same thing so I wasn't running wildly all over the place. And no one else was at the park so we dominated the swings. :)