5 Months

This post comes 10 days late of Blake's actual 5 month birthday...but I'm determined to have it up at least in October!

Blake is growing and changing and still sweet as can be.  He had his first plane ride this month and did great for the most part...despite a scream fest on take off coming home that lasted about 10 minutes.

Here's what is going on in Blake world these days:

* Still doing good in the sleeping realm.  Bed time about 7:30 and then you wake up about 5:00-6:00 to eat and then sleep another 2-3 hours.  Sometimes you will wake up in the middle of the night or 3 hours after you fall asleep, but all you need is your pacifier and you are good to go until early morning.

* You love your pacifier.  So far you haven't gotten addicted to it at night if it falls out.  You definitely like to have it when fussy or tired and almost always need it to fall asleep for naps or bedtime.

*  You still sleep best swaddled up tight and are still sleeping in the office.  I am lazy when it comes to hiking the stairs in the middle of the night and this way I don't have to worry about you waking Landon up!

* You are a little inconsistent in naps, sometimes taking a really long afternoon nap (2-3 hours) and sometimes taking a quick nap of about 45-60 minutes.  A lot of times you will go back to sleep if I just put your pacifier back in after you wake up.  You seem to have dropped your evening snooze and really only nap in the morning and afternoon.  Sometimes you are awake for 4-4 1/2 hours after your last nap until bedtime.

*  You are super aware of your surroundings and like to be where the action is...no leaving you out of the fun!

* You seem to think your brother is hot stuff and giggle at him all the time.  Usually when I think he is being way too rough (like lifting your head, rolling you over, patting your tummy or trying to lay on you) you think it is so much fun.  I think he likes making you laugh and smile too!

*  You have yet to roll from back to tummy and don't roll from tummy to back very often.  You seem to be content with whatever position we put you in.  You will usually go from back to side and then flip to your back again!

* You are really playing with toys...reaching, grabbing and putting them in your mouth

*  No teeth yet...but I keep thinking you will get them any day!

*  You like to be propped sitting up or help standing up and are getting very strong

*  You had your first tastes of solid food and really seem to enjoy it.  There are moments of gagging, but overall you have a big smile while eating and keep opening your mouth for more.

*  You still nurse frequently, usually about every 2 hours

*  You have only had rice cereal with applesauce and I usually feed you every evening before we eat our dinner

* You still seem to think your feet are pretty fun and a great toy

* You like to sit in your bouncy chair and watch me make food or clean up the kitchen

* You also like playing in your activity gym reaching for the hanging toys

*  You seem to have taken after your brother in having a SUPER loud, high pitch scream...I think he did it more, but you can definitely rival him in that department!

*  You are such a cute and smiley little guy when talked to and played with and you can track our voices across the room

*  You really seem to enjoy baths and like to kick, kick, kick and splash, splash, splash

*  You get VERY angry when overly tired and seem to have a sweet spot where this is concerned...you can also be quite demanding for milk when this happens

*  On the other hand you are SOOO happy when you first wake up and sit in your crib chirping and squealing until we come and get you

* You haven't gained a ton of weight over the last month...based on our scale you weigh 15.6 lbs

(I have been slightly worried about this and has been a good thing to give to the Lord on a continual basis, you seem healthy and big and are happy so I assume you are getting enough to eat)!

*  You are in size 3-6 month clothes (although some 6 month fits you too)

* You are transitioning from size 2 to 3 diapers

It should go without saying but you are a true joy in our life and such a pleasure to raise and watch grow!  We love you!

Pumpkin Patch: Round 1 and 2

We got to go to the pumpkin patch two different times this year!  The first time was when my parents were visiting and we went today with Landon's preschool class!

Since I never got around to posting about the visit when my parents were here I'm combining pictures into one post!!!

Both times were a ton of fun, although today was MUCH colder!

When we went with my parents it was very crowded and Landon was very apprehensive about some things.  

He thought he wanted to do the swing ride...turns out he didn't and we had to stop the ride to get my scared child off :)

He also really liked the animals...as long as grandpa was holding him!

Blake was a trooper and had no fear sitting on the horse for a picture

Landon was content with air patting it!

He also wanted to go on the slide, but apparently only if he was sitting on mommy's lap!

Blake was a real sweetie and super content in his stroller

Or being held

Landon did love picking out pumpkins though...we got a couple small ones and a white ghost pumpkin that we painted when we got home.

He seemed like such a big boy this year, trotting off on his own to find pumpkins and explore!

Soon I will have two boys running through the pumpkin patch!

Landon was also mesmerized and really liked the tractor hayride!

Overall, we had a great time and are so thankful that Grandpa and and Nana got to go with us this year!

ROUND 2!!!

Landon is really loving preschool and enjoys going to class! 

I love seeing what he brings home and practicing the fun songs and rhymes with him.

Last month, we went to the zoo for our field trip which was also so much fun!

I keep forgetting to get a picture of Landon with Mrs. McConnell...he loves her so much!

Today's picture consist mostly of Landon and his friend Trey!

They are in the same class and are becoming good friends (especially because Annie and are making sure that happens :)

The boys got to look at the animals, 

take a tractor ride, 

pick out pumpkins, 

and play in the corn box (instead of sandbox)

Annie brought little Brooklyn along and had her bundled up the whole time!

Grandma came over and kept Blake for me, so that I could have a Landon/Mommy date!

Both pumpkin patch adventures were a blast!

Excited to carve the pumpkins we got!

Denver

Jared won a free plane ticket at a golf tournament awhile ago.  It was going to expire at the end of October, so he was so GREAT and let me use it to go see college friends in Colorado!  It was super sweet of him to give the ticket to me and I was so excited to get to go on this trip.  Blake and I took off last Thursday morning (unfortunately Landon and Jared had to stay home because we would have had to pay for a plane ticket for them).  It had been over 3 years since I had seen Ashley and 5 years since I had seen my other college roomie Melissa!  WAY too long!

Blake was so excited the night before getting all clean and ready to go!

The minute Ashley picked me up it was seriously like we hadn't been apart...super natural conversation and we picked up right where we had left off.  It is so amazing to have these type of lifelong friends!  We shared a TON of memories together in college and it was fun to chat, catch up, laugh, reminisce and look through old photos.  Sad that our style back then already seems super outdated (we definitely thought we were pretty darn cute back in the day :)

Did I mention that Ashley had twins in February?!?  

This is the scene at the airport...3 babies buckled up and safe in the van!

We kept saying we probably looked like sister wives with all the kids, the two of us and Matt (Ashley's husband) driving around!

Kai wasn't shy and thankfully Blake is used to his big brother crawling all over him too!

Ashley's daughter Allikaye was sooo sweet and it was fun to get to know her better (she is a lot like her mom).  The last time I saw her she was only 2 1/2, so she didn't remember me.  But she was just the cutest, sweetest thing and such a big help!

She kept covering my bangs and saying, "You have the same face as my mom, you look exactly like her!"

I was in charge of watching the babies for a minute while Ashley ran upstairs...Kai got into some paper with marker on it...OOPS!

I'm not cut out to have twins :)

On Friday we met some girls for lunch that we used to play volleyball with in college.  So fun to catch up and see them again!

Here's Ashley, Kai and Laura (who is due with her first baby in May!)

Ashley, Cambria, Allikaye, Laura and Kai

Me, Blake (snoozing), Erin and her little girl Megan (18 months)

Our crazy table of good friends, kids and babies!  We definitely got lots of stares!

I just L.O.V.E Ash so much!  

The Lord was so good in bringing us together our freshman year as roomies and volleyball teammates.  We were seriously ALWAYS together since we lived together, shared a room together, played volleyball together and had all of our classes together!

 Saturday is when Melissa came down to spend the afternoon with us! So very thankful for these girls.  Don't think I would have made it through college without them (it definitely would have been much more boring!)

Here's Ash, Allikaye and Melissa at lunch

The twinsies, Cambria and Kai hanging out!

Me, Allikaye and Blake

Here's our attempt at a reunion photo shoot! 

Taken by Allikaye, with the directions to "look silly"

The fun, self shot (none of us knew where to look on the iPhone!)

Taken by Matt!

Inspecting Matt's work to see if it was worthy to keep!

Melissa doesn't have any kids but she was so great with the chaos and all the babies!

We thought it would be funny to take a picture of her holding all 3 babes and send it to her husband!

Blake wasn't happy being squished between Cam and Kai!

Blakey did so good on the trip...he was a trooper meeting so many new people!

I will say though that coming home our flight was at 9:10 pm.  Blake had just fallen asleep before we boarded the plane and woke up when we got on the plane.  Unfortunately that made for a very tired and unhappy baby.  I had the baby the literally DEATH screamed for the first 10-15 minutes of take off before he finally passed out :(  He didn't want his pacifier, bottle, to nurse, etc. He was just so tired.  The Lord used that experience to give me more understanding next time I hear a screaming baby on a plane!

Allikay didn't want to miss out on the photo shoot and wanted to pics taken with Blake...

This one really made her giggle because it looks like Blake is screaming in her ear...really he was trying to eat her ear (he wasn't making a sound)!

Ashley with my sweet boy!

On Sunday, Ashley's parents came up for brunch.  They were my second family during college, as they came to most of our games and fed these two poor college girls often!  I spent every Thanksgiving and Easter with Ashley's family and even went to her cousin's wedding in Nebraska one year!  

That morning we tried to get some pictures of the 3 babies!

Allikaye getting in on the action!

Ashley is a great mom and does such a wonderful job with the twins and Allikaye!  

So fun to share our lives together as single girls in college and now as wives and mom's in our thirties!

Such a fun trip with great memories! I can't wait until next time!