6 Months Old

On December 20th our little girl turned 6 months old. I really can't believe it!  She is just a wonder to us and makes us laugh each and every day.  Lately  she has been sticking out her tongue when smiling so there are lots of pictures of that!

 Hattie at 6 months is sweet, lovable, chubby, gentle, easy going and just plain wonderful!  We did a "cry it out" session about 2 weeks ago and since that she has been sleeping better at night-is able to put herself back to sleep and is eating/sleeping better at daycare.  She takes two big naps, one at 9, the other between 1-2 pm.  Sometimes she'll take a little nap before bed.  We've had solid foods and she isn't a huge fan.  She can eat a 7 oz bottle!  She is still nursing and prefers that.  Hattie is rolling all over now, she's very careful when rolling from tummy to back, arching her head back and allowing it to carefully pull her over.  She is beginning to try to crawl-moving her legs and arms. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, liking paper products the best.  The problem is she chews pieces off with her teeth which end up in her mouth and she doesn't know what to do with it. Not so good.

 Happy Hattie with her little tongue out!

 Hattie loves to be kissed and will giggle

 She loves to grab her toes and pull off her socks and chew on them.  She also loves to put her toes in her mouth.

 The boys show Hattie their Skylanders

 after bath

Hattie's cheeks get very pink/red, especially with this cold weather. 

Too LIttle

Chase and Owen were so funny and tried on Hattie's coat.  First Owen did it and then Chase had to.

A Favorite Toy

Hattie's favorite toy a few weeks ago was a wooden spoon.  It was a wonderful distraction until it lost it's appeal.

 Playing with Hattie

Sitting pretty independently!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

This year we were home the morning and early afternoon on Thanksgiving day so Jeff brought up the tree and the boys and I got to work decorating while Hattie napped.  The boys were soooooo excited.  They love to decorate, play with the ornaments and be helpers.  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and hung out in our jammies.  I must admit it's a little stressful decorating the tree with two 5 year olds.  They get so excited that they just start pulling things out of boxes-things that are wrapped nicely because they are breakable.  I held my breath and gently reminded them to be careful.  Chase dropped a bunch of bulbs and they broke into the carpet.  Owen dropped a few glass icicles and those shattered in the kitchen.  Luckily they weren't things that mattered.  I have very precious ornaments I've collected over the years from my travels and from special friends.  Those are placed high on the tree! 

Chasey boys

Sweet Owen hanging the star

Chase hanging a picture of himself.

 

I love telling them the story behind each ornament.  They love to see their own ornaments and talk about when they got them and who from.  It's such a great tradition.

My two little loves

Lots of ornaments in one spot

Posing with their Skylanders.

Our beautiful tree, mostly decorated

The bottom of the tree, which I just love, with extra ornaments.  Sometimes you can find a branch with 5 ornaments on it!

Hattie

Hattie is sitting up on her own for short amounts of time. 

We started solids on Sunday the 7th.  Chase and Owen participated so she was very intrigued by how excited they were.  She was more excited by them then the food.  :)

She rolls over very easily to her tummy now.  She prefers to roll over.  It's not so easy for her to get to her back.

She's very difficult to change because she's always rolling to the side.

Hattie is very ticklish on her back, arm pits, neck and even her tummy. 

Hattie's eyes are still very blue, I wonder if they will stay?

Her feet are 4 inches long.  I think her hands are 3.75.

Hattie Squeaking and Peanut Biber

This is Hattie talking on 11-29

and just for fun . . .

Chase and Owen singing the ABCs when they are 3.

A Visit From Friends

In early November the Bjork clan took a road trip up to MN to visit us and some others.  It was so nice to see my BFF and her kids.  Our kids always have a wonderful time playing together and they got to meet Hattie!

 BFF Lindzy meeting Hattie for the first time.

Chase, Ela, Owen and Addy

All the kids!  Addy, Owen, Chase, Ela, Hattie and Drew

Ela and Hattie

Lindzy and I even got in a picture!

Hattie's First Food!

Hattie enjoyed squash for the first time on Sunday the 7th. It was a big event in our house and she had lots of spectators.  She was more interested in the smallest spectators than the food.  :)

Scared of Pictures

Within the past few months the boys have become a little scared of  things with eyes.  For example, we have some lovely pictures of our family but they turn them to face away from them because they don't want the eyes looking at them.  So, in their rooms all the picture frames are backwards.  We had a beautiful picture of Noah's Arc with animals in it.  Chase recently had to take it off the wall because the tiger was staring at him.  We had to actually remove the entire framed art from his room.  He cried and cried about it. They also don't like their stuffed animals looking at them.  I remember feeling that way about some of mine, too, especially Ragety Ann and Andy.  I think the boys are afraid because Jeff told them a scary story about when he was a kid. 

Chase's bed is on the left, all the pictures are turned away to the right!

Sometimes I wish . . .

 . . . I was a good blogger. That I could write and write and people followed my blogs. But, I'm not.  And only my friends and family follow my blog-which is ok.  I'm thankful for my friends and family who read this blog.  So, read this post below and know that what she is saying is what I'm thinking.  Being a mom is HARD work.  Hard. Work.  It's great work, but it's hard.  Especially for those of us who have perfectionism ingrained in our being.  Those of us who want to do all and be all for each of our family members.  Those of us who want to teach reading, brushing teeth, how to pick up toys, how to glue glitter on the page without it spilling all over the floor, how to sit up, grasp a toy, sleep through the night, treat others with kindness, fairness, gentleness and generosity, how to say prayers, how to talk to Jesus when we are scared, how to talk to me when you are troubled, how to love others, serve others, treat others the way you want to be treated.  Teach the heart issues as well as the head issues.  Teach teach teach so the little people will grow up to be great people.  Figure out how to teach to each child differently so they grow up to be the person God wants them to be, God purposed them to be.  Above all else I want them to know they are loved. Period.  In the midst of the school papers thrown around my house, the little toys scattered on the carpet, the clothes waiting to be put away, the bathtub needing to be cleaned, the faces needing to be wiped, I want my children to know they are loved by me.  And by their Maker.  Read the blog below and be blessed.

Real Mom. Superhero in Disguise

Defeated

I have a magnet tool that extended like car antennas used to extend.  Chase and Owen love to play with it.  The other day Chase was playing for awhile and came to me with the tool.  He held it up and the metal  was bent at a 30 degree angle.  He said, "I don't know what happened to your tool."  I was perplexing, knowing he knew what happened.  I asked him what happened to the tool.  Again, "I don't know."  Now he's lying to me.  I said, "What did you do to the tool?"  He looked at me and with pride said, "I defeated the box!"  I couldn't help but laugh and laugh.  He had been whacking a box with the tool and it bent.  After I got over my laughing we had to talk about destructive behavior and lying.  :(

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a cool day.  We spent the morning decorating the tree and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a really fun, somewhat relaxing (as relaxing as watching 5 year old twin boys pull your very precious and very breakable ornaments out of boxes) and nice to have some family time.  Later that day we went to Berger's for the first time since I've been married to Jeff.  They are normally in Florida during Thanksgiving.  It was so nice to celebrate with the whole family and have a wonderful meal together.  We each shared what we were thankful for and Chase and Owen said they were thankful for Nana and Papa. :)

Owen, Papa, Hattie, Chase and Nana

A little smile from Hattie in this one

Sandy seated at her beautiful table

Papa and Hattie have a connection and spent much of the day together.  Check out those cute little legs!

My cute little 5 month old

Daddy and Hattie

Our family of 5, so blessed

sleepy and hungry Hattie

Hattie has not been taking a bottle well at daycare so I've been trying to bottle feed more on the weekends.  Luckily she took this one!

The cousins, minus Hattie and the new guy, Grey.

The night before Thanksgiving the boys went to Target and brought home this cute Santa outfit for Hattie.  Jeff envisioned her wearing it while opening Christmas gifts that night. I already had an outfit for Thanksgiving, so we had a wardrobe change! :)   Because Jim and Sandy are in FL we had Christmas at Thanksgiving.  The boys were so so so excited they could hardly stand it.  They were told they got one gift (which they were fine with). They thought it was going to be a Skylander. We had discussed how to act if you don't get what you want.  Sandy brought out the presents and they were jammies.  Owen looked at me and held it together.  Chase, however, lost it and started crying. Poor guy. Right after than they brought out more gifts and toys galore.  The tears ended and were replaced with screams of joy!

The cousins with Hattie this time.

Opening and watching Millie

Opening a gift (Chase)

Owen showing off his Hoot Loop

Legos!

Mommy and Hattie, in her new wonderful headband, opening her Christmas present.

Papa and Hattie again and her cute outfit and headband.