6 MONTHS OLD

 I wish I could make time slow down. 6 months with this perfect little bundle of cuteness have already passed. Each day with her is a delight and I want her to stop growing so darn quickly because I am loving the age that she's at, and her sweet baby face just brightens my days.
This first years goes by so quickly and with sleep deprivation hitting hard, it's usually in a blur. I have already forgotten most things about Luke and Kate in their first year. It's so sad. I would love to keep Eden at this age for twice as long, so I can enjoy it and try to remember it just a little more. (I'm suffering from "Last baby" syndrome I think. lol)

Eden is a little gem.
She really is a ray of sunshine in our family.

Eden at 6 Months:
Weight: 12lb 10.5oz (5.74kg) - Below 5th Percentile
Height: 25 inches - 25th Percentile
Head: 16.25 inches - just below 25th Percentile

Eden is super happy. She is rarely cranky, and doesn't cry often.
When she is cranky, it's usually about something easy to fix... she's tired, hungry, needs attention etc. She can sit supported - is pretty close to sitting unsupported too.
She can roll, but doesn't like to (she's kinda lazy about being mobile and I'm totally ok with that. Everything changes once these little cuties are on the go. lol)
She loves children... other children giving her attention always makes her laugh out loud. She still loves her big brother.
She is already recognizing that Jake is not home all day, and she immediately starts to kinda whine a little when he gets home to let him know that he has to come get her and give her some attention. (Another daddy's girl in the making?)
She still wakes up more regularly at night than we'd like... she has a bottle about every 4-5hrs at night and about every 3hrs during the day.
She has started solid foods... mostly just fruits and vegetables. She loves it.
To celebrate her 'half birthday', she cut her first tooth yesterday. I was surprised because her siblings started teething much later. Luke at 10.5 months, and Kate at 9 months.

We just ADORE this little girl. She really is the perfect addition to our family.
Life is good :)

4 MONTHS OLD

This perfect, little cutie is already 4 months old. 

Our sweet Eden is really a bright ray of sunshine in our family. She is always happy and smiling, sooo patient when she has to wait for a feed or attention while we see to her siblings and she's just got the sweetest temperament. I honestly don't think a baby can get much more perfect than this. We feel so blessed to have her in our family. 

Today was her 4 month appointment. 

Weight: 10lb 15.5oz (4.9kg)

Height: 23.5 inches (59.7cm)

We love you little sunshine.. Don't grow big too fast. 

FAMILY PICTURES

 I have been sooooo excited about this.
My great friend Ashley is an amazing photographer, and we were able to have her take some family pictures for us..
I have to just blow my own trumpet here and say that my children are GORGEOUS.. yup, seriously stinking beautiful children.
Ok, so on to the pictures...
Enjoy!

 

TRIALS AND SCARY STUFF

The past few weeks have definitely not been top on my list of 'good times'.
My kids each got sick at varying times, usually at least 2 overlapping each other... spirits were low, and sleep was in limited supply. Jake and I were overtired and cranky and the kids just felt junk and it seemed like everyone's illnesses were going on FOREVER.. in fact, 2.5 weeks later Eden is STILL battling with a congested nose which affects her sleep.
Just when I thought things were starting to look up, and we started this week fresh with a mostly healthy family again, things went from bad to worse.

On Tuesday morning, on the way to take Kate to preschool I got into a car accident.
I have no idea what happened, but there we were... wrecked.
Scariest moment of my life, because I had Kate and Eden in the car with me.
I am sooooo very grateful for their safety, and for their good quality car seats that they were safely buckled into (and which we are now replacing because of the accident)
Kate got a big fright, and a couple little scratches on the sides of her neck where her car seat straps cut into her, but she bounced right back in no time and was just fine.
Eden is still rear facing in her infant seat, so she was just pushed further into her seat, rather than thrown forward. She came out completely injury free. I'm so relieved.
I took a bit of a jolt on impact and the airbag deployed on my chest (did you know those things deploy at 200mph (320km/h)? I didn't until now) so I felt a bit beat up for a couple days, but I'm already feeling better.

A super scary part of this all though is Luke. I am so very grateful that he was safely at school.
Kate and Eden's car seats are installed in our car using the latch anchor system. Luke is also still using a 5 point harness car seat rather than a booster seat (I'm kinda car seat anal), however there are no anchors in our car in the spot where his seat goes, so we had to install his seat, the old fashioned seat belt way, where you thread the seat belt through the back of the car seat etc.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason the seat belt did not stay clipped in, on impact...instead it came un-clipped, and pulled right out of Luke's seat, allowing his seat to be thrown forward, hitting the seat in front of his. I cringe to think how that might have gone had he actually been in that seat.

I am a car seat safety fanatic. I drive Jake crazy because I'm always reminding him that their straps aren't tight enough or the chest clip isn't in the right position on their chest, or the head rest needs to be raised higher, etc... so the fact that his seat was not secure, despite my efforts to ensure their safety in our car just makes me cringe. I'm just incredibly grateful that he was at school.

We are all safe and well. What a blessing.
But now we're left with the stress of replacing our family car, and all that goes along with that.

Needless to say, I'm glad this week is almost over, and I'll be relieved when all of this car mess is behind us.

When I look at the pictures of my car, I honestly feel it was quite miraculous that aside from a blow to my chest from the air bag and a sore neck, we came out injury free.
Heavenly Father definitely had a watchful hand over us on Tuesday.

KATE IS 3

September was a busy, busy month, so this post is kinda late.
Our funny, sassy little Kate turned 3 on Sept 16th.
We had a party for her on the 14th. She chose a My Little Pony theme (which pretty much just means she gets invitations, plates, napkins and cupcakes to go along with her theme choice. lol. I don't do the whole balloons, decor, themed games, goodie bags kinda thing.)

We all had a great time and she was so excited. This is the first party she's had that she actually knew what was going on. (Her last party was her 1st birthday)

Kate also recently had her 3yr Drs appointment for preschool.

She's still just my petite, skinny little girl (but don't let that fool you... she has a HUGE personality and a lot of sass. lol)
At 3 years old, she now weighs a whopping 25lb (11.3kg)
and she's 36 inches tall (3 feet)

A little about 3 year old Kate.
She likes My Little Pony toys and princess dress up stuff.
She's always wanting to put on a 'tutu' (anything that resembles a princess dress/ballet tutu)
She loves music and dancing (and does so wearing her tutu's)
She's still a daddy's girl (I think she always will be)
She speaks really well (At least after Luke's speech delay, we think so)
With her ability to speak, comes LOTS of opinions, back talking and tons of funny moments.
She really is a funny little girl and often has us laughing.
She can count past 10 (how much past 10 depends on the day), and knows all of her shapes, colors and a large portion of the alphabet.
She doesn't like 'hot things'... hot water, hot food, hot blow dryer etc etc
She likes to ride her scooter a lot (she got a new one for her birthday)
She can throw a mean tantrum when she feels like it.
She has far bigger an opinion about what she wears than I'd like at this age. lol
She is ALL GIRL.

We LOVE our Kate... she has so much personality, and is a very special and important part of our little family.

We were much to busy partying to focus on taking good pics, so these chaotic gift unwrapping ones are about all we got. lol. Oh well, everyone had fun and the birthday girl was happy. :D