6 Month Update

Growing, and Growing, and Growing...

Size 2 diapers

Size 6 mo. clothing, but will be switching to 9 mo. very soon

Around 15.5 pounds

Her hair fits in a little 'sprout' of a ponytail

Eating Well...

5 milk feedings a day

Started solids--still just practicing by eating a little for supper

Has tried brown rice cereal, regular rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, and Baby Mum-mum

She LOVES bananas (rip-the-spoon-from-my-hand LOVES bananas)

Figured out how to hold on to and get a little water out of a sippy cup

 

Snoozing...

Same bedtime of 7:30/8:00 and up between 6-6:30

Is getting feistier at night about wanting to be rocked to sleep

Eats one time in the middle of the night.  I gave in.  We all get more sleep this way.

Well-adjusted to sleeping with her arms out, and often rolls over in her crib while 'trying' to fall asleep

3 naps per day - one 45-min AM, one 2-ish hour afternoon, and one 30-min PM

 

Likes...

Her jumperoo

Cooper blowing raspberries on her belly

Cooper tickling or kissing her feet

Instantly rolling to her belly when on the floor

Watching us eat

 Chewing on her toes

Playing peek-a-boo

Stroller rides

Sleeping in our arms

Bath time

Grabbing hair

Smiling

Other Stuff...

Pushes up really high on her arms when on her belly

Scoots backward, and gets her knees underneath her every now and then

Slobbering slowed down-most days she doesn't wear a bib at all

Still no teeth, but I think her bottom gums are looking whitish

Knows when mom or dad are not around... definite stranger-danger

Giggles more easily now!

 Really concentrates on objects in her hands

Is really close to sitting without support

Had her first ear infection this month :(

New nickname: pterodactyl, due to her crazy shrieks and squeals

We're putting the bouncer away this week...

This kid is a dream of a baby.  She is still very laid back, she just makes sure no one forgets about her by 'reminding' us she's still here when we spend too much time out of her sight ;) I almost forgot how much fun this age is... having a 'meal time' with FOOD, so many smiles and giggles, lots of new discoveries, and the sweet way she can go from all riled up to sweetly snoozing in my arms in just a few minutes.  

Isabelle, we love you.  Now stop growing so fast.

Hmmm... when I walked away, she was on the blanket...

"Here I am, Mommy!"

Loving the jumperoo

Practicing with the sippy cup

These mini photo sessions with mommy get more interesting every month!!

And we've entered the chew-on-anything-and-everything stage

Check out the sprout on the top of her head!!

The Winter That Never Ends

So, last week's snowstorm was kind of funny.  A little peculiar to have an April 11 snowstorm, but at least most of us could chuckle about it.  But to get socked again on April 17?!?!?!?  6 inches of slushy, heavy snow that caused an early-release from school and a subsequent snow day?!?!?!? That's just plain wrong.  It's seriously the winter that never ends!  Not that I'm complaining about an extra day at home with my family, but we do have to make up the time.  4 snow days is apparently not a reasonable amount of days to just let students and teachers have off ;)  One school day gets tacked on to the end of the school year (June 5 is now our last day with students), and teachers must attend one of a variety of 2-day workshops or spend 16 hours curriculum mapping this summer. 

Jeremy, on the other hand, is not too concerned.  His back surgery has been scheduled for May7, so he'll be taking the rest of the school year off.  If his district makes up the time, he won't have to worry about it.  He has reminded me of that at least three times today. 

We keep thinking THIS snowstorm will be the last one...  so we bundled Cooper up and let him enjoy what's left of this ungodly long winter.  He doesn't mind this long winter one bit.  He's learned to eat 'clean' snow, and he thinks it tastes like ice cream.  He knows how to make snowballs and snowmen.  And he uses his sand pail and shovel to play in the snow. 

At least the snow is pretty... right?

Shoveling the walk.  Well, taking a break from shoveling that walk.

Looks like Cooper will be helping daddy plant the garden in, um, NEVER.

"The raspberries go here, and the strawberries will go just over there, and..." Hey, a kid can dream!

Looking for 'clean' snow to eat :)

April Showers Bring SNOWMEN!

The Kalal Family of Four!

And April 11, 2013 brings a SNOW DAY.  This feels so completely wrong in so many ways, but we made the best of it... we had a really relaxing day hanging out together, being snowed in... and Cooper was in heaven to get another day to play in the snow.  It hasn't melted as fast as we thought, so I'm sure tomorrow morning, he'll be begging to go back out and play :)

And Izzy couldn't go out because we no longer have a snowsuit that fits her.  But she still had a fun day, too.  Can't you just tell by listening to her?!?!?  We love our little pterodactyl!!

Jeremy is just beside himself with the thought of how this softball season will play out.  They snuck one game in on Monday night, but they've already had five cancelled games, with next week and next weekend's tournament not looking very promising with highs in the upper 30's and low 40's.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Spring... Where are you?!?

Well, we just can't wait around anymore.  And thank goodness we did head outside this weekend, seeing as we're forecasted to get 8" of snow in the next couple of days!!!  Yikes!

The first of many, many batting lessons...

Cooper seems to prefer swinging from the left side... imagine the excitement of his mom and dad!!!

Swing and a miss...

Tapping the plate.  Well, 'pretending' to tap the plate. Er, grass.

Okay, now we'll try swinging right handed.  Maybe a switch hitter?!?!

It was pretty darn cute watching dad and son hit the ball around the yard.  I think it's going to be a really fun summer!

And Izzy didn't exactly get in on the action, but she did get to watch, take pointers, and breathe in the fresh air...

Cheekers

I love the stroller!!

And, in a little self-celebration, I got out for a neighborhood jog, and it felt sooo good.  I'm not sure on distance, but I was going strong for 37 minutes.  That's the longest I've run in just about one year!  Maybe I will be ready for that 5K on May 10...

Big Boy Underwear

This is Cooper's idea of what Big Boy underwear are for...  Does this mean we have our work cut out for us when it comes to potty training?!?!?

 "Cooper, do you want to go potty on the toilet?"

"NO!"

Enough said.

Hoppy Easter!

Our weekend started off with coloring some eggs...

Thank you, Pinterest, for the genius idea to help toddlers color eggs!

Our eggs

And since we had vinegar out, we grabbed the baking soda and made a volcano... this little man loved it!

On Saturday night, we went to Gramma and Papa Kalal's house for supper and an egg hunt...

Of course, there were no empty eggs

And there were lots of goodies for both the minchkins

And Izzy loved trying to get whole eggs into her mouth...

Sunday morning was special with a trail of eggs from the Easter Bunny up to the baskets.

EGGS!! More EGGS!

And a fun surprise at the end of the trail!

 After church, we had Missy & Phil, Amanda & Dan, and Dana & Jeremy over for lunch.  Our little lady had woken up with a super stuffy nose, watery eyes, and a goopy little cough... so we didn't go to the other Easter celebrations we were invited to.  But it was a great day hanging out at home... remembering all the earthly and heavenly blessings we've been given, all because of that very special empty tomb on the very first Easter morning.

Izzy tried to eat her dress all morning long. Yummo.

She was such a cute little sweetie in her dress from Grandma Lori!!

Little Bunny Foo-foo

Dan and Cooper played play-doh for a loooong time.  Here, they're making snakes!

The only nice photo of Cooper in his Easter clothes... he would not sit with his sister for more than 0.3 seconds.  The next best photo of us all includes Coop's new Mr. Potato Head, so this is about as good as it gets :)

Happy Easter 2013

"Whew!  I'm out of the dress AND they finally gave me more eggs!!"

Alleluia and praise God!  Happy Easter!