splash!

After melting in the 100+ temperatures for the past two weeks, we finally got some much needed rain today. All of our rain dances must have paid off! The boys had a blast splashing in the rain and Lauren and I enjoyed watching them under cover.

my newest toy

Eric got me a new lens for my Nikon for my birthday and I LOVE it! It zooms in a lot more than the basic lens my camera came in and it lets in a lot more light. I had fun shooting some shots at my parents house this week. I love that my parents live so close and we can run over to their house and spend the day together.

4 months old

Lauren is 4 months old today!

She has changed so much in the last month. She is cooing, blowing bubbles and laughing now. Love it! She loves to sit in her bumbo and her bouncy seat and watch her brothers. She notices everything now, holds her head up well and is very alert.

She still eats every three hours during the day and takes a nap after an hour and a half of being awake. She goes to bed at 7:30 pm, wakes up once to eat around 4 and wakes up for the day at 7:30 am. She now likes to sleep snuggling her little blankie, sucking on her pacifier and laying on her back.

I've been slowly adding dairy back into my diet and it hasn't bothered her like it did before. Yippee! I have only tried a slice of cheese so far and am still dying to have some chocolate and carbonated drinks. Hopefully soon!

Her favorite thing these days is chewing on her hand. Yum!

She is a happy little baby girl now and we love this new stage!

We love you Daddy!

We had a nice, relaxing Father's Day. We went to church and Lauren shocked us both by staying in the nursery for an hour and a half! We were so proud of her! We spent the rest of the day playing in the sun with the kiddos.

Thanks for being such an involved, loving father and supportive husband Eric! We love you!

swaddled no more

Lauren no longer sleeps all swaddled up in her little cocoon. While she slept great swaddled up, she was starting to wiggle her arms out the second we wrapped her up. She also is a major momma's girl and cannot be soothed by anyone but me. Since she is only a couple days away from 4 months old, we decided it was time for some changes.

We decided to ditch the swaddle blanket and help her learn how to soothe herself. It does involve a little crying, but it hasn't been too bad at all. Since we started this process, she already seems better! She doesn't always scream when she wakes up for us to go get her. She lays in her bed quietly, looks around and occasionally falls back to sleep. She really loves her blankie I made her. I wore it around so that it would smell like me and she seems to really love having it to hold. I don't feel comfortable leaving her blanket in there with her yet, so I take it out once she falls asleep if I'm not watching her like a hawk on my trusty video monitor.

I know this is a long process and I'm prepared for many days and nights of sleep training. After four months of sleepless nights, I am ready! Hopefully our little sweetie will be a great sleeper in no time.

Lauren's new quilt

My sweet friend Sammy made Lauren a quilt. This is the first quilt she ever made and it turned out absolutely gorgeous. She hand quilted every little birdie and design. It was so thoughtful and it will be treasured always!

Thank you Sammy! We love it and appreciate your thoughtfulness!

33

I woke up yesterday morning and was surprised when the clock said 9:30. Eric, being the sweet husband that he is, decided to work from home so I could sleep in on my birthday. How sweet!

I started off the morning snuggling in bed with my boys while Ethan had fun with his newest obsession: taking pictures with his fake Lightning McQueen camera. I wonder where he gets it? He would take a picture of me and then say "Look, it's a good one! Can we put it on the blog?". It was sooo funny!

Later that afternoon, we let the kids play in the hot tub. We turned the heater off, so it is not hot, but more like a little pool. The kids had a blast splashing around and even Lauren got in on the fun.

Don't you just want to smoosh those cute chubby thighs and sweet cheeks?

My mom made me my favorite Jello poke cake with Cool Whip for my birthday. My parents babysat while Eric and I went to eat and see The Hangover at Alamo Drafthouse. It was a great movie and we had a really good time. It was a nice, relaxing birthday!

Sammy and Lisa's birthday celebration

Last night we celebrated Sammy and my birthday with friends at the Melting Pot. We had yummy spinach artichoke cheese fondue, awesome salads and delicious chocolate turtle fondue with strawberries and cheesecake. It was soooo good! It was so fun to see my friends and celebrate our birthdays together!

I haven't been able to eat cheese or chocolate for almost a month now, so I was very excited about going to the Melting Pot. I stockpiled milk for Lauren so I wouldn't have to give her any milk that will make her fussy. It was well worth it for a night full of cheese and chocolate!

I'm looking forward to spending my birthday night on a date with Eric while my parents babysit. My sweet sister wrote a post about me on her blog. It's been a great, relaxing day so far and I'm looking forward to what this next year holds!

guess who?

Guess who got their hair cut super short?

Our boys went from shaggy to short when Eric gave them a hair cut yesterday. We thought they needed new hair cut for the sweltering hot summer. Eric did a great job cutting their hair and the boys were so good during the cut.

It is still shocking for me to look at them. I may not recognize them if I take them out of the house!

neighborhood fun

Yesterday some of our neighborhood friends came over to play. We chatted, ate hamburgers and watched the kids wear themselves out.

Lauren watched all the fun while lounging in her bathing suit.

Instead of playing on the water slide, the kids preferred playing in the hot tub. Go figure!

The kids absolutely love having their friends live so close by, and so do Eric and I!

Randomness

Austin posing with his chalk drawing of Grandma

Yesterday I made Lauren a baby crinkle square by following a tutorial from one of my favorite crafty blogs. I had never attempted quilting before, and it was really fun to piece it together and see how it turned out. Don't look too closely at it though! It has a baby wipes plastic bag in it so that it will make noises for Lauren. She loves it!

We so should have gotten the XL version of our Yukon!

Ethan still loves Blue Rat and talks about him all the time. Yesterday he told me "Blue Rat's mom and dad are a team, just like you and Daddy". Then he told me that Blue Rat's dad is a mouse. It's so fun to see what his big imagination comes up with.

Our little lady

Enjoying some snuggle time way too early in the morning.

fabric flowers

Last night Erica and I got together to make fabric flowers. I love my Baby Kaed diaper bag, but it needed a little something to make it a little more girly. These fabric flowers are easy to make and so cute! Best part is there was no sewing machine involved. We had so much fun making them, we forgot about the horrible storm all around us!

From drab, to fab!

morgan and molly's visit

Yesterday my old friend Rebecca and I got together to shop, let the kids play together and meet each other's new babies. Her parents live in the same community where my parents live, so it was very convenient to drop the boys off and go shopping. Lauren was a great little shopper and we had lots of fun!

Molly 2 1/2 months and Lauren 3 1/2 months

Molly was born one month after Lauren. Aren't they so cute together?

Ethan and Austin were absolutely smitten with Morgan. They both wanted to kiss her and Ethan couldn't stop staring at her! So cute!

Morgan is 7 months younger than Ethan and 7 months older than Austin. I wonder which one will win her heart? :)

my big baby boy

Austin is getting so big! He now is potty trained. Woo hoo! We have had two kids in diapers for what feels like forever. He is so proud of his new spiderman undies. He was pretty easy to potty train once Grandma told him he could go swimming in her pool if he didn't wear diapers. So far we haven't had any crazy stories like we did with Ethan.

We love you Austin and are so proud of you!

June Wimberley market days

Friday we loaded up the camper and headed out to Wimberley Market Days. Eric's parents met us there and brought along Emily, Abby and Jake. The boys were so excited to play with their cousins and the girls were excited to see baby Lauren and their cousin Kori Beth.

Our camper was completely taken over with baby stuff. We were so desperate for Lauren to be content, we even stuffed our swing in!

Ethan and Austin had the best time playing with Jake and Granddaddy! They walked around market days, went to the park twice and even ran bleachers at a nearby stadium. To say they were exhausted by 5pm, would be an understatement!

The girls had a great time shopping, drawing pictures and taking care of Lauren. She was a good baby and enjoyed spending time outside.

Friday night we went out to eat with all our family. Emmy (10), Abby (8), Jake (5), Ethan (4), Austin (3) and Lauren (3 months) along with Eric's parents all crammed into a booth at a yummy Mexican food restaurant. As we were walking to the table, I realized it looked like I had 6 kids all relatively close in age. I may look OK for having three kids, but I look damn good for having six kids!