Five Months

My favorite dinosaur foot jammies!

All you boys have worn these.

Testing out the Bumbo (with some assistance from Elise)

Passed out in Emma's arms.

She loves you almost as much as we do. 

Giant blue eyes!

We pulled out the Jumparoo for you.

Elise was a big fan.

You were a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff at first,

but quickly became a fan of all the lights and toys.

Looking deliciously chubby during our hike.

Love that you're old enough for stroller rides!

Aunt Lori sent you this crazy soft elephant.

You love to chew on its face.

First time trying food!

Very, very unsure...

Maybe...just one more bite?

I guess this stuff's okay!

Moving on to the good stuff: Veggie Straws!

Still can't decide if this is the month where teeth made you cranky and whiny, or if you're just letting your true personality shine through...we shall see!

To be fair, you have busted out two teeth (on the same day, no less) and started eating solid food this month. Those two things alone may account for all the crankiness (and the barfing. So. Much. Barfing).  Here's to hoping you'll be back to happy Elijah by six months!

Here's what you're up to at five months:

-finally trying out solid food! You just weren't interested for a long time. You definitely prefer savory foods like turkey and sweet potatoes over sweet things like fruits. That's my boy.

-back to waking up 2-3 times a night to nurse. Gah.

-consistently going to bed around 8 pm.

-naps are still not consistent, but neither is your life. You're lucky if we're actually home at naptime for you to sleep in your crib. Poor kid.

-we pulled up the Bumbo, Jumperoo and high chair. 

-you generally refuse to roll over during tummy time, but I know you can do it because I'll walk away and find you rolled over (either direction). Apparently you lack proper motivation during tummy time.

-we're at the scratching, hair-pulling, chew-on-everything phase of baby.

-trying really hard to sit up, but still totally failing.

-with all the running around we do, I finally invested in a decent baby carrier. Worth every penny! You don't love it, but it lets me use my hands when you want to be carried around. You also take fairly decent naps in it. Thank heaven it has great lumbar support since you're around 19 pounds...

-you still love people. You squeal and dance or blow raspberries to get our attention. Between me, Dad, Seth & Catherine you manage to get picked up almost every time you demand it.

Crazy to think we're almost to six months!

Bubbles for Lance

Blowing bubbles in memory of their cousin, Lance, who was born sleeping at 24 weeks. Can't wait until we get the chance to hold you in our arms, little guy. 

Creative Catherine

Catherine spends her days bouncing from project to project, making little (or not so little) messes of paper, tape, or cloth wherever she goes. My favorite times are when she involves her siblings. Elise and Aaron LOVE when Catherine makes up a game for them to play. This is no mere box: it's a SPY bus, which would oh-so-quietly move around the house with definitely-not-giggling girls inside it. 

Elise loves to match with Catherine and Catherine usually obliges.

This particular Sunday they even asked for matching pigtails:

She still loves bugs. After an initial bad experience that left her quite hesitant, Catherine is now an avid collector of cicada shells. This was in my kitchen for quite a while this summer. Even more fun were the actual dead cicadas she'd squirrel away in the backseat of the van or other unexpected places. There's nothing quite like feeling something odd while reaching into the back of the bookshelf, only to pull out a very dead cicada...

Catherine is also one of my best Elijah helpers. I'm still surprised that scrawny Catherine can carry around such a chubby guy, but she does! And he ADORES her:

I was ready to sell him this night, but Catherine saved the day!

For years, Catherine has been my kitchen buddy. Sometimes it was hard for me since it made everything take longer and generally left a bigger mess, but the payout finally came! I was teaching piano lessons one day and came into the kitchen to find these beautiful cookies, made 100% by Catherine!

As long as we keep her stocked with baking and craft supplies, we generally have a happy, helpful Catherine!

School Starts

We had one last, glorious hurrah with the cousins before school started. It was seriously the perfect end to summer: swimming, night games, and staying up too late chatting. My favorite part was how much Elise loved playing with Katie. She still talks about her months later. 

And then it was time for school. We're homeschooling again this year, but with some changes. Our old co-op fell apart sometime mid summer. It was really sad to see that community disintegrate, but really freeing to be able to make my own choices. I tried to really scale back and let the kids have more time for reading and playing. But they still have to do math, and apparently you can still throw fits about math even in middle school... 

Aaron is officially in kindergarten this year (although after he turned six he started telling everyone he was in first grade). Just to make the transition to 'real' school extra fun, he lost his first tooth on the first day of school! 

All grown up now!

As part of my 'make school hands-on and fun' philosophy, we attempted to make an aqueduct in our backyard. Of course it was blasting hot that day and our first couple of attempts failed, but we improvised and got it working in the end! 

(Less of an aqueduct, more of a tin foil river...)

Because our co-op fell apart and because I was worried about my kids having enough social interaction, we found a new co-op and joined last minute. It's 30 minutes away, which is rough. But it's much (MUCH) more relaxed than our last co-op. I love the women there and my kids have made some great friends already. 

K, 3rd, whiny baby, 3s, and 6th

Here's to another great school year!