Pierce is EIGHT Months

  I am EIGHT months old!

I like: real food (not so much baby food), feeding himself food/snacks, trying to bite things now that I'm getting teeth, standing up (with help from our hands or a tote or something), moving and shaking, and Gwen (he smiles at all his sisters, but I'm pretty sure Gwen is his favorite, she'll get insta smiles from him every single time), and playing with noisy toys

I dislike: being hungry, tired, or left alone when I want to be in the middle of all the action. Oh and sometimes when I get put down for naps and just don't want to nap haha.

Getting wiped out at Gwen's party

I am now: No checkup, but he's in 12 month clothes (barely), size 3 diapers (wondering if we should move him up soon or not?), and the chunkiest ball of love you could get!

When you get so big so quickly you have to wear
Your sisters hand me downs

A Typical Day looks like: 

 

Wake up around 7:30. Whether he's already awake and chatting or trying to sleep, we get him up at this time.

7:40: Half a container of baby food (usually fruits)

8 get a 7 oz bottle

8:30-9:30 wiggle & giggle time. He likes to scoot/crawl around the house while the girls play in the front rooms.

9:30-11 nap time. Usually he does good with this, sometimes he cries a bit before falling asleep 

11 next 7 oz bottle

11:30-12:30 He gets 1/2 a container of a veggie based baby food for lunch. Then it's wiggle & giggle / hang out while we clean up time. I might give him a spoon of peanut butter or some veggie straws to keep him content...he seems to like feeding himself.

1-2:30: nap time.

2:30 next 7.5 oz bottle

3-3:30 play/hang out time

3:30-5 hang out with dad while he works out. Most of the time he likes it, but every once in a while he cries down there.

5 he gets a 4-5 oz breast milk bottle. Most days he'll chug this, but once in a while he takes a LOOONG time to drink it.

5:30 dinner time. He'll eat almost a whole small container at this point (I try and make this a more meat based food)

6-7:15 play time

7:15 7 oz formula bottle

7:40 start bedtime. Sundays and Thursdays start with a bath (around 7:30), then it's diaper change, pajamas, a little cuddle/rock while we read to him, and sleep by 8.

This Month: Pierce man really learned to move around this month. He figured out sitting up, the start of crawling. His first tooth turned into teeth and he has his two bottom teeth, they seemed to come in at once. It's funny because those are the teeth that Larry still has as baby teeth so I thought it would be funny if those end up staying baby teeth for Pierce too and that's why they came in together. I'm just glad they came in the weekend of the time change so we could just knock both out at the same time!

Getting ready for Christmas time!

This boy sure loves to smile and make us laugh. He loves being in on all the action and is the biggest wiggle worm if he sees everyone moving around him. He also seems to love laughing and being dropped (like a roller coaster). He loves when we pretend to eat his hand or mini scare him. 

He might fight his naps a bit, but he sleeps so well at night these days so I'm pretty happy. His smile melts me SO much and I swear I'd do anything to get that smile. I'm also convinced it's good we only had one boy. With our girls I felt like "the more the merrier", but with him I'm just not sure I could love another son like I do with him. He's my special bubs!

Crawling all over anyone in the way

With crawling/scooting everywhere he's found our springy door stops and he LOVES to make those go off haha. It's noisy, but he loves it and it's kind of cute to watch him get all curious about them. 

We also celebrated his first Thanksgiving. I thought he'd be all for the food, but he mostly just tolerated it. Other than deviled egg filling, that one he was gaga over eating more and more haha. We put some in a little container for him to have at meal time. We did have Gwen's birthday party during this last month and apparently he doesn't love strangers if  he can see us nearby. If he doesn't see us it's like he doesn't even realize someone else is holding him and he does better. He didn't have the same kind of stranger danger the girls had (once they had it it stayed for a while, with him he goes back and forth on if he likes other people and for how long) so this has surprised me.

He is also learning about how much mommy loves Football. At first my cheers would scare him, but now he knows I'm not screaming at anyone, I'm just happy haha.

Update on last month's goals:

• Introduce to Thanksgiving: Pierce did okay with Thanksgiving. We gave him bites, which he handled okay. He seems to prefer feeding himself so we'd have to switch to veggie straws or something he could feed himself.
  
  
• Work on sitting up and crawling: He can sit up SO well and he's still in the early stages of crawling where scooting is faster so he'll go back to that to get somewhere quicker.
  
  
• Adjust to the time change: Luckily we just happened to take that week off so we didn't stress about it and he actually adjusted pretty well. 
  
  
• Introduce baby food for breakfast with a bottle afterwards: Started this and it's going SO well. It does mean that right at 7:30 I'm like "okay get up now so we have time to feed him AND give him a bottle" so we don't get to relax as much in the morning, but I know this is just a temporary time and we'll be back to relaxing in no time.
  
  
• Enjoy a staycation with him: Check! We had a very nice week off. Granted, I did a lot of Christmas shopping and went up to Idaho to visit Stace and Pierce stayed behind with dad and Lucy, but other than that we had fun together haha.

Goals for next month:

• Start brushing those teeth he's getting!
  
  
• Get him in for his 9 month appointment
  
  
• Work more on pulling up and walking with our hands
  
  
• Enjoy his first Christmas and New Years Eve!

The Most Unexpected Feeling

So I know I've mentioned quite a bit that we're done having kids and how I'm so happy with that, but I have to say I didn't realize HOW happy I would end up. I really thought I'd miss being pregnant. Not, like, the sickness or achy parts, but the movements inside, the way people were so happy to help me when I had a big belly, the excuse I had to not workout or eat whatever I wanted or not have to do too much during the day and I got to be so lazy once the kids went to bed...it was a grand time! I also thought every time I saw a baby and it seemed like the parents were handling it okay I'd get a little baby fever.

That could not be further from how it really is though. I do not have one lick of baby fever. I see a newborn baby and I think "oh boy, those parents are probably going through the ringer right now" or "wow, they are so brave coming out with such a little one!" If I hear a baby cry or a parent trying to shush their baby, I want to offer to hold the baby for them and help them with it, but I don't want any more of My babies haha.

One of the best parts of not having any more babies is my anxiety has completely disappeared! And not just like the newborn anxiety I get. that always goes away. I mean my general anxiety. Now, I'm not one that gets so anxious I need meds. I have actually enjoyed my anxieties, they keep me going and pushing forward. They were little things, like rushing through my day or making sure I had things planned out well enough. Getting stressed if I forgot something or didn't keep to my schedule so now I'm falling behind. Or the mom guilt you get if you feel you didn't spend enough time with your kids or were yelling at them more than laughing with them. However, somewhere along the lines I feel I've gotten to be more patient, more confident and relaxed, more in the moment. 

New birth control put in.
The beginning of the end!

Part of this is from Pierce growing SO fast. He's at such a fun stage and it feels like he's going through them so quickly that I've been able to force myself to slow down and just enjoy the time I'm in. 

• Enjoy having a baby who likes to be by me and held by me and who smiles anytime I give him any sort of attention (and I seriously melt at that smile each and every single time!). 
• Enjoy the 5 year old who wants to be my shadow and do things exactly like me because she wants to be just like me (I KNOW one day that won't be the case and I'll be so mad I didn't just fully soak it in). 
• Enjoy the 4 year old who wants to give me hugs and tell me she loves me while also instantly crying because I didn't realize she wanted water and I didn't hear her ask for it haha. 
• Enjoy the 2 year old who gets naked all the time and wants to get dressed on her own even though she's putting the shirt on upside down and having a meltdown over it, but if we offer any help she yells out "no! I do it!" haha.
• And enjoy the husband who is in it with me every day, who helps me out and gives me breaks anytime I need it. Who wants to help out, even though he may not do it my way, but be glad he's offering to help anyways. Who loves to cuddle with me and rub my back and wants to get me treats when he sees I've worked really hard.

I'm also so much less stressed out, I don't get as angry about things, I'm more patient and easy going. I'm finding ways to teach the kids better and it goes over so much smoother. Sure I have my moments where I've told them a million times to clean up a room and they just aren't doing it. But instead of asking once and then yelling, I gently remind them a few times before I push it. Sometimes it's "okay, they either clean and get their tablets or they don't clean and keep playing and it's just not a tablet day. They can clean before lunch time." I also have more fun with the kids. Like the time we saw cows while we were driving and we started talking about the silly colors that cows aren't (a purple and orange cow? What?! Haha). 

My life is SO great right now. There are SO many things I'm looking forward to next year and I know they'll be great. My old self would constantly be looking forward to those things and wanting to do a mental countdown each day and just be looking at that metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel (that, honestly, never disappeared because I was always just looking forward to the next thing). But I know I'd get there and look back and think I didn't pay attention to this time, I just rushed through it. I refuse to do that anymore. I'll enjoy that future stuff when I get there, but for now, I'm loving these moments I have with my family, while I have them. And I'll look back, hopefully, and realize this was my happiest time and it just got better and better as time went on.

Thanksgiving 2022

Thanksgiving this year has been such a great one! It's been SO nice having my mom back so we knew we'd be spending it with her this year. She's been doing so much to get my grandma's house updated and she had just finished the front and dining rooms so we were excited to see more updates.

I love celebrating the holidays, I wish there were more Thanksgiving things (songs, movies, traditions that were more than just for the day), but I still do what I can. We put up our decorations RIGHT after Halloween to give it as much time as possible. I've watched all my Fall/Football movies already haha (there's only about 4 or 5 I like so I watch them every single year, but I still love them). We do our own Thanksgiving meal at home so we can have our own leftovers, so I've been making lists of what we need and getting all the food items for that. I also have about 95% of my Christmas shopping done (and maybe have started on my Christmas movies too haha) so I'm a bit ahead there, which is a much nicer feeling than realizing I waited too long and now have to rush like all the other last minute fools haha.

My favorite way to start the day is by watching the Parade. I almost forgot about it this year. I know it usually starts pretty early, but luckily when I realized I had forgotten to put it on, it wasn't set to start for another 15 minutes. The girls are only semi into it, but it's still fun to share it with them and watch the performances, point out balloons I think they'd like, and of course see Santa at the end! Dinner wasn't until 4:30 so we enjoyed a lazy afternoon and then headed over right after nap time.

Basically...the only shots I got the day of

We didn't have too much we needed to bring to my mom's, it was a low key dinner with just my mom, Will, Grandma, and Andy (poor Rachel was sick and decided to stay home) so that made it easy with transporting 4 kids, our diaper bag, and some toys for just in case. The new setup my mom had with the "formal" dining room and front living room was so nice, very cozy! We visited for a bit and then once the turkey was done we got to dig in. There were lots of food options AND I didn't have to sit at the kid table (a running family joke haha) plus the girls got their own tv in the kitchen to watch a movie while they ate. We put Pierce down with some toys to play with in the front room (within eye shot of where we were eating) while we visited with everyone during dinner. It was actually pretty peaceful, no real stress. I also was excited to help clean up (normally that's the part I dread when we go over to someone's house for dinner) and it ended up going really quickly. Dessert was amazing and at that point the girls ate in the dining room with us so I didn't feel like I was ignoring them. 

The only down side to our Thanksgiving experience, and it really isn't SO bad, but I had been so focused on Gwen's party that I didn't realize Thanksgiving was SO close afterwards so we didn't do our shopping for anything we needed until the Sunday before it. However, the store ended up having everything on my list so it worked out well enough and I didn't even really stress about it (which is so new for me!). Oh and I accidentally planned our Santa picture on the same day as our Thanksgiving AND I was trying to work a couple house and get the house cleaned up for our decoration switch this weekend so it's been a busy day, but I've gotten it all done. And our food turned out so yummy so I'm glad we have that to look forward to for lunches and dinner this week (more leftovers means I don't have to cook as much and that's just the ultimate win for me haha).

At least our picture turned out cute

Gwen is 4!

My little Gwen-Gwen is now 4 years old! I can't believe it! We had such a fun day celebrating her, but first I have to post my mushy stuff:

To Gwen, 

I love how sweet and silly you are. I wish I could fully capture it in video or photo, but your personality comes out at such spontaneous times all I can do is just soak it in when it happens. You are beyond smart and sassy. You are so logical, you throw it back at people without realizing what a smart ass you are. I love it! You adjust to things SO well, but you HATE being ignored, you mostly just go with the flow. You have a heart of gold and love to include everyone in things. You will randomly give us hugs and tell us you love us (which is one of my absolute favorite things ever!). You definitely like to be mischievous or get extremely emotional at times, but you mostly are a sweetheart. If you feel bad in any way, I love that you'll just take yourself to the couch, cover up with a blanket and relax (I'm sure that'll help you when you get older vs throwing a fit). I underestimate how brilliant you are and I'm doing my best to not do that. You understand a lot of Cara's school work without being there to learn it from a teacher. You understand when I read stories to pay attention because I will be asking questions after I'm done haha. You seem to love to draw and color, but you're not so much worried if you're drawing anything real haha. You love the kitties and your little siblings and are so good at playing with them. You don't ask "why" so much anymore, but do say you know why things are the way they are and I love that you understand things so well. It makes the whole "why" period worth it. I love how gorgeous your hair is too, I swear you have princess-like hair and it's the most beautiful hair I've ever seen (I love brushing it to see how long and naturally curly it is). I also love your little curves, with your full bum and belly and long legs. I'm literally jealous of your inward and outward beauty and know we're going to be in trouble when you get older and have school dances/dates. You also have that personality where you do what you like, you don't realize how silly and pretty you are. You are SO strong and brave too. I have loved watching you learn and conquer so much this past year! You are a rock star and I'm so excited to see you continue to grow (and to see how you handle being in school next year!).

If her personality could be summed up in a shot

Now onto her party! Ever since Cara's party at Chuck E Cheese she's wanted to go for her birthday, which I didn't hate because it was one of the easiest places to have a party and we had a LOT of leftover game cards and some tickets we found so it gave us an excuse to use those up. I'm glad her birthday was on a Saturday so we could plan the party for the actual day (makes it a little bit easier). We opened presents first and she was SO good at showing how excited she was for each gift. Gwen LOVED the attention she got from the family. However, when it came time to dance with the mouse she was the only kid who wasn't doing anything haha. Cara went up to start dancing with her, but came back to her seat pretty quickly (I think she started to get shy too haha). 

She blew out the candle on her cake like a champ (I was a bit worried when we practiced on a candle at home and she had trouble blowing that one out, but apparently cake ones are easier haha). When it came time to do the ticket blaster she asked Cara to go with her and it was SO funny watching them. Tickets were literally flying into Gwen's face and she'd take them off and throw them into the air. She was able to catch quite a bit, but then threw them down when it was over haha. Luckily, the workers grabbed a bunch and gave them to her. 

I was really excited that the kids got to play for a while this time. I hung out with Pierce, when he wasn't with Nana and the girls playing and riding the "rides" (I was probably cleaning or visiting with people at that point). Once everyone started leaving and time ran out on the game cards we exchanged our tickets for the prizes. They ended up forgetting to give us our big one (and we didn't realize till we got home...which I'm trying NOT to obsess over), but the kids still got lots of good things. 

Overall, we had SUCH a fun time celebrating our sweet girl and she seemed to have such a fun time. I think this is one of the last family birthday parties we'll do, I know I'll do a big one for Pierce's 1st birthday and MAYBE one more for Lucy? But I think the kids are getting to where we can have them pick their birthday activities and we'll just have a fun, low key family day together. Oh and let them do a friend birthday party as they get into school. 

Fall Adventures

Oh man how I love this time of year! It's taken me a long time to get back into Fall (what with constantly being pregnant and super sick during this time for the last 5 years haha), but I'm really starting to learn to appreciate it again. I almost prefer it to the summer right now. We've had a lot of fun this Fall so far, none of which felt like it needed it's own post, so I thought I'd throw it all together here:

I will always love the mountain views
During Fall drives!

One of my favorite parts of Fall is that the weather starts to get colder, which means HOT CHOCOLATE seasons is upon us! I still have quite a few hot chocolate items from last winter so I've been excited to get back into one of my favorite little treats. I know it's silly, but sweaters and hot chocolate are just so cozy and the fact that I get to stay home/inside during the day while it gets cooler outside is so nice!

Hot chocolate in a favorite mug!

Finding new Fall scents is hard, these two
Are my absolute favorites now!

Another favorite parts: Football! Go Pack Go is our Fall Motto haha. It's been so fun to get Pierce some cute little Packers outfits and have the girls sit with me as we cheer them on (they aren't doing SO great this season, but it's still fun to watch). I absolutely love that my girls call ANYTHING football related "Packers". So if they see a video with people in a stadium, they say "hey they are at the Packers" or if they see a football (on a shirt, sign, tv show, anything) they say "hey mom! It's the Packers like you like!" haha. I've looked forward to sharing my football obsession with them since Cara was about 6 months old so this is a lovely dream for me.

We took this last week off as a little staycation. Family vacations should start up again next year and not stop until we run out of money or places to go, haha, so staycations have been big for us the past couple of years (it's mostly been our only option with the Vid going on) and it's been so nice to hang out as a family. I've gotten almost all my Christmas shopping done, which might be one of my more brilliant ideas - to get my shopping done in November so I can enjoy  Christmas activities in December. We got some doctor appointments crossed off our lists, and we've just enjoyed not having to be so much on a time schedule. Plus this gave us some extra time to adjust to the time change, which I was dreading.

Zoo trip in the Fall are almost a MUST

Speaking of doctor appointments, I've officially gotten back onto birth control. I haven't been on anything since a year or so before Cara came along, but knowing we were done with having kids I was excited to get on something until I can get my permanent surgery taken care of. I decided on the arm implant and even though it's bruised like crazy and my arms is still a little sensitive, I'm very happy with my decision. They say it can mess with your periods, but to give it 6 months before you decide you hate it (IF you hate it, that is) and that works for me because I'm hoping in about 6 months to get my surgery so this just feels more right. They made me take a pregnancy test before hand and THAT was weird, but I'm glad for the reassurance. I also crossed off my general checkup/annual girlie doctor stuff with that appointment so it felt like a 5 birds, one stone type of deal haha.

The very last Thriller performance

While we had this last week off I figured it would be nice to drive up and visit Stacey. I hadn't been up there in about a year, maybe more, really, so it felt like good timing. I just went up Thursday and came back Saturday so it was real quick, but it was nice (also, she now only has 1 guest room, instead of 2, and since I was bring Cara and Gwen with me that meant I was on the couch so a short visit was really the only option). We made us a few shirts (which turned out SO cute), I got to see her boys wrestle (and Cara got to try it out for a bit), I helped her clean and organize some things, and we hit up a craft/gift fair while Cole took all 5 kids, by himself, to a fun play place (well fun for the younger kids, poor Ollie was a bit old for it and he didn't seem to have as much fun). We hit up Red Robin for lunch before heading back, which is one of my favorites, and had a great time! I was also able to fill up the gas tank, give the girls snack bags and a DVD play with a movie and get up there without making any stops! I even had enough gas to drive around for the couple of days and only needed to get gas to make it home without stopping. It was pretty nice (go little Kia Sportage!). I love that our friendship has lasted SO long and we've seen each other go through so much! 

I love seeing my kids interact with my friends

Her boys don't sit still so this is the best pic
I could get with one of her dependents haha
I love puppy cuddles!

So that's been our Fall so far, other than Halloween and Thanksgiving (which do get their own posts) and I have to say I'm having a great time so far! I'm still in the "I'm excited to do more next year" phase with a little one, but we're still soaking up what we can during this time in our lives and that's what's important!