Annabelle at 6 months

We sure love Annabelle.

Here's a little update on her at 6 months. 

Annabelle...
Planks
Crawls
Sucks on everything (especially knees, pants, chins, paper, and toes)
Smiles at everyone (Especially if they are wearing sunglasses)
Is very calm, happy, peaceful but she has pipes and if she is tired, hungry, or in the car, she will let you hear it.

Here are her 6 month stats:

Height 26.5 inches (76%) - a little high in my opinion... I think she is shorter than this
Weight 15 lbs 15 oz (47%)
43 cm (16.93") (73%)

Annabelle also sits up for quite awhile without falling, and likes to be held in a standing position. She also LOVES to be carried and has a little bit of FOMO. Likes to see what is going on everywhere.

She finally likes the water too (though didn't really like it during our entire Hawaii trip)

She loves playing with all of the big kid's toys and loves Sophie the Giraffe (that we lost in Oahu). She got an elephant teether toy that she is also obsessed with.

She has tried shave ice and sweet potatoes. She kind of likes sweet potatoes. She loved it the first time and the second and third time she's felt lukewarm about food. Shave ice was way too cold her her.

She has been given a bottle a few times and refuses to drink it... and just spits all the milk out.

Annabelle schedule wise goes to bed somewhere between 8:30-10:00pm and sleeps in until 7am sometimes (sometimes wakes up randomly at 3am or 5am if she's having a growth spurt). After she eats at 7am she will sometimes go back to sleep until 10am! Sometimes I do too (while the big kids watch TV).

During our Hawaii trip she was an awesome sleeper in Maui and maybe woke up once a night. In Oahu she woke up every 1-2-3 hours for the entire week. I felt like a zombie in the mornings, but then Diet Coke and shave ice perked me up!

During the day if we are home Annabelle spends her time crawling around, hanging out in her exersaucer, and sitting playing toys. If we are out she loves my Sollybaby wrap (thanks Jaicy!) or the Baby Bjorn. She loves to face forward and see what is going on. 

She hates the car and her car seat and has been known to scream for a full hour drive (or longer) versus just going to sleep when she is overtired! It gives me such a headache and I feel so bad for her. She plays with her toys for a little bit and then she is DONE.

Annabelle loves Ryan, Catie, and Andrew. They are really good at snapping her out of a bad mood and almost always happy to oblige if I need someone to keep her happy while I shower or run to get something.

Annabelle usually naps from 7 or 8 until 10am (it will be so sad when school starts and this no longer can happen). If we have to be out early, she'll usually snag a nap between 10-11:30 and then will do an afternoon nap from like 1-3 or 2-4 or 3-5 and then that's about it. Occasionally she'll sneak in a cat nap somewhere while we are driving or out adventuring, but sometimes she won't. She is pretty easy going as long as you don't try and force her to take a nap while we are out. She likes to be in charge of when she sleeps... so will stay awake for as long as you try and put her to sleep... and then once you stop trying she will just zonk out.

I am obsessed with cuddling this girl. In the past I would get annoyed if kids needed to be carried too much, but not any more. I will hug and carry this cute girl anytime/anywhere. The night time wake ups sometimes don't even bother me either because I feel like they are fleeting. The quote "the days are long but the years are short" is constantly in my head. I am very aware of how fast this time is going with this darling girl and I know I will miss it, so I am trying to treasure it! 

I love this age! Babies are so easily amused and so quick to change moods and return to happy attitudes. I love that Annabelle isn't moody yet either. She just LOVES us and smiles and smiles when we pick her up and feed her. 

If you want a little comparison... here are the other kiddos at 6 months 

Andrew at 6 months

Caitlin at 6 months

Ryan at 6 months (somehow his 6 month post got skipped-whoops!... but here is Ryan at 5 months and Ryan at 7 months)

Ryan Turns 2!

Ryan had a pretty awesome birthday. We kicked it off the night before by blowing up balloons and decorating his bedroom door.

On Monday morning he slept in until 8am (love that kid!) and then I woke him up singing "Happy Birthday." He loved the signs everyone made for him and we went downstairs and I made him birthday pancakes in the shape of a 2! We put a candle on it and sprinkles and he was in heaven. He kept sayinng, "I'm two" and "It's my birthday!"

After we dropped Andrew off at school we got the house ready for a little Halloween get together with the friends that I visit teach from church and their kids. We spent the morning cleaning up, making food for the party, playing with toys, and reading books!

The friends arrived for lunch around 12:30pm and we dived right into food. I made mummy hot dogs for the kids and pizza and salad for the moms. The kids liked my ghost cheese sticks too. I was also a huge fan of the sugar cookie bars. The night before they didn't taste good at all, but the next day they were delicious.

During the party the kids mostly played while the grown ups chatted. I did have a few crafts ready to go for the kids who were interested in crafting. It was cute to see how everything turned out.

After the party we picked Andrew up and just played at the house and did Ryan's favorite things--- play trains and jump on the trampoline.

Kevin ended up getting home early compared to normal (5:30pm) so we packed the kids into the car quickly and tried to drive the 40 minutes to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm super fast before it got dark. It was practically dark when we got there at 6:30, but they were really nice and still let us play in the play area for 15 minutes AND they didn't make us pay. Highlight of the day!

Dried bean sensory pit!

Hay bale tunnels!

Picking pumpkins

Afterwards we stopped at Cold Stone for some birthday ice cream and then we drove home. The little dude finished his ice cream in the car and by the time we got home he was covered head to toe in stickiness!

Ryan loved chatting with Grandma Julie & Grandpa Kim as well as Grandma Shari before he went to bed. He only got to open two presents on his birthday because his big day was so packed, so on Tuesday he opened all of them and LOVED them... as did the big kids!

On Tuesday he had his two year old well-child visit and it went really well! I can't seem to find the paper with his stats on them but he is close to 29 pounds and is in the 79% for weight and then is in the 98% for height... though I can't remember how tall he is. The doctor says going from her measurements he's going to be a tall one (6' 2 or 6' 4)! Should be fun to see how things turn out.

We sure LOVE Ryan!

Some things about Ryan right now are...

• He wears size 5 diapers and size 2-3T clothes
• He loves dogs, trains, and trucks.
• He is obsessed with jumping on our trampoline but only wants to jump if one of the other kids will jump with him... he is also really good at persuading people to do what he wants
• He loves to copy any and everything the big kids say (good and bad). He currently keeps saying, "you're dumb" when he is mad... thanks to the big kids. :(
• Ryan is a great little talker and we can understand probably 90% of what he says. He is so happy and such a sweetheart! My favorite thing is says is, "I love you mami" and "Come too?" He never wants to be left out of doing anything. It is adorable! He definitely thinks he is bigger than he is.
• Ryan gives the best hugs and tuba kisses.
• Ryan loves to have mama help him with everything instead of letting the big kids help him. I am relishing everyone moment of it right now because this kid is such a snuggle bug.
• Ryan goes to bed between 7-7:30pm and wakes up anytime between 7-8am. He also usually takes one 2 hour nap during the day... but sometimes he just gets to be flexible and skip it since we have stuff to do.
• Every night Ryan sleeps with his special "dog dog" that is dirty and gross along with trains and a cozy blue blanket made for him by my Aunt Viki. He also uses a sound machine for white noise.
• Ryan loves reading!

Here's Catie at age 2 (and stats here) and Andrew at age 2, just for fun.

We are so grateful to have adorable Ryan in our family!