Allison: 4 Months

We are a third of the way to one- wait just a minute while I shed a few tears. I'm watching time slip away, and Allison is becoming less and less like a "baby" and getting bigger and more fun with every passing day. And while it tugs at my heart strings to see her growing up, I know how much fun and excitement we are in for, so it makes my heart smile even more.

Allison is officially four months old and is really wanting to roll with the big kids. She absolutely loves watching them play. If she is every cranky laying on her playmat, all you have to do is sit her up in the bouncer or the swing so she can see what's going on and she cheers right up. She cranes her neck to watch her siblings play, and gives them the biggest smiles. 

Allison loves to smile when you talk to her, and I've even gotten a few giggles out of her the past week. 

She tolerates tummy time so much better, and has mastered rolling from her tummy to her back. And just two days ago she started rolling from her back to her tummy! She had been so close for about a week, and we finally made it over the hump. She is getting too big too fast, that's for sure. 

Allison is intentionally grabbing at objects and bringing them to her mouth. Favorites include the monkey and giraffe from her playmat. 

She loves bath time, playing with the animals on her playmat, attention, and her brother and sisters. Oh and also waking up around 3 AM for me to come in there and put her paci back in her mouth. The only really big dislikes I can think of is that she doesn't like missing out on the action or getting stuck on her belly during tummy time.

Allison is eating 5 bottles for a total of 28 ounces, 3 bottles with 6 ounces and her last two bottles of the night are 5 ounces. She is up for an hour and a half to 2 hours before going down for a nap. She is taking three naps, one around 8:30, one around 12:30, and then one around 5/5:30. We've cut that last little cat nap out of her day, so now she's going to bed around 8:30, which has been so nice! Since she is so close to rolling over, we've stopped swaddling her, though for the past few weeks she was wiggling her arms out of the swaddle anyway, so we probably could have stopped sooner. It's been a little adjustment for her to get used to having her arms out and potentially knocking her paci out of her mouth, but she's been doing better. She's not afraid to gnaw and suck on her fingers. We haven't found our thumb yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. 

Big moments this month include our first Halloween, where she was the most adorable little ghost.

She also met her great grandma Flood when we trick or treated her.

She is wearing 3 month clothes and size one diapers. She weighs about 13.4 pounds and is around 25 inches long. 

While I wish I could keep Allison bottled up this little forever, I also know that we are in for some awesome adventures with her in the next few months, so bring it on!

Feeling like Fall

It's finally starting to feel like fall and I'm excited for this cooler weather we've been having. Even though the cooler temps means the end of most of our outdoor fun for the year, it signals the start of the next fun season. But before I get wrapped up in all things thankful and magical, let's reminisce on our Fall so far. 

We'll back alllll the way up to September. Even though September still felt largely like summer, we enjoyed a few fall activities. We started the month with a family favorite- s'mores! Katie really just likes the chocolate and Brady really just likes the marshmallows, but the time spent together is definitely a favorite of ours. 

Many Friday nights were spent in the stands at Chizevsky Field cheering on our Eagles. 

We also spent a sweltering day at the pumpkin patch with our cousins. I think the heat kept the crowds away as we mostly had to patch to ourselves. The kids sure weren't complaining!

And October didn't disappoint with all the feelings of fall. The kids enjoyed a few combine rides with my dad that month. We might have had to reschedule them a few times, but I'm glad our schedules matched up to get them in. I hope it's a memory that my kids will always remember.

We also spent a lovely day at the zoo! It was Allie's first long car ride and big trip and she was a champ the entire time. The kids enjoyed the snakes, monkeys, and of course the penguins. We also tested out the butterfly area this year, and I'm not sure we will be allowed back ha! My kids are flower pickers and they might have got scolded by workers in there several times, no matter how many times I told them they couldn't pick the flowers. But no butterflies were harmed, so I call it a win.

We spent a warm afternoon at the park.

And celebrated with Eric after he shot a nice buck!

We were TP'd for the first time, and Brayden and Katie performed their first illegal activity by returning the favor to the cousins that got them! 

There's a funny story about this night that I don't want to forget. I stayed home with Ashley (who missed out on the fun because of a lie. However, when I was telling her how much fun Brayden and Katie were having, she responded that it's ok, because she had never been before so she doesn't know how much fun it is. Why is she too logical for her own good ha!)- but anyways, I stayed home with Ashley and Allison, and all of a sudden I'm getting a call from Nichole asking where we are hiding. I guess that Nichole and Connor came home while Eric and the kids were there. They saw Eric's van, but couldn't find him or the kids. Eric said that Brayden and Katie did such a good job hiding- they knew they had to be very quiet and hardly made a sound. If you can't tell by Brayden's face in this blurry picture, he had an absolute blast. And I'm pretty positive Katie had a great time as well. 

 

The next day we decided it was time to carve our pumpkins, well for Eric to carve the kids' pumpkins while I took pictures. Shout out to him for always being the designated pumpkin carver. 

Brayden chose a scary face.

Ashley wanted a face that looked like Allison's shirt.

Katie wanted a unicorn, but she settled for a silly face.

Allison didn't partake this year, but she filled in pretty good for a jack-o-lantern on her own. 

And then we can't forget Halloween!! We visited grandparents and great grandparents, and ended up with more candy than we could ever eat. I had kinda hoped we would be able to tie their costumes into a theme, but when they started telling me what they were wanting to be, I knew that that would be impossible. 

Brayden was a robot.

Ashley was a mermaid.

Katie was a puppy.

And Allison was the cutest little ghost I've ever seen. 

And to round out this ultimate mash-up of a post, Katie's first haircut! Her hair was definitely not long by any means, but it was getting a little mullet-y in the back, and some of her bangs were starting to get pretty long. She did an excellent job sitting for Pam and is already talking about getting her hair cut again. 

Our fall has been off to the best start, and I know that it will only keep getting better. Here's to looking towards the next few weeks with our crazy crew!

Allison: Three Months

Three months with our sweet Allie girl! What a fun fun month it has been with her. 

At the end of September, Allison was baptized alongside her cousin Mason after mass. When I have that blog post written (whoops!), I'll be sure to link it here. Nichole and Connor Walters were Allison's godparents, and Eric and I were Mason's godparents. It was a fabulous day!

I started back to work on the 9th, (which has me feeling all the feels- but mostly super happy!) so that means that Allison started daycare that day. I was a little worried about how well she would do going from a pretty quiet environment during the day to a lot more noise at daycare, but she has handled it like a champ. It's like she was made to be the baby of the family- it's never quiet when the other crazies (read Brayden, Ashley, and Katie) are around so she is just used to that I guess. Girlfriend loves to sleep, we've been way too lucky on that forefront, and she has kept up her schedule that we had at home at daycare. Enjoy some pictures from her first few weeks there!

She's enjoyed some fresh air at the farm while the big kids had a combine ride with my dad.

She had her first big car ride when we took the kids to the zoo last weekend. 

And she helped Eric celebrate his birthday!

This afternoon we will be heading to Scare on the Square, so stay tuned for her Halloween costume!

As for the rest of this past month, I think I can sum it up with one word- love.

Allison is weighing about 13.8 pounds and is roughly 23.5 inches long. She is wearing 3 month clothes and is in size 1 diapers. 

She is doing so much better holding her head up during tummy time, but is usually pretty over it after about 5-7 minutes. We do get lots of tummy time on our chests too, and she does really well holding her head up and looking around when you are holding her upright. 

And the smiles. SO many smiles. At Eric and I, at the kids, at the toys on her swing or playmat. It doesn't take much to make to make this girl happy.

She has really started chatting up a storm, especially in the evenings. She even is having some back and forth "conversation" with you. 

She is eating a total of 28 ounces, three 6 ounce bottles at 6:30, 11ish, 3-4ish, and then two 5 ounce bottles around 6:30 and 9:30. We are in bed sometime between 10 and 10:30. I'd love to push that up a bit more so I can get a little more sleep, but we will get there eventually. I honestly can't complain, she sleeps SO well, taking two long naps, one nap about an hourish, and then usually a 30-40 minute nap around 8/8:30.

Current nicknames include Allie, Al, and Brayden's favorite, "the new baby". I'm secretly hoping he keeps calling her that for years to come ha!

Allison's favorites include being more upright in her swing or bouncer to see what is going on, any and all attention she can get, and having a blow out sometime between her 6:30 and 9:30 bottle. Seriously, if we ever have a blowout, it's going to happen at that point in the day. She also really enjoys bath time.

She is not a big fan of not being able to get a burp out. We went from trapped gas on the bottom end last month to trapped gas on the top end this month! If you lay her down, especially at night, and she starts fussing, you can pretty much guarantee that she needs to burp again. 

This next month is bound to be a fun one with the fall season setting in, and of course her first Halloween, and we are ready for it!