July

So, I have this weekly goal of writing in my journal once per week....and....I have never done it yet. I'll just get all caught up here and then I won't feel bad about it anymore. 

July was a good month. Our fourth of July is always a little low key because the kids get to tired to stay up to go to fireworks, but on the 3rd, our neighbors put on a pretty good show for us. We bought some "kid friendly" fireworks for our kids, which in turn scared Hailey to death. She watched the rest of the fireworks inside the house away from any loud booms. 

Grandma Anderson came to visit and the kids piled on top her for story time. It's nice to live only 4 hours away from Brian's family. Any family close by is welcome for me!

Claire wants to become Kendra's official photographer. I'm not sure if it's because she thinks Kendra is cute, or if it's just because she likes holding my camera, but every single time Kendra is in her towel, Claire demands a picture. We now have several that look exactly like this one...

Hailey is a huge fan of her little sister and really likes to hold her. You'd think that Claire took this one based on the horrible centering happening. Props go to Brian on that one.

Another Kendra/mommy shot by Claire.

Now on to how we really have spent our summer. I'm not even joking that we spent nearly every single day at the pool with our friends. We are the first to come and we hoard the shade the entire time we're there. It has been the most relaxing summer. I sit on the side and gab about life with my friends and the kids get exhausted in the water. I don't know if there is a better way to spend the summer or not. I'm thinking that there's not. 

Since we were always at the pool and never home, my house is feeling neglected and I can't seem to ever keep the laundry done or the bathrooms clean. For some reason, you have to be home for those to happen. You'd think that being at the pool would keep your house cleaner....

This whole...getting your face wet...is huge for Claire. I wanted to teach her how to swim this year, but she wouldn't ever listen to me when I got in to help her. As soon as I'd get out, she'd try it out, but never with me. She is now floaty free, but now quite to the point where I would say that she swims exactly, but she's getting very good at diving for toys. Her floating is getting better and she can swim short distances. We are still proud of her. Getting her head wet was a huge hurdle I didn't know we could pass. 

Jared refuses to let me teach him swim. He jumped in without a floaty once and I think he got a little scared.

These girls. I love them.

If it were only not blurry...

My gal pal and I snuggle by the pool for hours and hours. I think she likes being outside as much as the others.

Jared's friends, William and Ethan, sadly moved back to Illinois. Sad day. We will miss them and we have really loved having them over so much to play! 

Miss Claire turned 6! I just can't believe that we have a 6 year old. It's such a happy/sad thing for me. She is probably the most adorable and kind 6 year old the world has ever seen, so I am loving the person that she is becoming. She is very thoughtful. She opened her presents early on her birthday, went swimming (of course) and we finished with our family movie night of watching Prince Caspian. The next day was her first birthday party and she couldn't have been more excited.

Claire loves anything art. I'm glad it was an easy party to make gender neutral and I think she had a blast. She was so excited to have all of her friends at her house at the same time. I thought it was quite possibly the most exhausting day of my life and told her she can have another party when she's 11. :)

Does Jared like cake much?

A little more about Claire:

Her favorite color is Rainbow - "even brown!"

Favorite food: Pizza, Flank steak, ice cream

Favorite toy: stuffed animals and legos

She weighs about 42 pounds and she's a also about 42 inches tall.

She loves movie night on fridays, loves to read, draw, color, play with legos, and especially spend time with her friends.

We love this sweet girl! We can't imagine our lives without her and I think we're all dreading September 6th when she goes back to school. It leaves a hole in our day without her home. 

Kendra 2 Months

Kendra is two months old. How, tell me how, does this happen??? She still hates her carseat and goes from zero to 60 in crying if she doesn't get held when she wants to. She doesn't really like her binki, but will sort of take it. She is getting all sorts of chubs! I love it! She obviously loves to be held and loves to be talked to. She's really starting to talk back to us when we give her some good attention. She likes her bath time much better thank goodness, but it's always better to bathe her in the morning because she's just too tired at night. She's an awesome sleeper. Usually wakes up once per night and I have yet to be awake enough to put her back in her own bed. We just snuggle for a lot of it (which may be why I'm so tired all the time). Her tear ducts are not clogged anymore (hooray! Jared's took 9 months). She'll have her two month checkup in a couple days, so we'll see how much she weighs then. I'm guessing around 13 lbs. She really is a dream baby. So much easier than Hailey was...haha. Being a mom is truly the best thing.

Here is Kendra at two months. I can't believe how much she has changed in one month. I guess that baby acne clearing up does wonders. 

I caught her mid sneeze.

Of course I had to get some of the other main squeezes in my life.

Kendra 1 month

These milestone blog updates are totally not for the world. In fact, I don't think they're ever interesting...until I need them. There have been several times I've referred back to them, so grateful that they're there. You never dream that you'll forget the time your baby was born, how big they were, when their first steps were. But...you do. And then you wish you would have written it down. So here it is for future me.

Kendra. One month. I've snuggled and snuggled and snuggled this past month away. We may be done having kids and although I'm having a hard time with that fact, I did not want to let it be my last and wish I would have held my newborn more. In fact, I don't really remember the last time I snuggled with Brian. It's been Kendra/mommy time from 8pm on every night. I should have cleaned my house. I should have done the laundry that keeps piling up. I should have done a million things, but I chose not to and I'm so glad. I learned a little bit on how to let my house go...and it's been a little therapeutic for me. For instance, I spent all day long on Tuesday cleaning my house. It felt good to have a clean house, but by dinner time it looked like I had not done a thing. Yes, it was easier to pick up and tidy since it was still somewhat clean, but it really doesn't matter. I'm so glad I've snuggled the whole world away.

At one month:

• A champion sleeper! This month has been a breeze with sleeping. Wakes up once to eat...which usually ends up with co-sleep snuggling. Seriously, I'm may be addicted.
• Eats a lot! If she's awake, she thinks she needs to eat non-stop. (I'm the same way I think....Darn that kitchen!)
• 10 lbs 3 oz, 22 inches.
• HATES bath time. Who's child is this???? All of my kids love bath time as soon as their cord falls off. Her cord fell of after only 5 days, so she was still really little. Maybe that's why? 
• Has a little baby acne, but it's starting to get better.
• GOOPY eyes! I can't tell if it's clogged tear ducts or if she had a little cold and her congestion is causing it, but man! The poor girl can't even open her eyes in the morning.
• The past week has turned night-times and bedtime routine into something impossible to deal with. Once 5-6 pm hits, she screams non-stop for about 3 hours. If we got outside, she's usually able to calm down, but if we're inside....oh boy. She's hard to burp and I can never get it all out, so I think it's just belly aches. It makes me sad. Luckily Claire has volunteered to read stories to the kids before bedtime since I can't do it. If Brian isn't home, we're a hot mess. 
• She has smiled a couple of times. Finally! I crave the smiling stage. It's so fun to get them to smile at every stupid thing you say and do. 
• The other kids are completely in love with them. They don't want night time hugs and kisses from me anymore, just from Kendra. 

She had her baby blessing at church on Sunday and she looked so cute in her little white dress (even though I don't love the dress) and was so good and sleepy through the blessing. Sweet thing. We love this girl and it feels so good to have her in our family!

Hailey LOVES to hold "my sissa"                     Jared will just sit, talk to her, and tell her stories.

These are from when she was 2 weeks old 

Newborn pajamas. They're so cute! She was so little!

Hailey is rather adorable with her as well...when she's not trying to shove her entire hand down Kendra's throat. We keep a close eye on her. 

Night time snuggling!  

Hanging out on the porch. I think we were all a little tired that day. 

"Here mom? Can I touch her here?" Yes...you can't touch the inside of her mouth...you can touch her head. 

Baby blessing. We're glad we're so close to some family! Brian's parents and brother were able to come up for the weekend.

Family picture

Her blessing day just so happened to land on her one month mark, so I didn't have to do two photo days...Just one! I'm gonna try and do what I did with Hailey and take pictures of her every month. It was such a fun project and I love looking back and seeing her grow up.  

So sleepy! 

                      Accident! Not a real smile. She was squirming, but it looks real! :)

This is how she is 95% of the day.