6 months and Shots

Why does 6 months when you're pregnant feel like 6 years and 6 months when they come out feel like 6 days. It's really not fair.

We had James 6 month appointment and he is still tall and a little chunky. He was 27 inches and 17 pounds 12 ounces. It keeps him about 80 percentile for height and 50th for weight. Todd likes to call him Chancho because he looks so much thicker than Hailee did, but Hailee was barely on the weight chart.

Here he is sitting up all by himself. He decided to do it just a week or so after his 6 month birthday. I think he's been able to do it for a while now, but what is the point of sitting up in one place when there are things to explore. His days are filled with exploring and trying new things.


I must admit before he was born I was worried I had forgotten everything from when Hailee was little, what I didn't realize is that these two are so different that it didn't matter how much I remembered from last time. He is very much a little boy.

I remember with Hailee I would always wonder what the point of straps were. She never tried to get out of her high chair, stroller, bouncy chair, swing, etc...  There were a few times I considered cutting them out all together.  I'm so glad I didn't, if James is not strapped in, he is getting out. The above pictures was him just strapped in on one side of his bouncy seat. As you can see it wasn't quite enough when I got up and left him for 2 seconds.

He is quite a little handful, but just as sweet as ever. I love seeing his smiles and hearing him laugh. He is always ready to be happy and smile for anyone. We sure love this little guy at our house.

While at the doctor we had to do shots for him and for Hailee. I wasn't too concerned because last time we did shots for Hailee she did great and James is never very sad for long after shots.  Well needless to say I'm not sure I'm ready to do shots at the same time again. A late night the night before for Hailee and she was just unreasonable. She wanted them done in her leg and the nurse would only do them in her arm so that was enough to cause a major melt down. James went first so he was crying while Hailee decided she didn't want shots at all. I honestly thought it would be fine considering he had 5 shots the few weeks before. It was lovely. Thankfully we only have one more flu booster and then possibly a H1N1 shot.

New House

We are finally moved into our new place. We couldn't be more excited. Although I absolutely hate the moving process (this is the 6th move in 7 years of marriage) I was excited to get into our own place again.  Not that our apartment was horrible or anything, we loved the area and loved the ward we were in, it's just 940 square feet starts to feel really small after a while.

So here is what we LOVE about our new place.

• We're still really close to Todd's work (about 6-10 minutes depending on traffic)
• It's even closer to shopping (Costco is walking distance).
• We can walk to the library.
• There is an amazing park right by us.
• It is so quiet and private.
  
• This is what we see when we look out our front window.

• This is what we see when we look out our back window.

•  Hailee goes to a great school.
• We now have 1500 square feet to live in and 600 square feet of garage (enough to fit two cars and a whole lot of stuff). It's our first garage and I will never go back. It's lovely to have so much storage space.
• All the appliances are so quiet (the dishwasher, garbage disposal, washer/dryer, etc...)
• I finally have a gas stove again.
• Hailee loves the water/ice in the fridge door and I love she can get herself a drink.
• Hailee loves the "stairs" in her closet.

• I love the laundry upstairs. 
• The kitchen has so much storage space I think I can finally get all of the stuff my parents have been storing for me.
• AND so many more things... it is so lovely to be in our own place again.
  

Some things we don't like...

• Hailee hates the sound of the toilets flushing (I however like that they have yet to get plugged up since we've been here.)
• Switching wards. We loved our old ward and although we just moved 10 minutes away we are in a new ward. Our new ward will be great too, it's just a change that will take time to fit in again.

  All in all it's been a fabulous move. We love it here. With moving into something a little more permanent, it really feels like we're settled here. We love living in Oregon, now we just need to get family moved closer.

Hailee's First Day of School

 

This is what the first day of school looked like at our house. Hailee was so excited for school to start. We did her hair in curlers, laid out her clothes that she wanted to wear and then when the time finally came she had a fever of 101.3 degrees. School rules say nothing over 100.5 for 24 hours. She was so miserable she didn't even put up a fight when I told her that she couldn't go to school. I quickly called the doctor and took her in on Friday.

We had just been to the doctor on Wednesday (the day before school started) to make sure Hailee and James were getting over their coughs, they both had had a cold for a few weeks but no fever. The doctor said that Hailee sounded great and she should be ready for school on Thursday. Now with a fever I was worried it was something new. By Friday he fever was much lower and by that afternoon it was gone. The doctor gave me some asthma medicine to help clear out her lungs. All weekend long she felt great and was looking forward to school on Monday.

Sunday night we again put her hair in curlers, laid out her clothes, and got all ready for bed on time. Two hours later she woke up with a temperature of 102.5 degrees. I took her right in to the doctor Monday morning and she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. The doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotics. By Tuesday her fever was totally gone and she was ready for school. Wednesday (almost a week late) she finally got to have her "First Day" of school.

 

 

 

When I picked up her that day she told me, "Mom, Kindergarten rocks! But it's just like preschool, I don't learn anything." Hopefully that will change and she'll be learning as well as enjoying school.

A visit from DJ

We had a great visit from Uncle DJ. Hailee was thrilled that he came to visit. (She really believes that when family comes to town they are coming just to play with her.) Unfortunately for DJ we spent quite a bit of time in the doctors office, Todd had to fly to the bay area for work and life was a little crazy at our house. We did get a little bit of play time in.

Todd and DJ went to a Portland Timbers game which I hear was a lot of fun. The Timbers are a soccer club just below the  MLS, starting next year they will be a MLS club. They have a quite a following and their fans really get into the game. We're looking forward to going to a few more games.

We also got down to the beach. This time we went to Cannon Beach. It was so much fun. We love the beach. It doesn't matter if it's rainy, sunny, foggy, cold or hot it's always a good time. (It's rarely sunny and hot.)

Todd, DJ, Hailee and James by Haystack rock. If you've seen the Goonies it's the final scene when they come out of the caves.

James finally got to meet his Uncle DJ. DJ has been growing out his hair since he was on break if he had not been you could have really seen the family resemblance. As it was neither one had very much hair.

DJ with the kids. He is so great with them. Hailee loves playing with him so much.

 

Hailee drawing hearts in the sand.

Hailee having a sand fight with her dad.

We finally found a great place for clam chowder and it looks right out to the water. It was so great. Hailee however wanted a cheeseburger and James just wanted to eat everything. He is so ready to grow up and eat what we're eating, it causes lots of problems at meal times.

Labor Day Date

To get Hailee ready for the school we decided to start a chore chart. It lists all the things she needs to do during the day as well as weekly chores. We told her if she did everything she could choose a surprise. It took her 2 seconds to decide what she wanted... "a date with dad!" She worked hard all week check off things as she went. She didn't complain one time when I asked her to help with the laundry or unloading the dishwasher. The whole week she was amazing. Every day she would think of something else she wanted to do with her dad. Before Monday rolled around this list stood at 8 things she wanted to do on her date.... 1-Go minature golfing 2-Eat a hotdog,  3-Movie, 4-Go to the beach, 5-Go fishing 6-Get a Frosty from Wendy's 7-Go-carts and 8-Bumper boats.

They ended up just doing three...minature golfing, getting a hotdog and enjoying a frosty at Wendy's. Before they left I gave Hailee the camera and told her to take lots of pictures. This is what I got back.

Lots of pictures in the car on the way there.

Cute ones of them at the miniature golf place.

 

And lots of silly ones while they were eating their hot dogs.

 

 

Funny faces in the car ride home while playing with the color settings on my camera.

They had so much fun and now when Hailee refers to something that happened that day she says "You know when dad and I were dating..." 

James was happy to see his sister when they got home. It was so cute he jumped out of my lap to give her a big hug.

We are so proud of our little girl. She is growing up to be the best little girl.

I know just how that pillow feels...

5 years and 5 months

Our family has officially gotten into two new phases. The first and biggest is Hailee is now ready for school. We had a doctors appointment last week to get the last of her shots. She was so brave and didn't even cry. Last time we had to do shots I had them do it in her leg. This time she had four shots to get and they did it in her arm. Her poor little arm was so swollen, next month when we have to do flu shots I think I'll have them do it in her leg again. Her favorite thing to do is get a Jamba Juice before she gets shots. That way she can drink her "Jamba," as she likes to call it, while getting her shot and therefore not notice it as much. At least that is the idea. When the nurse was coming to give her the shot she asked Hailee not to drink her juice, to which Hailee responded "Why not." The nurse said she didn't want her to get surprised and choke. Hailee quickly responded "I won't." The nurse just started laughing and let her drink her "Jamba."

She also had her five year old wellness check and had such a good time with the doctor and nurse. They checked her eyesight and hearing and both were great. I was a little surprised at the hearing. We were thinking about getting it checked because she tends to like to talk loud and will often say "huh" when I'm talking to her. Todd was convinced that she had hearing problems (and that is saying something from the guy who is going deaf in his right ear). But we discovered that her hearing is in fact quite good, she just must like to talk loudly. We are quite proud of our little girl. She is ready for kindergarten, I'm just not sure her teachers will be ready for her.


The second phase our family has entered is...."I can roll and get into things" phase. James has been able to roll for a little while but hasn't quite put together that this means he can get things that are out of his reach. Last Friday we had friends over and Hailee and their little girl had a great time playing with her doll house and her kitchen. There was play food and dolls stuff all around. Just the perfect opportunity for James to discover this new found talent. He now thinks he needs to discover everything and put it in his mouth. He is growing up to fast. Most days I wish I could just stop time right now and enjoy this forever. They are both just so fun.