Monday, December 9, 2013

Welcome Family & Friends!!!

This year was the first year I decided to send out a family "newsletter" to some people.  I am not sure if you can really call it a newsletter, it was really just a couple bullet points on the previous year.  The main point of the letter was to give those whom are not on facebook the link to this here website :) So hopefully we have some new family and friends following along on this journey of mine I call life. 


So, for those of you newbies (or even oldies who would like to sign up for the emails) I have provided some instructions on how to do so.  I don't post very often, maybe once or twice a month.  But this way, when I do post something, the post will just be sent to your email and pop up and you wont have to visit the site every day looking for something new.  You also will not miss anything ;-) You can read the nonsense I write right on your email screen like so:




Super simple to sign up - on the right side of the page....scroll down until you see "swim along" enter in your email address and hit submit:


A screen like this should pop up:


Fill it out....THEN....go check your email and click on the confirmation link!!! Check your junk mail folder too, it may have gone in there.  You should get this email within a matter of minutes. 

Hopefully this works, and y'all "Swim Along" with us!  The buttons on the top right of my page will link you to other various sites of mine.  I post lots of photos on Instagram (mostly all of my children).  So if you are looking for some daily cuteness in your life, you can check out that page too!

I look forward to keeping you updated on our crazy lives and I hope you enjoy!

Oh! And PS! I LOVE reading comments too, so feel free to leave me a little note on the posts too :) 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Happy December Y'all!

Wow! This year has seriously flown by! Christmas is right around the corner, and next thing you know, it will be 2014!  This year has been filled with ups and downs, but we have almost made it out alive. 

I need to get to work on my photo book for this year!  Hopefully I will be able to share that with y'all soon.  I also need to get these Christmas cards sealed and sent out, then I can share that with the masses :)


Onto a quick 8 month update on little Bug.  I am so excited that I actually have monthly photos (so far) of this guy that I am going to try and make a 1st year book for him.  I never got around to posting photos from last month, so some of the photos down below will be a bit older.  

Mom's scientific measuring came up with these numbers this month. 

Head: 17.5"
Height: 26.5"
Weight: approx 19.6 pounds

What is he doing you ask? He is a crawling machine, up on all 4s now.  He also has 2 new teeth, making that a total of 4.  Speaking of teeth, I took B and Z to the dentist, and nothing to report there.  No cavities, and all looks good (well minus Zach's mongo mouth of missing/extra teeth...but there is nothing we can do about all that right now).  Bug also "chats" a lot.  Cooing and making all sorts of crazy sounds.  He also can pull himself up (we had to lower his bed down one more because of this).



Nonna came out to visit this month for Chase's baptism.  I also had to start back up my infusions again (more on that later....maybe).  She was able to stay with the boys for the day while I was at the infusion center.  That way Paul didn't have to take an extra day off work. 


Bug with his Godparents - Alexa and Jonny
He is growing and developing everyday.  I wish I had more to say about this month, but I'm at a loss.  We have been taking it pretty easy around here.  Just working, enjoying having our membership at lifetime back.  Both B and Z are now in swim classes (they have been, just not sure if I mentioned that yet).  Braden and Zachy still adore him.  Zach is talking so much more now!  He is a little chatter box! Saying new words and stringing together 3+ words to form [sort of] sentences!

Eating: Like a champ.  For the few days while he is cutting teeth he does not want to eat solid foods, but he more than makes up for it the next few days.  He is also becoming interested in puffs and small finger foods.  I often give him a few small bites of the soft foods off my plate when we go out.

Sleeping: Still the same.  There is not much to improve on there.  Again, during the few days when he cut new teeth it was not very peaceful nights of sleep, but it was not terrible. 

Here are some photos...due to some uploading errors they are not in chronological order, but it will do.

...these guys...

GO BONKOS!


Melts my heart


Super Chaser Bug!

running errands while Zachary is at school

We had our first foster dog of the year

He can pull himself up!

Love my Mongo

I cannot get enough of this little guy sleeping

Baby it's cold outside.

He looks so good in hats

Happy Thanksgiving!

Watching the elephant get a bath

 Zachy Selfies

Helping cook Bacon

Preschool Photo 2013

Mongo helping feed Bug
 We also took an impromptu trip up to our friends cabin.  I didn't get many photos though because we were busy relaxing and having a good time!



Beautiful View

 ...until next time ;-)



Friday, November 1, 2013

Happy Halloween

Wow, aren't you lucky people, 2 posts in one day ;-)

This is less of a post and just a few photos I wanted to separate from Chase's update and share with y'all.

As most of you may recall, Braden and Zachary we're both pumpkins on their 1st Halloween...well given the epic planning on when Chase was born (that was a joke, there was zero planning involved in that....) The pumpkin costume does not fit him.  So this weekend/next week I am going to try and go out and find a clearance pumpkin costume to get a couple photos in...and who knows, we might find a turkey and santa suit while we are at it too ;-)

This year we had a Little Devil (of course this was a clearance sweatsuit we bought for Braden after his 1st Halloween, I love hand me downs!), The Hulk (for the 2nd time in 4 years, kid loves to hulk smash, what can I say?) and Wolverine.

Enjoy!








Lucky Number 7!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Little Bug! 


*Sad day - I updated my computer and my photo library will not open on this new version.  I am working on updating the photo software so that I can access the photos....so I will have to post the usual "photo journal" in a couple days.  I do have a few photos from the last week or so that I can share with you for now....just check back soon to see more pictures :-)*

Height:
Weight:
Head:

Teething - You still only have the 2 front bottom teeth WTH??  You love to suck and chow down on your fingers, and every toy you get your hands on goes straight into your mouth.  Other than that, no signs of teething from you big guy.

Eating - As always, you're a champ.  We bumped you up to 3 solid meals (most) days.  I say most, because with my new work scheduled (more on that in a minute) sometimes we just don't have time for a solid meal, and you are totally okay with that! 

Sleeping - We are back to sleeping through the night! Woohoo! Growth spurt over!  We lay you down around 7/8ish for bed.  You're up at 9/10ish for a quick snack before I actually go to bed.  Then up at 6/7 for a milk breakfast, and a diaper change (100% of the time there is a poop in there...good thing that's right when Daddy is waking up to get ready for work).  Back down for a little bit, then up around 8/9ish with your Brothers to start our morning.  That's how we usually like things at least.  On mornings I have to work, we just keep you awake and start our day around 7ish. 

Adventures - Mommy starting working at Lifetime Fitness part time, and that's been an adventure for sure.  I am working in the child center 10-15 hours a week, just a little extra cash and a free gym membership for me and the kids, you can't beat that!  Also discounts on daddy's membership and everything else (including the lessons and kids classes!)  So we have all be adjusting to that new scheduling.  I am not on a consistent schedule yet, but all the kids are adapting very well.

I also took all 3 boys on a preschool field trip with Zachary's class BY MYSELF!  That was a bit rough.  In summary, Braden was all over the place and sneaky Zach would wonder off while I was trying to chase down Braden.  Overall I think the big 2 had a great time, and Chase just hung out in the stroller most of the morning/afternoon.  He is such a great baby! 

I tried to take the boys on a walk to take a photo for our Christmas card too - that was horrible.  1 hour, 90 some photos, and not 1 decent one :-/  Just wait until you see how horrible they are :(

Milestones - You are are rolling and moving machine.  You're getting pretty fast too.  You're not crawling on all 4's yet, it still an army crawl, but you are very good at it.  You can't go from laying/crawling to sitting just yet, but you can roll out of a sitting position in half a second!  It is pretty funny.  Sometimes you will just crawl around the ottoman in the family room a few times....you're "crawling laps"  it's so cute.  You round the corner and see us, and just grin.  You can also let us know what you do want, by growling at things you don't want.  With that being said, you have found your voice and are exploring different sounds and noises you can make.  Your favorite being this growling thing.  Braden swears you say "bubba" and daddy swears you say "dada" but this mom says that there have been no actual works said yet.  You do "reply" sometimes when someone says 'Hi' to you with a little squeak.  

Loves: Brothers, Mommy, Daddy time, fruits, walks, your stroller, the papoose (aka baby carrier), the jumper, mamaroo, food, playing with a spoon while I feed you...You've been a little more clingy this month (I think that has something to do with being at lifetime so much lately though), your caterpillar toy...

Non-Loves: ...I really can't think of anything.  The obvious ones, when you get dropped (by your brothers) stepped on, kicked, balls kicked at you, or forgotten about (this is becoming less of an issue now that you can move). 

I think that is most everything this last month...If I think of anything else in the next few days I will let you know in the photos post to come ;-)  Here are a few fall photos I took there other day in the meantime (these were not the attempted Christmas photos).








Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Fun with photoshop and my "new" camera.....

I still stink at taking pictures, but I have had some new found "free time" the last few days while Zachary is in school, so I have been playing with some new toys.

Before
After - On this one I just fixed his baby zits/red cheeks
Before....Sweet Baby Zit
After - Tada! So cute ;-)
On this next one I took the face from photo 1 and swapped it onto the body of photo 2 (I liked how you could read "6 Months" on that photo instead of just the 6), 'fixed' his cheeks a little, and extended the blanket to the corner.

Photo 1
Photo 2
Final




Saturday, October 5, 2013

Zachary's First Day of Preschool

Well it happened.  The day came and I took him (be proud).  I will have to write a post on "how it's going" in a few weeks.  For now, I don't feel like I have given it enough time to judge fairly. 

Anyways, here are some pictures from the first few days...Enjoy!





Pretty excited!

Running up to the door

Playing in the rocks with brother before the doors opened

Braden didn't do so well on the way home...

Day 2: We rode our bikes

Braden, Chase and I walked to lunch while Zach was in school