Eve - Six Months

Little Miss Eve hit the six month mark this week and none of us could be happier about spending half a year with our little lady.

We all get so excited to see her every day! Her personality has really started to blossom and she is a joy to be around. She hasn't always been happy and laid back, but she is definitely getting there and her eyes light up whenever she sees us. She is happy for long periods of time, especially since she has been getting more and more mobile!

 She started out on the blanket and ended up by the couch.

This was one of the first days she rolled all the way across the room!

 She started over on the changing pad, but wanted to hang out with Wes and I in the kitchen! She can pretty much get wherever she wants if she's willing to put in the work. The boys love watching what decision she'll make about where to go and think it's so funny when she spins in circles.  

This has also been a common sighting:

She is rocking on her hands and knees!

I wouldn't be surprised if we have a crawling girl in our seven month blog post.

Her strength is not only on the floor...I already have to be so careful about putting her in the Bumbo because she is such a curious cat, and those meaty legs are pretty dang strong!

Not already, sister pants! The Bumbo is one of my favorite baby items but like I said, I have to be super careful because a fall is just not worth it.

Speaking of curiosity, it is so fun to watch her discover new things-

Her first experience with a sticker was very amusing and kept her entertained for about 15 minutes!

She has discovered she has a lot of control of that paci, and she was giving me some serious threatening eye action warning me not to touch it! 

She has loved discovering her toys in her high chair and plays for long periods of time while observing the craziness going on around her.

And her newest, most favorite discovery: FOOD 

As you can tell, she is excited about it! 

I have been dreading this phase because feeding the baby can be messy and time consuming. I looked into some different solid food feeding methods, but think we have figured out what will work best for us. I waited until she was exactly six months to start this, so this week she has enjoyed oatmeal, bananas and mangos. We definitely need to step it up in the veggie department, but for now she is lovin' every bite she takes!

And amongst all these other things, she is constantly killing us with cuteness-

She fell asleep in the high chair like this surrounded by her toys, but woke up as soon as I got close to take the picture. It was so sweet! 

 And that tongue still has a mind of its own! 

6 Month Stats

Weight: 16.5 lbs, 60th percentile

Height: 26 inches, 55th percentile

Head circumference: 42 cm, perfect percentile

Like I mentioned, this little girl has really been coming into her own this last month and we are loving her every second! She is going to bed around 9:00 each night and sleeping until 6:30-7:30 in the morning. She has not been waking up for her pacifier in the middle of the night or crying on and off from 5:30 a.m. before it's time to get up...that fact alone makes this mama incredibly happy! The thing that has contributed to this the most is her belly sleeping. For a while she wouldn't always roll even though she could, but we rarely see her on her back anymore while she's in her crib...hallelujah!

Here is our sleeping beauty in one of those rare instances.

Eve, you make us all so happy and I know it will never stop. 

We can't express how happy we are that you are ours~

  

Happy six months, baby girl.

Thad's First Basketball Season

As you could tell from Thad's birthday party, he is about all things basketball! This winter he was able to play basketball at the YMCA and had an awesome time doing it. This is the third sport he has played through the Y, and we have lucked out with great coaches and teammates each time. Thad especially loved that Dad was home early every Tuesday night to take him to his practice and we loved going to the games as a family!

First Game

  

We weren't quite sure what to expect at his first game, but he did pretty darn good! He was one of the best ball handlers and was pretty confident taking the ball down the court. As soon as someone would come to defend him, he passed it right along and wouldn't even try taking a shot. We were kinda sad he wouldn't take charge and try to shoot, but he just had such a fun time being in the game that it was good enough for us!

His Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Knight, is pretty amazing and overheard him saying he was starting basketball and emailed me for his schedule so she could come to one of his games and surprise him...so she came! If that's not an awesome teacher I don't know what is. I could kick myself for not getting a picture of him with her, but she was there cheering for him on the sidelines with us!

He was so excited each week for his games and it was fun for Brian and I to see his interest and understanding of the sport deepen. 

For a few of the games following the first, it was kind of hard to watch because he wasn't really taking initiative or being a little bit aggressive to try and score some points. The coaches son was on his team and only three years old, by far the smallest on the court, and was consistently driving to the basket and scoring. Brian was getting frustrated because Thad would do so well in the scrimmages during practice and was so confused about why he was playing so differently.

Well, practice makes perfect (well at least improvement), and by the last two games, Thad was in an awesome little groove! His confidence on the court sky rocketed, and he was scoring, bounce passing and rebounding. It was so rewarding as a parent to see that improvement in such a short amount of time. This boy really loves basketball and I'm so glad he was able to play on a team, improve, and have fun!

 This is the best team shot I got all season...oops! A bunch of cute kids!

Sister High, Thad's Primary teacher, also made an appearance at one of his games! Thad is so blessed to have such great people in his life.

He also had this darling little entourage each week-

Wes is a hooligan, but by the end of the season, he managed to stay behind the black line pretty good. Eve is just perfection, as always.

I watched across the court as Thad chatted with his assistant coach for several minutes. I was just wishing I could have been a fly on the curtain behind them to listen to the conversation they were having. I love that kid...and awesome adults that make kids feel important.

And here they are doing their last cheer as a team-

"We are Cyclones!"