Arlo at 8-9 months

 

This sweet boy is a joy-filled addition to our family! He's our blondest baby with the brightest blue eyes & big smiles that bring about even bigger smiles in return.

Eight to nine months plus a couple weeks has been incredibly busy for Arlo (and us). Within the two weeks surrounding moving day he got a tooth, pulled up to standing position, saying mama & started scooting around! He loves to sit at the back door which might be the filthiest square footage of floor you can find. He licks the window & bangs on it for entertainment while we eat a meal or knock out a math lesson. He also keeps his eye on Bella Blue, sometimes his hands & even his mouth much to her dismay. I do love the way he looks at her as though they are the best of friends...

 

EATING: Our little darling only gained about a half pound in three months leaving him at the 17 pound mark & dropping him to around the 10th percentile. He did grow in length which means he's looking long & lean. Due to his recent work out routine of pulling up as often as possible on furniture, animals, people, trash bins, toilets etc coupled with this little move that could earn him the name "scootly bootly" he is burning calories at record speed. Our pediatrician asked what he had been eating lately & my answer was as follows. "He likes to nurse, nurse & nurse. He has been disinterested in any food until this week & we've been giving him little bits here & there like maybe once a day if that." She said to keep nursing, let him eat as much solid food as he desires, & call if I'm feeling like he needs to be weighed in. Just one week later he is eating everything in sight.

Up to that point he had tried some carrots, apples, pears & sweet potatoes....like a miniscule amount. The more exciting things he got to try were the hotdog one of his brothers kindly shared right around the six month mark, a few french fries & a huge chunk of chocolate cake. My kind of diet! I was carrying him on one hip & holding a plate with a generous serving of delicious chocolate cake. I happened to have a fork pointed in a safe direction....right at Arlo's face. I was coming out the door & someone said "You're about to poke him in the eye with your fork!" I overcompensated & shifted the plate right into his reach. He quickly swiped a handful & stuffed it in his mouth.  This should have been the first sign we were starving him ; )

In the past week he has been in a high chair for meal & snack times scarfing down all sorts of food! So much for the four day rule I stuck to religiously with the first couple Valentine babies. Since last Friday he has become accustomed to eating: oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, steak, turkey, sausage, chicken, scrambled eggs, peaches, crackers, peanut butter, blueberries, broccoli, asparagus, avocado, raspberries, grapes, cheerios & applesauce. He tried to dominate my slice of pumpkin bread from Starbucks earlier....I hate sharing that but he was so cute bouncing around asking for another bite by slapping my leg & squealing. Thankfully he has shown no signs of allergies because Lord knows how I would have figured out the culprit! The big change with this guy along with introducing five foods at a time is not pureeing anything. He's had slices & chunks of these delicious foods & does really well smushing them up to eat, smear on his tray or in his hair. I really really loved making all the baby food for the rest of the Fab Five but due to our daily life survival routine, feeding him what we are eating with little prep is fitting in nicely.

Meal time looked mostly like this just a mere 2 weeks ago...

He's all smiles now with plenty of milk & an extra 2000 calories a day....



SLEEPING: Arlo likes to sleep & goes down without complaint. He's napping around 9:45-11:15 & 1:30-3:30. I pretty much nurse him when he wakes & right before he goes down for a nap & whenever he's grumpy, whenever he peeps at night & whenever I need to buy us some time or for no reason at all. I've created a monster that is only calmed by nursing ; ) We were sharing with some friends how I sigh when rolling out from under the covers to tend to a night time cry. Robby made me laugh so hard when he said "You made your bed.....and now you don't get to sleep in it!" Thankfully since eating like a champ he is way more consistent & sleeping from about 7:30pm-6am, nursing then going back to bed till around 8. He's on his tummy, bottom up in the air, thumb in mouth & full of sweet sleeping baby sounds.

Some things about this snuggly buggly at 9 months:

• has one bottom tooth that is SO painfully sharp & another that is just poking through...youch!
• is fairly content in his new single rider stroller
• he loves a bath whether in tub or sink, splashes & squeals abound & he tolerates two others with bigger splashes & louder squeals
• you can put him in the back of an empty tub & when the water starts pouring out of the spout he scoots/wiggles to the waterfall within seconds & puts his face right in it
• he loves playing with anything he can chew on including Bella's bone
• his favorite song is "I'm bringing home a baby bumble-bee"
• can get around rather quickly with a funny scooting move. Blocking off the stairs is now a necessity!
• can say mama, dada & a few other consonants followed by "ah" although he is not saying them all the time
• he's completely happy in a swing at the park or in the backyard. When it's a grumpy day I think about strapping him into the swing outside the back door & checking on him at 15 minute intervals ; )
• he waves & claps infrequently but is so adorable when we does!
• clicks his tongue rather loudly & smiles at you when you copy the sound
• he LOVES his siblings & would be extremely bored without them
• he hates the nursery at church...like really hates it
• he loves looking at himself in the mirror & gets really excited when the cute baby smiles back

Here are some favorite pictures from the past couple months

 

and this snapshot wins the prize.....

It pretty much sums it up....Arlo is absolutely adored by each and every person at the Nest.

Charlotte at Six

Charlotte Grace celebrates her 7th birthday this week which means it's time to share about life as a six year old at the Nest.  Contrary to popular belief, this child did not have a post on her 5th birthday!!! I guess it is alright for the eldest of the bunch to experience what is more common for the caboose. That being said, let's get down to business & capture our girlie in the here & now!

and since I never did that five year old post, here she is...

What must it be like to be the oldest of five kiddos? She takes the craziness in stride much like we do & has gotten to the point where she finds the humor in Owen or Anson mispronouncing something. She gives us the most adorable look saying "oh my goodness, he is so cute when he says that!" For example this afternoon Owen was talking about how we need to go to Home "Beepo." There are not too many things that she pronounces incorrectly these days but Robby & I give each other the same look when she does. One example is that she & Eloise both say "I'm so dizzy of it!" when they are tired of something like a certain episode of Mighty Machines.

 

Charlotte is naturally the most responsible little one in our home. She delights in helping fold towels, rinse dishes & other various tasks....most of the time. Her favorite "assignment" is to take care of her littlest brother & she does a fantastic job. He laughs so very much at her antics & I laugh from the next room listening to the giggles. She loves the rest too & shows it by the hours of entertainment offered by way of Legos, reading books, fixing a snack or playing all sorts of made up games....even ones by three year olds. She's incredible.

 

Char is quite the picky dinner eater preferring pizza every night of the week but settles for a few other things like her Daddy's pulled pork or my spaghetti sauce which is pretty much pizza in a different form. She loves peanut butter crackers, applesauce, any kind of fruit, bell peppers, cucumbers & some others. She is willing to try a bite of anything & found out last night that she likes frog legs! Tonight we had walnuts in our salad, Robby asked if anyone wanted to try a squirrel brain. She immediately popped one in her mouth & said it was pretty good! Then we told her it was a walnut which she always says she dislikes. She can't pass up a good smoothie that's for sure!

She often takes initiative & starts lunches for the crew while I am getting Arlo fed or down for a nap. It is SOOOOO helpful & I love her cute little "I'm a big girl & proud of it" smile.

Bella holds a special place in Charlotte's heart.  One chore Charlotte is responsible for nearly everyday is to feed that hungry pup. If it happens to be an inconvenient time she says "I don't want to feed her" & we say "well, what if I don't want to feed you?" That usually does the trick ; )

Around her sixth birthday she really took an interest in planting & growing flowers when GGran bought her the supplies & helped get her started. She enjoyed taking care of them while they were alive but eventually their relationship didn't work out. You could say it did not end well for the flowers.

Charlotte enjoys the great outdoors & prefers to be there whenever possible. She loves to run, jump & play any kind of a game with a ball so the new backyard with lots of grass has been wonderful. The old house offered a scrawny tree that resembled a bush that was deemed.....

She gathered a few necessary items such as a notepad & pencil, a snack, her math flashcards & a sharpie marker to write "no brothers aloud" on leaves & tape them on a branch. In the photo above you can see how flimsy the "tree" looks. That branch looked like it might snap every time she would swing out of it like Tarzan & eventually was closer to the ground than the top of the tree. We would watch from inside & say "what a sad sad treehouse.....next house we need a real one!" Yet now, we don't have a great tree for a treehouse but maybe some sort of fort will provide what she's looking for. One great thing about children is how their imagination can take them somewhere exciting even in a 4 ft bush-like treehouse.

She loves to spend time outside at Grammy & Grandpa's house too.  The first picture was one I took without much thought but when I went back to look at it I could not believe how old she looked. Then it was a catapult into the future when she tried on Grammy's wedding dress!

Her wardrobe is simple. She still prefers to wear comfy shorts, jeans & a t-shirt at all times. She has some really cute items that makes her collapse on the bed in disbelief when I recommend she wear them. On a trip to Target she saw something so "Charlotte-style" I had to get it for her. I waited till I was shopping alone & surprised her with it. She couldn't believe her eyes & I couldn't believe mine when I watched her wear it for about 30 days straight.

This little lady loves to go on a date with her Daddy. On this particular night they enjoyed dinner at Urban Crust followed by a mini shopping trip at World Market followed by a Pizookie at BJs Brewhouse. Her smile was so big when they left but the smile turned upside down when she got home. Picture first, story next...

Charlotte picked out a little bitty snow globe for herself & one for Eloise. She could not have been any more excited when she burst through the front door telling her sister that she got her a gift. She handed the World Market bag to Eloise, she reached in, picked up a snow globe in each hand & with an elated look on her face smashed them together. Robby & I were at a loss for words amidst the awkward 30 second silence. We decided to wait & see how they attempted to figure it out. Long story short, Eloise felt really bad, Charlotte felt really sad so Robby took her back to buy another one just before closing. While packing, I found them & thought it fell into the category of passing along....to the trash can since it is full of glitter but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. After all, there's a great sisterly story to be told while watching the glitter swirl around.

They are best buds through & through...

She is not only responsible but also very understanding. Between October & May she lost three teeth. The first was one that Robby pulled out & she found a dollar under her pillow the next morning. The second one she lost when Owen head butted her during an extreme tickle fight on the couch. She got a dollar on the second try since we forgot the first night. Tooth number three was lost when she had the seat belt in her mouth & let it slide quickly across that wiggly little thing. All three of us forgot to even get it under the pillow for two nights so Charlotte & I taped it to the wall & we still forgot so we paid her at breakfast. It's not looking good for younger siblings ; ) The top two teeth are the wiggly ones right now....can't wait to see that toothless grin!

The latest development has been the removal of training wheels. She has been adamant about keeping them on for the rest of her life & out of nowhere asked that they be taken off! We jumped on that & while there is a lot of practice to come we are so excited to see her excited & adventurous. One afternoon I thought I would give the "run alongside" business a try. I laughed out loud when she said "Mommy, you are not a very good driver!" True statement indeed.

A few funny moments & memorable conversations-

• She was out on a drive with Robby & she asked when she can get a cat. He responded with "when you move out of our house & live on your own." They talked about how old she would be when that would happen, the potential of college, the potential of meeting a boy & getting married. They talked about what being married means & all of the sudden she exclaimed  "Dad! I just want a cat!" I'm sure that's not the last time she is annoyed with the rabbit trail we run quickly down.
• She has also asked all sorts of questions about what her college schedule could be like & how it would allow her to spend more time with her pack of animals. She informed us that she would be off school on Fridays & would be bringing her cat home to see us.  She calls light haired dogs blonde & calls out breeds we see as we walk to the park.
• Conversations between siblings in the backseat are the best! One went like this...Eloise- Do some people go to jail & never come out? Charlotte-Yes, it's true & one thing I know about jail is that they don't have cozy beds like we do!" Eloise-"well if we ever have to go live there let's take our own beds!" now that's a good plan although I hope it will never need to be used!
• My Uncle Joe is a high school basketball coach & kidnapped Charlotte to spend a day at basketball camp with other 1st-5th graders. She was SO excited to go & talked about it for weeks saying she was going to play basketball & then go camping....tricky to explain ; )  Her confidence has increased one hundred fold in the past year but she was caught off guard with how many people were there. Uncle Joe said she was ready to head home immediately. They spent about an hour there then headed to McDonalds for breakfast. When she got home she said that she didn't try out for the team & showed me an autographed picture of Ronald McDonald who was there in the (clown painted) flesh. She couldn't believe I knew who he was. Anyway, the following two mornings all she could talk about is how she wished she were at basketball camp. Maybe next year! She looked awesome rockin' my Texas Tech shirt from college which is a little concerning. Either I was the size of a first grader or I wore some pretty small shirts, ha!
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• At some point over the past year she went through a stage where she wrote all of our names in a list outside her bedroom door. Whoever got on her bad side had their name crossed off. One by one we were all outta there.
• I heard her "dealing" with the insanity one room away & she quietly said to herself "well this is going from bad to worse!" HAHAHA!
• She has an extreme sweet tooth just like me & on occasion when I say she can have a cookie she responds with "how 'bout we have two cookies & call it a night!"
• There is a song we listened to a LOT last summer called "My Anchor" by Christy Nockels.  Charlotte still knows just about every word. It starts with "You're the Lord Almighty, your every word is sure & in your love unfailing, I'm safe when oceans roar." then moves into the chorus "My anchor forever, my shelter within the storm, you're my deliverer, you never falter, 'cause you're the rock I stand on." Somewhere in the million times this song played I asked the kids if they knew what an anchor was. We talked all about it's purpose in relation to a boat & so easily connected it to how if we love & follow Jesus, he is the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19). A few days later all were napping but my big girl that was snuggled on the couch with me. She laid her head in my lap & sighed. She went on to say "Mommy, it's hard to live in a house full of people that just sin all the time (totally feel ya' girl!) Without any response from me she continued with "I just can't wait until we live in heaven where we won't sin anymore! I sighed & even now as I write these words, I am grateful that through reading, listening, talking & praying with her the foundation continues to be laid. What a joy it is to see God's goodness revealed to her little by little.

SEVEN years with this bright & beautiful young lady in the making! A favorite picture of these two from this year with Charlotte looking quite old : )