6 Months!

On June 30, Gibson turned 6 months! He's halfway to one already! Crazy! He's getting so big and we're having such a good time watching him grow. He is still such an easy baby! He's just so happy and content most days. I am so thankful that he has been such an easy baby--I'm sure we'll hit a stage at some point where that will change though:).

Layla is so good with him and he just loves to watch her and laugh at (and with) her. I still love the stage that he's at--he's developing more of a personality, he sleeps a lot and he can't move:). He is working on learning to sit, but can't sit on his own yet. He has been rolling both ways for quite some time now, but for some reason doesn't do it very often. Layla was never much of a roller either. He was sleeping on his tummy at times, but lately never does--he sleeps on his back or side. His schedule is now breakfast at 8/8:30 which is rice cereal and a bottle (7 oz about--I'm trying to figure out how much milk he should drink at each feeding now that he eats food), nap from about 10-11, lunch at 11:30/noon of fruit and a bottle, nap from about 1-3, snack bottle at 3:30, nap from about 5-6, supper at 6:30/7ish of a veggie and a bottle and then bed time at 7:30ish.

He did really well at his 6 month check up. He was happy the whole time until the shots came, but then recovered quickly. This appointment was with the nurse practitioner and she said he was doing well. He wasn't doing everything they asked me about (like sitting), but she said he's doing what he should be doing. I took him off his Prevacid shortly before the appointment and it doesn't seem to bother him. He still spits up like crazy and lately it's been really gross now that there's baby food with it! Oh, and his clogged tear duct is all cleared up! I didn't even really notice until maybe a few weeks b/f his appointment I realized I hadn't seen it tear in awhile.

Here are his stats:
Height: 26.5" - 25th%
Weight: 16 lbs 5 oz - 50th% (that's exactly what Layla weighed at a year!)
Head: 42.4 - 25th%

Some sibling love pics:-)...

I swear he was having fun:)...

I love his face here:)...

Working on sitting...


Napping after his shots...I don't often take pics of him sleeping, so I thought it was cute:)...

6 month nudie pic...

Showing off his bandaids...

Tucking her brother in and her buddies too:)...

Gibson loves to stick his tongue out so Layla thought she'd copy him...

Layla thought she'd be nice and put a bracelet on him. It's trouble all the tiny toys she has that he can now get into!

More sibling love:)...

He still loves his Bumbo even though he has some issues getting stuck in it at times:)...

Elmo Party!!!

A few weeks ago we had our families over to celebrate Layla's birthday (we were gone camping on her birthday and then Em and Mike we gone the following weekend, so it was the Saturday after that). I am very behind on blogging and in a hurry so I don't feel like putting the pictures in order, sorry:). She loved her party and has been loving her new toys!

Water table from Grandma (Meema) and Grandpa (Bapa)...

Gibs getting a bottle from Gigi at her party...

Mike and Joe in their Elmo attire...

I got her this jewelry box when the Disney Store was going out of business. She has been LOVING her jewelry! Gibs has found her bracelets on more than one occasion which has been a good reminder to me that he can grab hold so quickly of her tiny little toys! Thankfully he hasn't gotten any of the little rings or earings in his mouth!

If the bunnies in the pics seem a little off (seeing that it's not Easter:D), it's because Gigi found them in her house (she forgot she had gotten them for the kids for Easter:D) and brought them to the party for the kids. They sing "Jesus Loves Me" so I have now heard MANY rounds of "Jesus Loves Me" coming from their bunnies:). I didn't realize Layla had her bunny in her bed the other day so it cracked me up when I heard "Jesus Loves Me" coming through the monitor in the strange little bunny voice:).

Who needs umbrellas? In the country we can just use our trailer to block the sun:)...

Opening gifts...oh, and don't mind our lovely Sentinel box back by the field:). When Joe was putting bark around our mail box he decided to move the box since we don't use it anymore and thought it looked nice back by the field, haha:). Or maybe we're just waiting for a tractor to deliver the paper:).

Joe with the kids. For Gibs' and Gavin's shirts I just ordered iron on things. I thought too late that I shoud have gotten one for Elv to put on a scarf for him:).

Joe and the boys in their matching shirts...

Playing in her new house from Grampy and Gigi...

Posing with some of her presents (and some of her Elmo's)...

Gigi made Layla's Elmo cake!! The afternoon b/f the party Gigi was bringing the Elmo cake to their basement to put it in the fridge down there and part of Elmo took a little slide off the tray and onto the ground:(. Gigi quickly went to Meijers to buy stuff to try to repair Elmo and also bought a cake there as a back up (that she could draw Elmo on) in case Elmo wasn't fixable. Gigi ended up fixing Elmo--I couldn't even tell he had taken a boom boom! So we then ended up with 2 cakes--so no one went home hungry and we all had some cake to take home as well:). Layla loved her Elmo cakes--2 cakes for turning 2 I guess:).

Enjoying her cake...

With the cake maker:)...

I'm 2!! (she gets confused and says she's 3 sometimes for some reason--at least she puts the right number of fingers up:D)

Auntie Rachael and Auntie Heidi...

Grandpa and Gibson and Elvis...

The party guests...Joe dug up our lawn a little bit ago to make room for all her outdoor toys:). We've still got a little work to do to it and after her party we now have too many things to fit on it!

Layla looks super enthuisd here and I thought that Gibs' face was funny:)...

Family pic...of course the birthday girl wasn't happy that we took her away from playing to take a pic...oh, and yes, we are super parents and even wore Elmo shirts for her party:). It worked well that a lot of stores have character graphic tees out now.

Uncle Steve put Gibs' hat on silly:)...

For her birthday last year I made a Minnie Mouse beach jello with blue jello and graham crackers. I wanted to somehow make a similar one again so I decided to just make an Elmo sandbox scene (in case you can't tell:D)...

New sandbox from Grandpa and Grandma...

Another family pic with both kids' hands by their mouths...

Kisses for the birthday girl!

Grandpa even brought sand for the sandbox! It was funny b/c all the guys walked over there to get it and Elvis strolled right along with them like he was one of the guys, I wasn't quick enough to get a pic of it:)...

Gavin opening his Elmo goodie bag from Layla...

Bean bag fun...

I thought Gavin's face with this straw in his mouth was funny:)...

Getting along for a change (they've been fighting a lot lately)...

Not looking so happy in her swing. I thought she would like her tutu, but she took it off as soon as I put it on her. I then got her to put it back on, but she only lasted part of the party b/f taking it off again. I figured she could take it off since she was the birthday girl:).

This was a pic while Joe was digging up the lawn this spring...

The Grandmas were nice enough to eat at the kiddy table:)...

Gift table!

The "back-up" cake...

Not enjoying his Elmo hat...

Elmo cupcakes!

Elmo cake!

Posing with her cake...

Not anything to do with her birthday, but this is typical when she gets frustrated. She had a hard time understanding why she couldn't walk good wearing my socks with my sandals...

Gibson joining us for dinner:)...

Giving Gibs a "drink" from a bottle...

Drinks and appetizers at her party...

Tacos are one of her favorite things to eat so it was appropriate that we had tacos at her party! We had plenty of Elmo's to use as decorations:). I'm thinking Gibson may need to have an Elmo party some day too:).

Grandma with Gibs...

Layla's 2 Year Stats

Layla turned 2 on June 4! It's amazing how much she has changed in the past 2 years! She has been such a blessing to us and it's been so much fun to watch her grow and develop into a little girl. She's overall a happy little girl, but she definitely has her moments of being stubborn:).

She loves girly things like jewelry, make up, having her hair curled and pedis, but she also can play rough and just recently tried driving Gavin's little Jeep and loved it! I think she'll need her own car soon! She isn't as timid as she was with stuff last summer which is nice. Last year she was scared of big pools/lakes, but this summer really likes them. She has yet to learn to love running through the sprinklers though:). She is super shy when she first meets people and will often just stare and not even say 'hello', but after about 10 minutes she warms up and is her normal chatty self. Last night we were eating at Red Lobster with the kids and a waitress came over to tell us how she couldn't believe how both our kids were so well behaved (Gibs was awake the entire time but just chilled in his car seat--thankfully he's at the age where he's entertained just looking at everything and Layla likes eating and coloring so she enjoys going out to eat too) and then she was talking to Layla about lobsters and asked Layla if she wanted to go see the lobsters. Layla said she did so the waitress picked her up and took her over to the lobster tank. We were very surprised that Layla went so happily with the waitress--she must have really liked her! She wasn't into touching the lobster though:). Although I don't blame her! It didn't surprise us that didn't want to touch the lobster--she doesn't even like to touch cats or certain dogs:). She LOVES to play outside--as do most kids I think. She always wants to play outside so she has been getting her use out of her outdoor toys! Although she is also normally pretty patient about understanding that she can't always play outside--sometime we need to feed Gibson first or something:). I love watching her interact with Gibson. She has been a really good big sister. She gets confused when Gibson isn't with us and wonders where he is. I don't think she even remembers life without him now:). For the most part she is nice to him, although there have been instances where she's hit him if she's mad or where she's accidentally hurt him. Good thing he's tough:). I also love that she's been really good about saying 'please' and 'thank-you' on her own--hopefully that continues:). It's nice when she's a nice polite little girl since at two that is not always the case:).

She had her 2 year check up last week and her doctor said she's doing well. She seems to be caught up with her peers and at this point doesn't show any signs of having any issues with being born premature. She is still tiny, but that wasn't a big shock:). The doctor said that she can start drinking regular milk (skim or whatever) so he must not be too concerned with her weight. Here are her stats:

Height: 34 1/2 inches (right in the middle of the 50-75% so somewhere around 62.5%:D)
Head: 49.4cm (90th%)
Weight: 22 lbs 12 oz (5th%--yay, on the chart!)

I looked at my baby book and I was 33" and 22 pounds at age 2. I was short! I've heard b/f that if you double their height at age two it will tell you how tall they'll be as an adult, but that would make me 5'6" and I'm 5'3" so apparently that's not always true:). It'll be interesting though to see if she does end up taller than me! I think everyone in my family is taller than me, so there's probably a good chance:).

We just love her to pieces and are so thankful for the 2 years we've had with her and can't wait to see her grow for MANY more years ahead. She definitely can test my patience, but I wouldn't change a thing about her:). Speaking of patience, I decided to buy her a potty a couple of weeks ago since she's been interested in the whole potty thing for awhile. She was excited about and the day we got it she went in it a few times (both), but then the next day she just wanted to sit on it and move it around the bathroom and then the next day she had no interest at all in it. So I decided to not push it and we'll just wait until she's ready and then try a different approach to it.

We love our big girl and can't believe our baby is 2 years old already!! Happy two years baby girl:).