Joshua, 6 months

Here's what's going on the life of Joshua Robert:  

First of all, he is a BIG guy.  As of a well check one month ago, his height and weight revealed that he is in the 93rd percentile.  Meaning his bigger than 93% of babies his age.  

Also, this kid is so happy. All my kids have gone through a short period, at pretty much the exact same time, where they craved attention and it was difficult to put them down at all.  This was before 3 months for all of them.  That period was hard but short.  Outside of that, all my babies have been content, happy babies.  Joshua is different though.  He smiles ALL THE TIME and has for months.  

Last week we started on solids.  I wanted to wait until he was six months but he's been so curious, and we're practically six months so I decided to go ahead and introduce some stuff.  So far, he's had avocado and banana.  So far, he's not crazy about anything.  

He's also sprouted both bottom, front teeth in the last two weeks.  Just days after I noticed the first one breaking through the gums, I noticed the second one.  

He does that thing where you stick a little food in his mouth and he just stares back at me with his mouth open with a confused look on his face.  

No matter what, I can count on a smile though.  

We're close to putting the swing away.  He fills it out completely right now.  He's also doing this thing where he goes completely sideways in it.  I swear, it's on purpose.  

He's a thumb sucker.  And he's still waking up every 2 to 3 hours throughout the night.  He actively eats during those times.  Hannah slept through the night by 6 months and Riley was sleeping 12 hours through the night by 3 months but that because of her heart. I'm not going to lie, the every 2 to 2.5 hours throughout the night is hard.  Some nights, it's REALLY hard!

Now, if someone could tell hum to slow down because he's growing way too fast to be my last.  

In sibling news, the girls still adore him and I'm amazed at how they interact with him.  

These are photo's from two days ago.  Everyone is happy and smiling.  I feel blessed to have these moments with them, moments when they are all happy just being together. 

Backyard beautiful

Over the last 6 weeks, we've been working to make the backyard more our style.  Our yard has a ton of shade, which is nice for sitting under but not so nice for growing things.  I know there's lots of shade plants, but I seem to gravitate towards those plants that need sun.  

These stick things were planted around most trees in our backyard.  

We decided to pull all those up.  

As usual, I was a little impatient, and jumped right in planting some vegetables.  They're doing ok, but if I could've waited until next year (but that's so far away) I would have had more success.  I have a lot of plants I plan on moving so that I can utilize the area of the yard that receives the most sun.  

Flowers to go around the tree.  

What will be vegetable garden area.  I've put some stuff there but I'll move most of the plants this fall in order to use this space next year.  

These red plants are doing great, and are at least triple this size now.  

I've put feeders in front of the three windows in my kitchen.  I have seed feeders on the small, side windows and a hummingbird feeder in front of the large, middle window.  

The most recent addition to our backyard is this bird bath.  It was a gift from my mom and Art.  I LOVE it.  The first time I saw a bird, a robin, splashing in the water, I got so excited!  

This was yesterday.  Hannah and I were at the table, eating breakfast, as saw this.  I also saw a squirrel enjoying the bath this morning.  

There's so much more we want to do, but it takes time...and money!  So we're pacing ourselves, as best we can.  

Fascinate U

A few weeks ago, while Grandma Moon and Papa Tom, they took Hannah out for the day.  Since Riley couldn't tag along, I decided to take her somewhere.  We ended up at Fascinate U, the children's museum in Fayetteville.  

Sit here mommy.

We were discussing our patient.

Shopping.  I think this was her favorite area.  She spent the most time here.  

After getting all that food, we had to cook some of it.

We spent a couple of hours there.  It was a nice visit, except for the parking ticket I received!