Ashlee-6 Months

Six months has come and gone and our little lady is growing, growing and growing some more. I laugh at how fast time flies only because it keeps me from crying about it. The last 6 months have FLOWN and I don’t know how to make it stop. But until I figure that one out I guess I can only write down her stats and the fun times the last 6 months have held for us.
Weight: 14.1 lbs 25th Percentile
Height: 25 ¼ inches 25th Percentile
Ashlee is able to roll over to her belly from both sides and is close to getting over to her back. When she is on her belly she will scoot to get toys and even started army crawling the other day. When on her belly she will also push herself up for a while. She hasn't quite learned how to sit, she leans forward for a while and then always falls to the left side. I guess she must be heavier on that side or something. One thing this girl has perfected is smiling and giggling. She was early to smile and has never stopped. She will smile for everyone, at least a little. She is very ticklish on her neck, belly and legs. She giggles the most when you laugh at her first and Ethan can make her smile by doing the smallest things. Ashlee rarely cries and when she does it means something is really wrong. She started solid food at 5 months and since then has had rice cereal, peas, green beans, carrots, pears, bananas, applesauce and some vanilla yogurt. She loves her food and eats well. The only problem we have had is that Ashlee will only eat her green beans if they are warm. Her hair is coming in good, but it’s super blond so from a little bit away it looks like she is bald. Her eyelashes are supper long and her eyes are super blue! Ashlee loves to hear her own voice and talks ALL the time. She is no quiet girl either, you can hear her upstairs when you are downstairs and downstairs when you are upstairs. People have commented how they heard Ashlee during church and they are sitting pretty far away. A few weeks ago Ashlee started waking up a lot at night and wanting her binky. We’d give it to her and then she would go right back to sleep. It was getting to be a bit much for us so we decided to stop swaddling her and attach her binky to her PJs. The first night she cried a bit, well quite a bit, but the next night we were good to go. She has been sleeping solidly through the night since then. It has been amazing!

Ashlee has two siblings that LOVE her unconditionally and want to always be by her side… or on her. It’s funny how when I first had Ashlee I had a feeling of guilt for the kids because we had just ROCKED their world. Their lives would never be the same again, yet here they are so happy she is here and part of our family. It’s amazing how it’s like she has always been here with us, our family has never been without our Ashlee! All we have to do is see Ashlee and we all get a smile on our faces. She truly does brighten each one of our lives!!! How grateful we are to have our family and to know that we are all family FOREVER!!! Happy six months Ashlee!!!

Just Because

.....I love this picture so much! This is our normal Ashlee, full of smiles, giggles and happy faces! Can't believe she will be 6 months old on Thursday! How time rushes by!

Katelee's Ks

Katelee is doing very well with her colors and shapes. She knows all of her colors well. The only exception is brown which she calls black the majority of the time. Shapes she does ok at... Better some nights than others. She LOVES doing her own school. I'm pretty sure it's because she has seen Ethan doing it for so long she fells special that she is now included in the night time routine! We started doing K's about two weeks ago. K's are hard, right? How am I suppose to teach Katelee how to write a K? Wow... But I'd say she is doing pretty good...Just now I thought how I should have a first day of writing K's picture... It was basically parallel lines. I taught her by saying draw a line down and then in and out! Cheesy? Sure, but it works! Amazing how my patience has increased when it comes to the kids and teaching them 'school' things. But that is another post all together! I had to put two pictures of Kate... Her smile is different in each one, but the pride in her eyes is the same!
Katelee is such a joy when it comes to learning. She takes it all in and does well remembering things! She looks up to her brother and wants to be just like him.. Even wanting to do the alphabet already. I'm not sure I'm ready to start that all over again, but if not now, when? So we do A-F... That's about all I can take in one night! So proud of our little Katelee, next we start working on a lowercase 'a'! Ya! Keep it up girl!

That's My Boy...

Ethan is a Hilarious little boy. I use the word little meaning young, the kid is growing like a weed. Pants that fit him this winter are above his ankles and yet he still insist on wearing them. He has a silly boy sense of humor that as his mother I don't really get, but what mother does, right? He loves to say poopy, poop or anything he knows he shouldn't say. He normally does really well at not saying these 'naughty' words, but sometimes his deep inner boy takes over and it's almost like he can't control himself... He has done a few cute things lately that I wanted to document for him...

The other night I went up to Girls Camp and it was Ethan's turn to say family prayer. He said the sweetest prayer that "Mommy would travel home safely." He told Chris multiple times that he missed Mommy and wanted me to come home. Little things like that make me feel like I must be doing something right...

Ethan shares my love of music and I couldn't be more happy. Since being young he has picked up on songs and had favorites. A while ago his favorite song was "Lover, Lover, Lover" which if you aren't familiar with it, goes a little something like this... Lover, lover, lover you don't treat me no good no more. Once while sitting in church Ethan just out of nowhere blurts out "Lover, lover, lover you no treat me no good no more!" It was hilarious and a bit embarrassing all at the same time. I often wonder what songs he sings during primary when I'm not there to snap my fingers and give him my look. Anyways his newest favorite song is "Dirt Road Anthem." He sings this song ALL the time. Just this morning we listened to this song the entire ride to Grandma's. He loves to blurt the chorus out and I. LOVE. IT! My son was born to be a small town boy. It's so cute to hear him sing, "chillin on a dirt road, laid back, swerving like I'm George Jones, smoke blowing out the window an ice cold Dr Pepper in the console. Memory lane up in the headlights got me reminiscing on the good times." Dr. Pepper of course is not the beverage said, however we sing it that way... Ethan decided that he'd like to sing during church and started singing that song, which made Katelee sing along as well... All I could do was smile and laugh. The boy is passionate about his music

Ethan loves hanging out with his grandpas'. He especially loves hanging out with Grandpa Blackburn in the mountains. My brother and dad have wildlife cameras in the mountains trying to track a big elk for the hunting season. My dad will go up to the mountains and check his cameras and a few times he has invited Ethan to go with him. This is all Ethan will talk about for days when he gets back. It's so funny how I use to go up to the mountains all the time with my brother and father and now my son shares that same love with the same people I loved going with. I was given a small Christmas tree for Christmas and we decided to have Ethan take it up to the mountains with his grandpa. They planted the tree and Ethan has not forgotten. My son's best friend is his Grandpa. They do everything together and really enjoy each others company.

Every morning Ethan picks out long pants and boots to wear. Many mornings we have small disagreements on wearing pants when it's going to get over 110 degrees outside. And if he does wear shorts we have small disagreements on him wearing boots with them. He would wear jeans and boots every day if we let him.... His boots are nice boots. They are real cowboy boots, and now they are coming apart from the sole, that's how much he wears them. And he doesn't care, he will continue to wear them until they fall apart and we take them while he sleeps.

The other Sunday Ethan came home from church with a nice necklace with a picture of Jesus on it. We asked him how he got it and his explanation went a little bit like this:

Mommy: Ethan why did you get this necklace?

Ethan: Oh um, I have to give it back to my teacher..

Mommy: Well why did you get it?

Ethan: Well they told me to come up to the front of the room and then people stood up and said things like we like Ethan, Ethan is really nice and stuff like that.
Mommy: (almost laughing) So you got this because people like you?

Ethan: (shrugging) Yeah!

Come to find out they do a think in primary where they draw a name out and then have the kids in primary take turns telling Ethan why they like them, so I guess he was telling the truth! So funny!

Every night we do 'school' with the kids. Ethan's school takes a while longer because we go over more. We do numbers, letter and sounds, shapes and then writing. Quite a few nights we start school off with Ethan saying this... "Can we take a night off of numbers?" It cracks me up every time. He acts like they are so hard and time consuming. Other than that he does pretty good with it most nights! He is getting smarter and getting better at writing his letters. He starts pre-school next month and I'm anxious for him.

He says funny things and sweet things all the time and I'd love to share them all, but there are too many to put down. Just one more quick one. The other day Katelee feel off her chair at dinner and bumped her head. I was in the living room with her and Ethan came in to see her. He had a concerned look on his face and asked if she was ok. Katelee, of course, said no. To which Ethan replied, "Well, we will just ask Daddy to give you a blessing, then you'll feel better!" It almost made me cry!

This boy is crazy, sweet, loving, annoying and a holds a major chunk of my heart all at the same time. So glad to have him in my life!!!