The Month of June

June was a busy month. We have been trying to take full advantage of the warm weather and the lazy summer days before Bryn has to go back to school. I have been taking the kids to the library once a week for the summer reading program and we have gone to the park several times for playgroup with our ward. Sometimes we pick up my cousin Ryder and take him with us just so that he has something to do. We went to grandma's house several times and helped her with her garden. We picked several raspberries. I took Kyla and Summer to JCPenneys so they could get their picture taken and we celebrated Kyla and Brynlee's birthday, father's day, and had Summer's baby blessing. Yes, it was a busy month.

     I have been taking Brynlee and Annalyn to aunt Joanna's house every Monday and Wednesday for a little school that Tara and Telissa are doing. They love doing that and have fun hanging out with their cousins. I have been able to get my grocery shopping done with only two kids instead of four during that time. I even went and bought a new shirt for myself. I went in one day while they were at school to see about my phone that wasn't working and got a new phone for Joel and me. They are nice ones too and the picture quality is much better.

     Someone from our ward created an adventure group where a group of people get together once a week and go exploring. We went with them to a little park with a splash pad one week and the next week we took Ryder and went exploring at Cleo's ferry in Melba. I didn't go on their other adventures because I was afraid it would be too difficult with a new baby.

     Joel spent a lot of time working on our yard and finally got some sod in the front yard! The night he was putting it in a friend from work and the missionaries came by and they all ended up helping out so it went in fast. We even have a tree in the front as well. We have a little section of grass in the back but mostly there is just a lot of weeds.

     I bought a kiddie pool for the kids to play in and we set it up on the back porch. It took Kyla a long time before she got in the water and then she only stayed in there for a little bit but Bryn and Anna loved it. Joel's boss from work also had a pool that we got to go swimming in. It even had a little kiddie pool that was perfect for the little kids. Bryn is getting pretty brave in the water and with her life jacket on she swam all over that pool. Kyla had fun but she made sure she was right by Joel or me. Anna stayed pretty close to us as well. Summer was pretty fussy while we were there so it made it hard for me to get in the water. It was still a fun night spent with the family.

     Joel built a new table for me out of granite. I love it. It is huge and pretty indestructible. He also tried to have a sleepover on the trampoline with the kids but they only lasted a few minutes before they got scared of mosquitoes and came back in the house. They ended up sleeping in the middle of the living room. Brynlee did get to go to a sleepover at her cousin Madison's house and has been begging to do it again. She went to Madision's birthday party this month as well.

     I took all three girls to the dentist and they did great and there were no cavities. Kyla impressed everyone with how much she talked. She asked all kind of questions like. "Why are you putting glubes (gloves) on?" "Why are you taking a picture of Annalyn's teeth? Are you going to do dat to my teeth?" She commented on everything. The hygienist then told Kyla the Dentist was coming in to look at her teeth so as soon as he walked in Kyla ran up to him with her mouth open so he could see her teeth. Annalyn was a little bit harder to get to cooperate but she did fine. I also had to take Anna and Kyla in for a check-up at the doctor this month and then the next week I took Summer in for her check-up. They are all healthy and doing great. They did give me a referral to see about speech for Annalyn. We will see how that goes.

     We were eating dinner one night when Kyla ended up falling right off the table and landing on her head. She started crying but she wouldn't respond to our questions and was not acting at all like herself. About an hour later she started throwing up so I called the doctor's help line where they encouraged me to take her to the Emergency Room. My mom was able to stay with the other kids so Joel and I could go together. We took the baby because she was never had a bottle and I had no idea how long we would be. They did a cat scan on Kyla and declared her fine so after three hours we were able to leave and we made it home right after midnight. Kyla acted fine the next day. It was just a few days later that Annalyn fell down the stairs and landed on her head. She cried for over an hour, fell asleep, refused to eat dinner and threw up once but after she woke up she was fine so I don't think her injury was as bad as Kyla's injury so we didn't take her to the emergency room. The next week Annalyn pushed Brynlee and she hit her head on the fireplace. There was a lot of blood but I think she was fine. Then at church on Sunday Kyla fell off the bench and hit her chin really hard on the place where we put the hymn book. It bled a lot. I kept debating on if it would need stitches or not but in the end we just kept a band aid on it for a few days. It will leave a scar but at least it isn't noticeable when you look at her. She was pretty tough for that ordeal and hardly even cried. And I was hoping for less doctors visits this month.

The kids and I went exploring with Alesha along Indian Creek river with the girls and then got a sno cone one day. They played in the backyard and we went to church. We have spent some time making things together and the girls are always creative with the games they play and the things they come up with. They made their own see saw one day out of some wood that Joel had laying around. They were struggling getting the screws in so their dad helped them a little but it was all their idea. 

We celebrated father's day with Joel. The girls made him cards and the week before he went golfing with his brother and his dad. He is a great dad and we are pretty grateful for him. We are really enjoying summer. It is going by so fast. 

Summer is Two Months

     Why does time seem to go so much faster when there is a new baby around? Summer has been the best little addition. Really life with her has been pretty easy so the transition to four kids was not that bad at all. All of the her sisters think she is the greatest and love holding their baby sister. At her two month appointment Summer weighed 12.87 lbs. (87%) and she was 23.5 in. (92%) long with a head circumference of 16 in. (98%). She started out as my biggest baby but all of her sisters weighed at least 13 lbs. at their two month check-up. She is definitely growing and can comfortably wear 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

      Summer is the cutest little chubby baby and she still has come of her newborn look. She is starting to open her eyes more and they are focusing on things better. She would go cross eyed all the time at first. She is already starting to lose some of her hair and she is getting a little bald spot on the back of her head where she is rubbing off some of her hair. 

     Summer is not a big fan of tummy time. She usually just lays there and cries. She can lift her head up but most of the time she just cries until I flip her over. She likes it on her back but doesn't get to be in that position very often because it isn't safe when her sisters are around. 

     Summer has slept through the night several times but she usually wakes up after 4-5 hours, eats, and then sleeps for another 3-4 hours. Although sometimes she will still be awake for a good hour in the middle of the night. During the day she sleeps really well in the swing or when I hold her but does not like to be put down and left alone. She is getting better and has recently taken several good naps in her bed. She sleeps best when she is swaddled and when she has a soother in her mouth. 

     Most of the time when I take Summer somewhere she sleeps like a champ through the whole thing. She likes car rides and sleeps through most of our trips in the van. She had gone on several walks, trips to the grocery store, and park trips in the baby carrier and slept the whole time. She sleeps in her car seat through the library program every week and through most of church. She will let anyone hold her for now and sleep right through it. I have even been able to leave her in the house with Aunt Lora at grandma's house while I worked in the garden and she slept well each time. This makes her a pretty easy baby and the girls and I are glad we can get out of the house and do things with her. She gets fussy every once in a while but she is usually a pretty happy baby. 

Summer started smiling this month and we all love it when she grins at us. She seems to be ticklish and grins when we talk to her. She started to get another cold on the day she turned two month old but it doesn't seem to phase her too much. 

Summer is usually a pretty happy baby but she does get fussy, usually when we are at home and I don't have time to hold her. It can make it difficult to get things done. I would much rather just sit and hold her anyways. During the day she eats about every three hours. At first she didn't spit up all that much but lately she does it all the time. 

Summer is really the greatest little addition to our family. We all think she is pretty great and can't stop kissing her cute chubby cheeks. It makes me sad that she is growing up so fast but I love watching her grow and learn new things. We all love this baby a lot. 

Bryn's Birthday

     For her birthday this year Brynlee decided she wanted to get her ear pierced. We took a trip on her birthday to Claires where Brynlee got to pick out some earings. They gave Brynlee a cute bear to hold while they pierced them and Brynlee was determined that she was not going to cry. They did the first ear and I thought for sure Brynlee was going to cry but she held it in. They did the next ear pretty quickly so before she knew it she was done. Whenever anyone asks her about it she says it didn't hurt at all. Her face while she was getting it done would prove otherwise but she says it was just a little pinch. Grandma Sherry came with us to our trip and then went with us to McDonalds. She also took Brynlee to the store and let her pick out a dress for her birthday a few day earlier. We had some cake that night but we waited and did her party on Saturday.

     This year Brynlee wanted a Shopkins birthday party. She had a list about a mile long of all of the people she wanted to invite. In the end she decided to just have a girls party so she invited four friends. Technically she invited six girls but two of them couldn't come so she had four girls and Jakobee and Remi at her party. She invited one friends from school named Rori, a friends from Tavaci named Natalee, her cousin Madision, and a friend from our old ward named Athena. Even after she planned this all girls party she still tried to invite several boys and kept asking them if they were going to come to her party. For the invitations we printed off a picture with all of the information and Brynlee colored it. Most of the people were not home when we went to deliver the cards so I just sent a text to their moms. Brynlee had a good fun and outgoing group of girls that showed up and got right to work talking to each other and playing.

     The girls started out by doing some bead crafts and then we played a few games outside on the back porch. I made the kids have a race to see who could get the most noodles out of a bucket of sand and then everyone took turns using their feet to get 10 Shopkins out of a bucket of water. After that we enjoyed a lunch of chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, puffy cheetos, fruits, and veggies. Then we went outside where we knocked down the orange popsicle Shopkins pinata that we made. This one was made out of cereal boxes and it was tough. That thing took a good beating and in the end we just made a big whole in the bottom and let Bryn swing at it. She still only got a little bit of the candy out. After that we had cupcakes. Brynlee requested yellow cupcakes that she wanted to decorate all on her own. Then Brynlee opened gifts and we decorated sugar cookies and the girls played a little until it was time to go home. Brynlee was ready to just skip the cupcakes and only decorate sugar cookies this year because that is what she really wanted to do but in the end she just wanted to play with her new toys and she didn't decorate anything until all of her friends left. It was a simple party but Brynlee had a great time. I am glad we got to celebrate her birth.