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.

Brynlee is Six!

     This year Brynlee turned Six. Where has the time gone? She sure is the best little helper. She is great at getting things ready for me and at helping her little sisters. She is a pretty fun loving girl that loves to play with and talk to people. She makes friends wherever she goes. She has grown so much. Here are some pictures so you can see how much she has grown followed by some fun facts about Brynlee.

Height: 46.56 in. (63%)
Weight: 44.8 lbs. (43%)
Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Show: PJ Masks
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter 5
Best Friends: Rori, Madison, Natalee, Xanti, Anna, Kyla, and Summer
Favorite Animal: A tame cat
Favorite Food: Spaghetti
Favorite Dessert: Lemon Pie
Favorite thing to do: Movie Night
Favorite Song: Gethsemane
Favorite Book: The Little White Owl and Junie B. Jones
Favorite Toy: Shopkins
Favorite Game: Hide and Go Seek
Favorite place to go: The park
What she wants to be when she grows up: A singer

     Brynlee loves watching movies and playing outside. She hates when we stay home all day and is constantly begging to have friends over and to have sleepovers. She has had a few sleepovers with cousins and had a blast. I think she stayed awake until almost 12:30 last time so she was super grouchy the next day. She hates being late anywhere so she is a little slave driver before any outing trying to hurry everyone out the door. She is good at packing the lunches and helping me get things ready so that we are on time. Many times she is ready to go hours before we need to leave. 

     Brynlee is a great big sister. Lately when Anna gets hurt she wants Brynlee to comfort her and Kyla thinks Brynlee is pretty great. Whenever Kyla needs help and I am not available, Kyla looks for Brynlee. Brynlee hates doing chores and often complains about them but does them really quickly and easily, although she likes to hide things under her bed and in her closet. 

     Brynlee has a hard time falling asleep and pretty much never falls asleep in the car or anywhere that is not her bed. Her and Kyla are often times awake in their room for hours with Brynlee singing or sneaking books that she looks at. 

     Brynlee is becoming a pretty good little reader. She knows all of her sight words from kindergarten and can sound out all of the word that can be sounded out. She loves to color, draw, cut and do crafts. We have been checking out lots of books on tape from the library and Bryn will listen to those over and over again. She listened to all of the Junie B. Jones books and the A to Z Mysteries and has now started to listen to the Magic Tree House books. 

    Brynlee is probably the pickiest eater in our house. She hates nuts, beans, and most vegetables. She still gets super whiney when she doesn't get her way and is quite bossy. She likes things done her way and she is not happy when things don't go as planned. I think that comes from being the oldest. I try not to put too much responsibilities on her young shoulders cause I know what that is like. I was the oldest in my family and I see a lot of myself in her. Brynlee loves to sing and dance around the house and she makes our home a happy exciting place to be. We sure do love this girl. 

Summer's Blessing Day

     The day after Kyla turned two we got to take little Summer to church and she was given a name and a blessing by her dad. My parents and Alesha came and my grandma and Aunt Lora were there because they are in our ward. Joel's brother Jake and his whole family came as well as his sister Joanna with all of her kids. Joel's friend Jake from work also came for the occasion as well as Joel's parents. All of Joel's family left and then went to their own ward right after.

     Summer was given a beautiful blessing. She was blessed with the ability to know good from evil and she was giving a blessing to be married in the temple and to be an example to all those around her. I didn't hear her make a sound during the whole thing but apparently she was super wiggly and Joel's brother Jake said he was afraid they were going to drop her or that she would wiggle right out of their hands. Luckily she didn't. Joel held Summer up for everyone to see and then lovingly brought her back to me. Summer ended up spitting up all over her dad right before he handed he back over to me. She got him pretty good. Haha.

     It has been a real blessing to have all of these girls in our home. Joel and I were watching our girls play this morning and Joel just looked at me and marveled at how blessed we are. I sure feel that way. I can't wait for little Summer to join her sisters in all of their adventures but for now I am just enjoying getting to snuggle with her. We all love this baby a lot.

     Summer wore the same blessing dress that all of her sister's wore so I will leave you with a picture of each of my girls on the day they were blessed.