First Solid Food!!

Mae's first time in her high chair!! Ella was so excited to sit by Mae Mae for dinner.

Mae Mae trying her rice cereal

Mae's such a biggie girl today. We had her 6 month check-up and whe did great. She weighed 18 lb 10.5 oz and was 27.5 inches long........all in the 90th percentile. We worked through some major feeding issues over the last 6 months and I'm so thankful for how well she's doing now and how big and healthy she is. Now it's difficult for me to accept the fact that she's old enough to be moving on to the world of solid foods. I'm not ready for her to be this grown up. Nicholas prayed tonight before bed about Mae and he thanked God for her "development." Awesome.



So, tonight for dinner, Mae got to join us for the first time in her high chair and she had her first tastes of rice cereal. She seemed to get the hang of it quickly and really seemed to enjoy it. She didn't pull my hand to her face like Niko had done but she didn't spit it all back out at me like Ella had done either. It was really sweet watching her. What a big girl.

Mae is 6 months old!!!

"Happy to be me"

Sisters

Mommy and Mae

Lovin' those feet

Just a swingin'--Niko and Ella are helping Mae in the swing

Oh my! Where has the time gone? Our little Mae Mae is now 6 months old. She is rolling everywhere and much prefers to be on her belly. She will even push up on all fours, rock her little bottom and scooch backwards. Then she gets frustrated because really she wants to go forward to whatever toy is in front of her. So cute. I'll find out her ht/wt on Thurs at her check-up but we do know that she is a big girl. She has lots of fat rolls. We're getting ready to delve into the world of solid foods.......when we're eating, she gets very grabby and wants to have a handful of whatever it is that we're putting into our mouths. I don't know if she really understands the whole "solid food" concept but she would much prefer to watch us eat than to be nursed at the table while we're eating.

Her siblings continue to totally love her and even the neighbor girls are taking a liking to Miss Mae. One neighbor in particular, Gracie, loves to come over and hold Mae or play with her. So sweet.

Snacks

Nicholas was so creative the other day and asked for marshmallows, tortilla chips, a banana and pretzels. Then he created little snack people. He taught Ella how to make one too.....you can see her version in the photo above. Then, of course, they quickly devoured their snack people!

SOLD

Well, we've sold our house. On our second scheduled showing, we got an offer. Our house was literally on the market for a month in the midst of a very snowy February. On March 1st, we got a phone call in the morning to schedule a showing that evening. The buyers spent 30 minutes here and must have loved it because we received an offer the next morning. God is so good. At the rate we were going, about one showing every 2 weeks, we thought we were never going to sell. It just goes to show you......it doesn't take a bunch of showings, just the one right showing. Wow. And now we're awaiting news on an offer we've made on our next home. This whole process has been so interesting. We've talked ourselves into and out of building new, buying a spec home, moving to Plainfield, moving to Pittsboro, etc. The house that we've made our offer on didn't require hours of conversation and pros/cons lists.......we just knew. It has everything that was on our wish list and if just feels like our home. It feels like my dream home.....even though it needs some updating/cleaning/painting on the inside. I LOVE this house. I just see my kids playing in the backyard, me planting flowers, Niko playing golf, Nala eating the neighbor's poodle......just kidding. We eagerly await the news about our offer......waiting is difficult but I'm patient about this because it feels very right and we know God has been in control of all the details leading up to and including this moment. What a journey!

Mae is 5 months old!!

Mae and I had to stay home from church this morning because Mae's battling a double ear infection. Poor thing. She's been on antibiotics for a week......ok, I've been trying in vain to ge a huge slug of amoxicillin in her twice a day for a week with most of it coming right back out onto her, me and the burp cloth. But anyway, her ears are worse and she's on a new once-a-day antibiotic with Mommy using some special equipment to administer said medication. She's doing some better but is still quite fussy much of the time and I didn't think it was wise to expose her to all the germs lurking at church today.

We broke out the bumbo seat in honor of Mae turning 5 months old today. She thought it was lots of fun......for about 5 minutes. She doesn't stay happy for long right now while she's sick but I did manage to capture some great smiles from our little peanut.

Mae is now17lb 7.5 oz. Oh my!

Mae is 4 months old!! (Actually, I'm a month late in posting but who's counting?)

Mae Mae......so sweet.

Mommy's doing Gentian violet again......hence the purple-tinged mouth.

Ella helping Daddy paint. She was so cute because this was all her idea. She's really into painting lately but usually that involves watercolors and some paper.....not latex paint and a door! But she really wanted to paint so we put on Mommy's old painting shirt, put down lots of newspaper and let her do her thing. She had a blast!

Niko is proud of his toothless smile!

So our peanut is actually 5 months old today but I wanted to be sure to post her 4 month milestones as well. She's growing like a weed. At her 4 month check-up, she weighed 15 lb 12.5 oz. Biggie girl. She's smiling and cooing so much. Sometimes she seems to smile with her whole body. She's also been a busy girl as a 4-month old. She got her first tooth (what?) on 2-4-10, followed closely behind by her 2nd tooth on/around 2-11-10. Oh my! And she's rolling all over the place. One of my favorite new activities of hers is watching her play with her feet. I've personally always been obsessed with my children's feet. Watching each baby discover that God provided not just one but two toys within arms reach that are always attached is pure joy for mommy!! They have not yet made it into her mouth but it won't be long......yummy.



The reason I'm a month behind is that we've decided to try to sell our house. It's been a whirlwind since meeting with our realtor on Jan 25. We spent 10 days working LONG hours with the help of friends and family to try to get our house ready to list. It's been quite an experience so far.......trying to keep the house tidy with 3 busy kids and a large (read: hairy) dog underfoot is stressful and challenging but we're doing our best. The copious amounts of snow we've been receiving have not exactly encouraged buyers (at least not buyers for our house!) but we remain optimistic. We are so blessed and have enjoyed this home for 8 1/2 years but we now feel cramped and would love to move to a larger home in Hendricks County (closer to Lenn's work). I feel a bit guilty saying that we don't have enough room here when there are families of our size living in much smaller spaces around the world. Frankly, between the kids' stuff, the baby gear, and the homeschooling stuff......we have clutter everywhere. We've done a major decluttering but that doesn't change the fact that we could really use some more room for this growing family and that we'd like to move a bit farther west and away from the city sprawl. We are praying that God would bless us with these desires but if God wants us to stay put, then we will do that with peace in our hearts. As my dear husband so eloquently stated, "Wherever our family is, that's where our home will be." Sweet.

Nicholas Loses His First Tooth!!!

Look at that mouth.......our biggie boy lost his first tooth!!!!

Nicholas examining his tooth with the magnifying glass

Daddy checking out Niko's mouth

Wow........what a day!! Niko lost his first tooth. He was so brave but Mommy wasn't. He could push his tooth all the way forward with his tongue........I could barely stand to look! He kept working at it and finally he asked me to just pull it. By the time he was ready for me to pull it, his tooth was literally laying sideways in his mouth! I didn't have to pull hard and there it was in my hand. He was overcome with emotion........then he was very proud of himself. What a big kid!