Elye Kate at Five Months

Elye Kate, at five months you . . . .

-have gotten into a great nap routine. You take three naps a day. The morning and afternoon naps are around two hours or more(sometimes three) and the late afternoon nap is usually less than an hour.

-you have begun to enjoy your food. You do pretty well with vegetables, excluding peas, but your favorite is cereal with fruit in it.

-are practicing sitting up. You can last about 10 seconds before you topple over.

-are done with the Bumbo. Since you are constantly arching your back to get out we have moved onto the high chair.

-are not sleeping through the night. We have been working on it and I have been putting off this post hoping that I could say that you were. You have slept through the night one time (7:30-6:30) on your own and will go until about 5:30 sometimes, but you still like to try to convince me that you need to eat at some point in the night.

-are, sadly, losing your hair, but only on the sides.

-are grabbing everything in your reach and putting it in your mouth. Your favorite thing to chew on is your clothes.

-love your bouncer.

-are a major drool monster.

-just might be the cutest baby in the world, well, at least in Tennessee.

Peeaazz, Don't Make Me Eat Peas!

Elye Kate is becoming quite the little eater. However, peas are not her favorite. We tried the the other night for the second time and I had to grab the camera to document her grimaces. Even though she obviously hated them she kept opening her mouth for more. After several gags I finally stopped because I was afraid she was going to throw up, but we will keep trying!

As soon as she is done eating she always tries to escape from the Bumbo.

Much happier here after we moved on to cereal and fruit.

"Oh, disgusting! You really expect me to eat these"

"I think I'm gonna throw up!"

"They're so bad, but I'm sooo hungry."

"I tried them, okay. Now can I have some cereal?"

"That bite was rough."

"Really? You're going to make me keep eating them?"

"Peeaaz, don't make me eat peas! How can you say no to this face?"

Bakerella

Monday Reesi didn't have school due to teacher's in service. Therefore, we needed a project to spice the day up. Reesi is a big baker so I decided she should ice cupcakes like the professionals. After a quick trip to JoAnn's we were ready to begin and a six dollar investment in an icing bag and tip, we were ready. She had a little trouble at first maneuvering the bag, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was quite a mess, but it is much better than icing them with a knife. They are as fancy as Megan's cupcakes, but Larry's high school students were impressed.

She would only squeeze from the bottom, not the top. Not the best technique, but it worked.

Elye Kate enjoyed watching from her Bumbo.

Reesi's laughing because she said the cupcake I did looked like doo-doo.

This one is mine. It actually is pretty fun, but Reesi only let me ice two.

Reesi

Reesi, at five and a half you . . . .

- are loving kindergarten.

- are loving in general. Last week you told me that you spent your recess time walking around looking for people who were hurt so you could help them.

-still love to write and draw. You have started cursive in kindergarten and I have been so impressed with your handwriting.

-have been talking about Bobby a lot. He's in your class and you tell us he is one of your best friends. You even said you rubbed his back for him at rest time:0

-want to be a rock star for Halloween. I'm trying to talk you into something else.

-love plants. When given the choice of going to Chuckee Cheese or buying a mum for our front porch, you chose the mum.

-love to try to take care of your little sister, but can sometimes be too rough.

-refuse to ride in your car seat. You will only ride in a booster seat now.

-are singing Trust and Obey. That is your new favorite song from school.

-weigh about 38 pounds, wear a size 11 shoe, and are still pretty short.

-still promise that you will live with us even when you grow up.

-still insist that you will never get married.

-still love Andy, but you don't have to sleep with her every night.

-are the sweetest girl around. We love you, Reesi!

We put together Elye Kate's high chair and Reesi has claimed the box. I have tried to throw it out several times, but she goes and brings in back in. You made a bed out of it for you and Elye Kate to watch a movie in.

Big Helper- Changing a diaper for me.

Happy Birthday Gabe

We are always looking for an excuse to head out to White House to see all our friends. What better reason than a first birthday. The kids swam and played, while the adults ate, talked, and watched football. Reesi had so much fun she passed out on the way home.

Ella, Reesi, Riley, and Courtney

Heath and Elye Kate

The kids swarmed the presents. Poor Gabe didn't have a chance.

Labor Day, but no Labor, Just Relaxing!

Reesi fell in love with the Ipod touch. She would walk around the house with the headphones on listening to music forever.

Meemaw grabbed the top to Elye's bottle and filled it with cocktail sauce. She didn't realize what she had done until she asked the waitress for another small cup like that. The waitress gave her a strange look and informed her that they didn't have any cups like that.

The boys had a blast with Reesi's doodle book. Austin is the artist in the family and it was right up his alley.

These are all the shells that Reesi found on the beach. They were actually purchased at Sea Shell City by me and hidden in the sand by me. Reesi didn't have a clue. The idea was stolen from Candi Spelling and it was the best idea ever!

Short, but tons of fun. That pretty much describes our trip to Florida this weekend. Karen was going down to Lesli's for Labor Day weekend and wanted someone to ride with her. At first I was going to stay home with Elye while Larry and Reesi went, but I finally decided to go. I was convinced it was a mistake after Elye developed a runny nose on the way down there and threw up everywhere right before we pulled into their drive. But the nose didn't turn out to be a big deal and I decided to be thankful that she puked right before we got there so we could just throw her in the tub even though it was midnight. The next morning she woke up bright and early at 6:00 so I took a morning nap with her while Karen and Lesli took Reesi to the beach for the morning. We then went to Parker's football game (hot!!) and then out to dinner for some seafood.

The next day we took everyone to the beach for the day. Reesi loved it! She smiled, laughed, jumped, dug, and frolicked the whole time. She also found some beautiful shells. 69 to be exact: she counted. That afternoon Larry, Reesi, Elye, Parker, and I went to get Larry a tattoo. He has Reesi's foot on his chest with her name so he has been aching to add Elye's to his chest. After Larry got inked we met the rest of the family for crab legs at Old Bay Steamer. And of course, every night we ended the evening with a soak in the hot tub. This night Reesi had us playing Doggie, Doggie, where's your bone with one of her shells. She loved every minute of it. It is always so much fun to hang out with the Hardings and get a little taste of Florida.