Summer Pictures

I am so lucky to have such talented (and helpful) friends because instead of spending hundreds of dollars, Katie offered to take summer pictures of the girls and me. The plan was to take pictures at Mia's 6month mark, but with the craziness of the move, I had to postpone. Here she is at 7 months and Makaela at 3 years 9months. Here are some of the shots.

Happy Birthday Brooke and Jackson

Brooke and Jackson turn 3 this summer and they had a big birthday party today. Makaela had been waiting for this day for weeks. She literally watched the clock until it was time to go to the party. As soon as we got there, her swimsuit was on and she was off with all her friends. Uncle Shelley provided loads of entertainment.Mia spent her time chewing on her teethers and smiling at everyone.
She found out that she had more hair than Uncle Brian and was elated!

The party was bug themed and the Weidas and Staffaronis did a great job decorating, having bug themed crafts and bug themed games. The highlight of the party (other than the bug cupcakes) was the bug hunt at the end which was like an Easter Egg hunt only these eggs were bug eggs.

We had lots of fun and we it was great celebrating two of our great friends' birthdays!

7 months!

My baby is 7 months old today. It has gone by so quickly, I wish I could grab time to make it slow down. Mia is such a joy-she always has a smile on her face (unless I am not feeding her fast enough). At this point, she grabs everything and puts it into her mouth, so taking this picture was a bit of fun...the paper was utterly destroyed by the time it was done. She is a good sleeper- from 6:30pm-5:30ish. She is a very hearty eater. She doesn't have the pincher grasp down yet, but likes stars and her mums. Because she can't crawl yet, she is very content just chilling out on the floor surrounded by toys or watching the kids run around. She loves watching Baby Can Read and starts squealing as soon as she hears the opening song. Her newest trick is the raspberry with sound effects. Perhaps the best feeling though, is watching her watch me at this point. She can anticipate some of my actions at this point like when she is about to eat or if I am going to pick her up. I think she has made the connection of who I really am, and the excitement in her face when I show up at the babysitter's melts my heart.

Me vs. Them

It's definitely interesting being outnumbered by infants and toddlers and tonight I got to

test how good I was at multitasking. The Martins went out to celebrate the closing of their house, so I watched Zack and Abby. Yep- me and four kids: a 3 year old, a 2year old, a 1 year old and a 7 month old. This has been the week of friends and once again, Makaela was very excited. I had planned out dinner ahead of time and had most of it prepped, so that was pretty easy.

Then we had playtime which was lots of fun, but I was a little nerve wracked because this home isn't baby-proofed and I was overly cautious with Zack- made me realize how I need to get this

home baby proofed before the end of this month because Mia looks like she is ready to start scooting.

Makaela let Abby "do" her hair- wish I could get that much cooperation.

And here they are dancing to Dora:

Zack was a great sleeper so he went down and I was able to give all three girls a bath- wish I had my camera, but I definitely had my hands full. At one point, all three of the were squealing. Ahh- girls. When bedtime came, Mia tried her best to hang with the girls, but it didn't last long. Makaela "read" Abby a bedtime story. Here is Makaela's rendition of Cinderella. In the video listen as she talks about the King's invitation (the "mail"), the mean girls being jealous of the "cute dress", the mother fairy, and the "bobbity boo".

She also cuddled with Abby when Abby missed her daddy. It was precious, Makaela laid down next to her, rubbed her back and stroked her hair. Let's see how all three girls do sharing one room tonight :-)

Leila

I think the move has been pretty rough on Leila as well. She is dealing with some obvious separation anxiety and is my shadow when I'm in the house (and believe me, it's not too fun prepping dinner in this small kitchen with a 40 pound dog behind you). I wish I had more time to take them on longer walks, but I'm trying to give her as much petting as I can once the girls are asleep. She is also overly fond of Mia and tends to have more patience with Mia than with Makaela when she was Mia's age. Mia can full on pull her hair and Leila just licks her...now if she were just as nice to other people :-)

Day at the Pool

Since I didn't make it down to Kristen's aloha day at the park, we had planned on a beach day to hang out before she left. It turned out that Tanya was going to bring Brooke and Abby is home from daycare, so I decided to pick up Makaela early from school and head over to Koolina to meet up with the girls. It was really nice to have some adult time (since Makaela and the older kids can play independently) and then even better to have some Makaela and Mommy time. I rarely get to swim with just her now since I usually have to hold Mia. Makaela was a little fish in the water today and very proud of her new (almost) swimming abilities.

What I wake up to

My bed has become a family bed by 5am. Mia is usually the first one to wake and I hurry her into my bed before she wakes up Makaela. Mia soon falls asleep again after eating but then I tend to hear little footsteps and my blankets start to pull as Makaela hauls herself into bed on the other side of Mia. We all nap a bit more and by 6am, I have two smiling faces in bed with me (not to mention the two dogs who whine until they get some lovin').