Gunnar's First Bite!

When Gunnar turned about 4 1/2 months, I decided we would try a little rice cereal. I really wasn't too much in a hurry to start it, but every one said he would sleep better. And we need all the help we can get in that area.

Getting ready for some cereal.

Tried the cereal.

Hated the cereal.

G is just not much of a fan of rice cereal. And we have tried it several times. And if you try to trick him and put it in his bottle, he gets furious. G + rice cereal = yuck! The next time he sees brown rice, it better be in a chicken & rice casserole!!!

I had lots of help with the first feeding. Slade was around here somewhere, too.

At least he likes the bib.

Gosh, he's sure sweet.

He would rather just play with the spoon or the ivy behind him. He ripped a leaf off the ivy today!

Aunt B came over and helped feed G one night. Basically, anyone who walks in my house has to help by A.) holding Gunnar and letting me cook or B.) holding Gunnar and letting me fold clothes or C.) holding Gunnar and letting me go to the restroom or well, you get the picture. Don't come by if you don't want to hold a baby.

After the rice cereal debacle, we quickly moved on to pears and then to sweet potatoes. He thinks those are acceptable. G just really likes his milk and that is really fine. I'm sure he'll be eating me out of house and home soon enough. So far, it's pears, sweet potatoes, and avocados. Tonight he tried apples mixed with sweet potatoes. No big objections, although if I don't thin out the avocados, he will gag on them.

On another note, I am really excited about venturing into the baby food making arena. I got a really neat book on baby purees and I guess you could say I'm obsessing over it. I love to cook, so this is down my alley. First of all, I love messing with it. Second of all, it's super cheap!

I paid 79 cents for this tiny jar of sweet potatoes.

And I made this whole mini chopper of puree with one organic sweet potato that was $1.

It made six large containers of food. I would have gotten seven, but I filled them too full. Next time I didn't fill them as full because the lids pop open when they freeze if they are too full.

Trying the homemade potatoes.

Cita helped feed him one night.

"Yeah, they think this is really gonna make me sleep longer? Ha! I'll show them!" - Gunnar

The Rest of Spring Break

So, I got to looking at the remaining pics and realized they aren't much to write home about. I really didn't do too well at taking pics. There's not a single one of Nana, Mom, or myself. Well, there's never any of me bc I'm always the photographer but I usually do much better than this. Oh well. We were busy. There you have it. Slade was obsessed with hunting and catching these lizards that had blue tummies. $1 for the net in the dollar bin at Target. Best money ever spent. Thanks, Shauna, for your suggestion.

This is how he rolls. He's such a great hunter, he even caught them with his bare hands!

Finley got irrate bc one hopped out of the net onto her shirt. I'm pretty sure she is scarred for life now.

Somebody has the sweetest, fattest legs I've ever seen! Mother made homemade chocolate ice cream and everyone was trying to feed it to him. I put my foot down. All those raw eggs. Not real excited about Samonella and my baby. Call me crazy.

And we cannot forget that we fed the chickens.

They're like Mikey-they'll eat just about anything. Did you know they eat their own egg shells? Weird, huh.

Food scraps-good. Lizards on shirts-not so much.

Gunnar is 5 Months!

Happy Five Month Birthday, Baby Gunnar!

Sweet potatoes! Still thinking about if you like them or not.

Your first pair of shoes! Cita bought them this weekend at Lil' Footprints. They are little brown boy Pediped sandals and fit perfectly on your chubby little feet. I'm in love with them! Oh sooooo cute, they are!

Happy 5 Month Birthday, baby Gunnar! Has it really been five months? Yes, sir, it has because mommy hasn't slept since Halloween. But I still love my boy, cat-napper and all!

Gunnar's Stats at Five Months..........

Weight: 16 lbs, 12 oz.

Clothes: 6-9 mo. or 6-12 mo. or 9 mo.

Diapers: Size 3

Eyes: Still blue-mom is crossing her fingers that they are going to stay!!!

Hair: Blonde chick fuzz all over but people say you are bald. You aren't-it's just really light fuzz!

Shoe: Size 1

Milk: 4-5 oz. per time

Food: Pears in the morning and sweet potatoes at night so far.

Naps: Few and far between. Usually you take a snooze about 9:30, noonish, and around 3. Sadly, they are usually about 20 or less. How can you only sleep an hour during the day???

Night: You usually get super fussy around 7pm and we give you a bath and rock you to sleep with a bottle. You wake up at night around midnight, three, and 6:30. You are always up cooing and talking and smiling when Slade wakes up at 7 to get ready for school! Mommy doesn't get many breaks. You start out in your swing and move to the Nap Nanny at midnight.

Love: Your favorite toys are the flower toy that lights up and plays music and the turtle that sits in your carseat. You like toys that play music and have colorful lights. You love crinkling paper and grabbing plastic sacks. You are starting to pull my hair and Finley's hair. You like to wiggle your feet and move all the time. You like to be outside, mostly watching Slade play basketball in the drive way. You are big at drooling-are you getting teeth I wonder? You enjoy your baths every night, so I hope you will love to swim like your siblings.

Dislike: Pacifiers, dirty diapers, showers-they scare you-baths are better, loud noises, rice cereal-yuck!, waiting for anything, naps, riding in the carseat for long periods, sitting by yourself at any point-you have to be entertained at all times!

Oh, sweet Gunnar! What would we do without your precious face?!? I love your chubby legs and feet so much! I love your dimpled smile! You were such a wonderful surprise for our family! Slade and Finley love you to pieces. We are so blessed!

Spring Break Highlights

Let me just begin by saying that Spring Break 2011 was a blur. It came and went and I'm still spinning. I have not even had time to sit down and load my pics. I think I will just break my pics down and load a few each night. We are so busy with the kids and also I am addicted to a series of books so I have not been on the computer at night. I thought after looking at everyone's spring break pics, I better do something.

A few eventful things that I should go ahead and mention are that 1.) Gunnar started eating his first foods-pears! Lots of pics of that to come. 2.)Finley got her ears pierced! Way exciting! 3.) Gunnar came down with RSV last week. Poooo! Thank goodness he has been fine and is slowly sounding better. 4.)Slade and Kyle went on a boy's trip to Abilene and had lots of fun! 5.) I'm starting a rearranging/decorating in Slade's room. You know how much I love paint!

Tonight's Spring Break highlight is that we celebrated Big Dad's birthday while we were at the ranch. We began SB by mom coming up the first weekend and we had Gracie's bday party and a baby shower on that Saturday. Finley and Slade went home with mom on Sunday when she left. That left G and myself at home. Poor Kyle just worked-this is the beginning of his really busy time. I moved furniture in Slade's room and got to spend a day with Shauna, who was totally childless for the week. We did a little shopping, had lunch, and even managed to catch a movie Tuesday night. Wednesday morning G & I started to Iraan. Mom, Nana, and Fin met us in Midland to get groceries, but really they just came to help me get G the rest of the way without screaming in the carseat. Since G doesn't have a tolerance for riding in the car, Nana jumped in the rode with me the rest of the way home. We headed to Iraan after a Wal-Mart run and lunch at Macalister's Deli.

I brought dad a red velvet cake from Lubbock and we ate cake Wednesday night, even though his actual bday wasn't until Friday. The cake was yummy!

This is before the cake almost slid into the floor. Dad caught it just in time. So we had steak, baked potatoes, and salad for dinner and a little red velvet for dessert. Happy 63rd Birthday, Dad!

AS YOU GROW UP.......

AS YOU GROW UP, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR HEART BROKEN MORE THAN ONCE AND IT'S HARDER EVERY TIME. YOU'LL BREAK HEARTS TOO SO REMEMBER HOW IT FELT WHEN YOURS WAS BROKEN. YOU'LL FIGHT WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND. YOU'LL CRY BECAUSE TIME IS PASSING TOO FAST, AND YOU'LL EVENTUALLY LOOSE SOMEONE YOU LOVE. SO TAKE TOO MANY PICTURES, LAUGH TOO MUCH AND LOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER BEEN HURT. BECAUSE EVERY SIXTY SECONDS YOU SPEND UPSET IS A MINUTE OF HAPPINESS YOU'LL NEVER GET BACK. -primitives by kathy-

Friends

I taught school with all these kiddo's mommas. The thing I miss most about teaching is my sweet friends. I made some really great friends and I miss seeing them every day. Since I stayed home, Beth has become a counselor but the other two are still at Cooper. Luckily, we do manage to get together at least one night a month, if not two, and catch up. We do dinner at someone's house usually and let the kids run around. These are the girls I get to try out new recipes on since my bunch is too picky. I love my "teacher dinners" and look so forward to them. You really couldn't find a nicer group of girls!

Gunnar, Rylee, Violet, & Logan. We had a little photo session the other night. S & F went to eat with Kyle so they weren't there. I was thinking while looking at these that we never take pics of the adults. I really need to do that. Oh, and Logan loves his thumb-how cute is that!?! That frog he's holding, well Gunnar has one just like it, but in a much cleaner version. We haven't used ours near as much. Logan spotted it one night and tried to swipe it. He thought it was his. Beth had to hide it and get out the door without him spotting it! I was so funny!

Violet and Gunnar are about 10 weeks apart. Obviously, he has some weight & length on the girl, ha! If they ever got married, this would be a cute pic for there wedding!!! LOL!

Miss Rylee and G. Ry is a woman of few words. It usually takes about one hour to warm up before she will talk at all to me. I guess she can't get a word in with all of us moms doing the talking! I do love my friends. They hold a special place in my heart!

Gunnar at 4 Months

Gunnar Hayes, you are 4 months old! I cannot believe that time has gone so quickly, and yet it seems like you've been here forever. Could be because I feel like I haven't slept all night in four months?!? You are a sweet boy and require lots of patience, entertainment, & milk.

During your 4 month well check today, you got a thumbs up. You are 16.2 lbs which is the 75th percentile. You are also in the 70th % in height and 80th % in head circumference. You are a growing, healthy boy.

You still have super chubby, short feet. Dr. Stripling said they looked like they have grown so hopefully you have normal, average feet. Yay! Although, they are still the funniest feet I've seen in a while. Ok, ever.

You love to crinkle paper and of course, put it in your mouth. Everything is starting to go straight you your mouth. You also like to pull our hands into your mouth when we are holding you. You are starting to drool alot. You don't care for your pacifier much except when you are having trouble getting to sleep. Most times, though, you'd much rather have milk than a stinky old passy.

Being the third child, you get your bottle propped more than the other two did. Sorry. That's how we roll around here. It's mainly survival mode most days. The other day your brother was supposed to be feeding you and this is how I found you. Propped. But he did such a great job with your set-up! As you can see by the photo, you are very interested in holding your bottle-which makes me a happy mom. I guess you figure you'd better learn to do it yourself since you get propped so often. Again, sorry dude.

You are quite happy with your feet. You pull your feet up to your chin and then roll over to the side. This activity keeps you busy for at least 15 minutes. You prefer a new activity about every 10-15 minutes. You get bored quickly and need something else to entertain you. No, I don't know why this photo kept showing up crooked.

You like to throw up when I try to make you go to sleep on your own. We have stopped making you do this because I don't like to clean up puke. You are basically rotten and need to be rocked. That's ok. Sometimes you just have to wait your turn but you let us know when you aren't happy about it. You basically let us know when you are unhappy about anything for that matter. You know exactly what you want-you're that kind of dude. That's ok, you'll be a go-getter when you grow up.

In the mornings when Slade is getting ready for school, you will lay on my bed and look at your toys. You like this little octopus alot. You also like the flowers that play music, the green froggy blanky, and the hanging giraffe. You try to grab & swipe at the giraffe on your mat.

Cita bought you a new highchair so you can be in the middle of everything that goes on in the kitchen. You like to be in the action, watching everyone. You sit and watch Finley eat lunch some days. The high chair rolls so I sometimes roll you up to the counter where I'm working.

See, you like to watch everyone in your high chair! Sweet boy! I love you in this zippy turtle outfit. We still love to dress you in the zipper sleepers. You wear 9 mo or 6-12 mo clothing and size 3 diapers.

You love to take a bath. You have started kicking your little legs all around. You don't usually ever cry in the tub. Every night you take a bath around 7:30. I think it relaxes you so you can get to sleep. Eventhough you don't take very good naps, you do pretty well at night. We try to put you down about 8 and then you usually wake in an hour and have to be rocked again. Then you are down for the night usually. You will then wake up anywhere between 2-5, mostly just once and have a bottle. Then you are up for the morning about 6:30. You then take a short nap (most of your naps are short-like 15-30 minutes) in the morning about 9. I like to call you the "Cat-Napper".

You are kind of a rolly polly. Such cute little chubby rolls. Especially your little thighs-you have lots of thigh rolls! You drink about 32 ounces of milk each day. Today you have started grunting/humming. I guess just because you can and like to hear your own voice.

You like anyone to smile at you, talk to you, sing to you, or just plain ol' pay any kind of attention to you. You demand attention. And you usually get it because people think you are pretty cute. Everyone says you look just like Slade. I think you look like Finley when she was a baby.

It has been an exciting four months. We are never bored! You are a precious baby! I'm so glad you are ours. Please don't start to grow up too fast!!!

Pearls of My Wisdom........

One January day, life as I knew it changed. My name did, too. They showed me this little human being in a warmer and I found myself being a mom. I no longer had just myself to take care of. Gone were the days of waking up on a Saturday morning and wondering, what do I want to do today? Actually, I can't remember the last time I woke up to the world being my oyster. What do people without kids do on Saturdays anyways? They get pedicures, sip lattes at Barnes & Noble. They shop with friends for cute strappy shoes and little shirts that they saw in last month's Cosmo. They doze off beside the pool with the sun shining on their sun-baked skin. Showers are long and relaxing with brand new loofahs and girl razors. The get dolled up for another night on the town with friends and come home in the wee hours of the morning, just because they can.

And eight years, three kids, and lots of blood, sweat, and tears later, I have realized that this mom job is a hard one. Maybe the hardest. In just the past few months, I have frequently found myself laughing quietly as I look at my three kids. Where the #%&* did these guys come from. Well, I know WHERE they came from, but when did this all happen. I just find it humorous-I think it's so funny that these little humans roam my house. And have taken over my world!!! They came, saw, and conquered......ME! Who am i really? Finley's favorite show is Alice and Wonderland-the Johnny Depp one. She loves it and I find it peculiar that she does. It's almost scary and so strange. But we watch it everyday and yesterday I was watching it for the thousandth time and I looked at Johnny Depp and thought, OH MY GOSH!!! I am the mad hatter! I am totally the mad hatter. For one, I feel like I look like mad hatter with my clothes all mismatched and my hair sticky straight out every which way. But I totally feel like I'm mad some days. Being a mother of three children has made me become mad, as in-CRAZY!

I'm no longer organized or in control. I cry and yell somedays. I loose things-my purse, my keys, socks, shoes, bills, photos, my mind. What have I become? My skin is dry from using antibacterial soap and my nails are chewed and unpolished. My eyes can be held up with toothpicks some mornings I'm so tired. I eat chocolate to survive the afternoon and smell my tshirt to see if it stinks too much to wear it another day. I'm usually juggling a baby in one arm while trying load the dryer and I haven't bought a new pair of panties in a year. None of my bras are cute, I mean, who needs cute bras when your boobs droop to your belly button? I'm afraid it's gonna take alot more than a bra to fix this pair. I spray dry shampoo to hide my roots and Comet Clean-Up is my best friend. I tend to sweat profusely when I'm nervous or when I blow dry my hair over five minutes. Boy, am I a catch. Poor Kyle. I wipe poop, puke, snot, and rotten milk on a daily basis. And I even once lied and said I had to go buy a new bra just so I could leave my house and be alone for a hour. Going out to a movie is like going to Vegas. Commercials make me cry and so does Kyle if he brings me a Chick-Fill-A unsweet tea. I like the simple things. Tea. I cry for tea that I didn't have to make myself. I have resorted to crying about TEA!!! You see, I am totally the mad hatter. Did you know that the term "mad as a hatter" refers to the 19th century usage of a mercury-based compound in the making of fine hats. Due to long-term exposure, hatters would often develop symptoms of mercury poisoning, such as tremors or mood-swings, that would make them appear "mad" to others. And why I know that also qualifies me as a nerd, as well.

I love my children but I will tell you, honestly, that some days I feel like I lost myself somewhere along the way. I am not the person I once was. I look in the mirror and wonder where that girl in the skinny jeans went that sat on the hood of her silver Camaro and smoked cigarettes on a roadtrip (right, Jessica!?!) I cry for the Camaro, Kyle cries for the skinny jeans. Being a mom makes you less selfish, and sometimes I feel like I give every ounce of my being to them. I am plum pooped most days. But a good hot bath and a few hours sleep gives me a new perspective each day. I get up and do it all again. Because I can. Because I am blessed. Because I can eat chocolate at three o'clock. Because I'm mom. Because my mom did it for me. Because not every day do I feel like the mad hatter. Because I love the three humans that roam my house more than my life. Because life is made of those moments. Moments that can't be replaced by money or things. You can't buy fat baby hands, blonde piggy tails, or waxy ears.

I once woke up on Saturday mornings with nothing to do. But now, life has changed. I still get a pedicure-when someone gives me a gift certificate. I don't drink lattes, I drink Chick-Fill-A tea. Instead of Barnes & Noble, I sneak my Kindle out late at night. The strappy shoes have been replaced with comfy flats and the little shirts I now buy are size 9 mo, 5T, and boys size 12-14. I now doze off on the couch, holding a sweet baby and my skin is white, but wrinkle free. Showers are quick with old loofahs and usually with my razors that Kyle has already stolen to shave his face with at least once. I get dolled up once in a blue moon to eat dinner with my other friends who need a night out away from kids. And I am up in the wee hours in the morning, feeding my baby.

And actually, when I wake up on Saturday mornings, the world still is my oyster. Sometimes I open it up and there just some sand, just another ordinary day. But sometimes I open it up and there's a pearl, a day that they say or do something that I will remember the rest of my life. I live for those oysters. I love those pearls. And there's no rule that says mad hatters can't wear pearls. : )