{1.28.19 - 2.3.19}

My little sidekick follows me around asking me to "hold you" all the time and he comes upstairs in the middle of the night and asks if he can snuggle me and he doesn't like to let anyone else help him do anything. (He gets mad if his dad brings him his water when he asked me to do it.) It's hard and tiring but I love that he needs me and loves me. I hope he always will! // It seems like all the kids have pulled themselves to standing for the first time...or at least one of the first times...on the tub. Why the tub!? I get so nervous that their little hands are going to slip on the wet porcelain and I imagine stitches. 

Matthew has been out of town *mostly* working since what feels like April. I'm so grateful that I get to be home with my babies but HOLY MOLY I'm ready for a break. I feel bad saying that because I feel like I've been given so many opportunities to have a "break." People have taken my big kids for a couple hours or for a couple days, but between Matthew being gone and not having a car I felt like I could go far in it was just really a long summer! Haha! Matthew came home one day and I was done! So, shortly after that day he told me he was surprising me with a weekend away!  

We spent a weekend in Las Vegas with some friends and it was so nice!!! It was a great break and I feel pretty refreshed! 

{1.21.19 - 1.27.19}

He loves to get himself to anything that he can sit up at and play with anything he can get his hands on!  

I keep trying to feed him purees but he'd much rather have what everyone else is having. He loved the burritos and rice - notice the rice on top of his head!  

Here are two of my three little dino explorers. They are trying to lure a dinosaur into our yard so they can study it and learn everything there is to know about it. They came in one day and asked me if we had any fish they could cut open and use the blood for a trail to attract the dinosaurs. 

My little man is crawling! He went from not crawling at all to being a little pro! I'm so glad I caught his first crawl on video! I definitely think crawling is much more of a means to an end for Eli. He is already trying to pull himself up onto things. He likes to crawl over to me and have me help him stand up. I can't decide if he is going to be perfectly content to crawl for a while or if he is going to be in a big hurry to start walking. I guess we shall see!

{1.14.19 - 1.20.19}

Lyla tried to get to the stairs via the railing and got stuck. It was hilarious! She surprisingly handled it really well and I got a pretty good chuckle out of it. And it still makes me chuckle just to look at this picture! 

Peek-a-Boo!! This baby is just too cute! 

He is so happy when he's walking around!! // Good morning Lyla! I'm not even sure she was completely awake before she crawled out of bed and up the stairs. I loved it! 

Axel inherited the puzzling gene! He always wants someone to help him with a puzzle and he's getting so good at finding where the pieces go!  

Matthew is so excited that he one of our kids will finally do this with him! He has tried it with all of them and Eli is the only one who has figured it out! He's just so big!!! // Axel has decided that napping is for the birds so we've tried to at least have him rest for an hour or so. It usually only lasts about 30 minutes but he needs it and I'll take what I can get. He loves his resting time because he gets to hang out on Mom's bed reading books. I walked in while he was resting one day and he just looked so cute with his book propped up on his knees flipping through the pages!

I have a couple of little dino geniuses. My sister said it best when she said the good news is that I can stop putting money in their college fund because obviously they are getting scholarships! Haha!

Seriously, though, Axel will come ask me what the name of a dinosaur is and my response is always "You'll have to ask the girls." Lyla can tell you the name of any dinosaur and they can both tell you all about them. They know which dinos are carnivores and if they prefer red meat or fish, herbivores, omnivores, land dinos, water dinos, if they have feathers and how many claws they have. They know how many kinds of triceratops there are and they are trying to convince me that there is no such thing as a pterodactyl -- apparently that's changed since I was little, much like Pluto!

They are so smart and their ability to retain information (as long as it's interesting to them) is amazing!

{1.7.19 - 1.13.19}

I think that compared to my other kids, it has taken Eli quite a while to decide that he could do big boy stuff like this. I am glad that he hasn't been in a big hurry to do these things but I also love that he is starting to meet some of these milestones. // Axel got these cute new overalls for Christmas and I thought he looked so cute walking around with his hands in his pockets, but he kept scowling at me! It was so funny! 

I got this little mask with my Christmas jammies and Lyla couldn't wait to try it! She desperately needed a nap one day so I told her she could wear my mask if she would go to bed and she jumped at the opportunity! When I went down to wake her up it was just so funny! She sat right up and pushed the mask up on top of her head and looked like she had no idea what was going on. By the time I got back with my camera she looked much less confused! Haha! 

This kid is such a character!! // Our little crab apples looked so pretty all frosted over! 

Might we have a little child prodigy on our hands?!

{12.31.18 - 1.6.19}

1.4.19    My little man is getting so big!! He is so happy always!! He is so content to sit and play as long as he's not alone. I usually put him down in the front room with the girls while they are playing or watching a show and he sits and plays happily until they all leave the room. He definitely likes to be where all the action is. He is mostly a great sleeper! He's had a rough couple nights, but for good reason - he's got two new bottom teeth and I think the top two teeth aren't far behind. They are adorable! Except for when he bites me while he's nursing. He gets so offended when I flinch and surprise him when he bites me! Haha! 

He isn't crawling yet, but he seems to do just fine to get himself around! I honestly am not sure how exactly he does it, because it's like he waits until I'm not looking to wiggle himself around and he is so fast! He lunges forward and props himself up on his hands and sometimes he gets over his little feet so he's on his hands and knees, but then he just pushes himself back up to sitting - which is impressive to me - it took my other kids quite a while to figure out how to get from crawling position and back to sitting. I can't decide if he is actually going to crawl though, or if he'll just be happy scootin' around until he figures out how to walk. He's getting to where he wants to pull himself up to standing, and he loves when I hold under his arms and help him walk around and chase the big kids around.  Oh, we sure love you Mr. Eli!!!!

Taking down Christmas is as good a time as any to get a cute picture of a cute baby wrapped up in Christmas lights, right?  

One of the girls got some Play-Doh at one of our Christmas parties and the kids played together again!!! The girls have actually been so good about including Axel in their play lately! They even let him play in their room! For the longest time the girls would throw a huge fit if Axel tried to follow them into their room and I kept threatening to take their door off if they couldn't be nice to him (or if they kept slamming their door shut). Well one day, the door got slammed once again and I finally followed through on my threat and took their door off. I hoped it would help encourage them to let Axel play in their room, but instead, they just stopped going downstairs to play. The little stinks!! But seriously, I am loving how well these three have been playing together lately!!

I even caught them cuddling!!! One of the best things about this moment, other than the cuddling part, is that the TV is behind them!! They aren't even watching a show! 

I wish I could remember what dinosaur he made out of his lunch! Haha! 

Daddy - daughter fishing trip!! 

I think this trip started out a little rough, but I'm pretty sure they had a lot of fun!  

They made quite the haul!  

{5.21.17 - 5.28.17}

Axel is wearing out the toes of (almost) all of his jammies. I love it. I also love that I have a picture of Lyla very similar to this one! 

He is just so darn cute I can't even handle it! I guess I might be a little biased, though. 

We gave him some burrito fixins and to say he thought it was delicious would be an understatement. Little man loves his food!! 

I wish my phone took better pictures, but I love these checkup pics! Axel turned 9 months! 

Axel, Alya and Lyla. 

We spent the weekend camping with some friends and had a lot of fun! Lyla wanted to "just take a little rest" in this blanket everyday.  

We walked to a little creek and of course I made the girls pose for me. I promised them I only wanted one picture...at least five pictures later I got this shot! Haha! 

Axel loved camping! He slept pretty well...it probably helped that he was snuggled next to me all night...and he thought crawling (and walking) around in the dirt was the best.  

This is Alya's attitude everytime I tell her I want a picture! // Lyla always finds the flowers! 

Flower necklaces! (Alya) 

We had a beautiful spot! They were doing a prescribed burn on the mountain next to us and I thought the smoke coming off the hills looked beautiful! 

My cute little man posing on top of a rock! He was so nice to sit there for me! 

I love Alya's little belly! // We spent a day fishing...or trying to fish anyway! Getting soaking wet and, of course, catching crawdads were the girls' favorite parts! 

The other mom that was with us introduced the kids to "flower painting." The girls thought that was pretty cool and Lyla is so interested in how the Indians (Native Americans?) used flowers to make paint! (pictured: Alya) // Lyla spent the whole weekend trying desperately to catch a butterfly. She settled for this moth! 

Fishing buddies.

{5.15.17 - 5.21.17}

The girls took a really long bath and their hands looked like this for the rest of the night! 

My little climber. He thinks he's so funny!

He is getting so big. I swear he is going to be walking before I know it! 

Alya riding Dallas. She loves this horse! Before we leave the house, she kisses him goodbye and then greets him when she gets home. // Lyla is the best little helper! She loves to help weed the garden. 

When you have big sisters.

{5.8.17 - 5.14.17}

For Mother's Day I forced the kids to take a picture with me! 

We walked him to sleep! 

Lyla - so cute! // Axel - also cute! 

Matchy, matchy!