Lila- 5 Months

 This darling girl is 5 months old! 5 months is always a magical baby stage for me. They seem so much more content and easy at 5 months, but still tiny and won't move if you set them down! She's starting to get better about being set down and will play with her little gym or jumperoo for a few minutes and stay happy.

 This past month, her mommy-love deepened. She's a pretty content little thing, but definitely prefers mom. She'll be fine when someone else is holding her, until she sees me and then she cries. If she's happily playing in her little gym and looks over and sees me, she cries until I pick her up. I think it's safe to say we've bonded! (Feeling is mutual little one, I love holding you just as much as you love being held!)

 She started to like the pool more this month! She doesn't get in that often, since she's too little for sunscreen, so I only let her swim if it's late in the day. But she'll hang out in the water with us for a good 20-30 minutes before she's done!

She's still a tiny little thing- at 5 months she still fits in her 0-3 clothes and can wear some of her 3-6 month clothes, although they are still pretty big on her. She's been a better sleeper after that dreadful 4 month sleep regression and has started occasionally sleeping through the night again! When she does get up to eat it's generally just once. She's settled into a good routine with three naps a day.

Feeding her has been the source of a little stress for me. She's been exclusively breastfed since birth, and luckily I pumped a lot early on to build a freezer supply. She gets an extra bottle of breastmilk from the freezer before bed most nights. For some reason, that last feeding of the day she mostly refuses to nurse! Or will nurse for 2 minutes and then refuse and I just give her a bottle. I am really not sure what's been going on with her and why she's doing that, but I've been trying to just be flexible and meet her where she's at. 

I really wanted to make it to 6 months before starting solids, but shortly after she hit 5 months she really seemed hungry and like she needed more. So we started with some pears and she did great! Besides a look of weird confusion on her face, she could immediately swallow like a pro! So far she's tried pears, oatmeal and squash. I think it was the right decision for her, since we started solids she seemed happier and less fussy while nursing later in the day.

I love this little sunshine so much! I love holding and cuddling her, just soaking her up. I have not wished away one minute of her life and have tried to just embrace every second. Time is just going too quickly! I love having a little girl! (Also I love dressing her, and at 5 months old she's still worn a bow every single day of her entire life)

Bathroom Update

 In late June, Ben and I had a little "whiteboarding session" in his office. We were looking at our finances and making plans- things we needed to save for, home projects on our list, and trips to do. The home project list had several things on it and we weighed the pros and cons of each project, the cost and which should take first priority. Ben had said last spring that he still felt burnt out from our huge remodel 5 years ago, to which I responded that 5 years is more than enough time and we needed to start tackling some of these! The conclusion of this little meeting is that a little bathroom update would be our first priority.

The upstairs bathroom had always been annoying to me. It was in good enough shape when we bought the house (unlike the rest of the house that needed more immediate attention). All we did to it before moving was paint. The toilet wasn't moved when they sprayed the walls, so when we replaced the toilet a few years ago you could see bits of bright pink paint left from the previous owner. I'd never gotten around to getting all the hardware for the vanity. The tile in the floor was broken and the grout was coming up. And the light fixture in this room had always bothered me, it was just ugly. So we made a little plan to update that stuff "when we had some time". Well, about a week later Ben declared it was TIME. He could not have picked a busier week. It was right in the middle of me teaching swim lessons, he's crazy busy at work, it was right before the 4th of July (the next weekend) and our camping trip (the weekend after). But the motivation had struck so Ben declared it time to tackle the project. And since I wanted it done so badly, I pretty easily agreed.

I had planned to do a lot of research and shopping when picking stuff for the bathroom, and all of a sudden we were just doing it! Ben stopped by Home Depot on his way home from work and FaceTimed me some options for tile and we were off! Chase and Davis demoed the whole floor! They loved it! It was darling to see Davis being so helpful!

 This is the cracked tile- you could pull all these pieces out and put them back together like a puzzle. It was super annoying (and sharp).

 This is the ugly light fixture. I don't love this vanity, but we couldn't afford to replace it. I thought if we updated the rest of the bathroom I wouldn't mind it as much.

 The new floor! This took Ben (with some help from Will) a whole day to do. It turned out so beautiful, I kind of want to replace several other floors in my house with this tile now!

 After the tile was done we pulled out the old light and mirror and I painted. I agonized over this color, trying to decide if it was too dark (it was darker than I anticipated). Turns out I love the color! Once that was done we put in new baseboards (the old ones had some water damage from bathtub splashes. Once they were in and newly painted, it made the existing trim and doors look dingy, so I painted them as well.

 It was easy to install the new light fixture and mirror. Then Ben replaced the whole outlet and light switch. The old ones had been painted and chipped and just looked terrible. Ben rewired it all like a champ and it looks so much better to have clean, white outlets there!

We finally put new hardware on the vanity! It all made such a difference! The vanity still isn't my favorite, but with everything else updated it looks so much better! I love this bathroom now. Hudson said "This bathroom used to look so 90s, now it totally looks 2020!" I got new towels and shower curtain at Target and overall the look is so much sleeker, more modern and cleaner than before!

For the tiny budget we had to do this project, I think the result was awesome! It took us about two weeks and $500 and some elbow grease, but I think it turned out great! I'm so glad we did it!

Lila- 4 Months

 Little Lila is 4 months old! At her appointment she was 11 lbs 12 oz (6th percentile) and 23 inches (3rd percentile). I looked it up and Davis was the exact same size at 4 months- and I don't have official stats for Chase at that age because we were on the island, but from his size right before we left I'd say he was probably very, very close to this size. So she's right in line with her brothers (Hudson was like 16 pounds at 4 months- I don't know where we got him). Even though she was really low on the growth chart, our pediatrician said he wasn't concerned since my babies have generally been quite small at this age.  She handled her shots like a champ and wasn't even fussy afterwards.

 She is my smiliest baby! She seriously smiles every time she makes eye contact with me. She's been pretty hesitant to laugh though- she'll give out a few tiny chuckles, but not any real belly laughing at this point, despite Ben's best efforts.

 She was sleeping so well and for the first few weeks of June she slept through the night every night! It was amazing. And then 4 month sleep regression hit and it got rough for a little while! As I'm writing this she's almost 5 months old and has started getting better. She's still the happiest little thing, even though her nights were rough.

 She's still wearing her 0-3 month clothing and I realized has literally worn a bow every single day of her entire life. Dressing her brings me so much joy!

I couldn't pick just one picture from this series because they were all so cute! I just love her. Also, this little outfit is special to me because I bought it for Nora six years ago! A lot of the clothes she is wearing this summer were her cousins- since all the 0-3 clothes we got as gifts were winter clothes and not super great for the 90 degree weather.

 At 4 months she's starting to be quite interested in books and toys. She's found her hands and sucks on her fingers all the time. She loves the bath and hates her carseat.

I love this little bundle of joy so much! With every baby I stress less and enjoy more (which is saying a lot because I really enjoyed every one of them). 

June

 Oh man, June went by so fast! I was a little nervous what this summer would be like- with a new baby and social distancing still being very much a thing. We decided it was okay if the boys had playdates as long as they stayed outside, which has worked really well. They play outside with their friends all the time- which is where I'd prefer them to play anyway!

 Chase and Hudson are the sweetest with Lila. They love to help with her, hold her, feed her the occasional bottle and read to her. I have so many pictures of them doing these things because it just warms my heart so much. They genuinely love caring for her and being with her!

 My mom got all the grandkids shirts that say "Cousin Crew" on them and they look darling in them! They wear them on Saturday swim night and I'll say they are the cutest little cousin crew you ever did see! Our Saturday swim nights are always a highlight of our summer, and this year we had the whole family together for so many of them with Nate, Halie and Heidi staying at my parents house. These nights are so pleasant and relaxing, full of family fun and bonding and interesting conversation, and lots of laughter mostly caused by the hilarious littles.

 This was when I asked him for a bite of his cookie. (Actually a bite of MY cookie that he commandeered)

 Oh Hudson, this kid is awesome! He starting officially doing piano lessons with Jodi back in May and he's doing great. I think he has a natural gift for the piano and I love seeing it all come together for him. I love this sweet kid.

 We've spent most of our days at the pool. It's so nice to have it so close by. Sometimes I swim with them, sometimes I sit on the side with Lila, who during June decidedly did NOT like the pool. This spot is a little bit of heaven for me! Also, Chase and Hudson are SUCH good swimmers! They really amaze me and I love seeing them be so comfortable and capable in the water. Davis has no fear of the water, but during June still hadn't done much swimming without a puddle jumper.

 I asked Hudson to weed the front flower bed. Last year he told me I shouldn't make him weed because "when I sweat it just waters the weeds and makes them grow better". He did it without complaining at all this particular day, which definitely deserved a picture.

 Heidi took me birthday shopping which was so fun! We wore our masks, all COVID-style but had a great time anyway. I loved having her in town so much!

 Little Lila and Rosie- I'm so excited for these two to grow up together! My relationship with my cousins is so special to me, I'm so excited for Lila to have that.

 Will invited Chase and Hudson over for a Lego night (watching Lego masters and building with Legos). Then Hudson wanted to have Nora over for "Minecraft night", which was super fun. And now it's a semi-regular thing that we do!

 At some point Minecraft night turned into cousin planking.

I love their commitment to color coordination. Hudson's blue is more of a coincidence. Davis's head-to-toe RED is definitely not. He LOVES red and picks "the red one" any time he has a choice about anything.

 Another Saturday swim night- this is Davis saying "Dad- fly me!"

 We finally made Bear Lake happen! We decided to go on a Monday since the beaches have been so crowded on weekends and we are trying to social distance. Ben couldn't take any time off work, so my mom graciously came with me! We went with the Josephs, who brought paddle boards and kayaks, which Chase especially loved! The boys played in the water, played in the sand, and we all sat around and chatted and just had the best day! Even the drive, albeit long, was absolutely beautiful! It was such a lovely day in a beautiful spot with wonderful company!

 I turned 32! Ben and I got take out that night to eat in our quiet house, which was lovely. As I was putting Lila down for bed that night I got a little emotional while snuggling her. Last year as a blew out my birthday candles I wished for a baby girl, and this year I had the most beautiful baby girl snuggled in my arms. I'm so thankful for this sweet little blessing- she was the baby I was hoping would come to our family and I love her so much!

 Davis spends a lot of his days running little cars around random surfaces of our home- this windowsill is a favorite.

 He's the cutest- he's starting to talk a lot in full sentences which is hilarious and adorable. He loves to come chat with me while I feed Lila- although Lila doesn't always appreciate it that much (he tends to rock the chair a little too aggressively for her liking).

 Chase picked Lila's outfit on this day (both of the older boys love to pick what she wears)- and then I realized they totally matched. It's fitting, since Chase has said red, white and blue are his favorite colors for years now.

 I have so many pictures on my phone of him sleeping- I just think he looks so cute. Bei Bei is almost always tucked securely under his arm.

 He does all kinds of crazy tricks off the board- most of which make his grandparents very nervous.

 Chase has totally taken over mowing our lawn this summer! He really wanted to learn and he's doing a great job! Papa Ray has also hired him to mow their lawn as well. And one week our sweet neighbors were out of town, so Chase did "sneaky service" and mowed their lawn too. He loves these neighbors and was excited to do it. They actually caught him in their "ring" doorbell, but I told them to pretend they hadn't because he was excited to do it anonymously. They were so touched that he did that for them.

And whenever anyone is mowing the lawn, Davis is always close behind with his little lawn mower.

 This is the beautiful birthday cake my mom made me this year- we celebrated at swim night a few days after my birthday. It was delicious! I love getting to celebrate my birthday with my family doing a BBQ and swim party every year.

 I love her wide open mouth smiles! She always smiles at me when we make eye contact.

 I finally got around to cutting Chase's hair and it turned out so cute! I just love this smart boy so much!

 June was such a wonderful, full month. Lots of swimming and outdoor play. Lots of movie nights and family time. Getting to enjoy having my siblings in town. Ben worked too much- but we are so thankful he has a job as the economy around the world is crumbling. This year has definitely been unique and stretching and hard at times, but we are learning so many good lessons, appreciating the little things and feel grateful for our health and family.