6 months!

This post is a little late because momma got a little emotional with the 6 month birthday. I cannot believe she is half a year old. I spent so much time wishing her to be able to sleep longer stretches so I would feel human and never believing that would ever happen. Now we are there and it's just insane!

We have spent this past month keeping ourselves busy by going to the beach, the pool, target, and stroller strides which is a workout class for mommies. Annie loves the water and will float on her back for a little before realizing her head is damp. She has changed so much this month and has just the sweetest disposition. She is rather attached to momma, but as the pediatrician said, "It won't last forever."

What Annie is up to:

- rolling over from tummy to back

- laughing lots

- being ticklish

- trying to sit up on her own

- saying "momma"

- eating rice cereal, green beans, pears, bananas, prunes and loving them (daisy is also loving them as she licks Annie any chance she gets)

- taking two naps

- sleeping 10 hours at night

- grabbing smaller toys

- enjoying books - especially "Good Night Moon"

- screaming at church (we are taking a brief hiatus to let mom relax about the whole thing)

- eating her toes

- grabbing for daisy

- grabbing mom's hair

- snuggling her owl lovey

- giving kisses to daddy and mommy

- doesn't want anyone else to hold her but mom

These six months have been amazing, stressful, full of learning, but filled with lots of love. When I walk in her room and she gives me a huge smile that lights up her whole face and kicks her legs and wiggles her arms, what more could you want? She has certainly blessed us!

Reading

Eating

Grabbing for Daisy

Napping with owl (she moves lots in crib! This is her swinging herself 90 degrees)

Hanging out nakey

Practicing sitting up

Keeping it classy at all times 

Thanks for all of you who have loved and supported us especially my mom and sister who kept telling me that it would get easier even if I didn't believe you at the time!

Our little abode

So we got our furniture a week ago, and it took a good four days to get it either unpacked or moved to the storage unit. Kenny worked his little booty off trying to get this all done quickly especially since we were borrowing our upstairs neighbor's garage. 

We decided not to hang anything on the walls because we ultimately would like to move on base, but I did manage to pull out some framed pictures and our anniversary art work from last year.

Here is the kitchen. Tiny, but we have used the hutch to store plates, etc.

Here is the entryway from the garage access. Our bookshelf has been repurposed as our junk drawer, game and craft holder, office supplies, and some books. Then you see into the living area. Our half bath is to the right of me. Didn't take a picture because well, it has a toilet and sink. Whoa!

Here is the view of entry way from living area including our special UVA print ;).

Here are two views of the living area:

(My assistant daisy on hand!)

Our room. 

The full bathroom

Annie is napping so no pic of her room. But here is a pic from another day when I had to wake up sleeping beauty.

And another pic of Annie sitting in her rocking chair! 

We love our home! We love having neighbors upstairs to play with and hang with!

5 months?

How did we get here?? Annie turned 5 months today and we are both in awe. This month has flown by as we have settled into our new home and become more familiar with our surroundings!

Annie is up to lots:

Singing often. (She wakes us up in the wee morning hours singing in her crib)

Smiling and reacting to peoples' smiles

Being very aware

Taking 2 naps

Loves the water on her feet at the beach and in our wee pool.

Rides in the stroller facing out

Sleeps from 7pm- 530am (praise!)

Had rolled over twice!

Doesn't despise tummy time

Loves patty cake

Loves this little light of mine

Has the best giggle and belly laugh 

Loves grabbing her toes 

Still loves kisses and likes to give them back with a wide mouth and lots of slobber

Playing more independently. 

Teething

We don't have a weigh in this month but we would guess around 16 pounds, and she has definitely lengthened out some. We started wearing 6 month clothes after our 4 month check up. 

In other news, our stuff had arrived! We are unpacking and making it more homey feeling. We definitely don't have enough room for all of it, so we have also rented a storage unit. Pics to come! 

Annie's month 5 pics!

First beach trip:

First time in a bathing suit

First walk in park near our house

Family fun!

Playing in the pool

Love the beach with daddy!

Sunglasses needed

Sleeping like a big girl- no more swaddles!

Loving our paci 

Turning 29.

Many people have told me that this is my first 29th birthday. But personally I think it will be my only :). 

Maybe it is because Kenny will always be older than me. Maybe it's because most of the people we are around on a daily basis are older than me. Maybe it's because I am grateful to wake up each day with my little family. Maybe it's because I get to spend year 29 living in paradise. Maybe it's because I have this little person who teaches me every day. 

I don't know why I am so not upset about being so close to 30. What I do know is that year 28 started off finding out I was pregnant. I spent year 28 worrying, prepping to leave a job, selling a house, moving, and generally being on the go (except for that bed rest!) Year 29, I want to soak it in and savor the moments of life like watching Annie discover new things like her toes or seeing daisy light up when Kenny comes home. Year 29 is all about appreciating this sweet little life :)

Plus I always have to be older and wiser than Annie, right?

Mother's Day!

A little late... 

 I feel like I have been celebrating (and thanking) my mother since I gave birth. I have said thank you MANY MANY times and so genuinely mean it. 

Thank you for having me. Thank you for mothering for me. Thank you for sacrificing for me. Thank you for making me feel normal about being a mother and all of my many emotions. Thank you for listening to me and my babbling brook self for almost 29 years. Thank you for loving my babies (daisy included) and giving them all of you whenever you are around. We are all so blessed to call you mom/grandmother. We all would not be here if it weren't for you! (Sorry also for taking away your sleep, making you return your new wardrobe when you found out you were pregnant, and I am sure many other things ...)

You are the best momma a girl could ask for!

We love you LOTS!

Our place

Hello! We have moved in and started to make it feel like home. Despite having very few of our own goods, we love our little home and the gorgeous surroundings. We are in a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath house/downstairs apt with a backyard for daisy to play in! Our living area is pretty adequate and so is our kitchen (for such a tiny place). Even better is that our upstairs neighbors are in our squadron and were also in our squadron in Whidbey. That has made this transition so much easier! Nothing like a familiar face to make a big move better! (And nothing like people who will let you borrow kitchen supplies you don't have or split a cable package with you or grill dinner for you!)

Pictures are if our living area and our bedroom (2 twins pushed together for the win!) and the view from the end of our driveway:

4 months!

On the 6th, Annie turned 4 months! She had her shots and her check up on Friday because we obviously just got to Hawaii and had to squeeze in a visit.  She weighs 15 pounds and is hitting the milestones she should be!

What Annie is up to:
Wiggling on her back
kicking her legs to make the bouncy seat move
grabbing things
kisses and smiles
laughing
dancing to pop music
eating her hands
almost grabbing her feet
teething
chewing on mommy's knuckles
8 hour flight to Hawaii
sleeping at night for 8 hours straight
sleeping unswaddled (at night)
napping 3 times a day
going to sleep on her own

Thanks to our good friend who came to visit while Kenny was gone, Annie is mostly sleeptrained.  How it got started was that I was passed out in the room next to Annie's with the monitor on and slept through her crying for 15 minutes. Had my friend not heard her, I would have not believed it! So with Annie knowing how to self-soothe, we begane to sleep train her.  This was hard but amazing since I had been soothing her with the hair dryer.

She is napping much better now that she is on Hawaii time!  It took about 6 days and lots of dancing to keep her awake for 15 extra minutes each time she was awake, but we did it!  We move into our townhouse on Monday officially, but Kenny has spent the week getting it set up with temporary furniture and unpacking our boxes from our express shipment. 

Daisy is doing well with out upstairs neighbors.  She was a little skittish at first, but she is happily snuggling and loving playing with their 2 year old son.

I will post pictures when we get into our place and have wifi since they are all on my phone.  But we are all loving the gorgeous weather and sunshine! 

Thank you to all who have given us love and support as we have been going through this transition.  We are so fortunate to have such amazing friends and family!

Aloha!