Rolling

Holly has been rolling a lot lately. It's hard to feed her or change her because she is constantly trying to roll over onto her stomach.

Step 1 - I lay Holly down on her back.

Step 2 - Holly kicks her legs up and grabs hold of her feet...then she starts rolling sideways. I don't know if holding her feet propels or to the side, but this is always step 2.

Step 3 - Over she goes!


Step 4 - She's on her belly.

As all new mothers know babies aren't suppose to sleep on their stomach anymore...even though everybody who is an adult these days probably slept on their stomach because they thought it wasn't safe to put us down to sleep on our backs! Things change. Because babies are sleeping on their backs they aren't developing as quickly as we did when we were babies because they don't have as much time on their tummies practicing lifting their heads and bodies. So doctors tell us to give our babies supervised "Tummy Time." With Owen we always made sure he got tummy time each day. Things changed with Holly though. I think we have given her a total of 14 minutes tummy time since the day she was born. She hated it, and we hated hearing her cry...actually scream is a better word. Amazingly enough she learned how to hold her head up, push up on her arms and roll over with very little tummy time! Now she gives herself tummy time. I'm afraid that pretty soon she will be crawling all over the house...YIKES!

Haircut Time...

It has been way too hot out here in Massachusetts. I came home from work on Saturday to find Owen outside playing in the hot weather. He was sweating like crazy. He gets the heavy sweating gene from his father. His hair was really wet from all the sweat! It was time for a summer haircut. I think the last time we cut it was in January, so it had been over 4 months. He was looking like a little hippy too...


I decided to go the cheap haircut route...I took him to see Scott's sister. She has clippers that she uses to cut her husband's hair, Owen's hair....and her horses hair! Hey, they work...that's all that matters. Owen sat on a tractor at Aunt Tracey's house while she shaved all his blond hair away. He didn't wiggle too much, and we got most of it. There is a few little scraggly pieces sticking out here and there, mainly around his ears. I think I will try to clean up around his ears when he is sleeping.

I always think I'm going to miss his hair once I cut it off, but I never do. He looks pretty darn good with short hair, and I don't have to comb it in the morning! I should probably invest in some clippers of my own, then it wouldn't get so out of hand again.

Why You Should Always Have a Camera Handy...

We are experiencing a massive heat wave in Massachusetts! OK, maybe it's not massive, but it feels that way. I'm definitely not looking forward to the hot and humid summer air. But there are benefits to summertime. Like Ice-Cream!

Yesterday I took Owen and Holly to their Aunt Tracey's house. Aunt Tracey has horses and tractors everywhere, so Owen loves it up there. She also has a lot of trees on her property, which makes it cooler at her house. So we were sitting around outside talking when an offer of Snickers Ice-Cream bars was made. Who can refuse? Holly was sitting on my lap. She saw my ice-cream and made a grab for it. I decided to give her a little taste. Big mistake...after she had her first taste of chocolate, ice-cream, caramel and peanuts she didn't want to let go. She held my hand with the ice-cream as hard as she could while she sucked away. I didn't let her eat too much of it, but she grabbed the wrapper after I was done and tried to get all the ice-cream that had melted into her mouth. Boy, I wish I had a camera for the after shots. She was covered in ice-cream and chocolate...and she had a huge smile! I guess she's like most people, she loves her ice-cream and chocolate!

A Solution to the Hair Problem....

Hair

One of the most scary aspects of having a daughter is that I have to make her hair look cute. I can't even do my hair...how am I suppose to make her hair look good? I flash back to my younger days when my mom would be trying to comb all the knots out of my hair, and I would be screaming...or when she would wrap my hair in curlers (I had stick straight hair before I hit puberty) and make me sleep in them. Those were not fun times that I remember fondly!

Holly's hair is starting to get some length to it. So yesterday morning before we got ready for church I decided to try out some new looks. I think I will stick with the usual for a little while longer after seeing what I came up with. She needs a little more length and volume...

First up I tried a pony tail. It just stuck straight up like a little fountain erupting out of her head. Too silly!

There is a picture of me when I was a baby with a cute little faux hawk...so next I decided to try that out on Holly...as you can see that was no good either.

Owen looked like he wanted to get in on the fun though...so we gave him a faux hawk too. After taking a few pictures we washed all the fun out of their hair. We'll try again another day.

A Few Miscellaneous Pictures

I think our cat Peter likes Holly. He has always steered clear of Owen, but I found him cuddling up to Holly's head a few days ago. Once he saw me he took off, so I couldn't get a picture. But then I saw him doing it again. So I quietly got the camera and took a picture.

If you know Owen you know how much he loves his hats! So I was quite surprised to see him putting his favorite hat on Holly yesterday. He usually doesn't have too much to do with her. I was happy to see him sharing.

Of course he could have been giving up his hat so he would have room on his head for a pink headband with brown polka-dots on it! I had no part in putting that on his head, he did it all by himself...

I've been wanting to get a picture of Holly drinking her bottle for a while now. She tends to throw her hand over her eyes in a dramatic fashion when she is drinking. It's pretty cute.

Holly's 6 Month Stats

Holly got to go to the doctor for her 6 month appointment today! She is doing very good, but she is still so little. Don't let those rolls deceive you.

Height - 25 Inches - 30th Percentile

Weight - 14 lbs 13 oz - 30th Percentile

Head - 42 cm - 37th Percentile

I was looking at Owen's chart and he was about this size when he was 1 & 1/2 months old!!! It's strange to have a baby who is 6 months old and still wearing size 3-6 month clothes.

Those walls really make Holly's hair an interesting color...

Holly got a free book at her appointment today. Her doctor's office has started a reading program to encourage parents to read to their children. Starting at 6 months they get a book at every Well Child Check-Up.

This is the book they gave to Holly. A book with a bunch of parents (hopefully) kissing and hugging their naked babies. It wouldn't have been my first choice of books, but Holly really seemed to enjoy it, and it kept her happy until they stuck her in the leg 3 times with shots. Poor little girl...at least no more shots for 6 more months!

6 Months Old

It's hard to believe, but it's true...Holly is 6 months old today!

Easter 2009

Happy Easter everybody! I hope you had as wonderful an Easter as we did. It all started Friday night with the Easter Egg coloring. Then on Saturday night we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a friend's house. Holly just watched as her brother ran around looking for the candy filled eggs.

Owen had a lot of fun finding eggs. A lot of eggs were easy to find, like the ones pictured above... But there were a few that were a bit more hard to find. We helped Owen find them.

Owen thought he had found the biggest egg of all! He tried his hardest to lift it up, but he didn't have much luck.

Then he decided to try out some rock climbing. He didn't get too far though. I told him that his Uncle Khyl would have to teach him how to rock climb. After that he ran around the back yard for a long time. He had a lot of fun....and he slept pretty darn good Saturday night!

Owen didn't want to part with his eggs when we go home...but he needed a bath! So I emptied all of the candy out of the eggs and threw the empty eggs in the bath with him.

Easter Morning! Owen was pretty grumpy until he saw his basket full of chocolate. I don't know how he ended up with so much chocolate. I think I wasn't paying attention to how much I bought. Scott and I will probably end up eating most of it. He also got a frisbee and 2 kites! They were cheap kites, so I figured I better get two just in case we mess the 1st one up.

Owen decided to eat a chocolate egg for breakfast...I don't think he liked it too much though. He ate about 2 bites and then gave it to me. I was happy to finish it off for him.

Holly was pretty excited about her first Easter Basket. She got a basket full of fruit! She really hasn't been enjoying her veggies too much, so we are hoping she will like fruit better. She also got a new dress and teething ring.

Coloring Eggs

Last night we colored Easter Eggs with Owen. I always loved the tradition of coloring eggs when I was growing up, and I want my kids to have the same fun as I did. This was Owen's 2nd year of color eggs. He seemed to have a lot of fun this year.

First I showed him how to put the egg in the color and then fish it out with the wire do-hicky that comes with the kit. He paid very close attention and learned quickly.

He didn't learn how to place the egg in the dye very well though...he kind of slammed it into the blue dye. After that I placed the eggs in the dye and let him get them out. Next year I will remember to put newspaper down too! It's a learning process for all of us I guess...

Owen did a good job of getting the eggs out though...

We tried to get Holly involved, but she wasn't too interested. Maybe next year.

Owen gently placed most of the eggs back in the carton. He only broke one of them...which I ate..yum yum!

The finished product...17 multi colored eggs. Next step, hide them on Sunday for a fun Easter Egg hunt...and hope we don't lose any outside. Could you imagine what an egg would smell like left outside until July?

Good Friday

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have the day off from work. The weather was pretty dang nice, so we headed outside to enjoy it.

This is the Big Wheel that Owen got for Christmas. He really likes riding it around, but his feet don't quite reach the peddles when they are pushed all the way out front. So he just scoots around on it with his feet, Flinstones Style!

I brought Holly's exersaucer outside so she could enjoy the weather without being held by me the whole time. I had some raking to do, and it's not easy to rake when you are holding a little girl. She had a lot of fun outside.

Those leaves were all raked up into a nice little pile. Then Owen came along and started running through all of them.

He did help me pick up some leaves and branches and put them in the trash though. He loves to help out. I'm sure that won't last forever, so I'll enjoy it while I can!

The little monkey hanging on the fence is our neighbor Edward. He is always outside playing by himself, so he gets pretty excited when we come outside. He loves to chat our ears off, asking questions like, "What's tomorrow?", "What's his name?", "Can he give me my ball back?". This last question is asked when Owen grabs the ball Edward has thrown over the fence and takes off in a sprint with it. Edward likes to play catch with Owen, but sometimes Owen forgets that he has to throw the ball back.

After all the fresh air and exercise Owen took a nice long nap. You gotta love the nice spring air!

Gabbing Holly

This morning as I was getting ready for work I heard Holly gabbing away to herself. I tried to get a video of it, but she seems to be camera shy. I got a little bit of her talking though. She is definitely a girl. She's always gabbing to herself. In her daycare class there is 4 other little girls her age. They tell me that they all lay on the floor, hold hands and talk to each other! She might be speaking in full sentences long before her brother does.

Oranges vs Cookies

At our house 4:00 = snack time. I had made cookies the night before and I really wanted one. I asked Owen if he wanted a cookie. He said "No...orange." Huh? Are you sure this is my child? I should be more like him, but I ate a cookie.

Check this little girl out. She was sitting up like a pro yesterday. I think I'll keep the pillows close by for a few more weeks though. Maybe she will lose that bald spot on the back of her head now!

Moving on Out

Last night was a new milestone for Holly. We decided to move her out of our room and into her crib. She slept just as long and was just as happy this morning. It was kind of sad going to sleep without her in the room though. She's growing up too fast!

Of course I think she's going to be back in our room tonight. You might notice a dark spot under her back/bottom area. When I went to pick her up I noticed that she was soaked! I only have one set of sheets for her crib, and I just finished the laundry for this week. I am not going to wash just one baby sheet...so until I do the laundry next week, or I buy her some extra sheets, she will be back in our room.

Owen found another new hat. I like this pictures...it's like he's saying "What, you gotta problem with my choice of hat? Too bad!"