Tyson rolled over a few days after he turned 5 months! He did it like four times in a row. And he's rolled over a few times since (just tummy to back). He is still such a content and sweet baby. He is loving holding, inspecting, and sucking on his baby toys. I don't think I've had a baby that enjoyed toys as much as he does. He also loves being outside, sitting on my lap on the swing or laying on a blanket and watching the leaves blow on the trees. He's been getting a little fussy right after he drinks his bottle. So maybe I need to try a different formula? We've tried baby food a few times and he's getting the hang of it. We've just tried bananas so far. He did try baby cereal at 5 months, but my babies have never been a fan of it.
I took him to a new pediatrician in Moses, Dr. Lindberg, last week. He weighs 14 lbs 2 oz (5th %tile). We wanted a pediatrician to look at his head before we took him all the way to Seattle Children's. Dr. Barrio, in Othello, didn't assess his head. He just referred us to Seattle when he heard I was concerned about his head shape. Dr. Lindberg checked it out and she said she doesn't have any concerns! So we cancelled our Seattle appt and we'll just keep trying to keep him off the back of his head as much as possible. I have him sleep on his side for naps, propped by a pillow. And we put a donut shaped pillow under his head when he is awake during the day. I'm so relieved that we will not have to use a helmet for him. Dr. Lindberg will take another look in a few weeks at his 6 month appt. We'll make our final decision on the helmet then.
Esther is the most darling little girl. She has the sweetest round face, beautiful long brown hair, and the cutest little voice. She's zany and we love her for it! She has started just shaking or nodding her head and refusing to talk at times. She just looks us in the eye with a smirk and nods or shakes. She also does silly walks, like with her chin down to her chest, or her legs going crazy. The other day she was holding a baby doll and a fist full of coins. She said she was going to have her baby choke on them. Yikes.
For a long time she and I had a thing where we would go through a list of weird things: "hot lutacaga donuts? cat juice? going swimming?" She would always go right along with it. She's very smart and witty. A few days ago I asked her to do something while we were in the kitchen. I didn't say anything about a negative consequence if she didn't do it. But she replied "if you flick me, I'm going to put Tyson on the kitchen floor." What? She's also picked up a few bad words and phrases from Benson. For example, I heard her over the baby monitor before I got her out of her crib, which she still waits in for us to get her every morning, saying "idiot. idiot. idiot." I didn't hear her direct it at anybody and I just had to laugh. This morning, David got her from her bed. Only, for the first time in months, she wasn't in her bed when he went in. She had emptied a whole package of diapers around her floor. She proudly said "I had a diaper fight. By myself!" She really has a good time with herself. I'm grateful that she plays well independently. It will serve us well when she's a little older and not so naughty. :)
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| sweet brothers! |
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| sleeping in the car. so cute! |
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| Abby came to visit us for 10 days (I think). It was so fun to spend lots of time with her. She and Shaun are living in TX right now for his internship. She watched all the kids, including Tyson, one day so I could paint the master bedroom at Glenn and Kathy's. I LOVE how it turned out! |
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| We went out to eat Chinese at Golden Fountain |
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| naked Esther fixing Abby's hair |
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| posing for Father's day pics |
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| daddy daughter outing at Jan Walker's house. The girls were so excited and had a great time. I think the highlights were riding horses and riding the four wheeler train. |
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| tummy tickles from daddy |
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| sweet Esther blow drying Annika's hair |
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| kindergarten graduation! |
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| we loved Miss Wicks this year! |
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| Tyson tried his first ice cream, thanks to Esther! She gave him a lick of her frutaletas ice cream bar when I wasn't looking. :) |
Benson is so sweet with Tyson. He loves to squeeze his arms, sometimes a little too hard, and talk to him. He is really into playing sports outside right now. He likes to make teams and play football or soccer. He can spiral the football and I'm amazed at his natural athleticism. He's so fun to play with competitively because he's so aggressive. We're working on having better sportsmanship. I'm excited to watch him play soccer this fall. He also loves the pull up bar in our bedroom. He asks several times a day "can I do the pull up bars?" Climbing is good for that kid. He hasn't been coloring as often as he did last month. But he still enjoys it during Sacrament meeting especially.
He still has major issues controlling his emotions. I've really been trying not to give him attention when he throws tantrums. But that doesn't always work when he starts throwing things. I can't ignore that. I'm hoping that pre school this fall will be a good thing for him. Maybe developing some social skills and expanding his world will help him govern his emotions. He is a sweetheart and I hope that side of him always shines the brightest.
Annika has been creating things all day long this summer! It's been fun to watch her. I don't love the mess but it makes my heart proud to see her inventing and making her ideas come to life. Yesterday, she made a two piece swim suit for a baby doll out of paper and tape. She made a cat house out of cardboard and paper the other day. She taped strips of paper together and hung it on the wall to measure her and siblings height. She decorated a jar and put slips of paper that have ideas of things for Benson to do when he's frustrated. She is so sweet in wanting to help him (and me). She cut out a paper tea cup and wrote "Olivia, would you like to come alone to my house next wednesday for a tea party." haha We're actually doing that tea party tomorrow. She painted patriotic pictures for each of the guests. My favorite thing she's made this summer is an emotions chart for herself. It has three sheets of paper. One for mad, happy, and sad. She drew a girl's face to match each emotion. She has a clothes pin that she moves to whichever emotion she is feeling. And she made a space at the top of each sheet to keep a tally of the number of times she feels each emotion. I think it's such a smart idea! I'm impressed by this girl every day. We're so blessed to have her as our oldest child. I can't believe she'll be 7 in a few months.
David is still loving his job. We are so grateful for this career opportunity. He has been taking such good care of the yard. I'm proud of all of his hard work. I just love him! He's the 1st counselor in YM right now. So we miss him on Wednesday nights. He loves to sing to Tyson and get him to laugh. I always appreciate how much he enjoys babies. He's also been looking at houses to buy and floor plans to possibly build. We're still hoping to build. But we need options if it doesn't work to buy Scott's land. I'm grateful that David is into all that and I don't have to worry about researching everything.
I'm still praying for my back to heal soon. My toes are numb most of the day and night. I have sciatica sporadically during the day. The most discomfort is at night. If I have to get out of bed after 4 am, I'm pretty much up for the day. My hip aches and I just can't get comfortable. I went to a specialist in tri cities today. He said to keep doing what I'm doing- working on stretching and building core strength. He suggested trying chiropractics and I'm going to look into that. I'm also going to take an oral steroid for a few weeks. So hopefully that will help keep inflammation down so my body can heal some. I've been walking several days a week. I love walking. It feels so good to be outside and be active. I also love gardening more each year. I haven't been able to weed as much as I need to because of my back. But, I'm expecting some good crops. I just love watching things grow and pulling the weeds away so my vegetables can grow.
