Belated 2.5 for Smoochface

We just had a month milestone, but I realized I never blogged about Smoochface's 2.5!  So here it is.

Our little girl is (morethan) halfway to 3, which is crazy but also lots of fun.  She is articulate and opinionated, has a sense of humor and a sense of style, has high highs and low lows, in thoughtful and sweet.  She loves Little Mister and often pats him when he needs attention, imitating our "there there" voices.  She loooooves Big Brother and can often be found trying to sneak into his room after bedtime to sit in his bed and read together (or, you know, play at very high volumes).  She often resists bedtime, usually vociferously, which has been a struggle, but we try to remember that one day she won't even want to hang out and rock with us in the evenings.  She's reportedly a delight in Nursery, she took right to potty and she has a hearty appetite.  She loves all princesses but especially Rapunzel (especially when we get to watch a Perpunzel Cocoon) and she sings along with whatever we're listening to.  She's started trying to negotiate for things which is often hilarious and her emotions are so strong sometimes even she doesn't know why she feels the way she does.  She's healthy and strong and clever and lovely.

Birthday girl montage!

Trimming Goldilocks

<3 td="">

So happy to be wearing Daddy's old running shorts!

C-O-O-L R-I-D-E-R

Summer Smooch

She loves a good bake.

Middle child!!!

She doesn't seem to mind.

2 kewl.

Eep!

She's finally into the water on the day we didn't bring her swimsuit.

Berrypicking!

Miss A's Salon

Though Mommy has been doing her fair share of creative hairstyling too.

... with adorable results.

We love our Smoochy!!!  Sorry about the delay!  See you in a couple months!

Third Month for Mister M

We're a couple weeks past three months so this is overdue!  Little Mister is such a delight and we hardly have to remind ourselves how lucky we are that our third is so chill.  He's so responsive and happy and giggles readily (we're pretty sure he's ticklish).  Still eating and sleeping well, happy to spend time with brother and sister, and YAY, he knows me a lot better and smiles at me a lot more now. :D  He's still not quite rolling over, but he's doing better at tummy time and he loves to hold his head up and look all around.  At his last checkup he was exceptionally tall and is getting ever so nice and chubby.  Oh this boy!

He barely fits into this onesie!!!  Good thing we had at least one time with it.

Just about always camera ready.

AAAHHH post-bath baby.

We take him all the places but he still usually sleeps through them.

What a face.

Snuggly duckling

The lord of the manor surveys his domain.

Napping on Daddy.

Happy monthday!

Until next month!  Which will be like in two weeks.

2 Months (inc. Good and Blessed)

This boy!  He hit two months a couple weeks ago and he's doing so great.  At his checkup he was measuring two pounds bigger than either of his older siblings at his age, and almost as tall as the tallest.  He just seems so big already, about the same size as his four-months-older cousin!  He's starting to get some nice rolls too so all together he's a very cuddly squishy smiley boy, and such a good baby (which we definitely recognize, and for which we are ever so grateful, especially as the two others seem to have taken things up a notch, perhaps in an attempt to balance out how good the baby is, but also probably just because they're acting their age).  He sleeps and eats and etc. just about how he should and he'll occasionally make little talking sounds and he's just about to roll over.  I sometimes feel like he is more smiley at Mommy, but it does make sense.  It occurred to me recently that this is the first baby we've had during which time I have worked away from home, so I guess I was just lucky to spend more daytime hours with the first two and now I'm getting the experience that most working dads do.  Ah well, it just makes me appreciate our Daddy-Son time all the more.

Pictures!

Snuggling up during the summer work party at the 

He slept most of the time but I'm sure he enjoyed it.

Fresh clean baby! OoO

Good and blessed!  (See the drawing I did of this here.)

So cooperative for his Blessing Day photoshoot!

I mean really.

YESSSSSSS nightmare.

Sunday drawing buddies.

Sunday napping buddies.

Little fox at 2 months.

 See you in a few weeks!  We love him more every day if that's even possible!

(ALSO, I'll go ahead and say here that after a few weeks of several calls with insurance and the hospital and various people I did some negotiating and explaining after discovering only after we were discharged by the receptionist nurse at his bilirubin checkup that the hospital where he was born wasn't in our network [and WHY didn't anyone ever mention or even seem to notice this, including our doctors who DO deliver there???], and they were actually REALLY helpful and managed to cut our in-network/out-of-network charges significantly.  Sometimes a few calls can mean the difference of a few grand.  Sometimes.)

One Month For Little Mister (inc. 4th of July)

(Quick, before it's August!  Oh wait, it totally is...)

Over the weekend we hit one month for our littlest one!  He's a big and strong and healthy and almost always happy little boy, and he delights all around him.  He's tall for his age, starting to fill out (the same height as his couple-months-older cousin but not yet nearly as chubby!), a great eater, and he actually sleeps pretty well (do you hear that?...  I'm knocking on the wood-like substance of my desk), waking up a couple times to eat and then snuggling back down to sleep, in the crib and everything.  When he's awake he's really aware of things and is starting to smile (not gas for heaven's sake, we're pretty sure they're legit smiles).  He's a sweet fellow and we're enjoying all his adventures and misadventures and messy diapers and how he's really fitting in and finding his place in the family.

Independence Day was also a thing that happened so that was fun.

Enjoy some pictures!  I vow not to let the third child be neglected!

The many faces of Mr M.

Rocky Mouth Falls with a slew of family.  It was just the right length and difficulty and a great way to start the holiday.

Lots of fun with family for Floats & Fireworks, just like I dreamed when we were thinking of buying this house.  The panoramic view from the backyard was a bit hit.

Baby, you're a firework.

Do you see what I see?

Checking out the world record-breaking flag in town.  Seeing it from the trailhead was okay for us.

Giving the fox hat a go a month later.

 Oh, and by the way, we joined this club too:

So much space!  And luxury!  And room!  And... space!

He's so quiet sometimes that I sort of forget he's there and then I look over and be like, o hi! and then be like, o wow, and then be like, *kissy kissy kissy*

Five Years / Fifteen Months

So, as promised, here's my follow-up post about the happenings around about a month ago (I still want to do a post more about our house-buying shenanigans, but I won't bother with that just yet).

As it turned out, our anniversary fell squarely on moving weekend (or the weekend after, which is basically the same thing), so we didn't get a chance to go out of town or to a fancy dinner or really anything too special, except of course, you know, buying and moving into a house and everything.  There were still flowers and reminiscing about the blessed day five years ago, as well as anniversaries since then, but there was also a trip to Home Depot and a little frustration at trying to get this or that fixed or functioning.  It was enough to be together and have a nice place to live and be, and then we can celebrate more fully and appropriately sometime down the road.

After that we reached another little milestone in The Boy's lifetime, and at 15 months he's doing great.  His personality is definitely starting to show a little more prominently, and he's starting to assert himself (which is fun but also a bit bewildering at times).  He loves to make a mess at mealtime and is starting to be a little more selective with his preferred foods.  His favorite foods are bananas and Graham Crackers, both of which he will eat at pretty much any time and in almost no time.  He still sleeps like a champ, with the occasional (brief) episode at night or the occasional short nap (the new church schedule we just switched to might do a real number on the nap/lunch setup on Sundays, so we'll have to see how that goes...).  He loves to put things in and out of other things, and he can play with his set of IKEA stacking cups for ages.  He plays with any and every toy he can find, even if it's not a toy, and each night it's amusing to go around and pick up all the debris the li'l tornado has left in his wake throughout the day, just because you never know what you'll find or where.  He is very vocal, and says a handful of words, but definitely does plenty of animal sounds.  He sometimes growls for a good long while, no matter what animal he sees in a book or what animal sound we ask him to say.  He's very good and usually silent in the car.  He just stares out the window with a somewhat bemused expression on his face and watches the world go by (unless of course we're on a two-minute drive home from church, when he might probably fall asleep, and unless of course we're on a late-night roadtrip drive home, when he might fall asleep for a little while and then never fall back asleep again, much to his dismay... and the dismay of everyone else in the car).  But really, 98% of the time he is just an absolute delight, and his funny faces and tub splashes and squirmy diaper changes and elated wanderings around the house are a joy to his parents and all who meet him.  It's the best thing when your little one runs across the room just to be close to you or jumps into your arms with a huge, 7-toothy smile on his face.

Now it's time for an Instagram photo onslaught!

Make it blue!

You can be a champion too if you eat Kanine Krunchies!

The Boy who would be king.

Bath time with Daddy!

So many animals in this one!

Just a little pounce.

Bobo, Robin, Robin, Bobo.

He loved the splash pads this summer!  It took a little bit and he still mostly likes to skirt around the edges and flirt with the little spouts, but he still finds the whole thing pretty delightful.

The wonderful thing about Bobos is he's the only one!

Blurrily getting into things with cousin Nora.

Matching bedhead!

I really didn't mean to give him a scar on his forehead (L), but Elise definitely did (R).

Bleurgh, mushy stuff.  He'll change his tune one day.

Pop Rocks in my shave ice?!?  Oh my yes.  I love how Little Mister caught me taking the picture.

We finally made it to see the balloons!  (Okay, we missed the launch, but at least we saw some this year.)

The best of friends.

Time for a little visit to Prydain.

He's doing a little detective work of his own, I guess.

Just a family of cows at Chick-fil-A.  That tail!!!

Checking out the new Bean Museum (mixed feelings...) but he sure loved all the lions,  of which there was an abundance.

His first Disney crush?!?  He kept toting it around and giving her little kisses.

He just mostly likes to get around during these movie happenings, truth be told.

That's it, enough people have called him "her"...  time for a little trim.  Still so handsome.

Saying hello to Nana and aunties on the neighbors' U-Haul truck.

Pay no attention to the Christmas presents on the cart, young man.  We love a good consignment sale.

The one that started it all for me as a lad.  His first viewing didn't have quite the same effect as mine did.  Ah well.

Happy year-and-a-quarter, son!  You are a beloved child of ours indeed.