Lessons learned

Lesson #1:
Always, always take off baby's shirt before giving her an avocado in the self feeder.


Lesson #2:
Never, ever give baby avocado on a school morning. Not much time left for a much needed bath on a morning when we are rushing to get out the door.


Lesson #3:
Only, only give baby avocado just before scheduled bath time!


Isn't avocado supposed to be good for the skin? Well, let's just say sweet girl got a nice spa treatment...an avocado facial and scrub!

The season is here

The sports season, that is. Jacob started spring soccer this week. And has been loving every minute of it. This is his first time to play and he has been so enthusiastic about it. He had his first game on Saturday. It really was a lot of fun to watch. Some ran the wrong way. Some used their hands. Some sat on the sidelines and wanted no part of the game. It was quite entertaining, as a first game should be I suppose.

His team, the Pirates won 7-5. And I have to brag on Jacob, he scored two of those goals himself. Yea Jacob! He played about 40 minutes of the 55 minute game and ran nonstop, hustled nonstop, and gave it his all! Mommy and Daddy were quite proud of our little guy!


He got to choose his own number. He chose #5 for the obvious reason.










Good game, good game, good game!


We are looking forward to the soccer season. Love, love, love watching our kiddos enjoy their activities so much.

Just a swingin'

We've been enjoying this nice weather, right in the backyard. Sarah enjoyed the swing for the first time.



But I think she enjoyed watching her brothers play even more.


She was very content, just taking it all in.




I'm still amazed they are all three looking at the camera. Say cheese...

Favorite age

As I mentioned in a previous post, six months of age is one of my favorite ages. So I thought it was worth some comparison pictures. I love to have this type of stuff documented for the memory books. :-)

Jacob- 6 months
19lbs 4oz
26.8" long


Luke- 6 months
18lbs 8oz
26" long


Sarah- 6 months
18lbs 13 oz
27" long


And a few more of our sweet Sarah-bear! (Mommy had lots of fun buying her a new dress for the photo shoot.) :)

Gymnastics for Luke

We decided to enroll Luke in a little gymnastics class. For several reasons...now that he is three, I feel like the time is right for him to do a class independent of Jacob. He will be starting preschool in the fall and I feel like he needs to start doing more by himself in preparation for school. Gymnastics is the perfect transition to me...he is in the class by himself but I am there watching. But most importantly, I want him to have an activity all for himself. Something that is his own, something he enjoys doing and has fun doing it.

He needed a little encouragement the first few times hence the coach helping him out during the warm up.


I often hear the coach saying "Luke, wait your turn. Luke, sit down. Luke, get in line." It makes me laugh a little but thankfully he does what he is told. Which is another reason we wanted him in this class...to learn to take direction from other adults and to follow the rules from others.










Time for stamps.


He still puts up a fuss when we first get there. He is never excited about going but once he gets out there he has a great time. And yes bribery has been involved. A blue Icee from Target does the trick, one of his favorites. During his first class, he screams back to me from across the floor, "Mom, can we get my blue Icee now?" It was too funny and several of the other moms sitting around me laughed as well. Gotta love our sweet Lukie!

A Keepsake

Who would have thought that almost 40 years ago when my mom bought this pretty pink outfit, that all three of her girls would wear it and all three of her granddaughters would wear it.



This is me at three months.


This is Sarah at six months.


My Nana knitted an afghan for each of us when we were babies. We each still have ours and have used it in these pictures.


After Kristina took Grace and Annie's picture in the outfit, she made this collage for my mom. I was happy to be able to add Sarah to the group. From left to right, Kristina as a baby, Grace, me as a baby, Annie, Kyla as a baby and Sarah. What a treasure!

Basketball Boy

Jacob participates in a program at his school called TOT--Teams of Tomorrow. It's an extracurricular program that comes to his preschool once a week that focuses on basketball skills and techniques. Not so much game playing skills but more ball handling skills. He has really enjoyed it so far.



To show off their skills they had two performances last weekend. Friday night they were the halftime performance for a Frisco high school basketball game.

Ready to take the court.




Jacob is on the far right.


His TOT teacher, Mrs. Sarah. He LOVES Mrs. Sarah. Talks about her all the time! :)


On Saturday, their group was the halftime performance for the Harlem Globetrotters at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. How cool is that?







Jim's dad and Lana along with my family were there to show their support. Love this picture of Jim and Sarah.


They have another performance in May to perform all they have learned throughout the school year. So proud of my little star. He did a great job and had lots of fun doing it.

Sarah at Six Months

Our Sarah Katherine is six months old today. Can you believe it? Six months, already.

I L.O.V.E this Gerber baby phase, as they call it. Six-twelve months are my favorite. So playful, lovable, chubby, just all around happy. And the last little phase before they are mobile.

Can you believe this was Sarah just six short months ago. Makes my heart ache a little...OK a lot!


Sarah is doing so much these days.
*She is reaching and grabbing for everything. If I'm holding her she is reaching for my hair, my earrings or anything within reach. Holding her during a meal is impossible now. She goes straight for the plate.
*She loves to blow "spit bubbles", as we call them.
*She is very ticklish on her feet and tummy.
*She loves to play Giddy Up Horsie, Pat-a-Cake and Peek-a-Boo. It's fun watching her start to anticipate what is to come.
*She is once again teething like crazy. I expect the front, top two teeth soon. Hopefully very soon! Poor baby girl tries to bite any and everything that comes her way.
*She is wearing size 6-12 months clothes.
*She is still wearing size 3 diapers.
*She responds SO well to Jacob and Luke. Jacob can walk in the room and say "Hi" and she smiles and is on the verge of laughter. She LOVES Jacob. If I need a smile from her, I get Jacob to help. She is finally responding more to Luke. It takes a little more effort from Luke but he is getting some smiles and giggles too.




She is getting so strong. She was leaning up against our bench and continued to stand while I grabbed the camera.


She loves standing any way she can.


She is getting better at sitting up by herself. She still needs some support but is getting stronger.


She continues to love her baths.


I occasionally put her facing forward in the stroller instead of in the car seat. She looks comfortable, don't ya think?


She loves to "fly" in the air. Just couldn't capture the open mouth smile she usually gives us.


I put a piece of ice in her self feeder and she sucked on it until the ice was gone. Hopefully a good sign of things to come.


She recently had her first taste of something other than cereal. I mashed up a banana and mixed it with a little water to thin it out. As you can see, she was NOT a fan of it. I tried mixing it with a little cereal and she ate a few bites but still wasn't interested. I think the consistency wasn't quite right and the texture was too different.


A few days later I decided to give her sweet potatoes and see if she liked these any better. I'm really wanting to make her baby food so I tried it first with sweet potatoes. I cooked 2 and then used a mini food processor to puree them. I had to add quite a bit of water to get it as thin as it needed to be. But I have to say it turned out quite nicely. I will freeze these and pop them out as we need them. I need to try the same thing with the bananas and see if she likes them any better.


She made a few funny faces at first but then ate it all.


She goes for her six month well check in a few weeks so I'll have her stats then. Speaking of health, she has had her fair share of colds so far this winter. Runny nose and a cough. She will have one for about two weeks, is well for a week then gets another one. Luckily she seems to feel fine but it's still no fun. I guess that's part of having a baby during the winter months and her having two older brothers. :-)