May Recap

Before I move on to all of the exciting things that have already come in June, I wanted to recap on a few things I planned on blogging about in May.  So, I'll attempt to do lots of pictures, little talking to get through it all :)  (I am long winded like my mom, so no promises!)

We started out the month of May with a sick little girl.  She came down with Hand Foot Mouth disease.  If you haven't heard of it, it is a viral infection that causes high fever and you can develop sores in your mouth and on your hands/feet.  Addy had a high temp and 4 days in she said "mouth owie" and when I asked her to open her mouth I saw a ton of sores (like little canker-sores all over) on her tongue.  She was miserable for about a week straight.  Lethargic, crying, not eating/drinking anything...not fun.  I remember having this when I was little (but older than Addy) and I was out of school for 2 weeks!

Luckily Blake didn't come down with it (it is highly contagious).  Apparently it is like the Chicken Pox in the sense that once you have it, you have immunity to it.  So since I had it when I was little, the doctor said that Blake likely still had some of my immunity in him being so little. THANK THE LORD!


Cuddling with Daddy



Sad, Tired and feeling "icky"



This is the expression we had for a week straight.  Poor babe.  I will say though, this mama was EATING UP the cuddles that came with "the icky's"

 She bounced back - thank goodness.  Blake was a sweetheart and beyond while she was sick.  He was not needy, just sort've "chilled" a lot by himself in his bouncy seat and was very content.  I felt bad because she required a lot of attention - so he still went to daycare everyday so he could get some attention too!  He's such a sweetheart!


My Cute Messy Food-faced Boy!



I feel better!

Later in the month Aaron had a birthday (he's now 34)!  We gave him an early birthday/father's day present and sent him for a guys weekend in the Dells!  When we are in MI - we typically spend time with family, so I arranged a surprise weekend away for him to spend time with his friends.  And, I'm SO GLAD I DID!  He honestly had not seen some of them since our wedding - and had not hung out with some of them since his bachelor party almost 4 years ago.  Everyone deserves some time away every once in a while :)



Happy Birthday!



Singing Happy Birthday to daddy :)  (I didn't have a #4 candle at home but I thought I did so we made due with him just blowing out the 3 - LOL!)



I'm just adding this picture of the two of them playing in Blake's crib because I like it and love the little ducky's they are playing with.  My mom made these ducks out of a yellow bath robe my grandma Supalla used to wear.  She has given one to each great grandchild that has been born since my grandmother passed.  I have these ducky's sleep with my kiddos...I like to think it is my grandma keeping an eye on them!  So, they are always tucked into their crib bumpers.  They love to play with them though so every once in a while I let them. 

 We completed the month by heading to Michigan over Memorial Weekend.  Our nephew Brandon graduated from high school this year and his open house was that weekend. 

I was super awesome and forgot my camera that weekend, but Tina took some good photos of the kiddos!  I had tons to choose from...but I limited it, I swear!

Alesha, Addy & Holly playing @ the park



Ugh, can't get it to switch directions - Blake looking at the kite flying!



Watching the kite!



Holly Sue loves her cousin "Baby Blake"  --- I heart this photo!

And, I stole these phots from Tammy's facebook page!  Tammy, please email them to me so I can print them off - they don't print good when I try and do it from facebook :)  THANKS AND LOVE YOU!


Cousin Photo after church!




Family Photo complete with both Aaron's mom, dad and grandma Barb!

We have been very busy people these past few months...believe it or not it is actually starting to slow down now that summer is here.  We have a few things on our schedules each weekend, but we aren't out of town until July so it helps a little with feeling like we can get other things done around the house.  Posts on that exciting stuff soon also!

We Love #7!

Our little man is getting SOOOO big!!!!  Oh my goodness :) 

Seven months is a very fun age.  Blake is a very happy little boy - and he is also a very mellow guy.  If he is crying, you know that he is hungry, tired, or in some sort of pain.  I just love his big smiles that he shows off!

Blake is sitting up now and going to take off crawling any day - literally!  He army crawls a few feet in front of him when he wants to get to a toy...and he rolls EVERYWHERE!  Addy was almost 10 months before she took off crawling, and it is fairly safe to say he'll beat her in that milestone.  He will get up on all fours and rock back and forth, so it is just a matter of him figuring out how those hands work.  He also officially sits up on his own now.  I love that stage where he is able to do more things, but isn't crawling yet and everywhere, so I can take my eyes off of him for a few seconds :)

He is also loving all of his new food.  He has started eating puffs & he really enjoys them.  I'm thinking pretty soon we will need to start introducing other foods to him that he can mush around.  We also just discovered his first tooth on Friday!  I was joking that we discovered Addy's first tooth in Michigan (on Christmas day) and that maybe we'll discover his there too...well that same day on the way to MI I discovered his tooth :)

Seriously. The. Cuteness!

We had Blake sitting up in the baby bath and just recently switched him to the big bath with Addy!  Addy is liking her partner in the tub...but I haven't been able to snap a cute picture of the 2 of them. 

Blake LOVES to splash in the tub!



Getting so big and sitting in the tub!



Splishing & Splashing!

 

Sitting in the big tub!

Seven months is a really fun age -- I love to see how much he is learning on almost a weekly basis.  Our daycare was on vacation a few weeks ago, and when she got home I had to report that he was officially sitting up on his own, now eating puffs (and feeding them to himself), and army crawling within the week since we had been there.  He has been a busy boy!! 

I'm 7 months!

Easter Sunday

We started out the day early with surprises from the Easter Bunny!  Addalyn & Blake got a wagon this year which of course was the main gift.  In their baskets they each got 1 book, 1 movie, sandals, a bath toy (shaped like an egg), and Addy got stuff to help mama in the garden (rake, shovel, and watering can) & Blake got a toy for his high chair.   

The Easter Bunny came!  (the basket below is mommy & daddy's combined basket!)

Checking out her basket

Going through Blake's basket!

Trying out the new wagon!

We then got ready for church and headed to Pine Island.  We went to church with my mom and dad.  We joined St. Michael's parish in February.  This is the church I grew up at, but it is in my hometown so we had never officially joined.  It is where we got married and both kiddos were baptized.  We decided when we baptized Blake to officially join so that we could start participating in their activities to have a consistent Christian/Catholic environment for ourselves and our kids to be a part of.  Also, we plan to be in Pine Island before the kids start school.  It is about 15 minutes from Rochester and we've had our eye on a few properties there.  I'm so happy we made that decision to join St. Michael's!

Ready for the day of Easter celebration!

 

A not so great family photo - Blake really does have a neck and isn't as chubby as he looks in this photo!

After church we went up to Jean & Paul's.  They were waiting for us to arrive to start the Easter Egg hunt, so we barely made it out of the car when Addy was off looking for eggs!

Then we had lunch - and Blake enjoyed himself FOREVER in this bouncer!

Later in the day we had Addy change out of her clothes so she could run around.  Her, Mira and Serafina ran around in the backyard for a long time.  They had races, played "ring around the rosy" and we snuck over to the neighbors and used their playset for a bit. 

It was a good day with family celebrating Easter :)

Easter Bunny!

One day, I dropped Addy off at Julie's as my little girl....

and when I picked her up she had become a little bunny!

(Blake wanted to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap of course!)

Addy was really into everything Easter related this year.  She would see eggs hanging on the tree when we would drive places and yell out "Easter Bunny Eggs!".  And she was always looking for the Easter Bunny outside on our lawn.  We have a bunny that usually is around our house that Addy loves to watch (not good for my garden...good for Addy's entertainment).

We decided last minute the Saturday of Easter weekend to take the kids to see the Easter Bunny at the mall.  Addalyn was very excited to see him when she was watching everyone else go up to him and say hi.



Watching the Easter Bunny



Waiting her turn...what a patient little one!

When it finally was her turn...she was not so into sitting on his lap.  Sooooooo, a picture of Addalyn & Blake and the Easter Bunny turned into a family photo!  As I mentioned, it was a last minute trip to the mall - as you can tell by all of our casual outfits!

And Mr. Blake even got his turn in becoming the Easter Bunny...but he was too little to have Addy sit on his lap!  :)

Palm Sunday

We celebrated Easter with my family on Palm Sunday.  Aaron was actually in Boston to watch Tammy run the Boston Marathon (how cool is that??!!!) so he wasn't there...but we got to talk to him while we started our day!

He called during her bath...so we had to get out so she could talk to him.  The girl loves to talk on the phone.  She'll listen to whoever is on the other end, so eventually I have to tell her to say bye, or she'll just stand there and listen!

It was a really fun and long day...lots of pictures here, and I totally had way more to choose from!  We started the day with a brunch and some "hanging around." 


Blake, Brynne & Grandma!  Brynne LOVES her baby cousin :)

While we were "hanging out", the Easter Bunny came!  The backyard was filled with eggs!

Everybody say "EASTER BUNNY"




Hunting for Eggs!

 Blake was with us the entire time.  By the end of it - I WAS EXHAUSTED!  Holding Blake outside the entire time, trying to help Addy find eggs - and sometimes she wanted to get held while we were looking (my parents have about 3 acres, so we were walking for quite a while)...my arms got quite the workout that day :)


Mama & Blake helping Addy find some eggs



Look at all the Easter Eggs!

Checking out all of the goods :)

The Easter Bunny at the Tarara house was a bit tough this year.  "Mrs" EB (a.k.a. grandma) knew exactly how many she had put out for everyone and we were missing over 20 after we could not find any more.  We kept taking turns throughout the day giving another go at looking for eggs. 

Addy and her aunt Angela looking for some more eggs!!!

The little ones were pretty tired after the egg hunt and playing outside for a few hours.  So, there was a nap "lull" in the day.  But then, it was time to color Easter Eggs!  My mom actually saves eggs almost all year long for this - she blows out the yolks when she cooks with eggs, so you can save the creations!  She has a few baskets of eggs that she puts out at Easter that are from when we were little.  Very cool to look at!

Aunt Shannon & Addalyn coloring on her egg before she "dips" it!

Hunter & Addy wanted to go look for more eggs after a while, so my mom watched Blake while I went out with them and looked for more eggs.  Those 2 are going to get into trouble as they get older, I can just see it.  Their cousin Drew will help them get into trouble too, but he was busy coloring eggs while we were outside! 

Giggling at eachother!

On a mission to find some more eggs!

This a view from near the end of my parents property in the backyard.  The eggs were hidden all around here - behind us, to the sides and around the red shed on the right, and toward the house which is behind the trees toward the left of the picture.  The Easter Bunny hid the eggs in crazy places and holes that he would find in longer grass.  I'm not sure who he thought he was hiding eggs for, because even the adults couldn't find them!! 

We ended the day with 6 kids in a tub (well, rotating through all 6 kids with as many as you could fit in the tub at one time!  All cousins accept Blake!)...and left for home at bedtime.  It was a long, crazy, fun-filled Easter celebration!

6 months

I cannot believe 1/2 a year has come and gone since our Blake was born.  Craziness how quickly time goes.  April was extremely busy for us, but I managed to capture some cute photos of Mr. Blake


Our "AWESOME" 6 month little boy!

Not many new developments this month since my last post about Blake being 5 months old.  He will sit up for short periods of time all by himself (the most is probably 30 seconds) - getting closer.  He still loves his tummy time and wants to go places...so he rolls EVERYWHERE! 

When he is on his tummy, his legs are already trying to push and get him places, but he hasn't figured out how to get his upper half to go yet...so he sometimes scoots forward with his head buried into the carpet.  Silly guy!  As soon as he figures out his arms, he's off.  But, that could still take sometime.  Addalyn was a somewhat late crawler...she was nearing 10 months before she crawled, so I'm not expecting anything soon!

We started him on veggies right around 6 months and have now gone through all of those and moving on to fruits.  He loves food...not sure what else I can say but that!  None of the new flavors really phased him, he just opened his mouth as if to say "keep them coming"!  I give him a sippy of water sometimes with his "meal" -- he sort've seems to get the concept but basically just chews on the cup unless I hold it up, then he takes drinks from it.  I feel like he's so little to get that concept, but then I remember this is when we introduced sippy's to Addy to.  Seriously he's growing up so fast.




My first veggy -- peas!



He Likes It!

 

My blue-eyed boy :)

Here are his 6 month stats:

Length - 26.4 inches (50%)
Weight - 17.6 pounds (54%)
Head - 17.4 inches (64%)

I looked back and Addy was 17.3 pounds at 6 months...so basically even.  The nurse had told me he was over 18 pounds so I was thinking he was more than Addy, but now just doing the conversions I see he was a little under.  Addy was like 75% at that weight...everyone makes comments on how "solid" Blake looks - but apparently he's pretty average for a boy his age.  He's definitely got some kissable little cheeks thought.  OMG!



Look at that face...how can you not just want to give it kisses??!!

 He's my little lover - pretty sure he's my mama's boy.  The other night I was over setting up for a garage sale after the kids went to bed - I came home and Aaron had Blake in our room 'cause he had woken up and was crying.  Apparently he had been crying for about 40 minutes (which he never does now that he's not a newborn...usually sleeps through the night).  I picked him up, took him out to the living room, had him settled within a few minutes - and back in his bed sleeping.  Aaron was talking to him in the morning about apparently just wanting his mama. 

It's nice to be wanted/needed :)


6 Months and Counting!