6 Months!!

Six months old.  Craziness.  She is now 15lb 2 oz and staying right at 50%.  She is a good eater, I just wish she would eat more in the daytime hours and a little less in the middle of the night.  She seems to eat just enough at daycare to keep away the hunger and waits for me to fill up.  I'm tired. 

Sticking her tongue out at her sister who was trying to get her to laugh :-)

- We started rice cereal two weekends ago and she loves it.  She's also had sweet potatoes, carrots and pears.  She sits with us at the dinner table and is so happy to be a part of the whole routine.  Every bite she lets out a very happy "mmmm".  Even Maya helps out and gives her a couple spoonfuls throughout the meal.

- She has mastered sitting unsupported and really enjoys the upright world.  It is much easier to watch her big sister from the sitting position!

- She has started figuring out the army crawl and scoots herself all over the place.  Between that and the rolling, she rarely stays in one place.

- She has been in daycare for two months now and is doing great.  She gets lots of extra snuggles from one of her teachers because she reminds Miss Mary of her own children who are now grown. 

Huskies!

We scored four free tickets to the Husky game yesterday and decided we had nothing to lose and would attempt it with both kids.  We did a little tailgating before the game and then headed in.  Maya made it until half time at which point she declared that she was tired and it was time to go home.  She had a fun time watching the players through her binoculars, clapping and cheering for the team and loved that the whole family was wearing their purple Husky shirts.  Laurel slept through most of it :-)

Maya was even shown on the jumbo-tron for the whole stadium to see!

As fun as it was, I think we will opt for a babysitter next time.  If for no other reason than to avoid the frequent bathroom trips that come along with a newly potty trained toddler.  That was a bit exhausting!

The Puyallup Fair

Last weekend Maya and Bennett were invited to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They had a GREAT time.  And Laurel got to spend some quality time with us all by herself.  Then on Sunday, the entire Knowles clan met at the Puyallup Fair for an afternoon of fun.  It was a great weekend over all.

Grandma and Grandpa set up the tent so they could have an indoor campout.

Trying out the firefighter equipment at the fair.

Testing out the tractors.

The only ride Maya was able to go on... sadly is is too short for most of them and this was not a fun reality for her to face.  She was a trooper though and we were able to find a petting zoo to keep her happy.

Riding the carousel.  Last time she refused because the horses were, "too big".  This time she loved it!

No more diapers!

Well, it is official.  We are out of diapers... at least during the day.  The process was much easier than I expected, I'm sure in part due to my procrastination (read: laziness).  Since we had been casually using the potty for awhile, she caught on pretty quick.  It really only took one true accident in undies for her to realize that she did not want to be wet.  We will tackle night time training in a bit, although she has started waking up dry, so maybe sooner than I first thought!  Yay, to our "big, big, big, big girl"  (as she likes to call herself).

The next challenge, find underwear small enough!  We've gotten close, but even the x-small tend to sag.

Summer fun

We have thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks and the summer weather it brought.  Too bad it is ending before it really even began.

 Bubbles with Mia (our neighbor, currently Maya's favorite person in the whole world)

 Water play with Grandpa Sarion

 One of the many parks we visited

Checking out the grass

Picnic dinners

Digging at the beach

Enjoying the outdoors

Spelling

Maya was playing with her magnetic alphabet and called me in to show me what she had done.  According to her she wrote the following;

The top one = Maya

The second one = Mommy

The third one = Daddy

The bottom one = Baby Laurel

Although they are nowhere close to the correct spelling, it must mean something that she knows letters come together to form words, right?!

5 months!!

Happy 5 months Baby Girl!  Time is flying and it is hard to believe how much Laurel changes month to month.  I know we have been through this all with Maya, but you just forget.  And with Maya it didn't seem to go quite this fast.  Laurel has fully established her place in our family and her personality is starting to show.  She is constantly smiling and is just such a happy baby.  She loves to watch her big sister and I can already tell she is wanting to do what Maya is doing.

Changes this month -
- She has become a rolling machine, I will often find that she has rolled her way across the room until she gets stuck (in a corner, under the couch).  Gone are the days of simply placing her on the floor while I tend to Maya or try to get stuff done around the house.

- She is working on sitting on her own and is become pretty good at it.  I don't think it will be long before she masters this.

- Sleep has been a disaster, but we are hoping it is still related to all the rolling and learning and will be quick to pass. She is no longer swaddled and has become a tummy sleeper.

I have been warned by many, that trouble can arise once the baby is mobile and can get into the bigger siblings toys.  So far, Maya has loved to see each of Laurel's developments.  She loves it when Laurel smiles and laughs, she finds it hilarious that Laurel rolls across the room and is having a lot of fun playing with Laurel now that she can reach for toys.  Maya has often called me into the room to show me what new thing Laurel has done "all self".  I'm mentally preparing myself for some tough moments ahead, but so far so good.  It is such a blessing to watch the relationship between the two of them start to grow.