June happenings

We had a busy week.  I was in Indiana for work on Monday and Tuesday.  CK picked me up from the airport Tuesday night and we drove to Malta so he could repaint the welcome sign in town (he painted it the first time 20 years ago or so and they asked him to refresh it).  It turned out great:

 We got back Thursday night in time to close on some new land we bought in Helena (~14 acres).  We are planning for Craig and Jan to use part of it to build themselves a new home closer to the grandkids :)  The rest might be the start of a college fund for the kids.

The kids enjoyed the (short) trip to Grandma's house and the beautiful weather we had in Malta.  We also went early enough to avoid mosquito season (although, of course, with my sweet blood, I got bitten a few times).

Reese had her last soccer game last weekend and here she is with her medal and post-game snack (this was the only time she smiled the whole game; most of the time we spent coaxing her to even get on the field).  Overall I think she had a good experience and will hopefully get more and more comfortable with team sports in the future.

Emily has been bouncing like a champ in the jumperoo.  I think she likes it most of the 3 kids.  Lately, she's been jumping so much she jumps herself right to sleep...

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Memorial Day weekend was mostly rainy but we had a good time relaxing at home and CK was able to get some work done on the house during the pockets of sunshine.

 CK has begun work on the front of the house.  He's putting up the beams for the porches that will hold the extended roof and railings.  It's certainly changing the look of the house (yay!).  We're still picking out the stone and metal that will complete the front look so hopefully sometime this summer we'll have a "finished" looking house on the outside to match our beautiful inside!

Easter and Carolyn's visit

A bit out of order but I finally downloaded my camera pictures- hey, at least I took some!  A few from our trip to Malta in late March for Easter:

 And some more recent ones when Nana (Carolyn) came to visit last weekend, stopping by on her cross-country journey to see the kids and buy a new car!

April updates

 Life has been too busy too blog :) Some much overdo updates below:
Remember hiding under the covers with a good book and flashlight after we were supposed to be asleep in bed?  Apparently this generation gets in bed with their LeapPads instead.

 Reese had her first soccer game yesterday.  They've had a total of 2 practices so far, and Reese spent most of the first one pouting because she couldn't be first in line for the drills.  So we were happy that even got out on the field.  She still resisted playing most of the time but her coach did a great job of getting her out there and even let her take a throw in (which she did surprisingly well).

 This is how she spent most of the time...holding her coach's hand running around the field.  However, another little girl spent the game in tears in her mother's arms (brought back memories of our first swim lessons a few months ago) so I guess we're making some progress?

 Sisters sharing a cuddle on the couch

Emily smiling for the camera at 5 months

The county finally put up our street sign (you know, about 3 years later) so it's official:

 and CK finally got a relatively nice day to pour the front porch.  Finishing it man-lift style below...

Kid pics

Some recent pictures of our smiling butterball

 Reese and Asher enjoying their homemade "Shamrock Shakes" on St. Patrick's Day

March updates

Reese loves to color and draw and she's gotten pretty good.  Here's her latest family portrait.  

 The kids and I got geared up for the Duke-UNC game.  My lucky shirt is simply fading; don't think I have crossed over to the dark side...

 And finally, CK has a (not so secret) admirer at daycare.  It's one of the owner's daughters and today she made him this declaring her love for him.   Guess I'd better start making him some chocolate chip cookies so I can compete.

Emily @ 4 Months

Our little girl is already 4 months old- how time flies!

CK took her in for her 4 month check up and immunizations.  Here are her current stats:
Height: 24.5" (60th)
Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz (90th)
Head: 40.4cm

She's cooing and smiling all the time now and she has started to blow bubbles back at us (we've been doing it to her and now she does it back which is pretty adorable).  She's a pretty happy little girl and is generally only up once a night which is way better than her siblings were doing at this age.  Third time's the charm, apparently.

Rough mom moment

So last week was the first week in awhile where I was gone ALL week.  Literally I left the house at 445am Monday morning and didn't get home until 830pm Friday night.  It was a long week for me, and apparently for the kids.  As I was driving home from the airport Friday night I called CK and he asked how far out I was as Emily was hungry.  Given that I'd just gotten off a 3 hour flight, I was similarly ready to feed her :) So I got home about 15 minutes later and tried to feed Emily.  Well, little Emily wanted no part of Mommy.  She screamed her little head off and wouldn't eat.  I tried calming her down and then retried feeding her to no avail.  I'm pretty sure she was shooting daggers at me behind those tears, too.   Anyway, I finally gave in, handed her to CK, who warmed her up a bottle of frozen breastmilk which she eagerly (and immediately) scarfed down.  I, then, sat in the corner and pumped all by my lonesome :(  A very sad mommy moment to be rejected by your infant daughter who was clearly not happy that I'd been gone all week.  If this had been my first, I probably would have ended up in tears on the bathroom floor ready to quit my job.  Since it's my third, however, although I still felt the sting of rejection, this also isn't my first rodeo.  CK and I were even able to joke about it later.  And, of course, come 2am that night when she was ready to eat again she eagerly accepted Mommy's direct feeding.  Lucky for CK, right?  Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Jumperoo and Lindsey's birthday party

Reese and Asher like coming into our room in the mornings and playing with Emily while she's still in bed.  She's happiest first thing in the morning and loves all the attention from her siblings.

 Since Emily's neck muscles seem to be so strong and she wants to be upright looking around all the time we decided to break out the Jumperoo a bit early.  We tried it out yesterday for the first time and she seems to like it (in short bursts at least).
"Mom, this is not my most flattering angle"

 Making funny faces at Reese (who is also responsible for draping my blanket over the back

 Smiling because I can "stand" up by myself- finally!

 We celebrated Lindsey's 11th birthday yesterday with her friends and family. The girls played a photo scavenger hunt game and I was one of the photographers.  I'm proud to say our team won and Kaitlyn was a champ for volunteering for the "cover one of your teammate's faces with stickers":

We got extra points for getting adults in the pictures...Clint was a good sport.  Here he is in the "surfing" picture.

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Sisters

Emily loves being entertained by her big sister:

Video 12 from CK LaFond on Vimeo.

A little chef on our hands?

For the past 6 months or so Asher has often been found playing in what was originally Reese's play kitchen in the playroom.  He likes to take bowls and measuring cups from the real kitchen, bring them into his kitchen and then return with a plateful of lego "brownies" or "cookies" for us to eat.  Well, yesterday while CK and I were having a conversation in the other room, here's what he managed to do:

 The funniest part was that Reese herself found the situation a few hours later and came running up to me, "Mommy, Asher's cooking in the playroom.  Mommy, he has real food!"  Luckily the damage was minimal; perhaps he has a career as a chef if the housekeeping/vacuuming thing doesn't work out.

And an adorable picture of Emily:

3 months

I'm 3 months old today.  Can you believe it?

Back to work

It's 5:30am and I am feeding Emily for the first time since 10:30pm last night.  Woo hoo!  She has given us 5 hour stretches here and there but this was the first true all night sleep.  Unfortunately, Asher was up at 1:15am last night so neither of us truly got to enjoy our full night of sleep but such is life with three kids.

I went back to work last Wednesday after 11 wonderful weeks at home with my adorable little girl.  I flew to Houston for a meeting and am heading back there tomorrow for another trip.  I'm not officially assigned to a specific project yet so my travel is somewhat sporadic (good) but also unpredictable (not so good).

After two days at home with Dad (and Grandma who is here for the week) Emily went to daycare for the first time on Friday (since it was the beginning of the month). The kids loved showing her off to their friends and I'm pretty sure the daycare women loved cuddling with her so much that she was pretty much held by someone all day.  Rough life Emily. :)

Traveling for the first time wasn't too bad.  It was a short trip and I was pretty busy the whole time.  I'm adjusting to the schedule and challenge of finding time (and a private room or, as is often my case, an airport bathroom stall) every 2-3 hours to pump.  It's a lot of work but worth it.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

Emily sporting her ASU pride

 This scene is familiar not matter what the setting

 Tanner and Asher riding in style

 Doesn't everyone decorate with tie-down straps?

 Being goofy

 A rare moment without a goofy smile

 And..the pout

Emily is starting to smile and coo a lot more which is fun for parents and grandparents alike.  Even Reese and Asher are able to generate some smiles when they talk to her as long as they're not simultaneously tugging her arm or shoving their nose in her face.  We've tried to teach them the concept of Emily's "personal space" but apparently that's hard to grasp at 3-4 years old.

Emily video

Waiting for Dr. P at my two month appointment and working on my motor skills...

IMG 0147 from CK LaFond on Vimeo.

Emily @ 2 Months

Emily had her two month checkup and first immunizations today.  The pediatrician walked in, looked at her stats, and said "So I guess she's eating well, huh?"  Her 2 month stats:

Height: 23" (75th)
Weight: 12 lb. 8 oz. (85th)
Head circumference: 38.5cm

 She didn't quite keep up with Reese who, at 2 months, was off the charts at 14 lbs. but she's growing fast and has the chub to prove it.
Emily's been smiling and cooing a lot more.  Here's proof:

We also took Reese and Asher to gymnastics for the first time today.  Reese loved it and did great (although she's a bit more "assertive" than the other kids in the class).  Asher didn't really have any interest so we'll probably wait until the fall to try again.