My Baby is Growing Up

 I think I realize a bit more with each child how precious the first year is and how quickly it goes by, that amazing year of infancy. We reach another milestone and it feels like, Really?! Already?! But so it goes. It's a blessing and a curse. You feel so blessed and fortunate to have a thriving, developing child, but you realize that the days of nuzzling your tiny baby are becoming increasingly numbered.

Here she is, my sitter. She's not there 100% yet. She seems to have the strength but not the control. She likes to flop backward, in general, not in anger or protest like my other children did, but maybe she knows it leads to kiss on her neck or tummy. I'm still "spotting" her in her sitting efforts. She currently hasn't mastered the transition from sitting to her tummy yet. Only one face plant in the rug to date, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

My Happy Girl

She also seems to have a different "sound" or baby language than the other kids. She definitely doesn't have the pterodactyl squeal that Reed had. (http://erinandbob.blogspot.com/2008/08/exploring-his-voice.html) She seems to coo and make more "h"-y sounds. Several times I've even thought it sounded like she's said hi.  (Don't worry, I'm certainly not claiming this as her first word.) Here she was this morning trying to steal the camera from me:

Kate's interest in food is becoming increasing apparent. Last week, I broke out the high chair so she could sit at the table with us, which she loves. With each child, I seem to wait longer to introduce solids. I think there are probably a couple of reasons for that. The recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics seem to be moving from the 4-month introduction to the 6-month. I also feel less rush with each subsequent child to get to the next milestone. I also feel that I am gauging more subjectively (if that's possible for a parent) the readiness of the child. Finally, let's be real, it is more work to feed another child. Why make more work before I need to? Please know my child is well-feed, she continues to follow her growth curve, and I am not depriving her because of my laziness. The six month milestone is only two weeks ahead. I also want Bob to be there for her first feeding and he has been working like crazy lately. Just know, there will be photos soon of a happy (hopefully) baby with a spoon full of non-milky goodness in her mouth!

Where has the time gone?!

Two little ducks

On a rainy day last week, the kids BEGGED to put on their rain gear and splash in the puddles. Sometimes I just can't resist their pleading faces...and the fact that they were already 3/4 of the way dressed themselves. They reminded me of little ducks waddling in a row.

Stomp, stomp, stomp

The only problem was that there were no standing puddles of water. Thankfully (except in this instance) all our sidewalks and driveways are in great shape, so there is no pooling water anywhere. So where did the kids convince me to let them play? You guessed it, the street. Yep, I get the (worst) Mom of the Year Award on that one. I'll even post of a clip of them playing so that DCFS has proof of all of my wrong-doing.

Pumpkin Farm

What is autumn without a trip to the pumpkin farm?! We managed to pick a day with absolutely beautiful weather and this place was really awesome. We had never been to Kuipers Family Farm in Maple Park before but it is a neat place. They have an apple orchard, pumpkin patch, and christmas trees depending on the time of year.

The pumpkin patch area had many more activities than I imagined and the kids seemed to love them all. 

Spiderweb climbing area

Farm animals--They loved the cute little piggy.

Climbing hay bales up to a giant slide

Sliding with friends

This is fun!

Whoa!

Conductor Zeke taking Cora for a ride

A Cornbox--like a sandbox but better.

Reed managed to smuggle corn home in his cargo pockets, even after I made him dump them once. 

Making a corn castle?

The enormous jumping pillow was a big hit.

She could have done this all day

Up the Tractor Tire Mountain...

...and then down the big slide.

We had to kick Cora off the tractor so the real driver could pull us on our ride through the corn field.

It was a fun, fun day and I think we found our new spot for fall activities. The day after our trip there Reed got a field trip slip sent home that his class is going there. He can't wait to show all his friends around in two weeks.

Speaking of friends, I had to swipe this photo from a friend's blog of her son and Reed holding hands. They have become such great buddies lately, doing very boyish things like fighting bad guys, wrestling, and such, but it melts my heart that these tough "big" boys are still comfortable enough to hold hands after a fun day of playing. So sweet!

Josiah and Reed

Toes

My kids have never been much on pacifiers or sucking their thumbs. Kate's hands seem to make it into her mouth more than the other kids' hands ever did. Most of the time she is a drooling mess. I don't know if she has more teething issues than the others (no teeth yet) or whether it's nothing more than just being a different child. Lately what brings Kate the most joy, besides being entertained with silly faces, is sucking on her toes. She seems to find bliss in it.

Give me my tootsies!

The older ones are never to be outdone so they give it a try. Somehow it's just not quite as cute.

Not even Sophie the giraffe is safe!

My Beautiful Girl

Sometimes I just can't get over how precious she is...

The Windy City

As we were in Chicago on Sunday, I realized that I never posted the photos from our end of summer trip to Chicago to pick Daddy up from work. One of the perks of being a teacher now is that Bob has his summers off.  Correction, he has his summer off to work another full-time job. Lucky man! Seriously though, he does have a pretty cool summer (and part-time during the school year) gig downtown Chicago at an international architecture firm, specializing in high tech facilities...creating world class projects.

The kids kept hearing talk about this "Chicago" place where Bob took the train daily, so on his last day of work in early August, the kids and I drove down, picked him up, did a little sightseeing, and grabbed dinner. The kids had a ball!

The Bean! 

They agreed that it was really cool.

 The next cool thing, the Crown Fountain

 Timid at first, but not for long...a stranger called her a little Lucille Ball

He didn't want to leave and he was soaking wet, something we hadn't plan for.

I hadn't watch this clip until just now. I think it's pretty cute but I am a little disgusted that it looks like they are going to drink the water at the end. I don't remember this, but they did call it the "Drinking Fountain" and continue to call it that to this day.

Bob went in to work on this past Sunday to help with a big deadline. We picked him up in the afternoon and had another trip downtown to Millennium Park. The kids were so excited to see the Bean and the "Drinking Fountain" again. They were just sad they couldn't play in the water. It was much too cold this time. 

We saw lots of runners that had finished the Chicago Marathon. Reed didn't seem the point of running if they knew they weren't going to win. We tried to explain that one to him but decided to just let it go. Neither Bob or I ever see ourselves running 26 miles for "fun" or any of the plethora of other reasons runners do it.

We had one more stop due to Reed's revised career aspirations. Recently he decided that he no longer wants to be a race car driver. He wants to be a paleontologist. I was quite impressed that he knew that job title and am very willing to encourage digging up dinosaur bones over driving cars really fast. So we walked down to the Lakefront and peered down to the Museum Campus paying special note to the Field Museum. He knew that's where his meat-eating friend, Sue, lives and that is our next Chicago destination, one which needed to wait for another day. 

Kate is 5 Months!

I can hardly believe that Kate has been in our lives for 5 months now. It simultaneously feels like she was just born and also has been a part of our family forever. Being a family of five is now second nature, a splendid mix of wonderful and maddening. It doesn't get much better than this.

 Happy Baby!

 Doting Brother

Loving Sister

 These kids make me so tired!