Carys is 5 months old!

Carys was 5 months on Friday the 7th. She is a sweet little girl, who knows exactly how to charm her sisters and parents. She reaches for everything in front of her and gives big smiles when spoken to. She's still not rolling over, but maybe she'll be my baby who's not in a hurry to roll, crawl or walk. Check back with me in 5 months exactly and you'll know the answer to the walking part.

Avery's Birthday Party

We had Avery's 3rd birthday party at playgroup on Monday. It was a very relaxed party...cupcakes and a few gifts. Avery requested a Little Einsteins party, but in typical "slacker mom" fashion, I did not plan ahead. On Sunday, I sent Jeff to Target to get plates, etc..Apparently they are only sold online. Then, I ordered L.E. cupcakes from Safeway, but arrived to find that the don't carry L.E. We settled for princess...fortunately, Avery didn't care. She also loves Ariel.

Avery's hair is long enough for pigtails.

"Please give us cupcakes!"

Daddy & Mommy with Avery.


Carys and Avery.

Halloween

Tonight was a fun night with friends. We went over to our friends, the Blankenships, for dinner, trick or treating and dessert. It was such a great time for the kids, as well as the adults.

Avery was a Texas Tech cheerleader (that should make Granddad happy!)

Cambria was a princess (of course)

And, Carys was a chicken (a hand-me-down from a friend)

We tried to take a picture of the older girls together, but Avery would have no part in it.

Me with my little pumpkin.

Jesse with Axel (the cow), Jeff & Carys the chicken.

Carys fell asleep on the walk back from trick or treating.

Cambria taught Avery how to sort out the candy when we got home.

More sorting.

Another cold

I've posted about the other girls, but didn't say anything about Avery. Poor Avery is battling yet another cold. She is the queen of colds and this time she also has a fever. I'm exhausted from the sleepless nights and police-ing her to make sure she isn't touching, or coughing on, Carys. Fortunately, I did find some Hylands homeopathic cold and cough today and it really seemed to help her. I sure hope we have a better night of sleep. Do you see a common theme in our house? :-)

Keep checking the blog since I'll post some Halloween pics by Saturday morning and we'll have birthday pics for Avery next week. We're having cupcakes at our usual Monday playdate, plus a few extra kids.

A sweet picture

This afternoon I went into Carys' room to find a picture taped to her crib. You can see in the lower picture that it's a drawing of Cambria holding Carys. Just a few weeks ago Cambria was still drawing herself as a stick figure. Now, they are learning to draw faces, feet, etc. in kindergarten and she is drawing more complicated people. It's so much fun to see her pictures mature.

Fall

We've had beautiful autumn. The past week was full of sun and blue skies. The nights have been cold, so the leaves have turned beautiful shades of red, yellow and orange. Of course, I waited to take a picture, today, when the sky was cloudy and the leaves were starting to disappear. Oh well, such is the life with three young children.
A view going up our street.

The tree in front of our house.

Teething

Carys is beginning to enjoy the exersaucer more. She loves to keep an eye on us as we walk around the living room/kitchen. As you can also see she is teething. I've been watching her two bottom teeth for several weeks. I can feel them, but they haven't broken through, as of yet. Carys is taking after Cambria, who was also a big drooler. She soaks through several outfits a day. For some reason Avery didn't drool much...however, she tortured us with her ear infections. :-)

Our little pumpkin

Carys has some cute hand-me-downs this fall. This pumpkin outfit is one of them. I'm glad it's a fall outfit so she can wear it through Thanksgiving.

Where is my sweet little girl?

A month ago Carys was an angel baby. She still slept in the car and was also sleeping 9-10 hours at night. The last two weeks she has been a totally different baby. She hardly naps in the day, takes forever going to bed in the evening and is waking up many times a night. I'm also exhausted by her constant desire to nurse. So, thinking I was smart, I decided to work very hard yesterday at getting her some naps at home. I was successful...she took three naps (none over 40 minutes). I was thrilled! I thought I had figured out her issue...she was overly tired. NOT! Instead of going to bed well last night and sleeping for 10 hours, she fought the bedtime and woke up about 5 times. I give up! Why do I even try to figure these things out? Haven't I learned that by now? Maybe these issues are related to her tooth coming in at 4 months. Could be, but I give up trying to analyze it.

4 months old

Carys turned 4 months old last week, but I was hardly on the computer to upload pics. She is cutting her first tooth (yes, already) and it has made our days and nights more interesting. That is one of the reasons I've had no time to blog. I'm in bed by 9:30, completely exhausted. What happened to my baby who sleeps 10 hours at night?

In spite of all the teething issues, every morning I walk into Carys' crib and she gives me the sweetest smile. At that moment I forget how little sleep I received the night before and, once again, fall in love with her. She has the best smiles for all of us.

Also, Carys has accomplished 2 cross-country trips before 4 months of age. In August, she flew to New Hampshire and in October she flew to Virginia. She's a seasoned traveler. (By contrast, I took my first airplane flight at the age of 18).

Carys has been introduced to the exersaucer, but doesn't like to stay in for long. Let's hope that changes.

Playing with her passy.

Making muffins

Last Saturday, the girls and I made muffins. Cambria chose to make chocolate chip muffins and Avery did blueberry.

Trip to VA

The younger girls and I flew from Seattle to VA for a 6 days trip with friends and my (Laurie) family. This was the first time my siblings met Carys, and many had not seen Avery in 8 months. I still can't believe that I flew alone across country with an almost 3 year old and a 4 month old, however, the girls were amazingly good. It truly was God answering my millions of prayers beforehand.

Aunt Katie with a scowling Avery. She was not happy about saying goodbye to Aunt Katie.

Hanging with Uncle Greg on the deck.

Carys is a card shark.

A happy card player with Aunt Becca.

Avery playing piano with Uncle Greg.

Uncle Andrew gives Carys a bottle.

Playing with Carys on the playgym.

Aunt Katie and Uncle Greg meet Carys.

Avery loves her little sister.

A wild girl in Grandma's arms.

Kristina drove down to see us in VA. Here we are posing with Avery, Carys and Anna.