Daddy’s knee looks like a good place to rest…and now, hopefully, this weekend will be a weekend of rest from a very busy, trying week…
Tired…
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Tag Archives: Bryant
Time to Get Out!
I couldn’t stand it anymore. Our streak of beautiful comfortable weather has just continued and continued. So, one day last week, we escaped for lunch and a trip to the locks. Where we live there is a man made canal. There’s a beautiful area that is where the locks are and the gatehouse for the canal. It really is truly beautiful. There’s a bike/walking trail that runs from the gatehouse to the end of the canal too. k We’ve never biked it all the way, but we have gone down some of it. It’s truly gorgeous. The kids enjoyed being able to breathe fresh air and play on the playground and I loved the scenery.
Just chillin’ in the swings.
Photo Shoot
Woohoo! It’s picture taking time outside!
Just call me Stud muffin.
<in best John Wayne voice> Well, hello little lady…need a little drink?
Oh, you’d like a close up? Happy to oblige.
Okay, seriously now, enough pictures.
Well, alright, just one more.
Nutty photographers!
You’d never know that he was sick sick this day. He started running a fever and ran one for three days. I took him in and he had an ear infection. The day after his fever ended he broke out in a mysterious rash, and even though I’ve had several children with roseola, I freaked out and took him back to the doctor, only to be told…it’s roseola! In all fairness, Ceili Rain needed to be seen for an ongoing sinus infection.
Bryant’s Six Months Old…almost seven
Yeah, I know I’m late. Sorry about that. We’ve just finished an extremely busy wekeend and are looking forward to a little quietness around her (when the kids are sleeping).
Bryant continues to grow. He’s got several nicknames.
The Weird One: Getting teeth at two months will earn that right off the bat. But he wasn’t satisfied with a little weirdness…nope, commando crawling at five months. He’s also sitting up now. Last week, I realized he was getting close to sitting up from laying down, so I asked Mark to lower the crib so he didn’t pull up on the crib and fall over. The day after Mark did that he figured out how to sit up from laying down. Oh, and pulling up, he’s learned to pull up on things and showed off this morning by pulling up to a stand on the toilet while I brushed his sister’s teeth (yes, the lid was down…girls’ bathroom). I know he’s not the only child to do all these things so quickly but he’s the only one of our children to do it and it’s just plain weird.
Add to that, that he didn’t cut anymore teeth. Until last week. When he cut FOUR at one time. We could tell that his top teeth were getting close for several weeks. One day, his gums started bleeding and we noticed one of the front teeth was finally in. Fast forward, to Friday night and he would not go to sleep and was extremely fussy. Thirty minutes after tylenol and he was out like a light for a few hours. He still woke up early. After all the activity quieted down in the morning, I sat down by him and checked out his mouth. Sure enough another tooth had broken through. Then I checked to see if he was close to getting anymore, but then noticed two more on the bottom had come in. Weird kid.
He’s pushing up on all fours but can’t figure out how to go that way and is content to go really fast commando style!
Velcro Baby: He will grab on and stay attached and will not let go. He also enjoys doing this to any food we may be trying to consume if he is in our laps. And toys and hair. It’s all easily attachable to the velcro baby.
The Snuggler: He can cuddle up next to you and just not move and make you melt. This is especially true at naptimes and right when he first wakes up. Ahhh, cuddles from the Snuggler are super good!
Not sure how much longer Ceili Rain is going to be in diapers so one day when they each happened to be wearing their respective gender color, I grabbed some shots. Aren’t they adorable???
(Oh, the necklace is a teething necklace made of amber. It’s supposed to help ease the teething pain.)
And he did go to the doctor in January after he turned 6 months. Here’s his stats:
15 lbs 13 oz (45%)
28 3/4 inches tall (97%)
17 1/2 inches in the head (80%)
As typical for my babies, they slim up about this time. At least he’s not weird in that respect. He’s eating about three times a day and nursing about three times. Once those teeth get fully in we’ll work on just blending foods with the hand blender and feeding him. He definitely loves to eat…especially mango and avocado! And most of this information on here is to remind me when I update his baby book so you can ignore it if you choose.
Back at the Ranch…
Well, with several little ones that couldn’t take being out in the cold and snow for long periods of time, I and the grandparents and Aunt B did a lot of indoor maintenance. So, we got lots of fun pictures of the kids…Oh, before I start…want to know how much luggage and stuff one has to take to be snowed in in the mountains with our six kids??? No, well, tough, I’m going to show you.
Visiting cousins…
Bryant was about to launch an attack because K had his toy!
This is O with her little brother K and Ace holding Bryant.
Getting ready to just take our five out (Bryant never went out but once briefly for pictures), took a good 45 minutes. No. I do not want to live up north!
Zoe and I learned to crochet thanks to Grandmere!
With a winter storm looming and temps getting way low, we had a morning inside with everyone. We split up into groups. I grabbed some extra sugar and flour I had brought and mixed it with peanut butter to make playdough. It was great fun, except that I forgot the twins were allergic to peanut butter and we were all stressing trying to make sure they didn’t grab any (Way to go Aunt Abbie)!
Another group played Monopoly with Papa!
Climbing on cousins is a treat!
Sometimes brothers are just way too comfy.
It’s easier to play a game if you stick your tongue out.
Quick Daddy has the camera…make a silly face.
Tic Tac Toe with Grandmere.
Best Cousin buds!
Just a few shots of the getting ready chaos. There was always someone missing a glove, hat or boot at some point during this time.
Another day, we had the little ones inside and to keep them busy, I filled up a sink full of bubbles and they wen to town. They did really good keeping it in the sink too!
Papa was watching the kids while we were getting supper ready!
“What is that thing in your mouth, dear cousin???”
Winterfest with a Bunch of Characters
We’ve been out all last week (hence the sporadic posting). Well, we haven’t just been out. We’ve been in the mountains. Covered in snow.
We were able to take a family trip with Papa, Grandmere, Uncle B and Aunt B and their seven children. Yep, our motto of “Go, go, go” may have hit it’s all time high.
We traveled to Beech Mountain, NC. From all respects, we had perfect “skiing” weather. It was clear the day we came up, snowed the next day, clear the next, snowed a lot the next day, and then clear and cold after that. By the time we had to leave, the roads were all clear. We praised God throughout the week for the weather He sent. We fully expected to just see snow on the slopes and at the ski resort, however, we had it everywhere.
So, while we continue to unpack, and recover from a stomach bug (we traveled didn’t we???), I’ll share a few things I need to remember:
***
Liam got a kick out of telling his aunt and uncle jokes. They encouraged it too. At one point, Liam announced, “It’s flowing out of my brain and down to my tummy.”
***
Our nephew H (once described as Liam on speed but has since slightly, ever so slightly toned down to “just like Liam”), has now been renamed as “Me too.” Everytime we (especially Mark or I) would announce we were going to do something, he would pipe up, “Me too, Me too.”
***
H is also quite the daredevil/stunt artist. Mark was able to observe him on skis as he went down the learners’ slope and straight into the mesh gate. He and Uncle B were exclaiming, “H stop, H stop!” And as he quickly neared the gate, “H fall! H FALL!” They continued to watch as he ran into the gate, bounced off, laughed, and turned and skied off.
I got to observe this daredevil spirit when we went ice skating. He got tired of waiting on his mom to take him around the rink so he just took off without anyone. Skated two steps, fell hard, laughed, and got back up and did it again….wash, rinse, repeat.
***
Mark and I both got a kick out of the sweetness of the cousins. They all played together so well (which was a blessing in place crammed with nineteen people). We got to watch Josiah cuddling with a cousin to look at a book.
Mark told me about Zoe and Cousin O on the slopes. They would race Mark to the lift, get in on a lift in front of him and he would watch them giggle and talk and play the whole way up. It really warmed our hearts!
***
We learned that all ski personnel are dudes. When we referred to any of them we would say, “There was this dude.” As we discussed this, I remarked my snowboard instructor (yes, I said snowboard…yes, I tried snowboarding), was old.
Aunt B replied, “He’s an old dude.”
By the end of the week, we even had Papa calling them dudes.
Is that all the funnies???
I think that’s enough. Stay tuned for pictures, between the three families, we have about four hundred of them…don’t worry, I won’t totally bore you with unbelievably cute pictures of my kids, nieces, nephews, and family…or maybe I will (insert evil laugh here).
Merry Christmas!
Yeah, I know, I’m almost two weeks behind. But, at least, I’m posting.
Starting with Ceili Rain, we have been passing around a cold bug. It includes a fever for twenty four hours and ends with a cold…stopped up nose, sneezing, and coughing as well. Christmas day we were all still dealing with the congestion, but no fever. Mid morning, Josiah came up to meet and told me he was tired. Checking his temp, I realized he was feverish. So, he spent the afternoon on the couch. Thankfully, it was a pj day!
The day before, we made a gingerbread house. Okay, we decorated one. I bought the kit at Wal-Mart and it included a pre-made house with the icing and sugary treats. Can you spot the chewed up gumdrop???
We set out their St. Nick gifts this year. They included Trios Castle and paraphenalia for the boys and a doll house for the girls.
That bruise on Ceili Rain’s cheek was a gift to her from Josiah as he tried to give her a hug which turned into a tackle which the doorframe stopped.
Ceili Rain got hairclips from her sister. This year, the kids drew names and chose gifts from our Sib Shop (things I’ve gathered at extreme discounts throughout the year and stored away for them to shop through).
Sometimes paper tastes better than gifts.
Josiah tickled us this year. He drew Zoe’s name, but as I helped him wrap his gift, he kept looking at all the things and saying how one would be good for Ace or that one would be good for Liam, etc. He never once grabbed one and said he wanted it. When Zoe opened her gift he was right beside her and when she smiled and told him thank you, he got so excited and gave her a hug!
Merry Christmas from our wrapping paper home!
Bryant’s First Foods
Bryant ate his first bites of “real” food December 21st (I’m writing dates down here so I don’t forget to put them in his book later). I was a rebel this time. We didn’t start with cereal (gasp)! I know!
I started him on avocado. I made sure it was nice and pureed. I chose avocado because it’s a super food. It’s rich in nutrients and high in fat. Perfect for my babies whose wait tends to drop off after 4 months.
He seemed to take to it. It helps that he’s teething and loves to put things in house.
My green baby!
When I said we liked to travel, I didn’t realize we’d be traveling two weekends in a row. The second weekend in December was a trip to Alabama to a wedding. Now, about halfway there we realized that we had forgotten the extra batteries in our camera and the current batteries in it were dead. So, we got zero pictures while there. We also celebrated Zoe’s birthday with Papa and Grandmere. Let’s just say, the wedding was beautiful and my kids were too!
The next weekend was a trip to Granddaddy and Ge’s to celebrate Christmas and Zoe and Liam’s birthdays. We had a blast. I think my favorite parts were my nephew Ethan being stoked with his gift (two airsoft guns with lasers for his dad and him to use) and staying up after the younger kids went to bed to play games with the older ones.
My nephew, E-bear, with Bryant. He loved toting him around (so did his sister J-bug).
One of Ge’s friends, Mrs. L, gave all the kids flutes, and then promptly left…we tried to send the kids out the door with her but she just wouldn’t take them 🙂
Bryant started reaching for anyone and everyone while we were there. He loved his Granddaddy and his Aunt Yaya the most.
While we were there, Mark got a call (that lasted at least an hour if not more). We had just handed out presents and were waiting on him. Ceili Rain took the time to stack and restack all the packages.
Mark couldn’t get off the phone and the kids couldn’t wait so we let them all take turns opening gifts…
Zoe and J-bug planned it out to open gifts that looked the same at the same time. This meant their gifts were the same if not similar. They thought it was funny.
Aunt Yaya is too funny!
Bryant was just a little sleepy. Turn your head, or not. I look better sideways!
On the Hunt…for a Tree
New Year’s Eve seems to be the appropriate time to post pictures from our annual Tree Hunt. It was extremely cold this time! We didn’t go right after Thanksgiving because we knew our friends were coming in town and a large tree in the living room would be hard to navigate around when we’re also stepping over 10 children. So, we waited until the first weekend in December to head out. We quickly found our tree at a decent price and while Mark worked on getting it, I took the kids over for their annual hot chocolate and popcorn.
Then we loaded on the trailer for our annual hayride (the kids voted to do it even though we were all soooo cold), and headed home.
