Bean at 6 months old

Our Bean at 6 months

I don't know how it's possible that I haven't blogged in almost 6 months except, well I have four kids and one is a baby. We keep busy and I try to document as much as I can on my phone.  Thank goodness for social media and that I can look back on pictures on my phone and share the experiences of the past 6 months.

I have to say that Bean has been a great baby and life is going really well. It doesn't stop, it doesn't slow down, and if anything it seems to go by faster with the more children we have.  I attribute it to the big kids and all of their activities. The more they do, the less I'm home. But I will say that while I'm not blogging everything, I am experiencing it and really trying to be in the moment.

My brother and I with our little ladies.

Six months was a busy time for the Bean. She took her first plane ride and she and I went to visit her brand new cousin A., my brother's baby.  It was the first time since college that I have traveled by myself.  My husband and I have been together over 13 years and we usually travel together except when he travels for work.  I was really nervous about the plane flight and all the stuff I had to bring (stroller, carseat carrier, diaper bag, my carryon).  I had so much help on the way to Omaha.  There was a man traveling by himself and offered to help me load up the stroller onto the belt at security. He told me he has 3 kids and he was traveling alone this time on business and he knew all the ins and out of traveling with little ones. He flipped down the stroller like a pro and flipped it back up in the right position after it went through security. He made sure I had everything before he went on his way to his own gate. I noticed he was wearing a St. Michael's medal and I felt that God was giving me a helping hand on my journey. Bean and I had great seat mates and when it was time to leave the plane the gentlemen behind me not only helped me pull my stuff out of the overhead bin, but walked me off the plane and helped me load up the stroller.  My brother met me outside and I was able to spend three days cuddling my niece, giving my brother a chance to sleep while I took care of night time feedings, buying some furniture to help them with all the extra clothes, and decorating A's wall with fun wall clings.  I enjoyed spending time with my sweet niece and loving on her while I could.

Bean and her cousin A. meeting for the first time

My brother and I aren't very close and in a way I pushed my way into a trip to visit him. He wasn't ready for me to visit, but I desperately wanted to be of some help to him. I wish he would accept it more often, but he and I are very different people I think me being the older sibling makes him feel like he is being judged all the time. I wish he would see that my help was what it was...help. I remember the days of having a first baby and learning the ropes.  He is my only sibling and I just wish we were closer.  I spent the 6 months I knew of A's impending arrival extending the olive branch with regular and frequent phone calls to check up and to offer emotional support. My visit was the same.  I'd like to say the regular phone calls and visit made us closer, but for whatever reason it didn't.  We are back to status quo. Sigh. I continue to extend the olive branch, but I don't think it is being accepted. So I pray and I keep trying.

Six months was also marked by Bean's first Easter and celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  As always we make it to my in-laws house for the annual Easter egg hunt. Next year I see her giving it a go. This year she was happy to observe.

If you look closely you can see her newly adorned ears.

We also had her ears pierced!  This is a cultural custom. In the Philippines baby girls always have their ears pierced. I think mine were done at 3 weeks old. Here in the States they like for you to wait until you are 6 months old.  I love my husband. He knew her 6 month birthday was coming up and said, "So when are we getting Beanie's ears pierced?"  He was also the one to sit with her and hold her. My heart did stop for a second when the gun became stuck and they had to pull a little harder to remove it from the earring and the ear attached!  Bean was a trooper and after a few tears and a nursing session, she recovered quickly and her ears are adorned with pretty gold balls.

At 6 months she continues to sleep in her co-sleeper and she sleeps well. She is sitting up in her Bumbo and had her first try of baby cereal. She is not a fan of any kind of baby food and would much prefer to eat what we eat.  But the child needs some teeth first. In the meantime she is eating mushed bananas, mushed sweet potatoes, and anything else we can mush.  She is a delight and I can't believe that she is well on her way to becoming a year old.

Happy Easter!

Bean and A. shared a crib while we visited my brother.
Bean just turned 5 months and A. just turned a month old.

Hanging out with the girls after a late night feeding.

After I decorated A's wall. Not too bad if I say so myself

A milestone is that Bean learned how to give kisses.
I LOVE her kisses.

Mr. Bananas and Bean hanging out together.
Mr. Bananas loves sharing the iPad with his sister.
He really can't get enough of her.

The Bean at 5 months Old

The Bean turned 5 months old in March and it was pretty uneventful in a good way.  She continues to laugh, grow, smile, and loved by everyone.  Her big blue eyes take in everything and she loves adores her older siblings.  She is the one thing that they can all agree on.  They all love her and want to be with her.  It's like she has always belonged and we were just waiting for her to show up in our family. I can't imagine our family without her.

She likes being in her carseat and running errands with me. I know that she is exhausted and should nap, but it's like she wants to take everything in and it's just too good to miss. So my curious girl stays awake, coos, and smiles.  I try to go to the gym when I can and go on the days that my aunt works. Bean spends most of that time happily in my aunt's arms.  She likes the walk to school and the walk home. She loves hanging out with us. She is starting to sit up more and more and likes when the big kids talk and play with her.  Mr. Bananas has discovered that he can recall the words to books and will sit and read to her. He is so good about sharing his books with her. Most times when he's playing on the iPad he'll sit with her and angle the screen towards her so that she isn't left out.  She just loves being next to him and spending time with him. I see another friendship in the making.  I thought by now that he would grow tired and move on, but no.  He proudly proclaims to all that she is HIS baby.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

Buggy is a fantastic helper and will sit with The Bean while I make dinner, help Boogie with his homework, or take a quick shower.  She anticipates her needs pretty easily and helps with wiping her nose, changing her diapers, or sitting and chatting with her.

Boogie wants to hold her, but is nervous about dropping her or jostling her too much. So he admires her from afar. Boogie can be sensitive to noise and I thought for sure that he would complain about her squeals and cries, but no. He is able to block it out when he needs to...I just wish he would do the same with his younger brother.

Celebrating with the Epitos at their
50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Life is good. Some days are harder than others.  Some are easier. I forgot how tiring it can be to have an infant in the house.  I think our biggest challenge these days is getting on a good napping schedule.  I didn't really care in the past because 3 other kids were fairly good nappers and could nap anywhere. But not our Bean. Comfort is everything and right now she would rather nap on me. Second best is in the cosleeper next to our bed. I've tried transitioning her to her crib for nap time while keeping her in the cosleeper at night. Nothing doing. She isn't buying it.  So I'm going to appreciate the sweet quiet moments, read a lot of books while the baby naps on me, and try really, really hard to let everything else go.  The one good thing is that I've been pretty good at saying no to volunteer activities and not feeling terribly guilty about it.  It's hard for me, but I feel like time continues to slip by and my days of the baby napping on me are numbered.  So if you're looking for me, I'll be on the couch, cuddling a baby, and reading a good book.

Sporting a beautiful hat

Love this sweetness

I actually managed to get all 4 kids in green for St. Patrick's Day.
It will probably never happen again.

Bean is 4 months old

I can't believe I forgot to post Bean's 4 month update.  She continues to grow healthy and strong. The doctor says that she is lean and tall and to hold off on solids until 6 months since she is doing a fantastic job with nursing.  I think she is in the 90th percentile for height and the 19th percentile for weight.  Bean is quite the trooper and goes on all of my errands with me.  We have found, though, that as a result, she does not nap.  She'll take cat naps in her carrier, but she is utterly exhausted by dinner time and inconsolable. The child needs a real nap in her crib. At this stage she is learning to sit in the Bumbo and will do it for a short amount of time. She will play on her playmat, but prefers if her siblings are nearby.  If they play near her, she'll stay there longer without crying to be picked up. She is still the favorite sibling among the older kids.

Bean loves hanging out in the Bumbo.

This about sums it up with these two.

Bean is helping me make her cousin A's blanket.

Boogie is 9!

9 Years ago this sweet boy made me a mama.

Happy 9th birthday to my Boogie

My sweet Boogie is 9 years old. I can't even believe it. And I'm pretty sure that I didn't post about his last birthday or about his first communion last year. I feel like the last year has been a blur.  And I am really trying to catch life before it just flies right by me.

This year Boogie was invited to celebrate a friend's birthday with a trip to a local museum. The trip just happened to also land on Boogie's birthday. Intrigued with the idea of going to a museum, he excitedly accepted the invitation. However, the closer the date came, the more apprehensive he became. He didn't want his birthday to get lost.  So we made a plan to celebrate with his special birthday breakfast and dinner the day before his birthday so that he could enjoy the outing with his friend. We also planned that Daddy would go with him. More than anything in the world, Boogie wants to hang out with his Daddy. So we were able to give him that, and a day at the museum where he geeked it out with his friend.

We were fortunate that both his and his sister's soccer games were canceled and we were able to have our traditional birthday breakfast with him.  We allowed him to open one of his presents and spent the morning playing "Settlers of Catan" which, by the way, is a game that many of the Green Bay Packers play together.  That night we let him choose the restaurant and my parents joined us for dinner.

The next day we went to church and right after he and Hubby left with their friends to visit the museum.  When they came back exhausted we ordered pizza and Hubby picked up a yummy ice cream cake.  And we topped it off with presents. It was awesome.  He was thrilled to get his very own tablet. He is an avid reader and it made sense to get him his on tablet where all of his books are in one place and not all over our house.  I am happy I can set the timers on it, but he's been pretty compliant on when to give it to us and when to turn it off.  This will make packing for our beach vacation a little easier this year. He'll have all of his books at his fingertips.

Camp Half-Blood versus Camp Jupiter

We celebrated with a birthday party with friends today.  Boogie finally decided on a Camp Half-Blood birthday party.  Anybody who has read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series will understand the reference.  With the help of Boogie's godmother, I made Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter t-shirts. Hubby organized the games between the two camps. Boogie's godmother came to the rescue to help me clean the house because I realized that having a nursing infant makes it really, really difficult to get anything done in a timely manner. Thank you, A!  We served camp food: hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, and lemonade.  Almost all of the friends that we were invited were able to come.  It was a lot of fun. Most of all Boogie had a great time. Hubby was pretty amazing getting everything coordinated for the games and I am very grateful he took the day off so he could help out with the birthday party during spring break.

9 years of friendship for these two campers.

Boogie with his best friend since birth on his 8th birthday.

7th birthday

5th Birthday and excited about dragons.

6th Birthday

4 and excited about dinosaurs

3 and still loved trains

2 years old and almost a big brother

1st Birthday and learning to walk

The Bean is 3 Months Old

With each of the kids I came up with a nickname. Before The Bean was born I threw some names out there. We thought Boo and I really liked Batty taken from the series The Penderwick Sisters. They were cute, but none seemed to take.  Then while checking out our precious girl the lactation consultant called her bean and well it stuck. She has become The Bean.  Even the kids call her The Bean. "Hi Mama, how's The Bean?"  So after 3 months, we have finally found a nickname that sticks.

A friend gave Bean this adorable hat

I still like to sing her full name to her because she gives me the most beautiful smile.  We refer to her by her nickname E., but more often than not she has become The Bean.  And we love it.  

She is growing so quickly.  She is starting to outgrow her first set of outfits and the more I try to savor her littleness, her infancy, our snuggles she seems to grow even faster. The more I want to slow down time, the faster it goes.

The Bean is a trooper. The poor girl does not get a set nap schedule because of her siblings' schedules. As a result she often naps in her carrier while she is being carted hither and yon.  She spends her mornings at the gym with me after we drop off the kids at their schools and her afternoons in the stroller picking them up at school. It's winter and it doesn't make sense for me to drive the half mile to the school because I have to get out of the car with the two little kids to pick up the big kids.  So more often than not I bundle us all up really well and the little kids and I walk to pick up the big kids.  There are days where I will put The Bean in a front carrier and then put one of my husbands fleece jacket over us and zip her in.  She likes it, it keeps us both warm, and I get a workout.  If it's particularly windy she blinks her eyes like an owl when we finally make it indoors.

We finally have a formal family picture of the six of us.  I was not thinking ahead and put the flowered headband on the wrong side of her head and when you see our picture, Bean's face is obscured. Even so you can tell she is screaming her head off in the picture. I still really like the picture and you know what? It's real. This is life. Screaming babies and goofy kids.

Christmas Eve

Christmas day was fun for me.  I loved having a newborn in the house for Christmas. While she won't really appreciate it until next year, I still enjoyed putting up her new ornaments, having Buggy help in choosing the The Bean's stocking, and having a sweet morning with my favorite people. We spent the night before at my SIL's house for our annual Christmas Eve open house and mass after.  It truly is one of my most favorite family gatherings.  This year Hubby and I hosted our families for Christmas. It was a little nutty after just having a baby, but I love a full house during the holidays. My husband makes our families sing for dessert and we all joined in for the 12 Days of Christmas.  Again, I love having a newborn in the festivities. It's also a nice reminder of how Mary might have felt when welcoming her son, Jesus, into the world.  The newness of life, the celebration to come.

We're still working on schedules and the kids have been really good about trying to sit with her while I make dinner. Even though I have been through this 3 times before, I'm still trying to find a routine that works with us.  It's slowly happening, but life is unpredictable and life with 4 kids is really unpredictable, but we just keep swimming.

Another adorable hat for The Bean

My favorite thing to do with her. I love having her sleep on my chest

Epita and The Bean checking each other out

Epita with The Bean

Christmas Eve at my SIL's house.
This is just a sampling of the awesomeness of having 22 grandchildren in one house

Hubby displaying his handiwork.
He done good.

2 months Old

Our sweet little girl turned two months old. She weighed in at 10 pounds and and had grown another 1/2 inch. She was 15% for weight and 79% percentile for height. She is tall and skinny with the chubbiest of cheeks.  I was happy that she had gained weight. There was a lot of concern at her two week check up that she had dropped a pound since birth so we were on a rigorous schedule for pumping and nursing. I was so happy she showed growth at her 2 month appointment so that we could resume a regular nursing schedule without the additional pumping. It also meant that Mama got to sleep a little more. I took more naps with our little bean and we both relaxed into a good feeding/napping schedule.

She is doing so well and smiles whenever we smile at her, talk to her, or sing to her.  Mr. Bananas adores her more than ever.  He is constantly by her side.  When we get into our van he wants to check on her before he gets into his seat. At church he wants to sit next to her and hold her hand. He is her greatest fan. I hope it is something that continues for years to come. He has really enjoyed his big brother role. I thought that there would be some jealousy, but no. He loves her too much to be jealous. It reminds me of when he was born our Buggy took over a maternal role when it came to him. Buggy is still pretty protective and helpful when it comes to Mr. Bananas. She has been a good role model for him and he is enjoying his new role.

Bean's Baptism

Our little girl enjoyed her first Christmas.  We received a beautiful photo album from one of her aunts filled with pictures of her baptism. I had forgotten my phone and could not take any pictures. Thanks to my sister in law and my best friend, I have some pictures to remind me of the day of her baptism. My father-in-law was able to perform the baptism at our church. He proudly told the congregation that he was baptizing his 22nd grandchild.  Beans's godparents are her aunt L. whom she is named after and her uncle E.  We are blessed that they agreed to be her godparents.

One of my former students stopped by to
visit with Bean.

I was touched by the number of family and friends that shared our special day with us. One of my very best friends from school traveled from a state away to join us for Bean's baptism.  After the baptism we invited everyone to our house. I invited quite a few people to our house to celebrate. But like the parable of the loaves and the fish, God provided and we had enough food and room to accommodate everyone.

So many friends have come by to visit Bean in her first couple of months of life. I am so blessed by their presence in our lives. We are humbled by their love and friendship.

Sweet dreams

Bean snuggling with Mrs. M during our almost weekly breakfast.

Big sister soothing Baby Sister

Celebrating Lola's birthday

I am so very blessed to have our newest angel in our lives.

Being Present

Happy New Year! I know that I still have so much to document over the past year and I am missing jotting down the milestones for my kiddos.  So much good in their lives has happened and continues to happen.  I will continue to try to keep up with them and their accomplishments and challenges.

Two days ago the three big kids had an unexpected snow day.  After posting on my Facebook Wall about how I love me some snow days a former coworker asked if I had gone back to teaching.  The answer is no. I haven't gone back to teaching. Every now and I again when I see something cool happening in my kids' classrooms I feel that pull to go back into the classroom, but it's still not strong enough to pull me away from my everyday life of being the mother of four.  I am still enjoying my time home with the kids. With my self-diagnosed ADD (Aren't we all just a little ADD?), I'm surprised that I haven't grown bored with being home. But I haven't.  I am thoroughly enjoying this season in my life.  My reply to my friend was, "No, I'm not back in the classroom, but find that these snow days are a gift of time with my favorite people." And that's the truth. Yes, we just finished having the kids home for 2 weeks for winter break.  But it wasn't enough.  As try as we might to have lazy days, things get planned, friends are visited, parties are attended, Christmas and the birth of our Savior are celebrated.  There is more downtime than usual, but we remain busy.  But a snow day! Now that's something different. Our court is usually the last to get plowed and the roads are usually too messy to go anywhere. So the family hunkers down, reads books, play with legos, drinks hot chocolate, goes out in snow gear to play with the other neighborhood children, and bake cookies.  We have no where we HAVE to be and no plans that NEED to be done.  It is awesome and a true gift of time.

It sounds a little silly that I am grateful for this gift of time. I mean, I stay home full-time, don't I see and spend time with my kids all the time. I mean, isn't my job to be home, available, and present?  Well, yes. But too often I am called by the dirty dishes in the sink, dirty clothes that need to be washed, and toys and various items that need to be put away.  So while I am available and most of often in the same room with my children, I am not always present.  I am busy. With stuff. Like chores.

So even though it's been on my New Year's Resolution list for the last two years, I am adding it again. I want to be present.  And on this snow day, this gift of time, I was present.  I helped Buggy put together her life cycle project.  I printed the pictures she needed and helped her type her captions.  But she put together her project.  I found myself trying to neaten it up and make it clean and straight and I stopped. I put it down. This was her project. Not mine. While she needed my help to obtain the information. This was her project to put together.  When I was done with her project, I was able to work on a Lego set with Mr. Bananas.  Which actually meant I put it together and he said, "Thank you, Mommy."  But we spent time together looking for the pieces and talking.  Boogie and I discussed the newest series he is reading.  The baby and I made faces at each other and I sang to her and nursed her.  I helped the big kids gear up to go out in the snow and then made them quesadillas and hot cocoa for lunch.  They had a friend come over to play.  I had planned to bake cookies, but that didn't happen.  What did happen was time spent together. When my husband came home he looked around the house and said with a smile,  "It looks like you had four children home all day."  I replied, "Actually it was five and I was present."  So the dishes are strewn around the kitchen, the legos are in various parts of the family room, we have just enough clean clothes to get through a day at a time, and there are toys that were taken out and forgotten. But what I have is a sense of peace. Peace that it was a day well spent. A day that for which I am grateful for a little extra time with my favorite people.  It was a day free from meltdowns (mine or the kids).  The house is still showing a little wear and tear from that snow day.  Yesterday was a two hour delay and instead of picking up the house I joined a friend for lunch.  Today the three year old is off from school and we ran errands instead.  Tomorrow is another day.  The 3 big kids will be in school and I will have a little extra time when the baby naps. Or maybe I will take a nap with her and be present.

Happy New Year.

My girls

My big boy reading

Silly selfie we sent to daddy during our snow day

Daddy finding time to be present with his baby girl after a ridiculously long day at work.

Another silly selfie with the two kids who aren't in school.

Boo at 1 Month

Our sweet Boo turned a month old last month.  She is very comfortable with loud noise and chaos. I'm sure she heard quite a bit of it while she was in the womb and it doesn't faze her now.  Her biggest champions are her siblings.  I am so happy that they included her without any problem. Maybe that's what happens with the fourth child.  The older two are accustomed to adding another member of the family and the once-youngest follows suit.  I must say though that Mr. Bananas is clearly her biggest fan.  He is often found sitting next to her, loving on her, and touching her.  Mr. Bananas is in preschool and with it, unfortunately, come preschool germs.  Our little Boo toughed out two colds in her first month of life.  Full on congestion and coughing. It sounded so pitiful.  But I think she is tougher for it.  On her one month birthday, this little beauty found her thumb so she could self-sooth.

Buggy holding her sister as we wait
for the lactation consultant.

I also spent the first month of her life getting her back up to birth weight.  We have a fabulous pediatrician, but when it comes to weight, she is incredibly cautious.  Therefore, Boo and I spent week after week with the lactation consultant weighing her, feeding her, and weighing her again. Her birthweight was 8 lbs 12.6 oz and by
the time we made it for her 2 day appointment after leaving the hospital she was down a pound and had some trouble bringing it back up. Most of the time she would rather sleep than eat.  But as the weeks went on, our little champ began slowly eating more and making her way up to birthweight.

I cannot even begin to share how much joy she brings to our family.  Buggy is so excited to begin picking out her stocking and toys for Christmas.  Bananas is thrilled to be a big brother and there is no jealousy in his demeanor. Boo really is his baby and joyfully shares his good fortune by telling everyone about his baby sister.  Boogie even has a hand and has realized that reading to her is something he can do and can do well. He is still too nervous to hold her, he doesn't want to drop her. But sitting on the couch with her on his lap is just his speed. It is a joy to hear him read to her and to watch the other children gather around him.  We are so blessed.

Mr. Bananas doting and cuddling his baby sister.

She found her thumb on her one month birthday.

This says it all. My biggest boy doing something he loves, reading to his baby sister.

She was sooooo little!  Hanging out with Daddy at 2 1/2 weeks old.