Goodnight, Sleep Tight

Once Colten started rolling, I often found him asleep like this:

For awhile I debated about flipping him back over to his back.

He rolled really well from his back to his tummy, but would often get stuck going back onto his back.

I didn't want anything to interrupt his peaceful, nighttime sleep.

I'd usually opt to keep him on his tummy, though.

His little onesie-covered behind was too cute, sticking out like that.  I just couldn't bring myself to disturb him.

And I was afraid to wake him up, right before I wanted to go to sleep.

Baby's are funny; none of them behave the same way.  If Colten is disturbed once he's asleep, he'll either need me to feed him again so that he goes back to sleep peacefully, or he'll scream for awhile.  A looooong while...

But I remember waking up Lillian on purpose before I'd go to bed, just to see her smile at me.  She always looked so happy to see me, and we'd snuggle for awhile, and I'd put her back to bed.

I just have to get my Colten snuggles during the daytime.

Good thing he's such a sweet, snuggly baby then.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin', and Other Colten-Cuteness...

Here he goes:

Ok, so he's rolling around now.  Back to tummy, tummy to back.  Five months old - a record for the Hunt Babies.

So rolling down, moving on to other things.

Like...

Eating solids!

Good stuff!

Makes my life easier, too.

Hey, Colten's crying.  Will someone please give him a Puff?

 The kiddos sure love to feed him.

And he loves to eat.

Just look at these little chubber thighs!  Cute.

This was one morning before school while I was getting ready.

Colten started crying, so Cayden put him in the bouncy chair (which his is obviously WAY too big for) and rocked him to sleep.  What sweet brothers.

Fourth Time Around

Yea!  Mason did it!

Just one last kid left in diapers!

*Sorry for the potty picture; I think it's clean... and Mason looks pretty cute!

Bouncin' Fun

When we were in Colorado a few years ago, staying with my parents for 6 months, I took the kids to a few bounce places to play with their friends and cousins.

Afterwards, all my kids would start throwing up.  Every time we went.

It would start with one kid, and then cycle through the three of them.

I quit going.

So it's been almost four years since we've gone to a place like this.

I haven't missed it.

But one Friday morning a friend convinced me to take my kids to play.

They had fun, and thankfully no one threw up.

Molly and Katelyn.  Mason LOVES her friend Kay-Kay!

Mason, flying the plane.

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Colten, poor boy, along for the ride again.  Confined to his stroller.

Well, I guess we let Colten get out of his stroller.  Just this once...

I still don't know if I'm a big fan, but at least this time went well!

Morning Nap

Poor Colten.

He's had a much different beginning to his life than his older brother and sister.

With each of the older ones, nap time was sacred.

We didn't go anywhere or do anything when it was nap time.

I was the sleep nazi.

My babies were going to take naps in their beds at home for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Three times a day.

Not so with Colten.

He has spent his first 5 months in his carseat.

He's done well with it, and is a sweet, happy baby in spite of it, but doesn't sleep very well in his bed because of it.

His naps are an hour.

If I'm lucky.

Well, no longer.

Lillian had her last day of preschool today, so I don't have to spend 2 hours of my day taking her to and from preschool.

We can stay home and teach Colten how to sleep!

I'm thinking there might be a lot of crying in my next few weeks.

Mine and Colten's.

Then my poor baby won't be so exhausted that he falls asleep in a pile of laundry.

 (The laundry pictures remind me of this story, though.  And that's a good laugh.)

Such a little sweetie.

Grabby, Grabby

At about 3 1/2 months old, Colten started grabbing things with his hands.

Then whatever he grabs goes straight into his mouth.

Ashton always shoves her fingers into his mouth because she thinks it's funny when he sucks on them.

I just hope they're fairly clean.

Oh well, he's building up immunity.

More proof that Colten gets tummy time.

He's even rolled a couple of times now, on purpose.

Five months old, our quickest one yet...

It's a whole new world of exploring for this little one.

Tummy Time

As a mother, I fail at tummy time.

All four of my older kids.  Seriously.

I think I did OK with Cayden.  He was my only responsibility when he was a baby, so I could put him on his tummy and play with him and practice rolling.

In fact, Cayden was the only one who started rolling at the proper age (6 months).  The three girls only started rolling when the started crawling (9, 10 or 11 months).  I think because the rolled and crawled so late, the walked late.  Ashton was the earliest walker at 14 months, but Cayden, Lillian and Mason were all at about 17 months.  And our babies weren't lightweights - it got hard hauling them all over the place!

So with Colten Andy and I vowed that we'd be better.

HA!

We have made an concerted effort to give Colten his tummy time.  We've put him on his tummy at least a few times...

Here's the proof:

I still don't think we're going to have an early roller, crawler or walker.

But at least he doesn't scream at me the moment I put him on his stomach.

AND when I took him in for his 4-month check up and the doctor observed him on his stomach, she said he was doing just fine.

So I guess we're not failures. 

And look, Mason can do tummy-time without screaming now, too!

And she's pretty good at entertaining Colten when he's stuck on his tummy.

Sweet Lilladee

Lillian is our most sensitive kiddo.

Her feelings get hurt easily.  She doesn't deal well with physical pain, or sickness.

She speaks very softly.  And she's very sensitive, and intuitive to how other people feel.

She's always asking why people do certain things; she wants to understand their actions from their perspective.

Sometimes I don't have the patience I should for it.

But I appreciate her, and who she is.  She is such a sweetheart, and I just love her.

The day I took these pictures, Lillian was excited for a couple of reasons.

She had Tiddly Winky day at school, so she was able to wear her pajamas all day, and make and eat pancakes at school.

We finally had a warm day, so she could play on the playground at school, and she could come home and eat her snack outside.

She loved watching the birds and squirrells while she was out there.

Pretty simple things, but they made her happy.

And she makes me happy.

Field Trip with First Grade

In March I got to go on a Field Trip with Ashton's class to Mount Vernon.

She was SO excited for me to come.

I had a hard time finding someone who could stay with Lillian, Mason and Colten so that I could spend the whole day with Ashton, but she's wanted me to go on a field trip with her class all year, and I hadn't gotten picked yet.  (Usually there are so many parents who sign up to go that the teachers have to hold a lottery to choose which parents can come.)

I always wanted my mom to be able to come on field trips with me too, so I'm glad that it all worked out and I could go with her.

The teacher divided the class, and each parent was responsible for six kids, and we were able to go where ever we wanted.  Our group was pretty good, but they were all so excited, and there were so many other school groups there, that they kept me on my toes, making sure I had them all with me!

We've been to Mount Vernon a few times recently, but this time they had some special events going on that made it fun to go again.

The kids got to place carnations by George and Martha's tombs.

They got to participate in some colonial events, and see how things were done on the farms at that time.

All the volunteers were dressed their parts, and even spoke using colonial language. 

It made it a little hard for the kids to understand everything, and I did my best to interpret!

Despite everything going on, I think all the kids enjoyed running around and playing near the river the best.  They seemed to think it would be fun to swim there. 

I'm glad they didn't try.

We had a great time, and I had fun hanging out with the First Graders!

But now Cayden's asking me to go on a field trip with his class, too...

(I'm glad they want me.)