Wheels on the Bus

I like how every time Smith hears this song from his bus, he gets so happy and looks at me with a surprised and excited expression.
I like how he dances to it, sometimes just rocks and sometimes goes all out like in this video.
I like how Zane loves Smith so much and thinks he's so funny and how we laugh at him together.
I like Smith's grunts
I like how much it reminds me what Zane was like at Smith's age

8 Months!

Who could resist this little face? Smith is now 8 months old and as sweet as ever. ( I started this post right when he turned 8 months and now it's been 2 weeks since then!) I guess I should probably get this published at this point. It's amazing that in 2 weeks, he's already changed a lot again.

Quick updates at this age:
He's crawling FAST and pulling himself up to standing already (yikes)
He's starting to mimic us all the time, with sounds and actions
He's clapping and dancing and starting some sign language
He wakes up happy every single time
He cries instantly when he hears Zane or Emmy cry
He ate his first meal of all finger foods tonight and did great - how did he get this big all of a sudden?
He's starting to hate being in the car
He "yells" at Z and E when they grab and kiss him, or take a toy away
He looks for them all the time and he tries to follow them around the house
He knows where we are now when we hide around a corner and comes to get us
He's wonderfully sweet and joyful

I love his tired eyes when he first wakes up

Our guy is ON. THE. MOVE. Wow, he is getting more confident in himself and also more curious. this day, he crawled right on over to the screen door to see what Zane and Emmy were up to and pushed on it a few times. It wasn't long at all before he figure out just to go crawl right out through the opening.

He has an awesome crawl! He gets on all 4's, but then still uses his right foot instead of knee, so he mostly uses that to move and drags his left knee and leg along. Better than scooting but not a perfect crawl. :) Love it.

More crawling videos, from when he first started. I need to take new ones now that he's faster and more coordinated.


This one, he starts going about half way through


Not crawling because he hates the grass. His expression is funny. Turning in circles








He wants to grab everything now too of course. When the kids have something he wants he lunges at them, pulls their arms or shirts toward himself to try to get whatever he wants. Then, he'll follow them to the other side of the room if they move. He doesn't give up easily - probably a good life long trait to have.

He is also opening everything!! He gets so excited about proud of himself when he does this. So he has pinched a few fingers, fallen over, etc. etc. He is also obsessed with doors. Any door that he can get his hands on, he wants to open and close again and again and again. He likes to try to move other big things, cabinets, chair, etc. too.
I can't stand the anxiety this stage brings on me. Just constantly hoping that he doesn't hurt himself and trying my best to prevent as much as possible. Not to mention the little toys all around that are choking hazards!

Smithy Dude has also had to sleep a lot on the go lately. Having two older siblings pretty much guarantees that he usually can't take both full naps at home in his bed. We have fun stuff to do!

Here he is falling asleep or sleeping in all sorts of places. Hahaha. Love it (even though I do feel bad sometimes).

Zane's t-ball game

Zoo with friends

On a family hike

In a swing at the park







Smith was hanging out with another baby born 2 days before him, the daughter of friends of ours. He just wanted to grab her ears, nose, arms, whatever he could get his hands on. He especially loved taking her toy. We have a lot to practice with manners. j/k

The Girl With the Pink Cast

Last week, Emmy was climbing up the slide in her classroom at church, and fell off the top step.  She must have landed just wrong, because she ended up with a buckle fracture in her arm bone.  We should have known right away because every time her arm got bumped, she cried and it was even waking her up at night.  But the weird thing was that she seemed fine in between those times so we just weren't sure if we needed to take her in.  Finally, a couple of days later, it was obvious something was definitely wrong....she was favoring her right arm, complaining about it a lot, and busting out in tears if it barely got bumped or even touched. 

So, the three kids and I spent over two hours at the doctor the first time, getting x-rays done, and then putting on a temporary splint.  The x-ray people loved her so much and said she was the best 3 year old patient they had ever had.  They all walked her out and said bye and were laughing with each other over how cute she was.

This splint only stayed on during the ride home.  Right when we got home, she took it off (because it was "bugging her") so I did my best to put it back on.  While we were waiting to hear from Orthopedics, it came off another 2-3 times, got wet, etc. It was a mess!
*Disclaimer* Emmy picked her own outfit both days! :)

We went back 2 days later to get the real cast.  They showed me x-rays but it's almost impossible to tell from these pics.  The bigger arm bone on the right has two little parts sticking out the sides, close to the wrist, and a tiny line going across.

  

Here's us doing out best to entertain ourselves while we waited forever in the waiting room.  The kids were actually doing pretty well looking for Waldo in the Where's Waldo book.

 

Smith did pretty well.  He was restless and fussy at first and when he realized he was going to have to stay in the stroller or in my arms, he gave up and chilled out. He slept through the end of the appt. too.

Emmy took this picture of Zane and me. We were doing a puppet show for her and Smith too.

I love the progression of expressions on Emmy's face before and after the cast.  She was being silly and  happy at first. 

She got really quiet and dazed when she got her cast on.  She was seriously in shock for about 20 minutes afterwards.  She just didn't know what to do with her hand.

Then she started to come out of it.

A little after the doctor's appt, we went to the park with some friends.  She was cautious and slow for about 3 minutes, and then she was back to full force! Running, climbing, jumping, wrestling, etc. She is one tough girl.

Hike

Last week we headed up to Estes Park for a day as a family.  The highlight was the hike we went on. Zane and Emmy were both amazing.  Zane is a remarkable hiker and Emmy did way better than I expected.  I don't know how Zack did it with an extra 20+ pounds on his back - at least he got to listen to babbling and giggling from a happy little guy the whole time.

The boys hiked together for most of the time and the girls followed.  The kids were so happy and just wanted to keep going.

Here we are taking ANOTHER water break.  On the way down, Emmy was so tired that literally every minute or so she asked to sit and take a water break. LOL. Zack finally had to carry her at the very end.

Yep, another water break. :)

We need to do this more often.