Look Who's Crawling?!

Although our little guy has been doing his own version of crawling for the past several weeks now, he was yet to perfect the traditional crawl when his hands and knees move in sync with each other.  However, this apparently happened the past two days when Ron had evening supervision both Tuesday and Wednesday night at work.  Since I just live my life as a whirling dervish these days, I rarely take the time to just sit down and watch what Emmett is doing.  When I am interacting with him, I am usually nursing him, feeding him, bathing him, changing his diaper, dressing him, or carrying him.  It's a sad, but true, fact of life as the mother of four children.  As a result, I did not notice any change in Emmett's movement during this little window of time.  However, since Ron normally comes home from work and lays on the couch while I make dinner and do the dishes, he often times notices these changes in Emmett's life before I do. :-(  Anyways, after being gone the last two evenings, Ron was home last night and was upstairs with the children getting the older three ready for bed while Emmett crawled around waiting for me to finish the dinner dishes.  It was during this time that they were all hanging out in Logan's room after story time and noticed that Emmett was REALLY crawling.  The kids quickly called me in to see and, sure enough, our baby had finally figured it out!  He was crawling with 100% proficiency and it was just the cutest thing!  Here are some pictures I managed to get a few days later of Emmett showing off his mad, crawling skills.

Emmett thinking about crawling over to me.

And, he's off!

Coming my way.

Sticking out his tongue while coming over to me.

Crawling while making a funny face.

He made it!  Emmett collapsing on the floor after reaching the toy I was using as "bait" to get him to crawl towards me.

Emmett also showing off his mad, sitting skills while playing with the toy.

8 Months Old!

It's so hard to believe that this little sweet pea of ours turned 8 months old today.  He is officially 2/3 of his way through his first year of life!  I just cannot believe it.  Emmett has made so many changes this past month--probably more than any of the previous seven months.  He is growing and changing so much!  The biggest news is that he now can now sit on his own and he crawls a ton in his own little caterpillar way.  Although he is yet to master the traditional crawl of moving his arms and legs in a synchronized fashion, he still can travel pretty fast to anywhere he wants.  So the days of just putting him down on a blanket on the floor to play with some toys are now gone forever.  We have to constantly keep an eye on him to make sure he is staying out of trouble.  He is starting to get into everything and can be found crying due to hurting himself on something or getting stuck under a piece of furniture.  He is almost totally proficient at sitting although he still can tip over from time to time.  I refer to his favorite sitting position as the "model pose" because he leans back on one hand which provides him with extra stability.  Emmett loves to play with toys and picks up anything he can see and touch.  He is still an extremely happy baby who smiles at anyone who gives him attention and will laugh at a moment's notice if you do something that he thinks is funny.  He also loves to pat you on the back whenever you pick him up which we think is the cutest thing.  Emmett is definitely now into a routine and takes a long morning nap and usually a shorter afternoon nap every day.  Since we have now dropped his evening cat nap, he will go to bed for the night around 8 to 8:30 instead of between 9 and 10 p.m. This has finally allowed me to get some quiet time back before I go to bed every night which has been a total relief after not having some "me time" for almost eight months!  Emmett is also getting better at eating solid foods and has baby cereal mixed with a fruit for breakfast every morning and a meat mixed with a vegetable for dinner every night.  We are working on teaching him how to drink water out of a sippy cup, but he still has a lot of room for improvement in that department.  He is nursing five times a day right now, but is still sleeping through the night regularly without requiring a feeding although I still have to get out of a bed a couple times a night to plug his pacifier back in.  Emmett has also started to become very aware of his surroundings and loves to watch people, the TV screen, or any sort of action or movement going on around him.  He is still not afraid of strangers and will happily go to anyone if his is rested and fed.  Overall, we just think that our baby Emmett is the sweetest, cutest, and happiest boy around and we just love him to pieces!!

I had to give Emmett a little, blue. crab toy that belongs to Logan so that he would leave the felt frame alone that went around the number 8 on this blanket.

Our big, 8-month old baby smiling!

First Days of School!

After a fun and action packed summer, it all came to a screeching halt for Lia and Logan last Wednesday, September 4th, and for Ella today.  Although no one was really excited for school to start since we are all just summer-lovers in this household, both Lia and Logan perked up once we got to school.  We managed to park out on the side street and get to the black top in the back of the school several minutes before the bell rang (which is always a miracle for us--especially since Emmett joined the crew).  I first got Lia situated in her class line with a few familiar faces before escorting Logan over to his line.  I then stood by him until the final bell rang and his class walked into school.  Ella, Emmett, and I were then able to head back down to school 1.5 hours later for our one-on-one meeting with Ella's new teacher which is something our district does every year with the incoming Kindergarten children.  Afterwards, we went and peaked in on Logan eating lunch in his classroom (that is actually right across the hallway from Ella's room) and on Lia who was listening to her teacher lecture in her classroom.  It was fun to see them in their classes on their first day of school!
The kids came home on the bus later that day full of smiles and happy reports of their teachers, classroom activities, and friends.  This was especially a huge relief for me and Lia since all three of her closest friends got put together in another 6th grade class.  Luckily, she has enough friends from previous years to help her feel comfortable in her new class and she was able to find and play with her closest three friends during recess today.  So, hopefully, it will be a great year for both of them!

All four children lined up on Lia's and Logan's first day of school!

Logan--our cute 2nd grader smiling and ready to go!

Lia--our tall, leggy 6th grader striking a pose.  I just can't believe that this is her last year of elementary school.  It's just going too fast.

Although it wasn't Ella's first day of school, she wanted to put on her backpack and have her picture taken, too.

As we approached the back of the school, two of Lia's good friends (Sienna and Allison) who are now in the Quest program, ran up to say 'hello.'

We managed to get another picture of these girls who have known each other since PreK when they were all in the same preschool class.  Although we were unable to find Mila for the picture, here is Addyson, Mollie, Lia, and Sienna.  Addyson and Lia are in the same class again this year.

Logan giving me a smile once we got him situated in his class line.  He waited patiently and quietly at my side until the bell rang.

And then he was off!  I am so grateful for how much he has grown up in the past two years and how he can handle this kind of big change while being calm and courageous.

Lia was so busy talking to her pack of girlfriends that she wouldn't even look at me while I was calling her name to take this picture.  Can we say sixth grader or what?!

Hours later, a happy Logan and Lia got off the bus that they are taking home for the second year in a row with our friends who live in a neighborhood two minutes from our own.  This saves me from making a daily trip down to the school every afternoon to pick up the kids which is such a help to me.

Lia and Logan posing with Sienna, Connor, and Aria who they will be riding home with again every day this year.

The pack walking down the sidewalk.

When I tucked Ella into bed last night, I asked her the question, "What day is tomorrow?" to which she yelled, "Kindergarten!" and screamed with excitement!  It was so cute!  She was so excited when she got up this morning.  She happily got dressed, ate her breakfast, and packed her bag before climbing in the car.  I couldn't get over how calm and cool she was about starting school today.  Here is Ella posing in front of the front door in her new outfit and wearing her new Jasmine backpack and carrying her new Jasmine lunchbox.

The gang all lined up again for Ella's first day of school.  Look at that smiling baby!

What should have been a relatively smooth morning of getting Ella off to class actually turned out to be a quite different one.  As we were getting ready to leave, the rain started falling which meant that we had to stop and get everyone's umbrellas.  After loading everyone up into the car and driving down to the school, I had to push Emmett in the stroller for a second time in a few days through the side gate of the school and across the field to get to the main entrance.  As we were approaching the edge of the field, Ella burst into tears.  I was so confused at first.  When I turned around to talk to her, she kept on screaming that something had poked her in the head.  I just assumed it was one of the spokes from her umbrella, but was able to learn from her that it was something else.  She then started screaming that she had gotten stung by a bee and then started crying about her finger hurting, too.  With the rain falling and students/parents around us everywhere, it suddenly became a very chaotic and crazy moment!  After saying goodbye to Logan and getting through the second gate with the stroller and trying to calm Ella down, I decided that we need to move under the covered area of the school near the main entrance.  I had to first help Lia close her umbrella so that she could push the stroller to the covered entrance while I slowly coaxed a crying Ella to come with me.  While I was trying to inspect her head and finger for a bee sting, Emmett burst into tears.  Lia starts freaking out because he had blood all over his ear and hand.  Since he currently has a habit of scratching his ears and since I hadn't trimmed his fingernails recently, he had suddenly sliced his left ear open causing a huge pool of blood to form inside his ear that he then got on his hand and on his pants.  I felt like all heck was breaking loose at once!  After wiping down Emmett's ear and hand with a wet wipe and calming Lia and Emmett down, I proceeded to inspect Ella's head and finger and could not find a sting or any redness.  The four of us then walked into the gymnasium to find Ella's class line inside.  After showing Lia where she will need to bring Ella to school every morning, we said 'goodbye' to her so that she could go get in her class line.  I then had a few minutes to try to calm down and comfort Ella before her teacher arrived in the gym to pick up her class.  She was still very upset and unhappy and kept on telling me that her head hurt, but she managed to pull it together enough to bravely walk away with her class at the end of her line.  I felt so sorry for her that she had to deal with all of this on her first day of school!

Here is Ella trying to give me a smile while we waited for her teacher to come and pick up her class.

Ella bravely walking away at the end of her line.  I had to hold back a few tears as I was saying goodbye to her.  She has seriously been my little buddy these past two years since Logan went to school full-time and it was a bit hard for me to say goodbye to her--especially since she was not feeling well due to the mysterious sting fiasco.  I thought about her all day long and kept on wondering where she was before realizing she was at school and then I kept on wondering how she was doing.

I am happy to report that she came off the bus later that day happy and smiling!  Her first day of Kindergarten was a big success although it had a rocky start!

Our cute, Kindergartener running towards me!

All three siblings lined up together.  I absolutely LOVE that they get to have this one year of school together!  This will be Lia's and Ella's only year of school together and also Lia's last year of her public education career with a sibling at the same school as her.  I am so grateful that our district has junior high schools instead of middle schools to make this all possible!

Lia's First Soccer Game!

After an 8 month break from soccer, Lia's season started back up the end of July.  Since I refuse to prioritize extra-curricular activities over vacations, Lia ended up missing five of the first ten practices of the season.  Since we are done with our summer travels, hopefully she will not miss another practice from this point on.  Lia was lucky to be able to join the same team that she has been on the past three years with the majority of the same girls and the same coach.  We have loved Coach Dave these past few years and how positive, fun, and supportive he is with the girls on his team.  Since I am secretly hoping that Lia will choose to participate in cross country at her junior high next fall, this might be her last season of soccer.  Regardless of what she ends up deciding, I hope that she has a great season and makes lots of progress!
Lia's first game of the season just happened to be at her own elementary school which is such a nice coincidence considering that fact that over half of her games are not even in our town.  It's just fun to watch her play on her 'home field.'  Lia is still getting back into the groove of soccer and being aggressive with the other team's players, but she did a great job and even attempted to score a goal!  Here are some pictures of her game...

Lia running down the field.

Running towards the ball.

Standing on the field.

Lia chasing down the ball.

Another action shot chasing down the ball.

Lia throwing the ball back into the game.

Taking a break on the sidelines with some of her teammates.

Running hard.

I woke Emmett up early from his morning nap so that we could go down and watch most of the game.  Here he is enjoying his first soccer game from papa's lap.  I wonder how many of his siblings' games he will watch from the sidelines in the years to come...

A loving, older sister and adorable, baby brother posing from the field at the end of the game.  Oh, how I just love these two!

Camping at Blake Island

We sadly wrapped up our final adventure of the summer yesterday with our annual trip to Blake Island over Labor Day weekend.  I know that I have said this before, but this is one of my favorite things to do every summer.  I love Blake Island.  It is such a fun and beautiful place for a family getaway and I am so grateful to Chris for making this camping trip possible  Since I would be camping with all four kids alone, I went back and forth before making the decision to try to spend the night in a tent without Ron.  After having the worst camping experience of my mothering career the summer I camped on Blake Island when Logan was a baby, I decided not to try it the summer that Ella was a baby.  Instead, I took all three kids out just for the afternoon and evening and we drove back home late that night after Chris took us back to the boat lunch.  However, after thinking it over, I decided to give a try this summer since Lia, Logan, and Ella are so much older and I am so glad that I decided to just go for it as everyone slept great in the tent including Emmett.  Lia, Riley, and Callie were a huge help in setting up and tearing down our tent while my mom and Natalee helped out with the baby.  Overall, it really wasn't that much more work compared to other years and I am so glad that we spent the night as Monday turned out to be a such a beautiful day.  We enjoyed staying out on the island until after lunch time before heading back to Chris' house for our annual dinner of freshly caught crab and spaghetti.  The kids and I had a great time staying at Chris' until it was time to head home at bedtime.  As always, it was just a wonderful way to finish off our marathon summer of 2019!

The weather was so warm on Sunday after we arrived on the island in the afternoon that all three kids put on their swimsuits and ventured out into the freezing water.  Here is Logan play with a stick he found floating in the water.

Chris pulled out the innertube from the boat for the kids and him to float around on.  It was so funny to see them all piled on top of each other.

The group giving me a smile.

Natalee, Emmett, and I enjoyed watching the gang from the beach.

Both Callie and Riley were a huge help watching Emmett throughout our stay since I couldn't just put him down on the ground while I got things done.  Here is Callie watching Emmett while he tried to sit in a little camping chair (without falling out of it) while I made dinner.

A close-up of our cutie on his second camping trip of his life.

Trenton, Ella, and Logan playing on the seesaw that has been on the island for years.

Riley, Lia, Emmett, and Callie relaxing in the campground while dinner was cooking.

The kids and me enjoying our foil dinners.

The gang eating dinner together in our campsite.

We made banana boats for dessert and Logan and Ella got marshmallow all over their faces.

We had to take a few family pictures out on the beach as the sun was setting.  Here is a cute one that Callie managed to snap of us.

An adorable close-up shot of Emmett.

Another family photo while sitting on the driftwood.

Riley in repose.

Logan, Trenton, and Ella playing on the giant, fallen tree Monday morning after breakfast.

Another shot of the kids on the tree.

Chris got the kids to play Bocce ball after breakfast.

Natalee and grandma watching on from the campsite.

As per tradition, the kids and I ran over to Tillicum Village to take advantage of some free clam chowder after the Argosy boat arrived with all of the tourists.  Here are the kids and me standing in front of the large lodge.

And a close-up of the group.

The kids standing in front of the Argosy.

Patiently waiting to blend in with the tourists to get our clam chowder.

The kids and I sipping away while sitting on the stairs.

We all enjoyed a morning round at the beach during low tide.  Since it was so warm again, all of the kids put their swimsuits back on again to play in the sand...

and swim in the freezing cold water!

Trenton, Riley, and Lia running out into the Puget Sound.

Logan joining the group.

The kids walking back to the shore after going completely under the water.

After everyone else had gone into the water, Ella decided to take a turn all on her own.  I couldn't believe it when she ran out and dunked herself completely under the water.  She is by far the bravest, 5-year old we have had in our family!

Ella running out of the water wet from head to toe.

Ella frolicking in the water at low tide.

Ella watching Uncle Chris make a giant, sandcastle while getting warmed up in a beach towel.

Baby Emmett enjoying some time on my lap while watching the older kids play on the beach.