6 Months, Half a Year, 26 Weeks

Seriously? Ronan is 6 months old?  6 months ago, Ronan was just a few hours old and I'm pretty sure was sleeping in my arms.  Actually, I think he was really alert (and still is!)  Anyway, now he is sound asleep in his crib and I'm reflecting on how normal our new life is.  It's hard to imagine not having him as part of our family.  He is so sweet, full of smiles, makes us laugh all the time and is definitely his own person.  Though we're a little sad that 6 months as flown by, we love experiencing each new phase.

These days, Ronan is working on sitting on his own.  He can do it for 5-10 seconds before toppling over.  Last week, his thing was to sit up for a second and then fling himself back into my arms.  This week, he stiffens his legs and reaches out so we will help him stand.  He loves to stand. And still loves to jump.  We joke that one day, instead of walking, he is just going to bounch across the room.  And his first words might be "no bouncy" which we have to tell him just so he will eat, get his diaper changed, etc. Though we think he's pretty funny, he might just get a bigger kick out of us.  He can't help but smile every time Patrick is around and he thinks is hilarious when we sing and dance for him.  Oh, the things a parent will do to get a smile. We live for those moments!

Ronan had his 6 month check up yesterday.  We are so thankful for a healthy baby.  There are too many people who can't say that and we have to remember not to take advantage of God's gift of health.  Ronan is still in th 50th percentile for weight (17 lbs even) and 90th for height (27 1/2 inches).  He had a set of shots and was not a happy camper yesterday, but seems to have fully recovered today :)  Even though it was heartbreaking to see him in pain yesterday, I was really thankful for the chance to snuggle and comfort him (a rare opportunity). Is that bad?

Today I got my feet in my mouth!

Monkey See. Monkey Do

First Easter

We had such a great Easter weekend!  We headed down to Clarkston with Shane, Crystal and Keegan (in the new rig!) and spent the whole weekend with family in the sunshine.  We got a healthy does of vitamin D - it was amazing!  Apart from Easter lunch, when he became super tired and not so much into having his photo taken, Ronan had a great trip.  He even cooperated through church - we appreciated the chance to remember and celebrate Christ's death and resurrection.  I can't wait to celebrate Easter with Ronan when he is old enough to recognize the significance of the holiday. 


Still a jumper :)

 

Mildly amused by my antics

I love this picture! Ronan is intently checking out Keegan and Keegan is reaching over to Ronan.

Somebody was so sleepy

Great Grandma

 

Great Grandpa



5 Months!

Ok, I'm quite behind on these. Here are a sampling of 5 month photos. 

 

Add caption

Monkey Love



Easter Eggs and Snow Storms

Patrick woke me up this morning so I could see the beautiful sunshine, blue skies and...snow. What?  Today's weather was crazy and typical for spring around here.  Unfortunately the blues skies faded to grey pretty quickly and the whole day was yuck.  We brightened our spirits by hanging out with friends and stuffing Easter eggs.  We were bribed with a great lunch and time with friends :)  Unfortunately, my camera battery was low and most pictures turned out somewhat blurry. Oh well.

We stuffed a couple hundred of these for the big hunt on Saturday.

Beautiful Jenn.

I think Miss Harper is going to have those same big beautiful eyes as brother Wyatt

Rockin' our new hat from auntie Ali

Kelley brought over her new kitty and Wyatt was enthralled

Both boys have that glazed eyes-ready for a nap on the ride home-look. No such luck though.

Last week was a busy and fun week.  I have been horrible about staying on top of this blog, so that's one of my new goals. I hate playing catch up.  Saturday I met my mom and some friends for Mom's Weekend down at WSU. It was a fun, relaxing day (sans Ronan) and even pretty sunny :)  Ronan and Patrick did awesome on their own.  Here, Ronan is sucking his thumb and one of my hair bands :)

Sunday, Ronan and I went to visit Keegan.  Don't let this picture fool you - Keegan is one big boy! He has already outgrown his newborn clothes and is in 3 month outfits at 2 weeks!  I love his thick, crazy red hair. I need to get a better picture of it, but it's great.

Monday was a trip to the dentist (for me) and then we had friends over for a great visit. Tuesday we had more friends over then Bible Study, Wednesday worked at the Refugee Center for our church then a marriage class (and our first endeavor into leaving Ronan in a child care nursery setting-kind of wild), Thursday visited friends (let me just pause and say we are blessed by great friends!) and Friday caught up on housework. Whew. I love that I have the flexibility to do these things. I want to be intentional about the great relationships in my life and not let myself get into a rut stuck at home.

Ali with Baby Harper



Mid roll!

  With all of the fun having and appointments of the last 2 weeks, I do manage to keep up on housework.  With one exception. Laundry.  Laundry is my absolute lowest priority.  It probably shouldn't be, but I will always choose quiet time with Lord, family, friends, excercise, cleaning and creating over laundry (pretty much in that order).  I'm okay with this. The laundry gets cleaned, but tends to remain in this basket.  Even when I start to dig in, I get distracted by cuteness ;)

Who wouldn't be distracted by that sweet smile?

Buds

Anytime we leave our cat for an extended period of time, he gets mad. And when he's mad, he gets annoying. Actually, that's ANNOYING. I cannot stand his yelling at us. Most people find Sneaks to be a sweet, snuggly cat - which he is - but they do not have to endure his pleas for love. He seems to be especially needy at about 4am.  For months now, Ronan has been sleeping through the night; however, our cat continues to wake us up. Aargh.  Luckily, he has found a new friend in Ronan, who seems to love Sneaks' soft fur, pointy ears and whiskers.  Sneaks is endlessly patient, another testament to his dire need for pets. He just purrrrrrs. (Please don't think we never pet this cat. Because we do. All the time) These pictures were taken the Monday after we got home from the Tri Cities.

Psst...Come 'ere. I have to tell you something

That's right, real close

Actually I just wanted to give you a giant kiss and bite your ear

Sneaks is in heaven

Ok. enough is enough


Sneaks is moving on and Ronan is happy!







Sneak Peak

here's a sneak peak at some photos I'm working on.  As I've mentioned, I don't know a lot (yet), plus I don't have much time to edit. But I do love playing around with the camera and seeing what happens.  This week I got to spend some quality time with our friends and their newborn and even got to take a few photos. I have some very talented newborn photographer friends and I can appeciate their talents even more now!  Baby Harper is incredibly sweet and indulged us by sleeping most of the time so we could attempt to capture her sweetness :)

3 days new :)

Spring Break Happenings - Part III

I'm almost caught up on posts, at least for now.  Some other pretty major things happened over our break.  Ronan started eating solid foods! We started with rice cereal (and just today added bananas).  He had no problems adjusting to the spoon, taste or texture and pretty much eats like a champ.  So far, meal time is still not too messy, except when he tries to feed himself.  Have we ever mentioned how independent this kid is? Starting with needing his personal playtime at just a few weeks, always facing out, trying to sit foward on his own at 3 months (instead of relaxing on us) and now trying to take the spoon for himself.  We love seeing him grow in these ways, and it definitely makes our lives a little easier since he is so independent. But sometimes a mom just wants a snuggle. He indulges me occasionally; otherwise, I have to steal my snuggles.

Ronan also started rolling over! We haven't managed a snapshot of that yet and Patrick hasn't witnessed it because the rolls are few and far between. For awhile now he has been sleeping on his side (so cute) but he finally can get himself all the way over. And when he does, he pops his head up and gives us a huge grin (so, so cute).

This little guy cracks us up on a very regular basis. We are loving this age and all of the cuteness and personality coming out.

Not only does Ronan have a new cousin, but he has a new friend!  Our dear friends Toby and Marissa Broemmeling welcomed their second child, Harper Grace, on April 3rd.  She is so precious and momma and baby are doing really well.  Even big brother Wyatt seems to think she's pretty neat :)

Me, baby Harper, Marissa, Ronan and Ali

Most pictures of Ronan are like this-slightly or completely blurry.  Always bouncing. In his high chair. On the changing table. While nursing. While being held. Always bouncing.