Some Pictures

Whew. Last week was not so great. Last weekend I had a horrible migraine that finally disappeared around Monday afternoon, just in time for Kenna to wake up from her nap with a cold or some type of respiratory virus. The next day Ted got it, the day after that I got it, sometime in there the boys had it, and finally Charis succumbed. No one got much sleep, and despite my best intentions to have a normal school week, that pipe dream flew out the window by mid-week as we struggled to maintain a modicum of sanity.

Thankfully, the older kids seem to be fine, and Kenna seems much more like her normal self, which is generally happy and drooly these days, unless it's 3 a.m., and then the norm is screaming for no apparent reason. Sigh. I think it's time to try the Ferber method. I'll let you know next weekend how things go this week!

Without further ado, here are some pictures! This first one of Kenna and Charis was taken July 9, so it's already a month old! But I thought it was cute.



Here's Grandma J holding Kenna, who is wearing one of the adorable outfits from Grandma! I love the colors--the main color, FYI, happens to be Stampin' Up!'s new "In Color" Groovy Guava! (Gotta love those SU! color names!) It's so cute, and on the chest it says "Little Sun-kissed Sweetie." I'm glad we got to spend some time in CO but regret that Rhonda didn't get as much time with Kenna, since she went with me to the Convention for most of the week.


Here are all the kiddos on Grandma J's couch the morning we left to come home, so two weeks ago today. Arden is the little guy in the middle, Tobin on the right. People say they look like twins, though I don't really think so. (But then, people also say Ted and Joel look so much alike, and I have never really thought that either! You can tell they are brothers, but I don't think the resemblance is THAT strong.) As you can see, Arden is almost bigger than his older brother! He is one solid little guy! Tobin remains taller at this point. It will be fun watching them grow up. Charis is still the lightweight of the three older ones. I'm curious as to whether Kenna's build will be similar to Charis's or different. How fun it is to see the unique characteristics God has given each child!


Here are Kenna and I all dressed up for the awards night at the Stampin' Up! Convention. Isn't Kenna a doll?! We had Charis's 6-month pictures taken in this same outfit. We call it the princess outfit. It was slightly big on Kenna's 5-month-old body, but I think she still looked adorable. Hopefully she'll be able to get her own 6-month pictures wearing the outfit as well!


Here's Kenna having her first cereal. She started that about a week and a half ago. She's having about 1-2 tablespoons of rice cereal 3 meals a day now, with 5-6 nursing periods daily. (Well, to be honest, about 4-5 nursing periods a day, and more often than not one at night because I get tired of hearing her scream and figure it's easier to nurse her so we can all go back to sleep! Yes, I'm probably contributing to her nighttime problems!!!) She seems to like the cereal and is showing marked improvement in swallowing it rather than letting it roll down her chin. Charis is a big help these days by feeding her breakfast and lunch while I prepare food for the other kids. She enjoys this task for now...I hope that continues, because it is definitely a big help when I have other kids acting cranky because they're hungry, too!


Arden likes to watch while Kenna has her bath. She is not going to fit in the sink much longer, which is too bad, because the boys' bathtub needs frequent scrubbing! But, she will be sitting up on her own before too long, and I know she'll enjoy playing for real in a tub. Guess that will motivate me to REALLY clean that bathroom instead of giving it a cursory going-over now and then!


OK, last picture! Tobin's new passion is puzzles. BIG puzzles. All of our kids have gone through puzzle phases...Arden was doing 100-piece puzzles at 2 1/2 years old. And we have done larger puzzles before as a family. However, just over the course of the last week Tobin has decided that he really LOVES doing big puzzles, and he often prefers working on them alone, though he does sometimes ask Ted or I to work with him. This picture I took is of him working on a 500-piece Charles Wysocki puzzle, which he started AND COMPLETED all by himself, all in the course of one day!! He proceeded to do ANOTHER 500-piece puzzle by himself that evening, completing it as well! I love it. When he's working on a puzzle, the house is quieter and peace is more prevalent! (Yes, in a sense I am indicating that Tobin is my loud troublemaker, ha! Sad, but true!!)

Well, I'll sign off for now. As I TRULY hope to have a "normal" scheduled week, I don't anticipate getting the chance to blog until perhaps next weekend. Maybe that's for the best, anyway! I hope to blog some good news about Kenna's sleeping habits. In the meantime, have a great week, everyone!