April/May Update! Kacie's 6 months!

Life has been great lately but oh so crazy at the same time! :)  April started off with a 16 hour drive to Orange Beach, Alabama for Spring Break with my in-laws and our good family friends!  The drive actually went better than I thought as I had no clue what to expect with 3 seven year olds and a 6 month old baby!  But Kacie was amazing!  She loves her car seat and would stare at her rattle for a long time. :)  She slept a lot and would just cry when she would poop through her clothes.  Other than that, she's a natural traveler!! :)  We just stopped every three or four hours for me to feed her....it wasn't that bad!  And yet we are still fans of flying. :)  

We stayed on the 20th floor and the first few nights involved watching the Badgers!  Here the kids were writing "Go Bucky" in the sand....this is a zoomed in shot from the 20th floor. :)

Kacie turned 6 months old while we were there!  She now weighs 18 lbs. 11 oz (85th percentile) and is 28 inches long (97th percentile)  She started sitting up by herself a few weeks ago and does great at it!  She always rolls over if on her back or stomach and now she chooses to roll to sleep on her stomach.  She loves to sit and play with her toys and is such a happy baby.  She has her third ear infection right now but handles it pretty well!  She is such a good baby and SO MUCH FUN to have!!  I keep wanting time to slow down with her as I really really love the baby age and it is such a short period of time!  I'm savoring so many moments!  She is just so precious!!

Her big sisters continue to love on her...maybe too much as now Kacie has their colds. :)  But they like taking turns feeding her and definitely argue over who's turn it is to hold her or sit by her or whatever.  Kacie isn't sleeping through the night consistently yet.  She will usually sleep through the night once a week or twice a week if I'm lucky.  Last night she slept through the night but then Hailey didn't because she has an ear infection!  Oh the joys of four kiddos! :)  She still nurses every 3 hours during the day and then eats two or three containers of baby food a day.  

 Orange Beach!

 The grandparents watched the big kids one night so we could go out! It was great to eat in peace!  We may or may not have taken our time eating. :)

 Hailey & Tyler

 Practicing on their boogie boards

 We put all the kids at one table for dinner out one night.  Needless to say little Lukey in the top left ended up downing two root beers.  They had fun though! :)

 After our trip I started Kacie on rice cereal for a few days and then went straight to baby food!  So far she likes squash, sweet potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, pears, peaches, mango, pretty much everything!  This girl likes to eat! :)  She's growing up so fast!!

 My friend Heather from Sioux Falls who has four boys - three of them triplets :) came out to meet Kacie.  It was SO fun to catch up with her and I love how our friendship doesn't change even though we're miles away with very similar lives (four kiddos/triplets) but very different (all boys and all girls for me!)  So since Heather was here with a bunch of girls, she insisted the girls give us makeovers one night.  You can't really tell in the pic but the girls did have free reign!  They had a blast! :)

 April was also busy as I help plan the school auction.  Andrea and I are a team and we love working together on it!  Here we are at the auction - and Andrea is expecting TWINS!!  She has three girls already (her oldest is in the girls' class) and now TWINS on the way!  I just can't believe how many multiples friends I have!  SO SO excited for her!!!

 Then the end of April Ryan actually won a trip at work for Sales!  Way to go Ry!!  So we got to go to Playa Del Carmen with about 20 other co-workers.  It was SOOO relaxing there!  The place was really neat too....felt like we were in Costa Rica (even though I've never been there)... We took golf carts to get all over the resort.  It was just so quiet!  We got to play beach volleyball for hours which I love, hit up the spa, and golf!  Such a treat!   Jumping pic with co-workers. :)

 The BEST treat was all the help we got with the girls!  My friend Des watched Kacie, then my mom flew in and watched her the rest of the time, and Kim and Kathy watched the big girls!  It was a lot of prep getting all ready to leave four kiddos....but the break sure was nice!

Kacie playing with my friend Des's dog Scout :)

Addy, Em, and Hailey are loving 1st grade.  Here I went in to their class to hear them read little stories they wrote about what they want to be when they grow up.  It was TOO cute.  They are currently having fun playing soccer and we just signed them up for golf this summer so that should be fun. :)

Sweet baby snuggles

The "Kacie face"

Sitting up!!

The girls and their friend Isabelle after their school concert.  (Hailey, Emily, Addison)

Baptism and Vacation!

Mega late update...
 February 8, 2015, our sweet little precious gift from God was baptized!  It was SUCH a special day.  She was able to wear my baptism dress too which was extra special.  :) Kacie Jane you are loved by your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and loved by so many others too!!

 a little drawing I found on Addison's desk :)

 Hailey brought Kacie for her "show and tell" one day...

 Kacie is going to be a super fan watching her sisters play volleyball, basketball, and soccer! :)

 All the girls got a haircut from grandma one day....Hailey wanted the most cut off so now everyone should be able to tell them apart! :)

 Em at basketball

 Then Ryan has started the second month of his sabbatical and we are loving it!  It really is such a treat and so much fun having him home (even though we haven't been home much!)  Last year at the girls' school auction, we bought a trip to Cabo...ended up not being able to go to Cabo because of hurricanes...but was able to switch to Cancun!  We took my parents along which was fabulous having extra help with all the girlies! :)
Grandma Gwen lovin on Kacie Jane

painted little piggies are the cutest :)

 Kacie was a great traveler and did pretty well with the heat and relaxation! :)

 The girls got their hair braided the first day which brought back memories to when I got this done as a kid.  :)

 They loved their strawberry daiquiris! :)

 We were able to travel to two different "sister" resorts so one was quieter and peaceful by a lagoon and the other one was busier and on the ocean!  Best of both worlds!

 I just really love that they have each other to play with.  Siblings are the best.

 They LOVED the waves and screamed for each one the first day! :)

 Family pics are always a doozy.

 So chill :)

 More drinks. :)

 Kacie liked the water!

 Swimming in the waves is so fun. :)

 The girls got to love their friend "Denice" who played with them a lot at the free kid care.  They painted and colored and practiced their Spanish with her!  Just the other day Em told me "Mom, I miss Denice."  Maybe they can start writing her. :)

 Super glad we took these two along!  Love you mom and dad and thanks for all your help!

 Hailey LOVES changing Kacie's diaper.  She's really good at it too!  Definite nice perk about having older kiddos in the house! :)

 First family of six bike ride a couple weeks ago! :)

 Em reading to her little sis.  :)

 Then we went to Arizona last week!  Ryan and his buddies went first to golf, hit up spring training, and watch a bunch of March Madness.  Then the wives went and overlapped one night....and then the men went home to watch the kiddos and my friends and I (and two babies) stayed and got some sun! :)  Here's Kacie and her buddy Henry. :)

 LOVE palm trees :)

 Kacie and I at the pool

 So blessed with these ladies friendship.  What would I do without you all?! :)

 We ate a lot...and ate at some great restaurants! :)

 My friends call this the "Kacie face"  She does this face pretty much all the time if you look at her and smile.  Wide open mouth.  Happy girl.  I really love her. :)

 Check out her future prom date.  Such a stud.  :)

 This was Kacie's 4th plane ride and she's 5 months old today the little stinker! :) We had had quite the year for travel.  Nuts! :)

 And just had to show that this is how Emily and Hailey play on their tablets.  All wrapped up in each other's legs like it's no big deal.  I imagine they were like this in the womb quite often and they still don't mind being in each other's personal space. :)  Crazy girls. :)

 Addy and Kacie

 Trying to savor every moment......she is growing up so fast!

Kacie is 5 months old today but at her 4 month appointment she was 15 lbs 15 oz and in the 78th percentile.  She was 26" long and in the 93rd percentile for height!  Now at 5 months, she is overall a good baby.  She's pretty content most of the time!  She's started a little bit of the stranger danger sometimes...and I THOUGHT she had started sleeping through the night at like 2 months but oh no that was just her teasing.  She continues to wake up twice a night and I just can't seem to stop her of this yet.  All of our travel and time changes don't help with getting her on a sleeping schedule but I'll take the travel and just postpone sleeping! :)  The day after we got back from Mexico was her 4 month appointment and they discovered her first double ear infection then!  I couldn't believe it as she was a champ on the plane and everything!  Poor girl!  She does well at tummy time and has started rolling from back to side a lot, grabbing her toes all the time.  She loves her nuk and her little cozy blanket and still loves to stand.  She's an observer and also a little social bug as she doesn't like to be in a room by herself.  She loves to chat and smile with her "Kacie face!" :)  She's a doll and we love her!!