My no-longer-5 month old.

Such a happy guy

 Sweet Carter Boy is actually 6 months old already and he is preparing a "Diary of a Six Month Old" post that should be good to go soon.
But for now, let's catch up on Month Five. 
There was lots of smiling, lots of new sounds, lots of reaching and tons of chewing on things.  (ANYthing:  toys, his fingers, our fingers, whatever he could get his hands on!)

Just chillin' with Dad

Mom made this new hat... Dad doesn't think it's manly enough!

Please Dad, can I have some Coke?!

The official 5 month old pic

Brady's Birthday

 Well our second child has entered the DOUBLE DIGITS!  I can hardly believe it.  Now he didn't make nearly as big of a deal as Jayme did (see here) but we had a fun Hockey Birthday for him at our church's gym.  This may be my new go to place for birthday parties... large area to run, no mess in my house, can invite as many kids as they want, it was IDEAL.  His Daddy and a friends dad played in net for the boys and they probably would have played floor hockey for hours!  We ordered pizza and they stopped just long enough to eat and open a few gifts and then back to the court for more hockey!  On Brady's actual birthday we went to Montana's for supper and he got to wear the Moose Ears.  Such a great boy we have.

Happy Spring

 Happy Spring!  Happy Easter!  We just had a lovely spring Break, and of course I had visions of relaxing days catching up on blog posts, but of course reality was that I had 4 children home, all day long, for the whole week.  We were pretty busy!  So I will try and catch up this week.  I have been taking pics, I have a newly 5 month old, and a new 10 year old.  Both of which I have posts planned for.

Easter was fun, the kids were blessed and now have treat bags full of candy and chocolate.  Thursday we went to Auntie Barb and Uncle Bruce's for a yummy supper and a fun time with cousins.  Friday we celebrated with the Sawatsky's and had a blast with all 12 grandkids!

Spring Break was great too, we went swimming one morning at the Steinbach Aquatic Center,  we had a movie morning at the mall, we had a birthday party that all 3 older kids got to go to, the kids had 2 sleepovers and with Easter capping off our week, Spring Break flew by.  Now we're just waiting for the snow to melt and for bike riding, evening walks and spring sports!  Bring it on!  SO very ready for Spring!

Diary of a Four Month Old

 My fourth month has been busy!!  But fun.  I started holding on to toys and of course sucking on them, it's my favourite!

 I'm learning to sit up in my Bumbo seat!  This is a handy seat for when I play hide and seek with my sister.  Mom hides me somewhere and Colie comes and finds me.  I love that game!  I just need to hide quieter!

 Check me out... I can't get over how handsome that kid in the mirror is!

 When Andrew came over he ditched his soother and sucked on my hand instead!  Crazy cousin!  Oh well, I'm planning ways to get back at him!

 I guess Mommy figured it was time for me to get in shape, so we're in a Baby and Mommy Bootie Camp.  Such hard work I do on that mat, phew!

Oh yeah, and did I mention I got to go to a Jets Game??  My brother and sisters haven't even gone yet... I'm wasn't going to say it, but I think I'm the favourite!!


Well I guess that Four Months is a pretty great age to be, maybe next month I will learn a new trick... sleeping through the night.  Then again I like to keep them on their toes!!


Here's my official Four Month old picture!

Cousins

Carter's new cousin Lukas came over last weekend... it was his first outing besides Grandma's house.  He was a wonderful visitor, so calm and quiet, in fact he barely kept his eyes open long enough for our little photo shoot!  These 2 buds are only 10 weeks apart :)  Carter is blessed to have close cousins on both sides of the family!

Lukas waving :)

 This is Carter's cousin Andrew, these guys are only 6 weeks apart.  You can barely tell who is older!  (It's Andrew btw)











 Carter also has  2 more buddies super close in age... Lincoln and Makai.  These guys might find Carter's siblings more fun right now, but give it a few years and they are the makings of best friends!

 Some of the best looks from this past week...

What's going on

 What's going on this winter?

We are all happy that hockey is back on... including Carter.  He enjoys watching the Jets and the Oilers. Well he pretty much enjoys watching whatever is on!

Our big dude out grew his newborn tub.  He  is now bathing in the the big tub, he loves kicking and splashing.  And of course his sister is a wonderful help!

 Carter loves standing.  Sometimes when the kids try to put him down, he stiffens up to keep standing!

This  bouncy seat is amazing... he loves it!    We move that thing all over the house so he can be with us.

Three Months

 Well our handsome little guy is three months old today!  He's such a joy! 

Tummy time :)

Nicole's 6th Birthday

 This year we took Colie and 3 of her "BFF's" to Build-a-Bear.  It was the cutest thing ever!  They had fun picking out a bear, naming it, stuffing it and putting a little heart inside it.  They got to carry those big boxes out into the mall and home to our house for some hot dogs and a mad game of Just Dance!

The sassy birthday girl... sporting her pink hair and a purse!

They had to close their eyes, put the heart on their noses and make a wish.

Super excited!

Poor girl had to go back to school right on her birthday this year, she didn't mind at all.  She brought cookies for her class and got to wear the birthday crown!  How cute was she on her special day???

December 2012

As every year, we try to slow down and enjoy our December.  We have certain activities that we do each year and it's fun to have these family traditions.  I absolutely love Christmas and all the lead up to it.  I love that it's a reason to spend time with  friends and family. I love  to celebrate our Saviour's birth.  I love singing Christmas Carols at church and lighting candles at the Christmas Eve service.  I love sitting by the lit Christmas tree and just savouring the moments.
Here are a few shots of our Christmas...

The kids always enjoy the Jade Christmas Party at Miracle Ranch...

Santa comes and brings each child a present, Jayme was thankful that she didn't have to take a turn on Santa's lap this year!

Carter slept through the early Christmas morning festivities

November 2012

November was a bit of a blur.  Carter was a very good sleeper - during the day.  At night he was a little different, somehow he was fussier and less settled.  It took about 4 weeks to figure things out and get him to the point where he would go right back to sleep after a feeding at night. 
We spent a lot of time at home in November, which was fine because it was cold and dark outside!  We got our house decorated for Christmas, and adjusted to our new life as a family of 6.

October 2012

This was the most exciting month of 2012 for us.... filled first with anticipation and anxiety waiting for our newest family member, then filled with excitement and exhilaration as we met Carter for the first time and shared the news with our family and friends, then exhaustion as we navigated through those first few weeks home with a newborn.  I was blessed to have Mark home for 2 weeks (spread over 3) and wonderful help from my parents driving the other kids to school and so many friends brought us meals and showered us with gifts for our new little man!  So very very thankful!
Here are a couple of pictures that didn't make it to the blog in October... boy was he little!!  My little guy that weighed 7.5 at birth is now a healthy and chubby 13lbs!!

September 2012

 September brought the end of a wonderful summer and the reality of a new school year, the school year I had been dreading... where 3 of my kiddos were going to be gone from me.  Knowing they were excited for it and definitely ready made it easier.  Also knowing that my stay at home mom years were not ending made it easier.  I love being at home and having our Carter has made these years stretch out a little longer.  Jayme started grade six, Brady, grade four and Sweet Colie started Kindergarten.  All 3 have great teachers and continue to enjoy their school year.  So thankful for that.