Beach pictures…May 2015

For Mother's Day this year we surprised the grandparents with a group photo session at the beach. We had such a fun morning playing at the beach with the kiddos. I love seeing them with both sets of grandparents. It reminds me of how lucky they (we) are to have such love in our lives. There is something special about the bond between a grandparent and their grandchildren. I know it well, I was lucky to grow up with the same bond, and feel so blessed my kids can experience the same thing. Thank you grandparents for being so amazing and loving our children unconditionally! These photos are such a wonderful example of this love. Our photographer Katie is so good at capturing the essence of the day.

So much love! <3

I love this bond

Twins! This kid is such an Evans (good thing we gave her that as a middle name)

Love this picture. Look at those piercing blue eyes. She got those from the Scifres clan for sure! 

Ava and Maga always have so much fun together <3

These are two lucky kiddos. 

These two are so sweet together 

My little beach lover

How does that sand taste Harper? 

Daddy's girl 

There is so much I love about this picture. Ava's face, Steve's face, and the pure joy surrounding them. This captures their relationship so well, they always have fun together. 

Just add Auntie Beth and this would be the perfect picture of Mimi and all her girls 

Big sister watching out for little sis…..such a great shot of the two of them 

Nothing can break the sister bond. 

Endless fun with all this sand

And the waves in the background were another fav of Harper's

The whole clan. Just missing the Aunties, Uncles, and new cousin Brady. 

9 months out….

I can't believe we are 9 months out….seems like yesterday we were 9 months in and Harper was getting ready to make her debut. 

This little one absolutely melts my heart every time I look at her, even when it is 3 am and she won't go back to bed (ok, maybe not so much at 3 am, but you get the point).  She is such a little love suck. Every morning when I pick her up from her crib the first thing she does is snuggle her head into my shoulder and gives me the sweetest smile. When she is happy it shows and is infectious, but when she is mad that shows just as strongly, which can be a bit challenging. She LOVES her big sister Ava and watching the two of them together will never get old. Ava continues to be so good with Harper, she always tries to calm her down when she is upset and loves to make her laugh. 

9 month stats….

Weight: 18.7 pounds

Height: 27 1/4 inches

Crawling all over the place and goes for anything she isn't suppose to have. 

She puts everything in her mouth right now and I do mean everything. Some of the things I have fish out of her mouth this month have been, sticks, an acorn, hair ties, grass, sand, a leaf, and a small piece of metal (not sure where she got that from). As Steve put it, you cannot take your eyes off of her for a second or she will be into something/eating something she is not suppose to be. 

Babbling (mamma, rara, yaya, lala, vava, brrr (we think she makes that sound when she sees Bruce)

Eats everything in sight. She continues to be a fabulous eater and has gotten so much better with it. She rarely gags on food, can pick up almost anything that is put in front of her, and can feed herself with a loaded spoon.

 

Nurses 4-6 times a day. Still one of her favorite things to do. I have to be really careful not to nurse her too much because if I let her she would nurse every hour. Probably why she still wakes up to nurse 1-2 times a night. 

Sleep was glorious for a hot minute. She was sleeping 10-11 hours straight and it was amazing, but it lasted for a second and now we are back to 1-2 wake ups a night. So now we are back to gentle sleep training in hopes of getting her back to sleeping through the night. 

May has come and gone……

Is it really June???? Where did May go??? My big girl is almost done with her first year of preschool and is becoming more and more grown up every minute! My little girl is 9 months old, has 4 teeth, crawls all over the place, and talks up a storm! I wish I could freeze time. I love the ages of my children right now (minus the threenager tantrums and still a few sleepless nights with the Harps).

Here is what we've been up to……

Mother's Day at the beach. 

Harper's lunch consisted of mainly sand a little bit of chicken and noodles. This kid puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, edible or not. At the park she is constantly putting sticks, rocks, grass, dirt, and whatever else she can find in her mouth. If you turn your head for a second she will have something in there you have to fish out. 

These two are definitely beach girls. They love the sand and Ava is finally starting to like the water

They are starting to play together and it is the most adorable thing I have ever seen. 

Food lover right here! She eats anything and everything. Watching her eat still amazes me.  I have no clue how she consumes the amount she does?? 

Big enough for the grocery cart. Usually big sis gets this spot,  so she loves sitting in the cart when big sis isn't with us. 

Bath time! Another big milestone from this month….she is strong enough to sit solo in the bath. 

Ava's first trip to the dentist was a success. She loved it! 

The TV, toys, balloons, and princess crown she got definitely helped to make the first dentist experience a positive one. 

Mimi and Papa came to visit for 9 days and we LOVED having them here! We were all sad when they left. Harper now enjoys the playground. She loves the swings, slide, and crawling on the play structure in our neighborhood. It is just the right size for her. 

My mom, the girls, and I went to San Diego for a few days while Papa was down there for work. We had so much fun! We found a cool indoor creative play place for the kids to explore while we waited for Papa to get off work. Once Ava spotted the castle and princess dress she was one happy kiddo! 

Harper had fun too! Now that she can move she is a much happier baby! 

We went to the San Diego Zoo on day 2 and both girls (and adults) had a blast. It really is the best zoo I have ever been to. Ava enjoyed seeing this hippo up close and personal. 

Mimi and Harper….riding up high across the park 

This kid is not afraid of heights at all! 

A baby giraffe was born about 20 hours before we got there. It was cool to see the momma and her baby interact. 150 pounds at birth! Yikes, that is a big baby! 

Happy Birthday Daddy! We made it back from San Diego just in time to celebrate Steve's birthday! 

The week my parents were visiting I had to work a few more days than usual getting things ready for my new job next year. Life is hard for Harper when I am not there. She is definitely a momma's girl and just overall does better when I am around. A big reason for that is because she still won't take a bottle so she goes all day without milk when I work. She eats plenty of food and drinks water so I am not concerned she is starving, but she does miss her milk when I am gone and that throws her off a bit. Luckily she has 4 grandparents who love her dearly and will deal with a crabby baby for 8 hours while momma is at work! We have tried everything to get her to take a bottle, she will do it when she is desperate, but its pretty rare. 

Harper and Papa. He knew how to tame the wild beast. He has always been the baby whisperer. :) 

These two <3 

Mimi and Ava. Every day since my parents have left Ava has a part of the day where she gets sad and tells me that she misses Mimi and Papa. She asks me all the time if we can move to Chicago. Sometimes I catch her when she is playing with her dolls and she pretends she lives in Chicago with the snow and Bailey. We are headed there at the end of the month and she is convinced she will see snow. Doesn't quite get the whole "seasons" thing yet. 

We had a photo shoot with both sets of grandparents down by the beach.  Our photographer was amazing and the weather was beautiful. What a fun day playing with the kids and having someone capture these lovely memories for us. I can't wait to see the pictures!! This was taken by Pete with his camera phone. You can tell he has talent, no equipment and he still took a fantastic photo! 

Harper getting into things she shouldn't be and Ava telling her to stop….pretty much the every day around here!

Look at the mischievous face. We are in trouble with this one. 

Baby gates need to go up soon. Not only is she crawling everywhere but she is trying to climb stairs! Slow down baby girl, slow down!

Yep, she is an Evans…..first taste of ice cream and she loved it! 

And this one would eat ice cream for every meal if I let her. 

A trip to the farm for Strawberry picking. Although by the time we finished with the rides, animal show, seeing all the animals, and riding a pony we were too tired to pick strawberries and decided to buy them from the farm stand and head home! Next time we will have to pick first and party last. 

Harper and her baby buddy Ben riding in the wagon. 

Prom night at the Ronald Reagan Library. 

She loves to push her baby. It might take us a long time to get anywhere but it is adorable watching her be a "little mommy." 

She kept calling me Mimi because she said she was the mommy so that makes me the Mimi.