Battle of the Bottle!

I have mentioned our struggle with getting Pippi to take a bottle, right?  What can I say, the girl loves herself some breastfeeding.

I have left her several times for various reasons over the course of her 5 months of life but not for too many hours.  I think I have only been gone for 2 feedings at a time…maybe 3 once.  In other words, I haven't been away from her for very long!  She has taken bottles but not easily and not a lot.  It has been a battle.

The bottle line-up.  Here is what we have tried and in that order.  And yes, those are nipple shields on the end, tried those somewhere in the middle.  Piper refused to nurse with them on.  Cooper set his Robin up and I didn't move it because I thought it was kind of fitting.  I imagine that Piper would love for Robin to shoot all those bottles down so she doesn't have to take them :).  

The last bottle seems to be the winner.  It's the old school Playtex with the drop in liner.  The liner works because the bottle givers (she refuses a bottle for me!) can squeeze the milk to encourage her to keep eating :).  

She has never taken more than 4 ounces at a time and never formula.  She usually takes 2-3 ounces.  We feel like we are on the right track now and making major progress but it hasn't been easy, that's for sure!  I always thought those people were crazy that said their babies wouldn't take a bottle and now I am one of those people!!!!!  

If you have any advice on this topic, I want it!  Send it my way, please!!!!!!

More outside time

Being home with the kids is so much more enjoyable when we can spend part of the day outside.  I remember that from teaching, indoor recess usually equalled crazy kids.  Kids need to be outside to run off some energy and soak up fresh air - it's good for the soul!

 We got a new stroller!  I never had a double stroller with Cooper and Laney because I didn't need to contain Cooper, he listened.  Laney is a different story-I need that girl contained in public places!  

 After much debating and drooling over the BOB, I went with the Joovy.  It is great and several hundred dollars cheaper and I am cheap :).  We just walked 6 hours around the Omaha Zoo with it and it was fab!  

 Oh this sweet baby girl is getting so big, so fast!

 The big kids were playing, I was trying to clean out the garage a bit and I had Piper on a blanket.  I looked over and she had rolled onto the concrete!  This was the first time she had rolled a full circle!!!!

 Sidewalk chalk never gets old with these kids.

Our backyard is the perfect space for Cooper to practice his golfing.  This particular day was so windy that I couldn't take Piper out so we watched the kids from the window.  I mostly prayed that Laney wouldn't walk into his swing.

 Adam played with the kids in the backyard Sunday evening while I put our house back together after a busy weekend.  I looked out to see Laney and just laughed.  She played in that mulch and then moved on to the dirt behind our grass for almost an hour!

The boys were practicing baseball.

Bring it Summer!

We broke out the swimsuits at the Stilley's patio!

Yep, May 6 we broke out the swimsuits for the first time of 2014!  We spent the late afternoon/early evening at the Stilley's house for Happy Hour for the moms and snack/play time for the kids. It was perfect!

 The weather was beautiful!  The kids played in the water table, in the sprinklers, on their play set and had a ball.

We brought popcorn and the Stilley girls had lots of other fun drinks and snacks.  A fun afternoon with some of our favorite people!

1st trip to Deanna Rose as Kansans!

Almost every time we came to visit from Texas we made a trip to Deanna Rose.  We are so excited that we can go whenever we want now!  It's just 10 minutes from us!  We made our first visit last week - Mamaw was in town watching the Jones' kids so we met them there.  It was Mamaw and Piper's first trip to one of our favorite places!

 These sweet calves!  I could have watched them forever.

 The infamous bottle feeding goat area. Cash and Cooper were all over it - prob the first year that Cooper was ok with it.  Laney definitely needed some help from Mama, especially when those goats wanted to eat her dress.

Piper saw a lot of me from her carseat and no animals - maybe next time ;).

That's all the pictures I took because there were hundreds of children there and we were busy keeping track of our 5!  Seriously - it was field trip mania, don't know that I have ever seen it that crowded!  

Cooper the photographer

Usually when the kids take pictures on my phone, its of toys or random objects.  This time Cooper took some sweet pictures of Piper and I even if they are blurry.

 She clearly had something very important to tell me.

 Nestled in her favorite spot, my bosom :).

Love this sweet 3rd baby of mine!

Laney Faith - Lord Help Me

The title says it all.  I used to worry about how I would survive my kids' teenage years, now I wonder if I am going to survive Laney's toddler years!  To know her is to love her and laugh and laugh some more.  And if you know her well, you understand the title to this post.  She has been a bit of a spitfire from early on.  Just a few nights ago I was going thru old blog posts and Adam and I were just laughing because her wild side was so apparent from early on!

Lately though she has turned it up a notch.  She makes us laugh all.day.long.  And sometimes I laugh because otherwise I might cry :).  Seriously, she is freakin' hilarious - her mannerisms, what she says, the looks she gives, how she plays, what she wears…you name it, the girl cracks us up!  And she is as ornery as she is funny.  That little body of hers can test your limits like no other.

 Laney has had lots of this lately.  When something doesn't go her way, she points her finger at me and says, "you mean mommy."   Man, I need to get that on video - it really is pretty funny.  However, when something bad comes out of her mouth then something bad goes in.  She gets vinegar and she HATES it.  Knock on wood, she hasn't had any for a few days now.  Early last week it was several times a day - I could barely keep up!

 Dad taught the kids this trick and they think it's hilarious.

 Don't let that innocent look fool you.  Girlfriend is rarely taking a nap these days.  She gets out of bed a million times (moving her to a big girl bed was a huge mistake, should have left her in that crib until she was crawling out daily!) to tell me 'night mommy', go pee/poop, you name it.  I redirect her a few times but if she is still getting out, I tell her she is going to bed early.  I waste so much of nap time trying to keep her in her room that it isn't worth it!  Naptime is precious time people!!!

 This was 5:30 on a no nap day.  She fell asleep sitting up watching me make cookies.  I cleaned her up from dinner and told her to go play.  5 minutes later I found her on the couch sound asleep again.  I took her to bed thinking I was probably going to regret this when she was up and ready to rock at 2 am.  Nope, she slept until 7:45!!!!!  Think she was tired??

 She now wants to pump bottles for her babies all the time.  In fact, just tonight she was throwing a fit at bedtime because she needed to pump her baby a bottle ;).

 She fights Piper for time in the exersaucer.

 Princess heels, Sofia the First dress, a saw and some Star Wars mask…seems about right.  Oh yeah and still in her (mismatched) pjs - who knows what time of day it was!

Oh, Laney Faith - I love you so and you keep me on my toes.

So long swing

Seriously, Piper is growing up too fast!  I swear she is changing so much everyday, I can't keep up!  The latest is she has outgrown the beloved swing :(.  This is hands down our favorite baby accessory.  All of the kids spent countless hours sleeping in that swing - I swear it's magical.

 A tad big for the swing, don't you think?  Also a tad too big for those 3 month pants I squeezed her into that day.

 She loved that swing!  

At 6 weeks old

This picture is 3 months later!