Five Months

Leo, you celebrated turning five months old at the pool in Montana, no bad my boy, not bad at all.  You continue to grow at an incredible rate, you have moved into 9-12 month clothing and your toes are just starting to dangle off the end of your car seat.  You're happy and patient but have recently become more fussy, due to teething, I think. 
You are on the move, not crawling but rolling both directions and scooting all around,  You're whole body gets going when you see Georgia running around and she can always make you smile.
Sleep, well, here is one topic that you really need to work on, your mother would really appreciate it.  You are still up multiple times a night, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.  I keep saying, well, if you're growing at lightening speed I guess you're legitimately hungry in the middle of the night.
Your eyes are a deep, dark brown, you almost can't make out your pupil.  Your eyes are so expressive, even with how dark they are there is such a brightness to them.  When I look at you I see a bit of an old soul, there's a calm and content nature about you.  I call you my koala bear, you fit just so on my side and love to snuggle in.  I love you my sweet boy and can't wait for the adventures that lie ahead.

 Two of a kind

 

Camp Montana

This summer has been amazing, full of firsts for our whole family, Georgia in particular.  We've had so much fun getting out and doing whatever it is that we want to do, the most fun perhaps was our trip to Whitefish to see Grammy and Grandpa's new house, or as we like to call it, Camp Montana.  We met the Pittman's there and had a ball, all staying under one roof!  Georgia and Lauren shared a room, summer sisters as Leslie says, they loved it.  The neighborhood has a great salt water pool where the kids spent most of their time.  We also went to Big Mountain, Georgia had her first s'more and the kids had so much fun on the morning treasure hunts that Grammy set out for them.  

Leo got tons of attention, it was so fun to see his face light up every time he saw Grandpa.  

When they started building their new house the goal was to have someplace fun where everyone could be together... mission accomplished!!  We had great food, wine and a little relaxation time, we all had a great time and look forward to many more adventures!

 

 

The perfect s'more sticks

 



I'm going to go ahead and say Georgia liked s'mores

 



We rode the chairlift to the top of the mountain

The trails are for mountain bikers... we didn't get that extreme.

 

It was so fun having these to together!

Their scavenger hunt loot!

 



Leo love the pool!

Blake the fish

Leo relaxing poolside

I can see this same shot 20 years from now!



So chic

Ready

Set

Go!

Again!!

Big splash!

The view!

Fish Camp where the kids tried fishing, hiked around and played..

 



All things Georgia, All things Leo



Ah, my Georgia girl, you amaze me daily.  You have become half my brain, always wanting to help write the grocery list and keep me on track with what I sent out to accomplish in a day, your memory is incredible.  You are an amazing big sister, every morning greeting Leo with a, "hi honey" in your sweet mini-mommy voice. 

You're very strong and continue to gain strength through Little Gym, if jumping were a real mode of transportation I think that'd be your choice.

You've become quite the negotiator, and I hear "but mom.." any time I ask you to do something that you don't want to.  For as much as you are pushing the boundaries, you have resumed holding my hand most of the time.  

You have become very interested in learning your letters and understanding which ones go with what words.

You have always been very aware, never missing the things that go on around you, several months ago I told you I was going to teach you our phone number, I said, you repeat the numbers that I say, I started, 206... then you immediately recited the rest of our phone number without me saying a word.. you'd heard me on the phone enough times that you'd already memorized on your own.

Some of my favorite things you say:

Hey guys (this starts most of your sentences)

Sa-lam-a-lee (Salami)

Yittle (little) you know how to say your "L's" but always say "yittle" and I love it.

In recent weeks you've told me that you want to be a doctor when you grow up, when I ask what a doctor does, you say, make people feel better.

Favorite color:  orange

Favorite thing to wear: tutu

Most fun thing to do: play with Sadie

Favorite food: noodles

You continue to be a snuggler and tell daddy and I that we are the best mommy and daddy you've ever seen!  We love you sweet girl, I'm so grateful that you're my daughter!



Oh baby Leo, what a gift you have been to our family.  You are a happy, mellow guy who loves to be part of the crowd. I often find myself thanking you for patients, you're (almost) always willing to happily wait as I tend to something (usually your sister) and then get to you - so goes the life of a second born, I know you'll be just fine because I too am a second born, patients is a good quality. You're rolling over both ways now and continue to have amazing strength, youre sitting up by yourself  too!   Your babbling is expanding in sounds and your smile lights up a room.  You've shown your empathetic side too, if Georgia is upset and crying, almost immediately your lips start to pucker and the tears flow.  Sleep is not your strong suit, I hope sleeping through the night is a skill that you'll acquire soon.  We all love you so much Leo, I'm so thankful for my sweet baby boy!



To my kids, you are everything I've dreamed of and more.  The love I have for you is greater than you'll ever know, this is true because with every button you push and every middle of the night wake up, there is still no place I'd rather be.



Biker

Santa was kind enough to bring Georgia the princess bike she'd asked for but since Christmas there hasn't been much riding.  We live on a hill and don't have a great space for a new rider so she wasn't getting any practice time.  Finally she was showing some interest so we took her bike to a nearby school playground and away she went.. she was so proud of herself and we were amazed at how quickly it all came together for her.  She ended up chasing us around the playground saying, "run" as she pedaled close behind.

Every Strand

This week Georgia had a first, her first haircut... ever.  I'd literally said, "I don't want to cut it until she looks like Crystal Gayle" when her hair started to grow back.  Recently though, Georgia had been hearing about her friends and cousins getting their hair cut and asked when she could too. 
Hair has such emotion tied to it now, I remember asking early on when she would lose hers and then waking up in the hospital with strands of her beautiful blonde hair all over the pillow.  As Georgia's hair grew back there was a lot of questions in my mind, I'd heard the term "chemo curls" and noticed that it was coming in much darker than it had been.  Someone at the hospital commented that with the exception of redheads, just about everyone's hair comes back medium brown then turns lighter or darker.  It's taken a while but Georgia has returned to blonde, a beautiful, warm blonde and although it's not curly, it certainly has much more body than it did before.
I finally came around, realizing that a trim would keep her hair healthier so I made an appointment at a kids salon here in West Seattle.  Georgia was excited to go and Brian happened to be home so it became a family affair, all four of us went to this momentous occasion.  She seemed a little nervous, holding my hand for part of it but was happy to request two little braids when she was done, and it was topped off with pink sparkles, she was thrilled.  We kept some of the hair, I will tuck it away with the hair that I saved from the hospital, after all, Georgia has more than earned every single strand.

DG Days

Last weekend the kids and I headed down to a park in Tacoma to meet up with some friends from college.  Erin, a sorority sister was in town from Arizona  and we'd managed to coordinate a few ole' DG's and our kids to catch up.  Hard to believe that 18 years and 11 kids ago (one wasn't there) that the five of us all pledged Delta Gamma at WSU, I have so many fun memories with these girls, okay, women and I love that we don't miss a beat despite not seeing each other very often.

 

Cowboy Leo

It was hot the other night, too hot for regular jammies so I grabbed a onesie to put on Leo.  We've been fortunate to get a lot of great hand-me-downs, this was a new one to us, it read, "Little Cowboy" which reminded me of the baby cowboy boots that Blake had.  I pulled the boots out thinking they'd be way to big since Blake wore them when he was starting to walk.  Not the case here, I'm still not sure if it was Leo's feet or cankles that were hard to get into the boots but we did it, barely.  We were supposed to be winding down for bedtime but I couldn't resist showing cowboy Leo to daddy, he was too cute so we grabbed the camera.