Wild Adventures

Arabelle and Bo went to Wild Adventures last weekend with their best friends. They had SO much fun and I'm so thankful they were invited!

They enjoyed the water park and the roller coasters and other rides. Arabelle said she rode "Pharaoh's Fury" last and she thought she was going to throw up. Ha!

Bo's 5 year check-up

Bo had his 5 year check up on Thursday. He was nervous, but I assured him he wasn't getting a shot and he was thrilled to hear he doesn't need any until he is 11!

Only silly faces for me....

Everything checked out just fine....hearing, vision, etc.

He weighed 44.5 lb and was 3 ft 9 in tall. That's 75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. We've got a growing boy on our hands!

I'm hoping he is having a growth spurt because he is ALWAYS hungry. For example, this morning he had a waffle, apple, string cheese, blueberry granola bar, and a peanut butter sandwich, all by 10:30!!!

So thankful for this healthy and silly boy. :)

Bo is 5 years old!

Bo turned 5 years old on Thursday, August 20th!

Bo is such a funny kid. He loves to play Legos. I think he'd play ALL DAY if I let him.

Bo wanted an Army Man cake, so it had to be camo on the inside. I found a recipe online, so the inside was green, light brown, and dark brown camo.

Wednesday night I started making the cake, so the kids ended up staying up late to help. It was kind of fun in a weird torturous way. Ha!

Mae had licked her spatula and tried to dip it back into the cake. Stinker!

Last pictures as a 4 year old! 

I don't remember what happened, but Bo was laughing his head off....

Silly boy:

Usually Bo and Mae are the first ones up, right when their 'wake up' clock turns green at 6:45. This day, all 3 kids were up and ready to celebrate! 

Nerf gun!

Bo is the type of kid who gets excited about every little thing. This was a small wooden monster truck that he assembled and painted. He was so excited!

Look at that face! All about a little $1 glow stick with a plastic ax head on it. Ha!

Bo with his "5" pancake.

Because the 'camo' cake called for 2 boxes of cake mix (white and chocolate), Bo got his own small cake, which he decorated himself with his army men and candles. We did the birthday cake that afternoon, after Papaw and Mamaw came. Leigh Leigh and Connie also came over for the fun!

And he ate right off the cake with his fork.

Zeke didn't know that I was giving away M&Ms for the smiles. :)

We met Jared and Sambo for pizza at Danny's, then Bo went to spend some of his birthday money at the Dollar Tree. Arabelle was REALLY excited about the Dollar Tree trip!

Bo had $20 to spend and he came home with 19 items and a big smile. He is a bit of a hoarder, so he keeps all his "stuff" together. He bought army men, plastic spiders, snakes, stretchy frogs, glow sticks, dinosaurs, a monster truck, glow cars, a helium balloon, an army helmet, and probably a few things I've forgotten.

We had a really fun day celebrating our favorite FIVE year old! 

Zeke is 3 months old!

Zeke was 3 months old on Monday, August 17th. I say it every single month of my babies' first years, but I can't believe another month has passed!

• Zeke weighs around 15.5 lbs right now. He looks so long to me. Some of his 3-6 mo onesies are getting too short. He's in 6 mo outfits now. We are finishing up the last box of size 2 diapers as quickly as we can....they've started leaking some. He's in size 3s at night already. I finally pulled out the cloth diapers too. 

• Right around 9 weeks old, I let him learn to go to sleep on his own. We had a few rough days, but by a week of it, he was going down for naps without crying at all and sleeping SO much better at night. Totally worth it for better sleep (him and me!). 
• I started leaving an arm out of the swaddle and he usually sucks on his fingers some, but not a thumb sucker yet.

Crazy bed hair! 

• He is still taking all short naps though, right at 40 minutes, which as you can imagine, is pretty darn frustrating. He is still sleepy, so I try to get him back to sleep with the pacifier and put in the swing. It works about half the time now. He does go back to sleep, but often wakes when I put him in the swing and won't go back to sleep. 

• His awake time is right at 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes. He wakes right around 7 and goes to bed around 7 or a little earlier, depending on nap length. 
• He's still following the eat, play, sleep routine and nursing right around every 3 hours (mainly because of the short naps). He takes 4 naps a day.

• He is sleeping pretty well at night! Not quite as good as Mae was at this age, but I'll take it. He is my first baby that a 'dreamfeed' has worked. The idea is you feed the baby before you go to bed and hopefully get a good stretch of sleep. I dreamfeed him at 10 and he usually makes it until around 4am, nurses about 15 minutes, then sleeps until morning. I skipped the dreamfeed one night and had to get up at 1 and 4 to feed him. 

• Zeke wants to roll over so badly, but hasn't quite gotten over yet. He gets on his side a lot and likes when I help him roll over. Here's a video of Zeke trying to roll over. 
• He loves to lay on his belly and push up. Here's a video of Zeke's tummy time. 
• Zeke likes to squeal and scream now when he's having fun! All three kids enjoy trying to make him smile and squeal. Here's a video of his squealing!

• I put the playpen in the dining room this month and have been letting him have a couple of periods of independent playtime each day, usually around 10 minutes right now. He grabs the link toys and seems to have an okay time. He doesn't cry and with 4 kids, it's important for him learn to play by himself a little bit. :)
• He loves to sit with assistance and stand with support. 

• Zeke loves being outside and will take a nap in the baby carrier with the pacifier if we are out or on the go. 
• He still doesn't love the car seat, but does okay in there. 
• Zeke has started drooling a ton, like Mae did as a baby, so I ordered him some bibs to keep his shirts dry.  

• I usually lay him on this pillow when I fold clothes, but apparently he's too much of a mover for it now. He catapulted himself over in about 2 seconds last week! *No, I don't leave him on the bed or pillow alone. ;)

• There is no shortage of attention around here for Zeke. 

• And here's the 3 month comparison pictures. I can't believe how little he was at 1 month compared to now!

• And here is all 4 kids at 3 months old. People always say he favors Bo, but I can't really tell! I keep calling him Bo though. Ha! I think Bo was shorter at 3 mo, which makes him look bigger than Zeke is now. Genetics is pretty crazy!