Happy Baby

Elise is such a happy baby. We are really enjoying having her here. She loves to eat, and we are trying all kinds of new foods! She does NOT like lasagna, as you can see in this video: (click here)



But she loves to eat cereal now with fruit, and most of her dinners she really enjoys. She loves to take a bath, and then one of the kids will lay on my bed with her while she gets some tummy time and read her a book. She loves it, and Riley and Regan have been enjoying it too. It's so cute to see them with her. Regan will help me bathe her and get her ready for bed, and Riley will come in and play with her while I brush her hair and put lotion on her. I love night time routines. Such a snuggly bug!

Camp Kachina

There are two Girl Scout camps nearby, one is Camp Texlake, where Regan goes every summer, and we have been for Service Unit campouts and activities. The other is Camp Kachina. It is not nearly as nice as Camp Texlake, as we had the opportunity to discover!

We signed the girls up for a Journey weekend called "Get Moving". I thought it was all about exercise and eating right and all that, so thought it would be a fun weekend, but tiring. No, was I wrong! For some reason it was all about energy conservation. How to reduce your carbon footprint, and recycle, and reduce greenhouse gases. Yawn. I get it, we need to take care of our planet, yada yada yada. I don't need to spend my entire weekend sleeping on a cot in a screened shelter to learn about it!

The girls had fun, somewhat. They enjoyed making beads out of recycled paper. They enjoyed doing an energy audit on some of the lodges. And they enjoyed a team building exercise on a tarp, where they all had to stand on one side of the tarp, and manage to flip it to the other side without anyone falling off.

But the best part was late on Saturday night, the girls came to our cabin after showers and had me French braid their hair and we all got to talking and laughing, and even dancing (Gangnam Style!) and we were laughing so hard we got busted! Finally have some real fun and we had to shut it down. But it was a great time with the girls, that I don't think they will ever forget!!

But, we had no a/c, outdoor showers, pretty bad bathrooms, it just wasn't a real fun weekend like I was expecting. But, next month we have another campout there, and I'm not volunteering for it!

Elise got to spend the weekend with Aunt Tammy, and they had a great time, she was spoiled rotten! They took her shopping and bought her diapers and formula and some cute clothes! Then I got to meet up with Tammy on Sunday for lunch and get her back. She enjoyed her time with Aunt Tammy and all her "cousins"!

The Casts are GONE!

Regan was very excited to finally get her last cast off. We had a Girl Scout campout coming up and she did NOT want to go camping with a cast on. On the off chance she could find her way to a pool or lake or something!

They took her cast off (nasty), she tried to keep it (gross) and took more x-rays of both arms. The left arm looks almost like new, and the right arm is getting there. She is now in a splint on the right arm only, for 3 weeks and only when she's out of the house. So she's very excited. Her arm was really gross when they took the cast off though, lots of brown, dead skin. The doc told her to wait and let it all come off on it's own or it would be sensitive, but before they could come in with the splint, she had all that dead skin rubbed off.

After 2 months, she's cast free!!

Fun Baby Times

I'm home all day with the kids at school, it's just me and Elise (and the dogs-but they aren't as fun) so of course I just take pictures and videos all day.

Elise loves, I mean LOVES the iPad. I downloaded some baby games and she will sit there and talk and laugh, it is so stinking cute! So here's a video of her laughing at an iPad game: (click here)



And she was taking a bath one night, she loves bath time, and I was looking for some of Regan's toys that she can play with, and found this black dragon toy from a Happy Meal from years ago. I tossed it in the tub and she freaked out! She does NOT like him. I don't know why, but anytime it gets close to her she freaks out, blinks her eyes and pouts, it's too funny, so of course, I took a picture.



And one of Hunter being a bad dog and trying to take off with a couch cushion. That boy is a handful I tell you! He needs/wants constant attention, and I don't have the time to give it to him. We are about to get him into some puppy training though, so that should help.





Anyway, enjoy the pictures, you know there will be more to come, many, many more!

Weekends

Riley was at Sea Cadets, they had an armed forces expo at Camp Mabry this month so they got to go there instead of Ft. Hood. Which was nice because it saved David a couple of hours in the car! But we were home and bored so we took the girls to The Domain for some window shopping. Elise liked being pushed around in her stroller, and Regan really liked checking out the Tesla. We sat by the big fireplace outside and rocked and Elise just watched the kids playing and had a great time.

Riley came home in full uniform and I always like to get some pictures of him while he's decked out. He looks so handsome in his little uniforms! He's growing up so fast.

And baby makes 5...

Man, babies are a lot of work! I keep thinking about my mom and how she was about my age with a new baby and she just said, "They keep you young!" Ha! She lied! I have never felt so old in my life. Of course, I AM old, for a 9 month old! Thankfully, Elise is a good sleeper, so that's been nice. But she still wakes up several times a night for a bottle, even though she goes right back to sleep, I'm a light sleeper all of a sudden and hear every little sigh and whimper. That combined with Hunter barking, sometimes as early as 5am, and well, I'm running on fumes most days.

But, Elise is a happy baby, and I know she's in a good place right now, so I can breathe easy. Pastor Joe has been preaching a sermon series on "Living Dangerously" and I always tell the kids to "do the hard things" we can't cop out of stuff just because we don't want to, or don't feel like, doing them. So, I'm learning from Pastor Joe, and taking my own advice, and sucking it up, and doing the hard thing, and living dangerously!!

I do try to keep a good attitude, and think most of the time I'm okay. But sometimes I get angry. Angry that (and I'm pretty sure Kenzie doesn't read my blog, so I'm okay) but I get angry that I'm being responsible, while she is out doing whatever she wants. That she's leaving a trail of destruction behind her that she will not comprehend for years. What if she never gets it together enough to get Elise back? She's already bonding with us, and while I don't want to raise another child, I can't imagine giving her back until I'm absolutely sure she's in a safe, stable environment. And then what? What if this pattern that Kenzie has found herself in continues? Another man, another baby? I *really* don't want *another* baby after this one either! And do I just keep cleaning up after her as she goes through life without thinking about the consequences to her actions?

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud, I know no one has the answers but God. I just pray over Elise every day that God's will be done in her life, whether that's with us long term, back with her mom, or someone else. I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future, right?! So, I appreciate everyone's prayers for us right now. The kids are great, they love her and are such big helps. Even David, who isn't exactly a "baby" person, is so good with her. I think we all know she just needs extra love and cuddles right now, and she's really doing great.

So here's some pictures of her from the past week. She's so cute, and just loves to talk and really wants to play with the dogs, I can't wait till she's chasing them around the house! (Although I'm sure they aren't in any hurry for that to happen!)

Jenny's Wedding

My cousin Jenny got married at the prettiest little chapel at St. Edward's University. Regan went with me while David stayed home since Elise was asleep. I hadn't seen my cousins in a while, so it was good to see everyone even though it was a short visit. I didn't get to go to the reception, but Regan enjoyed her first wedding! She didn't understand why the priest kept kneeling in front of the communion table, and she asked me later why he kept "bowing to the wine!" It was funny.

School Dance

Regan's first school dance! She bugged me forever to take her dress shopping. And then, the night of the dance, we got so busy, and she went with her friends, I didn't get any pictures of her all dressed up, but I do have pictures of her trying on her dress and trying to figure out what shoes to wear. She went with the stripes, I liked the cowboy boots! But, she looked cute either way. She had me braid her hair too so it was nice and wavy. Can't believe she had her first dance! She came home doing the cupid shuffle, and there were no girls/boys dancing together, not yet anyway, have a few more years before I have to worry about that, thank God!

Here We GROW Again (haha)

We recently added Hunter to the family, now we've added another. This one's much cuter though, my niece, Elise! (Denise's niece, Elise. Say that 3 times real fast!)

Anyway, Kenzie needs some time to get back on her feet and get things together, so Elise will be staying with us for a while. We don't know for how long, but we are happy she's here and happy to know that she's in a safe place and that Kenzie can concentrate on doing what she needs to do for now. So, I'm remembering what middle of the night feedings, car seats, diaper bags, and poopy diapers are like.

The kids are so excited to have her here too, (for now!) but they've been a big help. Regan is such a little mama, and likes to help with changing and feeding and bath time! Well, that's our news for now. I'm on the hunt now for a stroller and walker and some things for her to play with. As much as I would love to hold her all day, that's just not feasible for me!