6 months!

it's my half birthday!

salsa!  it's your half birthday!  half a year ago you finally made your appearance early in the morning and it is one of the most memorable moments of my life.  i almost daily think of the perfect way you came into this world and i am so thankful for the peaceful and intimate experience we had with you.

you have changed our world in only good ways and each one of us...me, your daddy, and your two big brothers love you and marvel at all the little new things you do each day.

we've had so many changes this past month that i've had to keep daily notes on my phone to not miss a thing!

your favorites include all of the baby gear we have lurking around our house now, including the baby einstein jumper.  i thought you would like this because it was one of burrito's favorites as a baby and your little personality favors him.  you love to jump! so now you rotate from the jumper to the exersaucer, then the bouncy seat or the play mat.  it is so fun to watch you explore each one.

i always wanted to be a "baby wearer" and this was the last thing on my "bucket list" of things i really wanted to accomplish with you....natural childbirth with a midwife outside of the hospital, breastfeeding (we've made it 6 months baby!!!), and now baby wearing!  i bought a boba and you love it!  we've revolutionized our grocery shopping experience and you've even fallen asleep in it while i vacuumed the house!

your first ride in the boba!

you've been quite the social one this past month with playdates with your friends zoey and bennett.  it is so funny to watch you look at other little people your same size!  you also love being outside and with the warmer weather we've enjoyed several trips to the park with your older brothers after school. you love to lay on a blanket and watch the kids or play with your feet.

one of the biggest changes this past month has been your new helmet.  it's been a bit of an adjustment for all of us.  at first, it seemed so odd to see you wearing it, but now it seems weird to see you with it off!  sleeping has been the only issue that cannot be completely resolved but we're working on it!

this has also been a month of firsts!  i simply cannot believe how fast you are growing up and things are changing!

you had your first bite of real food: rice cereal!  you were not a fan at first but slowly came around and then we couldn't feed it to you fast enough!

rice cereal...i'm not so sure about this mom!

your first tooth...that's right, a TOOTH!...appeared on february 11.  your lower right central is poking through now!

look close and you can see my new tooth peeking through!

your first vegetable was a sweet potato and you immediately gobbled up your first serving on february 20.

you have also mastered the art of blowing bubbles, rolling from back to belly and then back again with ease, and you are doing this funny thing, shaking your head vigorously back and forth.

i am so enjoying appreciating all the stages of life with a baby and when you smile at me with those dimples of yours, i melt everytime.  i love you salsa!

speech meet winners, the helmet, and other random stuff

well, i've been trying to do this blog post for days now and thanks to a little someone not sleeping AT ALL, i've just not been very motivated to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

but here goes:

john is coaching a basketball team from our school.  the big boys were sick with the flu at his first game, but we were all able to cheer them on at the second game.  salsa had his cougar gear on!

this is john and his little team

life has been CRAZY in our house since salsa arrived back in august, but we tried really hard to make sure that the big boys practiced diligently for their speech meet competition.  both boys picked bible verses to memorize and present this year.  burrito recited psalm 67:1-7 and noodle chose colossians 3:1-4.  noodle won last year and was hoping for a repeat and burrito has never won before, but really wanted to win this year.  i sat on pins and needles all day waiting to hear how they did, and THEY BOTH WON!  i was so pumped and made them pose for this picture.

we decided that we should eat out to celebrate and what did they choose?  a footlong sub from subway!  crazy boys!

eating the celebratory sub sandwiches!

salsa was baptized at our church back in september and inside the little area where they do the baptisms, they've begun adding these little plates with the names of the children who have been baptized there.  we were excited to take this picture of salsa's name.

salsa has discovered the joy of jumping!  he will sit here and play happily long enough for me to empty or load the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen and sometimes he even lasts long enough while we eat dinner.

look at that happy face!

i had to capture this sweet moment of noodle reading aloud to his baby brother.  melts my heart!

this is what we have affectionately coined "the grandpa face!" it's like he forgot his dentures!

his first taste of rice cereal. not initially impressed.

we've been more social lately and have managed a few play dates.  this sweet girl shares a birthday with salsa!  it was so fun to lament my pregnancy woes with her mom, and wondering who would go into labor first.  well, she was born a few hours before salsa but on the same exact day! crazy!

 the picture above is our other good friend.  he is a couple of months later and we love his parents!

you can never start too early right?  this is salsa "studying" burrito's spelling words.

this guy was ready to watch his first super bowl!

and he's discovered his feet!  the BEST toy ever!

salsa LOVED our new carrier!  it made grocery shopping SO much more pleasant!

and oh how life has changed since wednesday!  wednesday was helmet day and while you don't care one lick about the helmet during the day, you definitely do not care for it at night. but you do look cute!

and because we couldn't just leave it plain and boring, we had to bling it out!  burrito had no idea what "bling" meant which made me laugh and realize what a boy house i live in!  we added his name in orange letters along with stickers that say "little brother" and "tough guy."  these are our temporary decorations until we get it professionally wrapped in march.

 please pray for salsa's adjustment to the helmet at night.  he wakes up almost every hour and we are ALL suffering as a result.  i feel so bad for him and keep reminding myself that this short time pain is for long term gain.  it's tough being a mama!