Life in June

June seriously flew by!  That might be for the fact that the last third of it was spent traveling in Poland and for the whole week before we left we were busy packing and getting ready for our 11 day vacation!  I have plans to post separately about Poland so this will really just be about the first 20 days of the month.

The month started with a relaxing night at Marc and Amber.  We had a wonderful dinner, watched the kids play in the water, and then enjoyed some time by the fire.  It was so fun to watch the kids play together!  Elsie and Aubrey are getting to the age where they are playing together vs playing side by side and it is so fun to see their relationship develop.

John had a great time playing with water balloons with Cayden.  It is a good thing someone did because it definitely wasn't going to be Elsie.  For some crazy reason she was terrified of them.  She would start crying the minute Cayden would come in ten feet of her. Crazy girl! 

Playing with sparklers for the first time! 

It was such an enjoyable night!  

Two days later we celebrated John's birthday as a family.  For his birthday we got him a new bike-he needed one so bad and was so excited to get it for him.  So to celebrate we decided to take it for a test ride on the High Trestle Trail.  We went biking on the trail Last Year and enjoyed it so we went again.  It is a nice flat trail so for our first real ride of the summer it was perfect! :)  And it was a beautiful day.  

 After the bike ride we drove to Picket Fence Creamery-a local creamery.  We had wanted to go last year but it was another two miles off the trail and so this year, we parked on that end of the trail so that when we got back we could just drive there.  Normally, I don't believe they are open on Sundays but this Sunday was a "Sample Sunday" where it is the only Sunday during the month they were open.  They had music, food, wine tastings, and vendors-oh and delicious ice cream sundaes.  So I finally got some of their milk (they are local and organic so I wanted to give it a shot to see if we liked it because it is not homogenized and for the record it was so good!!).  

 And they had these little bottle calves in their front yard and they were so sweet and gentle.  Elsie just loved being able to get up so close and pet it.  

It was just a wonderful day!!!! When we got home we let Elsie take a little nap and we were going to just relax (I had declared it a no-work day) but then Tally threw up on the front porch and one thing led to another and we were cleaning the front porch.  And I was SHOCKED at the diffence it makes.  As you can see in the picture below the left side had not been cleaned and right side had.  

Elsie helped a little when she woke up from nap.  And because all we used was vinegar and water it was safe for her to help.  It felt so good to get that project finished.  

 

Emma and Olivia started softball this year and we finally made it to a game.  I love watching softball and I can't wait to watch these two girls as they grow up! 

Donut Dates

So I am still taking Elsie on our Friday Donut Dates :)  It is a fun little tradtion that we started last month.  This month we decided to go the bakery instead of just walking up to Casey's.  I let her get a juice box (very berry) and we sit by the windows and watch the birds and bunnies right outside.  

June 6th 2014

June 13th, 2014 

 Also our little group of friends grew this month!  Nick and Hillary had a little boy, Brady, born on June 12th!  We are so happy for them!!

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day we celebrated by going golfing as a whole family-Dale, Bev, Brandi, Todd, Emma, Olivia, John, Elsie, and Myself.  It was another beautiful day and everyone had a good time.  I only golfed a few holes and then drove Elsie around on the cart :)  Afterwards we all grabbed dinner at Valentino's-one of John's favorite places to eat.  

Elsie and I just don't go on donut dates, we go on lunch dates too.  After her 2.5 year check up I thought it would be fun to out for lunch and eat out on the patio.  

A few other things to note about the month of June. . . 

1.  I made our dining reservations for our Disney Vacation that we have planned for later this year. 

2.  I read Sycamore Row by John Grisham and it was really good. I started Me Before You and Monuments Men.  I am yet to finish either one :).  

3.  Elsie had her first dentist appointment and a dr. appointment with a new doctor (post on this coming soon). 

4.  We worked a ton again in the garden.  We scaled back part of one of the beds and turned it into grass.  We did no projects inside the house this month.  

5.  We spent a lot of time packing and preparing for Poland and trying to get in as much Elsie time as possible!  

6.  I already wrote a whole separate post on this but along with Brandi and the girls, I ran in a race this month.  You can find that here.

7.  We had a wonderful park playdate this month.  Quite a few of my friends are off from work since they work at the schools so we had a picnic and just let the kids play.  It is so nice to have others off during the day :)  I will miss this when they all go back to work in the fall.  

8.  John and I did not have a date night this month because we figure Poland was like a great big date week.  

Cheers to another great month in the books! 

Elsie Marie-3 Months

Today our little girl is 3 months old already!  She is getting SO big (and long).  It has been a very eventful month for us all.  When taking her 3 month pics at home she made quite a few silly faces so I chose to use those this month :)

Her at home weight is 12 lbs 6 oz.  She is still eating between 6-8 times a day but pretty much eats anywhere from 24-30 ounces now.  There was a few days last week where she ate over 32 ounces (I think she was going through her 3 month growth spurt).  She is still getting about 2/3 breastmilk and 1/3 formula except when she eats over 30 ounces :).  While at daycare she is getting all formula and keep the breastmilk for when she is at home.  So no, I still haven't caught up to her needs.  I am getting about 16-18 ounces a day but I am planning to continue to do it as long as I can.

Last month I talked about how she worked her way into a sleep schedule and for the first 3 weeks of Month 2 she slept from 10:30-5 or 6:00.  However, this past week she is getting up again for a feeding in between those times.  The past few nights we have woken up to her pretty upset.  It appears as though she is trying to roll over and gets stuck.  Poor girl but she is getting frustrated.  Her little head gets so cranked to the side but her body just won't follow :).  At home she take a couple of long naps during the day.  The past two days at day care she just takes cat naps but there is a lot of new stuff going on around her.  She is still sleeping in our room at night.  We did transition her out of her smaller pack and play into her standard size one that we got from some friends at one of her baby showers.  At night she would rotate 90 degrees and would get mad when she couldn't keep on going without running into the sides.  So last weekend we decided to switch it out.  I swear two nights ago I put her in one way and when I went to get her when she woke up she had rotated 180 degrees.  If you are wondering why she is still in our room AAP recommends sleeping in the same room as the parents until 6 months of age to reduced the risk of SIDS.  If you know me I am a strict SIDS risk reduction follower ;).  If they recommend it, I do it.  But hey, it helps me sleep at night . . .

Yesterday morning was a sad day for me.  John was getting Elsie ready for the day and he tried to put on 2 different newborn diapers (the last two that we were using) and she did not fit in either of them.  She is just too long for them.  The rise doesn't fit anymore...it isn't the waist or the legs.  I told him that makes me sad.  John's response was "Why are you sad?  This just means you get to buy another diaper right?"  Of course that makes me happy since I love shopping for diapers :).  I found a new brand to try Chelory Diapers.  They are made by a WAHM (work at home mom) in Little Falls, MN.  I got it but haven't used it yet.  Probably tomorrow.  They too are hard to get like the RagaBabes-which are still by far my fave diaper.

She has found her thumb!  It is hard to keep her hands out of
her mouth these days.  Many times I will find one hand holding
her pacifier and the other hand in her mouth.  

Not only is she growing out of her diapers, she is growing out of her clothes.  She is officially in 3-6 month clothes now.  Even some of the sleepers without feet are a little short or the pant legs rise up on her.  There are a few 2-piece outfits I can get her in but she got really angry at me the other day when I tried to put her in a sleeper and she couldn't straighten her legs. So she hung out in just her onesie for a while :)

 She is getting stronger and stronger everyday.  She is still okay with her swing but I don't think she enjoys it as much as she did before.  She does fall asleep in it during the day though.  We have started sitting her up in her bumbo chair this past weekend and I think she really likes it.  She tries to sit up when we she is in a reclined position.  She doesn't get there of course but that doesn't stop her from trying.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, she rolled over 2.5 weeks ago  and up until today she hadn't.  Today she surprised me by rolling over multiple times throughout the day.  She is grabbing and batting at things a lot more too.  No longer does she just look at those dangling things above her, she hits and kicks at them too.  Oh I also have to mention that she is drooling like crazy.  I think it is time to make bibs part of her daily wardrobe.

We didn't have too many exciting outings this month but Elsie did get to meet two new friends who were born.  On February 26th, Briggs was born and on March 12th Aubrey was born.  And there are more new friends to come in the next couple of months.  She also spent an evening with Grandma and Grandpa Sorem while we went out with some friends and Grandma and Grandpa Fenstra came for a weekend visit.

Briggs 

Aubrey 

I think the biggest change in the last month took place this week and that is me going back to work-although it is part time it still means she goes to daycare.  She had a wonderful first two days.  Monday JoLene even got her to giggle.  She told me about it during the day and then when I went to go pick her up she was able to demonstrate that adorable little giggle for me.  It was a little hard for me but I know that she is being taken care of by a wonderful person, it is only 3 days a week, and she will have so much fun playing with her friends.