Abigail is 6 months old

Abigail turned 6 months old-----two and a half weeks ago. She is absolutely by far the most “spoiled” of any of our children. Let me explain should her older siblings ever question what I mean by that. Miss Micali and Elijah only got to be in our bed for the first 6 weeks of their life. I quickly moved them into their own bed and let them cry it out and was soon only up maybe once with them in the night and ALWAYS returned them to their own bed. Their bed time was at least 7:00 EVERY single night.

Well, now let's talk about Princess Abigail (Eli’s favorite thing to call her is Princess). She stayed in our bed until well past two months before I decided to move her to her own room. She quickly decided she was okay being in her own space and at 3 months after being rocked to sleep would stay asleep for 12 hours from 8 to 8. Then we went on a LONG vacation (over two months). She slept through the night the first few nights. Then she figured something out. If she cried I wouldn’t just rock her and put her back in her own bed. I was so nice I would just quickly pull her in bed with me so that she wouldn’t cry long and wake anyone in the house up.  She has become very used to this way of life and so far even after being home nearly a month is still being brought into my bed –mostly because I am too tired to do anything else. She stays up until we go to bed and wakes up when we do in the morning. I am going to do something about this soon however right now I don’t know when that will be. So, little Abigail it is recorded now—as far as your sleeping habits they are pathetic and you mostly prefer to sleep next to your mommy. Now don’t get me wrong. I love having you as snuggle bug but it’s got to change so I can get some BETTER sleep.

Now just look at this sweet thing and see if you could deny her of ANYTHING she wants……

Check out her sticky-outy ears----Luke calls her his Elfin Princess.

--Abigail loves her feet---all five toes can fit in her mouth at once.

--She can roll from front to back and back to front

--She loves Micali singing songs to her

--She laughs while watching daddy wrestle with her brother and sister

--She has started eating some food—right now more comes out then goes in but she has tried, rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce and green beans.

--She is chewing on everything and when someone is holding her she tries her hardest to get their thumb in her mouth to chew on

--She is only sleeping 3-4 hours at a time at night (but plans are to change that---SOON!! I think.)

All on a Sunday Morning

Our church building is currently being remodeled so we have had to  share a single building with four other wards. That has made our 3 hour block schedule quite interesting. The first two wards start at 8:30, we got the later time starting at 12:30 with sacrament at the end starting at 2:30. So far it hasn’t seemed to be too hard on the kids as they sleep right through sacrament meeting. The part Luke and I have missed the most is our treasured Sunday afternoon naps as a family when we got home at noon.

Here are some pictures of our morning yesterday. Mostly of Micali…

Reading stories with Daddy.

 

Curlers in the hair.

 

A curly mess.

All ready for church. Thanks to Aunt Kayla for the freshly painted nails. She was so excited to have a dress that matched Abigail.

 

Family Photos --unedited

 

We are back home in Monticello! School has started and we are getting back into a schedule. Little princess Abigail weighed in at just over 17 lbs at her 6 month check-up.  Micali was 17 and a half on her 1st birthday.  Looking forward to getting this blog updated!

Zoo outing with Grandpa Peless

 

While daddy was hard at work studying for his class we decided to leave the house so he could have quiet time. Grandpa took us to the Saginaw Children's Zoo. Micali and Eli loved the train, and carosel the most. We went in the afternoon and it was pretty hot. It seemed that most of the animals were sleeping. It's a great place for the kids, there are a combination of zoo and farm animals and there isn't too much walking. My favorites are the kangaroos and the monkeys. Elijah rode the carosel 3 times and was so sad when we had to leave. I think we will be going back there to visit before we leave Michigan.

Nauvoo Family Reunion

 

We met up with part of my family in Nauvoo. We rented a huge bunkhouse and had a great time all staying together. THere was lots of late night partying, yummy food, talking, ice cream, wrestling. A great time was had by all. Sad I didn't take more pictures but was preoccupied with a sick Eli. Now 2 weeks later and another Dr. visit I think that his ears should finally start feeling better and hopefully we can all get some sleep.

Random Roadtrip Pictures

 

We have been traveling........
We drove from Utah to Kansas, Kansas to South Carolina, South Carolina to Virginia, Virginia to Indiana, Indiana to Illinois, Illinois to Michigan. Along the way have have seen lots of great places and soooo many great people. It has been great spending time with so many friends we haven't seen since getting married. The kids did great traveling. In the picture you can see that KFC macaroni is not a good choice for eating while buckled in. Oh well it kept him happy for a few miles.

Myrtle Beach!!

 

 

 

I don't have time to do this post justice but I just have to say that Myrtle Beach was AWESOME. We totally loved it. I know it helps to have great friends to vacation with but this place was totally family friendly also. A great place to visit with young kids. We had a blast soaking up the sun. I think the pictures show just how much fun we had.

Marie Samyn Westhoff

 

My grandma Westhoff died on June 1st. We were fortunate to be in town to attend her graveside service. She had a very contagious laugh and taught us all the importance of hard work. I remember going over to her house and sheering sheep, milking goats, and her HUGE garden. I am happy that she can no reunite with Grandpa who has been gone for nearly 20 years.

Preston's Birthday Party

 

WAY back on Memorial Day we were able to go to Preston's birthday. It was great to see family and Micali especially liked feeding and riding the little calf.

Three going on Fourteen

Micali is growing up way to fast. She has been surprising us lately with a few things she has decided to do on her own. My favorite of which is listening to her say her own prayers.

She started last Wed. at lunch when I we had just sat down to eat. She said “Mom, let’s pray. I will say it all by myself.” She did it! Her prayer was very simple. She was thankful for the food and wanted Daddy to come home soon. Since then she has prayed by herself at some meals, before bed, and in her class at church.

Last week in church she was also suppose to say the scripture in her primary sharing time. It was John 14:15- If ye love Me, keep my commandments. I was trying to help her practice it.

Me: If ye love me

Micali: IF I love you

Me: Keep my commandments

Micali: Keep your mandments

It made me smile. Eventually she realized she was suppose to repeat exactly what I said. After a few times she had it memorized and went around the house saying it all the time. She was so excited when it was her turn to get up and say her scripture however, just like the prayer and the talk she was suppose to give, I ended up saying it while she stood at the pulpit with her hands over her face. I am sure one of these times soon she will surprise me and won’t even need my help when she is asked to do something in primary.

This morning she asked to take her own shower. She is totally afraid of me washing her hair when she takes a bath. On Sunday she showered with me and washed her hair in the shower with out any fuss. Today she did the same thing---all by herself. Totally surprised me. The only thing she needed me for was to turn the water on and then off when she was done.

She came out, got dressed and asked me to blow dry her hair. My little princess is growing up so fast. It is fun to see her gain self confidence and realize how much she can do with out mom and dad’s help.

Here she is this morning after getting her hair dried: