PINK EYE SUCKS

It has been so long since we have been all well and I think we have a ways to go. First colds and such swept through us and now we're battling pink eye. Connor got it first and at first kinda liked the break from school. But as you can see after 4 days out he was more than ready to get back and see his friends and get off his "sick spot" on the couch.

Bella of course got it the next week and had such a harder time with eye medication so it took a bit longer and she was far from happy about missing school. She loves school. 

So I dug up a workbook (one of her favorite hobbies) and this one with the stickers seriously was the best thing ever for her she loved every minute and could do most independently. Now I want to get another one just for sick days.

Now of course it's my turn. Oh joy. 

Bonding

Daddy and Piper have had a rough start. Piper was a very good nurser and took to the Mommy Baby bond really well and got Mommyish earlier than any of our other kids. She has never been a snuggler and even though Daddy has fed her bottles, changed her diapers and gotten up countless nights with her in attempts to soothe her; Daddy has felt a little sad that Piper and and him haven't really found their groove yet. It has been very important to Daddy that he be really involved in their little lives. Daddy has been gone the most with Piper and has worked many days where Piper woke after he left and went to sleep many times before he came home. So since she wouldn't see Daddy for days, some times she would act so distant with him, it hurt Daddy a little and he really struggled with her Mommyish moods. Honestly they still played and he could get her to laugh and smile all the time and he loved watching each new stage and is her biggest cheerleader. But he can't help but compare her to the other kids who he had a lot more time with at this age, so it has been a bit of an inner battle for Daddy.
Finally though Daddy has declared they are bonding! She has started to get a bit more cuddly and has started to get a bit more playful, so that she is interested in playing with Daddy. Daddy finds all her most ticklish spots and gets the best giggles. They love to grunt back to eachother, or hum sometimes.
This sweet encounter shows how anti-cuddly she is, since we are so shocked by it. But when she is cuddly or rests her head on our shoulder it makes the moment all the sweeter and we just want it to last forever, especially Shea!

"Quick Kay-Marie take a picture
she is actually leaning her head on me."

"Oh, you stinker! That was only 2 seconds." 

"Now I'm gonna getcha!"

Thanksgiving Feasting

Most grateful for Him.

This year Bella decorated for us. Thanks PREK she had quite the spread!

I think Connor and Syd had one thing thrown in too.

Our Thanksgiving began months ago when we invited my Wheatley Cousins to Thanksgiving and Josh and his Family were excited to join us. I am so grateful for my family and was excited to see them and catch up, we missed having Tara and her family too though. 

So us Martin's and Stanger's got busy planning, shopping and prepping. 

The day before we really started in on it all. I am so grateful for all our happy helpers that I could never do anything without. 

Shea was super excited to make his Mom's rolls this year and I seriously worried that it would totally fail right before but after making dough, waiting for it to rise, fridgerating it a couple days, rolling it out, shaping it, and waiting for it to rise, and then finally baking them all; I was in complete and utter awe. He totally came through and they were perfect and I should never hae doubted him, he is seriously amazing and continues to surprise me. 

And the night before they were filling our home with the scent of homemade roll goodness. 

That day was a blur. with busy cook prep and lots of cleaning and early guests :)

Of course Bella was soon worn out with it all and the excitement just flooded with her so much enthusiasium it was just plan exhausting.

Of course our favorite parts of the day were the Thanksgiving parade, lots of yummy food, happy second cousins meeting and greeting and playing and having just the BEST time ever. Josh was a hige hit with the kids and many thanks to the TURKEY, PIES and lots of other food that everyone brought it was DELISH! (Of course I was stressed out and I let it get to my head and a Migraine set in, so yay for me.)

The yummy pies, chocolate chip cupcakes, and hot cocoa made a great end to the night; especially for this hot chocolate lover!

Thanks all. For a Thanksgiving to remember.

And thank you family, big and small. I am a lucky Mama, Wife, Daughter, Sister, and Cousin!

I am seriously blessed!

Family Picture that was never taken...

Inserted here :)

FIRE SKILLS

YUP EVERYBODY UNDERESTIMATED ME AND MY FIRE  SKILLS! 

But MY MAN TAUGHT ME WELL!

When we were first married we went to his Grandpa's backyard, farm, place. Anyway they had a fire pit and we camped there and had dinner dates there and just hung out there all the time. And Shea taught me fire building and my family totally thought I was full of it when I volunteered to build a fire for dinner in Shea's place, since he had to work late. 

Well I doubted myself a little too, it had been a while but it all worked out great and was a lot of fun. 

Thanks Martin's for the backyard fire pit night, thanks me for the fire, and thanks hubby for the skills!

Just another Sunday

8 Months

UPDATE

Piper is still such a calm baby for the most part. She is so even tempered she doesn't mind at all when her sisters grab toys or things from her grasp, as long as it's not the bottle mid feeding. She gets distracted easily and those wide eyes never stop. Even when she's eating she will hear someone and just stop to stare at them or stare at mom as if to say "what's going on?"
Piper is in size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes. Sleeping at night is going better and better. She goes down between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm, the aim is 7 pm, but life is crazy. Then Piper wakes between 5 am - 6 am but I'm trying to push that to 7 am. Yay for more sleep!  She goes on spurts where a few nights in a row she wakes a time or two for a good cry. But those times are lessening. And just barely we started giving her a small bottle at dinner time because it helps her sleep better; and because it's her angriest part of the day and she's insatiable with solids and nursing (which she also gets some of too, solids at dinner and nursing before bed). For some reason a bottle seems to calm her for the most part.
Her pinching is still bad but if I'm consistent -which I'm so not- and put a sock or mitten over her hand she does a bit better. Sometimes when I'm not consistent though she gets mad it's on and won't eat.

Height: 12 lbs 8 oz (2%)

Weight: 24 in (11%)

Mid sneeze. I can't get over baby sneezes.

LIKES

Crawling everywhere she's getting much more exploratory. And is loving trying to get to those oh so coveted cords that plug into walls... oh great this stage has begun.
Her sisters and brothers smiles and antics to make her smile.
Cruising and No hands; she's getting a little more courageous and is officially cruising regularly and even will let go altogether to show off a little. No steps yet though!
She loves the steps! She just pulls up to stand but doesn't try to attempt crawling them yet! Yay! She just loves that they are an easy access to the stand position... and some of her sisters toys are left on them.
Mommy or sisters or brother or daddy singing songs. She just stares and stares wide eyed curious. Lately Mommy sings "Puff the Magic Dragon" at bedtime.
Her new bottle/sippy cup. It's a little too much like a bottle to me.
She just started a new head bonk game with mom it's the sweetest gentle thing ever, when me head is close, like she's sitting in my lap, then she will look at me and lean her head on me and then pull away and smile and then I'll do it a couple times and she will full on laugh about it! Which she doesn't do all that often.

DISLIKES
She is such an ANTI SNUGGLER! We're trying to work on that. She VERY RARELY will just lay on your shoulder or chest and if she does it's just for a minute. Or when she's milk drunk.
She still isn't a fan of playing a rough and out of the blue Sydney has started wanting to pick her up which is never gentle and is usually accompanied by moms screaming "whoa whoa whoa what are you doing?" So that probably doesn't help but either way it's scary for both is us and not fun.
She hates loud out of the blue LOUD noises.
Lately she gets in moods where she HATES to be put down which drives me insane! Especially when at bewitching hours which is between 4 and 6 at our house, when all the kids are cranky and filled with attitude and are hungry and tired and honestly, so am I!

FAVORITES
She's jabbering more and more and we ALL love it! Connor pronounces new words she says through her jabbering all the time, he wants her to talk so bad! Shea is convinced she's been saying dada since month 6 which actually may be true. But I'm not such a fan of the angry MAMAMMAMAMA's that usually mean nurse me!!! Honestly she is the quietest baby ever! So she only jabbers once a day maybe but hearing her voice is so fun! And when she gets going she does it a bunch, it's usually when she's slap happy at night or when daddy comes home or when she wakes in the night angry at mom or when she's being ignored by mom because mom is trying to get things done.
Its crazy but Sydney loves her sister Piper so much she even lets her pull her hair, "she likes it". It makes me smile and roll my eyes a little as Sydney is such a funny girl. Piper is mostly gentle though. And the kids know that if they put their face or hair close it will get grabbed so mostly it's by choice that they do it because they think it's funny.
Connor LOVES feeding her the bottle. He's not really into playing her so it's a nice bonding time for them.
Mommy loves that she still wears bows she does occasionally grasp at them but mostly she doesn't care. Unless she gets really angry and her hulk mode gets engaged and then all havoc is unleashed, or when she's bored and starts looking for a toy and she starts wondering if one is atop her head.
Bella loves that she's growing up and loves pointing out what she can do that's new to everyone. "This is my sister Piper she can stand (laugh/ eat food/ smile/ talk/ play with toys/walk on the couch/etc).

1 Inch

We got an inch of snow! And the kids went wild snow gear and all they woke and after 30 minutes of getting everyone ready they trickled right back in. HA! So no pictures of their shenanigans. 

But baby girl got to have her fist snow taste and she approved. 

We've gotten a lot of rain so we're hoping for a big snow soon, so we can play!