How does your garden grow?

Shaun planted our garden! We have had such a  warm Spring that he thought he would take advantage of it. We don't live in the desert any more so it shouldn't freeze. (hopefully) And our garden plot is right next to the house. It didn't freeze until almost Christmas last year so it should be just fine.

Anyway, I am SO excited to have amazing produce this Spring, Summer, and Fall. This is a map so he can remember where he planted everything. We would love visitors to come help us eat our crops!
Thanks honey for all of your work!

YEAH, hopefully Spring and Summer are on their way!

New Things

Things have been going great around our parts. Lots of new things for us! 

Musical Number 

 

Shaun and I were able to do our first real musical number together in Church. I have accompanied him for hymns but this was a REAL musical number. I really really wanted to accompany him. When we moved to Ohio my mom gave us one of her pianos. It has brought a lot of joy into our home. 

Anyway, I practiced and practiced and each night Shaun and I would dedicate a bit of time practicing together. We had three weeks notice and it turned out beautiful!! I really felt like I could follow him and that we were able to really bring the spirit into the meeting. It was AWESOME! After church Shaun was picking out another piece of music for us to start working on. :) 

A little Spring

 A new wreath to spring up our front door. It's not AS gorgeous as I wanted because I just used things I had around the house...(I really wanted to buy these beautiful large flowers but they were $3 a piece.) With that said, I still really like the end result. 

Claire's first real taste of food 

To make a long story short, Claire's doctor called Monday saying she had talked to the allergist and they decided that since her skin allergies have been doing so much better she didn't need to get tested until she is at least 12 months.) 

So time to start rice cereal 

 She started excited 

 Not sure what to think 

 "This is what I have been waiting for?" 

Shaun captured it on video but it is too long to upload. 

Cooking 

Shaun's schedule seems to be getting crazier by the minute so I've had to step it up in the kitchen. Before Shaun and I would make dinner together, lately it has been up to me. I've actually enjoyed making meals that are a little more exciting than tacos and spaghetti. A few of my friends told me about some great cooking blogs. 

• mealplanning 101- Pictured above, Thai-inspired meat balls. This site is awesome because she plans out meals for the entire week. I also like how you can select a main ingredient and find all kids of recipes.
• our best bites 
• Six Sisters' Stuff 

Some other new things: 

Claire has now found her toes! LOVE IT!! 

She can roll from her back to her stomach. She is rolling all over the place. 

And she is suddenly interested in tags. So fun! 

Life is good. 

6 months old!

Claire is officially 6 months old! I can't believe it! This last month she has really "grown up" a lot! 

First the stats: 

Weight: 12 lbs 14 oz (4th %)

Height 25 inches 

head: 41 centimeters  

She is now taking baths in the "big tub!" And she LOVES it! I love watching her kick and squeal. But what I love most of all is her hair swaying in the water. It reminds me of when I would play with my barbies in the tub. We loved pretending they were mermaids. 

Claire has also proven to be quite good at getting her right arm out of the swaddle wrap. Mostly we were keeping her wrapped so she wouldn't itch her eyeballs out at night. (We see the allergist on Monday) 

But since she would work her arm out regardless of wrapping her in several layers I just started leaving her right arm out to begin with. Since she now loves to sleep on her left side she will go to sleep much quicker with not fighting the wrap. Ironically one day I left both arms out and it was a nightmare. So the one arm says wrapped for now. :) 

She is now giggling and we cannot get enough of it! It doesn't seem to be consistent with what we are doing, she will just giggle randomly. She also started the "fake cough" and crazy noises. 

She cracks me up! 

Claire still LOVES books! Shaun and I read to her all of the time. This book is probably her favorite. This week she started responding with noises. 

She seems to be learning new sounds all of the time. Her latest sound is "da." I love hearing her practice it over and over to herself. 

She is still nursing every three hours around the clock. Some night she will go a stretch of 5 hours but then eat every two hours after that to make up for it. After we go to the allergist we can start solid food. Let the messy face/kitchen begin. Ü 

We are loving watching this little girl grow up! She is still such a content child. Many comment that they have never even heard her cry. She usually just cries for a reason- which is awesome! 

More to come on what else we have been up to...