six month mover and shaker

Khloe is six months old today. I took her to her doctor's appointment, and she did really well. Colton ended up getting a sticker and a sucker at the end ... I don't know how that worked. I have been really proud of her. She can sit up on her own ... sure, she's a little squished over and slightly wobbly, but she can do it ... and we practice sitting every day. She can crawl ... or scoot ... sure, it's backwards instead of forwards, but she's on the move. She absolutely LOVES Colton. She looks at him all of the time, and everything he does makes her laugh. She laughs at him when he reacts to the books we read together. She laughs at him when he's being silly and laughing. She stares at him all of the time. She is just infatuated with her big brother. I love it!Colton playing with Khloe ... he is showing her cars and telling her all about them. She is having a great time!

Khloe's Six-Month Stats:
Weight--19 lbs. 3 oz. (95th percentile)
Height-- 27 1/3 in. (95th percentile)
Head Circumference-- 18.1 inches (95th percentile)She's just waiting to see the doctor for her well-check.It's like she knew she was going to get shots!She's growing and growing! She's smaller than Colton was at this age, but she's a healthy little girl. We still have yet to break the 20 lb. mark, and as she gets moving more and more, that may slow down yet. She has embarked on a new toy. She is now using the jumper. I have put away the baby swing. That was a very sad moment. But it's exciting to see Khloe growing into new bigger toys. Colton likes the jumper toys as much as Khloe ... I think he likes it more now than he did when he was small enough to jump in it!Enjoying her jumper.Just hanging out with me and playing with toys.Grabbing her feet and having some floor time before bed.

Tonight, Khloe ate solids for the first time. She had sweet potatoes with rice cereal. At first, of course, she was like ... what is this stuff? And she let it drool out of her mouth, but by the end, she had finished it all and was doing pretty well. Tomorrow, she'll have three meals. I'm excited. I think she'll like it. Colton, of course, has his new seat, too. He's using his booster chair as a permanent seat in the house for meals. He's grown out of his high chair. That makes me super sad. At my Dad's suggestion, I bought a vinyl tablecloth to go over the glass kitchen table until we find a new one. It works great! Colton was a bit messy at dinner, and I just wiped it up ... no windex needed! I would say that Khloe's first meal was a success. Here's to a billion more!Colton's new seat at the table.
She wasn't too sure, at first, but by the end, she was loving it.

In honor of her six months, I made strawberry rhubarb pie. The strawberries were the ones I had frozen from the strawberry festival we went to. The pie turned out perfectly! It was delicious.

Colton has been asking to wear underwear. I put on his diaper, and he will come to me later and say, "Mommy, I want to wear my underwear." Some days, he asks right away when I change him. As long as we're at home, we don't have accidents. He'll go on the potty every 30 to 45 minutes. He's still not at the age yet where he'll tell me that he has to go. I'm not sure he's connected the feeling to the need to use the potty, yet. When we go out, I try to get him to the potty as much as possible, but it's not always possible ... especially with Khloe to handle at the same time. So, until he really gets it ... I'll probably have to use a diaper on him when we go out. He really likes to use the potty ... he thinks it's pretty fun. He uses both the big toilet and his little potty chair.This is how I found Colton one morning when I got him up. Whatever he was trying to do, he failed. He was pretty happy even though he was obviously stuck in his jammie top! First ... don't you love the jammie outfit Billy put on him! Ha, ha! Anyway, we checked on Colton before bed, and this is what he looked like. Too cute!A few different days in his big-boy undies.

I have found that vacuuming = bliss. That's right ... I said it--"vacuuming equals bliss!" On Friday afternoon, the Dyson DC25 arrived at our house. I was so excited, I made it to the door before the 'knock-and-run' UPS carrier made it back to his truck. I opened up the beautiful box, and I had it put together in less than 5 minutes. It's pretty simple, really. I vacuumed the entire house ... even our wood floors. It was incredible! It moved so easily ... it sucked up all of the dirt in one swipe ... it glided here and there with effortless ease. I even used the attachments and got beside the fridge, under the cabinets, and the blinds! It worked great on the blinds. This is my new favorite chore!My new vacuum!

I joined a Mom's Club here in Tampa. My friend, Gwendy Adams, is a part of the club, and she invited me to a few of their events. I had a good time, and the moms and kids in this group are super nice. So, I decided to join. Colton really likes going to the Mom's Club events. I think it's a good thing for all of us.

A few weeks ago, I went to another baby shower for Carson Adams (Brian and Gwendy's youngest son). Since I had already gotten Carson some gifts for his first shower, I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what to get him for this shower. I, finally, decided to make him a baby blanket. Here's how it turned out.Carson's blanket.

This coming weekend is Mason's birthday (Brian and Gwendy's oldest son). He will be two years old! They are just growing up! I have been thinking about what to get for him--the boy who wants for not. I have figured it out ... and I'll show you after the weekend what I got him. (Since I don't want Gwendy to see it too early!)

The kids are slowly getting over the colds they caught in Utah. The doctor said today that Khloe's ears look like they either just finished an ear infection or were just about to start an ear infection. She said that they weren't infected now, but they looked off ... and to keep an eye on them just in case an ear infection was starting and not ending. Hopefully, it's ending! I'm so sick of the snot! Khloe's nose is on a 24/7 draining cycle. Colton's isn't too much better. Ick!

I am so excited to get to painting the guest room and guest bathroom! I am busy right now with a project, but when I'm done ... I will start on those projects. Then I am going to focus on getting the guest room decorated and finished. I will have to deal with the TV stand being in that room. I don't know where else it would go ... I don't like how it looks in there ... it doesn't really go with the decor, but I don't have much of an option right now. Maybe I can figure out a different decor for that room ... and it would fit. We'll see.

Anyway, time to head for bed ...