8 Months Old!

Shirley was 8 months old on Tuesday. What a sweet little boy he is. He still has no desire to eat baby food. He is starting to put some baby toys in his mouth and chew on them. His first tooth came in a few weeks ago and his second is about to break through. His eczema is worse and his alergies have been aweful this last week. I am going to try and get him an appointment soon with the doctor soon to see what can be done. He scratches a lot so I have to put socks on his hands. Last night his allergies were so bad hat he kept sneezing and rubbing his eyes and I constantly had to wipe his nose. My first attempt to give him benadryl failed as he threw it all up when I tried giving it to him (he hates taking medicine and got himself all worked up). I finally managed to give him some and was so glad when he was better. Poor little guy. He aslo doesn't nurse well when his eczema really bothers him and that is hard on me. He refuses to take a bottle as well otherwise I would just pump and feed him a bottle. When his eczema or allergies aren't bothering him too bad he is such a happy boy. He loves his jumper and walker. when he is in his walker he follows his brothers and sister around. It is so cute. He can almost sit on his own without any support and moves around on the ground by pushing himself around (while on his back) by pushing with his feet. I don't know if he is going to crawl or not. Time will tell. I am so very grateful to have him as my son and I am really enjoying watching him grow and learn new things.

Spokane, Washington!

We had so much fun in Spokane.  Spokane is where I lived most of my childhood.  I graduated high school there so I call it my hometown.  We stayed with Gilbert's Dad and Step Mom, Michael and Theresa.  It was so good to see them.  The last time we saw them was when we were in Spokane 2 1/2 years ago for Gil's sister's funeral.  I lived with them for 5 months when Gil was at AIT (training he took after basic training).  I had Walter during that time.  It sure was nice being with family for my first child.  It was nice for them to get to meet Rilla and Shirley.  The boys loved it there.  We got to see lots of family while there, too.  I love getting together with family.

Mike's parents had a Birthday BBQ for Gil's Grandpa.  It was so much fun getting together with family and eating such good food.  Theresa is such a good cook.  We had another BBQ on the 4th of July at Gil's Great Uncle's house (it was his birthday also).  Again, so much fun spending time with family and really good food.  The kids had a blast.  Luckily, that day wasn't quite so hot.  For fireworks, we went to Riverfront Park and watched.  They were pretty good.  The kids really enjoyed them.

I also got to do a lot of shopping.  I had fun but got tired of it after a while.  It is so hard to find clothing I like that isn't too low cut, has longer sleeves (not the cap sleeves) and doesn't have awful patterns, plus isn't really short (I like longer shirts).  I am very happy with what I bought.  I of course had to take Shirley with me since he refuses to take a bottle.  It would have been much easier without him.

We took the boys to see Wall-E.  We left Rilla with Grandma and Grandpa.  The boys really liked it.  Gil and I even got to go out on our own and get ice cream one night.  The kids were 

great the whole time.  We were complimented many times on how well behaved our children were and it is a good feeling.  I love being a mom and it is very important for me to be a good one.

Breakfast Dance!

On Saturday I had to take Gil to the airport at 4:30 in the morning for his flight to North Carolina (he will be there for a week) so my friend Teah stayed the night with her girls so that we didn't have to wake our kids up that early (thank you Teah).  All the kids woke up just after 7am and this is them groovin at breakfast.

(Push pause on my music player if you want to hear the music they are dancing to.)

                                                

Toes!

Rilla finally let me paint her toenails.  I was so excited.  I love having a little girl.  She is starting to like trying to dress up.  It is so cute.  At Great Grandma Shirley's house she got a pair of my Grandma's underwear and put it on like a shirt.  It was so funny.  I wish I had a picture of it.  She won't let me paint her fingernails yet.  She is pretty good at letting me do her hair.  She loves singing.  The three songs she mainly sings are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", The clean up song, and "We Will Rock You".  She loves to talk.  Even if it is just jibber jabber.

Home!

We got home from vacation last night. It was a wonderful three weeks and I was sad to leave and say goodbye. I have many posts to write and pictures to add but it may take me some time. I was so busy during vacation that I had so little time to do it. Besides, staying up late playing games is much more fun than writing blogs. It is good to be home. Our flight home was not as enjoyable as our flight going to Washington. Both airplanes were small and we were not all able to sit together. Shirley threw up on me the first flight (something he never does) so I smelled terrible the whole rest of the trip (I did consider packing an extra shirt for me in our carry on, but as Owen never throws up I didn't). Once we got to Tucson, at about 7 pm, I waited with the kids at the entrance to the airport while Gilbert went to get our car and come pick us and our large quantity of luggage. Unfortunately, the battery on our Jeep was dead. We left the DVD's in the headrests of our seats plugged in (to the plug in that gets its power from the battery). Getting it jump started didn't work so Gil had to take a taxi to get a new battery and then find tools to take the dead battery out and install the new one. I, meanwhile, had to entertain kids for 3 1/2 hours. Rilla likes to run around which isn't the best or safest in a public place, but she of course was tired of being restrained all day. We had too much luggage for us to move around or change locations. lets just say it was a long three and a half hours. I finally made a semi circle barrier out of the luggage around us and the seats we were in so I could let Rilla out of the stroller. We played with cars, sang songs, anything I could think of to pacify them (mainly the younger ones, the older two did pretty well) just a little longer. They all finally fell asleep about a half hour before Gil was done (but not before a huge crying fit on the dirty floor from Rilla). They were all tired and that made it even harder. I even ran out of diapers and wipes and had to use two of Jem's way too big pull-ups (he wears them at night) on Rilla and Shirley. The last half hour wasn't bad since I was able to read my book. We finally made it home at 12:45 am and were exhausted. We left the kids in their clothes (which was hard for me since they got so dirty playing on the floor at the airport), got our luggage in and finally crashed. Poor Gil had to get up early for PT this morning. (this picture is of the kids at the airport in Denver during our layover on our trip to Washington-I didn't take any yesterday)

Portland, Oregon!

Monday June 23rd we drove down to Portland, Oregon to visit really good friends of ours. We met them while stationed at Fort Drum, New York. Their two boys became best friends of Walter and Jem. Gil and I became great friends with their parents. They have since left the army and moved to Portland. We could't pass up the chance to visit them when they were so close. We knew the boys would be so excited. It took about five hours to drive there, but it was well worth it. We had a happy reunion. Monday night we went camping and had such a great time. The state park was beautiful and we had such beautiful sunshiny weather (which for Portland is a rare thing). we even stayed in heated cabins. I have decided that is my ideal way of camping. I love camping and being outdoors but really dislike sleeping on the ground and I really don't like being cold. 

Tuesday we checked out and drove to the beach at Seaside, Oregon. It was a little too cold and windy, but the kids didn't mind. They loved the beach. We then drove back to our friend's house and stayed with them one more day. It was sad saying goodbye, but I know we will always be friends and will get together again even if it it is not in the near future. Our drive to Spokane from there was a good trip. We stopped in Pasco, Washington to visit one of my best friends from highschool. She has a little girl and baby boy that I hadn't met yet and she hadn't met Rilla or Shirley. We spent a couple hours there. It was great to visit. They had a great swing/play set in their back yard so the kids had a lot of fun. When we finally arrived in Spokane it was nice because I knew we would be staying in one place for over a week. Plus Gilbert's Dad and Step Mom also hadn't met Rilla and Shirley. It sure is great visiting family and friends.

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