The Rest of the Photos

Some other photos of individuals / siblings from the recent photo shoot at the barn:

Jenna:

 Bailee:

 Sisters - Jenna & Bailee:

 Me and my girls:

 Hope - she didn't want anymore taken after the group shots, so this is the only one I got: 

 Sister and Brother - Leah and Devin:

 And my sweet Juliana:

Six Kids in Six Years

A while back, my sister bought matching denim jackets for all of the girls and thought it would be fun to take some pictures of all of the kids at the barn.  I thought it would be fun too, but also worried that it would be a disaster.  Hope was my biggest concern - it is hard to get her to stand still.  And I thought the odds of her standing still at the exact moment that the others were looking somewhat in the same direction and smiling had to be close to impossible. 

But I was pleasantly surprised.  Yes, Hope was active and energetic, but she stayed still much better than I anticipated.  And the others did a great job of staying still and smiling too.

I didn't focus too much on getting Juliana to smile because I quickly learned that when I did try, the other five would focus on her or on me.  And a newborn looks cute no matter what, right?

You can click on any of the photos to see them more close up (and in a slideshow)

These first five are my favorite picks:

And here are some more to tell the rest of the story.

Hope started off being very concerned about Juliana.  I loved that she was concerned, but am happy that is didn't last.  Otherwise we would miss Hope's smiling face because all of the photos would have turned out like this:

 But once Hope's attention was off of Juliana - it was focused on the rest of the kids and acting silly. 

 This one is actually one of my favorites - I think because of the real smiles on Jenna, Leah and Devin's faces:

 My favorite one of Bailee - this would be a finalist if Hope was looking in the right direction:

 Hope was so serious for the first few that were taken in the hay wagon: 

 This is not a yawn - it was a scream:

Five Months

Juliana turned five months old this week.  She is a very calm and pleasant baby.  She loves to giggle - especially at Hope.  She also likes using her squealing voice, which can be pretty loud and shrill.

Juliana can sit up by herself, but she is still a little wobbly and usually falls forward.  She usually doesn't mind this much though because she uses the opportunity to play with her feet.

Juliana rolls everywhere.  She is usually pretty content playing on her belly, at least for a little while.  But she reaches for everything in sight and pushes her little bum in the air like she wants to take off crawling, but goes absolutely nowhere.  More mobility is in sight though. 

Juliana likes to look at books and tries to grab the pictures.  We usually look at a touch-n-feel book before bedtime.

I started Juliana on rice cereal last week, and last night she tried squash for the first time.  She liked it.  I will be adding a different food to her repertoire every three or four days.  Next up will be carrots and sweet potatoes.

Juliana has been sleeping about 10 hours per night, and for the last two weeks she hasn't woken up too many times in the middle.  She usually takes cat-naps during the day, but I am hoping that she will soon be getting into a more regular napping schedule. 

Here are some photos of Juliana at five months - yeah, maybe the Steelers lost today (badly), but this little fan is still a winner!

And here is Hope at five months:



Typically Two and a Half

Hope officially turned two and a half years old this week.  I think she is probably a very typical two year old.  She wants to be independent.  "I do it myself" is heard very frequently through the day and night at our house.  She likes to push limits and one of her latest sayings is "I won't do it! I won't!"  Although these little tudes can make life challanging, she more than makes up for it with all of her two year old cuteness.  Her imagination is running rampant.  She is fascinated with the Big Bad Wolf and Swiper the Fox.  She enjoys reading stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  But the Three Little Pigs is by far her favorite right now.  In addition to reading the book, she loves watching the classic Disney version on YouTube too.  She has pretend pet bunnies (okay) and snakes (not really okay with me).  She is a little entertainer and likes to make Juliana giggle.  She is into numbers right now and recognizes numbers 1 - 10.  She counts to 14 regularly (although she often skips 13) and sometimes goes to eighteen.  She likes crafts, especially anything involving paint, markers and glue.  I like baking with her, especially since Joe usually (or just about always) does the dishes.  She is a lot of fun as she explores the world around her.

Hope likes to wear pretty dresses.  Today she was excited to wear one and for us to go outside so I could take a few photos.  Once we got outside though, she wanted to go down her slide or just run around and would not look at the camera.  "I won't do it!" she said.