Six Months Old!

Wow - it's so hard to believe we are already half way to this little man's first birthday! This last month probably passed by the quickest so far as we have had constant family in town since the end of September. We have been crazy busy without really accomplishing much, but we love having family around and it's been fun for everyone to get to know the kids.

Grant Robert @ Six Months

Measurements: Grant had his 6 month check up and got a healthy report from the doctor. He is 16 pounds 2 ounces - 22% and 27 inches - 64%, he grew in weight more then height since his 4 month check up and while he isn't super chunky he still doesn't seem like 22% to me, he has rolls! Anyway, I think it's cause he started out over 8 pounds, but hasn't really grown like an 8 pounder. I was thinking Payton was so much bigger at this age, but looking back she was pretty much exactly the same weight and height, but her percentages were quite a bit higher, who knows! He is still in size 2 diapers, but they are getting snug. He has moved into 6-9 month, 9 month and 6-12 month clothing depending on where the clothes come from. He started his vaccines this month, getting 4 shots, poor little guy, but he did pretty well right after and didn't seem to have any side affects.

Eating: His eating habits continue to get better. He has been taking a bottle/nursing every 4 hours and was eating two meals a day of cereal and fruit or vegetables, but we noticed he wasn't drinking as well so we have cut back to one meal of cereal and one fruit and vegetable all spread out during the day and he seems to be drinking better again. He has had sweet potato, squash, pear, peaches, banana, and avocado which we still haven't tried again. He eats the mum mums and is just starting to enjoy puffs and gets better everyday at getting them from table to mouth.

Sleep: We are officially sleeping through the night again as a family! Well we aren't getting up to feed a baby, give a pacifier and mostly not settling a two year old back down... I guess it's all relative now. Anyway, he goes to bed between 7-8am and usually sleeps until 7-8am, which is great! Naps are still a struggle, he's really inconsistent on timing, length and number but we continue to work on it. He almost always wakes up after 30 minutes and only goes back to sleep about 1/2 of the time, some days are impossible to get anything done, oh well, this too shall pass :)

Tricks: Still talking, screeching, and rolling all over and is now officially sitting up on his own. Something I want to remember at this stage is he likes to run around (in our arms of course) and chase Payton through the house, he yells at the top of his lungs! Also anytime Kole wrestles/tickles Payton on the floor he gets really upset and yells (no kidding) at Kole. He also did it when he watched Kole give me a hug the other day. He's pretty protective of his girls, it's really sweet!

Happy 6 months Grant, we can't wait to watch you change and grow over the next 6, love you!!

Her New "Fancy" Boot

During the grandparents visit Payton decided to jump off of the couch which turned into a trip to the doctor and a new fancy boot to wear for a couple of weeks. Janaan and I were in the family room folding laundry and Payton was goofing around and jumped off the couch. I scolded her and told her not to do it again, that we don't jump off of the furniture and that she would get hurt. In true 2 year old fashion she completely ignored me and did again. I watched it and saw her land stiff legged and knew it wasn't good. She started crying and after an "I told you so" I realized she was actually hurt. She wouldn't stand on it at first but then calmed down and stopped crying, but limped for the next couple of days. After consulting Dr. Sarah and having her watch Payton walk we decided it was best to take her in and get an x-ray as Sarah thought she may have gotten a fracture.

She ended up with a small buckle fracture on her fibula. Two weeks and a boot and now she is running like crazy again. She handled the boot pretty well, it didn't slow her down much and it really helped that we could take it off for baths, sleeping, and swim lessons. I hope this was not the first of many injury visit trips in the Harms house!

The (not so) funny thing was Sarah injured herself just days later playing soccer and ended up with an ankle sprain and fracture earning herself a boot as well. Payton thought it was pretty cool that they had matching boots and we all got a good laugh out of it!

Grandpa and Grandma Visit

Dick and Janaan came for a long weekend visit towards the end of September. We always enjoy having them here and the kids just had a ball. Payton adores her grandparents and mom and dad aren't allowed to do anything for her when they are in town! Grant got some great bonding time with Grandpa, I think they have a bit of a kindred spirit. We didn't do a whole lot, hung home, shopped, played at the park, cooked, worked in the yard, soaked up quality visiting time and of course Kole and I had a date night, which we always cherish when we have family in town to hang with the kids.

We finally remembered to get some pics with the kids before they were rushing out of the door to go to the airport. Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for coming, for loving on the kids, and for everything you do. I'm so thankful they are able to visit as often as they do, you wouldn't know from their relationship with the kids that they live so far away. We love and miss you guys!!

Swim Lessons

Payton just finished her second round of swim lessons. This was her first time in the teacher lead class which I was happy about because I got to watch from the side. She did better then I could have expected. She had no problem with me not being in the water, listened to her teacher and always waited her turn. She ended up in the 3 1/2 year old class because there weren't enough 2 1/2 year-olds for their own class. I was worried she would be really behind and kind of lost, but she held her own. By the end of the 5 weeks she was holding on to the side, where she couldn't touch the bottom and dunking her whole head under the water on her own. She would come up smiling every time. I was so proud!