JAE is SIX months!

A couple of weeks ago, my baby turned 6-months! I can't believe how quickly time is moving. I have said this before and will continue to say it. 

A week before she turned 6-months, JOE started crawling! Well, belly crawling that is. I was SHOCKED when I saw her do it and now, she is full on crawling. Her sister didn't crawl until closer to 8-months. Check out her video below. 

THEN as if that was not enough, she started pulling herself up using anything she can lean on. I mean, who is chasing this child??? I am so proud of her but as a mom, I am also missing her baby stage and can see how quickly it is going by. 

Anyways, she started on "solids" a couple of weeks before her 1/2 birthday. So far, she likes carrots and sweet potatoes. 

At first, she wasn't sure about it. 

But she kept an open mind and tried it. 

Hmmm...still not sure...

Then she figured. Hmmm...not so bad. 

Let me have some more please mom. 

We visited Dutch Wonderland for her 1/2 birthday. More on that on Wednesday. But since we weren't home, I didn't get a chance to take any real pictures. Plus I wanted to wait until after her 6-month visit to the pediatrician to get some idea of her growth. 

Well, my baby is definitely growing. She went from the 13th percentile in weight in August to the 41st percentile in October. Grow baby grow!!! She is in the 65th percentile in height. Woohoo!!! 

She also now comfortably fits into 6-month clothes :-). 

Still no teeth but JOE didn't get teeth until she was past 1 and the pediatrician said it runs in families and from looking at her, he didn't think her teeth were anywhere close to coming in. Oh well...she is content with gumming the food I give her so no worries. 

Now that she is mobile, it is harder to keep her in one place. Here are all the outtakes from the session. 

After our photo session, JOE wanted to take some selfies with us so here's one of me and my girls.

If you like this onsie, you can find it here. 

We just love JAE so much and are so thankful to God each day that he chose J and I to be her parents. She really has been a blessing to our family and has brought so much joy to us. 

Have a fabulously blessed week!

JAE‘s rings and JOE's glasses

Yes, JAE's got rings. Earrings that is :-). 

A few weekends ago, JAE got her ears pierced. 

While our state does not have a restriction on when you can do it, they do recommend that babies be at least 4-months or have gotten their 4-month shots before they do it. Our pediatrician's office has a nurse who does it for a fee. However, we took JOE to the mall to get hers done almost 3 years ago and it turned out great so we decided to do the same for JAE. 

I know there is a lot of controversy about when to do it. Do it when the child asks for it when they're older or do it when they are little? Well, I am one of 4 girls and we all got ours done before we were even a week old. Granted, I wouldn't do it so early for a baby but I would rather it be done before the child has better coordination. That way, it can completely heal without interruptions. An older child might be too scared or might not let you care for it as you should. 

J and I talked at length about this one before the girls were born and we both ultimately agreed that we would get it done while they are babies.

JAE turned 4 months before we left for our trip to Aruba but because we were going to be outside the country, I didn't want her having an open wound (albeit a very small one) while we were out of the country just incase anything went wrong. 

The weekend after we got back, we all went to get it done. The morning before, I took pics with both my girls.

 

I just love her different facial expressions.

Then we got to the mall. This picture was taken before she got it done. 

Me and my baby :-). 

Then it was time to mark it and then do the piercing. 

Daddy holding his little girl before she got her first piercing.

JAE cried for maybe 10-seconds. It was so brief that the lady behind us asked if she had missed it because she didn't hear the baby cry.

Newly pierced ears. 

Oh I think she loves it. That look of hers. Almost like she is saying "I'm cute and I know it!"

I love her little curls. 

Afterwards, J had to get new glasses. 

While he looked for a pair that looked good on him, JOE decided to try on some pairs. She looked so cute in them so I took some pictures of my other baby girl.

So there you have it, rings and glasses! Hope you had a great week. Have a wonderful weekend and remember to be kind to strangers.

Photo Dump Wednesday: 2015 Family Vacation - Aruba part 3

I didn't get a chance to do this yesterday so here it is a day late :-). 

The last installment post of our vacation to Aruba. We had a great time as you can see from the posts last week and the week before. One of the awesome things about this Island is just how beautiful it is. 

We didn't do a lot of sightseeing because we wanted to be close to the resort incase we needed to go back to our room (joys of having little ones) so for the most part, these pictures were all taken within walking distance of our hotel. But even the small part of the Island we got to experience was really beautiful. J and I have already talked about perhaps going back there in the future when the kids are older. It might eventually become our regular vacation hangout spot. 

Until then, here are some of the pictures I took of the beautiful Island of Aruba.

This thing was the size of a mini crocodile!

Hope you're having a great week so far!