Gracie 7 Months

I was just going to post Gracie's milestones every 2 months on the blog, but so much has happened this month that I thought I should also do one for 7 months.

Here are some highlights from this month:

Found her toes and LOVES them. I love that they are a toy that she can't throw on the floor and I have to pick up over and over again.

Got new boots! Compliments of my friend Shari. Aren't they adorable?! I does help that she is pretty adorable herself! Doesn't she look like a big girl! That 0-3 month sweater is finally looking too small. 

Sits up and plays with toys with a little help from the "Boppy." This is a huge improvement since I usually can't even get her to bend in half to sit down! She is still so stiff. When I would set her down she would immediately fall backward.

Finally eating solids! She wouldn't ever take rice cereal (or any kind of cereal for that matter). This month I buckled down and decided she needed to take something! She is just so tiny! So I started with all of the usual veggies (sweet potatoes, squash, carrots) She took them a little at first but then they would end up all over me. I really didn't have any success until we went to fruit. On my! Does she like fruit?! She pretty much lives on pears mixed with oatmeal and breastmilk. I was very grateful that she liked them because I canned a whole bunch of pearsauce last fall. I'm sure she will go through every last drop in the next 2 months. I try and do at least one meal of veggies a day. Usually it is in the afternoon when I have Jack napping and Haken at school. That way I can have a little more patience with her and try some new combinations. I have found that if I mix just a little bit of applesauce with some veggies she will tolerate them for a few bites. It is always a guessing game for sure. I am pretty tired of being sprayed with various veggies. I think I do more of my laundry than ever.

Had her first really bad sickness this month. I'm not sure if she got the pinkeye from Jack or if they both just got the same cold and then both rubbed snot in their eyes. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just the pinkeye, but the cold with it was pretty miserable. I got really tired of cleaning out the goopey eyes every morning. I'm sure she was tired of me doing it too. It lasted about a week from start to finish. She looked SO sad! Looking at these pictures still breaks my heart! She felt so miserable that she even fell asleep in the bathtub.

Day of many Celebrations

The 24th of May was an eventful day for our family. It was my 27th birthday and Haken's preschool graduation. I was glad that I could share my day with my BIG soon-to-be kindergartener. After you get past 25 it's nice to have something to distract you from remembering how old you are getting...although having a kindergartener doesn't make me feel any younger!

Grandma and Grandpa Evans came early before the graduation and brought Haken an early birthday present....A NEW BIKE!!! He was pretty excited about it...especially the fact that it still had training wheels like his last one. We will be working on getting them off soon...

One happy little boy!

On his maiden voyage in front of the house

Jack had to test it out for himself.

Before the graduation we enjoyed a yummy Mexican dinner at "El Parral" here in town (everyone should come to visit Tremonton just to try out that place). Thanks to Grandpa for treating all of us!

The preschool program was so cute. Mrs. Francom has done such a fabulous job with Haken this year. I heard that she was good, but I didn't really realize how much Haken would learn in only a few months with her help. He also made lots of new friends with the other 9 kids in his class. I'm so glad that he was able to get into her preschool. Here are a few pictures from the graduation. I wasn't able to get a full picture of his class but we have the whole program on tape, which I am sure he will want to watch over and over again in the months to come.

Haken's class in silhouettes. They all drew their own picture too.
 Haken's is the blue one. Not too bad for a preschooler, I think!

Loved being the star of the show!

Such a grown up boy! 

With Mrs. Francom and his friend Kason who we carpooled with everyday

Proud parents

Proud Grandparents

Mr. cheeseball himself...

Silly brothers enjoying the refreshments afterwards

With friends Karen and Kason

After the graduation we headed home for some cake and presents for mommy. Shad insisted on putting 27 candles on the cake. They took quite a while to light and 3 or 4 blows to get them all out with my lack of breath-support. 

It was such a great day! I am so proud of my sweet "Haken-Bacon." He loves to learn and I'm proud to be his mommy. I'm a little scared to send him off to kindergarten in 3 months, but at least I know that he is totally ready for it!

I thought I would also throw in pictures from the first day of preschool and the day of his graduation. I didn't think the boys had changed that much until I looked at these pictures next to each other. I think they are both some of my favorite pictures. They really show just how much these boys love each other 

First day of preschool

Preschool graduation

Walking...

Yesterday was a day that we have been waiting for for quite a while. Jack finally decided that walking was a better mode of transportation than crawling. I don't know why it finally clicked with him, but he has preferred it over crawling the last 2 days. Lets hope it stays that way. He is actually pretty good for a first time walker. All of those hours behind his little walker has now paid off. Although, sometimes he tries to get ahead of himself and run, that doesn't work out so well for him yet.

This is a video that I took today. 

P.S. A stack of popsicle sticks is the coolest thing in the world to a one-year-old.

Haken is Reading

Haken flipping through the scriptures at 19 months

Haken has always loved books. From the time that he was about 18 months old I would find him flipping through each individual page of some of the biggest books we have in our house. He was always respectful and I never worried about him ripping them or throwing them all over the house. I couldn't wait until he could actually read what was inside those books as he was turning the pages. 

Haken at 3 reading a book in our closet.

Well, in the past 2 months it has actually happened! This year we put Haken into preschool. His teacher Carolyn Francom has been so great with him! I knew it was only a matter of time before he started to read, but I couldn't believe it when he started bringing home a bag full of flashcards and books only 3 months into the school year. He reads by sight and memorizes the words as well as using the phonics he already knows. He has always been so interested in letters and over the summer was obsessed with typing up books onto the computer (although he didn't even know what he was typing). I think he was really excited when it all started to click.

I haven't counted how many words he knows but it has to be close to 30 or 40, plus all of the ones he can easily sound out on his own. I love to see him get excited when he gets a word right. This last week he came home with sentence flashcards where his teacher put the words he knows into sentences. He goes through them like nothing and comes home everyday with new words or books for us to work on. As a family we have also been including him more in our scripture reading. We each read a scripture a night, with the exception of Jack, of course. We have done this before, but usually Haken just copies us as we say the words. In the past few weeks he has actually been READING the words on his own. He has learned so many new words! I guess I never noticed how often the scriptures repeat phrases like "and it came to pass." There are so many little words that he has learned just from reading one verse a night.   

He is definitely further than I was at his age. Our friends at church who watch him write his letters during sacrament meeting think he is some kind of a super genius for his age. I think I have to agree! It just seems so easy for him. I hope that his love for books and learning will keep increasing as he gets older. He has so much potential!

By jove, he's got it!

After months and months of doing sign language to Jack I think he has FINALLY got it! I'm not sure what made it click today but I think we hit a break through! Today he signed milk, sleep, all done, more, cookie (well tried), and please. It is funny that having him "talk" to me this way made him grow up SO much in one day. I am such a big believer in signing for babies after seeing how much easier it made things with Haken. I wasn't too hopeful that Jack would pick it up because Haken got the concept much sooner than this. I'm so glad he's picked it up, especially when I will have another baby in tow in the next 6 months.

Jack's First Haircut

On Tuesday we decided it was time for Jack to get a haircut. His hair was really getting "nappy" in the back and and also looked a bit like an old man with a comb-over at times. I actually can't believe that we waited this long to do it. On the crown of his head the hair was like 3 inches long. I had trimmed the very front a few times just so I could style it, but it was getting a bit ridiculous looking. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a picture of his hair before we cut it, but here is the during and after. He was such a good boy! The funny thing was it ended up being haircut day for everyone, including myself since I got one earlier that day. Haircuts all around! BTW....I am so grateful that my husband can cut my boys hair as well as his own. Sure does cut down on costs.

This is what I had to do before I had the genius idea of giving him a sucker.

Whoever created "dum dum" suckers is a genius! They last exactly long enough to give this boy a haircut!

Front- After

Back-After

9 Months old...and crawling!

Today Jack has officially been out of the womb longer than he has been in the womb! Well, I guess not really because he was born 2 1/2 weeks early....but pretty close. Time has gone by so much faster with him than it did with Haken. I guess it is because I have been focused on another child besides him. He has been a little bit slower on gross motor things than Haken was, but I haven't minded that too much. It is fun to finally see him crawl around and actively play with Haken.

Here are some things about Jack at 9 months:

- Crawls around, slowly but surely.

- Loves finger foods. Eats more adult food than baby food most days. Although he still has no teeth!

- Favorite foods are yogurt, mac n' cheese, broccoli, and baby puffs.

- Likes watching fans.

- Can drink out of a straw.

- Loves juice.

- Likes his blankie and binki. Buries his head into the blanket to cuddle before going to sleep.

- Smiles with his whole face.

- Thinks it's funny when he shakes his head back and forth and you copy him.

- Thinks its funny when he scrunches up his nose and breathes in and out.

- Getting a little distracted when nursing. We will see how much longer it lasts.

- Spits a lot.

- Loves to jump in the jumparoo.

- Likes the T.V. remote control.

- Likes bath time, until it's time to get out.

- So funny, and he knows it!

- ADORES his brother Haken.

Went from rocking on his knees in the first video to crawling in the second in about a week.

We sure are glad this little guy is in our family. He is such a fun little boy!