I have been so bad at documenting this summer! Its been pretty fun so far. We went camping at the beginning of June with some of John's fam. It was so fun. We went to a place called Pine Valley. It was about 4 hours away but so worth the drive! Look how beautiful it was:

We were supposed to leave Monday morning, so naturally we waited til sunday night to pack. We went home after dinner and started packing when we got a call from Bobbi & dave wondering if we wanted to leave that night instead and drive to Richfield to surprise Ashley & Tommy. We decided that would be fun so we hurried and got everything together and took off! We spent the night there and drove the rest of the way in the morning.

Right before we headed to pine valley



the babes

As always, Ty was in the sun the whole time. But this time we were more prepared :)

We had so much fun while we were there, I wish I would have written it all down earlier! I'll show our trip in pictures though. Thanks for the invite Bob & Ash! And if you have access to Bobbi's blog, go read hers! She covered all the really awesome/funny moments :)

On our hike to the beautiful lake!



Shading him from the sun

 

 

 It's not camping if you don't get dirty!

 



 

 Playing the newly wed game. So funny!

 

 Tired Ty

 

 

Think we got enough chocolate chips in there John?



Lily and Ty had so much fun playing at the water spigot I didn't realize he was getting sun burned! He got a nice farmers tan but his right ear got a huge blister, it was really sad. He was burning hot and really mellow the whole ride home:

 

Cuties hangin' in the tent

 

 

 

 Ride home

 





Warning: may contain TMI. But here goes:

Stevie's 2 bottom teeth popped through a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think much of it except for how cute they were and also I was surprised that they came in so early (5.5 months). Little did I know how sharp they'd be and how bad he would later bite me!!! Oh my goodness. This is a pain like no other. He has bitten me a couple of times before this but nothing serious.  On Saturday morning during our middle of the night feeding, he must have been falling back asleep when he jumped a little and bit me. HARD. Im talking 2 slits in my nipple. I didn't feed him on that side for a couple of feedings but it got so full that it would ache even more so I decided to just suck it up and feed him. It was excruciating! I've been feeding him for 2 days and just clenching my fists all the way through it.  But tonight right before bed I started feeding him on my good side and then as always I was dreading the bad side. He latched on and for some reason it hurt even worse than usual so I pulled him off. I asked John what I should do since Stevie won't eat at all from a bottle. I've tried 4 different formulas and even my own breastmilk and 5 different bottles. He doesn't even mind the formula but for some reason just hates the bottle. He refuses it and pushes it away and cries and cries.  And believe me, I have tried a lot!! I find this ironic because Ty loved (still LOVES) bottles but he didn't get his teeth until after I was done nursing him.  But Stevie on the other hand, absolutely loves nursing and of course he got his teeth super early and won't drink from a bottle even a little bit. So, bringing it back to the story, John suggested maybe trying to use oragel to numb it so I could feed him. I figured it was worth a try but it didn't do anything. After a few minutes, without thinking, I tried feeding him again forgetting that he hates oragel (hello!!) so one taste of that and he bit again--HARD!! I instantly screamed which scared him so he started crying and then I started crying and blood just dripped down my boob! It was awful :( I now have 4 different slits in my nipple and they are deep. I think the one from Saturday is a little bit infected. I don't know what to do!! I know if he is starving enough he will eat from a bottle eventually, but of course he got his 6 months shots today so I know he's not feeling that great either. But YOWZA. It's 1:15 am and I'm just wide awake. I'm a little in shock, I can't fall asleep. I feel sad for him because he loves nursing so much, and I love that he loves it. I love having that time with him. He's too little to be done, but I'm terrified to feed him. Plus, I physically can't right now. It's horrible! My poor little baby, he doesn't understand what's going on. I'm hoping it will heal quickly I can just keep breastfeeding. The thought of stopping already makes me want to cry! I never felt that while breastfeeding Ty. I think it's because he didn't really care when I stopped. Stevie wants only to nurse and I don't want to miss out on feeding him as long as he needs or wants to. Here's hoping for the best!

It has been a busy month for our Stevie boy. He has started sitting (not for long), rolling, eating solids, and this week I was surprised to find that he's getting 2 teeth! (It looks like a 3rd wants to pop through but hasn't yet)   I thought we had a few solid months before we started teething again. He's only 5 1/2 months old it's crazy! I really love his gums when he smiles with no teeth, so I'll miss that. But I also love when babies get their new goofy smile :) he's a champ, poor kid.

He wants to eat everything that I eat and has been chomping on anything he can find. People asked if he could be teething but I was like naaaw, he's probably just hungry! (It was probably a combination of the two) So I started feeding him solids and he absolutely loves it.

He can balance and sit up for a little while but not 100 % yet:

Almost rolling:

We can't get enough of our cutie!

Stevie at 4 months (April 11th)

 

I missed how much he weighed and how tall he was at his appt. I know he was 14 pounds (oz?) but he is in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. He has definitely passed up his cousin Nora! She is 2 months older than him.

 

 

He is such a happy baby but hates being put down! He wants to be part of the action. He doesn't care who is holding him, he loves everyone! He especially loves John. He's not rolling over quite yet but I think he'll get there soon. When he was younger he slept at least 6 hours every night but lately we are back to waking up every 2 hours on the dot! I'm tired :) he must be growing! I hope he starts sleeping more soon. He's starting to laugh a little more which I love. It's the best sound in the world!

I was sure he was a binky baby like Ty was but as he has gotten older he will only use it to fall asleep,  he never wants it while he is awake. He prefers his hands and using his binky this way:

 

Here is Stevie and Blake watching us play bball:

 

 Blake is a day older but was born 4 weeks early. His leg size compared to Steven's is so little still, he is so cute! They'll be best buds.

 

He sat like this for a while, just hanging on all cute:

 

Sometimes while he is eating he puts his foot on my arm and just pushes back and forth with it, I love it! I love baby feet

 

 

I love this picture because it shows how much Ty loves him , they'll be best friends for sure!

 

 

Sometimes I catch him sleeping with his arms in funny positions:

 

(He loves these rings, he falls asleep holding them all the time)

 

He has had this eczema on his left cheek for a while now. It will clear up when I use lotions and creams and then it will come back as bad as before! I feel bad cause he itches it so I know it bothers him. Hopefully it wont last forever! He sucks on his fingers a lot and is really slobbery so Im guessing that doesn't help very much. He is still as cute as ever though!

 

He was lucky to be born with so many other babies on both sides of the family, here is Stevie, Annie, and Lincoln:

 

Love you baby boy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, Ty just started randomly taking all of his clothes off! Oh great, we were in the naked stage! He'd get all undressed then run to the toilet. I'd sit him on there just to humor him

but he never went and then he'd get dressed again. A few days later instead of taking his naps, he would be in his room taking his diaper off and putting his pants back on. He did this every day for over a week.  We weren't even potty training and I had "accidents" to clean up! It got really old really fast. I wasn't ready to potty train.  I figured sometime in a year from now he'd be ready. So my solution was to put his footsie pj's on inside out so that he couldn't unzip them and take his diaper off anymore. One day, he had a poopy diaper and I told him to wait in the bathroom while I  grabbed a diaper to change him.  When I went in there he had taken off his diaper and was opening the toilet seat. I then realized it was probably his way of changing himself. The next morning he was in his high chair trying to undo the button on his footsie pajamas. I didn't want him to figure it out so I asked why he was taking his clothes off and then it clicked and I said, "Wait, do you have to go potty or something?" And  he said "Yeah!" So I set him on the toilet and he went! He was so excited. A little while later he also went #2 on the toilet and was again really excited. I facebooked a friend who had potty trained her little boy by the time he was 18 months and asked for some tips. I also called my sister who's had lots of success and got all her tips and tricks. I decided we'd start the next day. We went to walmart that night and bought undies, a bunch of treats, and a little toilet seat insert & step stool. (Lighting mcqueen of course!)  He was really excited about all of it. 

 

He slept in his diaper one last night but woke up dry! He went potty that morning and we did our little potty celebration and I gave him a treat. My plan was to sit him on the toilet every 20 minutes. the whole day to give him some practice. At first it was fun for him but after a while he hated the toilet! He only wanted to be on there when he actually had to go. I couldn't blame him but I knew this was a bad sign so I started keeping track of when he actually went to the bathroom and decided I'd just ask him a lot if he had to go but only take him every 45 min to an hour. He started loving it again and loved getting treats and reading books. He's been doing so great! It has been a week as of yesterday since we started and for the first few days he only had 1 accident a day and the last few days he has had no accidents at all and has woken up dry from naps and in the morning! I'm surprised and so grateful. He can't tell me yet when he has to go but he goes in the toilet every time and holds it pretty well!



Why are kids in undies so cute? 

We found a pack of undies that had all of his favorite movie characters: Toy Story, Monsters inc., Incredibles, Cars, and Finding Nemo. Jackpot! He knows who all the characters are and loves wearing them.

 

 

He loves his McQueen! It helps a lot to tell him we don't want to pee on Lighting, we want to keep him dry :) 

Because we want him to wake up dry we went cold turkey and took his bottles away before bed. He didn't like it at first but has been doing so great! He voluntarily hops in bed now and doesn't cry. I'm not  sure if  this is coming so easily for us because I have so many other things to keep straight in life and a schedule to stick to with hair, but I feel like it's a blessing for sure! Hope I didn't just jinx everything we've been working on but here's to the next week being just as great! I'm so proud of my little buddy! Love you Ty!