Jane: 5 months!

Last weekend Miss Jane turned 5 months old! I can't believe how fast it's going. I've been trying to get this post up for a few days now but the girls have decided to tag team their naps so I haven't had much kid-free time this last week. 

Jane remains our super happy and cheerful baby. Even when she had little cold at the beginning of the month she still had smiles for us. She is generous with her laughter and we especially love it when Anna makes her laugh.

Like most babies at this stage, Jane loves chewing and slobbering on anything she can get her hands on. I love this pictures because it captures what we see Jane doing most of the time.

Jane still hadn't rolled over from back to tummy at the 5 month mark. At 4 months I thought it was going to be any day and I was very surprised she hadn't done it yet. Then just yesterday she rolled over! I was so excited and she did it 3 times total. Then today it was another 2 times. Now I have two mobile children...I'm in trouble!

Sleep has sort of been all over the place this month. I miss the days when Jane would sleep 7 hours straight. She is usually up at least a couple times during the night. We've had a lot of transitions this month (we're done swaddling and she's in her crib now) so hopefully things will get a little better soon. One night will be great (for her) and the next is awful. I noticed yesterday that a tooth is popping up so I'm hoping that is the reason for at least some of the rough nights. 

Last month Jane discovered how to "squawk" but this month we had about a week where she would growl at us most of the time. The last week or two Jane enjoys "attacking" my face with her mouth. 

Jane's hair is getting longer and so far it is still red. We love our red-headed beauty! She's still keeping us guessing on her eye color. Sometimes they seem blue and other days brown or hazel. 

Right now this little beauty is mostly in 6 month clothes although some 3-6 month stuff still fits. This week I pulled out some 6-9 month and 9 month stuff of Anna's to get washed and ready for her to wear. Although many of these are too big still it feels strange to have them in her drawers. Anna was wearing some of this stuff at the beginning of the year!

It's been so much fun with the girls as Jane continues to become more and more interactive. Anna likes to "share" her things with Jane although we're having to work on what sharing actually means. She will give Jane something but then take it back. We're trying to teach her that if she gives something to Jane she has to let her play with it until she's done. As Jane becomes more and more grabby I think we'll have more and more conflict but I guess that comes with the territory. 

Can't wait to see what the next month brings!

The Great Pumpkin Smash

To kick off November we made a trip to the KC Zoo for the Great Pumpkin Smash. Every year after Halloween they give pumpkins to some of the animals and let us watch them. We were excited to see this and since Anna has been into pumpkins lately we thought she would enjoy it too. 

It was a bit cold that day so we bundled up. The first animals we saw were the lemurs. Anna was so cute watching the lemurs running up the branches. The joy in her face taking in new things is incredible to watch. 

We hung out inside for awhile longer to wait for the meerkats to get their pumpkins. 

Frog slide!

After watching the meerkats nibbling and playing inside the pumpkins we had some time to kill before the Elephants were scheduled for their pumpkins. We met some goats....

And had a chance to see the tigers. Anna still talks about them every now and then even though she didn't seem that impressed at the time.

There was still some time before we needed to get over to the elephants so we took a snack break. Jane had been in the stroller but after she ate we bundled her up to ride with me in the carrier. She was adorable in her little suit!

I managed one picture with her in the carrier before she fell asleep.

It was pretty crowded by the elephants. We waited for what felt like forever while they got the elephants right where they wanted them. Then they had them kneel down and placed the pumpkin in each one's mouth. Then they smashed it with there mouth which was cool to watch. Then it was over and all the elephants ran off to enjoy their treat. 

Of course we had to head over to Penguin Plaza to see the penguins and fish. Anna had a blast watching the penguins this time and of course loved the fish (even though there aren't very many). We thought it was funny that a couple of the penguins were almost as tall as Anna.

It was a fun morning and I'm so glad we became Friends of the Zoo. We feel like we can come for just a few hours and not feel like we need to rush around seeing as many animals as possible. Hopefully there are a couple slightly warmer days ahead so we can head out there again.

Halloween

I'm a little behind but here are some pictures from the week of Halloween. One evening we headed over to Bass Pro Shop for a little event they were having. Kid's were supposed to come in costume so we came up with something. 

Jane rocking her skeleton shirt

For Anna we pulled out her ballerina outfit and paired it with some fun leggings and her sparkly shoes.

Ballerina Anna

 The event was a little lame but there was a small craft and they had photographers there and they gave you a free picture. We just got the free one and even though the picture is just okay it has all of us together which doesn't happen very often. This is just a picture of the picture with my phone so excuse the poor quality. 

They handed out cards for free kid's meals so we decided just to eat at the restaurant there. It was pretty empty since Game 7 of the World Series was about to start. Anna enjoyed looking at all the fish in the aquarium in the restaurant there. 

Tired baby

Back home we tried to take a picture of Anna is her outfit but she wouldn't hold still. This is the best we could get. Such a cutie

The next day I got the girls dressed up to go to Kevin's work for Trunk or Treat. We went last year and had fun. Plus we wanted to show off the girls. 

The event wasn't as fun this year and there weren't a ton of people there. It was a lot of work to get there for about 20 mintues and then I had a crying baby on the way home in 5 o'clock traffic. Anna enjoyed the candy aspect though.

I wanted to carve pumpkins but we decided it was just too much work this year so instead we decided to just have Anna paint a pumpkin. She painted a mini pumpkin several weeks prior but this time she wanted a "Big pun'kin".

This is early in the pumpkin painting process. Eventually she started painting herself. Needless to say a bath immediately followed. 

Such concentration!

On Halloween night it was cold but we wanted to at least take Anna around the cul-de-sac so we could be neighbor friendly and possibly meet a few people we hadn't met already. Not a lot of people were home but we at least introduced ourselves to a couple new people.  

Jonathan Kent with Superbaby and Supergirl!

Anna never really got the hang of saying "Trick or Treat". She'd say it right before we got up to the door but when they opened the door and we prompted her she would either stare or point at us and say "Mommy" "Daddy". Maybe next year. 

Even though we didn't get many kid's coming by our house it was still a pretty fun night. Anna loves the candy and cried when we told her no more. Then she ran around the living room on a sugar buzz and then suddenly stopped and said "Wait. Canddddy?" Pretty hard not to laugh.

Adell's Birthday

A couple of weekends ago we spent our Saturday in Topeka. It was Adell's birthday party and we decided to make a day out of it. We first stopped over at my Mom and Dad's house since we hadn't been over there in awhile. 

Story time with Grandma!

We had fun hanging out and eating lunch with the family. I rarely get pictures in with the kids these days so I made Hailie take a picture with me. 

We headed over to the Kent house a little early in hopes of getting Anna a nap. Unfortunately that didn't happen with the commotion of the party prep. When Adell arrived Anna was pretty excited! Adell's cousin Sophia was also there and while Anna was a little shy at first she eventually warmed up and had a great time playing with the older girls. 

Pizza time!

Jane seemed to be having fun watching everyone as usual. 

There was a clothing change in there after some amazing spit up (Jane was getting over a cold and was still pretty stuffy making eating a challenge.)

Brandy and Jane!

Anna did pretty well with watching all open all kinds of fun gifts. You could tell she wanted to play with everything but she took being told that she had to wait and when Adell was done she could have a turn. One of Adell's gifts was a new bike from Uncle James and she thought that was incredible. She's much too short for it but she had fun sitting on it and playing with the streamers on the handles.

Another popular toy among the girls was the microphone that Uncle Joe picked out. Adell sang us "Itsy Bitsy Spider" over and over and over again. Anna just stared at Adell singing and when she was given a turn she just stood there in silence. Gave us all a good laugh.

With Adell's birthday party over I've come to the realization that we'll be having a party soon for a very special 2 year old. I better get to planning!!!!