September

 ^^ September brought slightly cooler weather, so getting out for after dinner walks became our new favorite thing! Got to pass that witching hour somehow...! The kids insisted on wearing their stuffed animals every time and every time it made me (and our neighbors!) smile. We have a sleepy neighborhood, despite the fact that we live not too far from a large elementary school, but the more time we spend in our front yard and out on walks, the more we are getting to know and recognize the people. This VW bus is their favorite walk attraction! ^^

 ^^ A visit to the hospital to see daddy after missing him at church. Lunch, a tour and a check up! ^^

 ^^ Slowly but surely making this house a home. It has taken me a lot longer to settle in to this space and hang things on the wall than it did with any other home we lived in. Not sure why... And to be honest, those top four cubes are always littered with Lego creations, but this was the first "finished" space in the house so, a picture! ^^

^^ Our charter started in August, making us feel a bit behind and start a little earlier than planned, but we didn't fully dive in until September. Three months in and we're still trying to figure out a routine that works for us all...! Taking it one day at a time and trying to my best to keep it fun and interesting. We started our year with an attentiveness unit: learning about the eyes and ears, Helen Keller and Louis Braille and the importance of looking and listening to God in our lives. ^^

 ^^ Our Side By Side Bible study also started up in September and Uriah loves that he gets to hang out with his buddy Chapman there. Uriah is the oldest, as all the other 5 and ups are away at school, so he gets just this one year with Chapman there before he is away at Kindergarten too. I don't think Uriah will be so keen to go after that ;) Side By Side has been such a great resource for me and our family, though. It has been so great to get to know these women who are going through all the same things I am as a medical professional's spouse. So grateful for this organization and the friendships it has created! ^^

 ^^ It's nearly impossible to escape the Sacramento summer heat, even early in the morning and by a river...! But we enjoyed our time on the walking trails, touring the nature center and throwing rocks in the water. Not much beats family time outside! ^^

 ^^ Ezra, wearing her red cowgirl boots any chance she gets, and my white blonde Judah Budah, as happy as can be to be on momma's hip! A Sunday well spent! ^^

 ^^ The Appels came to visit us one day and we felt like the luckiest kids on the block! We played and talked and ate and played and talked and ate some more. It was just so nice to spend a normal day in their company! The fact that we can still see them fairly often and fairly easy is incredible, but the goodbyes don't get any easier! ^^

 ^^ Ice Cream Thursday at Gunther's! Yum! Dad played hooky from work on a light rotation and we headed for a sweet treat after Uriah and Ezra's soccer class ^^

 ^^ Another evening walk, this time stuffed animal AND cape wearing! ^^

 ^^ A Wednesday with friends! It has become a pretty normal routine around here to spend our Wednesday afternoon and evenings with the Wishy crew. Ramsey gets out of school early and Stephen has clinic so we play from nap until bed! On this particular Wednesday, we had all but gotten ourselves kicked out of the zoo and came home earlier than planned to avoid the stares ;) ^^

 ^^ This was our second praying mantis, Mantie! We found one after soccer at the start of the month, but accidentally killed her when we left her on our hot back porch in a glass jar... Oops! This one we found on the side of our house not too long after and were able to keep her until we left for the beach. She ate from our fingers, crawled on our arms and never attempted to fly. The kids were ecstatic over finding her, but maybe not as much as Stephen...! Being from Alaska, he had never seen one and thought they were some "exotic" creature that you could only "see in a zoo"! ^^

 ^^ More school... Writing our names in Braille! ^^

 ^^ Just your average day around here... A trip to the grocery store and some quiet time reading to mom... I'm not complaining! ^^

 ^^ A messy rug and an obstacle course in the backyard. A picturesque scene to a momma! ^^

 ^^ Best buds. Man, they drive each other crazy, mostly on purpose and it is turning my hair gray! But they also love hard and even if they wouldn't admit it, I know they would be beside themselves to have to spend their days apart. I love being witness to their relationship! ^^

^^ More school! I often still struggle with ways to include Ezra in on Uriah's lessons, or finding time to give her some one on one instruction, but if Uriah is doing table work, she is always happy to color and draw alongside of him. ^^

month eleven

Size: 22 solid pounds of perfection! Finally made it in to the doctor and finally ceased my worries over his weight. I have known this whole first year (almost!) that he's been healthy and growing and above average in size, but the fact that he was always smaller than Uriah and Ezra had been made me worry. I'm a mom, it's what I do ;) But, on the verge of one, and he's finally caught up to their weight! He is wearing size 4 diapers, 12 month clothes and size 4 shoes. 

Eat: Judah loves to eat and insists on doing so whenever mom is in the kitchen! He's sitting down for meals usually about 3 times a day, has 1-2 snacks and nurses 4-6 times. He's not a huge fan of greens - he's never liked broccoli and will only eat kale if it's mixed with a significant amount of fruit, which he loves! Banana, applesauce, all berries, peaches and pear are his favorites (never had orange, mango or melon - too acidic) He loves bread and noodles just as much as his momma + carrots, peas, zucchini, sweet potato, squash and spinach.  

Teeth: 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom, and for the first time since March, no real signs of teething! 

Sleep: Judah is back to sleeping through the night - hallelujah! He goes down around 7, give or take a half hour, nurses around 6 in the morning and is up for the day about an hour later. He takes 2 naps a day and is so go with the flow when he needs to be woken up early or nap time needs to be pushed back. Third child problems for Judah but I'm so grateful for his flexibility!  

Milestones: Judah is WALKING! The big kids love helping him and encouraging him and I love the drunken toddler walk stage! It's so fun catching him walk around the house now! Attempting to climb on the furniture and in the bathtub and can tackle steps easy peasy (the going up, not the going down! yikes!) He signs "nurse", "more" and "all done". He waves, points, claps, gives high-fives, kisses and loves and shrugs his shoulders to say "where did it go?" He plays peek-a-boo, patty cake and catch with a ball. He babbles all day long but still only says "momma" and "dadda" (very rarely!)

Likes: Judah is such a happy babe, I feel like he likes everything...! He loves splashing in the water, rummaging through the Lego box, helping Ezra "build" with magna tiles and playing with the play food and toy cars. He loves his blankey, his binki, being outside and eating. He loves playing chase and peek-a-book, being in Uriah and Ezra's room with them (really, anything with them!) and flipping through his books. He loves Stephen and lights up when he comes home! His current favorite pastime is putting things in something, shrugging to ask "where did it go?!", and then pulling them out with surprise! He loves cords, doors and cabinets and rummaging through our bathroom cupboards.

Dislikes: Judah doesn't particularly like getting his diaper changed and getting dressed. So, really, he doesn't like laying down and being still ;) He also doesn't like being in his high chair with no food in front of him! 

Things I want to remember: The way he snuggles and head butts my legs and his blankey when he's tired and ready for a nap, moaning and all. The way he lays his head on my shoulder when he sees his crib. The way he lights up when he hears the bath running and all but jumps in to get to the water. The way he scrunches up his nose and squints his eyes and breathes heavily. His deep little belly laugh when you tickle the nape of his neck. His long, soft white blonde hair. The way he squeals when Ezra chases him around the house. The big gap in his big top front teeth that you can only see in his biggest smiles. The way he pumps his arms as he walks around the house. The way he blows bubbles with his mouth when he's bored. 

Judah Budah, our sweetest little babe. Thanks for being so content, so happy, so snuggly, so loving, so precious. You were such an obvious puzzle piece to this family. We love you so! 

August

Still avoiding the heat, setting up home, making friends, missing friends, adjusting, adventuring, working and starting school: August! 

 ^^ Baby girl and I escaped for some "girl time" and went to Target for coffee, cookies and red cowgirl boots! Basically, Ezra's dream come true. She's easy to please! We also scored some Little Mermaid jammies so she was on cloud nine over it all for a while. As was I! Matching mommy, daughter cowgirl boots is pretty much my dream come true...! ^^

 ^^ Really, she's just the best! She didn't take the boots off for days! Or the nightgown, for that matter! Sure love having a baby girl to share life with! ^^

 ^^ A morning exploring Land Park - walking the trails, picnic snack, watching the geese and ducks, admiring the beautiful ponds and some time at the playground ^^

 ^^ Not to be left out of momma time, Uriah and I left home for Target on a Sunday after church so he could spend some of his own money on a new Lego set he's been admiring. He held my hand and called it a date and it was wonderful! ^^

 ^^ The first of the three to ever have a room all his own. It just might be my favorite in the entire house! Or, at least, the only one "finished" ^^

 ^^ Their relationship took a hit this summer, with our move colliding them instead of bringing them together. As the dust settled, though, it started to get better and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel with these two ;) They alternate between best friends and mortal enemies daily, but these sweet moments keep them (and me!) coming back for more ^^

 ^^ Judah just being his big cute self. We're all a little obsessed ^^

 ^^ Friends! It took us way too long to make Palo Alto feel like home so we tried our best at extrovert-ing as soon as we moved! And, it worked! The Wishy family has quickly become a true blessing for us and we are so thankful they have invited us to do life along side them ^^

 ^^ Brothers! My bookends! ^^

 ^^ The first day of school! Kindergarten for Uriah and Preschool for Ezra! What a fun day! We hadn't planned on starting until September, but the charter we are affiliated with started super early on August 15th. After meeting with our supervising teacher and talking about the year ahead, I got excited to start! Easing into it slowly was a good decision. They took to the change well and I think we had actually all been craving the slightly more scheduled routine. ^^

 ^^ Days with these three... Really, the reason we homeschool! I get to see my kids every day, know what they're doing and learning, and we get to school when we want! Leaving lots of time for errands, friends, park dates and time together ^^

 ^^ We found ourselves in Auburn one Saturday morning for a hike to a little waterfall with some pretty great views along the way. We made it there by eight am and still didn't beat the heat! Or the crowd! Not quite used to this Sacramento living but love figuring it out with this crew! ^^

 ^^ Oh just Judah being cute. As always! ^^

 ^^ We traveled over to the hospital to snag lunch with dad and when he got paged a few minutes in, we decided to spend the rest of our afternoon basking in the shade of the Capitol trees. ^^

 ^^ My cute bigs before church! We were pretty determined to find our church home quickly after moving, knowing that getting plugged into that community would only lead to us feeling more settled and connected. We church hopped for a few Sundays before we circled back to "the one". Just a few months in and we are so pleased we decided to come back and stay! ^^

 ^^ Best night surprising this beauty in Palo Alto for her birthday dinner! I don't know that I have a more selfless friend. She gives so freely and does it with so much love! I was overjoyed to share in this birthday dinner with her! ^^

 ^^ Our first trip and sleepover to Palo Alto and we loved every second of our time with these friends! ^^

^^ In this home... sure do love sharing a space with these babes ^^