Happy Monday! Our sweet Sienna is 7 months old today and my day which started super productive completely completely went down the tubes as the entire blog I worked on all day yesterday corrupted and didn't save. So this may be a little bit more of an abbridged version.
Sienna Rose - 7 Months Old
Sienna is 16 lbs and 26-1/4" this week. We don't have to go to the doctor this month, thankfully!
Sienna Rose in her favorite chair
Sienna is always on the go and doesn't stay still for long. She is a super fast crawler, is starting to stand on her own, can walk with a walker and can stand on her own for a bit. She loves to laugh at her sister's crazy antics and play cars and animals with her. One of her favorite things to do is race to Tequila's water bowl and splash and turn it over...if you catch her in the act, she stares up with her big blue innocent eyes and then laughs and laughs. Speaking of splashing - she loves the water and splashes and laughs with her sister in the bath all of the time. She is already showing signs that she is as spirited as her sister and doesn't like to slow down. She loves playing with Beebo the robot, playing with the gear toys and all the little people toys her sister loves playing with. She loves to jump in her jumper as fast as she can and has started climbing up the slide. She is very fast and you have to keep an eagle eye on her because she can get into things she's not supposed to in a blink of an eye - thus not a lot of down time over here. She has also popped her first tooth, with others soon to be on their way, and combo that with the cold she has and their have been lots of sleepless nights.
Sienna decided that she needs to stand on her own this month. She can hold it about 20 seconds unless she isn't paying attention and then she can stand a little longer. She is also good at slowly lowering herself so she doesn't clunk down.
Oh hello there, sweet girl
Just holding a block
The ultimate multi-tasker
As if standing wasn't good enough, she also decided that she needed to start climbing (lord help us). Luckily right now, she has limited it to only climbing up the slide, but she definitely looks so proud when she gets up there so I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg.
So proud of herself
As I mentioned before, she is quite the speedy little thing and in order to get from point A to point B, she loves to learn the fastest way to get around. She has picked up her crawling from a quick step and drag to a full on bear crawl.
Oh and did I mention that she's walking? With a walker of course, but at this point it's just a matter of keeping her balance upright before she takes a few steps and you know that she's not that patient. She is learning that practice can be challenging with a big sister and brother constantly fighting for the spotlight and always underfoot.
There are so many things that Sienna does that remind me of Bailey, but perhaps most is the joy that radiates from her when she looks at her Daddy especially as he's throwing her in the air. And since Bailey still enjoys the toss too, poor Daddy is going to be very sore for the foreseeable future.
High flyer
Those big blue eyes and bright smile will light up the room. Sienna is very expressive and loves to smile and laugh. Bailey brings out the most giggles from her and I could sit and listen to that for hours.
There she is
We're game if you are sweet girl
Some major bed head going on
She thought this was hilarious
Such a big girl
Our little Snow White
This series of expressions is my favorite
She is not as sneaky as she thinks she is
She will always smile at Daddy like this
Giving a little attitude
Watching these two sisters is the best part of staying home with them. They can be super sweet to each other and then the sibling rivalry will peek in. But when one of them is down or sad, the other will peek in to bring a smile out. It is the sweetest thing and I hope this continues throughout their entire lives.
When I ask Bailey not to "touch her sister"
Lending a helping hand
Having so much fun
Staring contest
My cute lil' pumpkins
This month has flown by and it seems the entire month focused around Halloween...mostly because it seemed like there were tons of Halloween events and Bailey's favorite thing to do is dress up, so it works well with our family. With all of the princess dresses and costumes we already have, I thought we would spend weeks deciding on the perfect outfit. Alas, that was not to be. From the moment she watched Michael Jackson transition into the smooth dancing zombie for the first time in the Thriller video, her heart and mind were set. She was (is) zombie obsessed. At first we thought about being a Zombie Ballerina or a Zombie Princess, but when she saw the perfect gold jacket, she knew she was meant to be Zombie Michael Jackson. Her love of the macabre is strong right now and after enduring lots of strange looks and judgy looks from other parents (see Maple Fest below), we decided to have fun with it and thus the Zombie Thriller Family was born. She had so much fun creating the costumes with the fake blood and dirt/leaves, practicing her Zombie yell ("Brains!") and putting on her makeup herself. We had to get ready early to surprise Daddy and snag him for work to get ready for the big night. She got into character with the help having the Thriller video looped so she could practice her dance moves and then she hit the streets, singing and dancing the entire way. We had a lot of fun watching her sing "Thriller Night" and "Trick or Treat" at every house and one of her favorite parts was stopping by the local haunted house and telling the It clowns that they were really nice (our little weirdo). This will definitely be a Halloween to remember.
Doing a Thriller dance and getting the clothes ready
She loves those brains
Holding it like a football
Getting ready to go surprise Daddy...thanks to Gigi for helping
Ready to dance
Our little Zombie family
And that brings us to the Maple Leaf Festival. It started out like any other morning getting ready for our favorite festival (with less than 2 hours sleep). Bailey dressed in her favorite tutu shirt and we hit up the festival with Gigi and Pop Pop watching the parade, eating caramel apples and feeding the petting zoo animals. Then she decided she needed to get her face painted. We waited in line with the other exhausted and overstimulated parents while our offspring picked out the perfect design that they would display over their face throughout the rest of the day. There was an entire wall of beautiful designs to choose from - the unicorn, the fairy, event a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but one stood out to her and once seen, would be the only one that would do...the Zombie Face. No matter the bribes, persuasion tactics or Jedi Mind tricks we tried, her mind was set and anyone with a spirited child understands that there is no going back. Through the giggling parents and the excited face painter who couldn't wait to create one of her favorite looks, we sat nervously waiting and anticipating the cries when she finally saw her face. When all was done and the mirror turned, the only sound was the squeal of delight coming from the biggest smile I have ever seen on Bailey's face. She loved it and was so proud to show off her grotesque design. She got her picture taken for the wall of fame and we headed out to the rest of the festival, our little Zombie Ballerina in tow. There were lots of laughs and several looks of judgement, but Bailey had so much fun that none of that mattered.
It started off like any other festival
She looked so sweet
She had her mind made up
Right after she saw herself in the mirror
Everyone was laughing
Such a proud zombie
Daddy's Zombie Princess
Just Gigi taking a stroll with her little Zombie
One of our favorite things about fall are pumpkins! From going to the pumpkin patch to decorating and carving to Mom's favorite lattes, pumpkins are the best. We weren't the only ones that enjoyed our pumpkins this year...it seems the neighborhood squirrels did also and we went from 9 pumpkins to 2 that have currently survived.
With the pumpkin princess
In her pumpkin carriage
Sienna loves riding on Daddy's back
Our little pumpkins
What have they done?
Busted
This fall has been jam packed and this past month was no different. We hit up Deanna Rose for the last time this year, explored Mildale Farm, trick or treated at Celebrate Olathe and just dressed up for no reason. When you love dressing up, you don't need a reason! We also enjoyed going to a Halloween party at one of Mom's old college friends house and we had so much fun catching up.
Our little kitty cat ballerina
Our little watermelon fairy with her strawberry pal
Crashing Daddy's meeting
What a cute little seahorse
Dress up day at dance
Sienna got in on the fun
Getting ready to trick or treat at Celebrate Olathe
It was really cold but we had a lot of fun
Elsa was a good choice
Bailey with the infamous goat pulling a wagon (the legend is real)
Probably the coolest thing ever
Can't pass up a chance to take a pic with a princess in her carriage
Trying out our Halloween costume
Enjoyed a beautiful day at Mildale Farm
Camel photobomb
Nice little hayride
Two witches without our hats
Just another day riding into Target
Picking up a date at CVS
We love Miss Kristi
She really liked bobbing for apples...and got almost all of them out of there..sorry other kids
Daddy Vampire with his little bat
This past week we lost heat in our home so we needed to get out and stole Uncle Mat and Gigi for a day out at Prairie Fire. You never know what you're going to get with Miss Bailey and we went from super focused playing with the shells at the museum to having a picnic with the bunnies to dancing in the streets near Rock 'N Brew. Then we blew off a little more steam at the park before coming home to a warm house! Special thanks to Gigi and Uncle Mat for putting up with all of us!
Having a chat with her buddy Clyde
Digging for dino bones
Having a meeting over tea
Listening to the ocean like Moana
Playing with some dough with Uncle Mat
Sharing a snack with our favorite bunny
We love to swing
You can't have fall without football. With prices being as high as they are, Chiefs games are out but that doesn't keep us away from the pigskin. We decided to hit up a Friday Night Lights game and watched the Olathe North Eagles take on Lawrence in the playoffs. Sienna was mesmerized and couldn't take her eyes off the field...unless she got to sit in Pop Pop's lap and then she couldn't take her eyes off him. Bailey loved everything...she ate her weight in the concession stand, snagged a cookie from the cheerleaders, hugged a creepy skull that one of the students had, tried to get out on the field to dance with the cheerleaders, snuck through a tiny opening of the gate forcing Mom to hop a fence in order to reach her but not before getting smoked by one of the little boys playing football (Bailey, not Mom) and the proceed to try and run on the field before Dad hopped the fence and snagged her. We made it to the 4th quarter before it was time to go, so I would call that a success.
Friday Night Lights
Sienna was mesmerized
Couldn't take her eyes off the field
We're obsessed with Pop Pop
Caught up in the streamers
Trying to climb the fence
Still mesmerized
Another one of our favorite fall activities...holiday shopping! With Holiday Mart and Holiday Boutique within weeks of each other, we plot out our Ladies Date Day well in advance. We get all gussied up, shop until we drop (or melt down...whichever comes first) then we sit down for a fancy lunch. Let's just say we had 2 successful shopping days!
Ready to shop til she drops
Ready to sass it up at the Holiday Boutique
Me and my girl
All shopped out
October 13th marked our 10 year Anniversary of our first date and 7 years since Brian proposed. Then we celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary on October 15th with a surprise brunch for Brian at Top Golf, Bailey's last soccer game and then Brian surprised me with dinner out at Ignite. I truly feel blessed to have such a wonderful partner in crime and each year gets better and better. He is a saint for putting up with for this long :)
Surprise brunch at Top Golf
Dinner out with my love
I can't believe Bailey's soccer practice is done for the year. She had a lot of fun (and caused a lot of mischief) but I feel like we will be signing up again. The last practice they handed out medals to all the kids and we took a group photo. If you've ever had to take a photo of a group of 2-5 year olds you know you're in for a challenge, and then you have the youngest one meowing like a kitty cat making everyone else laugh (that's our Bailey)!
Working on some drills
Patiently waiting on the sidelines
Trying to escape
Caught escaping
One of my favorites
High fiving the coaches
One last huddle
Pretty sweet medal
So proud of our girl
This month has been a rough one, with Sienna's tooth popping through and the girls passing a never-ending cold back and forth. We've had a lot of sleepless nights and rough days so I would be lying to say it's been a cake walk. Real life happens filled with meltdowns and breakdowns, but getting through them with the ones you love make it so much sweeter. So if you see Brian or I, you don't have to mention how tired we look...just point us to the nearest coffee pot.
This is what 4am looks like after being up all night with a baby screaming
Thank goodness for babywearing
When the girls have felt up to it and the weather was decent, we tried getting outside as much as possible. We visited our favorite parks, played in the backyard, went exploring on nature walks and even did a little hiking.
Almost big enough to hold her own
She was so excited to find the witch hat that the squirrels stole from the pumpkins
Sometimes its all too much
It's always a good day when we see our bestie Miss Tara on our walk
We love Miss Tara
Racing Daddy
So much joy in one picture
Oh Tequila, how we love thee. They may have their own unique way of showing you, but both girls adore you so much. Sienna loves to sneak up on him and his food when all is calm to cause a little chaos and Bailey loves to put him in his best bow tie and marry him for the hundredth time. He is so good with him and love that he is feeling like his old self again.
Helping dig a hole to China
We love Bubba
Watching Bubba at the dog park
Lucky that he's patient
Making sure Grandma isn't sneaking any contraband
Watching or taunting...
Taunting
My baby boy
My daily view
Chaos
They clearly need something
The honeymoon didn't last long
The newly weds
Witch, please (probably my favorite pic of them)
As I mentioned before, sleep is a rare and precious commodity but in those precious and rare moments I have been able to capture proof that they do exist. They are so sweet when their eyes are closed!
So sweet
This is her true comfort zone
Notice a trend?
My sleepy princess
The other sleepy princess
The one time she slept outside of someone's arms...for only 10 minutes
Gigi is magic
Sweet sleepy princess
The girls love SnapChat filters, here are a few of our favorites:
There were a few more things I planned on touching on but since all technology has failed me today, I am going to post the rest of my favorite pics all together.
Not as easy 2.5 year
Sweet teething baby
Someone found the face make up
Me and my boo
Aww
Playing doctor
My typical view
I didn't realize we already had a teenager (look at that sass)
Passing down the grout brook tradition
Kneading the dough
Aww
Teaching her how to roll out the dough
Hey bright eyes
Feeding babies is hard work
Bubba supervising the painting process
Do I have something on my face?
My girls
Hope your Monday is off to a better start than mine!
XOXO,
Sara, Brian, Bailey, Sienna and Tequila
And as always, here are a few outtakes from this morning:
