Stinson Beach

Tom and Julie rented a beautiful house in Stinson Beach. We, along with Auntie Em and Mason met them there for the day. The guys went for a short bike ride while us girls and the little ones relaxed at the house. We then had an excellent lunch out on the patio. After lunch we headed out to the beach. Rather than going to the ocean side, we went to the lagoon. It was perfect. We didn't have to worry about waves and there was no one else there. Bryce had so much fun playing in the water. He went further and further in getting his clothes very wet. In the end he was naked because he clothes were soaked. How wonderful to be young and be able to run around nude without a care in the world.

Faith 6 Months

Faith had her 6 month check yesterday. She weighs 15 lbs exactly (this falls somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentiles) and is 27 inches tall (90th percentile). Her head circumference is in the 25th percentile.

The Doctor said she is doing great.

She can sit up very steadily now and rarely falls over. She is able to scoot herself around on the floor, but isn't crawling. She turns herself 360 degrees around and scoots herself completely off of her play mat. She is also starting to reach for everything, including Bryce's toys. He doesn't like it when she gets them because they go straight into her mouth.

I'm working on getting her to take naps in her crib. I have started to let her cry it out. It breaks my heart, but she needs to start taking real naps instead of little cat naps. I put her in her crib around 9 for a morning nap (if we are home) and again around 1 when Bryce goes into his room for nap/quiet time. She sometimes cries on and off for over a hour before falling asleep for 20 or 30 minutes. A few days ago she did take her longest nap ever. She slept for 3 hours in the afternoon. I kept going in to check on her since this was so unusual. Unfortunately it hasn't happened again.

She is still up twice a night to eat. I think I'll give her another month or so of night time feedings before I try and get her to sleep through the night.

She is still very much a happy baby. She loves to laugh and interact with Bryce. It is so fun to watch them together.

Faith is turning into a Mama's girl. She sometimes cries if I leave the room and is definitely starting to be aware of strangers.

Post Tax Season Activities

The night of the 15th Holden & Co. took everyone out for dinner and drinks at Chevy's. It was a really fun evening. Bryce and Mason kept their daddies busy walking around the restaurant. Faith was a really good baby and fell asleep shortly after the food arrived. Mason sure enjoyed his ice cream.

The next day Bryce had music class. Nathan got to go with us. Lately the only instrument Bryce wants to play is the triangle. The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home, enjoying some quality family time.

On the 17th we went to the beach. It was Bryce's idea to go to the beach after tax season. He'd been talking about going for a few weeks. On the way out to the beach we stopped at Korbel. It is really beautiful there. By the time we got to Bodega, it was lunchtime, so we ate at Lucas Wharf. We were lucky enough to get there just before they opened, so we got a great table by the window. After lunch we went to Portuguese Beach. The weather was supposed to be around 70 degrees with 10 mph winds. Unfortunately it was in the high 50s with much stronger winds. We still managed to enjoy ourselves. Bryce had a lot of fun playing in the sand and flying his new kite. Faith hung in there for the first hour or so and then got fussy. She was very tired.

On Saturday we Nathan got some much needed yard work done. After the yard work, we took a walk to the park. It was a beautiful day. That afternoon we played in the backyard. We set up Bryce's soccer net that he got for Christmas. He really enjoyed it. He and Nathan also played catch. Bryce started picking up his leg and doing this funny little step when he would throw the ball. He said he was throwing like a pitcher. It was very cute.

We went to my parent's house after church on Sunday. Nathan helped out with some yard work. After the work was done, Nathan and Bryce played some catch. They also brought all of the plants and potting soil around back in the tractors that Nanny and I bought earlier in the day.

It was a wonderful 4-day weekend. We were all very glad to have another tax season behind us.

Easter

We had a really nice Easter. We went to church, ate Easter brunch at church, and then the kids participated in the Easter Egg Hunt and craft project. After church we came home and took pictures with the kids in their nice outfits before they ruined them. Thanks to Nanny and Pawka for buying such cute outfits for the kids.

The kids got their Easter Baskets next. Bryce's was filled with Cars characters. He also got a Cars plate and silverware, a bag of jelly bellies and chocolate. Faith got some rice cereal, bitter biscuits, a bib, and a new toy.

After Easter Baskets, we went out back to find the Easter eggs. The kids had a blast with this. The Easter Bunny did a good job of hiding them for the little ones and Trey.

Since the Easter Bunny brought Faith cereal, we thought it was fitting that she be allowed her first taste of "real" food. After all, the big kids got to eat some of their treats. She opened her mouth for the food and tried to grab the spoon. Bryce even helped to feed her.

Nanny and Pawka gave Bryce two cute pairs of Thomas PJs and a pretty pink dress to Faith for Easter.

After a delicious dinner, we had carrot cake. I cut the cake and decorated it to look like a bunny. When we showed the cake to Bryce and Amanda they couldn't tell us what kind of animal it was. Then, Mandy noticed a picture of a cow on a butter wrapper. Bryce then said it was an Easter Cow cake. It was all very funny.

The only bummer was that Pawka didn't get to enjoy the day with us. He is sick with a terrible case of Benign Positional Vertigo and Vestibular Neurosis, which cases him to feel nauseous constantly.