Leah is 5 Months Old!

Today Leah turned 5 months old.  At 5 months Leah is still very sweet.  She has a pretty long attention span for her age and spends a lot of time playing on her play mat, smiling and batting at the toys that hang above.  She also is loving the bouncy seat we are borrowing from Holly.  She laughs at the toys hanging from it.  Leah will go in the swing for short periods and also has fun just laying on a blanket and talking.

She has started to really suck on her fist and fingers a lot, causing some drool.  So, I am pretty sure she is starting to teeth (though I read that it could still be months before the teeth actually appear so we will see).

Leah usually nurses for the last time around the same time the boys go to bed (between 7:30 and 8) and goes to sleep after that.  She wakes up once during the night usually between 3:30-4:30, though she has gone longer and shorter.  In general she sleeps about 8 hours, wakes to eat and then sleeps another 4 or so, waking up for good between 7:30-8:30am.  She then nurses, plays for 1 1/2-2 hours and then sleeps.  Eating every 3-4 hours and taking usually 3 naps.  Her last 2 feedings are usually closer together without a nap in between.  She continues to sleep on her belly and listens to white noise.  She is mostly just nursing, though we do give her the occasional bottle of breast milk to keep her used to that too.

She continues to be very happy.  Smiling, laughing and talking.  We are all just so in love with her!

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Colin's First Soccer Game of the Season...

Saturday, Colin had his first game.  It was too cold for the little ones so Dennis took Colin.  Considering they had no first practice his team did pretty good.  Colin was only on offense one quarter, so he didn't score.  His team lost, but Dennis says he thinks they are a better team then the scored showed.

While they were at the game, I took the three younger ones to Logan's school for their Spring Carnival. Leah was kinda fussy (I think she might be teething), but she eventually fell asleep in the carrier.  Evan and Logan had fun playing different games and getting their faces painted.  Evan also got his hair spray painted!  Logan's teacher (who is out for the next couple months due to having shoulder surgery) was there and she gave Logan a huge hug.  She said she was hoping Logan would be there because she has missed him!  She said it multiple times!

Today, was a really nice day so after church and a quick trip to the mall, Dennis played outside with the boys.  Unfortunately, Colin didn't last long because he wasn't feeling well.  Sure enough he had a fever of 103.4, not sure where that came from!  He had to stay home today from school (when he woke this morning it was 102.2).

Tomorrow, Dennis leaves for Texas again.  So, it's just me and the kiddos for the next few days...

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Logan Goes To The Dentist.

Monday, I took all 3 boys to the Dentist.  This was Logan's very first trip to the Dentist.  He was excited to go, but when the nurse called his name he started crying.  He cried the whole way to the room.  Luckily, we were able to get him in the chair and then he calmed down.  He had a huge grin on his face when the nurse showed him how the chair can go up and down.  He was awesome the rest of the time and did great through the whole exam and cleaning!

Wednesday, Colin was supposed to have his first soccer practice, but it got cancelled due to storms.  He is so excited to be on the same team as his best friend from school, Will.  When I told him he was on Will's team he was so surprised.

Today, Evan had his first T-ball practice, it was freezing!  So, Dennis met me there and took Leah and Logan home and Colin and I watched the practice.  Evan has a couple neighbors on his team that were on his last years team, so he is excited about that.  He had a great first practice and is looking forward to the first game.  He is on the Chicago White Sox this year!

Leah is loving the bouncy seat we borrowed from Holly.

Making her brothers proud wearing Batman!

Making her Daddy proud wearing Hokies!

Leah's Baptism

Saturday, was Leah's baptism.  Carol and David are her godparents.  We had a nice ceremony at Holly's church (though I think Dennis and I were spoiled in Richmond, they have much nicer ceremony's there).  It was nice that it was a private ceremony though.  Leah cried for the second half of the ceremony, unfortunately.  She was hungry and since I am nursing that obviously had to wait.  It was funny though, because she stopped crying when they poured the water on her head and then started up again when that was over.  Because she was hungry and crying, we had to skip most of the pictures at the church.  I was sad to not get some good ones there, but so is the way things go with babies.

We had a nice reception at Holly's house.  Leah ate and was happy again, so we were able to snap a few photos.  For most of the family this was the first time they had seen her.  She then went down for a nap and was asleep for hours!  While she slept, Pete put up a moon bounce and all the cousins had a blast playing outside.  Most people stayed till pretty late and then the grown ups played Catan once most the kids were in bed.  It was a nice day and a reminder of why it stinks living so far away.  I really wish my kids could be around their cousins more often!

Today, we got up and drove back to Indy.  Both drives were pretty successful.  They didn't take much longer than they usually take us (about 10 hours and 45 mins).  Leah was great.  She mostly slept and was quiet and happy the other times.  When she needed to eat we all got out and used the restroom.  The boys watched shows and played games on iPads the whole time, so they were great.  In fact, the only speed bump we hit was when Logan threw up a couple hours into our drive home and Dennis and I had to pull over and change him and clean the mess.  Colin and Evan didn't even know that had happened or that we had ever even pulled over, they were so mesmerized by the iPads!  Luckily, Logan was fine after he took a long nap in the car, so I'm not sure why he got sick.

Anyway, it was a nice Spring Break in VA and we are all sad to get back to reality tomorrow!

Spring Break 2013

We had a wonderful Spring Break in Virginia.  We stayed at Holly and Pete's house this time since my Aunt is temporarily living with my Mom and Dad.  Holly offered to also let us use her house to host Leah's baptism and to have the baptism at her church, so it worked out well to stay there.

Grammy and Grandpa Pritchard came over Tuesday night to see the kids and Dennis and I.  It was great to see them.  The boys were thrilled to play with their cousins too.

Wednesday, we ran some errands to get all the paper products for the baptism and then we met up with Dennis' friend, Jeremy, and his wife, Shannon, for dinner.  We hadn't taken Leah out to dinner before so we weren't sure how she would do, but she was awesome.  She just sat in my lap or Dennis' the whole time and was happy.  Leah doesn't love being in the car seat (when it's not in a moving car), and she is a light sleeper and seems to wake up as soon as the car stops, so she doesn't just sleep through a meal like my other kids would have done.  But, at least she is happy sitting on our lap the whole time.

Thursday, we drove to Maryland to meet up with Dennis' friend Tasha and her family.  We had a nice lunch with them and it was great to catch up.  Then we took the kids to a park near Holly's house to kill some time and let them get some energy out.  They had a blast.  Logan kept yelling, "Woohoo".

Thursday evening, Dennis watched the kids at Holly's house while I went to dinner with Holly, my Mom, Julie and sister in law Fanchon (Carol wasn't with us as she had to work).  We had a wonderful dinner out.  I wish I could be a part of these girls night out dinners more often.

Friday, I did a trip to the grocery store to pick stuff up for the baptism and then we stopped at an outlet mall for Dennis to get a couple things.  We then went to Grandma Bridgers and Roberts house.  The kids had fun playing with Miranda and we had a wonderful dinner.  Logan enjoyed getting some more birthday presents and getting "Happy Birthday" sung to him again.

Children's Museum

We are thrilled to have Dennis home all this week.  Today, Dennis and I took the kids to the Children's Museum.  They had a new Super Hero exhibit that we wanted them to see.  It was pretty neat, though I think they could have made it bigger and done more with it.  Leah did great in the baby carrier the whole time.

Dennis and I have gotten a lot done the last few days around the house and with running errands.  I filled up about 5 bags of clothes to give to goodwill along with the baby bassinet.  It is nice to start giving stuff away.  I would have panicked at the thought of giving baby stuff away after we had Logan, because I just didn't feel done.  But, now I am excited to give stuff away and declutter as we go along.  The baby boy stuff I take back to VA as Logan outgrows it to give to his cousins.  The stuff that isn't great goes to good will though.  I've also been given some girl baby clothes from friends and neighbors that isn't the nicest so that goes to good will too.  So, I take whatever people want to give me and then go through it and throw away the stained stuff and give some to good will and then keep the better stuff for Leah.  She has been so lucky that I haven't had to buy her a single outfit yet, between gifts we have been given and hand me downs.

Today I also finished packing for Virginia and then Dennis loaded up the car before bed so we are ready to hit the road first thing in the morning.  We are crossing our fingers Leah handles the long drive okay!