Almost A Sitter

So first off, a photographer fail disclaimer: I was taking pictures of stuff to put on Craigslist so I had my camera set to take the smallest files so I wouldn't have to resize them before putting them in the ads, and I forgot to change it back to large files before I took these, so this is a big as they get and the quality is by default poor. Oops.

Edie has suddenly taken a good leap in her ability to sit unassisted. She still topples every which way if she has no support, but with just a little bit of spotting she can sit for a long while, and she can go from sitting to her tummy on purpose and without bonking her nose (usually).

If this was a series of pictures hanging on my wall, I would title it "Edie, In Chair".

And yes, she does enjoy sticking out her tongue that much.

Your Basic Photo Collage of Life

I have so many pictures in my "May 2015" folder right now that I'm completely overwhelmed at the prospect of processing them all, so I'm just going to put them all out here so you can see what we've been up to. They are unedited, unsorted, and suffer a lack of witty commentary. Kind of like me.

All dressed up for a Princes and Princesses birthday party.

I can't even remember if I already put this picture in a post somewhere, but if I did, well, really is it so bad to see it again?

The Little Flowers and Blue Knights clubs that the kids are in at church had their end-of-the-year celebrations, including a tea party with the girls and bonfires for everyone after the May Crowning.

FYI: If you leave a ladder propped up on the side of your house, my children will climb it with their bucket of sidewalk chalk and graffiti the day away.

Except Edie. She might be almost just about mobile, but she's got a couple months before she's climbing ladders.

Gigi treated us to a trip to Shaw's gardens, with tickets for both the children's garden and the tram. Michael and Gussie were so excited to ride the tram! Michael really wanted to smile for the picture, but he couldn't look away from the approaching tram. And poor Gussie hoped and watched and waited until we could finally get on, but (as clearly evinced by this picture) was so tired that he fell asleep half way through the ride.

I tried to enjoy the gardens during the tram ride, but Edie kept distracting me.

Ha! Can't distract me while you're sleeping. Oh, wait... of course you can.

When it's the rainy season, you enjoy the rain. Or at least you should.

I've added the woven wrap to my repertoire of baby carrying devices with Edie, and I love it, but wrapping comes with a bit of a learning curve so the girls and I have been watching a lot of video tutorials. Catherine and Mary are apparently experts now because they have started designing their own carries with my wraps.

I believe this one is called "Blue Diamond" with a ring twist finish.

I have no idea why Michael is making this face at me. He might not have even been making the face *at* me, so much as making it just because he can.

Gussie. This boy is about to hop, jump, run, and narrate himself right out of toddlerhood.

Edie can do a lot of things while holding her toes with one hand.

But she still can't sleep on her own for any great length of time, and she is calling...

Kali's 5th Birthday

Last weekend we joined the party at a bowling alley for Kali's 5th Birthday. The kids were really excited, and it wasn't just bowling, it was laser / disco light bowling.

[Long side note: Many years ago when Michael and I were much younger, we would go to music concerts whenever someone good came through town. Unfortunately something about standing for a long time in a hot crowd with bass beating through the floor and lights flashing on the stage consistently messed with my brain to the point that, after fainting at three or four shows in a row, we decided I should really only attend concerts in which we could afford to purchase actual seats where I could sit down if necessary. Several years later I discovered early pregnancy had a similar effect on me. Luckily a good diet shift seems to have alleviated my low blood pressure symptoms; I haven't actually fainted since I was pregnant with Mary. But walking into a dark, loud bowling alley with laser lights flashing around did bring back a flash of unpleasant memories of the specific wooziness that I now recognize as a warning to find a seat and fast. So at first my fainting PTSD made me feel like everything was fuzzy and blurry and constantly swirling.

But then I was fine and (loud, flashing) fun was had by all. End side note.]

The bumpers were up and the ball ramps were out and all the kids had plenty of time to bowl to their hearts' content. See Kali's little hip kick there? There might have been a bit of dancing as well.

Gussie did enjoy pushing some bowling balls down the ramp, but he spent most of his time running around trying to stomp the moving lights on the floor.

After exhausting themselves bowling, there were princess cupcakes and lots of presents.

Aunt Mel wanted a picture of all the kids in attendance, but I'm pretty sure this is not all of them. Gussie refused to let go of my leg and I think a couple others had already escaped to the game room.

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you - happy birthday, Kali!

Inching Edie (Video!)

Did you realize Edie is closing in on six months? All of her milestones continue to sneak up on me. In the last week, she's gone from accidentally rotating in place when on her tummy on the floor, to moving with purpose. The moving is still quite slow and she often doesn't have the energy or stamina to get to her final destination, but it doesn't stop her from trying! Right now she employs a method of locomotion that is equal parts inch worm, army crawl, and wild flailing. My favorite move is when she gets up into a plank on her hands and toes, then either gets one knee under her or simply thrusts forward with her toes so she lands on her tummy a few inches ahead of where she started. Video proof:




Also please note the toys in the foreground. I put them there hoping she would be motivated to move toward them, but right when I started the video Daddy walked in the room, so she is ignoring the toys and moving his direction with great determination. She only made it about halfway to his chair after a good ten minutes, so of course he rescued her. I'm guessing it's going to be mere weeks before we have a lightning crawler in the house...

Ballet Recital (Pictures and Video!)

The girls had their last day of homeschool co-op last week which finished up with a little performance of the dance they have been working on. They had so much fun in their ballet class this year. It was only ballet (no tap or jazz or modern nonsense) and their teacher was a high school student who will be going on to continue her studies in ballet after she graduates, which means she was super cool and the girls loved her.

Waiting for the show to start!

These are all mid-dance pictures. They did one final dress rehearsal for the performance, so I was able to get pictures and a full video.

There was also a younger class, so this is everyone from both classes at the end.

And their lovely teacher.

And here is the video. I have to apologize to Mary. For a moment while I was recording, I looked down to adjust Edie who was wrapped on my front and in doing so accidentally cut Mary out of the frame on the edge. But she pops back in after a few seconds! Also the music is really soft in the beginning so it looks like they started wrong, but it gets louder after a few seconds and they're all on track.