My Funny Valentine

Our sweet baby girl is almost six months old.  That's amazing. The newborn stage is over in a blink.

 She is officially called Essie around these parts, thanks to her adoring brothers.  She loves to be rowdy in her own special baby way: blowing bubbles, screeching, smacking at toys hanging above her and rolling across the room.   She is much more of a mover than our other kids have been. She also doesn't hate tummy time like they did.

 Essie loves to be facing out in the Baby Bjorn.  She smiles at everyone we pass and kicks her little feet like crazy. She's quite a cheerful baby and thank the Lord, a great sleeper.  She takes about three naps a day and goes to bed at 8 or so.  She wakes up for a dream feed at around 11 and then sleeps until 7 (or when I wake her up). I am savoring this time of restfulness as I know teething and pulling up in the crib will be her before I know it. Essie prefers to sleep on her stomach and sometimes she'll roll onto her back and give an angry scream. Of course she can just roll back onto her stomach, but she likes to let us know she's not happy.

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Esmé has already hit the ski slopes. Queenie, Mantis, and Aunt Hannah lugged her big, pink, marshmallowy body around as I snowboarded and Zach taught the boys to ski. She was a trooper, spending hours outside with little complaint. She's also been outside in the snow quite a few times at home, as we enjoy Snowmaggedon '14. She enjoyed smacking on the snow as it flew in her face, and she even sat in the snow on her own as Caelum and I built a snowman. I think she was very motivated not to tip over. 

  

 Things Esmé loves:

Daddy

 Brothers

 

Clemson (presumably)

 

And her latest favorite thing: solid foods! She's had them for about a week now and seems to be enjoying them. I recorded the very first feeding. Somebody likes avocado!

Painting

I better start blogging again, as the Ashtons called me out on never posting.

Shortly before Christmas, we decided to tackle our sad, dark basement playroom.  Who doesn't love a little wood paneling? Me. It took a lot of coats of paint, but the room is much cleaner and more cheerful. Our plan was to stain the concrete floor as well, but on learning what exactly that entailed, we're putting it off until the warm summer months.

Before

After

 The room is so much brighter, it even looks brighter outside.  That's a powerful paint job.  Zach and I finally have painted a room together, after seven years of marriage.  Yay for homeownership!