2 friends of mine and I have all enjoyed the joys of being pregnant together.  We also all had baby girls.  We've been on a fun journey this past year and a half.  Both of sharing anticipation and excitement as we experienced the joys and fears of having babies.  It has been quite a ride as the first of us became pregnant, and then the last of us had her beautiful little girl.  I look forward to the future as our friendships, and our little girls friendships grow (and our older kids too :).  Good times!
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2 Prego and one almost! at H's shower days away from birth
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1 baby and 2 prego at my shower -12 days away from birth
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2 babies and 1 Prego - at L's shower, weeks away from birth
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3 Babies! 9 months, 5 months, and 6 weeks old!
Who's up for round two?!  Hahaha....juuuuust kidding ;-)
 
My firstborn is 8 years old today.  Trying to keep it together and focus on the positives so here goes...PICTURES!
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Birth
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one and walking adorably :)
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2 and about to become a big brother!
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3 and I just love those chubby cheeks!
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4 and so stinkin cute!
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5 and handsome like his daddy!
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6 and so darn cute :)
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7 and showing us around your 2nd grade classroom
So here you are, 8 years old, but it seems like yesterday that you stole my heart.  I knew I was pregnant almost immediately.  I was 20 when I found out I was pregnant.  I chopped my hair off as my last hoorah and regretted that decision majorly....you made my hair stop growing.  yay for those weird hormones.  I had nine months of dreams about who you would be and what you would look like.  The moment you were born, you looked exactly like I always knew you would...almost a replica of your daddy but a little bit of me thrown in so people could tell we belonged together in public.  Buddy, you have lived up to every hope and dream I thought you would be and more.  You are bright and dorky and handsome and so so funny!  You have a wonderful imagination, you love reading, and are a wonderful artist.  You are amazing.  I asked you the other day what you wanted to be when you grow up and you said "a missionary" you are so spiritual it blows my mind.  You've already given a few talks and are a publisher.  Your understanding of the truth and your love for Jehovah is so inspiring.  I love who you are and the adult I already know you are going to be.  You made me become a better person the moment I knew you were growing inside of me.  And the first time I held you in my arms, I knew that being a mom was going to be an awesome ride.  Thanks for all the laughs and silly jokes we've shared.  Thanks for looking after your sisters.  Thanks for the front row seat to watching you grow.  I love you, every bit of you.
 
I'm in shock every time someone asks her age and I reply "6 months"  Where has the time gone?  My baby!  Ok, let me lament no more.  I have  enjoyed every single second of this little ones existence.  She is pure sweetness and smiles 99.9% of the time.  

At her check up last week she weighed in at 16 ibs 10 oz and is 27.75 inches long.   Brother and sister were right around that same weight and height at this age.

What we're doing now:
sitting up on our own for about 30 seconds and then she slowly face plants :)  
"dada" is her favorite sound to make
she enjoys blowing raspberries with her mouth and she absolutely loves sticking out her tongue.
She has 2 bottom teeth
Wakes up about once a night
Slowly snakes her way around the floor, though nobody sees this happen.
Loves rolling from back to belly but hates belly to back, I think it scares her
Loves to put blankets in her face
Trying all kinds of new foods...avocado, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, to name a few.  So far the only thing she hates is oatmeal.  She makes the funniest face when I feed it to her.
Loves drinking from my glass of water.
Loves to eat her feet
Loves being read to.
Still goes to all of the friends at the hall and smiles at every complement thrown her way :)


My siblings at 6 months...
A Random picture of Shakespeare I found as I was going through the old pictures heee hee :)  he's wearing all of baby Ethylwolfe's things :)
 
Today's post is shallow, I'll admit it.  :-)  But I'm posting it none-the-less.

I'm mourning over my hair today.
There's this thing I've heard my mommy friends talk about.  *That of losing your hair after child birth.*  I never had this problem before.  During pregnancy and after, I maintained 'normal shedding levels'.  You know, a strand here or there.  No biggie.

With this one though, yes, there was a definite difference.  Subtle at first, like how I noticed one day while mucho prego that I hadnt made a hair swirly on the wall while showering....those drive hubby crazy.  Or that I wasn't cleaning hair out of the drain. gross.  But it didn't dawn on me that my lack of shedding was due to pregnancy.  And after birth, there was still no difference.

Then one day a month or so ago, I noticed that my long hair was shedding.  hmm, that's weird I thought, I haven't shed in a while.  Now it's out of control!  I am losing hair by the handfuls and it's crazy!  In a week my hair brush has collected enough hair to make a wig. 

I've heard many different myths explaining this phenomenon.  Who knows which is true, but here they are...

1. Your body is suffering through shock from the whole birthing process.  It hits from 4-6 months after child birth and after that, your hair gets back to normal.  weird.
2. hormones.  Your body goes through several different hormone rushes/losses after pregnancy.  The most noteworthy is the one directly after birth.  Whoo, those are crazy days!  Lots of tears at all the beauty around you.  Tears tears tears.  But also weight loss...I like that part!  The first time I got to really enjoy that was this time.  I lost all my weight gained during pregnancy in 6 weeks.  I was happy.  Too bad the flab didn't disappear as quickly. :-/  Another few phases of hormone surges and we hit the 4-6 month phase where your hair falls out, a ton.
3. you don't shed at all during pregnancy, and at 4 months, your hormones get back to normal and all that hair that should have shed, now decides to fall out.  And is supposed to level out at 6 months.

The one common denominator is that 4-6 month mark.

So here we are, days away from Emy turning 6 months (WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!) and I'm hoping my hair will stop falling out any day now.  I'm thankful to have fairly thick hair or else I'm sure I'd have plenty of bald spots...maybe I have some in the back of my head and people are just being nice and not saying anything....

irregardless, I am unhappy about all of this and I'm contemplating going into the wig business.

Also, I'm terrified of my hair falling out even easier, and my hair is so long, it often gets stuck behind me or pulled by other people (mainly EMY!), so I find myself freaking out every time it gets tugged, in worry that a chunk is just going to fall out. :-/  I'm also afraid of going to the hair salon because who knows how much hair they'll pull out!  Not that I really use product on my hair as it is, but I'm product free until this shedding business is over.

I'm over it.  

So here is a shot of my hair collected after my shower yesterday.  The brush was cleared out before brushing and this is how many strands came out afterwards...is this normal? I hope not!  This clump is bigger than the amount collected in the past year!
What hair myths or woes do you have to share?

PS. Told you this post was shallow and would not make you cry!
 
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Girly Girl alert
Last night was parent night for meeting with KennaKat's teacher.

First off, let me just say, I think this year will be such a great fit for both kids and teachers.

I walked into the Kindergarten room, and the teacher said "I'm not giving a formal orientation because we have all already met, and all the things I have to say I say on my blog, so please, sit down and paint a picture for your child and explore the room."

yeah...good fit :)

So I happily sat down and painted a picture for KennaKat and wrote her a note about the hopes and dreams I had for her this year.

Then I explored the class.  Snooped at KennaKat's work.  Eaves dropped on a parent saying 'how nice the art materials were', and the teacher saying "I believe in only the best quality materials, because our little artists deserve quality products to produce quality work"...words out of my own mouth!

yep, good fit!

I talked to the teacher and asked how KennaKat was doing thus far.  She had very positive things to say.  She said KennaKat is a leader in the class.  Always contributing and being thoughtful.  At the beginning of the school year, when they were discussing different responsibilities that they would have each day such as 'line leader' and 'table washer', KennaKat raised her hand and asked "what about the person that helps cheer people up...if somebody's sad, or having a bad day?"  And so a new role was created...

The 'Feel Better Person".
The teacher also said that KennaKat is a great artist.  For their first major art display, they created self portraits.  I really liked KennaKats :-)  She probably spent hours on that upper lip shading ;-)
So even though I miss my girl I'm happy to hear she is doing well.  Today starts my volunteering in the school.

Looking forward to it :-)

She also brings me gifts home every day that she makes for me throughout her day.  I love it!

On another note, isn't this baby just the sweetest?!
Tonight is 3rd grade orientation.  And today Ethylwolfe is taking his first test.  It's the first part of the big reading test for 3rd grade.  He's EXCITED.  Weird kid ;-)  I'm not worried, reading is his specialty!  As I kissed him good-bye, I said "have fun on your test!" He giggled.