A few more wedding pictures

Don't you love Lianna's shoes?
Matt's family: Dick, Shirley, Lianna, Matt, and Chris
Matt and Lianna with my mom and dad
The four blond sisters. I love how Lianna's colors photographed.
Seriously, the most precious thing ever.
Um, still precious
Good lord, more preciousness.
The Jones family photo. I wonder how old your kids are before you get a picture with everyone smiling.
They are a beautiful couple.
Aubrey dragging Nathan down the aisle.
Look how huge my whole family is these days! Twelve of us with number 13 due in 4 weeks.
Mr. and Mrs. Sackmann

The classy couple, shot gunning a beer at the reception.

Do a little blog spying

I am directing all my faithful readers to my new blog link, Julie and Jason. Julie is Greg's sister and they just posted a bunch of pictures of their new baby Jonny. Since they can't be on my blog this is the next best thing. We can't wait to squeeze him!

Oh, and in case you were curious, yes, he is our kid's cousin. And yes, our children do look albino in comparison. And no, Aubrey still doesn't have that much hair.

One last thing to leave you with. A little riddle for your weekend pondering. Ahem:

What is yellow and liquid and managed to find it's way not only onto the wall of the bathroom but the floor, the potty stool, the side of the bathtub, and yes, wait for it, the hand towel hanging above the toilet? Two clues: one, it rhymes with "me" and two, the potty training acrobat of the family is responsible. So please, come on over and use our bathroom anytime!

Project Fatten Dane

Dane had his 6 month check up on Tuesday. He passed length (almost 27 inches), development (yeah for the sitting, rolling, grabbing machine) but flunked his weight. At 4 months he was 15 lbs. 7 oz. and he was only 16 pounds 2 oz. on Friday. I knew he wasn't a chunky baby but I really wasn't expecting that. He is happy, eats well, is enjoying the solids that I'm introducing, and seems perfectly healthy. Yet....

His weight percentile has dropped since his 2 month appointment. This happened with Aubrey and Nathan (they were chubby babies but not chubby kids) but evened out around the 40th percentile. Dane dropped to that at his 4 month appointment but was barely at the 10th percentile yesterday.

So, I feet like a lame-o mom. As though I haven't been feeding the kid or I've been putting him on a strict vegan/water diet at 6 months of age. Or I'm making non fat milk instead of good healthy cream. The doc asked if he spits up a lot (YES) and sent us in for an ultrasound to look for pyloric stenosis (problem with the valve separating the stomach from the small intestines.) We did that today and he looks fine. Why is he not gaining weight then? We are attributing some of it to the constant spitting up and the doc put him on a reflux med. I'm also supposed to be feeding him at a near frantic pace it seems, alternating nursing and solids all day until he is pleasingly plump, or at least pleasing. Yet, don't get his stomach too full because this exacerbates reflux. But keep him full. But not too full. Like I don't have enough to do without worrying about the delicate full but not too full balance to strike with my poor starving baby.

Why is this so hard not to take personally? I suppose because as a mother of a baby I have one specific job: to attend to his physical needs. You know, eating, sleeping, changing poop, snuggling, etc. How hard can that be? Apparently harder than I expected because right now he's cruising towards being a jockey someday, or a featherweight boxer, or a poker for the fire. The plus side is that he looks healthy. He is a moving, grabbing, squealing, smiling, snuggling, EATING delight and that is a comfort. Wouldn't he be crabby and screaming if he was always hungry? In the meantime I will spend all my spare minutes (you know, those 2 minutes from 9:00-9:02 p.m.) researching high calorie food sources that will keep him just right full. Can you say avocados anyone?

He has a weight check in 6 weeks. Wish us happy fattening!

What a weekend! Not only did my sister Lianna get married to my good friend Matt Sackmann in a beautiful wedding, but we also welcomed our first nephew (see post below). Here are a few pictures from the wonderful weekend. Welcome to the family Matt!


Lianna and Matt before the ceremony.
Aubrey, the twirling angel.
KayLynn, eight months pregnant
The bride and the flower girl
My dad with Nathan, both looking dashing
Our spiffy family. Don't you love Greg's tie?
Reghan, Sheena, Tiana, Sara, KayLynn, and Hannah
Aubrey and Nathan. They did an EXCELLENT job by the way.
The parents: Richard and Shirley Sackmann and Julie and Wayne Montgomery
My mom and dad's "sons": Greg, Matt, and David
Presenting Lianna and Matt Sackmann!!
You may kiss the bride
Hannah, KayLynn, and David
My beautiful grandparents
First dance
Matt and his Mommy
Lianna and her Daddy
Shake that booty!
Go Mom and Dad!

As you can see, it was a beautiful wedding and a rocking reception. Perfect.

Welcome Baby Reynolds!

We want to announce that our sweet nephew, Jonathan Harold Reynolds, was born on Friday, July 11th. He is Greg's sister Julie and her husband Jason's first baby. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 0z. and was 22 inches long. He has a head full of dark hair, perfect looking lips, and kissably chubby cheeks. I tried in vain to figure out how to post the pictures of him that were forwarded to us but was unsuccessful so that will have to wait until my computer savvy husband gets home. Julie sounded amazingly well when I talked to her and I think both her and Jason love their new little man. We are going to visit in three weeks and can't wait to meet him. Congratulations Reynolds family!

Camping pictures

These are long over due but finally arriving. These are all from Greg's family camp out a couple of weeks ago. You may recall my post on the surprisingly happy time we had. Here's the proof!

Booby Time

Tonight the older kids, who were supposed to be sleeping, were apparently tapping a keg in their room rather than drifting away into peaceful slumber.  I went into the room to find Aubrey holding her stuffed monkey up to her chest.

"Aubrey, what are you doing?" I asked, in a regular volume voice.

"SSSSHHHHH!!!!!!  You'll wake monkey!"

(In a whisper) "Oh, sorry.  What is monkey doing?"

"Mom, I'm just giving her some booby time."

Obviously.

This land is your land, this land is my land...

This picture was taken two months ago but I just came across it and thought it was cute. Three to one, Greg's odds at management don't look too good!
4th of July Aubrey. And yes, I do occasionally comb her hair. It's just that no matter what it's crazy again 30 minutes later.
All set to watch "The Incredibles" at Movie in the Park night.

That's the new song I taught the kids in honor of the 4th. Aubrey "plays" it so beautifully on the piano, while accompanying it with her lovely soprano. It is truly a musical experience to behold.

We had a lovely weekend. Friday the 4th was Matt's bachelor party (SIX DAYS UNTIL THE WEDDING!) and Greg spent the day with a bunch of guys, doing guy stuff like golf and go carts and having a beer. KayLynn's husband David was with them so spent the day with me and the kiddos. We made 4th of July cake, played outside, had a good old American dinner, and after Greg got home, watched the local fireworks from our front lawn. Aubrey was the only kid to stay up that late and she was deeply impressed by the sight of the fireworks and as equally unimpressed by the sound of the fire crackers some local kids were putting off. She spent most of the show huddled on my lap, ears covered, shouting loudly, "I do NOT like that sound!"

Saturday we did family things like errands and house management (a.k.a. Nathan has run out of underwear so somebody please do the laundry. I hate potty training but that's a story for another day.). We also went to dinner where our children must have been bewitched they were so good. Then yesterday evening KayLynn and David came over and put Dane to bed while we walked to our local park with the other two and kicked off summer with "Movies in the Park." Out park shows movie on a big screen with concessions and public restrooms and all the goodies that make it feel like a drive in. The movie was "The Incredibles" and the kids were in heaven. I was in heaven too because it felt just like when my parents took us to the drive in as kids. I had the homemade popcorn and all! That's what the attached pictures are from.

Today was very low key. I did a few errands in the afternoon while the kids napped, we had hotdogs and hamburgers AGAIN, did some house work, read books, managed the massive knot on Nathan's head compliments of his head meeting his wooden bed at high velocity (a pretty accessory he can wear in the wedding), and other normal family stuff. It was a really wonderful weekend.

I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend and took a moment to say thanks for living in the USA. I especially think that when I look at my girl. There are so many places on this earth where the lives of women are pretty bleak. I'm so thankful that I, and my Aubrey, live in a place like America. Of course I'm grateful for all my men being Americans too but you know what I mean.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!