5 months

This post is arriving quite a bit more timely... right on time, actually, as Creighton is 5 months today.

These are some of the things that Creighton has been up to the last month:
+ rolling from back to tummy and waking himself up in the process during naps and nighttime (yes, it is very fun to be woken up and have to roll him back over at 1:30am... hopefully he gets the hang of back to tummy rolling very soon :))
+ grabbing for everything, which makes eating dinner with him in my lap much more challenging

+ Loving the bumbo.. and also enjoying the swing and bouncing seat he didn't like the first few months

+ taking note of us eating and enjoying his first bites of cereal
+ growing more and more of this wispy, stick straight hair that is much different than Beck's wavy texture

+ wanting to be rocked to sleep... I think he's digressing and I'm going along with it?!  I am so different with Creighton that Beck.  I can probably count on one hand the number of times I rocked Beck to sleep and it's becoming a daily occurrence with Creighton (although I do always lay him down awake and only rock him if he just won't settle down and sleep... and I quickly stop if he fights it and doesn't fall asleep fast).  I guess I have "could be my last baby" syndrome. :)

summer nights

I love summer nights spent outside together as a family... especially lately when the weather has been so moderate!

A typical night outside consists of things like me feeding Creighton, tending to the garden, Chad and Beck hitting golf balls, playing the sandbox, reading books...

he was about ready to cry in this pick.. you can kind of see his lip starting to pout :)

cleaning the golf clubs

my blue eyed sweetie

might as well immerse yourself in the sand, right?!

4 months

haha.. ok, well Creighton turns 5 months in 6 days, so this post is just a tad bit late... I'm going to blame that one on getting ready for vacation and then going on vacation.  The pictures were taken really late too, so really nothing about this post is Creighton at 4 months!  But I just couldn't miss one month of posting (although these posts are not very exciting and more for my benefit of remembering what he was doing when).

So here's Creighton at a late 4 months.  Getting cuter and cuter by the day!  I can't really remember what he was doing around 4 months since it's now blending into 5, but I know it included starting to roll from tummy to back, more smiles, reaching for toys, lots of hand chewing, and still no consistent sleeping through the night (yea that one post a long time ago that said he slept through the night?  definitely wasn't the start of anything consistent.. nothing like his brother Beck when it comes to sleeping! :)).

family vacation

We're getting back into the swing of normal life around here after being on vacation with both of our families for a total of 10 days.  First we went to Brown County with my fam and then Branson with Chad's.

There are many fun highlights of the trips that I will post about, but of course there are always a few negatives that I must mention too, just to make sure I don't sound like everything was perfect. :)

The downfalls (but none really all that bad):

+ sleeping in the same room as our kids - worrying about Beck waking up Creighton, Beck getting out of bed a million times at night and wanting to get into bed with us, having to be quiet and maneuver in the dark after the kiddos are sleeping... you've probably been there too and understand.

+ having oddly gray/rainy weather.  there were only 2 completely sunny days the whole time... although the cooler weather felt great and it was nice to not have to slather on the sunscreen

+ taking Beck to the ER at 9:30 one night... turned out to not be anything serious

+ getting caught in construction traffic late at night on the way home, delaying our trip by a good hour (which is a big deal when you just want to get the kids to bed and the car unloaded!)
+ Chad had to work during my families trip to Brown County, but still stayed with us and was with us in the evenings.

Some highlights:

Brown County

+ Meals made on the grill at the campsite.  Lots of yummy grilled meats and veggies were consumed.

food prep.  it was fun to have great gma and gpa furrer on vacation with us.

+ Playing at the indoor water park.

cute little Keaton 

giving the cheesiest "cheese" face.

+ Playing at the playground during meal time.

Beck LOVED wagon rides and it was always a fight to get him to eat his food before running off to ride in the wagon.  Although Braden isn't much older than him, he was usually the one pulling Beck!

+ A visit to Oliver winery, complete with a tour and wine tasting, and then a trip into Bloomington for dinner.

There is much more to Oliver Winery than this picture shows.  I guess I thought this captured everything since it's the only one I took. :)  The landscaping is beautiful and it would be a fun place for a date of wine tasting and an outdoor picnic.

 + Pony rides for the kiddos.

 "Uncle Lukie" leading Beck on his pony ride, which he loved.

We decided to break up the trip from Brown County to Branson with a stop in St. Louis.. which turned out to be a great idea and very fun.  We took a little walk along the river to find some food and then ate on the grass close to the Arch.

Branson

+ Boat rides and water sports

driving the boat with uncle Blair and feeling like pretty big stuff! 

+ Driving the quarter operated school bus.

We only let him ride once (I know, so cheap and impatient of us!), but I'm pretty sure he would have done this over and over!

 + Putt-putt!

Beck has asked to putt-putt several times since we got home... it may have to become a vacation tradition of ours!

 + A trip to the ER... ok, maybe not a highlight in the "fun" sense, but we decided it was a bonding experience.
Oh yes, you want to know why we were at the ER at 10pm (with a bunch of questionable looking people who didn't seem to need to be there)?  Beck was playing with Creighton on the bed when he fell over and I heard a pop.  He was crying and crying that his arm hurt and wouldn't let us touch it or move it.  We decided to take him in and found out that it was just nurse maids elbow.  The Dr. just had to pop his arm back into place and he was good as new, but the whole experience took a couple hours.

A rare moment of smiles during our ER visit when Beck realized that the fruit snacks would stick to his chin. :)

 + Dinner along the water at a fantastic gourmet Mexican restaurant.

being super silly with cousin Dela and eating way too many chips!

+ Pool time! (despite the cloudy weather)

And many other fun times with family that I didn't capture since my arms were often full with a baby... and if they weren't, I was just enjoying the moment.  :)

oh, chevron

I hope the homeowners after us like gray and white chevron.... as I am in the process of lining all of our kitchen cupboards and drawers with gray and white chevron paper.  Let's just say it has been a big improvement and has added a fun, subtle pop of color and freshness to them.

We have white cabinets (which I'm a big fan of white cabinets), but they are a cheap material and stain easily.  The insides of the cabinets have all sorts of gross marks and stains from 15+ years of use (and not being cleaned great).  So I got sick of looking at it and decided to cover it up!  I started the project while I was pregnant and have just picked it back up since Creighton has been born.  At first I was just going to do the bottom ones that I see the most, and then realized that the inconsistency would drive me crazy and would probably be annoying eventually, so the top cabinets are getting a makeover too.

My overall verdict on the project has been pretty positive.  It's a cheap and easy way to give something a fresh and updated look.  It is a little tricky to get the paper laid in the drawers straight, that would be the most frustrating part... but the more you do in a row the faster you get.  It seems to clean well and doesn't absorb water.. which I was a little nervous it would get wet and soggy, like a normal sticker.  Not sure how well it would remove, which is why I hope the next owners like it, for their sake. :)

Here's a pic of the cabinets without the paper:

see the yellow spots in the bottom left corner?  and those aren't bad at all... most spots were much worse than that!

And one of the new and improved cabinets:

I'm definitely going to have some paper left over... any ideas what to do with it?  I'm thinking maybe line a dresser?