Links to Amazon are affiliate links.
This is a summary of Spear's 7th month of life which spanned the entire month of June. He was 6 months old during this month! Eating: Well. The day arrived. It was truly time for me to get my butt in gear and start feeing Spear some solids! I really put it off as long as I could haha. It's not my fav and it's def a stage that makes me glad to be DONE with babies moving forward. One last that I'm not getting teary eyed about for sure! With all my babies I've always used Take and Toss cups for their sippy cups . I've always been happy with how they've held up, how easy they were for the kids to manage, and never had any major issues regarding spills or anything. But I've had SO MANY people swear by the Munchin 360 Trainer that I wanted to try it this time around. Last kid...might as well try out the latest and greatest while I can right? I swear this cup is like invented by aliens. I don't get the science behind it or how it actually works or ho...
I started writing about our meet-up with some of Spear's biological family as part of his monthly update post for his 7th month of life and realized I just had WAY too much to say and it needed to be it's own blog post. Plus, it's a pretty big deal and a post that I may want to reference in the future so it's nice to have it stand alone :) In early June we met up with Mama E and three of her children as well as Spear's birth father's sister. Our adoption is considered an open adoption. Legally all that means is that we have contact after placement. There are closed adoptions which are where the adoptive family has no contact at all or often even knows who the birth family is...and then there are open adoptions which can mean anything from just having that knowledge, to having some contact, to having regular visits. Our official agreement is that we send photos and update letters to the lawyer every month until Spear is 1 and then at 18 months and then...
Have you entered the big giveaway yet? Don't forget! It ends Monday Night...click here to enter :) Our summer has been IN-SANE yall. We were gone so much that the "weekly posts" are all going to be a bit wonky. For Week 3 of summer Zach was in Ireland and the kids and I were at the Disney house. When we got back from the Disney trip...we had one week until we left for our annual beach trip! I'm thankful when we made our summer schedule that we did have downtime in-between each trip but that also meant that the downtime was truly DOWN TIME. We stuck close to home so I could unpack, do laundry, then repack for the next adventure! This post covered June 22nd through June 29th: our 4th week of summertime!
Father's Day was very off this year which I feel so bad about but when Zach and his dad planned the Ireland trip they scheduled it where it fell over Father's Day. I really wasn't upset by it because it's Father's Day and Zach was spending it with his dad doing something he loves and as the father of our children I just wanted him to enjoy that day however he wanted! The kids and I enjoyed Father's Day at Magic Kingdom solo ;) We planned to celebrate Zach's Father's Day the week after actual Father's Day. We still devoted an entire day to our favorite dad! We also switched things up this year and did NOT do our annual family golf outing {gasp!}. I do have a ton of guilt about skipping it. I LOVE all the awesome pics each year of our outing and it's a tradition I love that we do every single year. But it's REALLY hot and we have a very young baby and we're at a point with kids where we'd have to have two golf carts and I don...
We finished out our mommy-solo week with an evening at Epcot. Zach actually landed from Ireland that same night but it was good for him to be able to get home and get some SOLID SLEEP and then have us arrive the next morning rather than all of us to get home at the same time. That flight is no joke and I was thankful for all the timing. The downside for me was that we ended with Epcot rather than Animal Kingdom. I didn't stay for the night show at Animal Kingdom but I LOVE Illuminations and wasn't about to skip out on that! So it meant I got VERY little sleep that night as I needed to be all packed up for myself and all four kids from our 9 day trip down there AND have the house all picked up and in order including all the owners items that we leave there etc. It was a LOT to do. But it was all worth it and we really had SUCH a great week! I felt bad because Zach missed us BIG TIME and I felt guilt that really the whole entire week went SUPER smoothly for me solo with the k...
Our last park day of the trip we headed to Epcot! We did the same routine as the day prior. The babies came in the morning then we all came home for lunch and naps and went back in the afternoon with just the 6 older kids, leaving the babies at home. It really all worked out super well! Thanks to Casie's All Things Crafty for the super cute shirts!
After our fun morning we took naps and ate lunches and headed back to Animal Kingdom but this time without Spear and Cam. Whew it was still super hot but it was SO much less stressful for me to be baby-free! Heading to Nemo!
First thing Tuesday morning we hit up Animal Kingdom. I am thankful that Courtney's kids aren't super into Disney as they weren't concerned about riding Flight of Passage. Lately Disney has been doing an extra magic morning hour for Animal Kingdom practically every morning in order to allow on property guests to get in early and ride Flight of Passage. I knew with it being an extra magic hour that morning that we'd have no shot at riding FOP but thankfully no one minded! Even with an extra magic hour it's still valuable to get to the park early and be up among the early arrivers so once the non-resort guests are allowed in we can make a mad dash for our first ride (this day being safari). Zach and I are used to getting to the parks early but it can be tough for such a large group of kids to have to sit and wait, especially in the heat. And it's tough for them to understand the reason behind it...it's either wait now OR have to wait in super long lines onc...
When Zach's dad first talked to him about the Ireland trip my heart instantly went out to Zach's mom. Sure, she isn't a golfer. But it would crush me if Zach planned a trip to Europe for his birthday and I wasn't included in his plans! Even if it made sense for her not to go (and I'm sure her feelings weren't hurt in the way mine would be) I still felt bad about it. I talked to Zach about trying to make sure she had some special time too while they were all away. Typically each summer there is also a Parker Family Trip with ALL of Zach's side of the family (his parents, sisters, and all the kids). Zach and I were under the impression that it wasn't happening this year so we thought it'd be nice to invite Zach's mom and sisters down to the Disney House for a few days so his mom could get to have all the grandkids together. Even though the men wouldn't be there, it'd still give her the memories and experience with all of her grandchildre...
Robyn's crew headed out first thing Saturday morning and we had a LAZY day planned. When I made plans for the trip I really wanted to make sure I carved out a couple days for JUST the kids and I. While time with friends and family is always fun, it usually results in adults talking and kids playing. I wanted to make sure I had quality time WITH my kids while Zach was in Ireland. We started our Saturday with a big, yummy cinnamon roll breakfast then had some fun playing games while Spear napped.
Zach headed off to Ireland on Wednesday June 13th. I met up with Robyn at pretty much the same time Zach left to drive down to Orlando. I've never driven my kids solo before for that long of a drive with any of them at this young of ages. I was pretty nervous about it but thankfully Spear is on the 4 hour schedule which means he wouldn't have to stop and eat because we can for sure make it from our house to the Disney House in under four hours! The Ireland Crew!
While the first week of summer recap was covering much more than a single week...the second week is covering much less ;) This post is covering Saturday June 9th through Wednesday June 13th!
Sorry I've been a tad MIA. But Prime Day has taken over my WORLD! Ha! If you haven't been following my finds be sure to check out this post here :) Yall know I LOVE some Disney movies and having a movie theme day with my kids is something I enjoy putting together and something our whole family enjoys participating in. To kick off summer this year I did an Aladdin themed morning for the girls!
Several years ago we all pitched in for Mother's Day and surprised Mrs Charlotte with family photos, which you can see here. Britt was like 8 months old I think when we had them done. Obviously a ton has changed in 6 years, including adding several grandkids to the family who weren't represented in the family photos! This year for Mother's Day Casey put together having new photos taken as Mrs. Charlotte's combined gift from all of us. Mrs. Charlotte was SO excited to be able to update her mantel picture frame (also another gift we all got her ha!) with updated photos of everyone. She chose for us all to wear navy, gray or white which worked out well because it's colors we all had in our closets! I did end up buying myself a new dress but who doesn't love an excuse for that ;) Casey has had some photos done with Shelley Jean Smith in the past but this was my first time working with her. She's BEYOND sweet and so flexible to meet us at 7:30 in the m...
This is a summary of Spear's 6th month of life (the entire month of May). He was 5 months old during this month. Eating: At this stage in parenting Spear I'm really sad about not nursing him. I know it was the best choice for everyone involved and I can't fathom actually breastfeeding him. Especially during those tender days in the hospital! But life is easier now with him. He's on a smooth schedule. He eats well. He's happy and content. This is the sweet spot of nursing a baby and it's when I'm really missing it. I still love the snuggles with him while feeding but it's simply not the same as nursing! He is taking 2 6 oz bottles a day (the first two of the day) then I offer between 6-8 oz of breastmilk at his 3:00 feeding and give 8 oz for his nighttime bottle. He went through a period this week where he was fussier with his bedtimes and was fussy right after feeding so I bumped his 6 oz bottles up to 8 oz for a few days and it must have been a ...
All of our family fun from May:
I'm pretty sure most little girls dream about the day they will become a mommy. I remember thinking through it all: how many kids, how many years apart, gender order, names, everything. My dream? Four kids. An oldest brother to look out for the younger ones and so his sisters friends would all have a crush on him. Then two girls so they could share clothes and be best friends. And last, another boy so he'd be able to look up to that older brother with a larger age gap where it'd be a role model type relationship. When I started dating Zach and things got serious he mentioned he wanted two kids. He came from a family of uneven numbers and wanted even. I might have fudged a little tiny bit and mentioned that I wanted six kids...so that way when we compromised we agreed on four ;) Now here we are. Not everything in life happens as we hope or dream or plan. But my babies surpass every childhood wish I could have imagined. I can literally look at them and see God's bless...
Tess had SUCH a great year in K3. Her teacher this year was the same one that both Kye and Britt have had during their preschool career and I ADORE her. Seriously one of the sweetest people on the planet so I knew Tessie was in wonderful, caring hands :) Tess loved having Carter in her class this year. She talked about him all the time and played with him constantly at recess. It's so sweet that they have each other and I'm hopeful they will get to be together again next year before they go their separate ways in elementary school. Tess had a few social concerns in K2. She didn't like participating in the class activities and would kinda stick to herself and not want to open up. She also did have quite a few disciplinary actions (never pulling her clip past one time but still!) especially regarding not wanting to share and hitting. We didn't have ANY of those issues in K3. She LOVED her class. Her teacher talked to me about how different Tess is from Britt because...
All of the kids had a great year this school year! As a mama I had a good bit of "mommy guilt" this year as with us getting matched with Mama E right after school started I feel like I wasn't as involved as I'd have liked to have been in their classrooms. I felt like I didn't really get to know their teachers or their school friends because I spent the first half of the school year traveling to Jax so much and then the second half of the year with a newborn at home! Tess had a MUCH better year in K3 than K2. She really blossomed and was more outgoing and had so many friendships and did so well with all of her participation and learning. I am SO sad about her starting K4 in the fall because it means she'll be gone every morning! I love our two days a week together but I know she'll do awesome and will continue to love school so much. On her last day they had Water Day which she was looking forward to!
