Megan's blessing

On Sunday Megan was blessed at church. Cari came down to attend and helped Ryan get ready before church. 

 Grandpa pants are so in these days. ;)

We are lucky enough to have several family members close enough to come to the baby blessing. After church we got some pictures.

The girls:

It's so weird to think we're now a family of 6. How did that happen?

The whole group:

And our beautiful baby Megan, one day shy of 1 month when we took these photos:

 As you can see, Megan is smiling these days. She has also been cooing more and more. And so the fun part begins. I love when babies start "talking" to everyone. And the kids love that she's finally responding to them and isn't just a blob anymore. :)

Pictures

Ryan was putting up a fight at bedtime and nap time every day for a while, so in an act of desperation one day I offered to let him sleep on his mattress on the floor instead of in his crib if he would stay on it. That solved a lot of the problem and bedtimes and nap times have been more smooth ever since. Then the last two days when he has woken up in the middle of the night he has asked to be put in his crib for the last half of the night. Not quite time to disassemble the crib yet, I guess.

Annie and Ryan both like reading books on the mattress. They have quite a selection of books they can "read" all by themselves that they've memorized. Annie is even starting to be able to sound out words and can read the first two Bob Books, and is so proud of herself for her reading skills.

Annie continues to be Megan's biggest fan. Any time she notices that Megan is awake she runs over and says, "Hey, girl." And fawns over her for a while.

Megan is beginning to respond occasionally with smiles. It's so cute.

Peyton and McKenzie love their little cousin, too. McKenzie said after our turn was done with the baby, Megan would come to stay at their house. Some things we don't take turns with.

Aunt Cari came to visit last weekend and all the kids swarmed around her, like normal. Here they are all enjoying some tasty slush.

Megan and Grandma:

Megan and Marie:

And the kids having fun out on the trampoline with Cari and the sprinkler turned on.

Ryan did not like his shorts getting wet, so stripped down to his undies. When he started to take his undies off, Cari was thankfully able to convince him to keep them on.

My two handsome men:

A few pictures from an impromptu photo shoot of Megan:

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Ryan really likes Megan's bow. Any time he finds it laying around he'll put it on. Here he is modeling it while sitting with Aunt Cari.

And Aunt Cari with baby Megan:

Annie, looking lovingly at two of her favorite people:

Week 2 with Megan

Week 2 of Megan's life was the real test, getting into real life with only one adult (or two on the evenings and weekend) to deal with 4 kids, instead of 4 adults. And we survived. With lots more pictures of Megan. (You've got to take lots when they're brand new because they change so quickly.)

After a bath with the fro-hair going:

 Annie was very excited to dress Megan and picked out this "coordinated" outfit.

 I'm loving the blanket my mom and dad made and quilted for her.

 This one reminds me of Rachel, too, though most of the time she still reminds me a lot more of Annie. In fact, I often have to catch myself before I call Megan Annie, since they look the same.

 Again, whenever Megan is on the ground, they all flock to see her. She is very loved.

 We had some pretty good monsoons for a week or so. Last Sunday was one of the best. We were at my parents' house for Sunday dinner and got stuck there for a while, waiting out the storm. There was another cell on its way in, but we had a short window between the two storms, so we hurried home. On Kolb the underpass drains were overflowing and it was full of water, but not enough to flood our car, thankfully. I heard that shortly after we drove through the road was shut down because it was too flooded.

 Just to show how good of a storm that was, in that storm there was an F-16 at Davis Monthan AF Base that was flipped onto the one next to it.

And the flag at the car dealership at 22nd and Kolb got torn to shreds by the wind: 

Driving the whole way down Kolb there were tree branches broken and in the middle of the road, and all sorts of debris all over the place. Out at our house the wind apparently wasn't so strong, as there were no upturned cars or knocked over trees that I saw.

More pictures of Megan:

 My first week solo flying with 4 kids also happened to be the first week of school.

Rachel went back to school last Monday and was very happy to be back at school and learning again. She is in Ms. Esham's class this year. (We're on a modified year round schedule in our school district which is why we're already back at school.)

 Annie was very excited to be starting preschool this year. And she was VERY disappointed when she realized her first day was not the same as Rachel's first day. But she toughed it out and Thursday FINALLY got to go to preschool and LOVED it.

 Annie is doing preschool at Janeen's preschool, where Rachel did her first year of preschool. It also happens to be where Rachel takes piano lessons, and is just one street over from our house, so when it's not too hot we can walk. So in a couple of months, maybe.

And while school is going, the rest of us just sit around at home trying to catch up on sleep, or keep the house from reaching disaster level. And holding Megan. And the other kids. Sometimes I feel a little too loved....

 Monsoons have died off for a few days (hopefully to return real soon), so we sometimes have to resort to the traditional way of cooling off in the summer:

 And a couple of more pictures of our little cutie...

Megan had her 2/3 week check up and is up to 8 lbs 14 oz., I think. She's doing well and is a pretty easy baby, but has her nights where she's up every 2 hours, for an hour at a time, leaving me a zombie after having no longer than an hour in a row of sleep. Thankfully most nights aren't like that and I can get at least one 3 hour stretch of sleep in. And even more thankfully, this sleep schedule won't last forever. We'll enjoy her being tiny and cute while it lasts.