7 Months

 Oh, this little Doll-Face! She's growing up way too fast and she is such a sweetie! As you can see from the photos, Natalie is able to sit up on her own for the most part. She still topples over fairly regularly, but she likes to sit and play with toys for quite awhile before she gets tired of the position. She's started eating "solid" food- if you can call puree solid. So far she has tried mashed up avocado and banana, and pureed peas, sweet potato, green beans (not a favorite!), and squash. I really enjoy making her baby food and feeding her (though I enjoy nursing her more!) I remember with the other kids, making baby food sometimes felt like a chore, but I'm in the kitchen so much lately, that its just a little side task for me and I don't mind it much. She really seems to like eating, although she hasn't really mastered the art of getting it in her mouth and swallowing- lots of it still ends up on her face, on her bib, and on her hands. Natalie is just getting into the stage where she coos and makes the sweetest little noises all the time and I love to hear them! Her sleep has gotten a bit better, but could definitely improve. She's growing like a little weed and we love her so much!

World's-Coolest-Dad

I don't think my kids even realize how cool their dad is. They probably think all dads are funny and good humored and love to wrestle and tease, but he did something extra fun for them this weekend. We were down in our unfinished basement trying to get it cleaned up and organized a bit when he came up with the idea to make them a fort in the area underneath the stairs. Austin has lots of ideas that he talks about for a long time, but never really happen, at least not for quite awhile. But a few hours later I came down from putting Natalie down for a nap and found him stapling cardboard boxes all over to form the walls, ceiling, and floor. He also used a piece of plexiglass to make a window and a big old mirror as one of the walls.

And some bonus cool-dad photos:

First Day of School 2019

 School has officially started for us! Although our schedule (daily and throughout the year) is pretty flexible, I do try to stay on-track with the public schools in the area so that the kids are free to play with their neighborhood friends when they are out. So we started homeschool the same day as the local schools. The first day was a little rough trying to get back into a school routine, especially with an infant that is not sleeping so well and a toddler that is very self-willed. The older three were all pretty compliant- Heidi was especially excited to start school! Asher and Leif are eager for science this year (really they are every year, but especially this year) because we're studying chemistry. Our curriculum is mostly based off of doing experiments and recording our findings. I had to sit them down and explain to them that many of the experiments will be kind of boring and we aren't going to be blowing things up or making slimey goo everyday. It should be a good year though. Once Natalie gets into a better routine of naps (which will be more likely since the rest of us are getting into a more regular routine) and we find something engaging to keep Trevor occupied, it should be pretty smooth.