Lately.....

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love the cooler temperatures, hoodies, cuddles, crock pot meals, Starbucks' salted caramel mocha, all the fun movies on TV, family time, and all the birthday's and holiday's that come in the fall and winter (Tae is one of them!). We have already had a busy start to the fall. My aunt and uncle came in for a visit from New York. We had a lot of fun hanging with them. We also celebrated my oldest nephew's 18th birthday. Tae's been having loads of fun in her homeschool PE class. She loves getting to play with all the other kids. I have been on fall break this week. I am so blessed to have a job that gets so many breaks throughout the year. I love spending this time with my family.

Tae has been a lot more interested in holding Hensley lately. I think she likes that Hensley is a lot more sturdy and more social. Tae has a lot easier time getting her to laugh than Aaron or I do!

We tried out the back carry in our Boba for the first time the other day. Having her on my back makes it a lot easier to do things like cook and clean. She seems to like it, but has yet to fall asleep this way. We tried the back carry on Aaron and she was not having any part of that!

 Of course, we Oklahomans are all ready for the start of basketball season. Here is Hensley sporting her Thunder onesie from her beloved Aunt Lyndsey.

 I love how Tae is always posing for pictures. She is so sassy and sweet. I can't believe she is going to be 5 less than a month from now. Time has gone by so fast and it makes me scared to know that it will go by just as fast with Hensley.

Coming up in the next few weeks we have Early Bird classes (kindergarten prep), a couple family birthday's, Halloween, and of course, my Tae bug's birthday.

Hensley: 4 months!

Weight: We don't have our 4 month check up until the end of the month, so I don't know officially how much she weighs. I would guess she is somewhere around the 15lb mark. She is still a little chunky girl and I love it. She has the shortest legs (I blessed her with that) and it makes her look pretty short. I think she is about 24 inches.

Food: Mommy's milk is still the main (and only) thing going on in this house. We've gotten down to a pretty good schedule and she nurses about every 4 hours. She is almost always content after feeding on one side too! I think there is a lot of misinformation about starting cereal at this age and I personally will be skipping the rice cereal (or any cereal for that matter) entirely. It really has no nutritional value and it is not advised to add anything other than breastmilk (or formula) for the first 6 months of life. I will be doing baby led weaning with Hensley. You can learn more about skipping the cereal here and baby led weaning here.

Clothes: She fits perfectly in 6 month clothes. I can still squeeze her into the bigger 3 month onesies and such, but not many. I think we are about to get some cold weather and I'm super excited for her to wear some cute cooler weather clothes!

Sleep: She is still sleeping in her bassinet up until her first feeding around 3:30ish. I've been leaving her in the bed after that, but I'm okay with that for now. She is still only waking twice to eat once at about 3:30am and then again at 6:30. She then sleeps until about 9am. She loves to fight her naps during the day. It is very rare that she takes longer than an hour nap before 4pm. I don't think she wants to miss out on anything.

Movement: Rolling over is officially our favorite thing to do. She rolls from her back to her tummy so easily that she even does it during diaper changes! She can also roll from her tummy to her back, but not as easily. She has also really started to scoot and can spin herself in all directions on her play mat.

Product: I think my favorite product this month has been this new teether we got her. The little fingers are rubbery and Hensley loves to hold it and chew on them. We also got out all of Tae's old baby toys and have been having fun going through all of those.

Highlight: We finally have a laugh! It takes a special kind of talent to get her to laugh, but she can do it and it's the cutest thing ever. Tae was playing "this little piggy" on her toes the other Tae and she was hysterical laughing. She has also started to coo and talk more and loves to talk to the news anchors on TV. I think she things they are talking to her, haha!

Taelyn: Taelyn has started to really enjoy interacting with Hensley. She loves to sing her songs and play games with her. She is getting so excited that Hensley is learning to play back. She is so gentle and caring with her little sister and she thinks and talks about her all the time.

Blessing: I feel truly blessed to have such a calm natured baby. Taelyn was such a fussy baby and I feel I missed out on enjoying a lot of the baby stuff. Hensley is so happy go lucky and almost nothing makes her upset. I am also blessed that Tae has so easily adjusted to her sister being here. She goes with the flow and is always so nice and sweet to Hensley!