Yet another reason for a Pittsburgh vacation soon...

Iris Faustina Ryan was born early Saturday morning. She was welcomed by our dear friends Mike & Kellie Ryan and adored (I'm sure) by big brother Jack and big sister Abigail. As resident experts on pretty baby girl names, we're giving this one a big thumbs up. (Not that anyone asked our opinion). Iris was born at the Midwife Center in Pittsburgh and caught by the same midwife that assisted Mali with entering the world. We are all anxious to get some travel dates on the calendar to see that little one for ourselves. Brinnly wonders if she should now stop calling Abigail "Baby Abbie".

Raise your hand if you're potty-trained.

Ten Months Old

Ladies and gentleman...we have a crawler. That has changed her life over the past two weeks. She maneuvers everywhere stopping only occasionally for a quick re-charge hug from Mommy or Daddy.

--She waves and points constantly throughout the day, especially when someone new enters the room. She's usually the first kid awake and loves the moment that she sees each of her sisters in the morning.

--Signing? No way. She'd rather grunt (LOUDLY) for her food, or very deliberately point at her tray. Her personality changes from cheery to demanding at meals if she doesn't get the food she wants quickly enough.

--Occasionally we can pacify her with cracker or cheerios, but want she really wants is diced grapes or strawberries. Hard food for busy parents to prep! Once she sees that fruit is available, she rejects anything else. She also loves pasta, cheese, and tomato sauce. But who doesn't? At this point, it's virtually all table food. We've really never done much canned baby food for any of our kids, figuring it's just easier to feed them off of our plates.

--She is still nursing well with 4-5 regular feedings a day. She's take an occasional bottle and does okay with whole milk too. She LOVES sippy cups of water with meals too.

--At her last well-baby visit, she was almost 17 lbs and into the 75% for height. How did that happen? Based on the clothes she fits into now, she's definitely bigger than either of her sisters. She's into size 12 months now and wears 3's diapers.

--Bath time is her absolute favorite time and is always our go-to for calming.

--She loves to read books and take out any toys from baskets. This keeps her busy for good amounts of time.

--Did I mention how loud she is? Seriously, the highest volume in the family.

--Overall, she's a great sleeper (regular bedtime and two long naps a day) but has been known to keep her sisters up at night. We heard them the other night saying "Carrigan, it's not a party...it's bedtime!".

--No teeth yet. We're thinking she'll be a very late teether, like Brinn.

--Her tufts of blond hair are finally filling in. With beautiful hints of strawberry-gold!

--We're often asked how much she looks like the other girls. Obviously, there's a resemblance, but her size is bigger and her hands/feet/fingers are longer and narrower. The otter girls were never this blond and each of them have a unique eye color. Amalia's are grey-blue, Brinnly's are hazel, and Carrigan's are bright blue. Carrigan has been a "blondie" in all of her features since birth. Yet another way she's showing us her individual self!

--She's still a delightfully happy little girl that brings all of us smiles. We can't wait to see what that little character will do next.

Five on Friday

Here's what's been keeping us busy lately....

1) Jonathan and I both ran the 5/3 River Bank 10K run on May 8th. It was a great experience to train with a group from our church. We ended happy with our times (K 48 min and J 42 min) but cold and wet. And no desire to put in the time necessary to train for longer distances.

2) That same weekend we had a bridal shower, a birthday party for Jonathan, and celebrated Mother's Day. Mali also got a sassy new haircut, compliments of Aunt Pat.

3) We spent last Friday night (kid-free, thank you Mom & Dad!) Saturday at our friends' parents' condo near Grand Haven. We were able to go out onto Lake Michigan, enjoyed the sunset, and watched far too many episodes of our newest addiction, The Wire

4) The weather was beatiful this week and all the girls spent a lot of time on their bikes. We also took our first trip to the Chihuly exhibit at Meijer Gardens. Stunning!

4) Mali finished up preschool this week. Where did that time go?

I want to remember every little detail...

like the airplane ridethe Kurths and their beautiful vanthe porch swing
the weather
Mali's first glimpse of her future college
the "slide"
Carrigan's first BBQ
the magic tricks
the friendshipsand every other part of our fantastic trip to Texas.





(Good thing so many of these memories are in VIVID color. Keep Austin Weird!)