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!)

Daddy-Daughter Dance

It was a happening week at Our Savior Lutheran School this past week. Have we mentioned how much we love that place? And not just for the field trips! Mali had her first date on Friday night with the guy that will set the tone for all of the other dates in her life. They danced the night away (until 8: 15 pm or so) in the school gym. Appetizers were served and she came home with a Barbie door prize. My favorite part of the day was Mali telling Jonathan at breakfast "DON'T be late for the dance tonight". I wonder where she gets that from?

In the interest of fairness, Brinnly also had a special night at home with Mommy, Aunt Amanda and Maddy after the babies of both families went to bed. And next year Brinnly intends to be front and center on that dance floor too.

Amalia and the Fire Station

9 Months Old!

Here she is at 3 quarters of a year old dressed in her Winnie-the-Pooh jammies. Our Honey Bear is as busy as ever. She plays hard with baskets of toys and can maneuver anywhere around the house. Still no teeth but she impresses us daily with how much food she can pack away. She's thinking about moving up from the army-crawl to the all-fours version. And she's going on vacation to Texas soon so maybe her first word will be with a southern accent!

Mali wanted to make sure everyone knows that THIS is usally where you can find Pooh.



Speaking of Mali, just for comparison's sake, here's what she looked like at 9 months. I think those two look the most alike of the three.

R-E-D Red

At their insistence, my girls are all dressed in varying degrees of red this morning. Why, you ask? To match the fire engines that we'll see at Mali's school field trip today. This from the kid who wore an orange shirt, blue pants, red socks, and pink hair bow to school on Tuesday.

...to Celebrate Grandpa Gregg, of course!

It was his 60th! At his request, we made a family pilgramage to Cabela's last weekend. The kids had a blast checking out the REAL stuffed animals, the telescopes, the camping gear, and the yummy restaurant. Mali did note that for her birthday she was NOT going to choose a "far away store" but rather, "lots of presents".

Thanks to some special baby-sitters (Grandma Deni & Aunt Amber) the Shunkwiler-Ward-almost Wissing adults got to have a dinner on their own to as part of the festivities. Wheatberry Restaurant in Buchanan was impressive and we look forward to going back. And nothing says "We Love you Grandpa) like an ice cream cake. De-lish!

Why is Carrigan in camouflage?

Happy Easter-Zoo-Birthday to Grandma Deni!

We celebrated Jonathan's mom's birthday in the traditonal way--a trip to the zoo, of course! The girls loved making masks with her to show off their favorite animals.
We won't give away any secrets, but let's just say that Mali is now on the look-out for any speed limit signs that are show Grandma Deni's new age.
(Brinn is always quick to point out that she's not a scary lion. Just a loud roaring one)


And here's an Easter family shot since we always celebrate the two holidays together in some way--and she she's a big fan of spring. Hope this year is full of blessings for her!

Easter Blessings

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Eight Months Old

She rolls all over the house and waves hello when she's in the right mood. This month she really developed a preference for bananas, finely diced grapes, watermelon, and sweet breads. On the double, of course! Thankfully, she's gone back to taking the occasional bottle when she's away from her mama and handles separations like that in stride. Now if we could only get her to be quiet in church...

Little girls with hats and guitars

Our little girl with an Irish name had her unofficial "coming-out" party of sorts on St. Patrick's Day. Her three-and-a-half (!) hour nap that day put her in great shape to dance the evening away at the local Casino Club. It was also our little friend Eliana's third birthday and all of the kids were excited to celebrate with music and green cupcakes. Their chicken-dance skills have now been refined to be on display for summer weddings!