.:Remi - Five Years Old:.

This beauty of a girl turned five today! 

I just looked back at her four year old post, and had written that she had been growing up a lot last year. Well, I have to say the same thing again this year! Remi is just learning and growing so much lately; I am so proud of who she is becoming! 

Remi is still her own little person. She is not easily swayed, and really, almost always that is such a wonderful thing! I like that she is confident and secure in herself and what she wants. It is definitely going to be a trait that will serve her well! 

Rem is still super girly! She loves to wear dresses, and now has gotten into posing for pictures. It is such a nice change from how she used to hate pictures! She loves to put on makeup. Remi still loves her dolls, but she is super into My Little Pony right now. The amount of ponies at our house is incredible! She has a wonderful imagination; I love to listen to her role play with her ponies and her sisters. 

With Reece at school every morning, Rem and Harper have obviously spent more time together. It has been neat to watch her really step into that big sister role more. She also really loves Jabren, and is always happy to try and help cheer him up or keep him entertained. I've mentioned before that he seems to have a little soft spot for her, too. I've been impressed with how Remi is often more willing to help me with things, like cleaning up, etc. 

Remi has been going to pre-school two days a week this year. She has learned so much, and made so much growth this year! She is remembering her letters and sounds, and can write her name now. I love seeing my kids learn and develop! She loves her teacher, Miss Alanna, and seems to have found her place at school. She has learned how to adapt to new situations so much more easily, and is really starting to figure out who she is in her school and church classes. Rem is also in a dance class this year. She for sure likes dressing up in her costumes, but the jury is still out on if she enjoys the class or not. Up until now, I haven't really been able to watch her class so I haven't been able to see how she interacts and listens. There have been a few times when we've had to have some chats because her teacher told me she wasn't participating. This past week was the first week I was able to watch, and she did awesome! Her teacher has even said something to me about it the past two weeks. We will finish out this year and see if she wants to continue on next year. 

Remi is still cautious in general, but she has also loosened up with some things. She still doesn't care for moving things (like swings or carousels), but she has turned into quite the monkey at play grounds! She will climb up on equipment, go down big twisty slides, and run around like crazy! It has been really fun to see her become more sure of herself and able to handle more. Like I said last year, she knows her limits, and it's great that she will stick to them. 

Rem is a singer! Man, can that girl sing! And loudly I might add. She has really natural vibrato. She loves to sing songs that she knows, but also songs that she makes up. While it can sometimes get really loud, I usually really love listening to her. Even her classmates know that it is a cue that she is in a good mood. Her teacher told me of a time at school where she started singing as she worked, and one of the boys said, "Well, I guess Remi is feeling happy!" Cracks me up! 

Remi is our beautiful, red headed girl, and we couldn't love her more! 

At FIVE years old, Remi likes:

- My Little Pony anything

- Barbies/dolls (especially princess, Frozen, and Equestria Girls)

- tablet

- Shopkins

- dressing up

- make up

- singing

- dancing

- popcorn!

- coloring

- watching tv/movies

- playing with her sisters and brother

- fruit

- playdough

- lips

- riding tricycle

- posing for pictures

A FIVE years old, Remi does not like:

- wind

- getting head all the way wet

- having toys/tablet taken away

.:St Patrick's Day:.

We don't do a ton for St. Patrick's Day, but we like to have a little fun celebrating. We have a leprechaun that comes and leaves us a few goodies.

Cereal is one of our girls' favorite foods, so they were thrilled to enjoy some Lucky Charms for St. Patrick's Day.

We all wore green and enjoyed a pinch free day!

.:Jabren - Five Months:.

Five months? No way! I don't know where time is going with this little babe. 

This little boy is learning and growing so much! He is an occasional roller, but much prefers to be sitting up in one of his various seats. 

The saucer is another place Jabes likes to spend his time. He loves standing in my lap, so I knew that he would love standing in the saucer. He has been getting progressively better at grabbing things purposefully with his hands, and this is a great toy for him!

Like I said, Jabes doesn't do a whole lot of rolling. He is, however, always straining to sit up. I think we may end up passing up rolling all together in favor of sitting up. Which I am just fine with! 

Jabes has discovered his toes! He is constantly grabbing them, even when he is just sitting, he is going for them. Just the other day, he learned that he can pull off his socks. I think it's pretty cute to watch him grabbing his toes all the day long. Especially with this naked, rockin' bod!

Jabes' sleep has not really improved. He continues to only nap for 30-40 minutes at a time. I'll get the occasional longer nap, but in general, they don't last long. I'm hoping that changes soon. I'm really ready for him to take real naps. His night sleep is about the same as it has been, too. He is probably to a point that I could - and maybe should - sleep train him. I need to get over my laziness and buckle down and do it. I have discovered on the weekends, that if we do our usual sleep schedule, but then I don't wake him up around eight like I do on school days, he will sleep in until ten or eleven in our bed! It's pretty great. I really adore this picture of him sleeping. Cheeks!

And I just love how he is holding his binky in this picture.

Speaking of the binky, Jabren has become much more receptive to it lately. He has been teething forever and I think he does enjoy chewing on it. But he will also take it a lot more often as a soother. He still loves his hands, but it's nice to be able to give him the binky sometimes when he is fussing. 

Jabes still enjoys being changed. I think being on the changing table is one of his very favorite things. It will almost always make him immediately happier. I'm not sure if it's the proximity to my face that he likes, or the undivided attention, or both or something else, but he sure loves it! 

Jabes still loves his baths and being naked as well. I like that we can do that as something that can calm him down or improve his mood. 

Hanging out in the mother's room at church.

Jabes talks and coos, but is still not the most talkative baby in general. He does grunt a lot, and his newest thing is growling. He is always growling, and I really need to get a video of it. It's pretty cute. Sometimes you can really get him going with his laughing, and it's the best sound ever.

Jabes has become a lot less tolerant of being in his car seat. Which is unfortunate because he is the fourth child, and we are on the go quite often. It will be nice when he is able to sit better so that he can at least sit in carts and strollers when we go places.

This poor boy has had teeth moving around forever. I wish something would just pop through already and give him some relief. He is a slobbery, drooly mess all of the time, and constantly has fingers and hands in his mouth. Other people even notice that he seems to be teething! He has been more cranky lately, so I'm sure that is the problem. Poor baby!

We adore this bundle of goodness, and love to see him learn and grow every day. I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Poor boy obviously has sisters. I fear there is much more of this in his future.

My parents think that Jabes looks like me as a baby, so we pulled out our wedding video to compare. I can see it!

At four months, Jabren likes:

- nursing

- bottles (sometimes, even from me!)

- binky (sometimes)

- chewing/sucking on hands and fingers

- grabbing his toes

- sitting up

- being around his sisters

- having his face tickled

- being sung to

- silly sounds

- being changed

- baths

- standing

- being held

- grabbing things

- nuzzling

- being tickled

At five months, Jabren does not like:

- being in his car seat for too long

- getting swaddled

- napping

- teething