Homebound

This week we all took turns being homebound...I had parent teacher conferences and a hair appointment 3 out of 5 nights so Daren was on daddy duty at home...I really treasure my time with them after I have to go without seeing them so much! It was hard to get home and Haddie was already in bed sleeping. On Friday Danika woke up with a nasty cough, but no fever and was in good spirits so she went to daycare...when I picked her up Friday afternoon she was a little lathargic and by supper time had developed a fever of 102 :/ Saturday was Aunt Lori's baby shower and unfortunately, we had to miss it and take Ms. D to urgent care... The Hadster got to enjoy the festivities though! Thanks Grandma Lynn and Auntie Lisa for letting her tag along. The Dr. determined that Danika had some symptoms of croup:/ So she gave us 1 dose of the steriod used to treat it and thought she'd be on the mend because it wasn't too severe yet. It was wierd to have no Daren or Haddie home, and even though we were bummed to miss Lori's shower, we did enjoy a day stuck in the house in our Jammies together, just mom and Danika:)

In other news from the week....Haddie turned 7 months old! I know I say it all the time, but how does time go so quickly?!?!?

Here are some pics from the week...

 

Our big eater... Attempting to use her spoon! She managed to get it to her mouth (upside down with out any food on it of course, but it's a start:) She is very bored with baby food and we've started solids much faster with her than Danika- although everything this time around is happening sooner... She sits, crawls, stands, and has even taken a few steps while holding onto her play table. Seriously, this kid thinks she's 9-10 months old! We are going to be in trouble with this one:) 

 

Sweetest thing of the week...Cousin Chloe (Aunt Stacy & Uncle David too!) dropped off some chicken dumpling soup for Danika:)

She decided she didn't like the dumplings, but enjoyed the broth, so why not eat supper with a spoon?!?! :)

 

Trying to keep it fun while we were quarantined inside...window markers:) 

 

We took advantage of the warmer weather and feeling a little better today and went outside for a few minutes to play in the leaves and do chalk... 

 

Do you like Daddy with pink hair?!?! 

 

She decided she just wasn't into napping today- amazingly, she wasn't even that much of a grump, but you could definitely tell she was tired...especially when she carried her pillow and all her blankies into the living room and plopped on the chair to relax!

 

 

7 month photo shoot of Ms. H.... 

As I mentioned above, this girl is constantly surprising us...As long as her belly is full, she is smiling nonstop. She's on the move in so many ways! She is beginning to make more sounds...she just started 'mama' and 'dada' sounds so if you can imagine, Daren and I are constantly encouraging our favorite of the two:) She figured out how to 'tap' her hands/fingers together (I'm not quite ready to call it a clap) but when she gets happy this is what she does!

 

I don't feel like sitting still for you mom...I just want to stand...

 

And reach for the camera... 

 

Of course Danika never wants to be left out of the monthly pictures:)

She's attempting to show you 2 fingers (for age 2-although hard to believe she's closer to 3 than 2 now!) 

 

And the latest comparison....Danika and Haddie at 5, 6 and 7 months. SO crazy to me how two children who are the same gender with the same parents can look so completely different! Especially since I tend to think Daren and I even look somewhat similar!

 

Danika:

 

Haddie:

 

 

Love,

DJDH

Celebrating!

Hello Again:)

This week we celebrated Daren being done working nights....YAY! It was such an enjoyable week for all of us knowing we got to spend our evenings together. He even made us supper and had it ready when we got home 2 nights from work/daycare:) Love Him!

We also celebrated Granny's birthday today- Her birthday was actually last week on the 9th, but we all got together today. Christmas is truly the only time our whole (little) Peterson family gets together so it was great we were able to today...even though our picnic in the park wasn't a success, our house worked just as good for spending time together.

I had the girls pictures taken on Monday, which was an experience. We squeezed in as many shots as possible in 45 minutes and I was exhausted at the end of the shoot trying to get the girls to smile and cooperate. Danika just wanted to show her attitude (see the sassy hip picture below) and not really smile, and Haddie just wanted to eat the leaves and was on sensory overload outside. I haven't seen any previews of how they turned out, but I will certainly share when I do:)

Other than that, we layed pretty low this week- Mainly just hanging out at home as a family:)

Here are a few highlights of the week....

 

Miss Thing...

 

Silly Face:) 

 

The Hadster is ALWAYS smilin' (except at her photo shoot of course:) 

 

Somebody is pumped to have her daddy home again...especially for horsy rides:) 

 

Danika has been really into playing 'classroom' lately. Her favorite classroom spot? Our bathroom!

She spent a lot of time setting up all the 'friends' for her class:)

 

Lovin' her some Chloe time:) Daren and I went to a wedding on Saturday night and the girls stayed at the farm...lucky for Danika, Chloe was also planning to spend the night. They had a blast together and even slept in the same bed- what a treat! 

 

Party Time for Granny...

Haddie and Auntie Heidi 

 

The kids gettin' crazy (Daren included:) 

 

The once a year picture of ALL 7 grandkids:)

Dylan (15) Christian (10) Tyson (9) Cameron (8) Collin (6) Danika (2) Haddie (6 months) 

 

and a silly one... 

 

Haddie got lots of lovin' today:) Hanging out with Sarah Grace...we really wish you lived closer (or vise versa!)

 

Christian and 'cowgirl' Great Grams:) 

(The things you do for your grandchildren:)

 

Helping Granny blow out her candles!

 

We hope you all had a great week and weekend too:)

 

Love,

The Dummers

Fall has Fallen!

Brrrr! What a change in weather we have had in the last week. We are all adjusting around here to warmer clothes and the real kicker for the little people.....SOCKS! Haddie just wants to eat them, and Danika just wants to wear her sandals:) We've had to add an extra 5 minutes to our morning just for getting on our 'gear'!

 

Haddie continues to be on the move...and FAST when she'd determined. Notice the sequence below. Her favorite place to go?!?! Straight to Danika's dollhouse...

 

Here I come!

 

"No, no Haddie!"  

 

Well, if I can't have my sister's toys, why don't I just head on over towards the stairs! Up went the baby gate this week...no fun for any of us, but obviously a necessity.

 

Danika is really into imaginative play, more than ever lately, and she will keep herself entertained and busy for a long time playing with her dolls, babies, 'friends' etc... Usually they are doing things that she is up to (like pooping in her pants- she'll say "Uh oh baby, you pooped your pants again...that's OK, accidents happen":) OR things that she seems mom doing....

 

 

This is the  "What? Isn't this normal? What's the big deal mom, I'm just pumping my milk for the baby?!?!" look:)

 

Last weekend the girls and I ventured to Eleva to visit our friends Brianna and her kiddos Avaya and Graeden...We headed to Schultz's barn to pick some pumpkins and see the animals.

Danika enjoyed feeding the goats... 

 

Riding the 'train'... 

 

And picking out pumpkins...she kept choosing the littlest ones. I tried to talk her into a big one to carve, but she just had her eyes set on the minis:) So, I got a few big ones just in case, and we may just have some painted, decorated pumpkins this year:) 

 

 

We also celebrated our church 'grandma' Pat's birthday by having a nice supper and cake at the farm:) 

 

Our mini-me Daren enjoying her bath time! 

 

While Dad was busy working nights (yes, still!!!) we kept busy with activities at home. Danika helped me make some chocolate chip cookies and learn that the hard work paid off and it was worth the wait to get to lick the beaters at the end:) 

 

 

Ms. Imagination having a camping sleepover at a water park (yes, you read that correctly) on the deck with Dora and Boots:) 

 

 

Seriously kid, STOP growing!!!!! Love this little bug to pieces:)

Haddie is....crawling, pulling herself up, eating breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as puffs and banana pieces for snacks, smiling, screaming, singing, jumping (in her jumper), sucking her thumb, rolling every which way, sitting up, stealing her sister's toys, drooling, and chewing on everything and ANYthing in site! She still has just 2 bottom teeth, but a 3rd one on the bottom doesn't seem too far off! At her 6 month checkup (which was really 6 1/2 months) She was nearing 17 pounds- She's still in about the 80th percentile for height and weight as compared to other 6 month old. She had to get 4 shots:/ but took them like a champ. Danika even laid on the table and took her flu shot pretty well too!

 

This weekend was family filled fun on the farm Saturday- Connor and Madeline made the trip up so we went to play with them for a bit...Uncle David got more than he bargained for when all 3 kiddos wanted a ride in the combine:)

 

Hanging out in the warm truck with the aunties and Madeline:)

 

 

Today was another special day with family as Granny came down to visit for a bit and we met her and Great Grams for lunch at where else, but Culvers:) Then for an extra special treat they came back to our house and Danika got to choose who read her a book for nap time- To no ones surprise, she chose Grams...She also insisted that Grams lay down by her in her bed:) 

 

 

Well, that's all she wrote for this blog- Daren's on his way home and it's time to soak up some majorly missed dad time:) This week he should be finishing up with this harvesting business at Pioneer and we'll get him back- We are ALL looking forward to having him done and getting back in routine. Danika has been SO out of sorts without him. Many a night we've had a major meltdown, tantrum, lots of tears or just plain not herself. That girl has missed her #1:)

 

Dummer....Out....

Another month...and we're on the move!

Hard to believe it's been a month already. I will apologize in advance for the lack of pictures- you'd think I'd have a lot to share since it's been so long, however my camera has been in permenant residence at school lately taking new pictures of my students and other misc... classroom things, so my own children have had to suffer:) Not to mention I've nearly been a permenant resident at school lately! Such is the beginning of the year...especially since I've been off since March! So between my crazy back to school and single parenting schedule with Daren working nights now while they harvest, it's been crazy around here.

 

I did manage to get some pictures taken of Haddie this weekend- Our big 6 month old!!! Where did that half a year go? The big 'move' I mentioned is that Haddie is CRAWLING! Look out world (especially Danika's toys!), here she comes. We've had to have some major discussions with D about putting her toys away and out of Haddie's reach... She even tells Haddie "No, No Haddie you might choke!" While she seems to be helpful and concerned about her sister, this crawling business also means that Haddie is constantly getting into her stuff, knocking over and messing up her toys and it makes her quite frustrated and angry!  So far she has been good about telling us "Mom, please move Haddie" if she gets in her way, but there have been a few pushes and shoves...Let the fun begin:)

 

Other than getting back into the school and daycare routine, there hasn't been too much excitement around here. We celebrated Daren's birthday last week by going out to eat with his family to Texas Roadhouse-his favorite:) We even witnessed him ride the saddle!

Last time I gave you a sneak peek of the dollhouse that we were making for Danika. It's finally complete (has been for a while, but obviously there hasn't been any updating for a while:)
Here are pictures of the process...

 And after the construction, here's my painting/wallpapering job:)
The decor is still a work in progress. We got some nice dolls and a dining room set we like, but the other plastic furniture I bought as a big lot on Ebay and thought I'd be able to spray paint it and make it look like new, but that didn't work so well, so we'll save up and buy her the nicer, but spendier wood pieces for various xmas and birthday giftts, and eventually she'll have a full house:) My (and Danika's) favorite accessory is a mini dog that looks just like the Collie, Penny on the farm. When I took this picture she was M.I.A because Danika plays with her all over the house!

 

Somebody think's she's ready to stand up in her crib! Yikes...Dad moved her bed down immediately!

 

Danika, enjoying her free DQ Dilly Bar for finishing her summer reading at the public library 

 

And my best attempt at 6 month pictures of Haddie...Danika wanted to be a part of it and all Haddie wanted to do was crawl away, so this is the best we got!  

 

Haddie's 6 month check up isn't until this week so we'll have to wait and see how she's measuring compared to other 6 month olds. I still think she's a little slimmer than Danika was at this age, but she is definitely filling out, especially now that we've started solids-which are going great, by the way:) There isn't anything she's refused yet...a human garbage disposal, just like her big sis!

 

Well, I hope to bring my camera home this week and get a few more pictures and try to keep up to date with this thing! It's tough stuff picking up the girls then rushing home to walk Sophie, make supper, give baths and then it's practically bed time! As much as I enjoy being back to work, I do miss my girls an awful lot, and treasure my weekend time with them! We are looking forward to Daren being done with harvesting the corn in another week or two so we can enjoy him too! They grow and change so much, even spending time with them today he is noticing how much more Danika is talking about everything and anything and using expressive language, and how Haddie does something new nearly every day and changes in looks.

 

 

We hope you are all happy and well too:)

Until next time...

Love,

The Dummers