6 Months

Dear June,

6 months. a half year old. Where has the time gone? I have people ask me all the time if it has gone by fast and I tell them it's a blink of an eye. I hate and love it all at the same time.

You, my dear, are my perfect baby. You are very content, your laugh is contagious, and you are so beautiful. I love that you make complete strangers fall in love with you just by giving them that smile of yours. We really can't go anywhere without being stopped! Don't worry I like it. The whispers are my favorite, when we are walking by and they lean over and tell whoever they are with, how adorable they think you are. I just smile and keep on walking. Ya your mom is a little prideful when it comes to you.

Starting out in your sixth month you are learning so much and very alert. Brains and Beauty, you got them both from your father. :) You are sitting on your own and can stay that way for a little while, then you get tired and fold in half. You are rolling over like crazy, I can't keep you on your back for anything. You roll over from back to belly, but you're still getting stuck once you're there. It's funny, I'm not sure if you will ever catch on, but at least your rolling, and I kinda prefer it the way you are doing it. It just means you can get in crawling position that much easier. You're scooting your way to things. I think it's just a matter of time before you start crawling, but the scooting seems to get you to your toys and get you in head jams in your crib. what can I say... You love sleeping on your belly ,rolled up in a ball in the corner. I do try straightening you out, but there is no hope.

You are still sleeping through the night. You go down about 7:30-8ish and wake up about 6:30 -7. Naps are a whole other story. You go down at the same time (most days) and you sometimes takes 2 hour naps and then other times its 20 minutes but your happy, so I guess what ever floats your boat. You are teething like a mad woman. Those poor gums of yours feel like they are about to explode, they are so swollen, thank goodness for frozen teethers, and modern medicine. No teeth yet, but they have to be popping out soon!

You definitely know when we have left the room. You don't like being left by yourself. This could be trouble.

Your daddy and me can sing "Row your boat" to you when you get cranky and you stop crying instantly, but you really hate the "Popcorn popping" song. You start crying every time we sing that to you. I hope this isn't a sign of struggling years ahead in primary.

You are getting stronger by standing with help, but balancing on your own. You prefer to be laying on the floor playing, than in your bouncer or swing, but you love sitting in your bumbo and chewing on your blanket.

Reading has become so fun with you. Textured books are your favorite. Regular reading books loose your interest, but we could read textured books forever. Maybe you will be a very hands on type of person. That's how I am, so maybe you get that trait from me!

Juniper, it's been the best six months having you in our life. You are such a joy and a blessing to have around. I still can't believe that you are all mine. That I'm the one who comforts you when you are sad, or who can put a smile on your face no matter how grumpy you may be. I love being your mother. I love every bit about you. I love you.

happy six months June bug.

Love mom.

Bunny Booties

June got bunny booties as a gift before she was born. I knew they probably wouldn't be booties that would be worn all the time, but I had to get pictures of her wearing them at Easter. They were so adorable on her, I wish I had a professional taking the pictures, but mine will have to do. Juney kept chewing on them so by the time we were done, we had fuzz everywhere. We had to take an early bath just to get it all off of her, plus a run of the vacuum but....

Totally worth it!

A true blue Texan

You just aren't a Texan unless you have a picture with the bluebonnets. The Bluebonnets are a flower that blooms EVERYWHERE in Texas during the spring. Since June is a Texan I just couldn't resist taking her out and getting some pictures. Dan and I went out after work and just walked until we found some, which meant right outside ha ha. It's a huge thing here in the great state to take your picture in these....

When going to get Dan one day from work I saw a girl pulled over on the side of the freeway and taking pictures of herself with a tripod.... Kinda weird, but it's what you do if your a Texan. These are some of my favorites. They are all raw images so nothing special except for the most beautiful little girl in them.

From back to belly

Here is a little video of June rolling from her back to her belly. An ordinary baby usually rolls from belly to back first, but Juney is no ordinary baby! She does things backwards. Rolling from her belly to be back would be wonderful because now when I put her on her back to play she just rolls right over and gets stuck, but at least she is in the right position to crawl! She has gotten a lot faster now, but in this video it takes her a minute. Ok watch if you would like.... no pressure

Untitled from Lesli Lancaster on Vimeo.

San Antonio

We decided to take a little family vacation to San Antonio. It's about 5 hours from Dallas, but well worth the drive. It felt nice to get away... Even though I had just gotten back from Rexburg.

To be with my little family though was awesome.

We stayed right on the river, so we didn't have to drive anywhere, which was super convenient. Everything we needed was right on the river.

Arrrrggg.... I am going to try to convince her to be a pirate when she gets older. This really is her favorite face to make.

and then she becomes normal again...

We walked to the Alamo. Very humbling being there. I actually like going to war sights and spots that changed the history of the Country, and it makes me all that much prouder to be a Texan.

There is a great little walk around garden through the Alamo. This is where these pictures were taken.

June and her faces. Every glance at her she has a different look on her face. She has the pouty lip look and all! Oh my gosh my child is weird. I sure do love it.

Daddy and June. (We can't decide if we are going to call Dan daddy or dad....) Dan wanted to be called Papa, Uh do we live in the 1800's? Just wondering.

My love. My family. -minus ranger, who was probably hovered in a little ball at the kennel.

Me and my baby, for some reason I felt the need to try to keep her warm even though it was like 80 degree's. There was a light breeze? not sure.

She was a trooper the whole time. No crying or fussiness... Just a lot of angry faces.

Swimming with this monster was so much fun! It was her first time and we had so much fun. Dan dunked her under the water and she took it like a pro.

Little baby swimming suits just make it all that much more cuter of a picture. It's just so tiny!

At first she randomly started falling asleep... Then realized it's just like a bath and started splashing around. LOVE

.

The rest of the weekend. It was St. Patrick's day so they dyed the river dark green, and there were also a lot of drunk people, which equals way more entertainment for Dan and I watching people act like fools. Not going to lie, I love a good drunk.

It was a great weekend! I love taking this little girl places and experiencing new things. She has no clue what's going on!

5 Months

Dear June,

A whole hand! That's how many months you are! All five finger's pop up when counting the months. It's mind blowing. It seems just like yesterday you made your big appearance, and everyday just gets better and better.

You as a five month old are a very VERY cute. I will tell you that it makes me feel pretty darn good when I overhear someone telling someone else how adorable you are, or how we can't go anywhere without someone stopping me and saying how they can't get over your features. We are told you look so much like a real person and not just a baby.... We think it's a good thing! Yes we think your the cutest baby EVER!

Your sleeping pattern is improving more and more. It was the hardest thing in the world when you woke up in the middle of the night and started crying, and all I could do is sit there and listen. You do great at soothing yourself now so it was worth it. You are now completely sleeping through the night! :) It breaks my heart a little, actually a lot, that we don't rock you to sleep anymore. I sneak in sometimes and rock you while your sleeping because I can't help it, but you have become a dependent little sleeper and not needing me to put you to sleep. Sad.

Your hair is getting thinner and growing back blonde. Daddy had bleach blonde hair and it's looking like you will too for a while. We will wait and see.

You are rolling over from your back to your belly, but refuse to roll from your belly to your back. You never were the average baby and I blame it on your lack of enthusiasm of being on your stomach, but at least your rolling in some direction!

You are playing more and more with your toys and are loving sucking and chewing on all of them. Swollen gums takes a part in that, you poor thing, but you are still a happy baby which doesn't make it to painful. Your favorite toy is still your mermaid, but your favorite thing to suck on is your elephant blanket, made with lots of love by your aunts and grandma Mendenhall.

You get so happy while singing and reading books, and you hate when Daddy wears hats. I think it's because you don't recognize him. You are starting to recognize strangers and when I'm not near. I like it when you cry and I take you and you stop instantly. Ya I'm your mom and no one can ever take that away from me. It's the best feeling in the world.

You LOVE talking! You just chatter away all day. I think you discover a new noise you can make everyday and you just continue to talk and talk and talk. You get that from me.

Your growing more and more. I think your a chunk but according to Dr. Tomecko you are just an itty bitty thing. in the 20th percentile weight and 75th percentile in height. My little super model, I will encourage you to pursue other things than being a model in your life.

We have a million nick names for you but we mostly call you: June bug, Juniper, Juney Toons, Bubba Grumps, and Chub chubs. (Don't take them personally)

June, We love you so much that it hurts my heart!

Can't wait for the next month!!

Love, Mom

Why the Crap did we MOVE?!?

Dan and I can't even talk about it without shaking our heads and wondering why the crap we moved!

With recent turn of events with Dan's job, we are able to move into a house a lot sooner than we thought. Which is awesome, but we are now just kicking ourselves for moving, when it would have just been a lot easier to stay in our old place instead of living in our new place for 3 months and move again! What a whirlwind. It's defiantly a lesson learned that I am sure we will be sharing with a children in the years to come.

It's ok though, we moved.

Moving bites. We always think it will be easy, but when you start moving you realize how much stuff you have! And now we added a child to the mix and had to add a whole other room to the moving process! We had two days to move out, which wasn't to bad since Dan took a couple days off. We moved all on our own. Friends offered but they couldn't come until night after work and we were ready to get going, so we decided to just do it ourselves.

My friend Mary did come over to babysit June so we wouldn't have to pack her up every time. HUGE LIFE SAVOR!!!

So like I said we moved all on our own. Dan was very patient with me, but I am pretty sure we wedged every piece of furniture in the door. I was laughing the majority of the time, yelling we need a plan. Dan just shook his head.

I was pretty proud though lifting couches, beds, washers and dryers with Dan. I was really sore the next day and ended up with like 6 nasty bruises but we did it!

Just a classic moment of what kept happening

June and Liam playing while we packed up

A little bitter sweet moment. This was June's first home, a little sad to leave, but on to bigger and better things!