Elaina's 6 Month Well Check

I took my sweet girl to the doctor this morning for her 6 month well check. She is doing well, except that she is kind of a lightweight. She weighs 14 lbs 9 oz, and she is 26 inches long. Her weight is in the 20%, and her length is in the 61%. The doctor asked how much Elaina is eating and drinking, so I told her. She said we need to encourage Elaina to eat more baby food, and make sure we're offering her enough formula, since my milk supply is almost gone. I have been supplementing with formula for about a month now, but as Elaina loses interest even more with nursing, my milk production has almost stopped! At least we made it this far!

So, we need to get Elaina eating 2 baby food meals a day and drinking around 24 oz of formula a day. The doctor said she should be able to eat a whole jar of Stage 2 baby food plus some cereal at each meal! Elaina struggles to even finish a whole Stage 1 baby food jar right now! She is just a petite little girl! Well, as long as we're trying.....I guess that's the best we can do!

Zoo Atlanta Trip

Today we went to Zoo Atlanta to spend some quality time together as a family. They had a New Member Welcome event going on, so we thought it would be fun to be a part of that. It was our second visit to the zoo, but we forgot to take our camera with us the first time, so I made sure I took some good pictures this visit! The weather was gorgeous, the animals were mostly awake and active, and the kids were very well behaved. It was a fantastic day! I couldn't post ALL of the pictures I took because I took quite a few, but I have posted some of my favorites. Enjoy!

Elaina is my content little sweetheart. Here she is at the beginning of our visit.

Jason and me...excited about our day....

Ethan loved the petting zoo area. Here, he is petting a sheep.

Ahh! He is surrounded by goats!

I LOVE panda bears, and today they were all active and eating bamboo. It was so neat to see them so up close and personal. Ethan enjoyed them too!

Ethan and Elaina riding in the double stroller (such a handy invention!)

Jason and Ethan are standing in front of the alligator habitat.....yikes!

Such amazing creatures....giraffes...

We happened upon the elephant during a "keeper talk", so we got to see her up close and personal.....you'll never guess this elephant's name.....it's 'Tara'.....but I'm not sure of the spelling. How funny?! It's kind of strange to share my name with an elephant!

Ethan and me by the gorilla statues

Ethan as a lion...haha!

A family photo in front of the elephant

Ethan LOVES lions....too bad the real lion was sleeping up on a rock, so it was tough to see. He had fun sitting on this statue, though.

My sweet girl at the end of our zoo visit....notice she is still sucking on her fingers and is content. Yep, that's Elaina for you!

After Bath Time...

This week I managed to take a few sweet pictures of my children after they've had baths. There's just something so cute about little ones with their towels or in their diapers! They are both growing up way too fast! Ethan will be 2 1/2 at the end of October, and Elaina will be 6 months old on October 11th. How could 6 months have gone by already?! I literally feel like I just brought her home from the hospital a few weeks ago! I am trying to take time to enjoy every day I have with them while they're young because I already see how quickly time goes by! One day when they're older, I'll be missing these days.....as crazy as they can be at times!

Ethan with his "dragon" towel...

What a ham! Ethan loves attention!

Little Elaina....so precious...

She's grinning at me...my sweetie...

She has learned how to suck on her toes, but she doesn't do it very often....haha! I think she was just doing that, and I missed catching it with the camera.

Ethan at Haven Hill Horse Ranch

Yesterday we went to Haven Hill: An Equestrian Farm on a "Field Trip" with the MOMS Club. We had never been there before, so we didn't know what to expect, but we had a great time! Ethan was able to ride on a horse, feed a horse, brush a horse, listen to a horse's heart beat, and examine a horse's hoof. He was so excited to ride the horse until he got into the ring with the horse and realized how big it was compared to him. He was a little unsure weather or not he wanted to ride it at that point, but we encouraged him, and he decided to do it. We were so proud! Once he was up on the horse, he said, "I'm a knight. Where's my sword?" Haha! I just laughed. He and Jason go on imaginary adventures all the time, and so he already has a very vivid imagination and a hunger for adventure. He did a great job!

One of the other moms was so kind to take pictures for me because, once again, we left the house without our camera! I am so grateful for these photos!

Jason and Ethan looking at the horses

Me and a staff member helping Ethan listen to the horse's heartbeat

Ethan feeding the horse a treat

Ethan riding the horse, "Yee haw!"

A staff member leading Ethan around the ring on the horse

Ethan touched the horse's nose before getting on to ride

Both of the staff members were trying to encourage Ethan to touch the horse's nose, so he would be more comfortable riding.

Us-At the Youth Film Day

This past Saturday, Jason filmed a movie with his youth group at the church. Although it is tough, Melanie and I were both there with all our kids. The youth seemed to have had a great time, and Ethan and Jake enjoyed running around the youth building playing together. We captured some silly moments between them with the camera. That was definitely an exhausting day, but God gave us the grace and strength we needed to make it through. I am looking forward to seeing the finished product once Jason gets the movie edited! He's becoming a great "film maker". Haha!

Okay, so these pictures are backwards because this is Ethan, Elaina, and me resting on the couch watching Veggie Tales after the busy day.

Here are Melanie, Grayson, Elaina, and me getting ready to head home from the Film Day.

Jake and Ethan love to make silly faces for the camera. They also like to make silly faces at each other! Such love!

Say Cheese! Yum, Ethan has a potato chip in his hand!

Okay, this looks like an angry face....I'm not sure why it's blurry...