Happy Birthday Mom!

They say it's your birthday! Well it's my birthday too yeah! Okay well not really. It's my mom's birthday today. Her 29th of course! Because I decided on my 29th birthday that we don't age past 29 as women in our family ;). But just look at my mom. She can't shut off the mothering. Helping CJ with her "birthday cake" that we had in celebration of her birthday last week. Okay, my mom made the cake. It was very good too as usual.

Mom, even though we aren't getting to see you today we are all thinking of you and hoping you are enjoying your day. Love you mom and we all hope you have a truly happy birthday!

Wordless Wednesday: Baby faces

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Fireworks for the 4th

Here are the 4th of July fireworks we went to last night. Alyssa did fine with them until the finale. That was when she started crying. I thought she was going to fall asleep in the beginning actually. CJ did much better this year than last though. He wants to see fireworks everyday now. We had a perfect view of them too. It was a great evening.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July weekend!

Happy 4th of July

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM THE BARNES BUNCH

5 months down

Alyssa is now 5 months old. I was thinking yesterday on her 5 month birthday, as I was working feverishly to clean the house and prepare for our picnic, that a lot has changed. Not just with Alyssa either. 5 months ago on that very day we had a terrible ice storm and then yesterday we were enjoying some beautiful sunny weather and having a picnic out doors. Not that this is a huge surprise though that winter and summer are completely different. Just goes to show how much change five short months can bring though.

So here are the changes in Alyssa. She is really getting her own little personality. She seems to know who I am and is always looking to have her eyes on me when someone else is holding her. She loves each of her siblings. She loves pulling the girls hair. She smiles at CJ all the time. I think she gets a real kick out of him. She rubs the top of her head to go to sleep or calm herself down. She pulls her pacifier out of her mouth and then screams and then tries to put it back in. She babbles non stop. It really sounds like she's trying to get in on the conversations going on around her. I swear she said Kate Kate the other day. My dad thinks she said "Grandpa I love you" yesterday. She has the cutest sing songy little voice too. I love hearing her talk. When rubbing her head doesn't soothe her to sleep she'll actually talk herself to sleep. She loves rocking. When you hold her in a seated position she'll rock herself back and forth. She has excellent head control. I don't think it will be long before she's sitting unassisted. She is really trying to copy facial expressions. She loves sticking her tongue out. She still gets up once during the night to eat. She is still exclusively breast fed although I'm thinking that could change soon. She might be starting to teethe. She bites down on things much more often now. She has been a great addition to our family.

Here are some pictures from yesterday...

 

Alyssa with my dad caught rubbing her head trying to self soothe.

 

There's that tongue

 

Where's your belly? What a quirky little smile

 

Really got a good shot of her tongue in this one

 

She's getting a little disgusted I guess.

And that's our 5 month old baby girl on her 5 month birthday!

Falling asleep with a good book

So I was going around the house picking up and getting some laundry together. I made a pit stop in CJ's room and noticed he had a lot of stuff that needed cleaning up. So I was calling him and calling him while I continued my wandering around the house and he wasn't coming. I walked into the living room where he was and this is how I found him...


Fell asleep reading a good book. Awww, I guess the room can wait. He's still in his chair sleeping with the book just like that too. No doubt about it though, I'm raising voracious readers.

Lake Compounce bring a buddy day

Today we had made plans with an old childhood friend of Joe's to go to an amusement park. It was bring a buddy day. It was such a beautiful day. Very crowded though. Small world with Joe's childhood friend, she went to school with my brother. She remembers him a little. I showed her a more recent picture of him and she said he looks the same.

Anyways, I have no pictures to share. I had my camera, but it seems that with taking care of the baby I had a hard time getting pictures. I don't think I went on a single ride. That's okay though. The kids had a great time. It was an exhausting day. Natalie was really unsure about the whole thing because Joe's friend has 3 boys. She didn't think she wanted to hang out with all boys. Turns out they weren't too bad though. She actually enjoyed them. The kids hit it off pretty well.

I got sunburn. Shame on me. I make sure the kids are protected from the sun, but somehow I never get enough sunblock on myself. My own fault. I know better. It was a day full of swings, bumper cars, roller coaster, water park (with really cold water), more bumper cars, more roller coasters, ghost hunts, more swings, games, a lost child, a found child, and complete exhaustion. That's what spending from 11:30 in the morning until almost 8 at night will do to you though.

Our summer is getting off to an exciting start!