The last week:

Life has been pretty good lately around the Schaefer casa!  My last blog post was written when Kellan was at the HEIGHT of his cranky infant stage (6 weeks exactly).  The day he turned 6 weeks he also started smiling, so that was helpful to offset the cranky stuff.  And, from that point on, he has slowly been improving in all areas.  He still goes to bed late, but not at least I can get to bed around midnight and not 3:00 a.m.  (Not gonna lie, that was a rough few weeks)  He is still cranky in the evening, but not AS cranky, etc, etc.

Kellan, when you are old enough to read this blog:  I took to wearing noise-canceling earphones when holding you or even just being AROUND you at night because your crying stressed.me.out, little man.  Thanks a lot.  :)

 Layla had her tap recital last Friday evening.  She did so well and had SO much fun this whole year.  The whole family went to see her dance this time, including Kellan and Grandma and Grandpa.  The day of her recital she got a haircut.  Below is her hair after washing it that day, for cut reference:

Before

After!
She donated 8 inches. 

Then I asked the stylist to do THIS to her hair, because it's what she needed for her recital that night, but I have sadly never learned to french braid.  Sigh.  I tried it out and it did not go well, so I ended up having to pay the haircut gal $8 to do this...haha.  I'll try to learn this year I think.  

I will post more pictures of her recital later...they aren't on my phone, they are on J's phone (pictures and videos) because I had Kellan at the recital, and I totally forgot to take pics of her at home.  :( . Sad!


Jonas created an awesome patio for us this past weekend!  It's great having a husband who knows how to fix and build stuff. 

Kellan certainly prefers to be held by Mama these days, but every now and then Grandma and Papa can sneak in some time with him, if the kids haven't claimed him.

He is VERY into eye contact these days.  

Bad picture for sure, but he was sleep smiling, so I can't NOT include it!!

I've used this Moby wrap with all 4 of my kids now.  In the summer it's for sure best used in central air...haha.

Sleeping smushed cheeks.

Ring slings are GREAT for infants, and much cooler in the summer for outside wearing.

We've had loads of friends over to play this week.  It's been fantastic.  On this day our neighbor came over with her 2 kids and stayed for 6 hours.  We just sat on the patio while the kids played.  SUMMER!

Summer = ice cream snack BEFORE dinner.

But then Mama still made them eat soup for dinner...  :)

Living his best life now.

Finn took this picture with my phone because he wanted to be sure to capture the beautiful clouds for Grandma to see later.

She loves him so much.

Poopy diaper.  Guilty look.

Pinky finger out, ready for tea.

My cousin's kids came over to play.

Pretty much nothing melts my Mama heart more than coming around the corner and seeing them reading together.

Milk drunk

The old bunk bed:  sleeps 2

The new bunk bed:  sleeps 3!
Cora lasted an hour in it last night.  It'll be a learning curve for her to figure out how to NOT talk and get out of bed.

Sigh...

Here are the end of the school year pictures for the kids.  Cora had an official last day, but the older two?  I just stopped.  We were *so close* to being done, maybe having 2 weeks left to do, but why?  I have a new baby.  The kids aren't super motivated.  So we're done with everything other than reading these days (but the kids don't know the reading we do is still part of my mental "schooling" plans).  It was a rather anti-climactic end to the school year, I must say.  So, yay...we're doing summer now!  This is NOT how I like to end a school year, especially as I didn't get to really celebrate what the kids learned and accomplished this year, but whatever...I'm realistic enough to know that this year is an exception year:  never again will we have a 4 or 5-week-old baby to add to the mix of schooling, so this year gets a pass I guess. 

There is basically no one in the world sweeter of heart than this child.
And she's mine.  Amazing.  :)

THIS CHILD.  Mercy.  He has been giving me a legit run for my money.  He's a breeze during the day, but a beast at night.  He is 6 weeks old as of TODAY...we're you aware that 6 weeks is the peak of the "fussy" time for infants?  Well, it IS.  And man is he just destroying my nights sleep.  I often don't head to bed until after 3:00 a.m.  Am I freaking out about this long term?  No.  Child #4 here, so I know it passes, and it's normal.  Is it making me miserable short term?  Mostly yes.  I do *ok* during the day, but I'm only averaging around 5 hours of sleep a night, broken up, so that's not enough for me.  I'm a solid 9 hour girl...haha.  HA.  Things should change for the better in the next week or two, but until then, pray for my sanity. 

He acts deceptively sleepy...until 9:00 p.m. rolls around, then he doesn't want to sleep again until 3:00 a.m. 

 We got a package in the mail from Grammy a few days ago, and boy was it a hit!  Loads of goodies from Europe!  Wheeeee!  :)

Cora is so, so sweet to Kellan.  Not always gentle, but very sweet.  

Her tone of voice and the words she uses just melts my heart.  

Up on my bed the other day.  Baby feet, man.  Nothing cuter.  Too bad it was like 2:00 a.m. and bad lighting from my bedside lamp...haha.

All day, every day...