Five Months Old

I've usually remembered to take Kiera's picture each month on her rug. My how our dear Kiera (yes, that rhymes!) has grown! She turned 5 months old on July 5th.

Some of her recent activities:

- loving to squeal, coo, babble, laugh, blow raspberries, etc. especially to her toys.

- rolling over more, but still not too happy if she's on her tummy for long. She needs to build up those arm muscles!

- being much more aware of her surroundings in the last month or so and would rather be carried on our hip (with a better view) than up on our shoulder

- playing in the ExerSaucer has been a new experience that she likes

- watching her dog Max has become a favorite thing. She laughs so hard at him.

4th of July

Kiera and I had a fun photo shoot on 4th of July morning. She is doing such a good job of holding herself up. She'll be sitting up all the way before we know it.

Kiera and Max - very patriotic!

For 4th of July we went with our neighbors to a marina on the south side of Clear Lake, Marina del Sol. We had some good bbq and staked out a place to watch the fireworks. It was really nice, not crowded at all and there was a grassy area so Kiera could play on a blanket. It hit me that next 4th of July she will not lay calmly on a blanket for an hour waiting for the fireworks! She watched some of the closer, home-shot fireworks and we were far enough from the big Kemah display that they weren't too loud for her.

Her afternoon 4th of July outfit from Nonna and Pops.

Chris' friend Phil came for a visit Thursday and Friday before the 4th. They got to go wakesurfing with the guys and then out for drinks later that night. The next day they went to shoot guns. Phil got into the range for free since he is a Border Patrol Agent. Anyway, they had lots of good male bonding time.

Trip to Baton Rouge

The last Sunday in June, we all joined Chris on his business trip to Baton Rouge. He had sales training there on Monday and Tuesday. My good friends Liz and Chad moved to Baton Rouge a little over a year ago. I went to college with Chad and Liz and I became really good friends when they lived in Houston. Kiera, Killian and I had a good visit with them and Chris joined us Sunday and Monday evenings. It was so fun to have our baby girls meet and play together. Their daughter Natalie was born on April 20th. Here are Kiera and Natalie holding hands. Some cute smiles.

The boys had fun playing together too. Killian (11), Eliott (8) and Garett (5). We took the to It's My Party, a place filled with inflatables. They also had fun in the sun playing on a 3 person slip n slide at their house, but we didn't get any pics of that.

I also wished we would have taken some pics of Liz and I with our babies. Hopefully we'll get together again before too long, Better yet, maybe their next move will be back to Houston!

I couldn't resist putting in one more picture of Kiera in her new outfit from Becky and John.

Trip to Missouri

Playing a little catch up here...
We had a nice trip to Missouri in mid June to visit my family. We were also able to join in the celebration of our nieces' birthdays. Here is Kiera on the plane. She did great. We even had an unexpected 2 hour layover in Oklahoma City - no problem, I just spread out a blanket in a quiet corner of the terminal and she played until she got tired and then she took a nap.
Our first night there we celebrated Maya's 5th birthday. In this picture are Kevin, Karla, Grandma Barb, Granny Shirley, Ava and the top of Kiera's head.

The cousins Ava (almost 3), Kiera (4 months), Maya (5) eating lunch together at Grandma's.

Visiting Grandma's work at Antigen Laboratories.

Kiera and I visited my best friend from college, Brandi, and her son Ryan. He was walking so well and has grown so much since last year. When I visited last June he was in the NICU awaiting open heart surgery. As you can see he is a very healthy one year old now!

Killian loves being tormented by his cousins.

The big party at Chuck E Cheese for Ava's 3rd and Maya's 5th birthdays.

Opening presents.

Proud parents Kevin (my brother) and Karla. I love this picture of them!

The day we left our good family friends, the Sullivan's, had us over for brunch. We were so excited to get the babies together. Olivia made us laugh with her screams and Grayson showed off with his rolling over flips. Below are Olivia (born 12/30), Grayson (born 2/16) and Kiera (born 2/5).