The Baker Six

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Garrett Lost His First Tooth! it's a BIG DEAL!

So, it has been a little while now and Garrett has not only lost one tooth, but has lost 5 now. The sad thing is he is taking after his dad's crowded mouth. He seems to be losing 2 baby teeth and receiving 1 permanent tooth...oh, the orthodontist is going to love us! It's cute because Garrett is having a hard time dealing with his new look of being toothless and crowded. He is always asking me if he looks ugly. Crazy how that starts so early. How could my Garrett ever look ugly? I tell him he is a handsome boy, but he better get used to it because we have a lot of years of being toothless ahead of us! What a sweetheart! I love that tender hearted little man.

I just wanted to share my thoughts about when Garrett lost his first tooth. It really caught me off guard. All "firsts" with our children are amazing, but I wasn't expecting to cry over a lost tooth. After all I am a dental hygienist and I see this most everyday! The difference is...this is my kid! Now I can better relate to those mothers who come in frantic with their children to the office. Once a mom...always a mom!

I love how in life it is sometimes the little things that you don't expect...catch you off guard....bring tears to your eyes...and become more important than you ever thought they could! That's right...Garrett lost his first tooth. I cried because its just another stepping stone...and he is so dang excited! I love the little things! They are such a BIG DEAL! May the little things catch us all off guard and remind us what life is all about! Here's to you Garrett...Cheers..I love you!

I love that I am so intrigued by Garrett's tooth and Lance is sleeping in the back ground. Actually, Lance was just as excited...about EVERY tooth that he loses. Lance can hardly wait for him to get them out!

Baby Teeth are so little!

He was growing a shark tooth behind this baby tooth. We are greatly in need of an orthodontist.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Teeka's Many Hats!

I've never seen a child who likes to wear hats as much as Teeka. This has been going on since she was old enough to communicate what she was wanting us to do. So maybe 10 months old. I wish I could remember for sure, but it has been awhile now and it has become somewhat of her signature trait. She even likes to sleep in her hats a lot of the time. It doesn't matter what it is...if it looks like it should go on your head...it goes on hers! Including the boys underwear! As long as they are clean I don't mind!

This is the most recent hat she has found. This one is rather cute on her.

This is Teeka's Halloween outfit this year. She decided she liked the TMNT mask better than her flower hood.

Underwear belongs on your head? In Teeka's world it does!

Two hats are definitely better than one!

Nets are used for catching butterflies? Or Teeka birds? If it's a Teeka bird, it takes three! Along with a great big hug from grandma.

This pair of underwear could possibly make a fashion statement. Courtesy of Garrett!

Lance's Deer -2009-

Just had to show off Lance's whitetail deer of the year! He was pretty excited about this deer. He shot it while hunting with his dad this past year. He said he was so excited when he realized it was a whitetail he had buck fever for the first time in a long time. It will be awhile before he gets one bigger than this! Good job Babe!

Hunting With Dad! - 2009-

THIS ONE IS FOR YOU DAD!

My dad has been waiting for this post for months now.... and so have I! I had good intentions of posting it right away because we both had the time of our lives and were able to create some great memories together. Better late than never, right dad?

This year I was able to go hunting with my Dad, who has been asking me to put in for a license for years now. I have put it off for the last 7 years because it seems I am either pregnant, nursing or have at least one little baby in tow. But this year I decided not to put it off any longer. Our family has experienced some health scares with our parents this year and I decided that I wanted NO regrets...and it turned out I became addicted to hunting! That makes my Dad smile!

I decided early in the season that I wasn't settling for anything smaller than a 6 point elk and in turn it caused me to hunt clear up to the very last weekend. We saw some amazing elk this year and sad to say that the one I settled on was not the biggest one we saw, but I didn't have a shot at the big one anyway. Dang it! However, just seeing it was amazing enough for me!

What made this hunt extra fun was that all of my brothers were gunning for me to get the biggest elk of the family. To bad that didn't happen, but they were all just as excited and proud as I was and that meant a lot to me!

The thing I will remember most about this day is my Dad saying "You got him, Texie, you got him!" with all the excitment in the world in his voice. And after I shot the second time, seeing the look on his face as he gave me a high five. We had a blast and we were so excited! It will be a memory I will never forget and I will cherish forever! Thanks Dad, but we have many more years left of hunting now, right! I love you!

This is me and Dad on one of the first weekends of hunting. We had just sat down to have some lunch and decided to take a self portrait. I am so posed! I love it!

My Dad, Me and my first bull elk!

Down in one shot...dead in two! Don't mess with me!

Dragging the elk out with my father-in-law's 4-wheeler. He must love me to have let me use his baby! Thanks George (Dad)!

I just happened to have caught my Dad in this signature pose! This is really how we felt! What a great day!

Dad said that this was the first time in 20 years he was able to pack an elk our full body. We even winched it onto the trailer full bodied. EASY! That's why I settled for this one! LOL!

Lance told me to put the head on the front rack of my 4-wheeler to show it off on the drive home. That was before he decided my elk was smaller than he originally thought it was! Lol! He was proud too, he just has a hard time admitting it to my face...only because he is jealous he hasn't gotten a bigger one than me! Actually, I think he was hoping for record book along with the rest of the guys in the family! Sorry to disappoint you all! LOL!

I have to say... I did get lots of looks driving down the interstate this way. I just wanted to post a sign saying..."Yeah, that's right, this girl did shot that elk!" Maybe we should have, DAD!

I can't wait to do this with my kids someday!

Halloween....Everyday!

I am so far behind on blogging, but I want to catch up and stick with it. My goal is to make a book each year and use it as a journal for my kids, so I am refusing to give up already! Life has been so busy for us lately it seems I hardly have a spare second to do the things (like this) that will be important and a good record for our family.

My kids are such a blessing in my life and I am so thankful for every moment I have with them and I look forward to a lifetime of precious moments like these. And may it be Halloween everyday....because it is at our house!

I never got around to posting Halloween pictures this year, but it doesn't even matter. This is what we look like on a regular basis! I let the kids pull their costumes out whenever they wish. My theory is...why pay all that money to keep them in the closet....and the kids have a blast dressing up!

On this particular day they were taking a spaceship ride to...? Somewhere amazing I am sure. The boys are so good about including Teeka in thier play. Good thing, because she is everywhere they are. She loves her boys!

I wish I could have captured the photo when Garrett had them all lay their chairs back on the floor and sit in them lying down....they were on their way, up up up into outer space!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hunting With The Kiddos!

This year I was able to go elk hunting with my dad near Douglas. We had a blast! This was the first weekend, which was opening weekend for the season. We had been hunting for the previous two days and had seen nearly NO elk. We were tired, worn out and ready for a break. There were so many hunters up there that weekend that the elk were nowhere to be seen, so we decided to take the kids up hunting with us. We knew we wouldn't see anything with our tribe, but thought they would have a good time anyway. And we did!

Going on a hike.

Playing in the dirt.

Going rock climbing. Teeka was not going to be left behind.

The boys are so cute. They remind me of little ducklings following Grandpa Marlin.

This is their rock climbing adventure. You can hardly see them waving at us down below, but for some reason we didn't see any elk that day:)!

Chase & Sawyer's 4th Birthday

So, nobody is as far behind on posting as I am! LOL! But I am not giving up yet. I am planning on making a yearly book from my blog posts, so it is important to me to get it all in. I am backing clear up to Oct. 18, 2009 which was Chase and Sawyer's 4th birthday. They have grown up so much this past year and are beginning to act less and less like toddlers and more and more like little men.

They started preschool this year in Buffalo on the days I am working over there and they are doing really well. They get to come to work with me for an hour before school and they think that is pretty neat. I was able to do the same thing with Garrett and it has been fun to be able to spend this time with the boys as well. Thanks to my wonderful and flexible boss, we are able to do things like this! It helps make being a working mom a little easier!

It has been such a blessing to see the bond that the boys share and their concern for one another. They are truly their brother's keeper's! Just the other night Sawyer was real sick and had just thrown up, so I wanted him to come sleep in our bed so that I could catch it sooner the next time he got sick. And as sick as he was...before we left his room with Chase still sleeping he started crying and asked, "What about Chase? If he wakes up he will be scarred and cry." It was so sweet, so I told him we would come back in and get Chase when that happened. They both do things like this all the time! They say such cute things all the time. I need to be better about writing them all down.

Chase and Sawyer both adore their baby sister and love to tease her til she can't take it anymore and screams at them. For some reason they think that is so funny. They also miss Garrett while he is at school, but love it when we are able to go hang out with him in the classroom a bit. They just sit right next to Garrett and do exactly everything the teachers tell them too.

As I was thinking about the past four years and everything the boys have done I ran across this picture of them sleeping on the living room floor having a camp out together. When I saw them cuddled up together it reminded me of when they were in the NICU in Billings, MT...together in the same incubator, they looked like this most everyday! Some things never change! I love you Chase and Sawyer! Happy 4th Birthday!

Chase & Sawyer in the NICU. Billings, MT 2005.

Chase weighed 2 lbs. 14 oz. at birth. These are preemie diapers that come up to his nipples. It is even hard for me to imagine a baby this little, and I lived it!

Sawyer weighed 4 lbs. 5 oz. at birth. He looked like a healthy baby next to Chase, but look how big that pacifier looks!

Garrett was just over 2 when "his boys" were born. We took him to the NICU every night to see "his boys" and he always wanted to tough their heads and their feet!

Chase & Sawyer right after we brought them home. They are 1 month old here.

Garrett thought "his boys" were so dang funny. He would laugh so hard every time they made any kind of noise and he would wake up in the night most every feeding with me. He would get his pillow and lay at my feet until I was done nursing them and then I would recline the chair to burp the boys and he would put the pillow between my knees and climb up and cuddle with us until it was time to put them back in bed. I really miss those days!