Birthday pictures

Her birthday evening was a bit of a whirlwind. I am SO glad we did not throw a big party. We had so much fun and so did Katya! She loved tearing into her presents and of course, loved chocolate cake!

Here is the dinning room set for a birthday dinner

Katya was not too intrested in the dinner but loved the ballons!

Birthday loot

Opening presents (wearing hat from Doug and Sharon); no need to show her how!

Birthday cake! She even blew out her candle.

"Cake! Yummy!" I don't know how many times we heard that.

The sugar high...running circles around the house!

Having so much fun!

The next day: outfit from Melanie

Super cute sundress from Doug and Sharon

Ragnar Relay

The results are in; Craig and team ranked 36th out 160 teams overall; 22nd out 80 teams in their category ('open mixed'). Craigs team was made up of 6 girls and 6 guys. Here is the link to the results: Their team name is "I'm in a Van"(don't ask). They had so much fun, I am so glad he got to do that!

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/northwestpassage/RagnarNorthwestPassageOverall2009.pdf

Check out the www.ragnarrelay.com to learn more about the race. We will post pictures when we can, he has to get them from his teammates.

Birthday gifts.

Thank you all for your wonderful and generous gifts to our Katya. She had a great birthday. Here is a video clip of her playing with her play-do(from Doug and Sharon and the Godfrey's), at her new table (from mom and dad) wearing her smock (from and made by Candace)! More picture to come (under her smock is her new dress from Doug and Sharon).

Happy Birthday Katya!!!

Birth Day

3 weeks

8 months

1 year

15 months

23.5 months

I can't believe my little girl is 2! How time has flown by. Katya's 2yr well child check in not until the end of the month; I will post stats then.

Here are some cute things she says and does:
* "Rea-rea. Rea sleeping. Uh-huh." She also says, "Rea-rea crying."
* "Outside! Outside Bent!" "Lay down!" "No no no!"(these are all directed
at the dogs; she likes to order them around).
* "Down-stairs." Walking downstairs by herself.
* Eating well with a spoon.
* Discovering how fun it is to climb.
* Likes snuggling up to us and reading books. "Read! Mama, read!"
* "Uh-oh one!" She calls things 'ones' and is also starting to learn the
concept of their being 2 of something. The other day she said "Two one,"
using the word one as a noun.
* Looks at her "Sisters" book from the Engassers and says "Rea-rea."
* While looking at her books says, "To Baba." This because some
of her books say "To Katya, Love Baba" and she gets it a little confused.
She flips through the book in about 20 seconds and then says, "Next book."
* In a sweet voice, "No crying Rea-rea." "I know. I know" (copying what I
say to Reagan).

I can't wait to celebrate tonight! I will take some pictures of the fun and post as soon as I can. Love to all, Brenda

Tummy time fun

Here are some pics of Reagan enjoying some tummy time. She is so cute I can hardly stand it! She likes being proped on the bobby but can't practice rolling over like that so we do both.

Some pictures from Olympia

Despite the illnesses we had a wonderful visit in Olympia. We had a great dinner and stayed up late talking around a campfire in the "meadow."

Charlie eating in the highchair that was my Grandma Bev's when she was little.

Grandma Bev and her great-granddaughter Reagan.

Katya and Charlie

Chelsea (my cousin) and Reagan

Where Bentley escaped while we were gone. He is back; with diarrhea and throwing up...hope he enjoyed himself cause he is paying for it now.

Sick again

We are home from Olympia. I am pretty sick again and Katya is now sick. She threw up last night about midnight and this morning had a temp of 102.8F. She is good sorts and the fever droped after some Motrin. It is up again this afternoon to about 102F, which is still a benefical fever for a kid (body is fighting illness by increasing temp). I am pushing fluids, watching her temp and encouraging rest. Reagan is fine so far.

Craig's team is done with their 185mile run! Way to go Craig! He got about an hour and a half of sleep last night. They are crashing at a hotel in Seattle and will be heading home tomorrow morning.

Send some prayers our way! Love, Brenda

Feeling down

Reagan and I snuggling with her quilt made by Grandma Dana.

Craig and I decided to skip the camping trip next weekend. We are super bummed, especially to miss out on the fun with Allen, Eryn, Ryan, Shannan and kids. But it is taking a huge weight off our shoulders. We are feeling a kind of beat down right now. I am not feeling very well again; I think I am relapsing a bit since I can't rest properly to get over the illness. Since Sunday, I have had Craig's help with the kids for a total of 3hrs and now he is gone to his race until Sunday. And he has to work at the lab when he gets home on Sunday which, of course, quickly turns into Monday and Tuesday, his 16hr days. Sigh. I feel really bad for him and I am glad that he is getting to do something fun; it is just bad timing with me being sick.

Please keep Craig's work situation in your prayers. His boss has been a real __ (insert your favorite bad word here) and it has him pretty stressed. Not the kind of work enviornment you want, especially when it is not his favorite type of work anyways. If only he could make 55K a year waiting tables, he would do it in a second!

Too much good stuff

Craig and I are feeling a bit overwhelmed right now with the next four weeks packed with events. Even though they are fun things, we are wishing we had not booked so much back to back. Part of the reason we are so overwhelmed is that this weekend was less than restful. For those who don't know, I got very sick and ended up going to urgent care on Sat. It seems to have been some sort of nasty flu and I was horribly sick Sat and Sunday. Thankfully I was feeling much better by Monday but did not get much recovery rest with Craig working all day and 2 little ones to care for. Reagan seems to be teething and has had some super fussy spells; usually this happens in the evening when she tends to be cranky anyways and I am completely wiped from the day.

Craig is leaving for his relay race up north on Thurs night and the girls and I are driving to Grandma Bev's on Friday. We will be driving home all together on Sunday. On Monday I need to get the Jeep in the auto shop, (some people have heard the story of it not starting last week and getting me stranded in Gresham with the babies) which is tricky with Craig working 16hr days and 2 kids in car seats. On Tuesday I need to bake Katya's b-day cake and Wed is Katya's big day. We are having the Great Grand F's over for dinner and cake. Thurs we are packing and Friday we are leaving for camping at the Washington coast for two nights. This all sounds pretty horrible to me in my current state of exhaustion and lingering illness. I know it will be fun but sometimes fun is so tiring!

Fun with the Smith's

I have been too busy and too sick to post lately. But here are some pictures of the cousins having fun!

Candace, Scott and Miss Charla Mary in Portland

We joined the Smith and Godfrey clan for a morning at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), here are a few shots.

Katya crawling into the bear cave.

This picture sums up Katya's day at OMSI; she LOVED it!

I love this pic of Charlie with a stuffed raccoon!

Katya, Patrick and Charlie; someone is protecting Char's head from her slightly older cousin. Patrick says "What, I can't give my cousin a smack once in a while?"

Reagan was at OMSI too but was strapped to the photographer so she never got in a shot. Here is a picture of her doing tummy time. She rolled over for the first time last Friday! Way to go Reagan!

Reagan (and my) sleep

I am feeling better but still tired from fighting the breast infection. I have a few more days of antibiotics and I am trying to rest but that is hard to do around here:0) Reagan is still quite fussy in the evenings, does not want to be put down and will not let her dad be the one to sooth her. She is fine with Craig when she is happy and awake but when it is bed time or she is just cranky she wants nothing to do with him. She screams her head off and only I can calm her back down. It is very annoying because I get NO breaks from her in the evenings. Last Wed when I was feeling very poor from the mastitis she was being impossible for Craig. I finally took her but she was so worked up that she was being tough for me and I was too sick to deal. I ended up putting her in her swing still crying since she was crying no matter what I tried. She only cried hard for a few minutes and then fussed for about 30 and finally fell asleep. She slept quite good that night and I was hoping that we could continue trying that but it has not worked (I will only let her cry a few minutes without soothing her at this age). And since then she is harder to put down during the day. She is still napping well once she goes down, it just takes a couple of tries where as before she would go down sleepy but awake on the first try.

I have fallen back into the bad habit of letting her sleep with me in the guest bed. This, of course, is adding to the problem but after trying to put her down unsuccessfully 4 or 5 times I get so tired! As an example: yesterday I was exhausted by 7pm; had to sooth her for an hour or so; then she wanted to be awake and play from about 8-9pm (which is pretty typical for her); then she needed to be soothed again; then she would fall asleep in my arms but scream as soon as I put her down or shortly after; and after 5 failed attempts it was 12am and I gave up. After getting her calmed down, once again, she slept happily next to me in bed. Sneaky little girl!! Soothing her without picking her up rarely works and even when it does it only lasts a few minutes. Super frustrating, especially when there is nothing Craig can do to help me. She is 3 mo old now so we will hold out 1 more month before teaching her to fall asleep on her own by letting her 'cry it out'. I am absolutely dreading this. It is no fun for anyone but it sure worked with Katya. I am not anti-bed sharing but I want to teach my baby healthy sleep habits now, that will set the stage for toddler-hood and beyond. Love to all, Brenda

I is for Ice cream

This picture was specifically taken for Sharon's ABC book that she is making Katya. I is for ice cream. It turned out so cute I thought I would share it with everyone.

One of my midwives was able to call in a prescription to my pharmacy. I asked Melanie to pick it up and bring it to me so I did not even have to leave the house! SO nice to have such a good friend close by. Soon after I was done with my post this morning I developed the fever and worse flu-like symptoms that come along with mastitis. Tylenol has helped a lot and I am hanging in there.

Happy Birthday to the Grandma's!

Since today is the 6th I will give a shout out to both moms, mine and Craig's. Grandma Dana celebrated her b-day yesterday in Newport RI and Grandma Sharon's b-day is tomorrow. We love you both!

I have another case of mastitis brewing. It is not full blown, feel like I got hit by a truck yet. Just body aches, super tired and that classic sore, red spot on my breast. I have a call into the midwifes and I am hoping they will just prescribe and antibiotic over the phone. On the bright side, my milk supply has fully recovered from last weeks incident and Reagan is nursing happily. Love to all, Brenda

Camping trip

Here are some pictures from our camping trip to Lower Falls Rec Campground, which is the place we went for Katya's 1st birthday last year.

Katya looking through dads legs at chopping wood. Katya likes to say firewood which comes out "Bow-wee woo."

Here is inside our awesome new tent. The idea is that Katya will sleep in the pack and play and Reagan in her car seat.

Reagan napping under the table were it was shady and a little cooler.

Katya having a snack.

Our trip was not a total failure but we did not even make it through one night! It was very hot for the first few hours (and as you know, Craig and I HATE the heat and get very cranky) but it cooled down by 5pm which was great. Katya enjoyed being outdoors and having a campfire. She did not nap which was not unexpected (excitement plus it was so hot in the tent) and went down for the night well. But then someone came to ask if we had a grill they could borrow, Bentley barked and woke Katya up. Reagan had been fighting sleep all day and was overly tired and cranky. After a few hours of soothing screaming children, and foreseeing a hard night of Reagan waking Katya up and Katya not going back to sleep easily, we decided to pack up and head home. We left the campground at 945pm and got home at midnight. That was pretty good time, especially with 2 stops, one for coffee in Cougar and one to nurse Reagan.

The dogs had a good time and we are hopeful that our beach trip in August will go a little smoother. We shall see. We are going to pack stuff for Reagan and I set up in the back of the Jeep for the night so that we don't wake up Katya. That should help.

Projects and milk update

I talked to a lactation consultant yesterday and have renewed hope that I will be able to continue nursing my little Reagan. Things seem to be a little better and I have been able to let go of the worry, which is so important because stress can have quite a negative impact on milk supply. She is getting enough to eat although she doesn't always seem satisfied. I think things are going to get better from here.

Last weekend we got so many things accomplished! We bought 2 window unit A/Cs from Costco and installed them. They were 230$ each (after 20$ mail-in-rebate) and they work great to cool the downstairs. One is in the living room and one in the office so they can work together to cool the large space. We are going to deal with the upstairs as needed later on.

Allen offered to help us with our fence which was a Godsend. It would have taken us forever to get it done while juggling the 2 kids. Plus he brought tools and his ideas. It was a long day but it is done! I am really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to let some Wisteria vine growing up to the lattice. It is so much more private feeling and keeps our dogs from completely terrorizing our neighbors.


The other project was to move the piano to the garage and rearrange our office/play room. This of course, involved renting piano dollies are borrowing our neighbor Ben to help move it. It went really well; they wheeled it out the front door, around to the ally and up into the garage. We want to hang on to the piano (Sharon might want it back? Not sure.) but it is not getting used at all so this was a good solution for now. We really like having 2 desks but also want a nice play area for the girls and the piano took up so much space. It is starting to come together and I am excited to do a chalkboard wall about 3ft tall to finish off the play area. We bought a rug which is so nice to play on. Katya really likes it. She got upset when I returned a rug that was too small. I told her that we needed to buy a new rug and now she likes saying, "new rug."