Katya's eats

Katya looking super cute in pigtails and wearing her backpack!


Katya has been eating at the table (instead of on her tray) more and more lately. She has a super cute plate, bowl, fork and spoon set from her great Aunt Joan. I am going to buy a booster seat that will strap to a chair for her since Reagan will be taking over the highchair soon. The other night Craig was getting her more milk and she kept saying something over and over again. It took me a while but I figured out she was saying "big girl, big girl." She wanted to drink her milk "like a big girl" (my words to her the day before), in a cup without a lid. Since then we always give her meal time drinks in a "big girl cup." She does really good with it but occasionally I catch her playing in it and spilling on purpose.

She is definitely a picky toddler but is overall a good eater. I often share my sandwich with her at lunch because when I give her bites of mine, she will eat things that she doesn't if it is on her plate. Like lettuce and avocado. She is working on eating sandwiches herself but they still end up falling apart and then she picks through it and only eats certain parts. She doesn't love PBJ's which is a bummer; maybe later. She eats the jelly side (or just licks the jelly off, gross) but only a little of the peanut butter (after she pulls it apart of course). She ate a handful of baby carrots the other day on the way home from the park. That was great. She LOVES juicy, fresh tomatoes from Grandpa Al's yard. She calls them "Grandpa matoes." But she has been getting a rash around her mouth from tomatoes lately. Such a bummer because that is the main vegetable that she will eat. And it's really a fruit right?!

Her overall diet is lots of dairy; some meats, eggs and beans; lots of fruit; some bread/cereals and a little bit of veggies. She continues to like oatmeal and broccoli. We treated ourselves to buying V8 juice that was on sale at Costco and she really liked it. Not that it is as good as fresh vegetables but I guess it is better than nothing! Her skin seemed to be fine after drinking it but I will keep an eye on it (with all the tomatoe in it). She tried roasted almonds the other day for the first time. She did not love them but ate a few. She is pretty good at trying things with a little encouragment. Guess thats about it!

Reagan's eats

Reagan is still exclusively breastfeeding. Yeah! It has been SO challenging but we are going strong. I still have occasional lows in my milk supply but she is such a great nurser that she is able to stimulate more production. Sometimes I take a herb called fenugreek to help boost the milk supply and it works great. The fact that she won't take a bottle, as frustrating as it can be, has helped a lot. There have been so many occasions that I would have supplemented with pumped milk in a bottle because she was not getting enough from me (I still try and offer a bottle sometimes, when I think she is hungry). I feel bad for her when she wants more, but she keeps sucking and forces my body to make more milk. It rarely takes more than a couple of days to get my supply up to what she wants and she always gets enough to keep her hydrated. I am so incredibly lucky to be a stay at home mom; there is no way I could keep my supply up if I was working. Or if she was a finicky nurser like Katya was.

I cannot believe that Reagan is old enough for solid foods! Time has flown by. We are waiting until she is 6 months old and I have been reading up in my "Super Baby Foods" book to get prepared (thank you Aunt Kathleen!). I am a little frustrated because I want to make my own baby cereals but will have to give her iron and calcium supplements if I do. I will discuss this with her pediatrician before we start. I have been going back and forth on what food to give her first. Dr's like cereals because they are very low risk allergy wise. But grains are hard for their little GI system to process. The Super Baby Food book says that at 6 months they can process homemade cereals but not before so I think that is what I will start with. I could start with fruit or vegetables....banana and avocado are popular first foods.

I will post pictures of the first meal in a few weeks!

Videos

Note: There are two posts today so keep scrolling down after looking at the videos!

Here is Katya being silly on the couch. She piled up all the pillows, ("Beary") and climbed up on them. And no, she is not suppose to have her shoes on the couch but I had to capture the moment. Then she finds a remote and manages to hit the right button and turn on the TV.


Reagan rolling over!


Katya looked so cute at the park last Sunday in her crocs, super cute sweater from Great Aunt Joan and a messy ponytail.

Some pictures..

The girls in our new baby jogger! It is sweet.

Katya is wearing her "library shirt" which she earned in the summer reading program. Reagan listened to enough stories as well and got an onise that says, "Read to Me! Multnomah County Library" (not pictured).

Craig was in line for the REI sale at 6am; it opens at 9am...he was near the front and was in first group to be let in (they let in about 30 people at a time). It is a good thing because there was a man and women grabbing every jogger (there were about 7 of them total, singles and doubles). If he wasn't there they would have gotten ours too. He said something to them about how many they were taking and they said "Oh, they make great gifts." Maybe, but we think they are going to re-sell them for a profit. How annoying!

Matching diaper butts.


Reagan wore her "I love my Uncle Spill" shirt all day on his birthday last Friday!

Correction..

I miss spoke when I said Craig's division of Exilixis will become Dow Chemical. It will actually be Dow Agroscience, which is a division of Dow Chemical. Dow is such a huge company, it is weird to get use to. They had some Dow representatives in the office this last week to talk about the company and the up coming change. Craig came away from it with renewed hope that opportunities can open up for him in this company. He is also getting the feel that the higher-ups see the value and potential in him. It is so great to see him happier and more hopeful.

Here are some recent pictures of our beautiful girls.






And one more exciting thing...we bought a double baby jogger! Craig went to the REI used gear sale this morning and scored one. Regularly priced 540$ and he got it for 300$. Still a lot of money but the BOB brand is really good and should have good resale value if we keep it in good shape. We are going to try it out tomorrow!

Watching Sterling

First off, a happy birthday shout out to my wonderful brother-in-law Scott! Happy Birthday, we love you!

Here are some pictures of little Sterling. He is such a cutie.


Watching him has been going really well. It is actually better than I thought it would be. I was nervous about how working for friends would be, but from my side at least, it has been fine. It is definitley a lot of work and keeps me busy on the days he is here but I think it is worth the pay. I think they are getting really good care for him and I think the price is fair. For the situation to work out it is really important for me to feel that I am being paid a fair wage, and for them to feel they are paying a fair price. I think they do...I hope they do :0)

Reagan looks thrilled. She is not as content on her belly as Sterling. He has been rolling onto his tummy for quite a while now and is much more mobile than Rea.



I like that watching him makes me be more creative in playing with my own kids. I have to try a bit harder to entertain all 3 of them, thinking of new age appropriate games and keep Katya's TV time to a minimum. We have a lot of fun singing songs and reading books. I always talk about what we are doing and seeing, which is so good for babies development. And I am starting to sign more and more with the babies. Katya and I have been able to play in the backyard quite a bit while babies are sleeping, or with one of them awake. I can hear Sterling really well from our yard because our bedroom windows are right above us. I got the kids to the park for the first time on Tuesday. We just went to the closest little park, with Katya walking, Sterling in the stroller and Reagan in the Ergo. When we got to the park Sterling got really upset so I switched him and Reagan. We only stayed for about 15 minutes but better than nothing! It should be a little easier when we get a double baby jogger...someday.

The babies are so curious about each other!

Stuff

Things have been busy around here as usual. The girls are growing like weeds. Reagan is in 9 month clothes though she is just 5 months and one week. She rolled from her back on to her tummy today, which she has been trying to do for a while now. She is so pleased with herself and has been doing over and over again. Katya is being quite a goofy kid. She likes to say, "Bla, bla, bla, mama fall down." Last night at dinner it was, "Mary! Merry round. Fall down Mary. Mary Poppins fall down." I guess she is obsessed with falling down since she does it a lot. Sometimes it is Rea-rea fall down, soy milk fall down, Bent fall down, movie fall down, table fall down. Okay, you get the picture.

I gave Katya some soy milk that the Kirkland's had left and she loves it. So now she has both soy and cow milk through out the day. She would drink all soy if I let her. Craig likes it on his cereal too so it is nice to have around. I bought her the plain since it has less sugar, and I thought she would not like it as much as the vanilla but she did not even bat an eye.

Craig and I have been talking about our long and short term goals again. We have not sat down and had a serious conversation about it since I quite my job and so it was time. A REALLY short summary is this: Goal < 1yr: Craig working less. Goal 2-5yrs: Craig working a job he likes, refinancing or selling our house and possibly move back to Bozeman. I know, I know, that is huge but I am not going to go into a lot about it because it is just an idea at this point. I did want to mention it so that it doesn't throw anyone for a loop if we do get more serious.

But for now, Craig and his boss are getting along better which is good. The switch from Exelixis to Dow is coming soon and it will be interesting to see how that transition pans out. For those who don't know, Exelixis is the company Craig currently works for, under a division called Exelixis Plant Sciences. That part of Exelixis has been bought out by Dow, a ginormous chemical company.

Pictures to come...

Labor Day weekend

We had a lovely 3 day weekend hanging out with friends and family. On Friday night we had the Godfrey's and Tillman/Jackson's over for a pot luck. On Sat night Mel and Rich came over after we put the girls to bed and we played games and had a great time. On Sunday we invited Allen, Eryn and Addison to join us at OMSI in the morning. Then we all came back to our place to put babies down for naps. After nap time we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Craig had to work Sat day of course and Monday night but it was still some good family time. On Monday we took it easy, got the girls to the park and I went on a run.

I have 3 runs under my belt as the 5K quickly approaches. I am trying to work up to more mileage slowly in attempt to keep shin splints at bay. My favorite way to go for a run is to walk to Columbia park with Craig and the girls. When we get there Craig watches the kids as I do a few laps around the paved park path. I am nervous for my run because I am so out of shape but it sure feels good to be out there moving.

It has been a lot easier to get Katya to the park these days now that Reagan's naps are so predictable. She had so much fun on the slide today, going over and over and over again. Before we left for the park I was putting on her shoes and she said, "Katy shoes on. Rea-Rea shoes on too (Reagan did in fact have shoes on). Momma need shoes on (and yes, I still needed to get mine on)." She is getting so great at sentences. She is also starting to sing songs which is so incredibly cute. She sings "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite." The other night I caught her pretending to change a dolls (a frog really) diaper. She says, "change butt" because that is what I say.

These kiddos grow up so fast! Katya has shot up since her birthday and can reach the railing for the staircase and walks down herself quite well. Reagan is getting really close to rolling from back to tummy. She tries so hard but can't quite make it yet. Her favorite thing to do right now is lay on her back with her diaper off and grab her feet. It is such a cute baby thing to do, I love it.

We are officially going to California for Christmas! Yeah! We bought plane tickets today, first time purchasing 3 tickets for our family. We did have some deals with out Alaska millage card so it wasn't too bad. We are going for a week and a half so it will be a nice vacation. Craig really needs the break and my employers were kind enough to let me take it off as well. Thanks Jen and Ben! Craig's friend from Legacy is going to house/dog sit for us while we are gone. Super nice of him.

Love to all, Brenda

My silly girls

Here is what I caught Katya doing the other day....trying to open the door, using her lion as a stepping stool. The box on her head just topped off the hilarious factor.

Katya's "hat."

Katya wanted her movie to wear the hat.

Reagan playing in her bouncy contraption

5K Run

I am signed up to do a 5K run that I saw advertised through our church bulletin. It is put on by Martha & Mary Ministries, a Catholic based non-profit that helps with end of life care. It is a subject near and dear to my heart because of the time I spent with the Hospice and Palliative Care teams in Bozeman as a student. This is their mission:

The mission of Martha & Mary Ministries is to promote dignity at end of life through compassionate, competent care and presence, spiritual support and community education that helps people become less afraid of dying and more hopeful.

If you are curious to learn more this is their web-site: http://www.marthamaryministries.org/index.html

The run is September 26th so I need to start training!!! I have not run regularly in quite a few years. It is kind of sad; I remember when doing a 5K cold turkey would be pretty easy for me...not so sure anymore! I have to buy running shoes this week so I can start my training. As long as I get a couple of weeks in it should be okay..painful probably but doable:0)