Happy Birthday Aunt Candace!!

Happy Halloween everyone...and happy birthday to my wonderful sister!

Here is Kayta drinking out of her pumpkin cup from Grandma and Baba Thompson. She loves it!

Silly 'smile for the camera' face...it makes us laugh every time!

Carving pumpkins last night..Craig is talking to Reagan who is off camera in her bouncy seat.

Here is a cute shot of our beautiful Reagan. She is such a happy girl.


After the kids went to bed last night Craig and I dressed up and headed to Melanie's infamous Halloween party. She has a 'white' theme and it was really well done, as always. Our neighbor Ben graciously watched over the kids as they slept...he had to man both our house and his since Jen was working. Luckily the girls didn't fuss much and stayed down. Craig and I had fun at the party...I had a little too much fun and did not want to leave! We are looking forward to trick-or-treating tonight when Craig gets home. I will post pictures soon. Love and prayers.

Katya at the park

We all know how our little Katya loves the park! She spends less time on the swing these days and more time climbing and on slides. About a month ago she walked all the way home from Columbia park! For those who don't know, that is about a mile. It is a great way to get her to leave the park without a fuss ("Would you like to ride in your stroller or walk?") Love that parenting strategy of giving the toddler a choice...yet either way, it is what I wanted. If she throws a fit or drags her feet then "Okay, mommy will choose for you. (mommy always chooses the stroller of course:0))." It works like a charm.


Here she is walking UP the tunnel slide at the little park by our house. She is getting so much braver and more independent. But luckily for me, she is not too brave:0)

She loves swinging at the top.


Yesterday Katya said: "Rea-rea have brown eyes. Uh-huh. Katya have blue eyes! Mama have blue eyes. Daddy have brown eyes." She is such the little sponge for learning that kids are at this age. I love it! She is getting really good at her colors and we like to practice counting and saying the alphabet. A few days ago when Craig was spelling out her name, slowly as he wrote it in play dough, he said "K. A." And she said, "T. Y." I clap the spelling of names a lot, making my own version of the BINGO song. ("There is a baby really cute and Reagan is her name-o. R.E.A.G.A.N." "There is a daddy really great and daddy is his name-o. ect.)

Here she is watching a movie in front of the fire with a smelly Bentley pillow.

There is that 'smile for the camera' face we love (don't forget you can click on the picture to make it bigger and easier to see).


And speaking of parks...the girls are both up from their naps so off we go!

Gifts from Aunty and Uncle

We went to Allen and Eryn's last Sunday and Katya got her birthday present from them. She got a Mr. Potato Head family set and a darling yellow umbrella! She loves both of them. It is pretty fun to watch her with them.





She also got a new booster chair (for eating at the table, not a carseat thing) that Craig bought her at a fancy baby store in Beaverton. It strapes to a chair, has a buckle for her and allows her to be right up to the table. I love that it is small and I can push the chair in all the way (unlike the highchair thing that has big bulky arms that keep it from being pushed in). Katya loves her new "big girl" chair and the high chair is now free for Reagan. What a lucky girl!

Dow Agro offer

Craig got his formal offer from the new company on Wed. It is the same exact base salary, the bonus opportunities are a little better but the health care benefits and coverage are worse. Craig will be paying over a 100$ more a month to insure the family. And to top it off the paid days off are less than with Exilixis. Sigh. We are thankful that he has a job still but it is a little disheartening.

It seems like the good Lord just doesn't want me to continue my full time stay at home parent status. Bummer. We are not willing to put the kids into childcare so I will be looking for a part time waiting (restaurant) job come January. I will work 3-4 shifts opposite of Craig's lab job and he will be able to quit Widmer. I will continue to watch Sterling part time as well. Reagan is going to protest this change more than anyone because she is use to nursing before bed and will not take a bottle. She will have to deal. Either she learns to take the bottle or she is going to be hungry until I get home.

We continue to pray that Craig has room for growth with Dow Agroscience. Or that another opportunity presents itself. It can be hard to keep the faith sometimes, but we sure feel blessed with all that we have, especially our amazing kids.

Snuggle time

Occasionally we let Katya come snuggle with us in bed for a little while if she is still awake when we are heading to bed (In her crib, but still awake. Her bedtime is 7pm.) To fully appriciate these pictures you have to know that we turned our headlamps off (which we use every night for reading) and it was pitch black in the room. And the ones of all 3 of us were 'self portite' style, i.e. holding the camera out in front of me and snapping away. They turned out pretty cute and funny! The last one is what we got when I told Katya to smile for the camera:0)


Big eyes! It is dark!

Katya smiling for the camera

Katya's fashion

Katya looked so freaking cute in this ensemble all made up of wonderful gifts. The dress (still one of her favorites) by Aunt Candace; darling jean jacket, a hand-me-down from the Engasser's; BabyLegs from the Godfrey's. I had to finish it off with the side ponytail!
And here is a silly video clip.

Reagan's first meal

Here is Reagan eating...not too exciting but still fun for grandparents and aunts and uncles.


And here is a silly video of her playing peek-a-boo. She is not as into it as usual because I am behind the camera. She is usually smiling and laughing but the clip is still cute.

Reagan 6 months old!

We celebrated Reagan's journey half way around the sun by giving her her first meal this morning. She had homemade brown rice cereal (which I need to work on perfecting) thinned with some breast milk. She did really great! Although I think her favorite part was biting the spoon and playing peek-a-boo with her bib. [She is really good at bringing a blanket (or bib) over her face and them pulling it down when I ask "Where is Reagan?" She loves it and I am so impressed that she does it so well!] She was interested in the food though and seemed to like it.



Munching on the spoon

Cereal face

Getting sleepy

All done!

I have a video clip that I will post later today or tomorrow.

Sweet Sisters

Katya still loves to hold her sister. She is so sweet and nurturing to Reagan.







An interesting note. I checked Katya's baby book and she was 17lbs and 26.25 inches at 6 months. That means she was heavier and longer than Reagan who was 16.75lbs and 26 inches. I kind of find that hard to believe but that's what the numbers say! I think I will ask the nurse to weigh Reag again when we go in for her flu shot just to verify.

Reagan is pushing up on her arms a ton and pivoting on her stomach. The girl is ready to go places...just not quite able yet. She is still not rolling onto her back but she is getting her knees under her, with her butt way up in the air. Her legs often fall to one side when she does this which I keep thinking will encourage her to roll over. A lot of these moves are similar to what Sterling was doing when he started going both directions and moving more. That was quite a few weeks ago and this week the little guy started crawling! I have not seen it yet because my girls both have bad colds so I am not watching him this week. Can't wait to see him in action.

Katya 2 yr and Reagan 6 mo stats

The girls both checked out fine today..well, other than Reagan's cold. It was nice that we were going in anyways so that Dr Oller could take a look. Her ears had some fluid in them but are not yet infected. She said even if they do become infected they can clear up on their own without antibiotics. She did give us some ear drops to help with pain just in case. Poor Reagan is miserable and crying a ton today:0(

Katya weighs 29.75 lbs and is 35.25 inches long. She impressed the doc with her vast vocabulary and great sentences:0) She got a seasonal flu vaccine in the nose and did not even flinch. She had a second Hep A shot in the leg and was really brave. She liked the "tape" (Band-Aid) and got over the sting quickly. When I told her daddy how well she did he said that she deserved a little Ben and Jerry's so her and I had a small dish this afternoon. What a treat!

Reagan weighs 16 lbs and 12 oz and is 26 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for both. She impressed the doc with how well she can sit up on her own (a few seconds). She screamed for her shots of course and is running a little fever this afternoon. She is old enough for Motrin now which is nice. It lasts longer than Tylenol and Dr. Oller likes it better. She is going in for her flu shot in a few weeks.

Happy Birthday Carsten and Moira!

Carsten is 3 years old today!! And Miss Moira is 4. Can't believe how fast the years goes by once you have kids. We had a great time at Moira's princess/Star Wars party! It's what every girl needs...a little frill and a little action.

Correction..

My parents bike ride was over 20 miles, 10.3 each way! Got to give them proper credit for such a great ride:0)

Happy Anniversary Grand Thompson's

My parents are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary today! They had a great 10.3 mile bike ride in the Corona Hills with over 4200 feet of elevation gain. Such studs!! It was my mom's first time ridding all the way to "Pleasant Peak." Great view from the top.

I am not sure why this photo came out so small. We all know I am not very computer savvy and my hubby is at work so it will have to be okay.

Look for a post about the girls check ups soon!

What a good camera can do...

Here are some great pictures that our neighbor Jen took of Reagan a few weeks ago at Columbia park. I am always amazed at how great pictures turn out with a really nice camera!



Poor Miss Rea-rea has been SUPER fussy lately. We are pretty sure it is teething related and then today she developed a runny nose. She has been learning to sleep without her arms swaddled which has been tough too. She rolls over and sleeps on her belly but she can't roll back and that frustrates her. She does best with the 'miracle blanket' wrapped snuggly around her abdomen. Got to go...Reagan is waking up and we are off to Moira's birthday party!!