Our family updates

Reagan- Not much new to report. She is now in the ear piercing scream (for the fun of it) stage. Goody. I do love hearing her express herself but the scream is a bit much to take. She has quite the vocal range, from low grunts to the very, very high pitch. Her high pitch cry is very telling of either, 'I'm hurt' or 'not the mama.' Her scream usually means, 'look at me.' And she babbles a ton which is super cute and nice and neutral in tone. She is signing 'light' and loves looking at lights and showing us that she knows what it is. And for those who were wondering, she is sleeping all the way through the night again. She has been since she was fully weaned at 9.5 months.



Katya- She continues to sing a ton, all day long, which I love. She is such a sweet girl! Of course she is a self-centered toddler, but she is pretty darn good playing with other kids. She is so sweet to Reagan and Sterling, stopping randomly to kiss or hug their heads. We have been doing lots of coloring and painting lately. I got her some finger paints and she loves painting but prefers to use a combo brush, and fingers. She doesn't like her hands getting stuff on them and has to stop and wipe her hand on a washcloth after every fingerprint application. It is pretty funny to watch. We have started playing Canyland (which Doug and Sharon got her) and she loves it. She has a very short attention span of course, but for a 2.5 year old I think she does really great.

She says the cutest things all the time, I wish I could remember them all. Here are a few: "I got be safe on the sidewalk. I got to not be dangerous." And, "Oh! A car! I better run, I got to be safe." She said to me the other day, "Here's the deal. I got to use (which sounds like ose) the potty then I can watch a movie. 'kay." Ha! She is always saying 'kay and okay, usually before we have a change to respond to her question or statement of what she wants to do.



Craig and I - Craig has been super busy at Dow lately but he prefers that to being slow. He is still getting along well with his boss and he continues to impress all his higher ups with his awesomeness:0) He is working on getting rid of his Sat lunch shift at Widmer but change is VERY slow there.

I got an unexpected raise from our neighbors. I was so surprised and it makes me feel so good that they appreciate and value me so much. I always feel appreciated by them, but boy does money talk!:0) I am also watching him 2 more days a month now so it is every Thurs, Friday and every other Wed. We are resisting my looking for a part time serving job for now, but it is not off the table. It is hard to think about me working weekends when we are so close to having 2 whole days off together! Plus Craig appreciates what the Craft Brewers Alliance (Widmer) has to offer as an employer and is not sure he is ready to give it up completely.

We are currently refinancing our house through our credit union. It was something we knew we would do within 5 years of purchase because we have a 5 year ARM, interest only loan. Craig always pay more than interest only each month but it is far from an ideal loan. We are getting a 30yr fixed at 5.125% and will be paying over a hundred dollars more towards principle each month, while keeping our mortgage payment about the same. They also took on our Jeep loan which should be paid off in about 1.5 years.

Not a day passes that I don't think of how blessed we are. The one thing that strikes me so much is that we are so fortunate to be able to feed our children. It is such a basic necessity that we take for granted and yet millions of parents all over the world struggle to do this. Craig and my 'struggle' with finances as a young family (and a full time stay at home parent) is nothing compared to so many families. We have a beautiful, warm home and everything we need and more. We appriciate our purchases SO much and we take our time and really decide on the bigger ones. I think there is real value in that. I hope we are able to instill that same appriciation in our children.

One last cute picture from last Sunday when Grandma and Grandpa gave over for a visit. Katya was so sweet, snuggling right up to grandma on the couch. She sure loves her grandparents!