Home Again

Here is what our little Reagan was up to before we left for our trip up North. I was busy washing dishes and she had fun playing with full beer bottles. Awesome.

We had a great, whirl wind holiday. The girls traveled pretty well but none of us slept that good. Combine sleep deprived parents and children, with tons of playing and visiting, you get one exhausted family.  Both K & R fell asleep 40 mins out of Olympia on Saturday, at 5pm (Katya rarely sleeps in the car!). When we arrived home at 6pm we put them straight into bed and they were out for the night! Miss Elsie proved to be our best car baby by far. We are thankful for the little things:-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

After K's school and beer pick up (important stuff:-)) we are heading off to be with family for Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great holiday. Enjoy this silly video from two of my little turkeys.

Major life style change

No, I am not quiting smoking (fortunately I never started:-)). Instead I am trying to commit to a new, super short hair style. Going from getting my hair cut once every year or two, to every 8 weeks is a major change for me. It will also require blow-drying, which I have never done on a regular basis. Days of brushing my hair and throwing it in a pony-tail are behind me. At least for now. We shall see how long it lasts!

So far I like it, though it will take some getting use to.

Through the bars

Perspective is a funny thing.  It can really change the way something looks.  I like to get down and view things from the kids perspective.  When Reagan first began to climb the stairs I remember laying at the bottom of our stairs looking up....how intimidating they looked!  A few nights ago I stood for several minutes on a chair, looking around at the house and thinking, this must be how Craig sees things.  Weird. 

Of course to truly see another human beings point of view means much more than looking from their 'eye- height,' so to speak.  The more thoughtful attempts I make at looking at things from the opposition's perspective, the more understanding and caring I find myself being.  It's true of everything from politics to religion, to how I choose to diaper my baby.  It may not change my opinion, but I feel it makes me a better parent, and a better person.  "Atticus was right.  One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.  Just standing on the Radley porch was enough." -Sout Finch, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Harper Lee.

Katya Faulkner, MD, PhD

The girls have been playing dress up a lot lately.  I finally got around to filling out the name badge that came with Katya's doctor coat.  It looks so cute with her silly school picture!  The girls love giving people pretend shots (though they have not done this since their check ups).  "I am going to shot you,"  then they say, "shot" as they use the play syringe and I have to respond, "ouch."  Pretty silly.

The 'doctor' coat was a gift from Aunt Eryn along with a "Human Body" pop-up book.  A very thoughtful gift.  Tonight Katya and I read through and discussed the book.  She was super interested in it and was so cute with her questions.

Evening walks

Katya, Levi and I are still loving our evening walks.  Craig has had some extra work obligations lately so we have not been real consistent.  But we are getting them in when we can.  Sunday night brought a good drizzle halfway through our route but Miss K didn't even notice...she was asleep.  Monday night stayed dry and was so beautiful.  The ground was very wet and it was foggy at times.  Lots of homes had wood fires burning going, which is one of my all time favorite smells.  This year with no camping trips has been rough and being out in the cold, dark. night air is really speaking to me.    

Painting leaves

After watching Tinker Bell with Moira, Katya came up with the idea to paint leaves "the the fairies do."  She is getting more and more creative with her own art project ideas.  I love it! 

4 Year Well Child Check

Katya had her check up the same day as Elsie's.  What an excursion that turned out to be.  We were gone almost 3 hours for their appointments, drove home in the pouring rain and Elsie and Reagan were both asleep when we pulled into the garage at 5pm.  But back to Katya's appointment....Our sweet four year old weighed in at 40lbs and measured 40.75 inches tall.  About 70th percentile for both.  She is doing all the things she is suppose to at her age.  She was good for the doctor but cried pretty hard for her shots (she got her second MMR and her second Varicella).  It was the first time I have had an older kid get shots who knew what was coming.  It made me so sad for her as she clung on to me crying, "I don't want shots!  I don't want shots!"  Reagan got the flu mist in her nose, cried for a while but not too bad.  Elsie had shots as well.... it was a cry fest. 

Picking Katya up from school! 

Katya still loves pre-K and is learning lots.  She has gotten more adventurous with her drawings and is cutting well with scissors.  She loves tracing letters and organizing our ABC magnets in the right order.  At home we are working on spelling and reading simple words like 'dog.'  She loves it!  I have also been practicing simple math problems with her and she does really well.  I don't think kids need to be drilled on academics at this age, but learning is fun and Katya is enjoying it.  Craig and I really love learning new things and hope to foster the same curiosity, and life-long love of learning in our children.      

Picnic at the Park

The Godfrey's have been working hard cleaning and moving back into their house after a big, stressfull remodel.  I am so exicted for them to get resettled and enjoy the awesome changes they made to their home.  We have been helping out by watching kids while they work.  It has been really fun!  Last Thursday Patrick joined us girls for a picnic at Columbia Park.  Katya and Patrick had the most fun playing together; they were so cute! 

Elsie Ryan, 4 months old

Here is what our Elsie bug is up to these days:

• Smiling, cooing and laughing.
• Drooling a lot and mouthing everything she can manage to get to her mouth 
• Sleep: Still somewhat inconsistent but most nights she is down at 5:30pm, up once to eat and up for the day around 7am.  Most often she is taking two, two hour naps.  
• Trying to roll back to tummy but not quite making it. (She has not rolled tummy to back in quite some time).
• Getting her knees under her when on belly.
• Grabbing onto things.
• We stopped giving her a binky about a month ago.  She sucks her thumb at sleepy time.

My shirt?

Elsie weighed almost 17lbs and measured a huge 27.25 inches long (97th and 100th percentiles respectively).  She is following a nice growth curve and her physical exam checked out fine.  Her only current issue is constipation, poor girl!  Her Pediatrician and I discussed ways to resolve the issue such as switching formula brands, trying soy based formula, adding fruit solids to her diet or even juice.  I just cringed at the juice suggestion and the dr told me that the only time she ever recommends it is for constipation.  She told me to think of it as medication.  That does help but still, I will be saving that as a last resort.  I am a firm believer in eating your fruit and not drinking it!!

A few of Elsie's favorite things:  She LOVES bath time.  We made bath, bottle, bed her night-time routine back in her colicky days.  She has a great time kicking her legs and 'talking' to us.  She loves being read too and taking walks in the stroller.  Blowing on her tummy or neck usually gets a laugh out of her.  She is very observant and is already watching when I sign with her. 

One last sweet picture of our baby!

At the movies

The girls and I saw "Rio" at St. John's Cinema last Sunday.  They are having a 10 week series of family matinees; to which we bought tickets through Holy Redeemer.  It was a really cute film and we had a great time!  This weekend will be Craig's turn to take them. 

Reagan doesn't weight enough to completely fold down the movie theater seat.  She looked ridiculously cute sitting in the chair with her legs popped up.  I wasn't able to get a good picture of that.  She spent most of the movie on my lap which was fine by me!  I love that she is so snugly. 

Little E

You all may have noticed that I am doing short, and more frequent posts.  I am scheduling them out so I can sit down once and get several posts up for the week.  I like having 'snapshot' posts about one subject (and a snapshot) and it keeps me from getting to verbose. 

Above is a favorite photo of my sweet 4 month old.  She is so adorable and fun.  We are enjoying every minute of getting to know Elsie Ryan.  My favorite times with her are baths and bottles.  Snuggling and feeding her is such a wonderful, satisfying activity.....even if it is nasty ol' formula she's drinking:-)  More on our 'Little E' this weekend after her check up on Friday.

Sisters

I just can't get enough of these girls!

Elsie loves her big sister Katya and is always giving her great smiles. Reagan is a bit rough and so Elsie tends to veiw Reagan with big, wary eyes. I caught Reagan sitting on Elsie a few days ago, straddling her like a horse. Goodness gracious. I guess it is a good thing that Elsie is so strong and solid!

These two are the best of friends.

It's all about the editing....

I love the way some funky editing turned out on this picture of Paige. In this digital age of photography you can really transform a photo in the editing process. It can be really fun, but also overwhelming if you don't know what your doing! I also love getting that perfect shot that requires no edit; it seems like such an accomplishment!

Book Recommendation

This was our last book club read, which I will admit I have not yet finished.  But it is GREAT and I highly recommend it.  It is not a light book so you may need to save it for the right time.  I was having a hard time getting through it, being still in the post-partum hormonal state.  But even then I knew I loved it.  It is beautifully written, very thought provocting and relevent.  I am enjoying it even more now that life has settled down here and I am not so easily overwhelmed.  It was Angie's book club pick and was recommended by her priest which I think is cool (I believe he is South African).  This is a book I will be reading again. 

October 31st 2011

We forgot to carve pumpkins on Sunday as a family! That ment I got to carve 4 pumpkins on Monday morning (Elsie's pumpkin rotted), phew. But it was fun to have some Halloween activites on Monday since Katya had the day off of school. And of course she was dying for it to be time to trick or treat from the moment she got up.

Our little spider dressed up long enough to snap a few pictures and say hi to the neighbor's at Kennedy's house.  Then it was off to bath and bed for her.  I love that all three girls wore the Aunt Candace made spider costume on their first Halloween. 

Here is our trick or treaters with Sterling (sign that kid up, the Seahawks could use some help this year!)

After going around the block with the neighbors Reagan and Katya went home and I thought we were done for the night. But Katya said she wanted to go out again so her and I drove over to Melanie and Rich's house to surprise trick-or-treat them. Cindy, Melanie, and I took Katya up and down their street which was really fun. She was so cute and not shy at all. What a darling Dorthy! Love and blessings, Brenda

Storytime

Katya and I have been taking evening walks after the other two go to bed (from about 6-7pm) It was inspired by my sister-in-law Eryn, who has been doing this as a wind down for her high-energy three year old. It is a fun way to settle Katya down for the night and for me to get a good walk in. I love getting ideas from other parents! We have been out 4 times now and tonight Katya fell asleep in the jogger. I did not know if she ever would (Addison does regularly and Eryn transfers her right into bed). I have been taking Eryn's ideas of brushing teeth and putting PJ's on and making it a 'quiet' walk with no talking.  Katya woke up when we moved her into bed but was right back out again.  Fantastic!  I am going to try to do it as much as I can through the cold, dark, rainy months.  We got a little wet tonight but not too bad.  Yes, I am conscious of safety walking after dark in the city.  Lots of light, reflective clothes, no headphones, pepper spray in my pocket and Levi by my side.

Since we can't walk the nights that Craig is working at Widmer, we bundle up and read stories on the front porch. Here is a long exposure photo from last Thursday night. Night-night everyone!

Leaves

Another picture by our neighbor's beautiful tree.  I love Katya's feet and Reagan just behind her.  Elsie is in the jogger but you can't see her sweet face.  Happy November to all!