Let it Snow!

Yesterday it snowed off and on for most of the day. We got a good layer on the ground at our place and the flakes were so pretty! Katya was fascinated by it and Craig taught her "snow" which sounds an awful lot like "no." We made it to church, which is so close by, in our trusty Jeep but stayed in the rest of the day. We had babysat Addison overnight so Allen and Eryn had to venture over the west hills to pick her up. It was a slow drive but they made it safely. Chains or traction devices were required on all major highways yesterday (4 wheel drive okay) and of course there were tons of little accidents.

It is clear and sunny today but COOLED! There is still snow on the ground and the roads are icy but not too bad. The expected high is about 26 and the wind chill is bringing the temp down even further. What is this Montana? It is quite a dry snow for Portland too and is expected to stay very cold all week. We might get more snow on Wed. Craig heard from a colleague that they have shut his office down before, being it is a non-essential part of the Legacy Hospital organization but no such luck yet. He took the Jeep to work to be safe and so Katya and I are holed up today without transportation (her car seat is in there). Oh well. I was very sick this morning anyways so not really in the mood to venture out. I am feeling a little better, keeping fluids down finally which is good. Katya is napping and I think I will join her:0)

How blessed we are to have a warm home! ~ Brenda

Katya 16 months

Katya is such a joy and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She cracks us up daily and is so sweet with her hugs and kisses. She is saying "mom" a lot more often and I can't get enough of hearing it! Some of her new words
are 'home,' 'stuck,''go,' 'potty,' 'doll' and 'Katy.' Every baby picture she sees now is "Katy" or "baby Katy." She is up to around 30+ words (it is getting hard to keep track) and she says several 2 word sentences. She says "daddy home" and "mom home" which is so cute. She is really good about signing 'please' when she wants something and she signs 'help please' a lot when she can't do something herself. I think this is so great because so many kids her age would just scream and throw a fit instead of asking for help.

She has not been hitting much lately which is nice; she does occasionally when she is mad but does not say 'no' and hit me 10x a day anymore. This is great and means she gets WAY less time outs. Our consistency has paid off. She still gets time outs for playing in the dog bowls, especially when they are trying to eat. She managed to chop down a few morsels of dog food before I got to her one time and I really have to watch her. It is a little tricky because Craig taught her how to put the bowls away after the dogs are done eating. She just needs to learn to wait until they are done! She carries them to the pantry and when we open it for her drops the bowls in (she also says 'bowl').

She still does her funny scrunch face, especially while walking around in a drunken pattern. She also does what I call 'old peg leg.' She picks one leg up, straight legged, and then stomps it down while walking. She still loves being chased and riding on her lion. We had our second playgroup at church this week and it went really well. It was just her and Levi, the 22 month old and they played really well together.

I can't believe how smart she is and I love seeing her learning. When Craig asks her to bring or show me something she does it. This seems so small but the first time she did it I was so impressed! We are excited to take her out to see Christmas lights at some of the 'hot spots' around Portland. On our walk a few days ago there were some blow up decorations (yes, on during the day) in someones yard and she was totally enthralled.

She got two of her upper molars in a few weeks ago without us even realizing it. Our Pediatrician warned us that the canines will be the worst for her and could come any time. Sure enough after a fussy afternoon we had a night from hell this past Tuesday. She woke up screaming around midnight and would not settle back down. I brought her to bed with me and Craig went to Reagan's room to try and sleep. She would not go to sleep so I put her back in her crib and then ended getting her again later. She finally fell asleep with me at 5am and slept until 8:30. We left for Olympia Wed and I was so tired but she was doing better. I have given her Motrin twice for the pain and she has been doing fairly well since.

Well that is all here! Love, Brenda

22 week update

Today was another prenatal check up. Every thing is progressing fine. My belly is growing appropriately and I gained 4lbs since my last check up 4 weeks ago. That is right on track with 1lb a week; I was worried that I had been gaining too much weight so I am glad to know that I am not. Baby's heart beat was in the 150s, a little faster than last time; hummmm, maybe it was the cup of coffee I had this morning! I have started drinking one cup of coffee a day, or two cups of half regular/ half decaf. It is well within the allowed amount of caffeine and it makes my morning so what the heck. Next appointment will be the beginning of my third trimester! Crazy.

I have been doing the prenatal yoga video that Candace lent me a few days a week. I really like it and wish I could find time to do it everyday. If I could get my butt out of bed before Katya wakes up but sleep is SO nice! I love how the yoga helps my posture and helps remind me to work on my posture through out the day. As Candace's physical therapist told her, resisting the natural tendency to compensate for the growing belly with poor posture is very important. It helps alleviate back pain and that is extra important since I lug a 23lb kid around all day. I have been walking a lot too and feeling so much better with regular exercises. I have not been doing any cardio which I really should add in.

I am having the round ligament pains that accompany the growing uterus and occasional cramps/bladder spasms that I got near the end of my pregnancy with Katya. They are not as terribly painful as they were with Katya, yet anyhow, but I did not get them this early with her. I am not looking forward to the discomforts of the third trimester and I have already felt myself slow down in my movements. Oh well, it is part of the deal.

I will be posting a Katya update later in the week. ~ Brenda

New pictures

November's photo album has been added! ~ Brenda

Baby Reagan

We are pretty sure we are going to name our little one Reagan. It has grown on Craig and he currently likes it better than Greta. We still like Greta and are keeping our minds open but I doubt it will change. I have been calling her Reagan lately to get use to the name and really try it out. It seems kind of funny to be calling her by name already but it took me so long to attach Katya to her name that I feel using Reagan's name will help avoid that. We are still not set on a middle name but are leaning towards Ames.

Craig got to feel her move this week which is very exciting. I have felt her move on my hand a few times too. She still does not seem super active to me but she definitely lets me know shes in there, especially at night. My belly has grown leaps and bounds in the last 3 weeks which is great because it means she is growing!

Play group

Last week in the church bulletin there was a note about a toddler play group. I called the gal yesterday and today was the first meeting. It was just 3 moms (including me) with 1 kid each but it is so nice to get Katya in a play group. We met at the parish center and brought some toys for the kids to share. The two other little boys are 11 months and 22 months so Katya fits well in the middle. I think she had fun but she got tired quickly and was going over to her stroller and saying "bye" about 30 mins in. It is nice to get to know some young moms in my parish and for Katya to socialize. I am going to try to start taking her to the library reading time for toddlers on Fridays. Another good opportunity to meet moms and for her to be with other kids.

Oh Christmas Tree!

I love this picture of Craig and Katya! Here we are in Banks Oregon picking out and cutting down our Christmas tree. The place we went to was some property owned by a very nice retired couple. They had lots of tree to chose from and they were very reasonably priced. They only have Nobles and charge 30$ for a tree up to 7.5ft (which we got) and 40$ for anything bigger. Katya loved being out there and had her first cup of hot coco. Yummy!