Happy Halloween!

On this Hallows Eve I thought I would post pictures from our trip to the pumkin patch with Katya's Kindergarten class. Elsie stayed home with Grandma Bev and Reagan and I had a great time. We didn't see much of Katya at times; she was too busy playing with her friends, but it was nice hanging out with just my middle.

A big happy birthday shout out to my sister Candace!! We love you! The girls and I are going to try Skyping this afternoon.

 

 

McKenna's senior pictures

I want to share my first ever senior high school portrait session.  My sister-in-law Eryn recommended me to her niece who then asked me to be her photographer!  I was nervous to photograph such a big life event, but also really excited.  Eryn came along as my assistant, which was SO nice and the session was a blast.  I posted some favorites for McKenna on my photography blog that I set up a while back but had not yet used.  Here is the link:

http://kreinspiredphotography.blogspot.com/

School girl

It has been busy around here and I have not had the time or energy to blog. Sorry for my lack of posts. Here are some cute pictures of our awesome kindergartner.   

Elsie, 15 months

Our littlest little is getting big so fast!  She had her 15 month check up yesterday.  She weighed 22lbs 2 oz (40th percentile) and measured 33.25 inches long (99th percentile).  She has a cold, but checked out fine.  I asked about her left foot which turns in pretty significantly when she walks.  Doc said we will keep an eye on it but her hip is fine so it will probably just straighten its self out as she walks more.  She is walking pretty well while holding onto our hands.  Still not standing or walking unsupported.  She is talking up a storm!  She says "hi," "night-night," "go," "mama," "dada," and "backpack."  Yes, backpack.  Reagan's Dora backpack (from the Smiths!  Thank you!) is a big hit with the little too, and it talks when you press it's mouth.  Elsie pushes it over and over until it gets to the song, "Backpack, backpack!"  A week or so ago she looked at me and said, "backpack," then pointed to the toy (without turning on the song), and then repeated it.  So smart!  She is really imitating our words and Craig had her saying, "yogurt" the other night while he fed her.  She has not repeated that one yet though:-)  She knows about 6 signs, and loves showing us how she knows them:-)  Elsie is such a happy girl.  We are so blessed to have her. 

All around me I am seeing and hearing of people getting cancer, children losing their parents, and parents losing children.  I feel so sad, and also, so incredibly blessed at our healthy little family.  One of my favorite photographers shared today that one of her little newborn client was hospitalized recently, and today his parents are having to "say goodbye."  Heart.  Breaking.  Life is so FREAKING precious.  Hug your loved ones everyone!  And take pictures.     

Reagan's bedhead

I shared one of these on facebook a while back, but I forgot I want to also post them here. Reagan's bedhead was so perfectly tosseled the other day, I couldn't bear to brush it! I love these pictures, especially because getting her to look directly at my camera is not easy these days:0)

A post script about my joint/muscle pain: I went to see my GP again and she is pretty miffed. She did mention a few GI disorders that can cause joint pain but it was kind in passing. I started thinking about those more and decided to look into it a bit on my own. Gluten intorelance can have joint pain symptoms. I am not convinced that is what it is but I figure it is worth trying. So I am grudingly trying a gluten free diet for a month (one week in today), boo!  My doc has referred me to a physician who specializes in Fibromyalgia to get her opinion on my chronic pain. I have not set that up yet.  I should probably go see a naturopathic physician as well, though I am sure they are going to want to mess more with my diet; double boo!  :-)  My pain is about the same.  I had a flare up a few weeks ago that was pretty bad, and lasted a week and a half.  But day to day, the joint pain is not terrible.  It's always there, still maily my fingers, toes, wrist, ankles; less often neck, knees and elbows; but overall not too bad. 

And bringing it back to Reagan:  This is probably the first time our children have ever heard the word "diet" around here.  I have mentioned my "special diet" to K and R and all day today Reagan would randomly say, "that's my speical diet."  She also kept talking about her "special moments."  Haha!  She kills me! 

Elsie, 14 months- Katya, kindergarten

Elsie is quite the adventurer. When you put her down at a park, she just goes! She is also super brave in the water. She crawls all over the water features at our local parks with no fear. In the bath, she is blowing bubbles as well as her older siblings. My dad would say it is because she started "swimming" so young; i.e., at her birth in the water:-) Ha!

Elsie is getting better on her feet. Just today she started walking while holding my hands and the lion push toy. She looks pretty awkward doing it but she was willing to practice. She still LOVES climbing stairs and into chairs. She is getting the hang of going down the stairs backwards. Her signing is starting to really connect. She learned "dog" the other night and was so proud. She does "more" very well and starting to use signs a bit more.  But she also has a very effective, "Uhhhhh!" sound she makes when she wants something.  It's only slightly annoying when this mom is trying to do 10 things at once:-)  "No" is still her best word and she uses it in context. She will look at the dog's food bowl and say, "no." :-) So cute! She loves flipping though books and pointing to things on the page. 

Miss Katya is doing very well thus far in school.  She has had four mornings in a row without tears!  Even though she has a hard time saying goodbye to me, she is always excited in the mornings and super happy when I pick her up.  She has one more day of noon dismissal and then it will be full days.  I hoping she can work herself up to being dropped off from the car at the steps were a teacher watches the kids come in; for now, I walk her to her classroom.  I am really loving walking to and from school with the weather still being nice.  We have only missed one morning (running behind) and one afternoon.  It is about a half mile to school so it is a nice 2 miles of walking that I can get in.  

So far I am very excited to be at Holy Cross.  I think it really is a blessing in disguise that we "have" to send our girls to private school (thank you Portland Public Schools for being so crappy?  What?).  Everyone is SO nice and it is not a snobby school at all.  There are so many little reasons that I (so far) like it better than Holy Redeemer; I hope I feel the same way at the end of the year!  I love that religious education will be a part of their academic lives, and I really love the emphasis our school places on service.  Community service is a big part of Holy Cross and the students have lots of service projects through out the years.  I admire the respect that Catholics have for other human beings SO much.  I am biased, I know, but I think it outshines many other religious sects in it's sincerity.  I have never been taught how to attack another religion's beliefs in the 33 years I have been a member of the Church (and yes, I have had my faith attacked by others).

The sleep adjustments for the school year have gone fairly well.  Our Pediatrician recommended a melatonin supplement for Miss Katya who has had difficulties falling asleep for years now.  It is kind of creepy how well it is working.  With that, the vigour of school, and early mornings we have inched her bedtime back from 7pm, to 6:45, and now 6:30.  Unfortunately, Reagan has gotten messed up with getting up at 6:30am and she started having trouble falling asleep at her normal time of 6pm (she is use to 13hrs a night).  So we have had to move her bedtime up to 5:30, which so far is working great.  It is so crazy how true it is that sleep begets sleep.  Getting her down by 6pm was hard enough, but now it is really challenging.  I will have to feed the kids dinner at 4:30 to get her down on time.  But totally worth it.  I think sleep is as important to good health as a healthy diet and enough excises. 

Sorry for such a long post!  Love to all, Brenda

Yum, yum spaghetti!