K & A Updates

Addalyn is now 8 months old. Where has time gone? She seems to make "leaps and bounds" in development in a weeks time.

Her new list of tricks includes: 3 teeth (2 lower and 1 upper), she feeds herself puffs or Cheerios, she shares a room with her big brother, and she is NOT interested in crawling whatsoever!

-Together Kai and Addie stay up in their room talking and singing for almost an hour every night. We're still adjusting to try to get them in bed a little sooner!

-Addie wakes up daily at 5am for mommy to change her wet diaper. Annoying! But she likes to snuggle and fall back asleep until around 7am. Praise God!

-She will NOT eat baby food with a plastic bib. It must be cloth or she boycotts the whole meal! Seriously? More laundry.

-She is completely content to sit and watch Scout or Kai play or chew on her toys for 30+ mins!

-Every time Daddy walks through the door she give him a GI-normous smile (like the one below). This girl loves her daddy!

-Kai and I are trying to teach Addie to clap. She just thinks WE are funny and laughs. No clapping yet.

-If Kai is laughing at us or the dog, Addie watches him and laughs. She adores her big bro!

-She is still the sweetest thing ever!

Kai is about 2.5 years now and for the most part a pretty sweet toddler. He continues to surprise us with what he is able to communicate and remember!

-He is catching on that when he tests mommy and daddy there ARE ALWAYS consequences. Finally! He will apologize as soon as he remembers he's going to timeout...in hopes of not going.

-He was on a potty training role for a while until I switched the incentive from M&M's to a sticker chart. Bad move on my part. He is no longer intersted. So we're considering Plan C to begin soon! Probably back to food incentives.

-He loves to take bathes with Addie, although doesn't like to share his tub toys. I am teaching him to barter with her to keep everyone happy.

-He is noticing and questioning differences in boys and girls. This is interesting. When he does say something eluding to body parts, it's mostly just honest.

-He loves Scout. They are buddies. He reads her books, shows her toys, wants her to participate with his games and play (hence, she is in the tent below).

-Recently, he's developed a stutter with certain sounds. We're just watching it now....praying its just a phase of communicative growth.

Kai gave himself a black eye with the swing outside. Just a faint reminder of it on his right eye the last week or so.

Baby #3 is now 16 weeks old. We plan to find out the sex Feb. 9th at our next appointment. I am still feeling sick almost daily....will it ever end?! I am starting to prepare myself for prematurity prevention again....shots weekly and bi-weekly ultrasounds after 20 wks. Praying to avoid bedrest but praying "harder" for a healthy baby. We'll keep you posted.

Western Stock Show

If you love crowds, cattle smell, and eating or buying your way through hundreds of vendors, the Stock Show is the place for YOU!

We knew Kai would really enjoy all the animals this year......and he definitely did. He's been singing every version under the sun of "Old McDonald's Farm" the entire week (before he even knew what a stock show was). We decided the "easiest" thing to do considering the crowds would be to skip the stroller, carry Addie in the backpack, and let Kai walk. Bad idea. Next time we'll be taking a double stroller to do the work for us!

The petting zoo was definitely a highlight. Kai was mainly interested in the goats, although this llama really seemed to take an interest in him! We thought he was going to get a kiss at one point!

Another highlight was all the JOHN DEERE tractors on the event grounds. This was probably the largest tractor...so we had to check it out. Kai wanted to sit inside, although that was not an option. He settled for climbing the ladder.

Quick side note: Ponderosa uses John Deere tractors. Recently, Derrick brought home a free-bee calendar with pictures of all the different tractors and their functions. Kai liked it so much we "read/discussed" the calendar before bed and naps for probably a week straight. He can tell me every crop or function those tractors do!

The main goal for our visit to the Stock Show was to see all the animals, eat lunch, and make it through the SuperDogs show before naptime. The SuperDogs was a show of performance dogs that jump hurdles, catch frisbees, and race through obstacles. We planned for kettle corn during the show to keep Kai entertained...and it did until 25 mins. into it and then he konked out! Addie took a little snooze before the show even began....after munching on her kettle corn.
Altogether a fun time, but a long, exhausting day.

Tubing at Ponderosa

A few weekends ago we had a beautiful sunny day for some tubing! We took advantage! More weight= a longer run.

With this in mind, Kai loved to ride with Derrick instead of by himself in order to reach his goal every time down the hill ..... hit the hay bales at the against the fence!

Kai had a great day! He got a ride up the hill in the tube AND down the hill! It doesn't get better than that!Addie had a blast watching everyone take runs down the hill and getting pulled around in our little wooden sled. She would literally laugh, scream and flap her arms when she saw Daddy and Kai coming closer.

Addie and I attempted a tube at one point, but it wasn't super successful. I wasn't willing to climb very high....therefore, we weren't even close to hitting the hay bales! Fine by me.

Taking a breather!

Christmas 2009

This is my last holiday post....I know, I know, we're almost a month out from Christmas.....so moving on.

Kai and Addie looked so cute on Christmas Eve in their little outfits and we didn't even get a pic of them together! Sad. We by-passed church service this year due to widespread sickness which was different. But we hit all the F's: food, fellowship, family, and fun.

Poor Addie. This was her look and position all Christmas morning. She was so sick and lethargic she literally woke up and went right back to sleep through all the present opening madness. She just wanted to be held. She got pretty comfy with Uncle Kyle that morning and just snoozed.

Kai got a truck load of new toys to keep him busy. He got this green Strider balance bike from mom and dad, along with new train tracks, tool box, shovel, safari animals, medical kit, Thomas tent, books, clothes, etc. etc. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Hope you had a blessed Christmas and New Year celebration. Now on to 2010.......