Wednesday, February 23, 2011

11 Months!

Austen looks a little under the weather in this picture, but it shows off her teeth! From what we can tell, she is up to nine...seven of which have come in the last 3-4 weeks.

I coudn't not include this. "STOP taking pictures of me, Mom!" This one also shows off all her chompers :)


Another Snow Day

No snow pictures since there isn't much at our house, but I get the day off with the girls. :) Both have nasty colds, plus a fever for Kaitlyn, so it worked out well for me to be off.
This is just an excuse to post some recent pictures. Kaitlyn and Austen are currently playing together and have quite the giggle fest going. :) Kaitlyn has slowly gotten a lot more tolerant of Austen wanting all of her toys, etc. She invites Austen to play "dollhouse" with her, and hands her furniture to play with. The new fun thing is to try to pick up Austen and give her bear hugs that result in a pig pile. It's all fun and games until Austen realizes she is getting squished and can't breathe. We're working on it. ;)
All of this isn't to say that Kaitlyn doesn't still get frustrated when Austen wants to play with everything she has, because there is plenty of that. The picture below shows how, even though she adores her big sister, Austen enjoys the times when Kaitlyn is doing something else or out of the house because she finally gets to play with the big-kid toys. She takes very good care of the babies:
They do a lot of laughing at each other these days. Snack time:


Grandpa Roger and Grandma Bonnie came over the other day to play. The girls love their grandpa. :)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Hand-Me-Downs

My cousin Eliza snagged this dollhouse from her old job and needed a good home for it. It was used in a window display, so it's just bare bones, but it's actually a pretty neat dollhouse and is perfect for little kids. I really like the front, but will have to get a picture when Austen isn't being put to bed (it's in her room - the only current space that made sense - it's not small!). :-) We put a few things in it tonight from one of my old plastic dollhouses, and even with just those, Kaitlyn could have played for hours. Call me a nerd, but I have plans for paint and to figure out how to make simple accessories for the different rooms. I think it will be fun! Maybe a summer project...

My mom gave this to me a few years ago, and it's been sitting on top of our entertainment center with plans of hanging it as a knick-knack shelf. I believe it's an old milk carrier/crate/whatever. Anyway, my dad got a picture hook on it, so it's finally where it is supposed to be. I was excited to fill it, so it may change, but I found enough to fit for the time being. The red doll, roosters, and angel (the left one) are from my grandma and grandpa's house. The pink angel on the bottom right was what I gave my grandma Donnie when she was in the hospital, so she is obviously special. The creamer on the bottom left is from my Aunt Beth from Germany. The girls' hospital bracelets somehow made it in there, too. :-)

As usual, Austen looks like she dwarfs Kaitlyn, but we figured we would let Kaitlyn "feed Austen" once more before she's done with her bottles. She had fun. :-)
I went off to Yakima for a baby shower with my girlfriends last weekend, so Jeff set up a play date with some of his friends on Saturday. Reina, Lola, and Olivia came to play, and it sounds like they had a great time.

Kaitlyn and Austen love to play in their cribs together. Yes, our child needs a haircut and no, she has never had one. We have it in our near-future plans. ;-) We only notice it in the mornings before the pig tails go in!

Monday, February 7, 2011

More Milestones!

Austen is going 100 miles an hour these days. She is currently getting four new teeth at once (ouch!) and has been a great sport about it. Once these four are through (almost - I think one or two are just starting to poke through), that will make seven teeth, including a molar. And here I was "worried" that she was getting her teeth late.
As of yesterday, Austen is cruising around on the furniture, and letting go for seconds at a time. She has tried to take a step here and there, but hasn't gotten anywhere before plunking down. She wants to be like her big sister so badly...we are thinking she will walk before Kaitlyn did. If anyone remembers, she didn't walk until a little after 15 months.
Austen says "bye-bye" while waving pretty clearly, and that's the only one we know she is saying for sure. We swear she says "go" to Riley because Mom and Dad are always saying that to him. ;-)
Kaitlyn is talking up a storm...she says 4+ word sentences all the time and things come out of her mouth that we didn't know she had the knowledge to say. Before I left for work the other morning she said, "Bye! Have fun at school today Mommy!" Last week, Austen had JUST fallen asleep for a much-needed nap, when Kaitlyn decided to go in to check on her. By the time I realized what she was doing, she had one leg on its way over the crib rail, Austen is wailing, and Kaitlyn is sweetly asking her, "What's the problem, Austen?" One more is that we will ask Kaitlyn in the car if Austen is sleeping, since we can't see her face with her seat facing backwards. Kaitlyn will look over at her and say, "No, she's not sleepin'...she's awake." This is only to find Austen totally zonked out when we reach our destination.
Anyway, I don't know if I've mentioned that I'm getting our blog printed in a book, so I am trying to include milestones, stories, etc. that I will want to remember. This will take place of the baby books that didn't happen. :-)

Kaitlyn is FINALLY smiling for the camera...happy Mama! We have constant colds around here from about October to May, so excuse the red nose. :-)

Jeff and I went out on Saturday for my 30th birthday. The girls went to my parents' house for the night, and we stayed in a hotel in downtown Seattle. We had so much fun...Cheesecake Factory for dinner and then off to different places for drinks. It was so nice to be out just the two of us. Welcome, 30s!