7 Months Old!

On Saturday :-)

Kaitlyn is TWO!!

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Our Little Monster

I found this dinosaur (is that what it is?) costume at the consignment store for Austen. It's pretty hard not to laugh seeing her in it. :-) She is looking forward to her first Halloween!

Jeff and I tag team bedtime, and he usually ends up putting Kaitlyn down while I'm with Austen. They have developed their own little bedtime routine, where Kaitlyn sits on the edge of her crib with the window open and they look for stars. This usually triggers a round or two of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Cutest.Thing.Ever. I couldn't pass up the sneak-in picture...we'll want this documented for later. :-)

This is usually what happens at some point after Jeff gets home from work (the napping on the floor, not the blocks). Kaitlyn took advantage of a sleeping daddy:

Austen graduated to the ducky tub when she started sitting up. She LOVES baths, which is the polar opposite of how Kaitlyn was. What a relief, because bath time was not fun time with her big sister. :-)

And just for a flashback, here is Kaitlyn in the tub right around the same. This is during the week that she actually halfway enjoyed baths before going back to hating them.

Stats, Solids, and Cooking with Toddlers

Jeff took Austen to her 6 month check-up today. Here are her stats:

Weight: 19lbs. 7oz. (96th %)
Height: 26 3/4 in. (83rd %)

We gave her "solids" for the first time this weekend. As you can see, she was not a fan the first day.

Here is the next day. Hmm...I think she changed her mind.
Within about a week, she has gone from sitting up with assistance (leaning against her legs or the floor), to sitting for quite a long time without holding herself up. I forget how quickly they catch on to things. So amazing!

Watching Sissy play with her ball:

This next section fits into the category of proud parents. We do understand that you may not find this to be the "cutest thing you've ever read," but I'll write it like you will. ;-)

Kaitlyn is really into her play kitchen, and it has been so fun in the past month or so watching her imaginative play really develop. She washes her hands in her sink, cooks things in the microwave, makes sure to turn on the oven light while she's cooking, seasons her creations, picks up the pan to shake it back and forth before putting it back on the burner (you know, so it doesn't burn), blows on her "hot food," etc. It's incredibly cute if you ask her parents. ;-) I like to sneak in and watch her for a while when she doesn't know I'm there.

I thought she was cooking breakfast (peas) for me yesterday morning, but it turned out it was all for Ernie. Oh well, maybe next time! He's actually getting applesauce here:

Warming rice in the microwave:

Putting green sauce on Mama's (later to become Ernie's) eggs:

Happy Monday!

6 Months Old!

Annnnnd I can't believe it. No, I really can't this time. I'm sure it's because we are going non-stop ALL of the time, but this has flown by. It's definitely bittersweet to see our second big girl getting all grown up.
I did this one a day early so it wouldn't be late. ;-)


I took the girls into my work the other weekend, and Kaitlyn enjoyed playing school:
Big girl Austen is working on sitting up! She's gotten pretty steady over the past couple of weeks.

This would be Kaitlyn being silly and "changing" herself. She's laying on a diaper pad and putting on a diaper.

Playing horsy with Dada:

Austen has her six month appointment early next week, so I'll post her stats. My guess is that she will be over 19 pounds. Kaitlyn was 20 pounds at her 9 month appointment (now staying steady at just over 23). It will be interesting to see what happens with Austen. She's our sturdy girl alright!

Kaitlyn is just beginning to get possessive of her things around Austen, probably because little sister is now grabbing everything in sight, and is able to manuever her way around a room to get what she wants (rolling, "inch-worming," etc., no crawling). We are working on sharing. ;-)

Happy half-year birthday to our sweet Austen Girl!

5 Months Old!

These are getting later and later, but here it is :-) Austen is our sweet, happy girl.

I have to tell a quick story about the other morning. It was the weekend, so Jeff and I were both home, and Jeff got up with the girls so that I could sleep in. I thought I heard him putting Austen down for a morning nap right before I got up. As I'm coming out of our bedroom, I hear both girls giggling like crazy. I walk into Austen's room, and Kaitlyn has climbed into her crib and is running in circles around Austen, who is swaddled in the middle of the mattress. They were cracking up!
I love my life. :-)

Ainsley's Party and Monroe Fair

We went to Ainsley's first birthday party this last weekend in Puyallup. Ainsley is Jenn's daughter, and Jenn is a good friend from Central. Not only was it a great party (wouldn't expect anything less!), it was so nice to see some good friends that we don't get to see enough.

Payton (Mollie's), Kaitlyn, Paige (Kara's) and Blake (Jenn's) getting a wagon ride from Jeff.

Blake and Kaitlyn collecting rocks:

Paige and Payton having a tea party :)

The sweet birthday girl!

Kaitlyn feeding Blake's pet dinosaur. This was the last interaction she had with him. He moves and talks, and the kids weren't too thrilled with that :)

Blake had a popasan chair that was just right for Austen:

Just a random shot from home :) Austen is such a happy little girl...

Kara and I both had Monday off (I worked Tuesday-Friday last week, and our kids start school tomorrow), so we brought the girls to the Monroe Fair (well, the Evergreen State Fair). They had a blast, and so did we. :)

These little piggies were born two days earlier...cute!

They got to go in the petting zoo and do a little grocery trip beforehand:

Loves for the baby cow:

Lunch break! No, we did not try to coordinate their outfits.

We were walking along and saw a sign for pony rides. No way that our kids were old enough for that...wrong! They take 9 months and up (mommies walk beside the really little ones). We obviously could not pass this up! They strap 'em in really well, which was good because Kaitlyn wouldn't let go of her own hands long enough to hold on. :) I promise they had fun, even if they aren't looking too thrilled in the pictures. :)

Paige is a natural!

Doesn't she look excited?! ;-)

We also go to go on the carousel. Again, Kaitlyn did not look like she was enjoying it (not protesting, just straight-faced), but as soon as the ride stopped both girls made it clear they did not want to get off. :)

This is a picture of a picture because I was too lazy to scan it in, but we had to purchase the (overpriced) digital photo they took during the pony ride (we weren't allowed to take our own while they were posing, of course). I cannot look at this picture without laughing-she looks so darn cute!

Austen turned 5 months old on August 23rd, and of course I'm late on her picture. I'll post that soon. :)