Kaitlyn Walking Around

Fooled you, didn't I.  

No, Kaitlyn isn't really walking around on her own.  She's only 8 months old.  But she has gotten pretty good at maneuvering around the house with this toy.  I really think she will be walking on her own soon.

Kaitlyn is 8 months old.

Another month has gone by.  We are getting closer and closer to the big First Birthday. I am still at home with her. Although my lay off has made things pretty tight for us, I have had fun spending more time with Kaitlyn. I think she's liking it too. She makes me smile everyday. Kaitlyn doesn't have too many updates this time. She has been working on perfecting the things from last month.  She is crawling everywhere and pulls her self up on EVERYTHING. Even the things she shouldn't be. She is 20 pounds and still 29 inches long. Here are the new updates:

1. She has learned she can pull her socks and shoes off... then try to eat them
2. She is VERY vocal. She really likes to try out how loud she can get while we are in the library for story time or the store.
3. She is officially teething and her little gums are swollen but we have not seen any teeth making their appearence yet. 
4. She is just barely starting to clap and wave. She doesn't do it on command yet but we are working on it. I think she is still trying to figure it out and what it means.
5. Also just today she started crawling up the stairs, with mommy's help of course. She did about 4 stairs before she decided she was done and tried turning around. 
6. She will stand on her own for about 10 seconds. 
7. She has started dragging things around with her like her pink hippo, bibs, shoes, socks or anything else she can get. 

That's about it. Here are the Teddy pictures. This was the most difficult one to get yet. It took Jared and I working together to get the one we did, but it was not easy. She doesn't like to sit still anymore. So I'm adding a few extra for this month to show the adventure. I'll end with the slide show.

Valentine's Weekend

This last weekend we had Lydia out for the long weekend. As always, it was so much fun. It was cute the night Lydia got in Kaitlyn was sleeping. Lydia really wanted to see her so we walked her up a little early for her night bottle. Lydia came up with me to wake her up. The minute Kaitlyn saw Lydia she got a huge smile on her face. She definitely knows her sister. She smiles more when Lydia is here then any other time.  

We even braved a movie with both girls. We took them to see Coraline. Kaitlyn only started getting fussy at the very end.  Lydia had read the book and was excited to see the movie.  It was cute. 

We also played a few games of Life. Santa gets the family a game every Christmas, this last Christmas it was the electronic game of life. We had all played the old version before but this one had a fun twist. We had a blast with it

Lydia went to a pajama birthday breakfast for her friend Jenna on Saturday morning. All the girls were picked up in their PJs and went to breakfast at IHOP. She also went to a sleep over on Sunday night. Lydia and Jenna have so much fun together. They now have joint custody of a toy worm named Joe. It is fun watching the 2 girls play. They have great imaginations. 

On Sunday night we had a webcam phone call with my aunt Terri and my Grandpa so they could say hello to Kaitlyn and Lydia. While the picture quality isn't always the best it was fun to see them and for them to see the girls. Webcams are great for them to see how much the girls are growing since they can't be here to see it in person.

Lydia went home on Monday. We were so sad to see her go. We love her a lot and can't wait to see her again.

 Kailtyn "Bye Lydia, I'll miss you".

Miss you, Mom!

Today is the 13th anniversary of my mom's passing. It has been a bit of a hard day, as it is every year. The only wonderful part of the 12th of February is that it is also the anniversary of the day Jared asked me to marry him.  Since Kaitlyn never had the opportunity to meet her grandma, I have been telling her stories of the silly and sweet things my mom did.  I thought I would share a few for everyone to remember her. I so wish that Jared, Lydia and Kaitlyn could have met her and known what a beautiful person she was. 

• She loved to sing. When we were moving down from Washington to California, mom and I rode together while Richard and Sean rode together in our other car. Mom and I sang James Brown, the Beatles, and about anything else that popped into our heads or came on the radio. We had a blast.
• When I was in 7th grade, I had a crush on a boy. One day I found out that the boy liked someone else and I had my heart broken for the first time. I ran home and cried for an hour in my room. Mom came home from work, and I told her what happened, she hugged me and comforted me until I felt better and made me realize that there were other fish in the sea.
• I always had SEVERAL stuffed animals growing up. For as long as I can remember and up to the time she had her accident when I was laying in bed and going to sleep she would sneak in my room and pile them all on top of me. When I was 16, I started telling her I was too old for that, but she still did it and I always laughed about it. 
• We loved to go out country dancing. She was so excited when I turned 18, because I could finally go out with her. We always had so much fun.
• She always wanted to be a child psychologist. She loved kids.
• She was a wonderful writer. 
• She gave me my love for singing and theatre.

I hope I can be as wonderful of a mother to my girls as she was to me. 

Love you, Mom. I miss you everyday.

7 month update

Kaitlyn is now 7 months old. Kaitlyn is now 19 pounds and 29 inches. Still happy as can be.  

1. She is really trying to talk she has discovered that when you move your tongue you can make different noises. So gaga's, la and ra ra's are starting to come out. Jared has been trying to make her say Yoda for her first word, I told him he is in a world of hurt if he succeeds. I said she has to say mama before Yoda. 
   
2. She FINALLY started crawling!! She has been working at it for a month and a half. Now of course she goes after every electric or computer cord in the house.
3. She is pulling herself up on anything she can.
4. She has started loving buttons. She looks at them and tries to eat them. 
5. She loves to play with her shoes it can keep her occupied for at least 10 minutes at a time. 
6. She made her first trip to the hospital as mentioned in an earlier post.
7. She has started making popping noises with her mouth
8. She blows raspberries on everything, the couch, the tables, her saucer, her toys, pretty much anything she can get her hands on.
9. She loves to play with us. 
10. She doesn't like to sit still too often. 

That's pretty much it. Here are the teddy pictures.