Books!

I recently discovered Caitlin's love of books ...

Make that Caitlin's love of eating books....

At Grandma and Grandpa's house

The kids and I visited grandma and grandpa last week (hence the lack of posts). Here are a few pictures of our week....


eating peas from Grandpa's dinner plate

Riding around on the tractor

Helping Grandpa redo the little table

Sweet Pea face....

Caitlin's bodyguard (aka Uncle Eric)

Comparisons at 9 1/2 months

There aren't a lot of outfits that I can put both kids in for comparison pictures, but I found one.

They are both 9 months and 9 days in these pictures. Note the excessive drool from teething (on both). Caitlin just got her first tooth, and Brandon was probably on tooth #7. And look at all that hair! Caitlin's, obviously! If Brandon had been born with the same amount of hair as Caitlin, he'd probably have been on his third haircut by now. Neither on of them has had a haircut yet in these pictures! Both are good at creating messes where ever they go. Both are definitely cute, pale, blond babies!

We have a tooth!

Finally! At almost 9 1/2 months, Caitlin has a little tooth poking through. It's a sharp little bugger, too! This explains the excessive drooling that appeared last week. At this age Brandon already had at least 6 teeth, maybe 8. I'd have to check his baby calendar, and I'm too lazy to get up and do that right now. Funny how the kid that wanted to nurse got teeth early, and the kid who gave up on nursing at 5 months didn't get any teeth until 9 months. Hopefully this means she'll get more teeth soon, and we can start on some different food. Macaroni and cheese is still a huge hit, but I know she'll be happy with more finger foods in the future.

In other news, Caitlin has started repeating sounds. Tonight I kept saying "mama", and she was trying so hard to imitate me. I started saying "dada" to see what she would do. Lo and behold, she tried very hard to say "dada" as well (even Brian thought so). Next we will be working on "bath," as it is a favorite of hers. Due to much splashing and enjoyment, every bath time with Caitlin requires an outfit change for me.

Caitlin's Amazing Night

Last night Caitlin slept from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am! Woo Hoo! This is a monumental occasion in our household. I feel the need to open a bottle of champagne and celebrate! Brandon didn't sleep through the night until he was 16 months old! Okay, he did once, at 8 months old (the exact date is circled on his baby calendar), and then didn't do it again for 8 more months.
I'm so excited that this might, maybe, could possibly be a trend!! Am I crazy? No! Am I expecting too much? No! Do I have any champagne? No! (oh well...)

Food!

I have finally found a food that Caitlin actually likes! Something she will open her mouth for! Something she wants to eat more than she wants to smear it in her hair! That food is.... (drum roll, please)....macaroni and cheese. Yes folks, plain ol', boring, very American, mac and cheese. Yesterday, during our IKEA adventure (one of the few stores I can go to with both kids and stay reasonably sane), Brandon got a plate of mac and cheese at the IKEA cafe. Since the portion size there was huge we ended up coming home with quite a bit of it. Brandon wanted some for dinner, so I ground up some in the baby food grinder to see what Caitlin would do. As you can see by the picture, she ate it. She ate all of it. I have photographic proof. I must make some and grind it up.....

As much as she liked it, she did take some time to smear a bit in her hair. Unlike prunes or green beans, the mac and cheese doesn't show up as much in her hair. It still makes it stiff and icky, though (see side profile picture). And, for all the photographic proof that I have that she's eating, it doesn't change the fact that the girl likes her bottle. One look at those thighs, and there is no doubt that I am feeding her. Somewhere, deep down inside, I am waiting for the "I won't eat anything" phase, the one where you pull your hair out trying to get your child to understand that anorexia isn't fun. I think Brandon was about 16 months old before he started that one, so I have a while. I also have ideas the second time around.

Double Butt

I have to share this with you.... notice the difference in sizes (mainly that Caitlin's rear at almost 9 months is the same size as Brandons', and he's 3). Sadly, it will probably always be this way.....

Random things going on around here....

Things that have been going on lately

-Caitlin's head wound is healing up nicely since the butterfly band aid fell off. Maybe I can schedule some professional pictures soon.
-If Brandon falls asleep in the car, he won't take a nap at home. Lately I've been singing to him (in my utterly useless singing voice). I count on the annoyance factor to keep him awake. Today, on the way home from Ikea, he looked so drowsy that I felt bad that I told him he couldn't sleep in the car.
-I am finally getting around to packing up the baby girl clothes to give to a pregnant friend (I have 5 pregnant friends due in December and January. 4 are having girls. 1 isn't finding out. I gave her all the unisex clothes I got when before Brandon was born, since we didn't find out his gender before birth).
-I left a crappy role of wrapping paper on the floor the other day, intending to toss it out. Who knew that it could be so much fun to little kids? I had a very peaceful breakfast while the 2 kids rolled around in it. My house is a mess now, but that's okay.
-Caitlin crawls down the hall to visit the bathtub 10 times a day. She loves to take a bath. I think she is trying to use her telekinetic powers to fill the tub. I never had much luck with my telekinetic powers, either.
-I am having so much fun with Myspace. I've found profiles for a couple of friends. Normally I just view people's profiles, but I'm actually emailing them. I'm bad at keeping in touch, and phone calls are out of the question lately (unless they're 5 minutes or less). You can find my profile here.
-The kids slept in until 8:30 this morning. So did I! It was heavenly!
-Highway started a women's bible study on Thursday mornings. I'm so excited. I finally got to go.

Caitlin just woke up. So much for blogging... gotta run!

Pumpkin Patch - Again

I took Brandon to the doctors office this morning. He's had a cough for about 4 weeks now that just won't go away. On top if it all, he sounds terrible (by the way he sounds, you wouldn't want your kid playing with mine). I also wanted to make sure it wasn't turning into anything worse. It's not. Anyway, he wanted to go back to the Pumpkin Patch and ride the train again (the one I had to force him on last week). The three of us, plus what seemed like a thousand school kids (I cringed when I saw the buses pulling into the parking lot), spent a couple of hours running around in hay and pumpkins. The temperature is great today - 68 degrees - and perfect for running around in!

A typical Caitlin picture. The one taken right after this one is just of her hand, reaching for the camera lens. What's up with that tongue?














The kiddos. As you can see, eating hay is Caitlin's favorite Pumpkin Patch activity.



Mom and her babies. All of us are actually looking at the camera at the same time! (Wow, my hair is looking really brown these days) . Oh My Gosh - Caitlin's tongue is actually in her mouth!

A great picture of Brandon. Note the lollipop from the doctors office.

Comparisons at 8 1/2 months

Caitlin............


Brandon...............
In both pictures, they are the same age down to the day. I see a few similarities, such as nose and mouth, but they certainly aren't carbon copies of each other. Caitlin obviously has more hair (we would have already gone in for a haircut if she was a boy). Caitlin crawled at 6.5 months, and Brandon at 7.5. Caitlin currently weighs close to 20 pounds, Brandon weighed about 17 1/2 at the same age. Caitlin is far more nosy - always trying to get into the cabinets, the drawers, out the door, between the sofas.... Brandon thought my suggestion of "stay out of there" was a good idea, and didn't get into many closed things (although, as you can see in the above picture, he was good at getting into things that were open!). I thought Brandon was wiggly and active, but Caitlin puts him to shame. They're both pretty good sleepers (so far we haven't had any real problems). Caitlin looks more like her dad, and Brandon looks more like his mom.

I love my babies!

The Artist At Work

He carefully dips the brush in the paint....


He looks up to smile at the photographer...


He studies his work....


He makes adjustments....


He smiles again. Proud of his achievement!

Who knew that getting Brandon some paint would make him so happy?

This is what happens...

...when you walk away from Caitlin for one minute.


Is it bad that I took a picture of her before I pulled her out from between the sofas?

I got boots

I found some that I really like! This is so much fun to me, because I've had a hard time finding boots in the past. I've always liked knee high boots, but I have, much to my surprise, enormous calves. I haven't been a skinny girl since my childhood days, but I had no idea that my calves were of such huge proportions. Until I went shopping for knee high boots. Then I discovered how abnormal I really am. Thanks to my friend Arlene, I got some hints on how us larged calved women can wear high boots. Woo hoo! I went out shopping the very next day. We'll see how much I like high boots (I'm known to change my mind a lot). The boots fit, but are a little tight. Arlene did say I could stretch them out, so I am wearing them around the house to do just that. Just a warning, though. Right now I'm parading around my house in a long sleeve T-shirt, shorts, knee high stockings and knee high boots. No, I am absolutely not going to take a picture of me. Just use your imagination (it won't be that far off). If you stop by my house in the middle of the day, when my kids are napping, this is how I'll be dressed. You've been warned.

Sleep

After a couple of weeks of just giving Caitlin water at her 4:00 am waking, she has been sleeping from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. And, she usually wakes up happy (wanting food, but happy). I'm so proud of her! It was so odd last night to not wake up at all from 1:30-7:00. I'm still tired in the afternoon and want a nap. Probably just the affects of having 2 kids. Just call me the expert infant sleep trainer.....

My Morning

I've had quite an interesting morning. Brian's car has been in the shop for repairs for a couple of days now. I've had things to do every day, so I've been taking Brian to work in the mornings. This morning I was going to attend the first Women's Group Bible study meeting at Highway, starting at 9:30. The plan was to leave home at 8:30, drop Brian off by 9:00, and go to our Mountain View campus for the new group. We left at 8:30, and dropped Brian off by 9:00. At 9:05 Brandon started to complain that he didn't feel good, and that the back of his mouth hurt (I'm assuming that meant he had a sore throat). He agreed to take some Tylenol. A few minutes later he started crying. When I asked what was wrong he said, "I just threw up all over myself." And sure enough, he had. He kept insisting through his tears that we go to the Bible study, since I had built up the fact that he got to go to his own class and play with friends. Instead, we went straight home to change him and put his clothes in the wash (vomit is one of the smells that puts me over the edge. Icky diapers - no problem). I've already cleaned the carseat and washed the cover.

The kids watched a video and played for about half an hour, and Brandon felt great. Happy and running around the house. After coming to the conclusion that his vomiting episode was directly related to his breakfast not agreeing with him, I decided to go to the mall so I could get Brandon some long sleeve shirts for fall and winter (we currently have two). As I'm fixing him a PB&J sandwich, Caitlin falls over and starts crying very hard. It turns out she's pulled over one of Brandon's little chairs on to herself. She's done this a dozen times or so, and usually she doesn't cry. I hold her and sooth her, and then notice that my cheek is all sticky. It's sticky from the blood rushing from a nice little cut in her forehead. I wiped away all the blood and notice a small laceration in her head. It looks like a little puncture wound, and the skin around it had already started to swell. It was deep enough for me to take her over the Urgent Care center. Luckily she didn't need a suture (they debated), but she does have a little butterfly band aid on her head, covered with a larger band aid. Poor thing. She wasn't a big fan of all the fuss, or the fact that I had to hold her head in a vice grip in order for the doctor to clean the wound and put the butterfly in place. I'll put a picture up later. It doesn't look like much now. I need to watch her for the next 72 hours to make sure nothing worse has happened. I doubt it's anything more than the laceration, but you never know. On the bright side, I was a fairly prepared mom in the Urgent Care Center. My bag was neatly packed. I had a sandwich for Brandon when he said he was hungry. Plus, I had a bottle for Caitlin. Any other day, and my kids would have gone hungry.

So, that's my morning. It's only 1:30, and I'm exhausted. I have to go pick up Brian in a couple of hours (the car is suppose to be done this afternoon), and he's not even coming home. He's going out to a Sharks game with our friend Wendell. I know he'll have fun. I'm looking at an early bedtime, for the kids and for me!

The Pumpkin Patch

We visited a local pumpkin patch today. Pumpkin patches must be so much more fascinating to infants than I previously thought. In prior years, I was reduced to almost screaming at Brandon to just look up at me so I could take one of those cute "baby in the pumpkin patch" pictures. My friends have had them, and I loved them so much that I wanted one with my own kids in it. Brandon couldn't be bothered to look up at me, however, which lead to much weeping and gnashing of teeth on my part. Caitlin was *exactly* the same. It is so frustrating to try and get a good picture when your kids refuse to look at you. I have matured over the years, though. I've gone from screaming to just raising my voice - and giving up sooner. I have put the following pictures up for your perusal...

Picture #1
Caitlin finally looking at me

Picture #2
Brandon defending his pumpkin of choice from his grabby little sister....
Picture #3
Self portrait of mommy and Brandon on the train. Notice Brandon's smile that shows he was just crying. He has been screeching (yes, screeching) at me for days that he didn't want to ride the train at the pumpkin patch. It's a little train! It only goes 2 miles an hour! I finally got so sick of it that I forced him to go on the train. He's been on CalTrain, on Thomas the Train (well, Roaring Camp's "Day out with Thomas" train), and the train at Bonfante Gardens. This boy loves trains. Knowing my own child's limits, I carried him on to the caboose. He had such a good train ride he asked if we could stay on it for another ride. This picture was prior to the train starting.


You can view other pictures of the Pumpkin Patch on our photosite by clicking here.

Caitlin knows her brother's name

Both the kids were up and hungry at the same time this morning. Brandon is pretty easy to feed. I just give him his fruit bar for breakfast, cut up into pieces, and he sits at his little table. Caitlin is not so easy. She is not a great eater unless you count her bottle. She's messy (a given), won't open her mouth, and grabs at her spoon. As I attempted to feed my whiny baby, Brandon held a piece of his fruit bar up. I made a comment like "Brandon, don't play with your food." As soon as the word "Brandon" left my lips, Caitlin whipped her head around to look at Brandon. She knows who her brother is!

Reading a "Selection"

Brandon has some books with multiple stories in them. In order to keep the bedtime routine short (it's pretty darn hard), we've limited him to one story from those types of books. He will ask to read a selection from the book. Seriously. What other 3 year old asks to read a "selection" from a book? We're not complaining. We just think we have one smart little boy on our hands.

A Week of Pictures

I'm not sure what week it is, but these pictures are from it.
Enjoy....

Here's that funny face again. She loves the swing!



Scary, post-bath hair Caitlin

Caitlin insists on feeding herself! She's only 8 months old. Who does she think she is, anyway?

Must eat the camera lens..... Must ruin mommy's picture... Must eat lens.... here I come....

Brandon and Emily at the park (note Emily's smashing tatoo)