Hello Santa

 

Meeting Santa went really well.  There was no crying. G smiled and T went right up to him and sat on his lap. T asked for a Polar Express Train.  I don't know what that means.  He loves the Polar Express book.  The movie is a little too intense for a 2 year old.  He watches a lot of it with his hands over his eyes.  But he keeps saying the Polar Express train is going to come and looking out the window for it.  I'm not quite sure how Santa is going to pull that one off!

Bath Time

We recently started putting G in the bath with T.  I was a little nervous because I was scared to T knocking her over and splashing her too much.  She was so excited when she got to take her first bath in the "big kid" bath.  She just splashed and laughed.  It made me feel bad for not doing it sooner.

 

 She has taken a few spills...luckily someone is right there to catch her.  She recently started scooting around on her bum.  When she tries to do it in the bath it turns out to be too slippery.

The little joys in life that make kids so happy.  She also recently started sitting in the cart at the grocery store.  We also got the same excited reaction, minus the splashing of course. You can't help but smile when you see the pure joy and excitement on their faces.

It's the Holiday Season

The week continued with all of our Thanksgiving plans.  Which included turkey lunch at D's work and turkey dinner at a friends home on Wednesday.  Then driving down to Oly. to be with my family for more turkey on Thursday.  It was a wonderful Holiday celebration! We have so much to be thankful for!  We have beautiful healthy kiddos that keep us smiling everyday.  And a wonderful support system of family and friends.  Thank our dear Father in Heaven for all of your blessings!

As Thanksgiving ended things quickly change to Christmas....yay!  I love pulling out all the decorations each year and filling our home with the warm and love of Christmas.  I was especially excited to see the kids reactions to the decorations.  T loved helping decorate the tree.  G just continues to look and smile at all the lights.

G in front of her first Christmas Tree!

T is just learning all of the Christmas traditions.  We are having fun telling him all the stories of Santa Claus and Baby Jesus being born.  He may not understand it all yet.  But you can still see the excitement on his face.

Giving Thanks for Snow!

 Last week was a crazy week.  It started on Monday with a surprise snow storm.

Actually the snow started Sunday night, so I pulled out our snow gear to see if we were prepared for a morning of playing in the snow.

First thing Monday morning we were out playing in the white joyfulness. G did okay...though was unsure what to do in the big jacket of hers.   T loved it!  

By the afternoon we had enough to make a snow man!  T just wanted me to make it so he could kick it down.  Snow continued to fall all afternoon.  When it snows in Seattle everyone goes into panic.  D was able to come home early from work and we watch the snow come down the rest of the evening from the window.  

The next morning we had about 8" of beautiful snow. So we put on our snow gear again and took a walk in the winter wonderland in our neighborhood.  D got to stay home from work. We all enjoyed a family snow day at home!

Little Angel

My little angel is 10 months today.  It's hard to believe sometimes how fast the days go.  Some days seem so long at home with these little kiddos.  But looking back and seeing how much they have changed, it just happens so quick.  My little angel is amazing. She is 14lbs 10oz and growing.  I think eating real food has helped her gain some serious weight, which is nice.  She loves to eat now. She gets excited when I put something on her tray.  She works really hard to get it in her mouth...I would say she gets probably 70% in there.  She is a wiggle worm now.  She wants to move and be active all the time.  She just doesn't have enough strength to get anywhere on her own yet.  She is still a ways out from crawling...but she is defiantly getting interested.  She is just happy and low key most of the time.  She get so much entertainment out of her older brother.  It is just funny to watch them interact.   T loves his little sister.  He wants to play with her, but she doesn't do very much.  So it often is just him running around in front of her and stealing her toys.  We just love our little girl and can't imagine life without her.  Happy 10 Months G!

Halloween Weekend

The weekend Halloween Festivities began with our ward Trunk or Treat on Friday.  We played games, ate some cookies and got some good candy from our ward friends.  T picked up what to do really fast.  He had "trick or treat" down by the second car.  He was such a great little fireman.  G stayed at the car with Dad...she was kinda sleepy by the end. I wish I would have taken some pictures.

Saturday we met up with D's sister at a Halloween Carnival.  It was way too crowded and lines for everything. T and his cousin had a good time though.  They got these dumb prizes (like pencils and rulers and spider rings) after each thing they did, which made them happy.  We quickly left and trick-or-treated at Grandmas house instead.

Cousin H as Cinderella.  T loved her costume and kept wanting to wear her tiara. Dad didn't like that idea very much, I thought it was funny.

My favorite part of T's costume was those red suspenders.  They made him look like a real fireman.

Sunday my parents joined us for dinner and Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood.  T loved it!  Except when the house had a dog.  G was perfect little chicken...just along for the ride.  It was a great weekend.  It's fun to celebrate these holidays with children. It brings back all the excitement of when I was a kid.  I'm glad T is starting to enjoy them too.  

The cutest little chicken and fireman I have ever seen!

OMG...I am getting so big

G is the big 9 months today!!  It's such a big number for such a small little girl.  She has her doctors appointment tomorrow so I will know all her measurements then.  She is still the perfect little baby.  Sleeps really good, naps really good and eats pretty good.  She is still going to physical therapy every other week.  D is not sure it is worth it.  I don't know either...but it gives me a peace of mind each time we go that she is growing stronger and more active every time we go.  So I am little undecided if it is really making a difference or if she is just learning on her own.  Considering when we first started she was barely holding her head up and now he is sitting up and rolling over,she has made some huge changes.  But how do you know if that was just her natural progression? Oh well...

We recently had family photos taken by our wonderful friend Sara McDougall of Sara McDougall Photography.  She was able to get some really good pictures. Despite our little 2 year old that did not want to look at the camera.  G was perfect...such a great little posers.  Here are few of my favorites.

We tried every thing to get this guy to look at the camera and smile.  Nothing would work...oh well at least we got him in the pictures.

"It's coming around the bend"

I have never seen T more excited about any other toy.  Over the weekend T's Grandparents picked up some Geo Trax for him at a garage sale.  It has been non-stop trains ever since.  It is so fun to see his excitement.  To be a kid again and find such excitement of a toy. 

My babies in action

Precious moments caught on camera.   Sorry the quality is so bad...but you can still see how cute and lovable they are! 

Summer is over

Things have been slowing down around here after a busy summer.  I am looking forward to fall.  Fall means football, Halloween, early bedtimes again and sweatshirts.  We have been just hanging around the house with family and friends lately.  I am enjoying it. T is always finding new ways to occupy his time from trying on my jewelry to trying on my shoes.  But I think T would rather be going out and playing with his friends.  He is always asking to hang out with various people.  He makes new list of people to go see everyday, even surprising me with the names he remembers.  G is doing so well.  She is sitting up really good.  This morning she sat and played with toys for 20 minutes or so.  It is so awesome to see her doing things.  She also doing a lot better with spoon feeding.  She likes bananas the best so far.  Life is good.  We had a great summer...went by really fast as usual.  But I am happy to welcome fall (for now).

Go Huskies!

Finally Growing

I think we have finally made a turn with G.  Her growth curve has been pretty slow the past few months. And it was been pretty hard on Mommy.  But after starting therapy things have been improving.  G is now 7 months old and she is 11lbs 7oz is 23inches tall and a head size of 16inches.  Just around the 3% in all of them.  She gained a full pound in 3 weeks! Hooray!  She is now on formula only I stopped nursing last week.  She eats way better with the bottle now and it is easier for me to tell how much she is getting.  She is also getting really strong.  She has rolled over three times and even can sit up a little.  Her physical therapy focus is strengthening her stomach muscles.  She has made really great improvements in the last three weeks.  I feel like I finally see that light at the end of this "little baby" stage.  She has been so small for so long. I have been looking forward to her growing and doing more things on her own. It is nice to see her make these small changes.

She is growing hair.  She has more than T did at her age.  I am so excited! I just can't wait to put clips in it!

A cute little video of her attacking her crunchy toy!

Vacation...oh how we love you

Last week we had a world wind of events.  It all started on Monday when D's brother returned on from his mission.  And continued that night with D's older brother's wedding.  It was planned that way beacuase the whole family was going to in town for Aaron's return. So why not just squeeze a wedding in there too?

Following the wedding we drove 3 hours to Eastern Washington for a 5 day vacation.  It was a very crazy day.  Aaron's flight was supposed to come in at 1:00pm but was delayed until 5:30.  The wedding started at 7:00.  The wedding ended around 9:30 and we were on the road at 10:30.  It was a busy day.  But we knew there was going to be much time for relaxing the next few days, so it worked out just perfectly.  The wedding was gorgeous, Aaron is healthy and alive and we we were on vacation.  You couldn't ask for anything more.

D's family has gone to Crescent bar for the last three summers.  This is the first year our family was able to enjoy it.  It is a beautiful place. Surrounded by picture perfect views.  I wish I would have taken more pictures.  We stayed at the Sunserra Resort, which is on the Columbia River. It is a private Resort with swimming pools, parks and a golf coarse.  D's parents have boat.  So our time was either spent at the poll or on the boat.  T loved riding on the boat and even rode the inner tube with me.  He loved it and didn't get scared at all.  But something about the boat made him sleepy. Every time he rode it he had a hard time staying awake...he got a good nap in every time. So funny.

 There were 26 people there all together.  Lots going on all week.  T had a blast with all his cousins and so did G.  She is such a social butterfly.  She is just full of smiles and laughter these days.  Everyone loved her happy personality.  But by the end of the week.  T was exhausted and maybe had too much sun.  He had a fever the last day and got sick when we got home. So I think we were all glad to be home.

T is Two!!!

Our little man turned 2 on Friday! We had a fun time celebrating. We went to the beach, we had a BBQ with friends and family, ate cake and he got some great gifts.  It was a good couple of days for him.  He woke up this morning and told me at breakfast that he had fun at his birthday.  I think that is pretty good when he remembers it all on his own two days later.  

 He is really into race cars right now. Can you see what he is holding while blowing out his candle? He takes one with him just about everywhere we go. So we had a race car themed party.  He got lots of new cars and race tracks and his own tricycle.

This guy never ceases to amaze me.  He is changing all the time.  He picks up on things very quickly.  His social skills and speaking skills are really good.  He is super active. He loves to jump off things.  He has no fear.  It's fun to see a little imagination come out when he is playing with his cars.  It is like in-grown with little boys that when they play with cars they make all the right sounds.  I grew up with four brothers and I could never get all the sounds correct.  He is becoming a great big brother.  He is starting to listen better about being nice to G.  Less time trying sitting on top of her and understanding he can just sit next to her.  He loves to give her kisses.  It is the most adorable thing when he gives her hugs and says "I love you Gracie".

At the doctor's today he measured in at 26lbs (25%)  and 35inches tall (75%).  He is has been consistent with that his whole life, tall and skinny.  I guess you can say he is a Kirkwood.  He is our little boy and my whole world.  He makes us laugh everyday. Happy Birthday T!

6 months...really?

G had her half birthday on Monday.  She had a week full of activities to celebrate.  Doctors appointment on Tuesday, Children's Therapy on Wednesday and pictures on Thursday.  So this little one is truly a little one.  She is 10lbs 1oz and 24 1/2 inches tall.  They always measure her at her gestational age which is 4 months.  And she is under the 3% on weight and about 10% in height.  Her appointment with Children's Therapy was set up when she left the NICU.  At 4 months they wanted to check her development to she if she is acting like a typical 4 month old.  They tested her motor skills, communication skills and eating skills.  I knew she was fine with communication, because she loves to talk.  She is always making cute noises.  But they are worried about her weight and motor skills.  So we have been put on a new feeding regiment to help her gain some weight and she will be having weekly physical therapy to help her get better at using her muscles properly. I knew she was behind in both. I am so glad that I can get some extra help with these things.  The appointment was very informative and I am looking forward to see how they help.  

Despite all of that she is such a happy baby.  She has the cutest smile and laugh.  Her favorite person is her Dad. She just lights up whenever she sees him. It melts my heart.  T loves giving her hugs and kisses.  We all love that little girl.  Happy Half Birthday G!!!!

 

She got to try some yummy rice cereal on her birthday.  She doesn't quite know what to do with.  We are working on keeping some of it in her mouth.

Things that matter most

Summer brings many opportunities to spend time with people that matter the most.  Just last week we had a chance to go see Thomas the Train with T's cousin and Aunt. The weather was beautiful.  T really enjoyed all the trains.

It wasn't the best time of day for either of them.  And they both kind of lost it at the same time.  So we quickly said good-bye to Thomas and took naps on the car ride home.

We also spend the day at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa. T and G took their first ferry ride.

 He just loves to throw the rocks in the water.

What a perfect day to ride the ferry!

G did not like the wind.

Took the ferry for this....ice cream!

  Another day and more memories made.  Thank the Lord for these blessings!