LOTS of pictures

We had a good day today, we got a lot of cleaning done this morning then during nap time I relaxed and chatted on the phone with Sara then the girls and I played all afternoon with only a break for the gym. Kate sounded like she may have a bit of a cold today, she was a little hoarse but she still played hard and scooted around a bit.

She was so interested in the camera she didn't realize that she was sitting up unsupported.

Then she had to work her biceps a bit and do a few push ups.

"Hey Ma, this is 'the hover or plank' pose"

That yoga baby she thinks she is so funny.

Hmmm, I spy my paci over there.

Not quite far enough.

Just a little closer.

Ha, I got it!

Then she did a few more push ups, the show off

As Kendall Would Say, "Mmm, Mmm In My Tummy"

Here she is saying, I don't know mom, those things are green!

The baby food thing is actually going really well now. We have found things she loves: Pears, applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes, and even peas (shockingly) and I'm able to add either rice or oatmeal cereal to any of the above to thicken it up and spike up the calories and she still eats it. Of course, she realized that she was consuming more calories so she decided that she needed to burn a few as well....she is mobile! I wouldn't exactly call what she is doing a crawl, it more closely resembles what military men do in an obstacle course to get under barbed wire but she will go forward, awkwardly, about 2-3 feet to get a toy. I like to let her play with said toy as a reward for a few minutes before we try again but her sister likes to immediately take it away and put in out of reach to get another show. Sometimes Kendall takes pity on the clumsy maneuvering of her little sister and just takes her whatever toy she is trying to reach. Kate is just so laid back so doesn't mind either way. Today when I picked her up from the church nursery she was all snuggled into this big man that was holding her with her eyes wide open, they said she had done that the ENTIRE time. Such a little cuddle bug, funny thing is if they would have put her down she would have been equally happy entertaining herself! Pictures of the scooting to come soon.

At the other end of the pea loving spectrum here is Kendall's first taste of peas. Kind of makes your eyes water, doesn't it?

Rain Drops Keep Falling...

So it's the end of September and Kendall was finally ready to try out the sprinkler. She has been too afraid up until this point but today we were playing on the back porch and I broke the news that we would have to throw away her pool, she just handed me her little sprinkler and told me she wanted to use it. I was a little doubtful so I questioned her, "You want to put on your bathing suit and play in the sprinkler?" Kendall: "Yes" Me: "You're going to get wet?" Kendall: "Yes, I play in the strinkler Mommy" we went on and on like this with me rephrasing the question in different ways just so she was fully aware of what was going to happen and she was relentless. We got the suit on and set up the sprinkler and she was, of course, scared to go in but I wasn't going to give up so easily. I tried various methods of persuasion (I considered threats but I decided against it) and finally pulled up my pant legs, walked over and stuck my foot in the water and just started laughing hysterically. I'm sure the neighbors think I have something mentally wrong with me but the obvious joy I was experiencing was just too much for Kendall to handle and she pranced over and stuck her Croc covered toe in the water. From there it just progressed until she was sticking her face in it and mimicking my deranged laughter. Please note that at the beginning of the summer I was running through the sprinkler fully dressed with her and using the same laughter but it didn't work she was only just now ready.

Yesterday we went to the park with Jennie, Anna, and Baby Noah.

Kate eats well sometimes (and somethings) but sometimes she isn't crazy about the whole baby food idea.

We Would Like to Welcome You to Munchkin Land

I've been a little high on stress the last few days so the blog was put to the back burner. Just some Paper Chick stuff that I needed to finish or get started or finalize details. I don't like deadlines (even self imposed ones) at this stage in my life since I don't get to choose when I get to work on something, the girls' napping and behavior dictates my free time.

Kate had her 6 month check up today and it wasn't that great. She dropped in her percentile pretty drastically in height, weight and even (a little) in head circumference. We're making some diet changes and will go back in 6 weeks to have her rechecked. If they don't see enough of a gain then they will want to run tests on her. They want her to have three full baby food meals a day: breakfast (cereal and fruit), lunch (veggie & fruit) and dinner (cereal, veggie, and fruit) and to nurse after each meal (instead of before). We've been on solids for about a month now but she still pushes a lot of it out of her mouth, she'll be getting a lot of practice now so hopefully we'll improve on that. Some of you may remember that we went through something similar to this with Kendall. There is a slight difference in that Kendall was small and maintained a small percentile, Kate however has dropped, which is what causes some alarm. Poor little lady, she is just a sweet little munchkin. She looks completely proportionate complete with rubber band wrists (you know the chubby little wrists that look like they have a tight rubber band around them) and rolls and rolls of thigh fat. She is doing great on all of her motor skills and right on target for vocalization.

Busy and Fun Week

We had the best week. Lots of fun with lots of friends. I'm convinced that I have the best husband in the world and my kids well, you know they're the best (except that major meltdown we had in Target yesterday--how embarrassing!!). Anyway to top off the perfect week Brian decided to take Kendall for a bike ride along the waterfront this morning. Check out the fabulous weather!!!! Kendall had to wear gloves and fleece today is GREAT! (I'm SO ready for fall). Kendall and Daddy had a fun time on the playground sliding...

...swinging...

...and just hanging out.

Then they admired the water for a little while. Kendall wanted to swim in the Ohio river but Brian's fear that Kendall would grow a third arm or start glowing convinced him to not let her. If you ask Kendall she'll now tell you that water is "dir--ty".

Boy, all this action sure makes a girl tired. And this helmet is HEAVY!

So this morning I volunteered in the childcare room at our church. Imagine me, sitting on the floor, with two (cute) little boys on my lap and 13 other 1-2 year olds surrounding me and the other two workers. Now imagine that 13 of the 15 said kids were screaming, really screaming for the first hour of the two hour shift and I am NOT over exaggerating. Yeah, it was fun. There is only so much that you can do, we were seriously outnumbered, all I did was try to comfort the ones that I could and just look around me with a look of absolute shock (and probably terror) on my face. Two hours later, I put my coat on (despite the heat) just to put a barrier between my snotty, slobbery clothes and my own precious little children. I was so in love with my kids today, I realized that I got the best ones out there. Amazingly though it didn't scare me away as much as I would have thought it would have. Those little boys were pretty cute... (chanting in my head: "I do not want another baby, I do not want another baby").

We go back tomorrow but this time I get to drop my kids off for someone else so I can go to my own Bible Study. Yippee. Speaking of not wanting another baby I am SO close to my pre-Kate weight. I'm going to start working overtime to get there...I need to trash those Oreos that are in the pantry too, I have zero self control when it comes to yummy treats.

I realized that I never gave the answer to the "Who's That Baby" quiz. Here you go: Kendall, Kendall, Kendall, Kate, Kate, Kendall, Kendall, Kendall, Kendall, Kate, Kate, Kendall. All those that posted each only missed one I think. Those of you that didn't post need to come out of hiding!! And I told Lorie to wait to guess so she is off the hook.

Today We Played

Play time at church with Anna and Noah. Kate was really checking Noah out today.

Kendall has decided that the time for subtleties is over ("Here's another one!") Today if someone was giving too much attention to Kate she just yelled, "Look at me, look at me".

Favorites From Today

We went to the park today. I took a blanket and a tu-tu to take pictures of Kate while we were there. Kendall got hot in her jeans so she ended up wearing the tu-tu but I believe the slide was a lot more comfortable with the jeans on, you should have heard that skin screeching the whole way down. Kate is too mobile to leave on the blanket she found her way to the wood chips...I fished a piece out of her mouth.....little woodchuck. Due to the extreme heat we've had I've avoided the park for awhile. Last time we went Kendall was such a whiner and wouldn't do anything without me prodding her non-stop (envision my pregnant self going down the slide with her--yes, it's been that long!) but today she was a real champ and did EVERYTHING on her own. Check out the slide she did over and over! She has never liked the swing before but she did today, she even opened her eyes eventually.