We have trains cruising around our house a lot these days. Sometimes one baby is in it and sometimes both with Sarah as the engine. Megan or Matthew like pushing it around, too, although not with the other one in it. Great fun!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Blokus City
Sarah likes playing games. (Yes, U is very excited about this.) Sometimes she likes playing the games and other times she likes playing with the games. Here is a city she built with Blokus 3D.
Vegas Trip
Last month, Matthew and I took a quick trip to Las Vegas to visit my sister and her family.
Matthew did really well on the plane ride both ways. He really liked being able to look out the window. He also enjoyed turning circles in my lap (literally). He had a lot more mobility than when he's in his five-point harness!
When we arrived, we headed right to the Bellagio.
At the fountains--I love watching them!
Matthew in his happy place.
(He didn't like being too far from me and would cry any time I left--can you say "separation anxiety"?)
Brand new flower exhibit--it opened while we were there. We also saw the chocolate fountains and cakes.
Eiffel Tower (or not)
Saturday, we went to Luke's soccer game. That was fun to watch. They don't keep score, but Luke would tell you that his team won. We had some Thai food for dinner and did some shopping.
Sunday was the Primary Program at church. Cheryl-Lynn is the Primary chorister in their ward so was relieved when it was over. It was a great program. I loved all the music and hearing the kids bear their testimonies. It's always one of my favorite Sundays. (And I was spoiled since the next week was our Primary Program.)
After dinner, we headed out to my Aunt and Uncle's house. They moved to Vegas the end of August from the East Coast. It was fun to see my Aunt and a bunch of my cousins. We got to see their beautiful house, have a nice visit and eat some dessert. Yum!
Luke, Matthew and I with my Aunt and cousins
After we got the kids to bed, my sister and I did foot soaks--it felt super nice! Monday morning, we did face masks. (I saw something in the paper about do-it-yourself spa treatments, so we tried a few.) The face mask was interesting. Andrew wasn't happy about how we looked. I think next time we'll use the blender instead of trying to hand mash the avocado....
Before heading to the airport, we went to the Natural History Museum.
Matthew looking at the fish
Egyptian Luke
Egyptian Andrew
Yummy toes
Sisters!
Tired boy!
We had a nice time. I say that I could have stayed a few more days, and a few less nights (Matthew had a rough time at night!). Thanks to Cheryl-Lynn, Kiley, Luke and Andrew for having us!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Are you coming?
The other day, Megan started crawling and Matthew started after her. Megan stopped and looked back to make sure he was following her. She did this a few times. Then off they crawled together to explore the kitchen. It's so cute to watch them crawling one right after the other!
Pumpkin Stew
Sarah decided to make pumpkin stew for dinner. She'd been talking about it all afternoon, asking us to name things to put in it. Here's what her delectable meal looked like:
In case anyone would like to recreate this meal, combine chicken, rice, broccoli, sweet potato and baked beans. Stir and enjoy! (No, pumpkin is not needed in pumpkin stew, according to Sarah.)
In case anyone would like to recreate this meal, combine chicken, rice, broccoli, sweet potato and baked beans. Stir and enjoy! (No, pumpkin is not needed in pumpkin stew, according to Sarah.)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Megan's 13th Month
We love having Megan in our home! She is so much fun to watch and is such a happy girl most of the time.
Tinkering: Megan continues to enjoy figuring out how things work. She likes shutting doors and you'd better watch out if you're in the way (especially Matthew). She even tried to shut herself in the clerk's office at church. She has quite the attention span when she is interested in something--it's amazing how long she will sit there doing the same thing over and over again.
Moving: Megan is still our fast little crawler. It seems like any day she could just decide to start walking, and she certainly is moving in that direction. She cruises all the time, moving from one surface to another. She pushes the stools around while she is walking. (We don't have any push toys out so she found her own....) She pushes herself up to standing on small toys on the ground. She is also standing independently for brief periods. She thinks this is VERY exciting!
Peekaboo: Megan really likes playing peekaboo. One variation she does right now is putting the Lego bucket lid in front of her face and then moving it up/down/left/right so we can see her eyes through one of the shapes. She will also put a blanket or the laundry bag over her head and leave it there for a long time. We will keep saying, "Where is Megan? Where is Megan?" and she'll still leave it there. It's pretty interesting that she just doesn't pop out right away. Maybe it means she'll be a patient hide-and-seeker.
Climbing: Megan will climb over the center of our big dining table. Why go around when you can go over?
Pointing: Megan has started pointing. A lot. She'll point at all sorts of things. It's nice because it means that she can actually start to communicate some of her wants and needs to us. For example, the other day, she pointed to a bag of raisins and then pointed to her mouth.
Shaking Head: About a month ago Megan started shaking her head back and forth (think "no"). More recently, she has started shaking it up and down. When she does it, she'll generally just go up and then down one time. She does it randomly--it's not like it is in response to anything we say or do. Maybe she just likes the feel of it.
Here are a few other photo highlights:
Put toys in the bucket, put on the lid, dump everything out, repeat
One thing she has really taken to lately is the baby Legos we have. She stacks them, putting new Legos on the bottom of the stack. She is quite protective of them and will not let Matthew play with the ones she is using.
Moving: Megan is still our fast little crawler. It seems like any day she could just decide to start walking, and she certainly is moving in that direction. She cruises all the time, moving from one surface to another. She pushes the stools around while she is walking. (We don't have any push toys out so she found her own....) She pushes herself up to standing on small toys on the ground. She is also standing independently for brief periods. She thinks this is VERY exciting!
Peekaboo: Megan really likes playing peekaboo. One variation she does right now is putting the Lego bucket lid in front of her face and then moving it up/down/left/right so we can see her eyes through one of the shapes. She will also put a blanket or the laundry bag over her head and leave it there for a long time. We will keep saying, "Where is Megan? Where is Megan?" and she'll still leave it there. It's pretty interesting that she just doesn't pop out right away. Maybe it means she'll be a patient hide-and-seeker.
Climbing: Megan will climb over the center of our big dining table. Why go around when you can go over?
Pointing: Megan has started pointing. A lot. She'll point at all sorts of things. It's nice because it means that she can actually start to communicate some of her wants and needs to us. For example, the other day, she pointed to a bag of raisins and then pointed to her mouth.
Shaking Head: About a month ago Megan started shaking her head back and forth (think "no"). More recently, she has started shaking it up and down. When she does it, she'll generally just go up and then down one time. She does it randomly--it's not like it is in response to anything we say or do. Maybe she just likes the feel of it.
Here are a few other photo highlights:
Funny Megan face--she has a number of funny faces she makes quite a bit. This is one. It's like--oooooh!
Lounging on her couch with a phone. What more could a girl want?
I like fish.
How do these things work?
Matthew's 9th month
Matthew's had a busy last month. He's gotten another tooth (he now has 3--the two bottom front teeth and the second one on the bottom right), has started waving and is getting more aggressive when it come to taking things from his sister.
Weight: 16 lb 1 oz (3%)
Length: 27.5 inches (17%)
Head Circumference: 18 inches (72%)
He's on the charts--barely, but hey, he's on. (Of course, if he's like me, he might go off.) His iron levels were checked and he was at 10.6 with a minimum level of 10.5. He just likes pushing the lower limits, I guess. The pediatrician thinks he's doing great overall. She said it sounds like he has a mild milk allergy (based on his reaction to milk and yogurt--see below) so we'll probably test him at a year.
Allergies: Matthew got Megan's sippy cup with milk in it one day and drank from it. He proceeded to get hives on his chin and face and, later in the day, on his torso. In August, he'd gotten some yogurt and broke out in hives wherever it touched his skin. Needless to say, we're avoiding dairy products for the time being. I have been really cautious about giving him new solids because of this and so a few weeks ago made up a list of foods I thought I could introduce just so I could feel like he could eat some new foods. A few days later, I decided to give him grapes. Seemed pretty safe to me. After lunch, he started sneezing a lot. When I picked him up, I saw he had a bunch of hives around his face. So it seems that grapes aren't such a safe food. (With a little research, I found that he's probably not allergic to the grapes--most likely it's the sulfites. Still means he can't eat grapes.) Overall, he's doing pretty well with eating food and likes feeding himself.
Mobility: Matthew is a professional crawler. He prances around, lifting his hands high off the ground with each crawl. He often makes silly faces, wrinkling up his nose and sometimes making snorting noises while he crawls. It's pretty entertaining. He certainly loves crawling. He's also pulling to standing a lot, including on vertical surfaces like cabinets, and has even been seen pushing himself up on some of our bigger toys. He is starting to cruise a little as well. You'd think he was trying to keep up with an older sibling.
Monkey: Matthew reminds me a little of a monkey that clings onto its mommy's back or tummy. Sometimes when I try to put him down, he'll grab at me like he just wants to stay holding on. Unfortunately for him, he's not quite as good as holding on as baby monkeys. Fortunately, though, his mom is willing to give him lots of hugs and cuddles when he is feeling clingy.
Cameras: Matthew likes cameras. Often when I get out one of the cameras, he come crawling over and puts his face into it. This makes it difficult to take a picture of what I got the camera out for in the first place. Once, he even managed to grab the flash right as it went off. That was pretty weird.
We're certainly blessed to have Matthew in our home and we love watching him develop! Here are a few other photos from the month.
Who me? Take my sister's pacifier? You must have the wrong Matthew!
Matthew's 9 month check was September 29th.
Weight: 16 lb 1 oz (3%)
Length: 27.5 inches (17%)
Head Circumference: 18 inches (72%)
He's on the charts--barely, but hey, he's on. (Of course, if he's like me, he might go off.) His iron levels were checked and he was at 10.6 with a minimum level of 10.5. He just likes pushing the lower limits, I guess. The pediatrician thinks he's doing great overall. She said it sounds like he has a mild milk allergy (based on his reaction to milk and yogurt--see below) so we'll probably test him at a year.
Allergies: Matthew got Megan's sippy cup with milk in it one day and drank from it. He proceeded to get hives on his chin and face and, later in the day, on his torso. In August, he'd gotten some yogurt and broke out in hives wherever it touched his skin. Needless to say, we're avoiding dairy products for the time being. I have been really cautious about giving him new solids because of this and so a few weeks ago made up a list of foods I thought I could introduce just so I could feel like he could eat some new foods. A few days later, I decided to give him grapes. Seemed pretty safe to me. After lunch, he started sneezing a lot. When I picked him up, I saw he had a bunch of hives around his face. So it seems that grapes aren't such a safe food. (With a little research, I found that he's probably not allergic to the grapes--most likely it's the sulfites. Still means he can't eat grapes.) Overall, he's doing pretty well with eating food and likes feeding himself.
Yummy food!
Mobility: Matthew is a professional crawler. He prances around, lifting his hands high off the ground with each crawl. He often makes silly faces, wrinkling up his nose and sometimes making snorting noises while he crawls. It's pretty entertaining. He certainly loves crawling. He's also pulling to standing a lot, including on vertical surfaces like cabinets, and has even been seen pushing himself up on some of our bigger toys. He is starting to cruise a little as well. You'd think he was trying to keep up with an older sibling.
Where is Matthew?
Standing with stool. He'd been standing holding onto the Leap Table and then shifted to the window sill and then to the stool. Yes, he's shifting what surfaces he's holding onto while standing. We figure it's because he heard all the things Megan's Physical Therapist was asking if she did and he figured he should do them too. We're glad, although would like to point out that she was asking if Megan did them at a year, not 9 months!
Daddy: Matthew loves his daddy. When he gets home from work, Matthew gets VERY distraught if U doesn't immediately come say "Hi" to him. There is to be no putting down of the work bag, no getting something to drink. Daddy must come to Matthew right away or something is not right in the universe! There are other times he definitely wants his dad, too, which is nice since he can be pretty clingy. (Can we say "separation anxiety"?)
Monkey: Matthew reminds me a little of a monkey that clings onto its mommy's back or tummy. Sometimes when I try to put him down, he'll grab at me like he just wants to stay holding on. Unfortunately for him, he's not quite as good as holding on as baby monkeys. Fortunately, though, his mom is willing to give him lots of hugs and cuddles when he is feeling clingy.
Cameras: Matthew likes cameras. Often when I get out one of the cameras, he come crawling over and puts his face into it. This makes it difficult to take a picture of what I got the camera out for in the first place. Once, he even managed to grab the flash right as it went off. That was pretty weird.
Let me see that camera....
We're certainly blessed to have Matthew in our home and we love watching him develop! Here are a few other photos from the month.
Playing with Megan
Lounging around
Yummy dishes
Happy boy!
Playing with rings
Monday, October 3, 2011
Swinging Around
What do you do when you go to the park with two babies and only one mommy to push them? Just stick them both in!
Bedtime
The other night, Sarah came into our bedroom and commented how Megan is always having a hard time going to sleep at night. (Megan is usually good at sleeping but is teething right now which greatly impacts her sleeping.) Sarah then said something like, "This is what she needs to do. She needs to be quiet and then play until she gets tired. Then she can lay down and go to sleep. That's what I do."
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Recent Artwork
The other night, U and Sarah had a coloring party. Here are some of their drawings (the first three are Sarah's and the last one is U's):
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