Puzzle Extraordinaire

Sierra got a few puzzles for Christmas and is LOVING them!!!

She was a bit overwhelmed at first because there is no board as a guide - these are free standing floor puzzles. We started doing them with her, explaining how to match colors, lines and edge pieces...

And now she's doing them completely on her own!! She amazes me!

There is a set of 12 piece puzzles - 4 different ones: dog, fish, bird and kitty. She will do them over and over. Seriously for like 40 min she would do all 4 puzzles, then take them apart and do them again.. And repeat. She isn't typically one to play by herself for too long, so this too is amazing.

She is almost (just needs help with this one part) able to do a 24 piece one "all all by mysef!!!".

we are so proud of her :)

bike fun

Sierra's sweet sweet heart

We have many tough moments with our spirited strong-willed child, but we also have many sweet sweet moments that I want to remember more...

* any time I say "ouch", she rushes over and asks "what hurts, Mommy?" ... "oh, ok, I kiss it for you"

* when she thinks we're sad (or we're pretending to be) she comes over to give a big hug or gently caresses our arm saying "it's ok Mommy, it's ok" in the sweetest voice

* when she's excited to see someone: "I see Abuela and give her a biiig hug and a kiss and a toepee toepee and make her happyyy!"

* after I asked her if she wanted to draw, she started caressing my arm lightly and sweetly said "it's ok Mommy, we do something else to make you happy" (I was not sad about drawing and I don't say that to her, so I'm not sure where her comment came from but it was sweet how she said it)
* doing a puzzle, "don't worry, Mommy, we do the fish so you'll be happy, okay Mommy?!"

* she asks me to sing "Jesus loves me" to Reid before I put him down to nap, and she sings too :)

* Sierra and LaLa saw a photo in a magazine of a little boy with cleft lip. LaLa told her we needed to pray for God to heal him. She carried around the picture for awhile and then folded her hands and said we needed to pray - she asked each of us to pray. She went first "Dear God, make baby better". Sooo sweet. I told her that God heard her prayer and she said "yeah"

* "I'm so proud of you, Mommy" while working on a puzzle

* "good job yittle baby!" as Reid crawls

* "it's okay yittle boy, it's okay", patting Reid's back as he cries

* "that's a great idea, Mommy!" (she says this often - apparently I have a lot of great ideas :)

Teething frenzy

4 new teeth coming in right now between the two kids - 2 each, just broken through

...might help explain the extra fussiness around here!

Goo's house

The last few days, Sierra has been talking about "Goo's house". She keeps saying "we need to go to Goo's house, ok Mommy?".

I've tried telling her that our house is Goo's house but it doesn't work. She has been very persistent about this and today got upset that we weren't going. So I started telling her that I don't know where his house is. And she replies "we need to look for it. See if the door's open. We need to go to Goo's house!".

No amount of subject changing or diversion is working here! I tried building a house/fort for him but that didn't cut it. She said we had to get in the car to find it.

Finally I said we could drive around and look for it, but warned we may not find it since I don't know where it is. she was excited about this. Well, after a long tough day, Kyle graciously offered to drive her and Goo. As soon as they came home, Sierra announced that they didn't find Goo's house and we have to keep looking.

She is very serious about this and isn't giving up!!!

Any tips??!?!?

BOY oh boy

Reid LOVES toy cars, balls, cups, anything that rolls. They can entertain him for a long time, especially now that he's crawling. He chases them all over the house.

I love it because Sierra was never really into balls. It's so fun to have a different experience with a boy.

... But I don't think I'll be saying that when he is really into bugs!

Crib and first tooth

Reid's already had another big week...

His first tooth (bottom left) broke through the other day! I'll try to get a picture soon

And yesterday we lowered his crib mattress - he pulls on the rails and gets on his knees and then will get on one foot to try to stand. It will be any day, so we are now prepared.

Exciting times!

Adventurous boy

Starting last week Reid has been found...
- under the kitchen table
- under the exersaucer
- under his crib
- stuck under a kitchen chair (he crawled under and sat up and his head got stuck!)
- half way in the bouncer (crawled up it)
- pulling himself up to his knees on the exersaucer!
And as of last week, he is trying to pull up everywhere - my legs, exersaucer, the back door...and he is really close to doing it! Way too close for my comfort! He is hitting these physical milestones so much faster than Sierra did. Looks like he might be adventurous like his Daddy!!

When we stand him somewhere, he can hold himself up for a long time. Here is some picture proof...

Peyton is ONE!

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! We love you, Sweet Peyton!! We are so glad we live close and can't wait for lots more fun playtimes together.

Happy Birthday Peyton!!

(testing to see if this video works...)

Backseat entertainment

Playing in the leaves

we have spent a LOT of time outside the last couple of weeks - love this weather!!!

While the cat is away, ...

in this case the "cat" was napping and the little "mouse" had his way with all her toys!
now that he's crawling, he can really get into everything and had a blast with sister's toys without hearing "nooooo baby Reid, that's miiine!"

:)

Baby CPR

Step 1: Check to see if she's conscious

Step 2: Take her pulse

Step 3: Support her head

Step 4: Begin Mouth to Mouth

Step 5: ???