Just to praise up on my little girlies...

Like any good mom, I want to highlight some of the good things my kids do and positive characteristics they have.

Kaitlyn was at the Urgent Care doc the other day (just for a rash, nothing too major), and he commented that she has a really great vocabulary for her age. She gets that from mom, for sure ;-)

She is also becoming a very good color-er. When she is in the right mood, she colors in the lines really well. She is a great big sister to Brianna, and she loves loves loves reading with mom and dad, which I hope continues as she grows. And another good thing (in the long run) is that while she enjoys some chocolate or sweets now and then, she really isn't that interested in them. Give her a piece of cake, and she will eat a couple of bites and be done. A cookie? She almost never finishes a whole one. Just today I have her a chocolate chip cookie and I think she ate maybe 1/4 of it. This is a good thing, because in the future we have less to worry about as far as her eating habits :-)

Brianna is extremely good at standing up for herself. Yes, this creates some problems at times but as she grows and we are able to teach her to manage it the right way, this characteristic is going to be great for her to have throughout her lifetime. She has recently started giving high fives and big bear hugs. While Kaitlyn has always been more ahead with her verbal skills, Brianna seems to be the most ahead with her physical skills and coordination. And as I have mentioned in the past, Brianna is so good with our cats...very gentle, almost never loud or quick moving or rough with them. She is like a natural. Maybe she will end up being a Veterinarian. Or not, she and Kaitlyn can both be whatever they want to be!

So that's all for now. I am sure another brag post will come someday, and don't worry I have plenty to vent about at times, too. I will save that for another post. Maybe it should be titled "How can somebody so short, and so cute, be such a stinker".

The Truth

A real conversation with Kaitlyn today while driving to take care of some errands.

Kaitlyn: "Mom, I want to talk to you"
Me: "Okay, what do you need to tell me"
Kaitlyn: "The truth"
Me: "The truth about what?"
Kaitlyn: "Umm...our house!"
Me: "What about our house?"
Kaitlyn: "It's falling down!"

Huh....wonder how I managed to miss that?

Word fun

Brianna is very quiet compared to Kaitlyn (and Kaitlyn has always been somewhat of a blabber mouth). But Brianna, she just likes to stay quiet and take everything in. We can see that she understands much of what she says, and she likes to nod her head yes or shake it no. As far as words, there are some she uses somewhat regularly and some that she has said a few times. These include the obvious - mama, dada. Next is things like "wow" and "uh-oh". She has also said several animal names, like kitty (she is good at saying kitty), puppy, bird, bunny, and chicken. She can say Thank you, and yes (I haven't heard a "no' yet...knock on wood). And of course I am sure I am missing some but those are a sampling of Brianna's vocabulary.

Speaking of kitties - Kaitlyn isn't all that interested in our 3 cats these days. Every now and then she will say hi to one or give it a quick pet. Brianna on the other hand, looooves the cats. She chases after them, kisses them, pets them, and rubs her face against them any chance she gets. Cole is still pretty weary of the kids but Smores is doing a little better, and Ember is doing awesome. I think Ember has actually come to like, and welcome the attention from Brianna. And Brianna is really great with them...always very gentle and loving and sweet.

Brianna and Kaitlyn have really started playing together a lot and it is so great to watch. They chase each other, wrestle each other, play with the play kitchen together, and laugh together. They hug each other and kiss each other and it is such a joy to be watching them grow together!!!

Kaitlyn is more and more getting into the whole "why" thing. Well, "Why" and "Why not?". You tell her "no, its too late to have juice" and she says "Awwww, why?!". You tell her "Brianna is taking a nap" and she says "Why?" She asks to go to the gas station (she has a thing with gas stations), you say "We don't need gas" and she says "Awww, why not?". What a silly goose!

Brianna is still the more challenging of our girls. She is so stubborn and strong willed, she wants to do what SHE wants to do and ain't nobody going to tell her different. If you do, then WATCH OUT, here comes the wrath of Brianna. She screams, she hits her head on anything around, throws herself on the ground and kicks and rolls around, she throws things (more like whips them) she gives dirty looks... she is a force to be reckoned with. On the other hand, she is at times, also super cuddly and sweet, she has just started giving genuinely good hugs, and she loves to give us kisses. Just working on getting her to say "I love you" now. Kaitlyn says it all the time and there is nothing better!

That's all for now - the younger stinker is demanding my attention and I think she is getting cranky because she is tired. Better get her down for a nap before I experience the wrath of Brianna :-)

With this ring...

Today Andy was home with Kaitlyn (she had the stomach flu. Again.) She went up to him, put a "ring" on his finger, and said "With this ring, I wee wed". She then gave him a kiss. How cute is that!!!!

Brianna is equally as cute. She isnt nearly as talkative as Kaitlyn has always been, but she definitely understands a lot of what we say. At night when we tell the girls "It's bath time!" Or "Who wants to take a bath?!", she doesn't say anything (except maybe a "oooooooh" or "yaaaaaaaaaah", but she takes off running to the door to go upstairs.

That's all Im going to share right now...it is bed time for me. I have been working overtime at work (this week is a 58 hour week) and am pretty exhausted by the end of the day, between working and cleaning and getting the girls ready for bed. Andy is also a rockstar, pretty much doing all the child related stuff every morning and getting them off to daycare by himself. Thanks, Andy, for being such a great daddy!

Good night!

"You're gonna miss me"

Today Kaitlyn commented that she was "going to Nana and Papa's house". I said "for what?" and she replied "To eat breakfast". I just laughed. Kaitlyn then said to me "You're gonna miss me". LOL! Why yes, yes I would. So I asked her "how are you going to get to Nana and Papa's house?" "I dont know" she said. Oops. There went that plan, I guess.

Today, Brianna had her 3rd trip to the doctor in 5 days (she developed a rash all over her belly, back and face) - and this time, we have an answer. Although the strep tests on Tuesday were negative, they were positive today. She has strep throat! They said it is somewhat uncommon in kids under age 3, but the test confirmed it. And the rash can accompany strep in kids sometimes, too. So there you have it. Hopefully my baby girl will start feeling better now and we can move on.

Kaitlyn pooped on the potty both last night and this morning, which is pretty exciting. She is doing a great job and we are so proud of her!

Winter sucks

The last week has brought many challenges for us. First, we had to cancel Christmas with my parents because my mom got sick and a blizzard hit. That same weekend, Brianna got the stomach flu. The stomach flu was then inconsiderate enough to come and visit Kaitlyn, Andy and me. We were bummed, especially after having to "cancel" Thanksgiving as well as our Christmas with Andy's side of the family. We did make the best of it though, and had our own cozy family Christmas at home. The girls woke up Christmas morning to an especially fun gift that Santa had dropped off overnight - a brand new play kitchen. A pretty nice one, in fact...Santa's elves must have worked hard on it.

We then made plans for this weekend to visit Auntie Danika and family in the cities - which have now also been cancelled as Brianna and cousin Piper got some sort of virus. I'm not sure how Piper has been doing (good I hope!!!) but Brianna took awhile to recover, and even yesterday was still battling the high fever and is now developing a nasty cough. However she is definitely on the road to recovery, since the first day she was sick (Tuesday) when her fever was 104.3 at Urgent care.

Our next plans are for Cook next weekend, to finally have Thanksgiving/Christmas with my parents. I hope everybody stays healthy!!! Winter sure is a pain in the butt, what with all the snow and cold and illness that floats around. I can't wait for spring!

New Years Eve was last night and our Christmas present from my parents was delivered - new living room furniture! We have spent 5 years with our old stuff, which was already worn when it was passed down to us in 2004. But now it is just plain awful...although shockingly, somebody on freecycle wanted it. And when she saw it, she said it is "much better than her old stuff". (Yikes, what is her old stuff like?) By the time it is retired for good, it will at least have definitely been used as much as possible - and then some.

Brianna and Kaitlyn are starting to play together and interact more and more - tossing balls and chasing them together, pressing buttons in their new kitchen then looking at each other and laughing at the noise, and even rolling around on their Dora couch together, almost wrestling at times. I love watching them get closer and seeing them both realize that their sister can be...FUN!

That's all for the first post of 2010. I hope everyone has an awesome and memorable year this year - I am sure we will!