Cheerios

More Cheerios today! I actually got to taste them! I can pick them up, but still need help getting them in my mouth :) I'll get it. I like them so much, I can't wait to keep practicing!
She's such a defined chewer :)

Playing

Today was lots of fun. Daddy met his friends for the Badger game so it was mommy and us kids!

I was introduced to Cheerios.

How do I do this? They make it look so easy!

I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna get it.

YEAH!!! I got it! Now...what do I do with it? (I just played with them today - I didn't eat any yet)

Then we got together with the Young Families group from our church. There are sure a lot of "Young Families" in our church. That is great - more friends for us! We can't wait to meet all the new people. Today we went Apple Picking and to dinner at my friend's house.

See this one....I think it's a good one.

I better check...Yup - it's a good one :)

Then - we got to make Carmel apples after dinner and put cookies and candy on them. I wasn't too excited about this - I just wanted to eat my apple. Mommy said I could eat it today though...I wonder how that will work with only 7 front teeth.

"The Best Mouse Cookie"

"The Best Mouse Cookie" by Mommy and Me

Another First...

Another first for Alayna...but a bad one...a COLD :( She woke up today with a fever (101), runny nose and sneezing. She's not doing too bad - still playing and smiling and eating ok - but doesn't seem to be 100% herself. She didn't nap well this morning - taking about a 30 min nap - which is a good 90 mins short of what it should have been. She already hates having her nose wiped too. Poor Girl! Hopefully this passes quickly!

Tumbling

I started tumbling class tonight. Daddy went along. It was a lot of fun. My favorite was the trampoline!

JDRF & PINK Pants?

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting this! Two weeks ago we participated in a walk at the Milwaukee County Zoo for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes). One of Brian's old college roommates' sons (who is 6) was diagnosed earlier this year. Hearing about his new daily routine just sounds absolutely awful - all the pricks and pokes! Anyway - we joined as part of their team to raise money for JDRF. Brian put a challenge out there and all of our family and friends rose to the occasion! THANK YOU! Brian's Challenge - raise $1500 and he would wear a pair of PINK cords (with embroidered green whales) and a Green shirt to match to the walk and wear it for the day. Well - thanks to all of you and your want to see Brian make a fool of himself :) - we raised over $2300. THANK YOU. A cure for this disease is very close to being found. Hopefully it happens soon. I can't imagine being Ethan (or his parents!).

Half Marathon

This weekend I completed my first HALF MARATHON! I can't believe it is over - but it felt great!

In May when my sister-in-law asked me if I wanted to do this - I thought she was completely INSANE! 13.1 miles - is she crazy?!?!?! I haven't been running in 3 years, I just had a baby 3 months ago...oh - I had all kinds of excuses. Finally I decided all my excuses were very good reasons to go for it. 1. I enjoy running, but for some reason once I stop for a period of time it takes a lot for me to make it part of my regular routine again. 2. Prior to May, I had spent at least 24 of the prior 36 months pregnant. It was time to get back in shape! (Although we still have room to improve - it's a step in the right direction.) 3. I needed to set a goal for myself to work toward - why not this?

So, I said I would do it. Jayme (my sister-in-law) helped me find a good training program to follow and really helped me out when we were able to run the long runs together on some of the weekends. I thought I was in big trouble the first time we went running. We did a short 2 miles and I thought I was going to die...I didn't though and pushed through the rest of the training as well.

It was so fun to do it with someone. We could hold each other accountable to our training schedules and encourage one another when we were working through issues - injuries and what-not.

How did race day go? Well - to start out - Alayna was up much of the night before. Signs of teething - but really - did it have to be that night? Up at 5:20 to be out the door by 6ish. Start time for the race - 7am. The weather was great for running and the course was nice too. Our goal was - to finish - with a secondary goal of about 10 min miles. We ended up averaging 9min 29sec miles and finished in under 2 hrs and 5 mins. It felt great and I loved when we saw our families cheering on the sidewalk! It was the push I needed to keep on going!

A lot of people helped me accomplish this goal...

Jayme - thanks for talking me into it in the first place and helping me through the long runs

Esther and Jayme - thanks for running with me and talking the whole race!

Brian - for helping me find the time to train - without the kids, for your encouragement and getting the kids and yourself to all the cheering points along the race. How much work is it to get two young kids in and out of the carseats for 5 different cheering spots in 2 hrs time?

Grant & Alayna - for the "Way to Go Mommy" sign

Mom, Sheila, Ryan, Mark & Bethany - for coming to cheer us on! I know it was a really early day!

Mom & Dad and Lowell & Rita for helping watch the kids while I ran when Brian was out of town, etc

And everyone for the encouraging words and good luck wishes.

Around mile 4

Right after the finish
The medal we got for finishing

I think I may be addicted. It would be great to do it again! Next year perhaps? Who wants to do it with me!?!?!?!?

BIG Steps

Wow - some big steps the last few days for both kiddos.

Yup - you've seen it here first. Alayna took a bottle for Brian for the first time last night without falling into a crying rage. It was nice. This was the first nice feeding experience he has had with her in 7 mos. I don't want to jinx it - but she has now taken a bottle two days in a row...once for Brian and once for me. It was a new bottle again - Playtex with the drop ins. These have a latex nipple instead of silicone. Picky, picky! :)

Here is our little buddy taking his first nap in his big boy FIRETRUCK bed. He slept pretty well, but when he woke up crying and I went to get him he was up and behind the door by the time I got there. I was hoping he would be one of those kids who didn't realize he could now get out of bed by himself. I just don't want him wandering around our house by himself in the dark in the middle of the night. I know - over-paranoid mommy! I've been trying to get a gate for his door, but for some reason it's not working out the way I had hoped. Crazy to think he is not sleeping in a crib anymore. Tonight is his first full night in it. Hope it all goes well.

7 Months

Hello Everyone! I turned 7 Months old two days ago. Wow - does time sure fly. I am really getting big fast and learning so much these days. I am generally still a happy little girl. I'm not sleeping as well as I used to - but I blame that on these things popping up in my mouth - teeth??? I now have 2 that have broken through - the bottom middle. I usually only get up once a night now to eat - usually between 2 and 4:30.
What else am I up to? I like to play in my exersaucer and have been going in my jumperoo a bit more the last couple days. I'm not a pro at jumping - I haven't really figured out how to do that yet - but I'll get it! I like to sit on the floor and play with my toys in the living room with the boppy around me just in case I fall. I like Baby Einstein and Elmo movies. As seen in my last post, I now sit in a big girl bath tub. That's fun! AND...I give kisses now. You will love them! OPEN mouth with my tongue out! They are the best :)

I'm now eating cereal twice/day and more and more seconds baby foods. I like both rice and oatmeal but Mommy gives me oatmeal more often b/c she thinks I like it better. I'm not a huge fan of fruits and vegetables yet. I still pull lots of funny faces. Fruits seem a bit too sweet most of the time and veggies - well they are OK. My favorites are sweet potatoes and just yesterday I discovered Apples & Chicken - YUMMY! I usually eat cereal and a little something more in the morning when I wake up, a veggie around lunch time and then cereal and a little something more at night. I still nurse about 5-6 times/day and don't even talk to me about taking a bottle. NO THANK YOU! Mommy tries to give me that thing and I cry or even try to hit it away now. Sometimes she doesn't give up so I humor her by playing with it for a while - but that is about it.

Daddy showin' me a little lovin' with some Apples & Chicken.

OK - I admit...at first I wasn't a fan.
This one is for Mommy. I was sleeping, but I know right after Daddy took this one she shed a few tears. I don't cuddle like this much anymore and she just can't believe I have grown this much so fast. It hardly seems possible. Sorry Mommy - I can't stay little forever. Maybe we can cuddle tonight - say around 2am? (hehe)

Some New Things

Some new things happening for Alayna...

1. She is now (9/8) taking baths in the BIG tub with the bathtub ring. So far so good. She's not always a huge fan of water on her face running down her face to rinse her hair (which could become an issue when bathing with her brother and he does his splash routine) but she's done well so far.

AND....

2. TOOTH #2 is coming through!!!! (9-10) YEAH!!!
We were right. I think this is where most of the sleepless nights were coming from when we were gone for the weekend. They aren't back to "normal" yet - but getting better. I looked in her mouth yesterday and saw nothing and all of a sudden today - there are little white ridges. It's the second middle bottom tooth.

Alayna's teething symptoms:
1. She won't sleep in her bed from about 1am on
2. EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. (more than normal) Which leads us to...
3. She drools like CRAZY!!!! I looked at her the other day and she had a fountain of drool from her mouth to her neck - which is where it was collecting.
4. She spits up after she eats. With tooth #1 it wasn't as interesting. Now we are spitting up sweet potatoes along with milk. Much more fun to have mommy scrubbing out orange stains!
5. She seems to get the hiccups quite often - multiple times throughout the day. These often lead to spit ups as well.

So...now that we have the symptoms down I'm sure they will change for next time. :) Grant was totally different with teeth. He would have maybe a little irritation, but nothing like this. I think there were only 1 or 2 that actually really bothered him coming in. (Keep in mind he still has a lot to go - he only has 7 teeth and 2 molars (just started coming in)).

3. About 3 weeks ago now she started saying BABABABABABA all the time. I'm trying to get a video of it to post - it's kinda fun! Hopefully will have one soon.

Labor Day Weekend

What better way to kick off Labor Day weekend than with Grant turning 22 months old! Crazy that in two short months we will be having another birthday party! WOW! Grant it talking up a storm these days. 2 and 3 word phrases and coming up with things that make us laugh. You may recall our "Quiz Question" posted a few weeks ago..."Rock, Up High"...this means MOON! In the last month he now gets how to make his little push cars go forward outside, continues to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE playing outside, likes to play with his golf clubs a ton, his baseball bat and sweep. I think the thing that tops the cake though are Daddy's tools. Grant's tools are OK - but Daddy's are the best! We had him weighed about a week before his 22 mo bday and he was 22 lbs 11 oz. Not sure if this gets him on the growth chart or not - but we're heading in the right direction.

For some reason he wanted the lemon from my water...
...this is what he thought of it...
...but he kept right on eating it!

Since Brian and I graduated college, Labor Day weekend has always been set aside as our "camping" weekend with college friends. For many years we tented it (including last year with a 10 mo old) however this year we upgraded! We rented a cabin in Sister Bay, Door County. It was beautiful. We arrived Friday night and left Monday morning. We relaxed, went for runs & long walks, to the beach (sort of), had lots of campfires, played games and caught up with our friends.

This year we were once again the only couple there with kids - however two more couples will be joining us on this adventure for next years festivities! We can't wait to meet those little ones in October and January. We will love having playmates!

Alayna didn't sleep so well...ok...she slept terrible! We think she is teething again. Since we have gotten home she is drooling a ton and is again putting everything in her mouth constantly (this is more than normal), etc Hopefully something pokes through quick!

Here is where we stayedThe Gang...minus Brian who is taking the picture

At Marina Fest - both kiddos napping

Grant "holdin'" his corn...he LOVES it!

Daddy & Grant havin' fun...the water was chilly - but not too bad up to your ankles :)
Just Chillin'

Awwww

Mommy & Grant at Wilson's on the way home...yummy burgers

Our Family (minus 1)

Well...she was sorta there :)

Mommy's Slow

Hello Everyone -

Sorry! Mommy has been a bit slow at posting things lately. She claims to be "busy". What do you think she does in her spare time?!?! :)

Anyway...we just wanted to catch you up on the highlights from the last week or so...

Last Thursday night we went to Stonefire Pizza with Cora, Brooke and their Mommy. It was fun going down the slides and riding in the cars!

Saturday I got to help Daddy mow the lawn in the backpack. I LOVED it! It was a lot of fun and I hope Daddy let's me help him again. I only helped mow the lawn though. When that weed wacker thing came out - I got a bit scared and went in the house. When Daddy was all done with that, I helped him blow off the driveway.

Yes - this is my best banana face. I've moved on to fruits. As of Sunday I tried bananas and now applesauce as well. I'm not so sure about fruits. Grant tells me they are really good, but I'm still getting used to them. On to pears tomorrow!

Look at me! Look at me! I'm SOOOOOO much better at sitting these days. Just this week Mommy wondering if putting me on the floor to watch a movie would entice me to brush up on my sitting skills (apparently nearly folding like a pancake after a few seconds didn't qualify as "sitting" for the baby book) :)
Well...TA DA! She should have thought of this sooner. She knows how much I love a good movie. This sitting thing is a piece of cake!

And today our friend Grant came over to play while his Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital to have a baby. He got a sister too! We had fun playing with all of my toys. We read books, played the drums and watched an Elmo movie. Mommy is really excited Grant's Mommy had a little girl. See - Grant and I are about 5.5 months apart in age and Alayna and Taylor are about 6.5 months apart in age. She thinks it will be nice to be friends with someone who has kids the same distance apart as me and Alayna. Alayna is glad she will have someone to play with too! WELCOME Baby Taylor. We can't wait to meet you!