Kaia Tries Her Hand (um...foot) at Soccer

Kaia's dad grew up playing soccer and wanted Kaia to try it. I know he'd be really excited if she followed in his footsteps with it and I too hope she does. Well, ok..being a mom I hope she excels in everything she does. But soccer is actually a team sport that I understand. LOL She was really hesitant at the beginning of the season but she really likes it now and gets better with every practice and every game! I've added black arrows to help you distinguish Kaia from her teammates.

Gabriel & Kaia

Gabriel and Kaia have been begging to have a playdate forever now....and they finally did. Gabe walked into Kaia's new playroom and said, "How SWEET is this!!!" It was soo cute. Kaia let him come up in her very special loft that is all hers. It was built so she could get away from the baby as soon as Natalie is crawling and walking and following her around. LOL Kaia also took Gabe to show him her box of "special things" that she has in her room. They went through the whole box and she told him about each one.

And yes...I have every intention of saving these pictures and bribing the two of them later on in life.....*giggle* Ya never know what the future holds for these two that have referred to each other as husband and wife since they were three years old. Of course now that they get teased relentlessly, they both deny it. We'll see.....

Four new layouts...

What a Ham she is....

When Natalie doesn't have a blankey pulled up to her face (see next post below), she sleeps with her arms above her head. I took these pictures on Monday morning just seconds after she opened her eyes. I've showed the top one to everyone I come in contact with and it cracks everyone up. It is just a classic. One that I'll keep forever...

Natalie's Blankey

Natalie sleeps with this blankey everynight. Surprise, surprise...we actually don't have an over abundance of baby blankets like usually occurs when a baby arrives. And she is still in her bassinet, so she sleeps with this one. And I take it with her when we go places too. See that soft silky? It is sooo soft. She grabs fabric now and brings it to her face....if she doesn't have a blankey, she does it with her clothes. LOL I love this top picture.......

Cooking Biscuits with Mommy

Pictures taken August 19. Have you ever heard of a Bumbo seat? Well, they didn't have these when I had Kaia. But I love it! We use it all the time! We can set Natalie ANYWHERE in this thing and have her be involved in whatever we are doing. In these pictures, I was making biscuits cause Ron had a craving for biscuits and gravy. Natalie wasn't having any part of her bouncy seat at that time so I stuck her in the bumbo chair and set her on the counter. The chair has a wide base and no chance of it ever tipping over. It isn't hard plastic but instead a soft, squishy, but sturdy foam. I gave her a wooden spoon. She's too young to know what to do with it but it did keep her occupied and she woke herself up a few times when she wacked herself with it. LOL But when we set her on the counter, she loves it. She just looks around and watches everything we do while we scurry around the kitchen cooking, cleaning, etc.

No Natalie, you can't eat the spoon!

I'm a terrible mommy.......

Ok, so I know I'm not a terrible mom but this day I sure felt like it. Picture taken on August 18. I have to tell you, I hate....absolutely can't stand cutting baby finger nails. I cut Kaia's finger ONCE when she was a baby and from then on her Nana cut her nails. LOL So I was nervous when Natalie was born. But....knew I had overcome my fears. YEAH RIGHT!!!! They are back full force now. Last week after a bath, I had to cut Natalie's nails. I made the mistake of trying to do it during one of her happier moments when she was wiggling about and not laying still. And of course, guess what happened? I cut her finger. She screamed and cried...not forever but long enough for me to feel horrified. But then it got worse!!! Her finger wouldn't stop bleeding. Check out that bloody tissue!! :-( And that was one of three by the time this ordeal was over. I started to get nervous and started to freak out and went outside to get Ron. He stays much calmer than me in instances like this. I also called my mom! LOL - Ron rolled his eyes at that. But seriously...it would not stop bleeding. I started to get all kinds of visions of Natalie having a problem with her blood clotting and my imagination started to get carried away. Give me a break...she is only three months old and that is a lot of blood! LOL Ok, to make a long story short I was embarrased to call the emergency room and so Ron just bundled up her hand as you can see below. I did talk him out of using duct tape though.....sigh! Can you imagine. Anyway, I nursed her after this while I was nursing, Ron called the ER to ask them about it. I think either he was nervous about the blood too or he decided to call to make me feel better. They said this is a common occurrence and that he did exactly right in wrapping it up like he did. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot we could do. Except in my case I continued to feel bad. I haven't cut her nails since and they really need to be cut......sigh. Maybe I can talk my mom into doing it again. *giggle*

Kickstarting her Harley! LOL

This kid cracks me up. She is soo mobile for only three months. I wish we had a video camera cause I'd like to document what she does when she gets all excited. I can lay her on her changing table to change her diaper and she is a baby that you have to move fast with - she wiggles! Always has...even in the womb. She'll push off with her feet and move herself upwards and usually ends up with her head jammed up against the head of her changing table. She also lifts her legs up toward her stomach and just kicks like crazy all smiles and all excited. And now that she is talkin' - oh, yeah..she can talk! LOL In fact, she is talking away right now as her and Ron watch some kind of "beat 'em up" challenge on TV. Anyway, she kicks soo much that Ron jokes that it looks like she is trying to kickstart her Harley. And he is right! That's what it looks like! The pics below show her smiles when she gets excited.

What a Smiley Baby!

Natalie has the cutest smiles!!!! I'm sure you agree..... This is my new and current favorite picture. She was sitting on my lap and just happy go lucky. I told Ron to grab my camera and he took this great pic!

Natalie was 3 months old on August 16!!!

Pictures taken August 16. I can't believe she is three months old already. I've started back to work 1/2 time and will start full-time again next week. Makes me sad. Thing is...I love my job. I really enjoy it so I feel guilty when I'm not there. But then I feel guilty when I'm there and not with Natalie.....sigh. Everyday while I've been home with Kaia, I said a little prayer of thanks for a healthy and HAPPY baby! I know I'm bias but she hardly ever has a bad day and when she does have a bad day, it isn't even that bad. Taking three months off of work was hard on the wallet, especially with our trip to Anchorage coming up, but it was worth every box of macaroni and cheese we ate. LOL - just kidding. We eat like kings and we aren't really that hard up. Bills will be hard this month but they aren't on a normal month so we are more than willing to pay the price because it meant I got to stay home soo long with her. She is doing great with her daycare provider. I couldn't have her with a better person than our friend Susan. Natalie smiles at her all the time and when I come to pick her up, she is smiling and happy so I know she is happy there. Ok, enough chatter and on with the pictures, huh? :-)

The outfits the girls have on in these picture were given to me at my work baby shower. I love them and have been waiting to take pictures of the girls in them. They are the perfect girly colors of course with that cutie lavender and pink. Kaia loves her shirt and wore it the day Natalie was born. She of course hates getting her picture taken but I got her to cooperate long enough to get these shots! Too bad I couldn't get Natalie to smile during this time...but that's ok, cause you'll see those shots in the next post.

New Family Additions

Ok, ok...I know! For those of you who live in the same town as us, we all know you were dumbfounded when we got a third dog. Well, Ron is a sucker for a rescue. And these two bearded dragons needed a new home. Sigh.....and yep, somehow they ended up with us! LOL As if we don't already have enough in this house......2 adults, a six-year old, a new baby, three dogs, 2 cats, a gerbil and now these two. But check 'em out! Even I have to admit how cool they are.
There is a boy and girl but we don't know yet which one is which. They came with the names of Yin and Yang but we'll be changing those too. So, here they are! :-)

And look at this cage!!! It is beautifully handmade...but as you can see, it is really too big. We haven't decided yet if we are going to keep it or size down. It would be a shame to get rid of it because it is soo nice. But our house is just too small. Like I said, we haven't decided yet. If we keep it, we'll be making a shelf or some kind of way for them to get up in all that empty space. They need to be closer to that lamp/heat source.

New Layouts! :-)