Planet Earth

Has anyone else seen it? Ryan and I are pretty much addicted to watching it every Sunday. It is the coolest nature show I have ever seen! As I watch it, I gain a much greater appreciation for the creation of the earth and everything that lives here. It just seems like everything has been so perfectly organized to fulfill its purpose on the planet. What an amazing show! I can't wait until we get it on video and our children are old enough to appreciate the things it shows.

Update to my last post

So, I mentioned in my last post that Whitney hadn't rolled over since she did it for the first time last week. Just this morning, I walked in to her room and found her laying on her back in her bassinet. She's usually a tummy sleeper, (won't sleep any other way!), and so I knew she had rolled over again. I have yet to see her roll with my own eyes. Maybe she likes the "stealth" rolling--but I'd love to see her in action!

The Difference Between the First Kid and the Rest of 'Em

This past week, Whitney rolled over for the first time...and she hasn't done it again since.

I was thinking about how it was when Kallie rolled from front to back for the first time. Kallie rolled over on the DAY she turned 3 months. I remember Kallie and I were in Arizona with my family and Ryan was home in Utah working. I could tell she was going to roll over, so I whipped out the video camera and caught her rolling for the first time on video. I didn't want Ryan to miss that milestone!

Whitney's story is completely different! I had been wondering for a little while when Whitney would hit the rolling over milestone--since she is a full month older than Kallie was when she rolled. So--some time last week, I think it was Wednesday, I had finished feeding Whitney and put her on the floor to play while I got a few things done. Kallie was running around playing and Ryan was getting ready to leave for work. I was standing at the sink in the basement kitchen and I happened to glance into the family room and see that Whitney was on her back. Since she had been on her tummy when I left the room, I realized that she had finally rolled over. I yelled to Ryan that Whitney finally rolled over and we got on with our day. It was definitely a change from the way things went with the first child!

I just hope that we're able to still see the special accomplishments that each of our children make, instead of thinking, "Yeah, yeah--we've seen this all before."

I think I'm not so typical

Most wives have a HUGE problem, (or at least some problem), with their husbands video game habits. The reason I think I'm somewhat a-typical is that I LOVE when Ryan plays his Legend of Zelda games! (Right now, it's Twilight Princess.) In fact, he is well aware of the fact that he's not allowed to play if I can't be there watching. I love to follow the story lines and "help" him figure out the puzzles. I put help in parentheses because most of the time, he totally knows what to do--but patiently listens to my "suggestions" anyway. I do have to say, however, there have been puzzles that I have figured out or that we have figured out together--and those are the msot fun for me!

For the past few months, he hasn't been playing much because we were getting the condo ready to show and then moving. I have begged and begged and begged him to play--but there were always more important things to do. (Like spend time with his kids and non-T.V. time with his wife!) Now that things have settled down, the past couple of weeks have been great because we have played his game every night! I know I'm weird, but I can't wait for him to conquer the next dungeon or find the next golden bug or... You get the drift...

Goin' for a Spin

So--I posted about my new stroller the other day. And, today, I finally got to take it out for a REAL spin! I took the girls for a 2-mile walk and it was SO great! Not only do I still LOVE my stroller, but I LOVE that I was able to get out of the house and get exercise while the girls were awake. What a good feeling!

Kallie really enjoyed being outside and Whitney just looked around while sucking on her fingers--and she even fell asleep toward the end. We walked a 1/2 mile to a park with a walking track that's next to the local high school. There is a big grassy area in the middle of the track and it looked like a Boy's P.E. class was playing flag football in the grassy area. While we were walking near where the boys were playing, Kallie looked up and noticed that some of the boys weren't wearing shirts and said, "Mommy! Nay-ted, nay-ted!" I don't think they could hear her, but I was sure laughing to myself about her realization.

Toward the end of the walk, Kallie got a little restless and so we sang for about the last 1/3 mile. It was a trick singing, pushing the stroller, and trying to keep a brisk pace, but the "challenge" (if you will) was fun for me. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought as we walked by singing "Popcorn Popping," though!

Not sure what happened...

...but Whitney slept ALL night last night without needing a binky! She did still wake up at 5 a.m., but that was because the last time I fed her was between 5-5:30 p.m. the evening before. Yesterday, she sucked on her fingers twice, instead of a binky, when I was putting her to sleep. Knowing this, I decided that swaddling her so she couldn't reach her arms was probably a bad thing. So, now I swaddle her bottom 1/2 and leave her arms free when she's sleeping. As I'm typing this, I'm thinking, "Duh, Amanda! In every ultrasound I had, her hands were by her mouth--of course she finds that comforting."

The other wonderful part of this is that all day today, I have put her in bed awake and she has gone to sleep on her own. I cannot even explain how wonderful that is for me! It's like the fact that she's supposed to be sleeping at certain times is finally clicking for her. Woo-hoo!!

I...Need...Sleep

I am so tired today. For some reason, sweet little Whitney, who just a few weeks ago was sleeping pretty well through the night, has recently decided that sleeping through the night is overrated. I, for one, can guarantee that's not true. Neither Ryan nor myself can figure out why in the world she has started waking at night again. Now her sleeping schedule has been thrown completely off--and so we're dealing with a fussier, sleeping-less baby. I guess this is just a perk of parenthood. Hopefully in the next few days, she'll calm down and start sleeping a little better.

Ready to Roll!

I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am! My double stroller came on Friday!! Last Saturday, Ryan and I went shopping for a double stroller. I had decided that if I could take the girls out for a walk in the morning, I would be able to exercise while they were awake instead of waiting for them to sleep at the same time...which is like playing the lottery. Anyway--my sweet husband told me that all I had to do was find the one I wanted. So, off we went.

We got to Babies R' Us (BRU) and headed to the very small double stroller section. I wanted something that would hold the car seat and that was bigger than a double umbrella stroller. I wasn't interested in a jogging stroller either because I don't like jogging. The only thing we found was a Graco DuoGlide. It's very similar to the Graco LiteRider, which is a little flimsy for my taste. Somewhat disappointed, we started to leave the double stroller aisle when one of the BRU sales girls came walking down the aisle with a BEAUTIFUL double stroller. I took one look at it and knew it was what I wanted. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was a Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Duo. It has all of the features that I love about my single stroller, but in a double! Unfortunately, BRU only carried the one color scheme, French Roast, (chocolate brown and lime green), and they didn't have any in stock. It is so new that they only have a floor model and have to order it in if anyone wants one.

So, I headed home to hop on the internet and figure out where else I could find a Quattro Tour Duo. They are actually really hard to find because most websites list them as "Out of Stock." Maybe they're selling so fast they can't keep them in stock or maybe they haven't received their inventory yet. Finally, after searching and searching, I found a Quattro Tour Duo in Metropolitan, (which is black and silver and goes with our car seat WAY better than French Roast), at USA Baby for the MSRP and NO SHIPPING! So, I feel like I got a great deal on the stroller.

Anyway--it came on Friday, (the free shipping was FedEx and came 3 days from when I ordered it), and we assembled the few small required assembly parts. I have been dying to take it for a spin and I got to take it out today. I'm sure people thought I was SO weird to take my SUV stroller into their stores, but I was so happy with it that I didn't care! I can't wait to start going for walks this week!

Whitney's Four Month Appointment

Whitney had her four month appointment on Monday, even though she won't hit that milestone until Saturday. I can't believe she's already almost four months! Where has the time gone?

She is a very healthy little bean. Whitney is now 12 lbs. 7 oz. and 24 1/4 inches long. That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height! I can't believe she's that tall, as neither Ryan nor myself are particularly gifted in that respect. I can start feeding her solids any time now, but I think I'm going to wait a bit for that. Kallie, it seemed, needed cereal at this age to help her sleep. But, Whitney is sleeping really well so far.

We're still waiting for her to roll over. Kallie rolled from front to back on the day she marked 3 mos. Maybe I haven't given Whitney enough tummy time or something--but she just doesn't seem interested in rolling yet. I guess if she gets to 6 months and hasn't rolled, I'll worry. But, for now, I just love watching my little smiley baby kick and play and just be herself.

Poor Kallie!

I don't know what it is lately, but Kallie has managed to get all sorts of bumps and bruises in the past few days.

Toward the end of last week, (I think this was on the running away day), Kallie climbed up on a chair at the table and grabbed the napkins. She likes to blow her nose once on each one--and I didn't want her to waste them like she had done the day before. So, I took away the napkins and warned her to put her bottom on the chair. As I was saying this, she started jumping on the chair to protest the napkin removal and promptly fell off the chair. She didn't bump her head, thank goodness, or break or sprain anything...Whew!

Sunday night, as we were all sitting around talking after dinner, Kallie decided that she wanted to walk between her highchair tray and the table--and she didn't fit. So, she pressed her head into the space and pushed her way through. She made it to the other side, but not without gaining a scrape/table burn on her forehead in the process.

Then, I took Whitney to the Dr. for her 4 month appointment, and Kallie tripped a few times as we walked in and out. I was holding her hand, so she didn't totally fall, but she managed to get some minor scrapes on her knees.

Yesterday, during the stressful hour-before-dinner time, Kallie needed a diaper change. I turned around for 15 seconds to get a diaper and when I looked back at Kallie, she was standing up from where the cat was laying and started to cry. Knowing that she had already been teasing the cat a little earlier, I was not shocked to see that the cat had finally had enough and scratched her face, right under her eye. I was SUPER grateful that he hadn't scraped her eye--that was slightly scary. So, now she has a scratch across her cheek to go with the mark on her forehead.

After comforting her, I needed to change her diaper, so I told her to lay down. Instead of going over to the carpet, where we usually change her, she layed right down on the wood floor. So, I just changed her right there. There must have been something poky where she layed down because when she stood up, she had a red mark on her back. I felt awful about that one!

I'm just hoping her rash of scrapes, bumps, and bruises is over for now!