pics and videos to they're walking blog

Whitney eating and sharing her Valentine from Grandma. She "shared" her Valentine with the dogs.

Tucker very neatly ate his crackers out of the box

Who wants to help Mom clean the shower?! We do! We do! (You've got to record moments like these while they last)
Cute ballarina baby

they are walking!!

This week was a lot of growth and the walking switch turned on. It is so odd. Whitney started really walking on Friday afternoon, the 18th and Tucker learned this afternoon to really walk on his own. I thought the stuff at the beginning of this week was exciting, but nothing compares to later this week.

Tucker is really grasping fine motor skills, too, this week. He is able to dip his spoon right side up into the bowl and get it to his mouth right side up. We've been practicing with applesauce. He can stack the rings on the rocking stick, put megablocks together without more than one repetition, clean up about 10 toys once the clean up song gets going, and laugh like a bowl full of jelly. His whole body shakes and it still makes me laugh.

Whitney mostly practiced walking this week. She tried and tried and tried until she figured it out. Then Tucker saw her and decided to give it a try. They both laugh when they walk independently, especially if they are walking toward each other. Apparently it is some new game. What really amazes me about this walking thing is that it took about 3 months of working on the walking skills before they really got all the skills put together, and then they put the skills together in an hour. Literally. This morning Tucker was taking 2-5 steps independently and then by tonight he was walking laps around the dining room/kitchen independently. And apparently the first time parent is having so much fun watching the babies grow up.

Today we went for a hike. While the rest of the country has bad weather, we get sun. It's lovely and freezing cold. Literally. The ground this morning was frozen when we went hiking. The fun part about the hike is that the babies wanted to get down and hike, so they did. Tucker liked it a bit more than Whitney, but she likes to smash leaves, so that made up for it. Tucker looked so silly cute in his hat. But today was the babies' first hike.

This week we watched the crane work on taking out a tree next door. I got a little bit of taste of the power being out (I didn't realize how much I love my microwave) while they worked. It was pretty interesting stuff. Even the green waste garbage man watched. He emptied our can then stayed put while the crane brought the top part down. The babies watched all the trucks come and go (the power guy, the tree guys, the crane guy, the green waste guy) for 45 minutes.

Jim brought home cupcakes from work for the babies. Lovely, the mommy says, who would rather the babies not have sugar. But it was much more fun than their one year birthday. Tucker didn't want to make too much of a mess, but Whitney enjoyed her chocolate. I guess it's because earlier in the week Jim got her used to the taste. One night I asked Jim to give them their bedtime snack and told him to give him whatever he wanted. Bad idea, the "whatever you want to feed them" thing. He gave them some of my Valentine's truffles and gummy bears. Definitely a nutritious bedtime snack. I don't recall wanting to share those, nor was I excited about the sugar given. It just so happens he was leaving for a meeting right at bedtime. Not fair!! The babies were wound up during story time. Whitney was dancing and turning the pages super fast. Lucky for me they didn't cry when they went down.

This week has been lovely. We finally figured out what Tucker needed to go to sleep without crying for at least 1/2 hour. He needs to be wrapped up in his snuggle blanket while sitting up, then he can fall on it and lay on top of it. It puts him right out. Jim kept insisting he needed something, like Whitney likes her monkey, and somehow we happened to stumble upon it. But rest assured parents that struggle with kids going to bed. It took us 8 months of trying to get him to go to sleep on his own without crying, unlike Whitney's 3 weeks. So the next mom that I hear say you just need to let them cry it out for a couple of weeks and they'll figure it out, is full of it. Not all kids do this. And I'm sure we'll have trouble over and over with Tucker, still, about going to bed on his own and staying asleep, that is. It reminds me that other mothers that struggle with things that have come easily, just mean that their kid doesn't do "the usual".

Anyway, this is another week of the post with the pictures and the videos are separate. This time it is purely because the computer wants to be annoying. We'll try again tomorrow.

if you're having a bad day....

Tucker falls asleep eating.... again.

Daddy gives Whitney jam and bread, to Mommy's dismay

Make more Daddy! (she was in diaper only due to the mess she made eating dinner)

Whitney giving help and tips for better bread.

Seeing little baby shoes in my house makes me smile


So if you're having a bad day, a kid's laughter or smile is enough to make anyone feel better. Tucker's laugh and Whitney's "snork" face (crinkling her nose up to smile and sticking her bottom teeth out) always makes my day. We've tried to capture both on camera to share, but that never works. Today Tucker was laughing hysterically at the blowfish float toy rolling down the seat bottom I was trying to recover. Whitney looked over to see what is so funny and made her snork face while she took advantage of Tucker being busy to walk by "unassisted" (by Tucker, that is) using her scooter and gave me a snork face smile.

Today she went shopping with Daddy. They were gone a long time, and I was wondering what was going on when they came back with Valentine flowers and big smiles. Apparently Whitney didn't ride in the cart like Mommy would have her do, but walked around the whole store holding Daddy's hand. What an awesome adventure! So many different things to look at! Tucker stayed home and played with Mommy. He seemed a little bummed, though, that he didn't get to go, wherever they were going without him.

This week we went to the park and learned how to crawl around on the toddler jungle gym. It wasn't sunny or warm, but it was dry (for Washington). Apparently we're the only ones getting good weather in the US. Except for my mom who seems to thoroughly enjoy rubbing it in my face about 60 degree weather, doing yard work and seeing the sun EVERY TIME SHE CALLS! Or so it seems when you don't see the sun much. Or live in Illinois where even the dogs don't go outside to do their business, it's so cold. More on that later. Anyway. Whitney really loves the slide. I think Tucker really likes it too, but I'm not sure if he likes it like Whitney. He doesn't let out a squeal of joy as he goes down like she does. He does breathe hard at the bottom and gets really anxious to go climb up the steps again. No video of that because I went to the park without Jim. Tucker also really likes the other kids. He was trying to follow this other boy that is 1 year older than him without success. His mommy wasn't going fast enough to keep up.

Other than that, this week has been a lot of walking in circles around the house and laughing at the little things the babies do. Enjoy the videos and pics.

I've been having lots of fun with the Roots Magic software for gathering family history! It is so much easier to see what information is there and what isn't there. So I've been filling in missing info and finding holes, so don't mind me if I call you up and ask all these crazy questions. I'm thinking of printing stuff out for Christmas presents, but remind me that's what I'm doing because it's only February, and I'll probably totally forget about it by then.

I've also been working on learning to make bread. Each batch is carefully tested. I give it to the babies and if the texture isn't right, it gets chucked off the side of the high chair tray in rapid fire succession for the dogs. At least I always have two constant fans of my cooking. Very frustrating to see all my hard work going to the dogs. It takes a little bit of time to take the food from the babies so they stop throwing it. Whitney has this trick. She sometimes does a little taste testing and seems to eat it, but then, out of the blue, starts flinging. Maybe the bread is good, but the flinging is a game. I don't know. Whatever. I don't have the texture right yet. It's been four months. Sigh. I think I'll go back to knitting.

Back to this weather thing. Everyone that wants to take advantage of the fact that we would love to have you use our house for a basecamp for a fun vacation, better do it in the next five years. Or so Jim says. He is already scheming his next career move that will allow us to move to a warmer, sunnier climate. Good thing his line of work does allow for the possibility of telecommuting. I think this winter is getting to us, especially since we haven't been able to enjoy the "awesome"summer that everyone talks about. So I don't think these plans are serious, but they seem pretty serious right now and will probably be serious until the end of April or so.

Anyway, now to watch Tucker play with one of his favorite toys...... Whitney thinks it's funny, too.

"when are you babies going to walk by yourself?....."

Tucker helping refinish the chairs. The babies are like cats. They sit right on your project.

Before and after
Rocky has the pink pig magnet stuck on his collar. He picks up the magnets when he is sniffing the kitchen for tidbits. He threw in his poor me face for good measure.


Daddy reading Diego book to Whitney

Whitney is ready for the park
"I love this thing, Mom! No. My hands aren't bright red"



The title to this blog is a direct quote from Jim that was stated by him multiple times this week. I don't know. I can already see how them walking is going to put me on high alert during the day for the next few years. And I bet I'll be able to quote Jim saying "when are you babies just going to sit all day". No worries Dad. We'll be able to do that when we're around the age of 15 and we have chores to do.

The thing that set off that comment is that the babies' favorite thing to do right now is walk around the house holding our hand. So as soon as Jim walks in the door from work, he has a baby begging to walk with him to the office to drop off his bag. This week they both have taken up to 3 steps independently. Whitney did it on Friday when she thought she was holding on to my hand when I wasn't. Tucker did it on Thursday, the one year anniversary of both babies being brought home from the hospital. I don't think Tucker realized he was doing it independently, either, when it happened (his car got a little ahead of him). Whitney is learning, though. She is trying to step without falling on purpose. She has figured out she has enough balance for at least 2 steps and likes to run/fall/step from one surface to another. It's really fun to watch the babies figure out walking. The best part of it all for me is how tired everyone is, including Sammy. They both take one 2 hour nap and sleep from 7:30 to 7 am. Heavenly sleep for me. Poor Sammy, though. I think his hips are going to go out on him at this rate. Lots of herding to do now.

I can tell the the babies already love to be outside, Tucker the most. Probably because we could actually go outside this week. On Thursday I was putting Whitney in the carseat and left Tucker in the house. Apparently the door was slightly cracked. I watched him as he opened the door, crawled out on the step, crawled backwards down the steps and started crawling toward the car before I picked him up. This is even with hard soled shoes that slow him down a bit. Today he walked to the mailbox and back with me holding one hand. He got distracted by the sound of leaves and puddles as he steps on them. He was really excited about that trip and when I brought him in, he wanted to open the front door, not shut it (his chore for me now that I know the front door isn't too heavy for him) like he normally does. So I'm going to have to kid proof my exits. Lucky me that burglar alarms are already at each door and window. I can use that for most entrances. I guess we'll have to install the chain.

In general we've had a really awesome week. It was sunny for three days and dry for four. Awesome. We went to the park 3 days in a row for a stroll around the park and then a stop at the frozen playground. There are a few pics/video of the babies at the park on the playground equipment for those grandmas that want to be here swinging them themselves. Tucker has decided he doesn't like swings and loves to climb, and Whitney loves the swings but hates how cold the playground equipment is. She cried like she does when Tucker smashes her when she touched the rails. But then she also cried when we left, like she still wanted to swing some more. Tucker looks like he is in a panic every time the swing goes back.

This week has been really fun because of all the games and good times we are enjoying together. The sunshine may have also significantly uped our moods. The babies love to practice going up 4 steps and do really well with it. They also love the step stool and fight over that. The video of Whitney on the step stool was one of the few times Tucker wasn't playing King of the Step Stool. Only because he wanted more food. They love credit card sized things and flip them over and over in their hands, for at least 15 minutes. Great for church. Whitney still loves to initiate playing peek a boo and does so with the shower curtain. There are also videos of how they love to play in the laundry sorter/hamper thing (Leilani, did you ever know what an awesome wedding gift you gave me?!). That thing is almost as good as Grandma Anderson's curtains (before Tucker ripped them, that is). They also have figured out how to push their cart around and walk to the front or the back on their own so I don't have to constantly move the cart out from the corners. Tucker started putting away his toys as soon as I started singing the clean up song. That was hugely rewarding for me. They got a package in the mail from Stefanie and have had lots of fun flipping the flaps in the book. Whitney figured out how to put the puzzle pieces in the Farmer Tad toy on the fridge. She loves to hear the purple cow moo.

Last week I discovered that Whitney really loves fresh blueberries. I was a little embarressed as we were at a friends house and Whitney pretty much ate the entire bowl of them. They were out for everyone to eat, but she pretty much polished them off. I told Jim about it and he promptly went out and bought her some. Tucker doesn't understand what the hype is. He makes a horrible face every time he tries one and is now suspicious of red grapes on his tray.

I must say I'm pretty impressed with myself again. I finally finished recovering one chair. The whole reason I had to recover it was because I got this great idea right before we moved that I would clean above the cabinets in the Pleasant grove house with the vacuum. I put it on the chair so the hose attachment would reach. Apparently the roller brush doesn't stop rotating while the attachment is in use, like I thought it did. I pulled the chair material off and ripped lots of large holes in it. I didn't show that as my before and after pic because it's a little embarressing how much I wrecked it, so I decided to use a chair pad that is yucky because of spills. yep. blame it on someone else that I started this project. But it does look a lot better.

Oh yeah. One last thing. If anyone is planning on having MRE's as a 72 hour kit, maybe you should reconsider. I certainly am. I tried eating one a few weeks back as if it was an emergancy. I used only the stuff in the backpack to prepare and eat it. I didn't get sick from them, but I couldn't finish more than half of one. Talk about yuck. I'm definitely not ever going to feed the babies one. Jim said "If it's good enough for our soldiers, it's good enough for you". Man, that reason alone is enough to shake a vetern's hand and say thank you for serving. Eating that stuff is definitely a sacrifice by them for our country. Granted, it was the egg omelet one. And it does meet the goal of meeting your hunger needs. I definitely did not feel like eating anything else the rest of the afternoon because of the lump of something in the stomach and the taste in the mouth. I ended up eating two huge pieces of chocolate cake to get the taste out. I, Dad will happy to hear, am going back to having meal bars as my 72 hour kit. They were on sale this week.