6 months old and happy campers

This week was a busy week. We went to the doctor and went camping as well as took professional pictures. Jim's company was closed for the week, so we took advantage.

Tucker weighs 19 pounds and 2 oz and is 27 inches long. Whitney is 15 pounds 11 oz and 25 3/4 inches tall. They still hate their shots, but did better with them. It seemed to only do a mild fever for a few hours and a lot less grumpyness.

We went camping for two nights up a canyon near our house. Most of the pictures explain what we did. We set up camp, used the dutch oven, went hiking and kayakin,g and made it through the night with only waking up 3 times the first night then 1 time the next night (a record I would love to have at home). I learned a few things about keeping them warm at night. The babies even slept through a big thunderstorm. If you've ever been through heavy rain and thunder in a tent, that is a feat. They were tired. From the pictures you might realize why they were so tired.

The first four pictures are from the portrait studio. We printed off the best pictures and will pass those along. We don't want to give away the cute ones yet!! The next one is Whitney with her hat wet after hiking to a waterfall with Daddy. Whitney really likes to reach out and pull things toward her now and there is a picture of her exploring a pine tree and its needles. Tucker had a hard time actually taking naps during nap time. Too much excitement in the tent, so he fell asleep on our hike. Here he is relaxing in the pack once we got back. I couldn't wake him up for anything. One night I bathed them and Tucker wouldn't sit in the bucket, but had fun with the washcloth. The next picture is the babies waking up at 7 am, right on schedule, but Daddy wasn't wanting to get up that early. The next on is Daddy feeding Tucker at the base of the waterfall. Whitney was ready for bed, basically wearing her sleeping bag, sitting in Mommy's camp chair and looking very cute in the next picture. Tucker is in the next picture, checking out the lake's waves. The next picture is of Whitney. The neighbor brought over an exersaucer that she absolutely loved. This was the day before we left for camping and she was glad to play in it again when she got home. This is a good expression of how much she likes to play with toys. The next picture is everyone helping Daddy figure out how to put up the new tent that we had to get to fit two pack 'n plays in. Whitney is sure if she eats the instructions the secret will come out in ink that is activated by slobber. The next shot is a front view of Tucker playing in the lake. The last picture is of Whitney, taking her bath in the bucket. I love we caught her smile!!

It was really fun to take the babies camping for the first time and we had fun being together this week that Jim had off work. Until next week...enjoy!

Whitney is winning

Whitney passed some major milestones this week. She learned to flip from her back to her stomach independently and then last night she slept from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am. She likes to sleep on her stomach. She was put to sleep on her back 3 times by Jim and I, but she rapidly flipped over to her stomach. It's so cute!! Tucker is still working on it. Tucker has been talking a lot this week and chewing like crazy with his bib. He continues to make more friends at church with his "jolly baby" look. Daddy went to a garage sale and found an exersaucer and some stuffed animals, which they love. They both are discovering paper. Rice cereal this week was a success. Tucker likes rice cereal more than bananas. I'm not sure if it is the texture or the more savory versus sweet that he likes.

We went hiking this week three times this week to three different waterfalls. They love waterfalls and so do I!! I had the help of friends that don't have kids. The trial run through was a success with the nanny. I start work once a week for 4 hours starting July 13. My brother came to visit for the 4th and has been helping Jim get going on the shed. Jim has also been into dutch oven cooking. Yummy hot meals in the middle of summer with no additional heat in the kitchen and that I don't have to cook. Score me!! I learned about day lilies and how to replant and divide them. If anyone wants orange day lilies for next year, let me know!!

Auntie Jill, recognize the outfit? The first picture is Tucker in his Thing One/Thing Two sleepwear before eating bananas in the morning. The next two pictures are of us watching the dutch oven cook on the front porch. The next is a picture of Whitney just being cute, then us on a hike with Ashleigh to one of the waterfalls. The next is a picture of Tucker NOT looking at the camera. Whitney was in her Bumbo with the dogs and Daddy working on the shed in the next picture and then Whitney on her way to a waterfall with Mommy and Ashleigh. The last two pictures are of Uncle Ryan and us on a hike for the 4th. The last is the double bath picture. Uncle Ryan is standing outside the kitchen window for the best photo op.

just plain ol' cute

This week was the regrouping week after the long vacation, and I have to say the babies are doing pretty well with getting back to a routine and schedule. In fact, Tucker went back to waking up only 1 time a night to eat (which means Whitney is eating 1 time a night). They have also gotten into a fairly set nap routine. I can count on them sleeping for 40 minutes starting around 9:15 or 9:30, then 3 hours from 12- 3 or 12:30-3:30 and then bed at 7:30 or 8:00. It is SOOOO lovely. I really like how I now have down time at night for sure. It is most relaxing to take a shower for as long as I want. No interruptions.

They have both figured out how to roll back to front, so now the play gym on the counter while I cook dinner is no longer safe. They can't do it consistently, but one flip would be enough. I'm going to make a play area on the floor in the dining room. Watch out Rocky and Sammy. Your 4 legged floor buddy is going to increase from 1 to 3 here soon. Whitney flipped from her back to front on Thursday, and Tucker did it yesturday. I can assure you that Tucker learned his by accident. He absolutely hates tummy time. I left him on the floor on his back to go get something and found him on his stomach. He was a little upset when I left, but really mad when I came back. It didn't take me long to figure out why. He created more tummy time by accident and couldn't get out of it. Whitney learned to flip back to front because she wanted her favorite toy, the snail with the lights/music/mirror that Anne's mom gave them. The toy was a little out of reach, so she went to get it and flipped over. I also find them in various positions in the morning when I get them out of their cribs, so I know they can move a little more.

We've been practicing being nice to the doggies and petting them, mostly so Sammy will know that all the hair pulling might be worth it if there is another member of the family that might pet him. Rocky usually remains aloof. They both seemed to be excited to pet the dogs, but Tucker really got excited and started jabbering to Sammy and smiling, like he does when he meets new people. I don't know. Maybe he was trying to set something up about Sammy giving him a ride or something. The picture of Rocky with his paws on the scriptures is just awesome!! If anyone wants to use the picture to convince someone of how important scripture study is, go for it!! Even dogs beg for the scriptures!!

Whitney LOVES bananas. Or she really likes to eat food with different flavors other than milk. She already understands the relationship with the bowel, spoon and to open her mouth so I can actually get the food in far enough for her to swallow. It is so fun to see her get excited. She also asks for more and will settle for milk only when she gets tired of eating. I'll begin rice cereal tomorrow. I have a friend that told me that her daughter is so much less messy at eating, and I just thought it was because she didn't remember how it was with her boys at the same age, or maybe she waited a little longer to start solids with her daughter, the third child, but no. Rest assured girls get the fine motor skills sooner than boys. At least with these two. Tucker doesn't get eating. Bummer, because I think he would be happier if he did. Most of it still comes back out the mouth, and he gives it about 5 bites before he just wants to eat quickly with the bottle. Somehow he managed to get banana in the back of his hair, all over the bib, on his shoulders, under the bib, etc, while I just needed to wipe off Whitney's mouth. I don't even know how he managed to do that much damage with 5 bites worth. Whatever. Whitney polished off his portion of the banana.

Whitney also has been practicing the use of her hands. This comes in particularly handy when it comes to using the frozen teether. She gets a lot of relief out of chewing on that thing, whereas Tucker needs a little more help to keep it in. He's really good at chewing on his bib (or his clothes if his bib gets turned sideways) to relieve pain. He is getting better at using his hands this week, though, so maybe the teething thing will go better next week.

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this week and went on an official date, no kids. We went to dinner while our friends watched them. It was great to have Jim's complete attention for an hour, but now I know what people mean when they say "It's hard to be away from the kids that long" when they go on a vacation. We already started to look forward to seeing them again, as they are family!

Anyway, there are two videos of them just being cute. I love to see how content Whitney is to play on her stomach and with her toys. She kicks her legs repeatively when that happens. I also got a video of her laughing!! Finally it was caught on tape!! Tucker has been talking a bunch this week, so I have a video of that also for enjoyment. He usually does most of his talking while being upright, standing or sitting. Stomach or back positions don't usually elicit this type of calm communication. There are also some other "photo op" pictures of the babies just playing in the house or outside while I've been weeding. Enjoy!! There is one with them in the stroller. We go for a walk at 7:30 am to the top of the mountain, so that was them at the top. There is a picture of Tucker's thighs stuck in a bumbo chair. He loves to be upright in that thing, but getting in and out of it is getting to be a problem.

the past 3 weeks flew!

I can't believe how fast the past three weeks went. I will just do the highlights. There are a lot of highlights.


Memorial Day was a perfect day for me. The babies only woke up once in the night and stayed on a fairly good schedule the whole day. We went for a hike to a waterfall as a family. Our first family hike!! Then we came home and Jim and I worked in the yard together while the babies took their afternoon nap. I got all the yard work stuff done that has been bothering me. And then I cleaned the whole house at the same time. I can get so much done when baby nap time is at the same time!! Amazing. In the evening I played with the babies on the lawn while Jim worked on the shed. It was a great combination of getting out of the house, being together as a family and being productive. The weather was perfect, too.

The rest of the week was preparing to be gone for 10 days. The day before we left, someone turned on the summer light switch. It went from being 70 degrees in the day to 93 degrees. We didn't turn on the airconditioning because by the afternoon, we knew we would be gone in 12 hours. That turned out to be a mistake. Jim figured out that the babies must not have slept well (they woke up 3 times in 4 hours) because they were hot, but we were so tired and hot ourselves that Jim didn't think of it until 3 am when we both got up to leave for our trips. It was ok, though. My really awesome neighbor brought over some apple zuchinni bread and that totally made my night (and my breakfast the next morning) after the babies had finished their screaming fest for the night.

Jim's rafting trip in Colorado with the scouts turned out well. Everyone made it back safely and alive. They flipped the raft the first day after running on the river at record high water, but after that, they learned. The last day everyone except one guy got bucked out of the raft several occasions. They got done earlier than anticipated and decided to drive back that night instead of the next day. Jim was only gone 3 nights!! I guess it wouldn't have been a big deal for me to stay home anyway, but our trip was worth it. Jim didn't go with the Scouts to build the house on the Indian reservation, but it turned out well and Jim still had a part in it in that the Scouts practiced building skills on our shed. We were glad the house building project turned out well.

The babies did really well on the drive out. We left at 3:30 am and drove until 4:30 california time. We stopped twice to bounce the babies and let Sara's son run around on the playground. The babies didn't start crying until we got to I 80 and Sunrise when we hit a bit of slower traffic. The same was true on the way back except the traffic was longer when we hit I 80 and 215. The babies didn't like being in their carseats in slow moving traffic for 1.5 hours. Whoops. The trip was good mostly because my driving buddy or I fed the babies in the car in their carseats. That saved a lot of time instead of stopping a ton. I got pulled over in Salt Lake on the way out for going 73 mph in a 75 mph zone. We can't for the life of us figure out why the cop pulled us over. Maybe he just wanted to see for himself that we fit three kids and two adults safely in a Saturn sedan.

We were able to visit with all the grandparents and great grandparents. My sister was also able to meet the babies. The highlights of the trip were going in Grandma Cindy's pool and Grandma Kim's spa. The babies loved playing in the water. I loved how the siblings loved playing with the babies. Erik was a little wild with Tucker, but I think Tucker liked it. He never complained, just had a look of concentration to make sure the next thing Erik did was ok.

Tucker started teething half way through the trip. That meant he was up in the night more often, crying. Except for that one night he was up from 1:30 to 4 wanting to play. And Whitney took a turn being up for an hour and a half in the middle of the night wanting to play. She played with the bunny in Grandma Kim's bathroom for that time. Oh yeah. Tucker had a night that he woke up and played with Grandpa Anderson for 2 hours. Thank heavens for the help at night. I was able to get a little more sleep and be less grumpy. Now that we are home and in a better routine, they are sleeping a little better at night (although Tucker is still waking up 2-3 times because of gum pain, he settles down more rapidly) and both are taking better naps.

Some other trip highlights were gardening with Hannah and Erik, going to See's with the whole gang, walking to do errands with Grandma Anderson, going to breakfast with Grandma in the Attic and watching the shed get re- arranged. It was really fun to see everyone and just have company all day.

When we got back, we had a day of cleaning up from the trip and then I went to a continuing education course from 7:30 to 6 that Saturday. Jim took care of the babies that day. He made me look bad. He told me that he poop scooped the back yard, hosed off the front porch, went grocery shopping, put away the groceries and made a dutch oven dinner, all while I was gone and in between naps and feedings. Oh yeah. He also went to the doctor about his bug bites. I asked him how on earth he managed to do all that. He said he put the babies down for their naps by walking around poop scooping with them in the front pack and back pack. Yeah. He was tired by the end of the day. I'd believe that. I only tried that trick once and thought I was going to fall over with the weight of it after only 5 minutes! He also said they didn't nap longer than 45 minutes at a time and didn't eat really well, only 2-3 ounces every 2 hours or so. So that's when I decided I do ok, even though I don't get as much done in a day.

For baby news, Whitney had a great time at Grandma Ann's. She learned to roll for the first time in front of Aunt Hannah. She also figured out that bananas are really yummy. She was watching me eat a banana with great interest. I smashed it up in a bowl and fed it to her with a spoon. She totally got it. She would get really excited when she saw the spoon go in the bowl and tried to help me with the spoon to get the banana in her mouth. Her body went still with concentration when the spoon got close to her mouth.

We had a great first father's day. Whitney helped me get the cards and books ready for Jim in the morning and Jim cooked fajitas for himself with spanish rice and pico de gallo. Dave and Jill came over to enjoy the meal. We sat on the front porch to talk afterwards while we snuggled babies to sleep.

Anyway, there are lots of cute pictures out there, mostly not with my camera, but here are a few. The first is Grandma Cindy holding Whitney and me holding Tucker before their first swim in a pool. The next is Whitney helping Grandma An sew. The next is Whitney swimming with Aunt Hannah. There is a picture of them doing tummy time in a park at Battle Mountain, NV. Tucker is being cool with Erik's glasses on the walk to See's. Grandma Wilma holds Whitney. Grandpa holds Whitney in the front pack and Tucker supervises Erik and Hannah weeding while rocking out to country music. Whitney in the stroller on the way over to swimming at Grandma Cindy's. Whitney and Aunt Brit on the back porch. Ryan holding Tucker on the air mattress after sleeping on the back porch. All of us before bed in the shed once it got organized.

This week Jim went to L.A. for work for two nights, but didn't make it in time for the Scout training thing, so I only had the babies by myself for three nights. The third night was because Jim was working to prep for his work trip. Trust me, I was plenty bitter about that one, especially since I thought he was going to be gone for another two nights this week, making it 5 nights of doing bathtime/bedtime by myself. We made it, though. And I only did 3 nights by myself.

The big event this week was keeping our garden alive through the snow storms. One morning the snow level dropped to our house, but the other night, it was just really cold. The garden lived!! The strawberries have some leaves that are brown on the edge, but that's about it.

I was told by the nurse that comes to check the babies that they should be sleeping through the night. After more discussion, I've decided (again) that I need to not worry about the "normal" baby, whoever that may be, because I feel like I'm not being a good enough mommy if my kids are not doing that. Plus, I've discovered that most kids don't fit into the "normal" baby pattern that the health care workers keep giving me. As soon as I stopped worrying about it, the babies slept 8 hours in a row. So very lovely!

Whitney continues to be cute talking up a storm and playing with toys. It is so fun for me to dangle a toy in front of her and watch her concentrate and figure out how to work her hands and arms to get the toy in her mouth. Too bad she is camera shy. She always stops being cute as soon as we get the camera out. She was being very irreverent in Sunday School today, talking VERY LOUDLY. I guess she had a lot of comments, but the teacher wasn't calling on her. I got a few smiles, but then I got a look, so I took her out to join her brother that was screaming during Sunday School. I guess he is like Dad in that he doesn't like Sunday School much.

Tucker is discovering his tongue or his hand. Can't decide which, but most of his pics and positions this week was with his hand in his mouth. I only posted two.

I did well with work. I was worried I wouldn't be able to concentrate or remember how to be a therapist, but either the patient load was easy, or I remember much better than I thought. I'm much less worried about starting back more consistently in July.

We went to the park this week to enjoy the sun. It wasn't exactly warm, but I've decided since it is the end of May we should be good to enjoy great weather. One picture is of Tucker and Whitney in the stroller at the park by our old house. The other baby is the daughter of the lady that watched them when I was at work this week. The daughter took good care of Whitney, giving her a blanket and everything when Whitney was sad. There is a video of Tucker laughing. That was when we were at the park near our current house with some friends. The other picture is of the saved garden under tarps. There are other pictures of them just being plain cute. The first one is Whitney lounging with Daddy (instead of taking a nap) on Sunday afternoon while he talks with her Grandpa Anderson.

I'll be out in California in one week. Can't wait!

Doggies- 1, Whitney/Tucker- 0

It happened. The first show down of dogs vs kids in equipment. I found a chewed up bottle. I must have left it on the floor in Jim's office one night. Part of it was on the floor in the house and other part outside in the lawn. So far the babies haven't touched the dog toys, chew flips, food or water. Watch out dogs when they start moving. I thought the dogs weren't interested in formula, but apparently they are. Rocky is more interested in baby spit up. He'll lap that right up, just like he will occasionally eat poop. Rocky is so gross!!

Whitney is getting much better at grabbing at toys and playing with them. It is so fun to watch her spot a toy, figure out how to get her hand to touch it and pull it toward her mouth. Tucker is somewhat interested, but not really. He's more interested in people. Whitney bites her lips. It is kind of weird to see your kid mimic a habit you have. Whitney has also learned to to rotate on her back 90 degrees. Getting closer to moving on her own. She helped me sew this week, too. I had her in the front pack when I started sewing their crib sheets. It didn't last too long. She was more interested in watching me iron than sew, but either way, she was quiet for a while so I could get started on that.

Tucker does something I call baby penguin. When he is on his stomach, unless I put his arms in front of him, he lifts just his head and leaves his arms at his side. It is so cute!! Tucker went to Young Men's for the first time this week. The 16 and 17 year olds came over to our house. For their high adventure scouting activity this summer, they are going to build a house for a family whose mom died. To practice, they are building our shed as much as they get done before they leave in two weeks. Jim strapped Tucker to his back while he was out helping with the young men. Tucker didn't like the saw. He cried every time it turned on, but other than that, he was pretty happy.

There was a water main break up a few streets from us this week. There were a bunch of city workers out there with trucks, mud, etc, all looking down a hole while one guy workedf. I now know where they learn this. In Scouts. That's what it looked like to me when the Scouts were building the shed. One Scout was working while the rest "supervised". Cracks me up.

This week will be an interesting week. I will be covering a four hour shift for a co-worker, meaning I will be leaving the babies the longest I have left them so far. I have a friend watching them. Jim will be gone a night this week for work and then again on the weekend to get some leadership training for the Scout trip down the Colorado River in two weeks. I have a friend coming to visit during this time, so it will make it more fun, but still crazy.

I spent the week trying to figure out naps and scheduling. It went much better. I listened to my mom, not the doctor.

There is a picture of Whitney and Tucker in their bumbo chairs, Whitney in the bounce swing, Whitney and Tucker during tummy time, Tucker smiling in Mommy's arms after eating, me with both of them attached to me dusting the house (that was dumb. It gave me a headache the rest of the day), Whitney smiling at Daddy, Tucker in the bath, Whitney "going to sleep" with Daddy (she looks REAL tired, doesn't she) and Whitney in the backpack smiling at Daddy. We've been trying to capture Whitney's awesome smile, but she always focuses so intently to figure out the camera, that the smile disappears.

The video should be of Whitney in the bounce swing. Enjoy!