An update on the babes

Babe #1: Kaylin
She is truly the joy of our lives right now and changing so much everyday. As I mentioned in the last post, She had a major big weekend. If I were an organized mother, I'd have put it all down in her baby book, but because I am not (and because I haven't updated since month 7) I'll just document it here. She took her first hands-free steps on Sep 19. She walked 3 wobbly steps from my arms to the arms of her Dada. I thought that once she started, she'd be taking off like a mammajamma, but not so much. She didn't really do much more walking until this last week. Now she's walking across the room, standing up from the ground without needing to hold anything, walking-stopping-bending down to pick up a toy-walking again. She's an animal. Seeing her make these steps (pun intended) into toddlerhood is bittersweet for us. Kaylin is such an enthusiastic baby. It's like she truly enjoys being a baby. We have had so many moments of hilarity watching her crawl around corners to play hide and seek, racing us down the hallway, crawling under the Mama Tunnel (though space is tight with the massive and steadily growing belly). We'll miss watching her acrobatic crawling around the house.
In addition to walking she's started clapping like it's her job, becoming increasingly picky at meal times, crying out in fear of the blender (no longer just the vacuum cleaner Auntie Laura), showing her frustrations about not being able to tell me what she wants, and she finally has a tooth. Well, she has the top of a tooth. I'm assuming there's more hiding under the surface. Again, bittersweet. We love that gummy smile of hers.

Babes #2 and 3: Yet to be named brothers
At about 28 weeks (last Tuesday) our perinatologist guessed the twins are weighing in at about 2.5lbs. As far as my doctors can tell based on the measurements of whatever it is that they measure, there's no reason to fear premature delivery. Early delivery is still likely, which puts the expected remainder of my pregnancy to about 7 weeks. Yikes! We have a list of names but have made no decisions. It's tough naming boys! So much more pressure. It has to be masculine, good for a little guy and a grown man, I like modern names, Josh likes more traditional. Phew. And as you'd expect for twin boys, they seem to be wrestling around in there. I wasn't sure what the movement would feel like with two babies kicking, and lemme tell ya. It's crazy. It's like there's a dance party going on.
We are thanking the Lord that they are growing on target, don't seem to be giving any cause for worry, and are seemingly healthy. And they already have an adoring older sister who is giving them kisses through my belly button already.

Babe #4: The Mama
I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but I feel ready to not be pregnant. This pregnancy has been much harder on me than the first. I didn't expect my body to be so darn sore. That being said...I am not ready to not be pregnany because that means I will have two more babies in the house to worry about and I'm for sure not ready to go there. When the time is right I'll be ready, but not before. For right now I am just soaking up and treasuring every moment with my little family. I love being Kaylin's mom. I love that she cuddles with me and lets me hug her. She's generous with kisses and smiles. I try to love that she cries when I leave the room because she like having me around that much! I love watching her learn and make new associations. She's very fiesty and sometimes too aggressive, but she's also tender and loving. She's curious but she's not a daredevil. All of these things make me swell up with pride that she's mine. Lately I've been feeling like I've made the transition to feeling like a mother. I can't read anything or see anything on TV about children without seeing Kaylin in the story. I have an actual emotional response to stories like the one in the news about the missing 10month old baby girl. I could always acknowledge a tragic situation, but now I can put myself in the shoes of the mother and it's a very different feeling.
Anyway, despite the fact that it takes me 15 minutes to get off the couch or the floor, and that I can't help but groan every time I go from my right to left side in bed, and that I can't keep track of my schedule to save my life, I am doing well. I'm a very contended woman.



Holding all my children close to me

For several months, I've been working with Kaylin on communication. I've shown her several signs, but every time I reach for her hands in order to manipulate them into the sign, she pulls away. Unfortunately she prefers to squeal/screech/whine, so we're not quite there yet. Despite this, something must have stuck because she just let us know that she can clap! She had never clapped before Saturday and she just randomly started doing it in her highchair, so I quickly grabbed the camera and shot this little video. Like we are with everything she does, we were thrilled and fell in love with her sweetness all over again! Since then she's been clapping all day long. She's super excited about her new skill.
This was a big weekend for Kaylin. She became much more confident in her walking, her first tooth finally poked through, and she learned to clap. Watch out Ivy Leagues!

Frankenstein's Monster walks

It's been a while...

...since I've posted anything worthwhile. To make it up to you, here is a bunch of my favorite pictures of Kaylin as of late.

Not me!

Lately I've been thinking about the mother I want to become to Kaylin and the twinsies. Of course it includes such qualities that are consistent in any excellent woman: trustworthy, hard-working, selfless, creative, caring, and so on. But while I'm in still in mommy-training, I can definately define the kind of mother that I'm NOT.

1. I am NOT the kind of mother who lays down and takes a 15 minute nap on the floor of my child's room while she plays around me.

2. I am definately NOT the kind of mother who removes a hard piece of poop from an otherwise dry diaper and puts said diaper back on the baby.

3. I am NOT the kind of mother that puts my child in her highchair to fill up on puffs, yogurt melts, and teething biscuits in order that I have time to wash a few (or several) dirty dishes.

4. I am NOT the kind of mother that giggles behind the vacuum cleaner while my child cowers in fear.

5. I am NOT the kind of mother who stays in bed while my baby cries because I just don't like being awake before 7am.

I know I'm not a perfect mother, but I'm definately not as bad as all that. But when I do fail, Kaylie gets back at me with her "kisses".

Attack of the Killer Vacuum

The yard, Grandparents, and a Yankee Doodle Sweetheart

For over a year, we've been planning to landscape the front yard and we were finally able to take care of it over the last couple of months. It is such a breath of fresh air to have the grass down. I am so looking forward to letting Kaylin run around in the sprinklers, pulling out a blanket to have a picnic together, and all the other fun things you can do on grass that you can't do on dirt and weeds. It will be a lot to maintain, but we're very pleased with the new yard.

Before

During

After


Last month my parents came down for a week and we had a great time. Minus Joey, were able to get together with the whole family, they had lots of time with both grandkids, and they were around to see the yard transformation.
My parents with their #1 girl

We tried to get a cute cousins picture but were basically unsuccessful. This is a candid shot of Grandpa trying to get them to pay attention to the camera and smile. I think they thought he was wierd. I think it's funny.


Our best attempt at a family photo at dinner.

Having fun with GiGi

Kisses for cousin Garrett

Kaylin had a sweet 4th of July dress all picked out before she was born, but unfortunately it's way too big. It might fit her this time next year! But she was still as sweet as can be in her red, white, and blue.

DingDingDing! Round Two.

For a few months I was feeling like I was getting this mothering-thing somewhat down. Kaylin is happy, on a good schedule, and we have a lot of love in our little family. My kitchen is usually a mess, but I consider that of secondary importance because, hey, my baby can crawl and feed herself. I must be SuperMom!
But I haven't been feeling so much like SuperMom lately. I've been feeling tired, stressed, overwhelmed, and uneasy. I don't really know why I'm laying this all out on the blog, but here it goes.
For those who aren't informed....I'm pregnant again. 14 weeks today. Kaylin is 8 months old. That means if I delivered on time, my kids will be barely over 14 months apart. But there's a good chance they will be closer than that.



Double trouble. Twice as nice. Or is it Thrice as nice? If three babies are barely more than one year apart, does that technically make them triplets? I'm sort of teasing, sort of not. I feel like I'm about to have triplets. And if I'm truly truly truly honest, it scares me to death. Scary without a hint of excitement. In general, I've been struggling with the idea of being pregnant again and even more so with the reality of having twins. To tell the truth, I've never wanted multiples. And I've actually given it thought in the past. I've actually thought to myself that I would not be able to handle more than one at a time. As much as I've always wanted a big family, I wouldn't have asked to build my family with the speed at which we are doing it. I'm currently a new, first-time mom, a few months away from being a mother of three. WHAT?!?!
I realize that I'm not the first woman on the planet to be in my shoes, so I don't want to over-dramatize the situation. My prayer however is that God will soften my heart and help me not to be subject to my fears. I am not worried that I won't love my children. I do want these babies. But I already miss my daughter. My little Kaylie. And I fear that I will fail x3. I already fail Kayles enough as it is and it will only be compounded with two more in the mix.
I've known about this pregnancy for a long time now and it's still not an easy subject for me. I'm still not used to the idea or feeling equipped. That's why I'm thrilled that I have an all-powerful God who is sovereign over my life and the lives of my children and husband.
Let me just remind anyone who reads this that this post is not a plea for sympathy or phone calls of encouragement. Frankly, at this stage, I do better with responses like "Holy Majoly, you're in for it!" or "Well..you wanted a big family!". I think this post was more for myself than anything. And don't worry. I will eventually feel better about it. And I believe I will love having the twins when they come. And I think my kids will love being a little trio, at least until/if baby #4 comes along. It's just a bit of an emotional journey for me, as cheesy as that sounds.
But I can say that we make some darn cute babies!! You're welcome, world!

In the month since my last post so much has happened. The kinds of things that challenge us, surprise and delight us, and remind us of the perfect sovereignty of God. But I'll save all that for another time.
For now, I thought I'd document some of our recent adventures. A couple weeks ago, Josh's family from Wisconsin came for a visit, and we had a great time. A trip to Disneyland, a Dodger game, plenty of pool time, and lots and lots of lovin on our Kaylie girl. Prepare for a barrage of pictures:



Meeting Great Grandma Pearl for the first time.





The boys are off to the Dodger game







Family time around the pool








I love this picture of Josh's cousin and family. I said "ok, family picture" and the old man in the background turned around and waited for me to take the picture. Hilarious.





Waiting for the Winnie the Pooh ride with Aunt Jennie





Normally she loves this ride, but this time it took her by surprise for some reason. I don't know. She cracks me up.




Waiting for Daddy to finish up on the Teacups.




From Disneyland, we three went on our first official family vacation to Newport Beach. We couldn't have asked for better weather and Kaylin did amazingly well despite the upset to her schedule. She slept better than exected and was a very happy little beach bum.







Kaylin did NOT love the feeling of the ocean. Poor thing probably didn't like the cold or the feeling of the sand pulling at her feet. As soon as we took her out of the water, she fell asleep and slept until we were back at the hotel. She's so sweet.
We had a lovely week and it was a great way to ring in the summer season.
(I apologize for the disorganization of the photos with the captions. I couldn't get them to cooperate)

Fun with GiGi

This week Grandmother Constance came to visit and Kaylin discovered all sorts of new things. This was a big week in Kaylie's little life. I should start by saying that she was sick this week with a pretty nasty cold. When I say nasty, I mean thick green snot, red puffy eyes, restless sleep nasty. You're welcome for that visual. And yes, feel free to feel sorry for her mama. Kaylin was actually a trooper. It knocked the energy out of me, though.
Anyway...back to Kaylin's Big Week. Because of her cold, we ended up spending most of our days at home. With plenty of floor play time with mama and GiGi, she started to crawl. Woah. Hello outlet covers. Good-bye computer chord. Googleing: baby safety gates.
She's been getting herself into a pike position with her toes on the floor and her butt up in the air and then she would sort of drop to her knees. Several days of that action led to her holding herself up on all fours, rocking back and forth a little. From there, she slowly figured out how to move her hands with her knees which is what you can see in the video.
We took this video on Wednesday and by today she's really crawling. Not for very long, and pretty slowly, but she's not dropping to her stomach each step.



On Friday, we three gals went to lunch and mom suggested I give her my pickle to keep her occupied. She was so adorable. She wasn't really sure if she liked the taste at first, but once she figured out how to hold it herself, she was all about it. Gobbled it right up!




The Aftermath

Hydrating

Kaylin has recently discovered that she loves water. Loves it. I wouldn't be surprised if, given the choice, she gave up milk for water, that's how much she loves it. The other day she started making this dual-grunt: a grunt of "gimme gimme Mama" followed by a grunt of "aaahhhh. so good." It was hilarious. She hasn't really done this since, so I'm glad I caught it on camera.
I'm sorry it's sideways. I was trying to be discreet because the camera often distracts her. I wasn't thinking about the fact that it wouldn't be right side up. I think you'll forgive the mistake because she is SO STINKIN CUTE!!

He is Risen!

We had a lovely Easter Sunday yesterday. Church in the morning, then lunch and hang-out time at Grandma and Grandpa Hilliger's in the afternoon. I loved dolling Kaylie up in her frilly pink dress. Such a pretty girl.
Kaylin was enamored with her plastic eggs. I'm wondering if it's tacky for me to let her play with them year-round. She likes them and if I let her play with them, it means I don't have to find a place to store them till next year! Win-win!

Dear Gigi and Grandpa,

Thank you for the Easter Card! It was delicious....I mean delightful!!

Love, Kaylin

My little Breaststroker

This afternoon I was trying Kaylin's bathing suit on her to see if it will work sooner than later since we've been having such warm weather. So..you'll have to excuse the nekedness!

Lately she's been doing this hilarious kicking thing. She thinks it's really fun and we get a kick out of it. Excuse the pun.

She's too much!

A couple of weeks ago, Kaylin and I picked a bushel of oranges from the tree in the backyard.

Bushel. I like that word. I don't use that word enough.

If you recall a couple of previous posts, I've been teaching her to do some of the household duties. Now that she can sit up by herself, I think the sky's the limit on what she can learn =). This time I taught her to make juice.

Anyway. Back to the bushel. Our oranges were a little tart, but we were able to make a big pitcher of juice. It was fun.