9 months old!

The babies are now 9 months old.  The last month has been great.  Schools out and life is crazy, but the babies adapt so well to our crazy schedule.

Annika is just a bitty baby.  She weighs 14 lbs 3 oz. and is  26 3/4  inches.  Because Annika is so small the nurse practitioner told me to try to give her a lot of extra calories. She specifically mentioned putting butter on the vegetables I fix for Annika.  I was a little surprised because usually the recommendations are to avoid a lot of the extra sweets and salty foods.  I'm not the type to give sweets or fattening things like chips or french fries to my babies.  Before the first birthday a graham cracker is as sweet as it gets around here.  Annika eats well and is willing to try most new things. She may be small, but I don't think she looks malnourished by any means.  Aside from being a little small Annika is perfect.  She is so sweet. She didn't feel well a few days ago and she was more snuggly which was nice because usually she is on the go and doesn't want to stop to snuggle.  She is crawling all over.  If she gets lonely, sad, hungry, etc, she usually crawls out to the kitchen looking for me.  If she can't find me there she just sits there crying until I find her.  This usually happens when I'm up stairs.  She is up to 7 teeth and isn't afraid to use them if you stick a finger or any body part close enough to her mouth!  She is sleeping so well at night.  She'll occasionally wake up at night and cry, but will go back to sleep. Sometimes she will get up early...5:30 a.m... if she has slept too long the previous day.  She basically sleeps an hour and 15 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon.  I time the naps so they don't sleep too long during the day.  I would rather have them up in the day time than up in the night! We love to make her laugh.  She has a great giggle.

Annika playing goalie.

On the move.  She was tired of being goalie.

Lincoln is such a sweet sensitive boy.  Annika is fierce and feisty and Lincoln is tender and sensitive. He just puts up with rough treatment from Annika.  He'll fight back eventually, but for now he just cried when she steals his pacifier.  Lincoln weighs  16 lbs. 3 oz. and is  26 3/4 inches long.  Lincoln has a small mass on his back which isn't normal.  The doctors want to get it evaluated so we are waiting to hear what we will have to do.  I have a feeling it will mean driving to downtown Syracuse to visit the Children's Hospital.  He sleeps great at night.  I rarely hear him cry at night. As with Annika as long as he sleeps less than 3 hours the previous day he usually gets up between 6 and 6:45. Those are times I can live with.  He isn't moving nearly as much as Annika, but he is rolling over more.  He usually just likes to cry and wait for someone to come pick him up. He is eating well and usually comes around to new flavors.  He was given the green light to have butter on his veggies too. He is small for a boy, but doesn't look malnourished by any means.  I think both babies were below the 3rd percentile for their age.  Lincoln loves to snuggle and have me hold him.  Things do get tricky when Lincoln and Annika want me to hold them at the same time, but it's manageable.   He loves to be vocal and hear people sing.  He will usually join in the singing.  He loves to cheer.  Here is a sweet picture of him cheering.

Patriotic for the 4th of July.

Kimball and the babies.

All four of my kids.  Love them!

Check out those blue eyes!

I came home from running a quick errand and found everyone in the family room expect Lincoln. When I asked about him I was told he was in the living room alone.  I went in there and he had fallen asleep.  I guess it was nap time.

We recently went to the park with some friends.  These friends just so happen to be twins so my friend told me how to put the babies in the same swing so they could both have a ride.  It pays to be friends with parents of twins.  The babies don't like keeping their hats on, but I finally managed to get them distracted long enough for them to forget that they were wearing hats.

 

 

Annika likes to scrunch up her nose when she smiles.  She is so funny.

More cheering!!  This is Lincoln's favorite pose!  He LOVES to raise his hands up and cheer.  We will do it back to him and it makes him cheer even more.

Father's Day

I love holidays, even the little ones.  I always try to make even the little holidays special with decorations and food.  I think Mother's Day and Father's Day are especially fun because the kids are in school and make fun crafts at school and church for us.  For Father's Day we make a special craft at home too.  

The "home" craft this year were tie cards.  The inside of the card was a questionnaire that the kids filled out and then the card had ribbon so Joseph could tie it around his neck.  He wore his ties proudly all day.  He wore Kimball's in the morning and Rebecah's after church.  

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful Dad.  Joseph is fun but firm and loving.  He does such a good job playing with the kids, involving them in his projects, and disciplining them with the perfect amount of love while still teaching the kids boundaries, respect and responsibility.  The kids affectionately call Joseph, D.O. which stands for "Daddy-O".  I actually think I started it back in Arkansas, but the kids call him D.O. all of the time.  It's cute. 

Kimball and Joseph with all of the fun things Kimball made for him.

Rebecah with the card she made at school and
 Joseph is wearing his tie she made at home.

2015 Soccer

Kimball played soccer again this year.  He loved being on a team and playing games.  His team wasn't be best in the league so their season record was 2-4.  Kimball got a little discouraged that his team only won two games, but we just kept telling him that the important things were having fun and trying his best.  His team did improve throughout the season and that was fun to see.  His coach was a first time coach so I'm sure she learned a lot too.  Kimball scored about half of the goals for his team this season.  It was always exciting to see him score a goal.  Kimball is eager for the season to start up again in the Fall.

Jumping up and down getting ready for the game to start.

Kimball watches a lot of European Football (Soccer) and so he has learned the "proper"
way to celebrate a goal...Running with his hands out. As Joseph pointed out...at least he
kept his shirt on!  This was just after he scored a goal.

This kick ended up being a GOAL!

We all enjoyed watching Kimball play and Rebecah said she might even want to play in the Spring.  I guess I'm a soccer mom!

End of School

School ended on June 24th.  I love the end of school.  I love seeing all of the papers and projects that the kids bring home.  I love the last few weeks when the teachers stop giving homework.  I love that the kids get "fun" days at school where they have awards assemblies, water activities, class parties and grade level parties.  I always loved all of the special things at the end of year so I get excited when my kids have them too.

Rebecah, the babies and I were able to join Kimball and his class for their end of year party.  Parents were invited and Kimball's teacher didn't mind that I brought the entire family.  The kids in Kimball's class would have been disappointed if I hadn't brought the babies.  Apparently, Kimball talks about Lincoln and Annika a lot at school so all of the kids wanted to see and interact with the babies.

Kimball received the "Perfect Attendance" award again this year.  Both kids worked hard and received top marks on their report cards so it was a good year for them socially and academically.

First day of pre-K

Last Day of Pre-K

First Day of Second Grade

Last Day of 2nd Grade

Together on the first day

Last day of school.

8 months old

The babies are 8 months old now.  Time continues to fly by without stopping.  They experienced the pool for the first time this month.  We bought an inflatable wading pool for the big kids, but the babies enjoyed it too.  Annika was so cute in her suit.  Lincoln enjoyed sitting with Daddy.

 

Joseph, Rebecah and Annika

Here is a little update on each baby.  Lincoln is just over 16 pounds.  He is in no hurry to be mobile which is very fine with me.  He is a good eater and sleeper.  He enjoys eating toast and Cheerios in addition to his fruits and vegetables.  I have him sleeping through the night now.  This was something new just this week...I just let him cry.  He cried about 45 minutes the first night and I was awake for every minute of it.  He always goes to bed without crying, but he would wake in the night wanting to eat so I finally decided to call it quits so I let him cry.  After the first night he fussed just a few minutes the second night, but not long enough to wake Annika.  The third night he didn't cry at all. Sleeping through the night has its trade offs...Lincoln now gets up for the day between 5 and 6 am. Not a big deal except that Annika isn't sleeping through the night yet.  Lincoln loves music and likes to rock side to side, especially when he is excited.  He has just two teeth.  Lincoln loves to sleep with his fleece blanket covering his face.  When I can, I uncover him because it makes me nervous.

Lincoln and Daddy

             

 

Annika is spunky and always on the go.  She is between 14 and 14 1/2 pounds.  She only eats when she is in the mood which isn't very often.  I'm lucky to get the recommended number of ounces in her a day.  She eats her solids well and likes Cheerios better than toast.  Annika is on the move.  She army crawls all over the house.  She has become a "mama's girl" within the last two weeks so she will crawl after me crying.  How sad is that?  Sometimes having two babies that want mom can be a challenge, especially if they both want to be held at the same time.  I have gotten fairly good at picking them up at the same time, but it is always easier to hold just one.  I love Annika's ready smile and her even temperament.  Now that Lincoln is sleeping through the  night we will begin to work on Annika sleeping through the night too.  She got two new teeth this month so she is up to 4 teeth.  Annika loves to sleep with a fleece blanket too even though it is getting to be summertime.  Annika goes crazy for UNO cards.  The big kids are on an UNO kick right now so sometimes we see how quickly we can play a game before Annika comes to eat the cards.

I love her facial expressions in these pictures:

 "We have a nodder!"
 For those who didn't catch the movie quote, that was from CARS.  

It's almost as if she is saying:  "You caught me crawling!"

Yes, we know she has red hair.  There is red hair on both sides of the family.
 I'm asked about her hair almost every time I leave the house.  I love her hair though.

I'm so grateful for our babies.  I couldn't imagine my life without them.   Kimball has gotten very good about changing wet diapers and will frequently change the babies in the morning and get them dressed if I'm busy.  Rebecah is good at making the babies laugh.

Rebecah's Preschool Graduation

Rebecah's preschool graduation was on Friday, June 12th.  The school year has flown.  Rebecah enjoyed preschool and made a lot of friends.  I didn't feel like I was as much a part of her preschool year as I was last year since she just took the bus to and from school.  She will continue to attend preschool until the last day of school for the district which is the 24th of June.

Here are some pictures from her special day.  

She looks so grown up!

Walking in for the ceremony.

Going to receive her "diploma".

Standing with her class.

Posing with her diploma.

With her preschool teachers:  Ms Desirae, Mrs. Allison, and Ms. Nicole

The graduation ceremony was about 15 minutes in length and then the rest of the time there were inflatable toys to play in and other carnival games.  Each child was given a book about Kindergarten as they left.

In the obstacle course jump house.

Playing a game.

The babies were good sports!  Aren't they cute?

Playing beach ball with Mom.  One of her favorite activities.

Rebecah is so excited to start Kindergarten in September.  I think she is ready for her next big adventure.