Sibling Love--Sept 2011

The older Kallen gets the more fun Raya has playing with him. They're pretty hilarious together. Kallen's favorite thing is trying to grab Raya's pacifier outta her mouth. They both laugh so hard when he tries to get it. 

Raya LOVES to hold his hands and dance with him. She use to do the same thing to our dog :) Every time a song comes on she grabs Kallen's hands and tries to get him to stand up and "dance" with her. 

 A little WWF

When Kallen cries Raya tells me "The baby's sad" or "Kallen's sad" and grabs my hand to take me to him. Its so cute how caring she is towards him. They really are buddies. They are so much like how my brother and I are. Its very sweet to watch them together. 

 I have the CUTEST video of them giving kisses to each other. The lighting is bad so you can't see it too clearly, but Kallen's faces were priceless. It was one of the best things I've ever seen them do. Like "Melt your Heart" cute! For some reason I couldn't upload it here so heres the Youtube link if you're interested :) It gets good about a minute into it.
Video: Kallen giving Raya kisses back

So I remember when I was pregnant and went to Costco I got so excited thinking about having TWO kids to sit in each side of the double seated Costco cart :) So during out last trip the moment I'd waited forever for happened! LOL. Its the little things ;)

And they take really great group shots ;) I love my babies!!! 

Weekend of "Firsts"

Soooo, this weekend Kallen had quite the list of "Firsts."
He started crawling. He started pulling himself up on the furniture-which gave him his first shiner. His first 2 teeth broke through. AND he started giving Kisses!!!! So I have a bunch of videos to upload to Youtube :) I don't have any pictures of him pulling himself up because I haven't been quick enough with the camera. But I have some cute ones from the pool today :) He LOVES the water. He does all kinds of splashing and kicking. Another water baby!

He's been getting up on his hands and feet too. He's been doing this for a week or so. Made me think he might skip crawling because he was getting really good at this and wasn't even attempting to crawl. I think he will crawl, but maybe he'll walk sooner than I think. Raya walked at 9 months, and from what I've been seeing with Kallen I don't think he'll walk until he's much closer to 1. We shall see...

He's not "off and crawling," but he can definitely do the motions and did some full on crawling to different places in the living room. He also started pulling himself up on the furniture. He first did it at my Mom's and promptly fell over. And hit his little head. On the hardwood floor :( Poor baby! He burst into tears, and so did Raya. He also attempted to pull himself up in the bathtub and before I could grab his little slippery body he fell forward and hit his eye. He cried again. And got a little baby shiner. I joked about him entering the "It looks like my parents beat me but its really that I learned to pull myself up but don't quite know how to get back down without falling" Phase. Raya was in this phase for a good year. Lol. With her, there was this one spot on her forehead that she ALWAYS hit. So she either had a big bump, big bruise or big scab on that one spot. I was sure she'd forever have a scar or some kind of bump there because she somehow managed to hit that same spot all the time. Luckily, she doesn't :) But I remember going out in public thinking people were going to think I beat my kid. Well, we're back at that phase!

Raya also had her first experience with water wings, or floaties, whatever you call them. My Mom got them earlier in the week, so she spent all week playing with them in the backyard and blowing them up and putting them on her arms. When we got to the pool today she wanted nothing to do with them. Refused to put them on. Finally towards the end of our pool time she put them on. She literally swam with them for maybe a minute, got out of the pool and jumped in, by herself, without anyone around to catch her. Just got out and did a big jump back in! And kept doing it :) She was super comfortable with them on.

Sibling Love- August 2011

The older Kallen gets, the cuter the sibling pictures get :) Because they start looking at each other, or hugging...or maybe its just that he's a little bit stronger so when Raya hugs him it looks more like an actual hug instead of a headlock. And hugs are always cuter than headlocks. 

"Mama, I'm ready for my close up!"

 Buddies

 Yah! They're both looking! Only a matter of time before they're both looking AND both smiling. But if you have 2 small ones you know thats all really about how talented (and quick) Mama is at taking the picture. 

Facetime with Daddy while he's at work

Still napping together <3 The other day I heard Kallen wake up so I went up to get him before he woke Raya up, but by the time I got there he had snuggled up to her face and put his hand on her cheek and fell back asleep. Sooooooo cute. 

 Still gotta get Raya her own chair. LOL!

 Just holdin on to my sister...

 Raya is always checking on him during our walks. The other day I got about a half a mile from the car and realized I only had 1 pacifier. So some how I talked Raya into giving hers to him because he was super tired and really wanted one. Well, he feel asleep and it fell out of his mouth, so Raya took the cue that he was done with it and she took it back. About 30 minutes later he woke up and was starting to cry and she took it out of her mouth and put it in his. He went right back to sleep and she kept an eye on him waiting for it to fall out of his mouth. 

He loves taking her pacifier. And as of now she thinks its hilarious. I love watching them play together.

LOOOOOVE this one

 My Beach Babies

Raya is such a good big sister. When I was pregnant I was never worried about how she was going to react when I had the baby. It actually really didn't cross my mind until people started asking me about how I thought she was going to handle having a baby around. I was pretty sure she wasn't going to be jealous because she was so independent, but I also had no idea she'd be as amazing as she is. Who knew a 2 year old could be so sweet and so loving and so protective. Kallen's a lucky little boy :)

Raya Recently- 28 Months

Ms. Raya,
You are exactly 2.4 months :) I haven't done a monthly post on you since your 2 year post. Why? Not too sure. Mainly because your milestones are more mental and I could write a ton of posts on all the new words and phrases you say but you'd be so annoyed when you were older and reading this. Soooo, needless to say, your vocabulary is great. You say all kinds of words and phrases. I would say you're a "talker" and if someone asked "Does she know how to talk" (which is usually someone without kids ;) I'd say that you do. You can absolutely communicate with people. Sometimes I serve as your translator because not everyone can understand all of your words. Lol. But you can tell me what you want, what you want to do, ask about people, talk to the baby. You do it all. Right now some of your favorite phrases or things to say:

"What are you doin?" You ask me this all day long. And even when I answer you, you continue to ask me.  Annoying? Only slightly, like after the 100th time. Adorable? Absolutely! When you come downstairs after you wake up from your nap and say "Mama, what ya doin?" Its the CUTEST thing ever!

"Where's (insert any and everyone you know's name)" Another question you ask all day. But its like a whole conversation. You ask me where everyone is. "Wheres daddy? Wheres mama? Wheres baby? Wheres Raya? Wheres Nana?" And it goes on and on. And if you've been around other people, like when my Dad was visiting or when we were at the beach with Bryce and Tara you will ask me where they are every 5 minutes. And sometimes you like to be funny about it and ask me "Wheres mama" and then smile like you just told the best joke. HAHA. You are mostly concerned about Daddy and the baby. You always want to know where they are. You also ask me where the baby is and then go "Oh! There he is!" And laugh :)

My FAVORITE thing you do right now: When I put on "real" clothes, like other than my pjs or yoga pants, you say "Ohhhhh, cuuuuute" I know its cause I say that to you every time I get you dressed. But it is so sweet when you say it to me!

You are an exceptional big sister. If you ever bump Kallen or make him cry you kiss him and say "All better" (also another one of my favorite things you say ;) You play with him so well. If he starts crying you put his pacifier back in his mouth. And even better, if he starts crying and the only pacifier around is the one in your mouth you take it out and give it to him. I'm sure you'll both love when I tell that story 15 years from now.

You're still incredibly active and incredibly coordinated. You run SOOO fast. You are a great jumper. You "swim" really well. You do not swim by yourself yet. I tie a noodle around you and you swim all over the pool. You loved swim lessons. You will jump off the edge and go underwater if I'm holding your hands. You could spend the entire day in the pool. You also had a great time playing in the ocean and got pretty brave going out by yourself. And by that I mean you'd walk out to about your butt.

Your stats: You weigh about 31pounds. You are 36.5inches tall-still in the 95% for your age. You were a size 8 shoe!!! Holy cow. And you're just about out of those, so a size 9 is just around the corner. Fyi-Your 5 year old cousin wears a 9. You're in a lot of 2T clothes. The pants fit fine, some are a little short. You definitely need 3T shirts from now on. You're in a size 4 diaper-same size as Kallen. lol. I'm ready for you to be potty trained, but you have other plans. So whenever you're ready lets do it! My doc said you'll decided when it happens and clearly you will.

Ok, now that I've done this update I really need to get back to doing it monthly. Because they are gonna be just too dang long. So until next month...

You are my other half. You are the absolute sweetest. You hug on me and give me kisses and are a little bit like my shadow-which I LOVE. You love to get your nails painted, and that makes my day. Some of my favorite parts of the day are sitting with you outside in the sun or cuddled up in the big chair. I smile just thinking about you and feel so lucky to have such a sweet girl that loves me like you do. You are so much fun and life with you is simply perfect.
I love you!
Xoxo,
Mom