Updates!!

Now that we're all caught up in our new blogspot location, I have so much to catch up on with Kayla and Colin!

Colin, besides walking all over the place, is quite skilled at climbing stairs and scooting down them with help.  We don't have a gate, so we've been using couch cushions to stop him from going up all the time.

Back in April, we took the kids to Busy Barns Adventure Farm.  Both had lots of fun seeing all the animals and playing on the slides.

The three little pigs and the big bad wolf!  One of Kayla's favorite book and video on youtube.  She loved those piggies.

While she loved the three little piggies, she did not love chasing all the piggies to catch their flags.  She was afraid they were going to poop on her.  It was definitely a valid fear since the piggies were pooping everywhere!  Jordan had way more fun than she did.

This was Colin's favorite part about Busy Barns...the corn bin!  I was finding corn in his clothes, in his diaper...  He loved crawling all around!

Colin and Daddy

Colin is perfecting his Mama and Dada words.  When he wakes up in the morning, he'll call out, "Maaaaaaaaaaama......Daaaaaaaaaaaada" until someone comes to get him.

Wow, these pictures seem so old!  We stopped using the bottle with Colin when he turned one and has been drinking from regular cups and sippy cups like a champ.

I'll update with Colin's birthday parties next!

June 3, 2012

Well, I probably should at least update on the kids since they are growing like weeds these days.  

Colin is walking!!  And he is so so proud of himself when he does walk.  He gets so giggly when he does walk.  And just today he's tried to start running.  Could mean we're going to be in big trouble soon. : )  Now that he has six teeth, we're starting to brush his teeth, which he really enjoys too.  He had his one year check-up last week and besides the shots, he did very well.  He weighs 19 lbs (3%) and is 31 in (78%).  Colin is starting to get very jealous of Kayla whenever she is playing with me and he is not.  He will start crying and push her out of the way.  In a way, it's really cute, but we'll have to start solving that at some point.

Kayla is still enjoying school and starting to open up more.  She is making friends and even recognizes others when we're out at the park.  She's having a fun time with Colin walking and will try and help him walk around.  Unfortunately, she has entered a major not listening stage and it's getting difficult to get her to listen to us.  We're really hoping this doesn't last long.  We took her fishing out front over the weekend and absolutely loved it.  Hopefully next time we catch some fish!

May 27, 2012

Happy Birthday Colin!

Our little baby is now one year old!  I can't believe how fast the time flew.  He now has 6 teeth, four on top and two on bottom.  He certainly looks different that just a couple of weeks ago when he had none.  He's starting to say a few words and mean it.  The main ones are hi, mama, and dada.  It's cute seeing him say hi to everybody.  On my birthday just a week ago, he took 7 steps with Jordan!  Even though I wasn't around, that was my present from  him.  Of course, he has not taken any steps since.  It's all scootin and cruisin.  I'll get to his birthday party pictures soon, but he of course was not as dainty as Kayla was.  It took him about 5 seconds before that cake was completely torn apart.  Colin is becoming a flirt with girls of all ages whether it's a server at a restaurant or the four year old at the pool, he puts on a toothy grin and gets all giggly.

Kayla is still enjoying school although it all depends on the time and day as to whether she will say if she likes it or not.  Every day we drop her off, she'll draw us a picture.  Most days are good drop-off days, but some are still teary-eyed.  She is definitely getting a rebellious side to her, which has been challenging, but probably not nearly as bad as it could be.  Now that the weather is nice she's outside playing everyday and we even went swimming yesterday which both Kayla and Colin loved.

One more Easter picture, here's Kayla going on an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Papa's house.


In case I haven't mentioned it, Colin can climb the stairs and scoot down the stairs.  So now whenever we're home, we put pillows up to prevent him from heading upstairs.

May 13, 2012

Colin's up to six teeth with two more on their way! It was a rough week of teething and no sleep, but he's starting to do better. Kayla treated me to Mom Spa at preschool last week where she painted my nails, did my hair, and lotioned my hands. Had a blast! Kayla's been saying some pretty cute things lately. Here are the ones we can remember

- Colin has a new happy dance he does whenever, well, whenever he's happy. He started doing it at dinner one night and Kayla said, Look, Colin's freaking out!!

- Colin was crying after being put down for a nap.  Jordan and I were wondering if we should go up and rub his back when Kayla said, “I think we just need to ride out the storm.”  Where did she get that from?!?

- We found some raccoon poop on our deck and Kayla wanted to know why they didn’t know how to flush.  : )

Here's Colin and Kayla playing on their cars. We even had them race against each other!

Kayla had a lot of fun at our town’s Easter egg hunt despite how cold it was.  The eggs were scattered around the park and Kayla made sure to pick up alot of purple ones.

Wee!

And Kayla took a try at pulling Colin!

Colin’s secret shortcut between the barrel table and recliner.

May 4, 2012

Preschool and New Teeth

Those two subjects seem to be the hot topics in the Rowe household these days.  Kayla now has two weeks of preschool under her belt, and she is doing so incredibly well.  The first day was perfect!  She had a great time and that evening even wanted to go back.  But come morning, she was sobbing not to go and it was an extremely difficult drop-off with Kayla just about refusing to stay.  But every day got better and was always chatty about all the things she did.  The second week was much better.  No tears and realizing just how much fun school is.  She even insists she draws us a smiley face before leaving.  We're getting quite the collection.  We even had parent/teacher conference on Wednesday and the teachers thought Kayla was doing fantastic despite being a little shy and reluctant to play with others.  They chalked that up to her still being very new.  They were ASTOUNDED at how smart she was, knowing all her letters, numbers, and most shapes (darn that diamond!).  It is just so exciting to see her grow and learn more with other kids.  Jordan and I only wish we could secretly observe her during the day.  : )
Did you know it is IMPOSSIBLE to find a backpack and lunch box in April?  We somehow managed to find a backpack at a rummage sale, but it's so big that Kayla could probably crawl right in.  And her lunch box is actually a purse...




And this little guy...is getting four teeth in all at once on top.  Of course they're taking their sweet time so Colin is not having fun with this teething business.  He'd much rather chow down on some perogies and get them in his hair.


During the warm weeks of March, we caught a snake for Kayla and even Colin wanted in on some of the action.  Lucky for the snake, he did not get ahold of him.


Kayla eating ice cream from the bottom up!


With Colin's new teeth coming in, I think he's starting to become like his sister and be a very picky eater.  Although he will eat bread at just about any time of the day.

April 21, 2012

Florida, Part 4 (The last one!)

Kayla is getting excited about starting preschool on Monday.  She's a little nervous that we're not going to be staying with her, but I think she'll do just fine.  Kayla had a bad dream the other night that's been causing her to be scared to go to bed.  All we know is that the clickety-clocks are coming to get her.  I'm not sure what clickety-clocks are, but I hope she forgets about them soon.  Even though Colin's gums are still swollen, there are still no new teeth yet.  Not much new with either of them although it's only been a week since the last post.  : )

Kayla was really excited to see all the alligators on our Myakka State Park visit.


Our last day at the beach.  Those kids sure did miss the beach and Kayla kept asking if we'd go back for at least a month since we came home!


Sitting on her bucket, watching the waves


At the airport.  Bye bye Florida!  See you next year!

April 15, 2012

Florida, Part 3

I'm so excited for Kayla.  We're visiting her preschool tomorrow for a final walk-through and meet the teacher.  Kayla is super excited, but I'm not sure if she really knows what it means to be going to preschool fulltime.  I hope it's easy for her as well as for Colin who won't have his big sister at daycare anymore.  Kayla starts next Monday, and I have to keep reminding myself that she is such an easy-going girl that this huge adjustment should only take a day or two for her.  Although it may be longer for us and Colin!

Poor Colin's gums are so swollen!  I feel like he is going to be getting lots of teeth in all at once.  Jordan and I have started noticing that he is looking more and more like a little boy instead of our little baby.  Sigh...sadness.  But he's growing to be quite the cute little boy.  It is so much fun to watch him and Kayla rough house with each other and he takes just about anything that Kayla dishes out at him and he does the same right back at her.  He'll even try to rough house with Smudge!  We've seen him stand on his own for a few seconds, so it won't be too long now!  He's starting to say a few words with meaning to them.  His first was 'uh-oh' as in anything that gets dropped to the floor...'uh-oh!'  Then he started saying hi to people who walk in the room.  Now he knows who Dada is and will actually call him by name.  Sometimes he thinks I'm Dada too, but we're working on that.  : )

Back to Florida, we visited Jordan's aunts at Siesta Key, which had smooth sandy beaches with small waves.  Perfect for little kids to play at!

After a little while, even Colin wanted to go play in the water.  I forget why we didn't bring Colin's swimsuit otherwise, I would have just let him play in the water.


Kayla being silly.


Kayla being silly with her aunts


One of our last days in Florida, we took Kayla to a local park to play and hike.  We all had a blast, but unfortunately Kayla's sunglasses decided to stay at that park somewhere and never came home with us.








Playing on the bed.  We discovered that Colin likes to do somersaults off the bed (with help of course).  I'm gonna getcha!


Getting ready to go on our boat ride to see some alligators!

April 1, 2012

Florida, Part 2

Apparently our modem broke last week, but after a few days of no internet, we bought a new one and we're up and running again!  Kayla is still using the potty like a champ, and lately, we've stopped asking her if she has to go since she'll just tell us when she has to go.  It's pretty sweet.  Colin still has two teeth, but is eating more of our food now.  The only reason he still eats his baby food is because I made way too much of it!  He is the opposite of Kayla whereas she liked pasta but not rice, he likes rice, but no pasta.  It's pretty cute.

Colin rode on a swing for the first time with Kayla pushing him!  Poor Kayla wasn't feeling well this day because her ear was hurting her, and as it turned out, she had a wad of ear wax that I fished out with tweezers.  She felt 100% better once it was out.


On the bumpy bumpy slide!


My guys!


Colin went swimming for the first time too!  He was a little hesitant at first, but after a few minutes, learned to love the water just like his sister.


Fishing with a noodle


Here's a first for Kayla...swimming all by herself!  Can't wait for swimmy lessons this summer!


Kayla and Colin playing in her princess tent.  We bought the nuk along for the airplane ride for Colin, but he thought it was a toy.  Kayla knew more what to do with than Colin.


Colin practicing his wave.  When he started learning how to wave, it would always come with his tongue sticking out too.  : )


At the noisy water


Who is that adorable little boy??

Kayla would play this game with her shovel where she would put it near the waves then watch the waves take the shovel only to save it just in the nick of time.  I still don't know how we didn't lose that shovel.


Who's behind all those sunnies?


Playing at the water fountains


Looks like Part 3 will be coming soon!

March 22, 2012

Florida Part 1

Seeing as though it's been a month since we've been to Florida, maybe I should write and show pics on that.  But first a few K/C updates.

Kayla is using the potty!!!  Last weekend we 'ran out of diapers' and the first day didn't go to well.  We had an accident at the park and no success on the potty, but the next day was better, and every day since then has been accident free.  She even is insistent on not wearing diapers to bed and still no accidents!  We're so proud of her.  Don't be surprised if she gets signed up for preschool in the next month or two!  She is still loving being a big sister to Colin and now that Colin is a super speedy crawler, they can really play and kinda chase each other.

Colin is turning into a little rough-houser, which is a lot of fun.  He has also mastered climbing stairs, not the stairs going upstairs, but the single stairs in the loft.  He is growing tired of baby food and would much rather just eat whatever we're eating: chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pizza, pasta...  The list goes on and on.  He had a growth spurt about a week ago and I'm pretty sure there were a couple of meals where he ate more than me.  He also prefers drinking water from a cup than a sippy cup.  He had his 9 month check up and came in at 17lbs 7oz (5%) and 29in (79%).  Still tall and skinny.  His head is peanut size at 11%.  He's not much of a talker like Kayla was at this age, but he's definitely a jibber jabber.  He'll chatter your ear off but with no real words that mean anything.  He makes up for it with his super crawling.

On the day we flew down to Florida, Kayla was getting over a really bad cold she had and then gave to Colin.  Colin was feeling pretty miserable that day, so after a quick trip to the doctor to diagnose a double ear infection, he was surprisingly good for the airplane ride since he slept most of the way! The same cannot be said for the ride home.  Luckily it only took him a day or two to feel back to his normal self.

First day at the beach.  Kayla of course went straight for the noisy water while Colin stayed close to mama.


Mama and Dada went on an overnight backpacking trip in the Everglades.  It was filled with beaches, alligators, mosquitos, and a rattlesnake!  Kayla and Colin had fun staying with Grandma and Papa.


I swear the internet picks the worst timing to not work.  More cute pictures coming soon!