Summer

Yes, kind of way late in the year to finally be posting about summer. Been busy being a mom of two wonderful little ones, and going to work part time...still no excuse for not documenting this exciting time in our lives. I need to be better, and so with that being said, it is time to catch up!

My little Audrey is so fun to take pictures of. This summer was full of fun photo-ops. I have a trillion of them. Of course, at the time these were taken, she was still not sure about crawling around...now she is an avid crawler.

James and I have also noticed that Cooper tolerates her more than he does Grant. I don't know if this has anything to do with him not being exiled from sleeping in our bed when we first brought Audrey home (like he was with Grant). Cooper loves to lovingly lick Audrey, and he is never way over-the-top with it, which I love.

I love Audrey's baby feets. I thought they were picture worthy.

I also love that this summer I got an impromptu visit from my parents. They traveled all the way to Evanston to see my sister, Stephanie, and decided to make the 5 hour trek to come see us. I love any time my mom can come and love on my babies. It was a short trip. They came on a Saturday night and left Sunday morning, but we took tons of pics. I'm lucky to have a family that realizes the importance of keeping in touch! It was way fun to see my mom, even if it was only for a short while.

Grant update:

Grant is now saying a few words. James and I are starting to hear sentences. One that we have heard quite a bit is, "I did it!"

This summer I also bought Grant a table and chairs to work with him on. The developmental specialist in Denver recommended that we up his Speech and Occuupational therapy to every week, so we were able to do that, and James and I have started to see an improvement in his speech, and fine and gross motor skills. For example, he can lace small beads onto a string, color pictures and draw on pages, he is starting to match colors, he can pull and play with putty, and of course, he still loves his books! We have been delighted in his progress, and are excited to see it continue.

Audrey update:

Audrey is now crawling, as I have mentioned before. She is also turning out to be quite the shy little girl! When someone tries to talk to her or offer her a smile, she buries her head into the shoulder of the person who is holding her. Silly girl! She used to have a smile for everyone, but now, you have to work a little harder to get it!

Also, Audrey has decided to wake up a few times in the night. Part of this is my fault. In order to keep nursing, I have to pump at night, so when Audrey would cry, instead of just ignoring her (which is what you are supposed to do, so as not to interrupt important sleep patterns) I would just feed her and go back to bed. Unfortunately, she had been waking up two or sometimes three times a night. Not to worry, though. I have her back on a schedule, and she is sleeping through the night again. I just had to let her soothe herself, and it has proven to work.

Crawling...

Audrey just rolled over by herself for the first time today! So excited! She is almost 6 months, and right on target with this milestone. Grant was rolling over 2 weeks after the 6 months mark, and the doctors called him "behind." Now he is a motor monster!
I put Audrey out in the middle of the floor on her blanket and practiced with her a few times. She tried a couple of times, and managed to get rolled over within ten minutes of her being on the floor! She seems to catch on pretty quick!

(I had some trouble with Blogger...she actually rolled over the first week of August!)

Killpack Reunion 2010

Every year the Killpack's have a reunion, and this year it took place on July 1st through July 5th. We went camping in Huntington Canyon in Utah. I have to recall last years reunion...we went camping at Ferron Reservior. Grant was about 15 months old. He had just learned to walk, and he was everywhere. This year, being one year older, things were not too much different. Oh wait...I guess things were different... he was much faster this year than he was last. James and I were busy keeping track of him pretty much the whole time we were there. Relaxing in chairs while surrounded by trees, and chatting with family? Didn't happen too often. If one of us wasn't chasing after Grant, we were caring for Audrey! The Killpack's were so nice and let us stay in their trailer. If it weren't for that, I don't know that we would have gone!
Anyway, the ride down was interesting for the first few hours. The kids were ornery that first little bit. I moved to the back to entertain them, and that seemed to help. After that, they were just fine! Grant's really easy to entertain in the car. And Audrey is loving her frog toy these days. We stayed our first night at James' brothers house in Lindon. So glad we got to break up the trip a little, and stay there. And their kids were super cute with Grant and Audrey. It was so cute to see them try to entertain my babies! Such cute kids!
We woke up as early as we could, and packed up the car. I'm always amazed at how much STUFF we have to cart around for just one night. James ends up unpacking and packing it all. It is a job! The ride up was fine, and then we got there and things got interesting! Grant was so hard to manage. He just wants to run! He's not really one to do what he is told yet...it's that communication thing. He ran everywhere. James and I were exhausted chasing after him. The first night there was interesting as well. Grant usually has a bath, vitamins, milk and has a story read to him, and then he goes to bed. Well....Grant really wanted nothing to do with the routine. James and I had the toughest time getting that kiddo to go to sleep. James and I were so tired chasing after him... James mentioned later that we almost went home after that first night. For James to say this, he must have really been done!Grant was everywhere. Robert volunteered to walk after him, so James and I could sit and enjoy the mountains for a bit. Needless to say, this only lasted for about 5 minutes, before it started to rain. Oh well...
Of all the places Grant wanted to walk, he picked the bathrooms. Yuck...
One of the ways we survived being up there was taking long car trips in the day. This was our only time for James and I to relax. We had sleepless nights up there, and chasing after Grant was tiring to say the least. So...we packed up the kids and drove. One of the places we went to was this lake. I had James get in there with Audrey.
When we first arrived, I grabbed the camera and had Audrey sit with practically everyone. I love her bald head. She wore a hat most of the time.
Our trip wouldn't be complete without Grant's first ride on the four wheeler. James just went around our campsite. I think Grant enjoyed it...He pretty much looked the same the whole ride! Oh well...many more four wheeling rides to come.

Audrey has a cousin who is her age. She's a month older, and my goodness! I loved taking pictures of the two of them. Sooo cute! Her name is Madison and she is James' sister Julie's little girl. Two sweet girls! We had fun on this reunion even though we didn't get much sleep. Word to the wise next time...we are only camping for two nights. That's about all we can last!

A Good Kind of Hard

Grant is getting along much better with Audrey these days. I wonder if he can remember what life was like without her...hmmm. I have been trying really hard to include him in every aspect dealing with Audrey. Diaper changes, bath time, reading time, tummy time. He has been a part of it all. It seems to be working. The other day he gave Audrey a kiss! Having two young kids right now at this point in time has been fun. It has been hard, but a good kind of hard. It has tested my patience, made me exhausted, and is having me do things that I never thought I would do. I love it. I love looking around my living room and seeing toys everywhere. I love the hugs that I get around my legs at any random part of the day. I love the sticky wet kisses. I love the smiles first thing in the morning. There are things about this time that are not so appealing, but right now, I am truly happy being a mom to two awesome young spirits. It has been amazing so far!
I will try to remember this moment when we are camping this weekend...heaven help us! :)

Robbed

So it happened too fast...my Audrey cut her first teeth on her five month birthday. I can hardly believe it! Grant was seven months before his first tooth popped up-I feel a little robbed. I feel like I didn't get to enjoy her toothless grin for very long. So I took some pics of her while she still has toothless smile.

First of all, Audrey has the best smile! She can smile with her eyes-her whole face just lights up, like she can hardly contain herself. It makes my heart sing whenever I see it! It honestly is soooo cute. I can't explain it! She also is really easy to get to smile. All anyone has to do is say hello to her, and she can turn on the charm in a heartbeat! I love it!

Since she is teething, she has been drooling a lot! I feel glad that so far for getting teeth, both of my kids have been pretty easy. Both have drooled incessantly but that has been all. We just have to keep putting bibs on her! That's what we had to do with Grant!Too help with Audrey's teething, she has been gnawing on this star on her Baby Einstein saucer.

A Family Trip

This past weekend, James and I took the kids to meet my family in Salt Lake. I have to gush for a moment and say what wonderful travelers my kids are. Audrey was a typical baby...she'd cry, and I feed her, and then she'd go to sleep for a long stretch. Grant was great. Just give him his Leap Frog Learning pad, and he was content for the whole trip. Really amazing! James and I packed up the car with every intention on leaving first thing in the morning. We didn't actually get out of Casper until about quarter to 10! Too funny. We tried though! We met Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa and Kirk at Cafe Rio in downtown Salt Lake. So excited to see my family and have them love on my babies! If you happen to live close to family, don't take for granted this luxury. I sure wish we did! We like Casper, but I love every moment my mom gets to hug my babies! Anyway, we walked around Temple Square, and took a tour of the conference center. Well...all that the kids would allow was the main conference area and the roof! We learned a lot though and managed to get a few pics!

The day was gorgeous! Clear and sunny, a little chilly. I was fine in my sweatshirt. This picture with James and Audrey, we actually learned about the landscaping. The landscaper wanted each person to have a pioneer experience, so on one side is trees to represent the woods, wilderness and all that the pioneers left behind. The water represents all the rivers and streams crossed a long the way. On the other side of the trees, its the view of Salt Lake, and their is a field of flowers and vegetation.

The next day was Sunday. We decided to meet my family in Tooele to visit my grandma. since we weren't going to see them until the afternoon, James and I took the kids to Liberty Park. Grant had a great time running around:

I love this picture! James took it. I asked him about it, and he said that Grant was to running so fast he was too quick for the camera! So this is where Grant used to be.


We got a chance to see my Grandma early Sunday afternoon. She will be 95 this year, and she is not doing so great. Seeing her is really hard for me. I visited her last year when Grant was just a year old, and she didn't recognize me. It makes me sad, because she knew how hard it was for us to have kids, and I know she would be SO excited to see them and love on them. This time, when we saw her, she managed a smile, and she could not get enough of Audrey. I LOVE that Audrey got to see her, and we got some pics:



One I never thought I would get is the four generation picture. I have been to see my Grandma but never with my mom there. I love how my Grandma is looking at Audrey. She did that pretty much the whole time we were there.

Afterward, we went to my uncle Gary's house in Grantsville for a barbeque. It was way fun, and reminded me a little of when my Grandpa used to have barbeques for us. Thanks Gary and Colleen! We loved it!

That night we got back to our hotel, we decided to take the kids swimming. Getting them ready is quite the project. It reminded me of how hard it is going to be to take both of them swimming at the same time without James there. (I shudder at the thought!) We ended up staying in the pool for a whopping 20 minutes, before the kids decided that they had had enough. The water was warm, but not warm enough for Grant to want to stay. I think Audrey enjoyed it more than Grant did. On the way back, James said, "Well, at least he looks cute in his suit." It's true. Both babies looked pretty cute!

The last leg of our trip was Hogle Zoo. James and I were excited to take Grant.

The carousel was kind of fun for Grant. At first he was scared, but by the end of the ride, I think he kind of liked it. I say kind of, because look at the look on his face:
I felt bad we couldn't take Audrey out of the stroller for very long to see all the animals, so we got her out to see the giraffes. She looks thrilled.


This ostrich came right up to Grant like he knew him! WE had a pretty good trip to the zoo, but I have to say, the Denver Zoo still ranks as the top that we have been to so far. Well, we have only been to three, but we really did see a lot of animals at Denver Zoo, and we could see every animal in their exhibits. We had a great time on this little vacation, and still two more to go this summer. We have camping with the Killpack's and a trip to Canada planned. We will have more soon!