Weekend Updates

Saturday, I went to set the little guy on his tummy for some tummy-time and he rolled over so fast onto his back and just had the biggest smile on his face. We couldn't believe it. Of course we tried several more times, but after his big accomplishment, he just laid on his tummy with his head on the floor. I guess that big burst of energy wore the little guy out.

Piper has become a huge fan of chapstick. It has become our morning ritual. She waits for me to finish blow-drying my hair, and then she gets it out and applies a healthy amount onto her lips, cheeks and chin and then tries to lick what she can reach with her tongue (I think it's some sort of fruit flavored).

We have grass!! All this rain we've been getting I guess is doing the trick, but we have a faint hue of green across most of the areas we planted in the front and some lesser signs in the back. Yeah!!!!

Progress on the homefront-Continued...

This past weekend we planted the grass in the front and back of the house. Fortunately the weather was beautiful, as it ended up taking up most of the afternoon Saturday and Sunday to get finished. And we're getting lots of rain this week, so hopefully we will start to see some little green patches poking out of the ground really soon.

Next on the list:

• Researching ground covers to plant on one side of the house where there is a slope that lends itself to lots of erosion. Open to suggestions if anyone has any.
• On the other side of the house we are going to build a small retaining wall to finish it off a bit and to provide a flat landing off the deck stairs. Then we'll plant grass over there too.
• Do some landscaping around the front of the house, shrubs, flowers, etc.
• Build a small structure to house some of our outdoor supplies and a cover for the tractor. Not sure what that's going to be just yet.
• Plant our garden. We've tilled up the spot we are going to use and prepared the ground. Hope to start planting in the next week or so.
  

Hopefully we'll have some updates of pictures with all our outdoor projects flourishing in the very near future.

Progress on the homefront!

Spring project abound at our house right now! Glad warmer weather is on its way. We've started a few of the projects at the top of our list to work towards being more self-sustaining and making the best use of the land we have.

First on the list was planting fruit trees. We did this about a month ago. In total we planted 10, 2 each of peach, plum, pear, cherry and apple. So far so good, and we even have a few blooms on the peach trees. The trees are about 1-2 years old, so in about 3-4 years they should be up to their peak production and hopefully we will have lots of fresh fruit. Piper loved helping us plant them and made sure she brought her wheelbarrel and shovel for the work.

Boone just enjoyed a nice day outside.

Piper also enjoys helping us water them, and Osten even helped last time he was here to visit.

Next we stocked the pond. We got three kind of fish, 300 bluegill/shellcracker, 100 channel catfish and 5 sterile grass carp. Right now we have to feed them each day (its kind of like having a huge fish tank, only it's outside). Piper also like to help with this and you usually don't have to ask twice if she wants to go with you to feed them. If these do well, we should be adding some additional fish in the summer and then if all goes well will be able to start fishing by this time next year.

Rice cereal...yummmmmm.

Tummy time is a family affair.

Reading is also becomming a favorite activity around the house. Piper loves to "read" her books to us and to Boone, and he loves to watch her as she's doing it.

Giggle, giggle, I love to giggle!

Here's a short video of our little guy showing off his belly laugh.

Kiddie Updates

So, I have not found the time to post pics recently, I've got some good ones too! So I thought I'd do a little updating about what's been going on with our two cuties.

Piper
Ponytails are out again! After a week or so straight of a ponytail everday, she's decided she's through with them again, for now. Sometimes bows are still ok, but that seems to be up for debate each morning. She's also started to wear nightgowns sometimes to bed at night. She just looks so darn cute with her nightgown and a pair of socks on, dragging her blanket heading to her room.

Potty-training-we are still making some slow progress with this. This is also something that, in terms of interest, comes and goes. But when she wants to do it, she does it very well. Other times she just tells us, "No, I go in diaper." We've discovered that books are a good distraction to keep her sitting for awhile in case something happens. She's also perfected the art of taking her pants and diaper off "all myself".

A few potty-training stats:

• Number of times Piper has fallen in the potty: 1
• Number of times Piper has fallen off the potty: 1
• Number of times she has sat on the potty, only to be distracted by something in the bathroom, which she then stands up to check out, only to potty on the floor right next to the potty: 2

Who knew potty-training could be so entertaining!

Now that Ger takes the kids to school in the morning, I usually leave just before them. Piper has started to walk me to the door in the mornings, where she gives me a kiss and hug and has started to say, "Bye Mommy. Love oo. Dive careful." I think she's been watching her Daddy!

Boone
Sleep-well things have still been going well after the "tough love" several weeks back. We had a blissful couple of weeks of sleeping through the night, then a period where he started to wake up again, for what reason we'll probably never know. But this time the paci worked to soothe him and put him back to sleep for, usually, the rest of the night, which was good. And now it seems we're back on track. Can't complain at all. Sometimes, I wish he'd sleep a little later, he usually goes to bed around 6:30pm and then gets up between 5:30-6am, occasionally a little earlier, but he's doing great.

Tummy time is going much better. Piper's been helping us alot and loves to show him her toys and entertain him, which he also finds quite enjoyable. He's making attempts to roll both from him back to front and front to back, but hasn't quite figured it all out yet. But he's working on it. And the back of his head is starting to look a little bit rounder, yeah!! He's also quite the social butterfly, he loves to be in the middle of whatever is going on and really looks around to take everything in.

We started feeding him rice cereal this week also. He seems to like it so far, as his appetite has really picked up lately. We're not sure where he's putting it all, but he is getting the cutest little rolls on his legs.

Family Fun
Oh, and here's a classic story. We went out to dinner last night. By last night, I mean I went to pick up the kids and met Ger at the restaurant just before 5pm!!! Now if only we could find the places in town that have "early bird" specials, we could really take advantage.

We had a fun dinner with the kids. Ger and I had finished our dinner and Piper wasn't done yet. The waiter came to take our plates and Piper quickly put her hand over her bowl and stood up and told him, "No take my plate. I no done yet." The waiter just chuckled and walked away. After he brought the check, Piper wanted to color with the pen he left us to sign our receipt. She became upset when it was time to go and she couldn't keep the pen. We explained it wasn't ours and she had plently of crayons to color with. So in the end, we left the restaurant, all finished with a leisurely dinner, at 5:30pm, with a infant carrier seat, a large diaper bag and a crying toddler screaming she wanted "that pen"! All in all, a good night! Pretty typical for where we're at in our lives. Ger and I had a good laugh in the parking lot.

4-Month Appointment

Well, it's hard to believe, but Boone had his 4-month check-up on Wednesday of this week.

Weight: 11lbs 15oz

Length: 23 1/2 in

Head circumference: 16 1/2 in

His doctor said he looked good, and was doing a good job putting weight on his legs and holding his head up. We asked about his reflux that's starting to come back and her suggestion was to add rice cereal to his bottles to see if this helps him to keep them down better. We're going to try this first and hope it works so he doesn't have to have any additional medicine. And he'll be starting food soon, so that should help as well.

We got some new shampoo for his cradle cap, so hopefully that will relieve some of the itchiness from his little head, as he's been-a-scratching!

Need to work much more on tummy time. Unfortunately this is definately not one of our little guy's favorite things to do and he often just lays there and cries no matter what kind of enticements we try to give him. But the back of his head is quite flat and we need to encourage him to strengthen the appropriate muscles so he can start to roll over and spend more time off the back of his head. We've also been using the Bumbo seat and ExerSaucer too, just to give the back of his head a little break. We talked to his teachers at his school also to help us with this. Our homework, at least 5 minutes of tummy-time 3 times a day. His doctor will follow on his head shape at his 6 month appointment and we'll go from there.

2 Buddies

We recently switched Piper to the daycare where Boone is (they finally had a spot for her after years on the waiting list!). It's so wonderful to have them both at the same facility and so close to home. And while I really miss Piper and I's morning and afternoon car time together, I think it's so much better for her not to have to spend 45 minutes in the car each way everyday. Here's a shot of our two little munchkins on her first day. She's been there a little over a week now and is so far doing just great and adjusting well to her new classroom and teachers and is making new friends. She's only asked twice about her old teachers (Ms. Pat and Ms. Amtul), but thankfully they were thoughtful enough to send us away with lots of her art projects she did in that class, as well as pictures of her classmates and themselves. So we were able to get those out and let her look through them which I think made her feel better.

Here's a couple shot of Pip and Boone together. The first is a rare sight, sharing of "multi" with her brother. That's major big-time sharing!

Ponytails!!

Piper is really starting to get into ponytails. We've talked about them for a long time, but her interest in actually having them in her own hair has just recently started and mommy is so excited!! Here's a shot of our first attempt. I still have a ways to go with my technique, but as her hair continues to fill in, grow and thicken up, I think things will be easier. Now the biggest challenge is convincing her that usually 1 or 2 ponytails is enough! She went from no interest at all, to wanting every piece of hair on her head in as many ponytails as her head will hold! That's quite an about face.

4 Generations all on one Couch!

We had a special treat, last time Bube and DanDaddy came to visit Great Grandma Hitch got to come too. Here's a shot of her with her son (DanDaddy), his two kids (Ger and Aunt Heather) and three of her great-grandkids (Pip, Boone and Cousin Jackson).

Here's a couple other shots from her visit, one of which is destined to become a classic!

And here's a shot of Bube and DanDaddy with their three grandkids.

Nice to meet you Jackson!

We've had lots of visits from family recently. Pip and Boone got to meet their cousin Jackson a couple weekends ago. He and Boone are only 6 weeks apart. Looks like these three are going to have lots of adventures together in the years to come.

Princess Party Fun

This year we had Piper's birthday party over Valentine's day weekend (a long weekend with Washington's B-day that Monday). It was a princess party and we think our little princess had a great time. Once her cake was in front of her, it was all business as she sampled the chocolate frosting to be sure it was up to par for her chocolate-loving palate!