The Struiks: December 2011

I contemplated skipping a entry this month, due to lack of desire to go though all of the pictures and figure out which ones are 'blog-worthy', but I knew I would regret it if I didn't.

Seriously, Mom? ANOTHER picture?

I absolutely cannot believe that they are nine months old now. Not because they're growing so quick (which they are), but because I'm running out of time being a stay-at-home mom. The greenhouses have asked if I would do some work for them from home, starting at the beginning of January, but before I could give them an answer I had to have a conversation with BackCheck to see if I could return part-time in March, and if I could continue to work from home. After countless e-mails back and forth, trying to find a compromise between what I wanted from them and what they wanted from me, I will be returning in March for 20 hours a week (the minimum in order to stay on their dental and extended health plans). I will be doing 15 hours a week from the office, and another 5 will either be done from home or will be taken out of my banked vacation time / banked time. I didn't want to return for 20 hours. I was hoping to return for 10 hours a week, and do it all from home. Oh well. It was important that I stay on their benefits plans because they pay all of the premiums (rather than us going with the Surrey School District plan and having to pay $2400 a year), so that's why it will be 20 hours. Between my mom babysitting and Jon and I sharing one vehicle still (yes, we are going to try to be a single-car family still), we're hoping to be able to save a little money. Hoping. Until the next expense comes up, right? I'm also going to do the greenhouse work, and my tax job in the spring. I'm concerned with the number of hours I will be working, but I'm hoping it will go okay. It's not necessarily all by choice, but by the thought of "how are we going to ever afford a house if I don't work?". I'm hoping now that my employment once my mat leave is up is all figured out, that my stress level will go down. I need to enjoy these next 2.5 months!

Enough of my rambling - here are the pictures!

Matthew:

Matthew weighs 16lb 14ozs and is such a joy.

We started to see a little attitude this past month: fists pushed down to his side with an angry face, but that only lasted for about a week. It was really difficult not laughing when he did it.

We've started practicing with him how to pull himself up. He loves getting undressed, especially when you pull off his socks and say "Eww! Stinky socks!" He bursts out laughing. He loves it when you read him books with a lot of expression. His favourites are "Where's My Bear?" (still) and "Counting Peas".

Matthew is a really good eater. He has a sensitive gag reflex, but that doesn't stop him from eating anything and everything. He LOVES drinking water from his sippy cup during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Matthew is very much like me when it comes to sleeping: he doesn't need much of it (he's always the first awake in the morning), and he is happy when he wakes up.

Matthew doesn't quite understand what "no" means...but he hasn't had much opportunity to learn it yet because he can't move around himself.

All ready for Grey Cup!

Showing off his teeth.

Matthew had his first real sickness...for about a week he had a fever and was very whiny. Needless to say he got a lot of cuddles!

Laying on the couch while fighting his fever.

Kayla got Matthew's sickness too...but hers only lasted for a couple days. No, this picture was not posed! Kayla just crawled up to Matthew and my Mom and joined in.

Wrestling with Daddy.

Kayla:
Kayla weighs 18lb 3ozs and is a little bundle of energy.

She knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to try to get it.

Since I last posted about her starting to stand on her own she has taken a few large falls, and hasn't done it since. (One fall happened while I was videotaping her standing...all of a sudden you see her falling straight as a board backwards...oops!). She's very confident with pulling herself up on anything and everything, and walks very well when being assisted. She's even able to walk holding on to only one of my hands. She just needs to gain her confidence with standing again.

Kayla loves playing with toys, and plays very well by herself. She also loves to crawl, so when she wants to do both at once, she puts the toy in her mouth and goes on her way.

She listens really well, most of the time!

Kayla is a little more difficult to feed. Every other dinner we have a battle over getting her to eat her vegetables. Once you bring out the prunes, she'll open her mouth no problem! You can always tell how smoothly (or not so smoothly) the meal went by the presence (or lack of presence) of food in her hair and on her clothes. Kayla is very much like Jon when it comes to sleeping: she needs quite a bit (I always have to wake her up in the morning) and she doesn't wake up nicely. It takes her a good five minutes from the time I wake her up to the time she is willing to open her mouth for breakfast.

Kayla has become quite a "Mommy's girl". She hates when I'm not in the same room as her. If we're at home, she crawls from the living room to the kitchen, and then to the computer to find me. If we're at my parents, she'll cry/whine when I leave the room. She seems to do fine in the church nursery though!

Kayla's hair has really started to grow this past month. She woke up from her nap and actually had 'bed-head'! Her hair was also blowing in the wind the other day :)

Both Matthew and Kayla know our routine of going to my parents' house for coffee at night and start smiling and getting excited when they see me take out their blankets (to wrap them up in). They love having their ~~snack~~ dessert at my parents'. Even Jason has warmed up to them now that they aren't breakable anymore :) Kayla has a little crush on Jason (or on his iPhone?).

Bottles...it's a twin thing...

Kayla holds hers against her chest, Matthew holds his up.

I thought it was pretty cute that they both had their legs in the exact same position while drinking their bottle.

Didn't you know that boxes are the best toys?

Helping Daddy make stir fry.

Leading up to today I've pumped three times daily: morning (7am), afternoon (between 12pm and 4pm), and evening (9pm). Starting today I'm only going to be pumping twice: morning (7am) and early evening (6pm). In the next week or two I'll drop another pump.

I feel a bit sad doing it. I've always had an overabundance of milk (don't believe me? See my freezer...and my parents' freezer!), so it's sad that I'm choosing to stop it. However, if I don't stop, I'll never get my cycle back. And until my cycle is back, I can't even think about a future baby.

It will be nice to not have to worry about pumping during the day, though!

I probably have almost two months' worth of milk frozen (maybe more?), so Matthew and Kayla will continue to receive my milk for a while (in case you were worried that they were getting weaned too young!). :)