Kayla just took 5 steps...

...and is so proud of herself!

Kayla's First Steps

Not sure if I ever blogged about it...but in November Kayla had started standing on her own, and for long periods of time.  I had gained enough confidence in her ability to stand that I decided to videotape her doing it one day.  She had been standing for about 30 seconds, when all of a sudden she fell backwards, straight as a board.  Since that horrific fall, she stopped standing.

The past few weeks Kayla has gotten over her fear and has started standing again.  She's definitely back to the point she was at a few months ago, and can often be found standing playing toys, rather than leaning or holding on to something.

This past week, she has also started to take steps, unassisted.  Thursday she took one step, away from the coffee table and to her toys.  Yesterday, she took two steps.  It shouldn't be long before she's walking on her own!  She's very good at walking with only holding one of my hands.

Her favourite thing to do right now: play with a ball (like the dollar store, classic kid-type, ball).  She LOVES walking around and kicking it (which she is great at) or sitting and throwing it on the ground to bounce it to you (which she is really good at too).

Matthew and Kayla napped at opposite times this afternoon so I had an hour of just Kayla and me time, and we had a blast.  She was in such a good mood!  We did a lot of ball playing and walking, and then she played with cars while I did some dishes.  Once Matthew woke up we went for a walk, went on the swings, and jumped on the trampoline (with Grandma too!  Haven't seen her on there for a long time...).

I love clear days.  Doesn't have to be sunny out, just not rainy!  Our days are so much more enjoyable when we can go outside for a bit.  Looking forward to spring...

Finding a Balance

The longer it took Jon and I to get pregnant, the deeper I fell into unhappiness.  I longed for a life of having and raising kids...but it just wasn't happening.  And then we did in vitro, they were born, and I was ecstatic.

I knew I loved my job, and that I would have a hard time leaving it to go on maternity leave.  I was only off for a month before I started working from home again.  I just couldn't give it up. 

I thought that I would be upset that my maternity leave is almost up.  I'm going to miss the 'free' money (!), but I don't think I'm upset it's up.  I think I'm actually looking forward to going to work.  The closer I get to going back, the more excited I get.

I don't know if it's the season/weather, but I'm getting tired of being stuck in the house.  We can't go anywhere because we don't have a vehicle when Jon's working...but even if we did, where would we go?  The weather is horrible, and the amount of work it takes to get out makes it not worth it.  I find myself falling into an unhappiness of being home 24-7.  Please don't get me wrong though, I love my kids...but I also love my job...using my brain, crunching numbers, problem-solving, being a leader, etc.  

Problem is though, I don't want to (can't!) do both 100% of the time...so I have to find a balance.  I need to work enough so that it fills that desire to be "Corporate Laura", but I can only work certain times/days depending on vehicles/babysitting.  I want to be home enough so that it fills my desire of being "Mommy Laura"...but without losing any of "Corporate Laura".  I don't think I can be a good "Mommy Laura" without a little bit of "Corporate Laura" in my life.  What's a good balance, so that I can do both without letting one suffer?  Every day different scenarios run through my mind...what if I work this day, this day, and this day, how will I get there, who will watch the kids?  etc etc etc.  Is it worth insuring a second vehicle (the golf) just so that I have a little more flexibility with what I do and when?  Is it worth paying someone to watch Matthew and Kayla for a little more flexibility?

Praying for some sunny weather so that we can get out and play outside!  Come Spring, come!!!

10 Months Old!

Kayla:

• loves soft dolls and stuffed animals.  When she sees them, she'll grab them and give them a tight hug.  Her favourites are the dolls my parents brought back with them from Ontario for herself and Matthew, her "baby" - a small OshKosh doll (hand-me down), and "Mr. Monkey" - a monkey with a "Someone from TWU loves me" t-shirt that I had bought Jon my first year at TWU.
• knows what she wants to eat.  We struggled a little more this past month in getting her to eat dinner, because if she didn't like it there was no way she would eat it.  She loves cheese and prunes, so that's all she had for dinner a couple nights.
• knows how to spray food out of her mouth if she doesn't like it.  This started out as being cute, but quickly resulted in her getting a little slap tap on the cheek.  She's learned now (I think!).
• loves being tossed around on the couch and wrestled with.  She squeals in delight!
• has started getting angry when Matthew tries to take a toy away from her.  She likes to tease him with the toy, and then when he attempts to grab it she gets angry and looks at me to make sure I see what he's doing.
• enjoys reading the "MOO" book her and Matthew received for Christmas because there are a lot of fuzzy animals to feel and flaps to open.
• has begun to open and close her first when she wants something.
• is learning how to wave.

Matthew:

• loves hard toys that he can chew on.
• loves knocking down towers of toys.  He's expressionless when he does it...but he must enjoy it because as soon as I have two blocks stacked on top of each other he quickly knocks it down.
• loves all food (that`s my boy!).  He eats way more than Kayla at every meal.  He will eat anything.
• loves lying down in the bath and having water dripped on him.  He squeals and splashes around like crazy.
• has learned how to walk around furniture.  He loves standing by our windows in the living room and walking along them.
• loves it when you`re "goofy" with him.  I can do a short, but loud, yelp and he`ll burst out laughing.
• enjoys reading books (yes!).  Unlike Kayla, he can actually sit through a story.  His favourites are: "Where`s My Bear?", "Counting Peas", "Oh Where, Oh Where", and "MOO".
• smiles for the camera as soon as he hears it turn on.
• gets scared if you scream out of surprise.  For instance, if something is going to fall off the table and you scream when you notice that he'll burst out crying and will be cautious of you.  

Our typical daily schedule:

7:00am - My "alarm clock" (Matthew) wakes up.  I make them breakfast (rice cereal), get Matthew out of bed, and then wake Kayla up and feed them both.  After breakfast they get a bottle (3oz) and play toys while I eat my breakfast.  Lately, they've been helping me eat my breakfast (peanut butter, jam, and banana sandwich).  The highlight for them is when I let them finish my last swallow of milk.

7:30am - Bath time!

8:00am - Play time

9:00am - Bottle (3 oz) and then nap time.

10:00am - Bottle (3 oz), a few Graduates for snack, and then play time.

11:00am - Lunch (3/4 slice of bread, chunks of cheddar or marble cheese or cheese slice, some sort of fruit, sippy cup with water)

12:00pm - Bottle (3 oz) and then nap time.

1:00pm - Bottle (3 oz), yogourt and/or fruit for snack, and then play time.

3:00pm - Bottle (3 oz) and then nap time.

4:00pm - Bottle (3 oz), some sort of wheat item for snack (Gerber Graduates, Cheerios, Mum Mum), and then play time.

5:15pm - Dinner (Either what we're having, or 12mth baby food mixed with homemade baby food (they aren't fans of plain vegetables anymore, so I'm trying to use up my frozen baby food supply + keep the cost of store-bought baby food down) and prunes, sippy cup with water)

6:00pm - Bath time!

6:30pm - Bottle (2 oz)

6:45pm - Over to my parents' house for a quick visit.

7:30pm - Home again.  Brush teeth and story time, followed by bottle (2 oz).

8:00pm - Bed time!

January 16 - Kayla fell out of the bath tub.  She was standing and watching me change Matthew, but leaned too far over the edge and fell out.  Luckily I was there to catch her!

January 17- Matthew and Kayla shared a sippy cup of chocolate milk with their lunch.  They absolutely LOVED it!  I made them share the same cup, so they had to take turns.  Every time it was their turn they would get super excited.

Links & Socks

I have a basket with about a hundred coloured links that Matthew and Kayla love to play with.  Every time we play with them I hold them up one by one and state what colour that link is, usually in a super high or super low or crazy voice.  They love it.  Matthew bursts out laughing every time.  Anyways, we were playing with them today, and I had only chosen a couple to name.  Five minutes later, Kayla picks one up, holds it out to me, and babbles.  I stated the colour, she put it down, and quickly picked up another one, held it out, and babbled.  We did this for quite a while!

Once she tired of playing with the links, she crawled over to the window.  I noticed that she was missing a sock, so I asked her where her sock was.  She looked up at me and started pulling off her sock.  Coincidence?  Or did she understand (to a degree, or course) what I was saying?

Matthew's Third Tooth

Upper right.

Yesterday.

For my info only :)

Please don't remind me that I need to do another entry.  I already feel guilty every time I see that my sister in laws have updated theirs.  It's sad when they've done multiple posts since I've done my last one.  I've given up promising when it will be...

Hearing Giggles

Because Kayla had a rough night last night, I allowed her to sleep in this morning.  She woke up at 8:30am, over an hour after Matthew.  I knew this would mean I would have to delay Matthew's morning nap and give Kayla's hers early otherwise they would be on opposite schedules and I would have no 'me' time today.  Matthew was more than ready for a nap at 9:30am, so I put Kayla in her crib as well...at least for long enough so that I could shower without having to worry about what she was getting into.  When I finished showering I could see that she was just sitting in her crib, playing with the few stuffed animals she had in there.  Great!  At least she was getting some 'quiet' time if she didn't want to sleep.  I changed, and then went to check my e-mails.  After being at the computer for a little while I heard Kayla giggling.  Wondering what she could possibly be laughing about I went over to check on her.  When I walked in the doorway I saw exactly why: I could see Matthew was laying down, but his little hand and the top of his head were stretching to peek over the edge of his crib.  Matthew's crib hasn't been lowered yet...but this is definitely an indication that I'll have to get Jon to do it soon!