Isaac Laughing With Mommy

So I'm attempting to upload a video (again).  Hoping that I can get it to work soon.  This is Isaac laughing hysterically.  They always say "laughter is contagious."  Here's the proof!

December Beginnings

Well, so much for keeping you posted about things here in CA with the Krueger's.  It's hard to keep up on our happenings when I don't write for over a month.  I'll get better I promise.  So here are a few things that may spark your interest in the past month.

November 13, 2007: Moira's First Pedicure
One night Moira was looking at my toes and seemed impressed by the color and so I thought "What fun it would be to paint her nails!"  (Ken may have felt differently, but he was giving Isaac a bath so I ran with it.)  Moira sat very still and had lots of fun walking around and looking at her toes! 

November 24 Thanksgiving
Since having two little ones makes it almost impossible to travel, we're getting used to having our own holiday traditions.  But one thing is for sure, we're very thankful that we have each other.  More importantly, we love our kids and we're so thankful that they love us.  We invited my friend from college, Missy.  She just moved to CA and lives an hour away.  We enjoyed turkey and all the fixings and played games!  Great day!

November 25 Setting Up the Christmas Tree
So we tried MULTIPLE times throughout the day to get the tree and other decorations set up.  We even tried to watch a Christmas movie while doing so.  But we hit pause so many times and had to take breaks due to the kids that it seemed like we'd never finish.  But what made it all worth it was Moira's Oooh's and Ahh's as she rounded the corner to see a lit up Christmas tree!  I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning!

November 25 Evening
Moira has been loving the fact that Isaac is growing and becoming more of a "play" thing!  She loves trying to make him laugh.  She tries feeding him with her baby's play bottle.  She tickles him and here are a few pictures of Moira playing peek-a-boo with Isaac!  It was priceless.  At first we thought that she would be too rough, but he LOVED it!

 

November 26 Trying to Take Pictures for the Christmas Card
Well it was quite a day trying to get the kids to smile for our Christmas card.  It was hard enough to get one LOOKING at the camera, much less smiling!  So here's a peek at our catatonic children (We did get good ones too, but you'll see those soon enough!)

Early December Random Funnies
Moira has an early obsession with shoes (She'll make Oma proud).  She especially loves practicing being autonomy in putting them on herself.  Moira also has found enjoyment in the packages and boxes that have been sent for the holiday season!  She shows off her gymnast pose here!

December 3 Mom Get's Crafty

So I feel like since I'm a stay at home mom, I feel like I should have time to do some fun "decorating" things.  I had to put my sewing machine in storage when we moved to 10th Ave and so I have limited options.  However, I did find time to decorate our stockings.  They were purchased at Target and I added felt and buttons.  It was so much fun!  Hope to do more in the future!

December 3 Isaac Turns 4 Mo. Old
Isaac is so much fun.  We love seeing him smile and even more seeing him laugh.  He has the cutest little laugh.  He is still struggling with tummy issues.  At his 4 month check up, we were told that he is stretching out, but had only gained 7.5 oz since 2 months.  We're hoping that changes and he finds something to make his tummy happy again.  But what's even better is that he's sleeping more.  He's been very generous to give us a few nights (here and there) of 8 hours of sleep.  There are becoming more and more prevalent.  

December 5 Moira Uses the Big Girl Potty
YAY is right!  We've been getting Moira used to the potty for some time now.  The best part of the cloth diapers is the disposable liner.  You place this liner inside the cloth diaper and its a "poopy catcher."  It catches poop and can be flushed!  (That way you don't have to scrub and it doesn't get in the wash machine!)  Anyway, Moira has been making trips to the potty after each poopy diaper change and saying "bye bye" to poopy.  Then she started helping flush.  One day, Moira was keeping me company on the potty (as she often does) and seemed very interested so I asked her if she'd like to sit on the potty.  She jumped at the chance!  (I'm glad she wasn't afraid.)  She sat there and we counted and then she said she was all done.  (No pee pee but it was a start.)  Each day after that we had her sit on the potty a little longer each time.  And just 4 days after her first sitting, she went!  (To everyone's surprise)  I went crazy!  Dad/Ken grabbed the camera!  She hasn't done it again since, but we keep trying and soon enough it will click!  Keep your fingers (or legs) crossed, haha!

Well that's all folks.  We will update more, especially over Christmas break!  It's right around the corner.  We are already missing being around family this time of year, but appreciate technology that can make the miles seem a little less far!  XOXO to all!  <3 Jalynn

Moira, Moira, Moira

Well, I just had to pay tribute to our growing little girl.  Tomorrow she turns 16 months!  Can you believe how time flies?!  Of course not, because we don't age at all, right?!  Let me clue you in to this cute little girl.  

(1) She loves to read.  She is going to be a very verbal child.  She's SOOO close to talking and it won't be long before she's talking your ear off.  She babbles all day long and she LOVES talking to her little brother.  I tried taking a video, but I'm having troubles posting videos.  Will work on it and get back to you!!!

(2) She loves to eat, well certain foods.  She is a really decent eater, when she wants to be.  Here she is enjoying one of her favorites: spaghetti.   

 

 

(3) Moira is becoming more independent.  Whether she is skipping her naps by playing in her crib or refusing to eat her favorite foods, Moira is becoming more and more bold in her actions.  Once rule during dinner is that she's not allowed to play with her hair.  Obviously the next pictures show you how she's testing our patience.  It is SO hard not to laugh during these moments:

(4) Moira is a mini-me!  She loves to mimic whatever you're doing and one place she loves to do it is in the kitchen.  We have a little baker on our hands! 

   

(5) Moira is an outdoor girl.  Regardless of the chilly weather (and yes it gets chilly here), Moira would much rather be outside rather than being cooped up in the house.  Here are some of my favorites from today when she was playing on our "outdoor room" which is right out sliding glass doors from our living room:

(6) Moira is a girly girl!  She can play rough with the boys, I have no doubt about it, but she is a beautiful little girl who can find her feminine energy as well.  She's going to be a heartbreaker one day!

 

Ok, that's all for now.  Happy 16 months baby girl!  Mommy and Daddy love you! 

Isaac Randall 3 mo.

Can you believe 3 months has flown by in this little man's life?!  He rolled over 3 days ago for the first time!  He has great head control and sleeps between 7-8 hours a night.  His tummy troubles have lessened and he's just SUCH a happy kid!  As you will see.  I did a mini photo shoot with Isaac today and here are some of my favorites:

 

Halloween 2011

   We had so much fun for Halloween this year!  Festivities started last weekend as we went to the pumpkin patch.  We have been trying to go to a pumpkin patch in Petaluma, CA for the last few years.  But due to traffic, rain, etc we have not been able to make it and ended up just getting pumpkins from the grocery store.  This year, someone told  us about a pumpkin patch right here in SF!  What an awesome little treasure.  It was a great setup and even had (FREE) parking!  As we got out they had little "patches" of pumpkins.  And Moira was in awe of all the little, orange "balls" and kids surrounding her.  They even had a "hayride" through the parking lot.  We had so much fun!!!  We'll definitely go back there again.  Here are some of our favorite pictures:

Then on the Thursday before Halloween, we went to our friends house, The Arellano's, to have dinner and carve/paint pumpkins.  Moira LOVED painting pumpkins.  She even tasted it and ended up looking like Hitler or Charlie Chaplin!  Classic!  We've had an owl theme going since Moira' first birthday and Halloween has followed in the footsteps.  We found a template and went with it!  The night got late but it was fun to be surrounded by friends, food and babies!  (We made a garlic explosion french bread to have with dinner and it was awesome.)  Here are some of our favorite pics:

Finally, today (Oct 31) I took the kids over to school to visit Ken's class and join them in the annual Costume Parade at Zion.  Moira LOVED seeing the other costumes and kids.  She loved being a part of the festivities.  She just basks in the spotlight and whoooo doesn't like a cute little owl.  I found the idea to make owl costumes online and so the owl theme continues.  In the evening, our church (Zion) hosted a trunk or treat.  It is when families from the church and school fill the parking lot and open their trunks in which to distribute candy.  We had fun decorating our trunk and passing out candy.  And Moira loved getting treats.  She had a ritual in which she got candy.  First she would go up to a trunk, take a piece of candy OUT of her bucket and try to hand it to the person handing out the candy.(She's the most generous trick-or-treater!)  I would put the candy back in the bucket and encourage her to hold out her bucket.  She'd then take a new piece of candy and finally she would sit in front of the trunk and sort through her bucket.  For each trunk we visited the ritual took about 3 minutes (which gave me time to talk too!).  But I said it was good we were only going to walk around the parking lot.  It took forever for her little legs to walk around.  And she was happy with the little amount she got. And Ken and I don't mind helping her eat it at all!  Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the night:

  So one more story about this Halloween.  I made the kids' costumes.  We bought simple brown pants for the legs and they will be able to wear those for as long as they fit.  We also bought simple shirts and used old t-shits from Ken's or my dresser to cut the many leaves.  After hours of cutting out feathers, I finally was able to put them all together.  What I DIDN'T account for was that all the glue to glue on the feathers would restrict the stretch which was needed to even get the kids IN the shirts.  Finally we contorted Moira's arms into the shirt.  As for Isaac, we had to cut his entire one side of his shirt to even get him into it.  I bought a 3 month shirt for his costume not even thinking that he's a gigantic boy.  Needless to say, I had to cut Moira's shirt to get her out of it.  Oh well, it was cute while it lasted.  

Hope you enjoyed this first blog and Happy Halloween!
Love,
Jalynn