Kasey 10 Months - Sept 28th

Landon and Kasey playing with Daddy - 9/18/09

Kasey standing on her own while playing and not holding on to table - 9/11/09

At Oktoberfest in Addison - 9/17/09

Kasey really likes getting into Lady's food - 9/15/09

Landon taking time out of his tball practice to make sure Kasey has a drink - 9/9/09

Kasey ready for Aggie football in overall made by cousin Debby - 9/5/09

Going for a walk/ride at Grammy and Gramps, What a look :) - 9/27/09

Always watching what big brother is doing

Not sure what Landon and I are doing, but Kasey looks cute

Kasey ready for A&M football - 9/26/09

Kasey is growing up. She's moving around more. Now I haven't seen her take more than a couple steps with the push toys, but here's video that she's walking with a push toy. She's pretty good and going from a table to a person or to another toy - meaning she'll transfer her support to something else to keep moving.

She started talking more the week of 9/28 - She started saying Ba Ba Ba in addition to Da Da and Ma Ma.

Kasey is now doing the signs for milk and light. It's cute to see her do it and know that we understand what she is saying.

She's eating various things now. I don't think she's as good of an eater as Landon was (she's pickier), but she still does pretty good. I think she gets tired of having the same things over and over. Even though we try to give her some of what we have we usually give her some of the same staples. She is eating Soy yogurt which is good - still can't tolerate dairy. I'm still breastfeeding. She'll drink milk in the morning, maybe ~6 oz during the day and then a couple times at night. I'm still pumping twice a day when I'm at work.

Kasey is still sleeping in our room in her crib. She does pretty well going to bed. She has a little blanket that Grandma made her that she likes to sleep with. It's crocheted so it has holes in it which is good because she likes to put it on her head. Of course we watch her breathing on the video cam, and take it off her head when she's asleep.

Kasey has started wearing some pants because it's been a little cool in the mornings and evenings. She's wearing size 18 months already because her tummy is big. They are to long for her, but 12 months are to tight.

Kasey's hair is one of my bigger worries (It could definitely be worse). She has pretty fine hair that's in a stage where it's not long enough to do a lot with, but not short enough to stay out of the way. I usually put a bow in her hair or put a small pony tail on top of her head. At least this keeps her hair out of her eyes. Unfortunately her weekday caregivers do not put things in her hair so I come home and she looks like a rag doll. Her hair will grow and it will all work out. She does seem to have some curl when it's wet, and as the back gets longer it's curling some as well.

Kasey says Ma Ma, eating food chuncks, Landon update

Landon has a big blue blankie and a little blue blankie. The little one goes in the car and the big one is only for bed/naps. Grandma made the little ones, and has made Kasey one as well. She seems to like it and it helps sooth her at night. It has holes so I feel comfortable giving it to her.

Kasey has started eating small chunks of soft food instead of just homemade puree in the last couple weeks. She's had peas, carrots, green beans, black beans, peaches, and probably some others. She's growing up to fast.

On9/7/09 Kasey figured out how to climb the stairs. Of course we have to be very careful because she doesn't know how to come down backwards yet or that you don't try to sit off the stairs.

She also said Ma Ma for the first time on 9/7/09. She hasn't said it a lot since, but Greg and I both heard her say it.

We are teaching Kasey sign language like we did with Landon. I think she is starting to catch on to the signs some. I think she does the sign for milk, but she for sure understands it. I've also been trying to teach her light which was Landon's first sign that he did.

Kasey's top middle left tooth has come in pretty good in the last week. We also think her two upper eye teeth are starting to come in.

Landon wants to do more grown up things. He wants to take pictures himself, he wants to close the car door. He wants to unbuckle himself from the carseat. Of course we make him wait until we are completely stopped and tell him ok. He's called me a few times taking my seat belt off before we are completely stopped. One time he told me I had to buckle it back.

He also enjoys doing things that Kasey does. He likes lap rides, singing songs while bouncing on your lap, rolling the ball.

Landon doesn't want Kasey to get his trains. He starts yelling "get her" as soon as she starts crawling in the direction of his trains. We sometimes get her and sometimes let him deal with it. Tonight he actually gave her a train to play with I think because he was getting attention and having fun.

Landon's 3s class has just started the Letter People Curriculum (http://lw025.k12.sd.us/Meet%20the%20Letter%20People.htm). They have little characters that have names, and a book and a song, and a characteristic that all start with the letter on their shirt (upper case on the front and lower case on the back). The letter people participate in the class just like the kids do and make learning about the letters fun. They started with Mr N today who has a noisy nose. Landon said he had a cracker at snack time.

We took Landon to th dentist for the first time this year. We decided to take him to our dentist because we thought it would be cheaper, and their office convinced us that they had experience with younger children. They didn't take xrays, but said that Landon had 4 or 5 cavities that needed to be filled. She recommended that we go to a pediatric dentist to get them done because of his age. So off to the pediatric dentist. They took xrays and determined that he didn't have any cavities, but that he had more groves in his teeth than normal baby teeth so he had some staining. This can of course lead to cavities. So we decided to do sealants on 6 of his baby teeth to keep from having to fill cavities. This was done on Sept 10th. Sealants only required laughing gas, and part of the reason we decided to do it is that I didn't want to have to sedate him to fill cavities later on. He did great. The dentist even commented that they have much older kids that don't do as well. Of course he had laughing gas and was able to watch a movie on the ceiling :)

I asked the dentist about how to teach Landon to brush his teeth. She said they really need help until they are 6 or 7 especially at night brushing. A day or so later, Landon said you have to help me brush at night time. He doesn't miss much.

Pictures of kids

9/12/09

I had planned a block party because there are several families that have moved in over the last year. As it happened, nature decided to rain on my block party. Jessica and I came up with a backup plan to take the kids to Boomerangs and get pizza from there for dinner. The place was a mad house because it had been raining all day. Justin was nice enough to rent out one of the rooms and order pizza so we could have a little sanity and quiet, but the kids still got to play and have fun.

Here are Kasey and Greg hanging out
Landon and Liam being silly

These are the older siblings of the families - William, Landon, Maya, Liam and Dylan.

Greg and Kasey hanging out on the couch. She didn't fall down, she's just sitting like Daddy :) 9/12/09

Landon's tball practice was interesting. I missed the first one in Japan, but the second one other said was more organized but had fewer dads to help out. Here is Landon trying to hit the ball. - 9/9/09

Probably the most important part of tball practice is the water breaks. Landon is being a good big brother here making sure Kasey gets one too. Just helped give Kasey water too, but I didn't get a picture

Landon helped Greg wash both cars - 9/7/09 - he said this weekend that they needed to wash the cars again because it rained all over them. It was still raining at the time he said this.
This is a cute series of pictures I took of Kasey and Landon sitting on the little couch - 9/7/09



Kasey and Landon with their Cousin Lorenda who came to visit - 9/6/09

Landon's First A&M Football Game - 9/5/09

Greg has had A&M season football tickets since 1994. We checked this year and there happened to be 1 open seat on our row. We figured this might not happen again so we decided to buy it. We took Landon to his first Texas A&M Football game on 9/5/09. A&M played New Mexico and won 41 to 6.

Kasey stayed with Grammy and Gramps, and the 3 of us set on our way to College Station. We bought a new DVD player for Landon to watch in the car which helped. He also took a little nap.

Once we got down there Landon and I were headed to kid yell practice. Greg dropped us off and the first thing we heard was a tailgate playing the Aggie Band. Landon said that's what I wanted. He loves to hear the Aggie band in the car. We stopped by to see the Calvary and their horses right across from the stadium. Then we went to play on the jump houses they have set up. They were a little big for Landon, but there were students helping the kids get through so he loved it.

After that we went to kids yell practice. Basically a couple of the yell leaders and a few guys from the Corps teach the kids a couple yells and then everyone does the yells. He wasn't to sure, but seemed to have fun. He got his picture with one of the yell leaders afterwards.

Then right after that the band and the football team walk into Kyle Field. We were standing by the band (Tuba players), and I asked Landon to go stand with them to get his picture. He didn't want to. I think it was a little overwhelming for him. We walked down a ways and stood on the corner where they turned into the stadium. This was cool because a couple of the football players gave Landon 5 on the way in.

After that we walked back to where Daddy and Doug were tailgating before the game.

On the way there Landon wanted to stop at the Port-o Potties. Yea so clean. I guess when you've got to go you've got to go.

We had a pretty good walk to the game so Greg carried Landon on his shoulders for part of the way. Landon liked seeing a hearing the band. He also recognized the yell leaders from the stands. I think he did well for being 3 and having to sit for so long. He did want to go to the bathroom about 10 times. We went before the game, at half time, and just before the end of the game. He got to the point at the end where he said he really had to go. It's hard to tell when he keeps asking. He didn't have to much junk food. He had a pretzel and a snow cone (you will see his red tongue in the pictures).

One other thing is there was a pigeon on the steps of our section. Landon kept wanting to go see it.

In 4th quarter we let Landon have his blankie. He told us later that was his favorite part, but then he also said several other parts were his favorite.

On the way home he wanted to watch a movie so we let him for a while, but then made him turn it off so he would go to sleep.

Greg dropped me off at Grammy and Gramps and took Landon home so they could sleep well in their beds. This was good because they both slept until 9:30ish. Kasey woke up once about 3:30am then slept until about 8:30. I gave her to my parents and slept for another hour since I went to bed at 2am.

Overall it was fun. We were pretty worn out though. I don't think we are as young as we used to be. It's kind of hard to accept that.

Here are some pictures from the day: click here

Landon and Doug running around on Kyle Field after the game.

Landon's First Day of School, Mommy's Japan trip

Landon's first day of school was Aug 31st. This is for his 3s Preschool class. He goes to school MWF from 8:30-2. I was in Japan so I missed the first day, but I was able to talk to him just after he got home from school

Japan trip

Aug 30th I left for my first international business trip since Kasey was born. I went to Japan for some customer visits.

I'm still breast feeding Kasey so I had to pump while I was in Japan. This was quite interesting. I pumped in the planes on the way there and back (it was pretty bumpy on the way there, but ok on the way home) , I pumped in several trains (some smooth and some not so smooth), and I even pumped in a non air conditioned bathroom at one of the customer sites. Apparently at this one there were 5 Japanese ladies waiting for the bathroom while I was in there. oops. I know it's worth it, and I have no intention of stopping in the near term but I was really ready to come home and stop pumping.

Greg did a great job on his own. He was able to get Kasey to settle down to sleep on her own in the evenings, and she actually started sleeping through the night without waking up early morning. Hopefully this will last...

On Friday after I got back Landon and I were out in the neighborhood doing a few things while Kasey was sleeping. Greg just crashed on the couch. It's hard work taking care of two kiddos.

I didn't bring my camera with me, but I had my new MyTouch 3G phone (new Android phone). I have a very simple data plan on it so I wasn't syncing email or anything so I thought I would try out other features on the phone while in Japan. I decided to take pictures and movies with it.

These are several pictures I took while in Japan: click here

I aparently I turn the phone the wrong way for videos as well...

This is the Shinkansen (bullet train) that we took from Tokyo to Kyoto. This train goes about 186 miles per hour so it took a couple hours to get there. These trains sometimes run 3 minutes apart so they are competing quite a bit with airlines to get around Japan.

This was in the hotel that we stayed in in Kyoto. It was right in the train station, and a nice hotel. This video was Landon's favorite even though I took pictures of trains, trucks and cranes for him. When you walk up to the toilet it lifts the lid for you automatically. It also has a heated seat which I still don't understand for the summer months

This video I took from a cab on the way to the hotel after dinner. This was in Tokyo and very typical what the city looks like at night.

Kasey's 9 months, Landon's meet the teacher

We had a big day today...

I can't believe Miss Kasey is 9 months old. She's growing up so fast.

We had her 9 month Dr appointment today. She weighed 20lb 12.7oz (81%), 28 1/2 in long (79%), 17 1/4 (44%). They said she is doing great and growing well. They said that she really didn't need to drink milk in the middle of the night that it's more of a habit or comfort after 9 months. I just worry that because she tries to drink more milk at night that she might really need that 3:30 or 4:30am feeding. Who knows, after a week of me in Japan we might know more :)

Landon had his meet the teacher day at his school today. He's in 3s preschool class. One of the 3s teachers is a teacher that Landon had last year and loved. He's lucky to have her as one of his teachers again this year. His friends Justin and Jack from his 2s class are in his class, and a couple friends from his summer class. It should be a good year.

In the last couple days Kasey and Landon seem to be interacting more. They play tug of war with little blankets and lovies in the backseat of the car. They laugh at each other, and look for each other often. It's fun to seem them become closer. Landon likes singing songs and helping read books to Kasey.

Landon's schedule, Kasey first word - Da Da, roadtrip to visit family and other updates

Landon's schedule: We've packed Landon's schedule for the fall. We think it will be fun and hopefully not to busy. He will be going back to AppleCreek Preschool 3 days a week. He did this over the summer and enjoyed it. We hope that some of his friends will be in his class, and we'll find out on Friday. He has class from 8:30 til ~11:30. Then at the school he goes to "Stay and Play" where he eats lunch with other kids and they play outside and just play.

He's also started a soccer skills class with Soccertots. He's going to a location in Richardson recommended by another mom from Landon's preschool. He's in class with his friend down the street Liam, a friend from school Justin, and a friend that was in his 2s class at AppleCreek Asher.

These 4 boys are also signed up for Jr Tball. We found out today that they will be the Chicago Cubs team and the first practice is next Wednesday. Unfortunately I'll miss it because I'll be in Japan. It should be interesting. I assume we'll have practices on Wednesdays and games on Sat or Sunday. We are very anxious to see the schedule to determine if we'll have to miss any games because of Aggie football games.

I'm organizing weekly playdates in the area. We go to different parks near us to play for about an hour on Tuesday nights. Kasey and Greg come with us sometimes. We've had up to 10 families that come so it's fun for the kids to get energy out and play together.

Here are some pictures of the playdates this year - we started in June - click here

Landon is also in a 30 minute swim class a week. He's graduated to the advanced aquatots class and is doing very well. They will start working on skill with arms and kicking in this class.

8/25/09 - Kasey started saying Da Da. Very sweet. I think everyone has heard her say Hi, and a few of us have heard her say Ma Ma. I consider Da Da her first word though because it seemed most deliberate. See video at the bottom of the post.



Our backyard patio project is finally complete. They started it on July 22nd and finished it Aug 25th. We are happy with the work they did. It's good quality, but the scheduling and communication was not good at all. They would just show up to work on it, or say they were going to show up and didn't. Anyway, I think we'll get a lot of use out of it.

here are pictures from start to finish of the project - click here

Kasey has also started biting for some reason. It really hurts. I have have bruises on my arm. We'll have to work on that one.

8/23/09 - Kasey started being able to pinch cheerios between her thumb and forefinger and put them in her mouth. Pretty good considering she was exhausted from the weekend trip :)

8/21-23/09 - We went to visit my mom's side of the family near Conroe Texas. We had a good time seeing family and having them get to know Kasey some more. Landon had a great time playing with his cousins (of all ages). Kasey did great. I remember when we would go down when Landon was young Greg or I would need to be near him almost all of the time because that's what he was comfortable with. Kasey would hang out with everyone, and although she was very tired she was a trooper and smiled lots. Saturday we went to Incredible Pizza, with his cousins Haley, Ashlyn and Marisela. I left early to attend a sorority function in College Station, but they had a great time. Greg and Landon even won a go cart race and got a first place ribbon.

Here are pictures from the visit - we took a bunch :) click here

8/16/09 - We celebrated Grandma's birthday by having dinner at Abuelos and then going back to our house for German chocolate cake that Greg made. Janice has figured out a recipe to make it so that it doesn't have cows milk in it (so I can eat it). It's awesome and always one of my favorites.

Here are some pictures from Grandma's birthday - click here

8/15/09 - We set up a "playdate" for the 4 families on our street with young kiddos. We went to a local pool where they have a wonderful play area for the little ones. Here are some pictures - click here