Kate's on the move!

Look what she's accomplished this week - and it's only Tuesday! Great timing for a full day of flying at the end of the week, huh?

Monday Mugshots

This past week, Kevin took the bassinet off the top of Kate's Pack'nPlay and now it's become a great playground for both kids. Keanu can climb in and out by himself and so far he hasn't landed on Kate when he jumps in!

Here comes trouble!

"It's so much more fun to reach for the ones that Mom and Keanu don't want me to have rather than my chew on own block right beside me."

In addition, Kate has started doing a bit of army crawling recently, but if her destination is too far away, she'll still stop and whine until someone brings it to her.

6 months already!

Our baby is a half a year old today. Where have the past 6 months gone? How did my little 6-pound sleeper become a 19-pound ball of excitement?

6 months ago, she was nursing about every 2 hours; now she nurses about 6 times a day and loves sweet potatoes and rice cereal. She's not so fond of bananas - I'll need to get a picture of that face!

6 months ago, she slept almost all day; now she sleeps about 10 hours at night, waking up once to nurse and then nursing again before I go to work. She also naps 2-3 times during the day, depending on how often her brother or the phone wake her up.

6 months ago, her only method of communication and socialization was crying; now she smiles and laughs uproariously, especially when Keanu is being goofy. She also shows her utter frustration when Keanu (or Mom) takes away a toy (or something she shouldn't be mouthing).
6 months ago, she couldn't even hold up her head; now she rolls over and over to reach a toy and even scoots closer to a toy when she's sitting too far away from it. She loves to "jump" while sitting on your lap to show her excitement.

She has her check-up on Thursday, so we'll see what the doctor says about her development!

20 minutes

• We're ready to go upstairs for baths, so I pick up Kate only to find a "pleasant" aroma that is leaking beyond the diaper.
• By the time we get upstairs, I notice it's also on my shirt. Not a big deal, but not exactly pleasant, either!
• Kate goes right into the bathtub and Keanu plays quietly in the living room just outside the door. He's being unusually quiet, so I peak my head out to see that he must have assumed that the foam mats on the floor must have dry skin, especially the letter "c", as it is covered in lotion.
• Kate is done in the tub and is nursing in the bedroom when Keanu comes in asking for his milk. He goes to the 'fridge and drinks the last inch of milk from his cup. Knowing the jug is almost empty, I tell him he can pour some more into his cup. He's gone a bit longer than expected so I ask what's going on. "milk on floor" is the answer.
• He comes back to the bedroom to snuggle. Kate finishes her meal and isn't too sleepy yet, so I put her down beside Keanu on the bed to check on the milk situation. He had gotten a hand towel from the bathroom to clean up his mess, but hadn't gotten it all. At least he tried.
• When I get back, Kate has rolled over onto her tummy and burped up a puddle of the milk she just drank.

Have you counted how many items are now in my washing machine? I had half a load just from our accidents tonight! And our kids are usually clean (except when Kate is eating *solids*, but that's another story!)!

Wordless Wednesday

The Long Weekend

Today (Thursday) is Dragon Boat Festival so pretty much everyone has a long weekend. We all get tomorrow off, but most of us have to make up that holiday by working next Saturday instead. We didn't do any of the typical dragon boat festival activities like watching or participating in the boat races or even eating the rice dumplings, but we're having a great weekend.

We started out with brunch this noon at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel. For about $15US/adult, we each had a big entree along with all the salad, fruit, pastries, and dessert we could eat. In between trips back to the food bar, Keanu led me on a tour of the restaurant to wear off some calories and allow me to eat more!

Then in the afternoon, we made a trip up to the beach. Keanu didn't really like the smooshy soggy sand, but he had a great time in the dry sand.

Even Kate had a good time in the sand (until it was time to get back in her car seat and there was sand in her diaper!)

Then it was steak at the Longhorn where we ate at the outdoor picnic table just beside their slide and swings. It almost felt like a Memorial Day cookout!

We've still got 3 more days in our long weekend and it sounds like they're filling up fast! Hope you all enjoy(ed) your long weekend, too!