Early Christmas Shopping

When did it become mid-November?! I'm not quite sure how I'm still doing posts of Halloween (so far behind!) but also that we have to start thinking about Christmas?? We have neighbors with lights up already which is throwing me off.. regardless, we decided to get out of the house this weekend and take the kids shopping. We headed to the Alderwood mall and found a few things for our upcoming photos with Sarah Sweetman and a few goodies for daddy as well. On Sunday we headed to Costco to get a couple things we had seen a few weeks back that we knew the kids would enjoy getting on Christmas morning. Feels good to get a few things checked off Santa's list!!

Balancing

This week's skill of the week at Little Gym: Balancing on the balance beam!

Toddler Meals

We have decided to take away bottles from the kids and introduce toddler meals... so far things have been going so smoothly! I really wanted to take away the bottles before they got too attached and I'm so glad I did. With the bottles away, we also removed all the binkies from the house (not that they were using them), but also all of the baby toys and stored them away.

The kids are at about 20oz of milk each per day (which is right at the normal mark) and have been eating 3 small meals and 2 snacks. Of course we have days where we are SUPER hungry and others where we only want milk, but the transition has been a lot better than I anticipated. Our toddler meals consist of a main item (such as grilled chicken/quesadilla/pasta/eggs), a vegetable (corn/broccoli/salad/peas/carrots) and a fruit (blueberries/peaches/banana). Snacks depend on where we are, but always keep those tummies full until their next meal (smoothie/granola bar/organic whole milk yogurt with spinach/mandarin oranges). These kids eat better than we do! We're even working on our motor skills and getting those spoons to our mouths; between throwing our bowls and plates on the ground for the dogs to lick up!

Sick Babies and Ear Infections

It didn't take long for the flu/cold season to hit our house! The kids BOTH had high fevers and were screaming non-stop so mommy stayed home on Monday and Tuesday of last week to take care of them. Grandma also helped out a TON while daddy was off at his CEO's Kaizen!
We headed to the doctor to get checked out and it was confirmed- Hunter had a severe ear infection in his right ear and Hailey had 2 mild ear infections in BOTH ears! It was rough few days...

Mommy's water bottle got stolen..

We screamed at the doctors..

..and at home..

And Hailey even threw up on the carseat.. Hunter did have fun climbing in it though!

It's Officially Indoor Weather!

We were very lucky with the sunshine until the end of October, but now it is indoor weather and time to find things to do indoors! We decided the kids were big enough to bring them to Elevated Sports. They of course were not big enough to go on the trampolines (not until they are 3), but they have a huge indoor climbing area! We had fun chasing after them and watching them go down the big slides on their own! We aren't talking baby slides... I'm so impressed on how brave Hunter and Hailey are!

Happy Birthday Grandma and Uncle Chris

We celebrated Grandma and Uncle Chris' birthday last weekend. We showed up before the gang was there and Hunter had the best sad face I've ever seen!! We were able to get inside to wait (and mess up Aunt Alicia's clean living room with their legos-sorry!!) until everyone got there.

Around the Circle- Front Flips!

WOW! These kids are brave! We practiced front flips at Little Gym and they were so brave going on the wheel and being flipped over! They each went several times around and would giggle the entire time!

Day of the Dead

Our neighbors from Brazil had a Day of the Dead party a few days after Halloween and we got all dressed up to go over! We are so lucky to have such awesome neighbors ! Mommy even won the 'Best Dressed Costume Contest!' Couldn't do it without my other half... literally ;)

We're Not Babies Anymore..

Hunter and Hailey officially moved to the toddler house on November 2nd! Mommy took the day off work and went with them to make the transition a bit easier. They both were so open to the new environment & mommy was pleased with the new teachers! Despite leaving our teachers that we loved so much in the infant room, this transition really is a great thing! The kids already seem to have absorbed so much and are starting to understand how to complete tasks that we ask them. If we ask them to bring us something or point to Lily or Paco, they do! In their new bigger kid class they have circle time, are participating in more arts and crafts and even have Spanish time!