Pedoodles Review

People ask me all the time where I got Kirsten's adorable shoes. Pedoodles makes the cutest shoes for babies and toddlers, and we just love them! She has been wearing them since she was 15 months old and had just started walking, and she still fits in the 18-24 month size right now. I just don't want her to grow out of them!

The shoes are SO soft and comfortable, and also really flexible which is great for early walkers. The velcro straps are so easy and we can put her shoes on in a snap!

Here are some facts about these wonderful shoes:
*Every pair is constructed of premium genuine leather. The breathable material helps to promote healthy conditions around developing feet.
*They are perfect to wear outside, because the PedFlex flat rubber soles provide protection, durability, and traction, while at the same time staying lightweight and flexible!
*They naturally flex and form to any child's changing feet. (This is very true. . . Kirsten's feet are too wide for many brands of shoes, but the Pedoodles shoes have flexed around her feet and fit her perfectly!)
*The absence of any arch support helps to simulate barefoot walking, which experts recommend for new walkers.

On top of all those great features. . . these shoes are just so darn CUTE! I adore the two designs pictured above, and they have many other stylish designs as well. I'm so glad I found these shoes for Kirsten and will definitely be using them for Natalie as well!

My Two Month Old Cutie!

Natalie is two months old!
She no longer has a problem with not wanting to eat. At her two month check-up, she was twelve and a half pounds! She's got chubby little arms and legs now, and I'm so glad that she's doing so well on formula.

This little girl is SO smiley! She's the happiest baby, and I love it! All the time, all day long, she just wants people to look at her and talk to her so she can smile and talk back to them.
I adore her smiles!

Some other things I have learned about Natalie so far are:

*She's a night owl. . . just like her mommy! It's hard to get her to settle down to sleep until at least 10 pm, and sometimes much later.

*She has a pretty short attention span and doesn't like to stay in any one place for too long, just like her sister. She loves to be entertained and doesn't like to be left alone.

*She is a total social butterfly!

*We have to swaddle her and wrap her up tight to get her to fall asleep, just like we used to do with Kirsten. She's really wiggly and loves to try to get her arms out of the swaddle, so we usually have to wrap her up a couple of times before she finally settles down.

*She hardly ever spits up anymore! Much less than Kirsten did at this age!

*Her favorite person to smile at is. . . ANYONE who smiles at her!

*It's impossible to predict which nights she will sleep through the night, and which nights she won't. It's anybody's guess!

I love my happy little baby! She is just too cute for words!

Country Girl or City Girl?

Despite growing up surrounded by chickens, horses, ducks, turkeys, and 5 acres of land, I am definitely more of a city girl than a country girl. I'm actually a suburbs girl, since I've always lived in the suburbs and within 30 miles from a large city. But I'd choose the culture and excitement of a city over the country any day! There are only 3 country girl-qualities that I possess:
1. I love country dancing
2. I love demolition derby's, they are awesome!
3. I'm a sucker for good old-fashioned county fairs with fireworks

So far, Kirsten is a country girl! She loves to run and play outside, isn't afraid of farm animals, and probably wishes she lived on a farm. She's having such a blast playing outside at grandma and grandpa's house!
These pictures are from Seattle, at the South 47 Farm in Redmond where we took Kirsten for Farm Animal day a couple weeks ago. It was really kind of a shabby little farm, in my opinion, and we didn't stay very long.

Can't ride a horse yet? No problem! Just hop on a saddle on a bale of hay! Ride 'em, cowgirl!

She thinks she's ready to start driving! That's a little scary, but she does look cute behind the wheel!

As you can see, she was ready to leave the little farm just as soon as I was.

Are you a city girl or a country girl?

Oh, Happy Day!

Ohhhhhh, yeah! We are in San Diego! We just arrived today! Wooooohooooo!

(Insert Mary Murphy-like scream here. . . even though Stephen thinks she's the most annoying person on TV!)

What a week this has been!
Highlights of the week:
1. I got the laundry done, got everything all packed (I hope), got to the airport on time, and survived the flight in the very last row of our Alaskan Airlines plane with Kirsten and Natalie. You know what? A family of four (as long as one is a baby) fits perfectly into a row of airplane seats!
2. Natalie was a dream! She was either sleeping, eating, or just awake and happy for the entire flight. And Kirsten was so excited to see Grandma and "Poppy" she could hardly sit still!
3. I saw 'The Proposal' last Friday night with Miranda. It was hilarious! I don't know when I've laughed so hard! Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds were both awesome in it, and I loved the movie. Go see it!!!
4. Stephen and I finally went to dinner tonight without any kids, and I got my favorite dessert in the world. . . molten chocolate cake. Heaven!!!
Chili's, I love you!

Things I learned this week:
1. When you unpack your portable DVD player from storage and take it with you on the airplane, test it out at home to make sure it still works. (Oops. . . the stupid thing wouldn't read any of our discs!)
2. Invest in Huggies Overnight diapers. I've changed Kirsten's sheets and washed her pj's a bunch of times, but I had enough of regular diapers at night when she slept in late one morning and was literally dripping with pee when I got her up in the morning. Dripping! Everywhere!!! I hope the Overnights will fix this!
3. To Kirsten, everyone with a beard is Santa. . . even the picture of Jesus hanging in our bishop's office at church. ("Kirsten, who is that in the picture?" "Santa!" Gasp! I felt like a horrible parent!!!)

1. Don't give your 2 year-old crayons if you can't sit with her and supervise. Kirsten bit the tops off four crayons last week! How many times do I have to say, "Crayons are for coloring, not for eating!" before it sinks in???

Stay tuned for our San Diego adventures!

Kirsten's Birthday Party!

A few weeks ago, we had a small party at the park to celebrate Kirsten turning 2! And it took me this long to get the pictures edited and posted on the blog. :)

We had the party in the first week of June, the hottest week ever, but it was a gorgeous afternoon and Kirsten had such a fun time!
The party was small, but it had all the ingredients necessary for a great 2 year-0ld party:

*A fun playground

*Kirsten's best friend, Uncle Chance (yes, her best friend is an adult!)

*A beach ball
(that ball really did belong to her. . . but it didn't stop her from stealing a soccer ball from some other kids she saw)

*Fun friends!

*A grill for BBQ'ing hot dogs and hamburgers

*Chips (one of Kirsten's favorite things)

*A Daddy to man the grill for the majority of the time

*Water!

(And not just any water. . . a gorgeous lake!)

*Big, shady trees and some picnic tables

*Yummy food

*The CAKE!

*Someone to cling to when you get shy because everyone is singing to you

*Two candles!

*Balloons! (another of Kirsten's favorite things)

She loved the cake so much! I had to get tons of pictures of her digging into it, because on her first birthday she would hardly touch her cake. What a difference a year makes!

*Mother Nature's dirt floor makes for much easier clean-up after the cake devouring!

She got the frosting everywhere!!!

But just look at that happy face! Kids are happiest when they're messy!

*Too many things to play with

*Presents to open!

It was a fun day at a great park to celebrate a very fun little 2 year-old!

I Have a Great Dad!

I don't get to see my Dad on Father's day, so I better do the next best thing. . . give him a phone call and also track down some old pictures for a blog post. :)

Starting as a baby, my Dad taught me lots of valuable things, like. . .

*How to play and enjoy quality time

*How to treat animals with wonder and love

*The value of hard work

*That I have to be nice to my little brother, because someday he'll be bigger than me

*To treasure time spent with my family

*How to have fun and enjoy life to the fullest extent!
(My dad was known for making the best, highest swings in the world. This swing he made for our annual ward camp-out was scarier and more thrilling than most theme park rides!)

I love you, Dad!
Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!!!

I hope everyone has a really wonderful Father's day! Here are some of my favorite pictures of Stephen with Kirsten. She definitely loves her Daddy!

Thank you Stephen for being such a great Father! We love you!

This Is One of Those Weeks

So guess what time Stephen got home from work last night? Go ahead, guess right now.

Nope, not midnight. . . that was last Friday. Last night he actually didn't make it home at all, until 4 am this morning! You can all feel sorry for us now. This has been his busiest week at work ever (he works for Microsoft, in the XBox Live division), and when he is at home he's been on phone calls or working on his laptop. So he doesn't get any breaks from work, and I don't get any breaks from taking care of the little ones. Yeah. . . we're both exhausted. Can you tell we need a vacation badly? Eight more days until we fly to San Diego, just eight more. I know we can make it!

Don't worry, this post isn't all negative. I happen to have some cute pictures of Kirsten at the park a couple of weekends ago. Isn't this pirate ship SO cool?

This park also had a sandbox inside a boat!

Kirsten is a funny girl. . . whenever we're walking somewhere and one of her shoes falls off, she'll say "Uh-oh, shoes!" It's a good thing she says it, because I don't always notice! She also says "Uh-oh, baby!" when she hears Natalie crying. This is a huge improvement over crying when Natalie cries, like she used to do.

Yesterday I was looking at a magazine, and Kirsten pointed to a picture of Jennifer Lopez and said, "Mommy!" I was like, "Thank you Kirsten!"

Lately she's obsessed with eating watermelon, grapes, blueberries, blackberries, and peaches. This girl would eat fruit and nothing but fruit all day long if she could! The only fruits she doesn't seem to like are raspberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon.

She called this fountain a "waterfall."

Natalie was the most wonderful baby in the world over the weekend. . . every single night, she slept 8 hours straight. Hallelujah! 8 weeks old and sleeping 8 hours straight! The last two nights weren't so good, unfortunately, but she's definitely making improvements!

She's such a smiley, happy baby, but she can suddenly realize she's hungry or tired and within two seconds go from smiling to this:

Full-on screaming! And it will continue until she gets fed or rocked to sleep.

Thank goodness she's happy and peaceful most of the time. She loved laying out on the blanket at the park.

Don't you just love tiny little baby toes?

She slept like this in her car seat through the entire three hours of church on Sunday. Didn't I say she was the most wonderful baby in the world over the weekend? I love her so much!

This is my life now, and I do love it!
Just remember to be grateful when your husband comes home from work at 4 or 5 or 6 pm! I'm praying that the craziness will end soon.

Supertasters Unite!

It's really not too fun being a picky eater. I've gotten weird stares and comments like, "Really? You don't like that?" more times than I can count. Believe me, I wish I liked lettuce! I don't know why, but I just don't!

Awhile ago I read a magazine article that I loved, and it defined three different kinds of "tasters." Most people are Medium tasters, who like a lot of foods but have certain foods they don't like. Stephen falls into this category. Then there are the Non-Tasters. . . those people who will eat anything. Everyone knows someone who's like that. The third kind of taster is the Supertaster, otherwise known as the picky eater. Supertasters actually have many times more taste buds than other tasters, and as a result experience flavors much more intensely than others. It's genetic and we have no control over it.

So I'm not picky. . . I'm a Supertaster! Sounds much cooler, doesn't it?

This list is incomplete, but here's a sampling of some of the foods I just don't like and hate to eat:
*Peppers
*Onions
*Fish
*Eggs
*Cottage cheese
*Potato salad
*Cabbage
*Lettuce
*Dill pickles
*Spaghetti
*Mushrooms
*Beets
*Brussels sprouts
*Chinese food (I hate the sauces)
*Coleslaw
*Coconut
*Teriyaki or BBQ sauce
*Turnips
*Asparagus
*Rice

What kind of taster are you?

*Cool thing I just found out about: Today is Free Hot Dog on a Stick day! If you live near a Hot Dog on a Stick, you can go between 5 and 8 pm today and get one free dog per person. I know where we'll be eating dinner tonight!

Things I Look Forward To

One thing I have learned about being a stay-at-home mom with little kids:

it is absolutely essential that you have things to look forward to, on a regular basis. If I didn't have that, sometimes I think I really would lose my mind!

Some things I look forward to every day are:
*Seeing Natalie's adorable smiles
*The funny things Kirsten will say throughout the day as her language develops
*Getting new comments on my blog
*Stephen getting home from work

Some things I look forward to weekly:
*So You Think You Can Dance. I loved the first performance show this week. All of the top 20 dancers are absolutely amazing! Wow! And Adam Shankman is my favorite of all the guest judges. He just makes such awesome comments!
*Getting together with friends and having people come over
*Getting out in the nice weather and taking the girls to parks
*Weekends!
*The Bachelorette! I always get SO sucked into this show, and this season is no exception. Thank goodness Jillian got rid of Dave (finally!!!), and it's crazy that the foot-obsessed Tanner is still there. At least he's funny!

My two favorites from the beginning are still going strong! Jake and Kiptyn are just such cute, sweet, really nice guys and I hope they're the final two!
If you watch the show, who are your favorites?

What I'm really looking forward to this month:
*Going to San Diego on June 25'th for our little summer vacay! We are counting the days! I can't wait for the California beaches, visits with friends and family, free babysitting from my parents, yummy food, and the Del Mar Fair (easily the best county fair in the entire world!)

It's been several years since I've been in San Diego during the dates the fair was running, so I am really psyched to get to go this year! I think we'll even go twice. Yes, it really IS that much fun!

Some more things I'm looking forward to this year:
*Sleeping, in my bed, for a full night on a regular basis. That will hopefully happen sometime this year.
*Going to see Wicked in October. We've already got our tickets!
*Hopefully going to Vancouver for a weekend or going camping.
*Christmas!

Adventures at the Zoo

A couple of weeks ago, Stephen and I were brave enough to navigate the Woodland Park Zoo with a newborn and a toddler. I most definitely wouldn't have attempted this feat by myself! Here's my favorite picture from the day. . . me and my baby!

Of course Natalie was oblivious to all the animals. She was just along for the ride.

We got to break in the new double stroller, the Valco Twin Latitude. We hooked the infant seat onto one side, and Kirsten did enjoy riding in the other side. The stroller is really easy to push and steer, much easier than my Graco single stroller despite the heavier weight. So we really like the stroller, with only one con that we've noticed. . . it is a pain to fold up!

Kirsten wanted to get out and climb all over everything. . . which is fine, until you want to put her back in the stroller and she gets mad at you!

But she had a ton of fun exploring the zoo for a couple of hours!

I didn't change her outfit in the middle of the day. . . some of these are pictures from another zoo trip. Uncle Chance actually volunteered to take Kirsten to the zoo by himself one day so I could have a break and stay home with the baby. Talk about a mom's best friend!
Kirsten had a great time at the zoo with him.

They saw this ocelot kitten. . . how adorable is that???

And Kirsten the climber was out in full force.

This peacock we saw was soooo cool, showing off its feathers!

The stinkiest animal at the zoo award has got to go to the flamingos. Nasty! But Kirsten likes them anyway.

She snacked on apples and cheese slices all afternoon in the stroller.

Kirsten knew this was a giraffe!

She also identified the zebra we saw, and I had no idea she knew the word zebra. She really does listen to me when I rattle off animal names! And when we left she said, "Bye zoo!"

A day at the zoo with two young kids. . . lots of fun, but not for the faint of heart.

Chic Carseat

I totally want this carseat cover! It's so adorable!

The bad news? It's $160. Yikes. The actual carseat wasn't that expensive. I definitely won't be buying it. But it doesn't stop me from wishing for it!

Suddenly Summer

Alright, Seattle. . . it's too hot! Since nobody who lives here has air-conditioning in their houses, please bring the temperatures back down to their normal, cool, beautiful selves and give us some respite from this heat!
For the past few days it's been almost 90 degrees here. I know that might not sound too bad to a lot of you desert-dwellers, but imagine it with no AC! These have been some record high temperatures for this time of the year here, and I'm really hoping for some cool weather and SOON! It's a little better today, but I still haven't been able to sleep well at night because of the heat. It's the kind of weather where I wish I could just drive around in the car all day, with the AC blasting right in my face.

Anyway, here are some summery-looking pictures of the two little sunshines in my life:

Natalie is six weeks old now! She's SO smiley, she just loves to focus on someone's face and then start smiling at them and it's the most adorable thing!

*Highlight of the week: Two nights ago, she officially slept through the night for the first time! She slept 8 hours straight, from 1 am until 9. I was thrilled! She didn't do it last night, but I'm hoping for some repeat performances.

She tried to focus in on the camera lens. Isn't the cross-eyed baby face so funny?

And here's some more pictures of Kirsten playing at the park!

I just love the look of pure joy on her face when she's trying to catch the bubbles out of the air.

She wants to blow the bubbles herself. . . but she can't quite figure it out.

Just checked the weather. . . tomorrow's supposed to be back down in the 60's. Hooray!!! Until then, I'll be trying to beat the heat!

"Thank you, Mommy!"

Kirsten has started putting three or four words together to form little sentences! It's SO cute and so much fun to listen to her. Her very favorite thing to say lately is "Thank you, Mommy!" She says it when I give her pretty much anything, whether it's a snack, a toy, a drink, or whatever else. She'll also say "Thank you, Daddy," but I even hear her saying "Thank you, Mommy" when she's alone in her crib before she falls asleep. Sometimes she adds on, "Thank you, Mommy, welcome" because I always say "You're welcome" afterwards.
It's nice to be thanked. :)

Some of her other favorite things to say right now are:
-"Bless you, Mommy," "Bless you, Daddy," and even "Bless you, Baby" after we've sneezed
-"Help, it's stuck!"
-"Bath with bubbles"
-"Where is it?"
-"Oh there it is!"

She can also name lots of characters now from Disney shows she likes. She can name Mickey Mouse (she says that one very clearly), Minnie, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, and Rabbit.

Guess what she figured out today? She can reach a cup up to the water machine on the door of the fridge and put water in it, and even ice! I did not see that one coming!
I recently put one of those door knob covers over the door to the pantry so she can't get into it all day long and pull food out. She gets pretty upset when she tries to open it and yells out, "Help! Help! It's stuck!"

And if you're at any parks north of Seattle anytime soon, you better watch out for the ball thief. Kirsten is magnetically drawn to any ball she sees lying around the parks, as long as it doesn't belong to us. Even if we bring our own, she still goes after everyone else's. As the pictures illustrate, she'll go steal any ball she can find!

At least she's a polite thief. She'll always say "Thank you." :)

Four Years!!!

I've been married for 4 years!!! Wow!
Yesterday was our 4 year anniversary. We got married in the San Diego Temple on May 28'th, 2005. Hard to believe it's really been that long!
Here we were 4 years ago, taking cute engagement pictures for our wedding announcements:

I love those pictures! And I love you, Stephen! Thank you so much for 4 amazing years, full of adventures and new experiences. I can't wait to experience even more with you!

I love taking trips for our anniversary, at least when we don't have a new baby in the house. For our 1-year anniversary we drove from Utah to San Francisco, Oregon, and Seattle. Second year we had brand new baby Kirsten. Third year we took a weekend trip to Portland. This year, another new baby. We didn't do much to celebrate yet, and we didn't even get to go out to dinner, but my mom will be in town next week and we'll get to celebrate it and go out by ourselves. I'm totally looking forward to it!
I wish I could re-live our wedding day. It was so beautiful!

Happy Anniversary to us!

True Reality

For the past month, my days have been very much the same as any other day. Of course there are small differences, but the seemingly endless repetition of feeding baby, rocking baby, holding baby, feeding toddler, entertaining toddler, changing lots of diapers has my life feeling very Groundhog Day-ish. I guess that's pretty much the life of a mom of young kids. And I love my life. . . I really do. But I've got to admit that some variety is nice!
At least I can live vicariously through the lives of others thanks to one very addicting thing known as Reality TV. At the risk of sounding really pathetic and letting you all know how very into these shows I am, here are all the shows that have made my 3 am feedings and late nights more interesting lately (even though most of them are over now. . . it's a very sad thing!):

*American Idol- Of course we all love this show! I didn't start watching it until Season 4, and I've never looked back. I loved this season's finale, and I was happy with either Kris or Adam winning because they're both so awesome and talented in different ways. Adam was more interesting, more dynamic, and more technically talented in my opinion and I've loved so many of his performances. But I also loved Kris' musical ability and his original take on the songs. There was something really great about the clean-cut, married college guy taking the title.
Confession: During every season of American Idol, I download my favorite performances on Limewire and end up making a CD of the songs. Or two. Or three CD's. Anybody else do this besides me? Anyone???

*So You Think You Can Dance- My favorite summer show by far started up again, and I'm totally psyched about it! I can't wait to watch all the entertaining and amazing dance numbers, and find out who the top 20 dancers will be.
Confession: I really really wish I could dance like the dancers on the show. And I'm excited for my kids to be old enough to take dance lessons so that maybe one of them can be that good someday!

*Survivor- Nobody really blogs about this show, but I totally looked forward to Thursday nights because of the Office and Survivor. This season was awesome, and I was thrilled that J.T. won! He was the nicest guy in the world and I don't think anyone could help but love him.
Confession: I think J.T. was not only the most likeable Survivor winner ever, but also by far the cutest. SO cute!!!

*Dancing With the Stars- Shawn won! She was the one I thought would win, even though Melissa and Gilles were both great. I figured Shawn had a bigger fan base and more people who knew who she was from the beginning of the show. And she deserved it! It was a really good season!
Confession: The co-host, Samantha Harris, is really not good at hosting. She messes up quite often and I'm surprised she still has a job doing it! She bugs me!

*America's Next Top Model- The show kind of bugs me, because Tyra Banks is annoying and a lot of the models are too. But it's still good entertainment and I just can't help but watch it.
Confession: I think being photogenic and being beautiful and totally different things. And photogenic people are lucky!

*The Biggest Loser- It's way too full of sappy, sentimental, over-dramatized "moments", but the show really is inspirational and I love to see the transformations over the entire season. It's amazing how good those people can end up looking and how much weight they really lose! I was shocked that Helen won, because I thought for sure it would be between Mike and Tara. My favorite guy the entire season though was Felipe, he was just so fun and full of life.
Confession: My least favorite parts of the show are the extremely obvious little commercial-plugs for different products. Everyone turns into a horrible actor when they have to do these and it looks totally fake!

*Amazing Race- Which reality show would I just die to be on? Amazing Race of course! Nothing like getting to travel around the world and have amazing experiences for free. Those people are so lucky, it just kills me! I was happy that the brother/sister team won this season, because I liked them a lot.
Confession: I want to be on this show!!!

*Celebrity Apprentice- Watching this show was kind of like watching a train wreck. . . totally awful, but you can't help but keep watching! I figured Joan Rivers would win from the beginning, and I was right. She was really mean, but most people seemed to love her anyway. My favorite task of the season was watching them run suites at a hotel and have to serve people when they're so used to being waited on hand and foot themselves.
Confession: Donald Trump's decor in his house is the gaudiest and ugliest I've ever seen. It's like taking a tour of Versailles in France. I'm sure it was great for King Louis in the fourteenth century, but now?? Ugh!

*The Bachelorette- I was so excited that this show started last week! Jillian is so cute and fun and I can't wait to see who she chooses and what happens. I know none of these relationships work out, but it's just so darn fun to watch anyway. I already picked out my two favorite guys, in the very first show. . . Jake the cute pilot, and Kiptyn (or whatever that weird name was) from San Diego. They seem the very cutest and most sincere to me right from the start, but we'll see what happens! Who are your favorites, if you watch??
Confession: I like The Bachelorette seasons better than The Bachelor seasons. I'm not sure why!

I've probably forgotten some shows, but that's a good enough list for now and I'm sure lots of you are shaking your heads and thinking I should get a life. But I'm excited for Project Runway and Top Chef to come back too!
So who joins me in my Reality TV obesession? I know I'm not alone! Give me some comments!

Baby Products!

Sometimes I wonder how mothers used to survive caring for a newborn, back in the days before disposable diapers, pacifiers, and car seats that snap right into the strollers. I guess they just didn't know what they were missing! I know I could survive it if I absolutely had to, but here's a list of some of the newborn baby products I'm glad I don't have to live without:

1. Pampers Swaddlers- We loved these diapers when Kirsten was a newborn (she's moved onto Pampers Cruisers now and we still like those), but there's a new feature the Swaddlers have now that's really awesome. There's now a yellow stripe that goes down the front of the diaper, and it turns green when the diaper gets wet. So you can find out if your baby has wet the diaper just by looking at the outside of the diaper. Totally genius!2. Carter's newborn sleepers, the kind where the bottom of the sleeves fold over to cover their hands. It's so nice to be able to prevent the face scratches from those tiny little fingernails. The hand mitts you can buy to cover their hands up always seem to fall off, so I love the fold-over sleeves that can't possibly come off.

3. The Diaper Genie II- Say what you will about having to buy the refills for them, I think it's totally worth it to have a diaper pail that actually does cover the odor completely. I never smell the diapers after they're stuffed in here!

4. Avent bottles- They're the best kind we've found! Both babies have liked them from the very first time we tried them, and both babies also took to the Avent pacifiers right away.

5. Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe wraps- These really do make swaddling so easy! I was always frustrated when I tried to swaddle babies in a regular receiving blanket, since it's just so easy for them to wriggle themselves free. These wraps have velcro in all the right places, and they're totally a handy thing to have.

6. A baby bathtub with a mesh sling inside it. Newborns are so slippery when they're wet, and it gives me peace of mind to have that little sling inside the tub for them to lay in while they're bathed.

7. This isn't so much a baby product, but I just love onesies from Baby Gap. They're SO soft, and I love finding them on sale for $2 each sometimes! There's just no better deal than that!

8. A bouncy seat- This is the one we have, and both our babies have seemed to like it better than their swing. They can sleep in it without the toy bar, or be entertained by the lights and music.
The next baby product I'm searching for is newborn socks that actually stay on tiny little feet. Has anybody found any? What newborn products are you glad you don't have to live without?

Saturdays At the Park

These days, it's hard not to feel like a prisoner in my own home. It's a daunting task to take a newborn and a toddler out at the same time by myself, especially since the toddler is prone to bolting and running off without any warning. So when the weekend comes around and Stephen's here to help, Kirsten and I are both anxious to head out. . . somewhere. . . ANYWHERE!! Just get me out of the house!!!

Since the weather has been so beautiful lately, we've been going to some of the local parks. Kirsten has a blast at the playground!

Kirsten's always obsessed with those sunglasses. She looked so funny when she put Stephen's sunglasses on upside down. She had no idea!

Love this picture!

This park right on a lake was so gorgeous. I know it looks like we're on vacation, but this is really what it looks like where we live! We are lucky!

Kirsten was discovering one of the joys of toddlerhood. . . eating the sand. I kept telling her not to eat it because it was yucky, so she would turn her back to me and eat it anyway. She thought that if she couldn't see me then I couldn't see her. She's a little sneak already!

Kirsten is definitely the happiest when she's running around and exploring. No books or dolls for this one! She wants to explore the world!

She couldn't figure out how to blow the dandelion. See all that sand on her face? Yum!

She loved the ducks on the lake!

And of course she loved chasing the bubbles around. Stephen and I took turns running after Kirsten and staying on the blanket with Natalie. It was such a beautiful day!

So now you know why I look forward to the weekends so much. . . when the prisoners can finally be released from the house/jail/cage. Who else knows the feeling?

Feels Like Spring!

So it's finally feeling like spring in Seattle, now that it's almost summer. :) We've had some beautiful weather lately and it's going to be a gorgeous summer here. This picture of Kirsten just completely captures the spirit of springtime to me:

Kirsten's ready for summer to start! She loves watermelon.

She also loves ice cream, of course. It makes her so messy!

Natalie has really been sleeping better the last couple of days, and it's wonderful! We've been swaddling her at night and it helps her to sleep longer and not fuss so much when we set her down. I remember that Kirsten had to be swaddled every night for a good five months!
Sleeping babies just look so precious, don't they?

On a completely separate note. . . what does everyone think of the American Idol finale being Adam and Kris? I think it's great! I liked Danny too, but if I think back over the whole season, I've consistently liked Adam and Kris's song choices and performances the best every week. Danny's had some amazing weeks but some really boring weeks too. Adam and Kris are both so original and interesting and always do awesome things with their songs. So it should be a great finale! I think Adam will most likely win, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Kris win either.

Happy Birthday To Kirsten!

Yesterday, little Kirsten turned 2 years old!!!

We won't be having a party for her or really celebrating it until the first week of June, because family will be back in town. But I did get her the Little People Racin' Ramps Garage to play with. It took me forever to put that thing together yesterday! There were so many pieces that had to be snapped together, and one piece in particular that just would NOT snap! It probably took me an hour just to get that stubborn piece to finally pop into place. Kirsten loved "helping" me build it, and after I used the screwdriver she wanted to use it too. I love the look of intense concentration on her face as she sticks the screwdriver into the screw and tries to twist it. Not exactly the safest thing for her to play with, I know. . . but she was very entertained!

Here are a bunch of things that are unique/funny/and that I just plain love about Kirsten, the newest member of the terrible 2's brigade:

*She gets such a kick out of wearing sunglasses, putting them on, taking them off, and wants to wear them all the time. At the beach park we went to a couple of weeks ago, she stole Daddy's "glasses" and refused to give them back for quite awhile!

*She gets excited very easily! She loves to play chase games, hide and seek, peek-a-boo behind the blanket, and anything rough and tumble really. She laughs and squeals and just has the best time in the world! She's also a total daredevil and isn't scared to be tossed around in any and all positions.

*I love these pictures I got of her picking flowers at the park. I honestly did not plan her outfit to match the flowers, because I didn't know they would be there. It worked out great for the photos though!

*She counts to 10 in the cutest voice!

*She talks all the time, on and on, in full sentences that only she can understand. It's the funniest babbling, and I wish I could understand it all because I'd love to know the stories she's telling and all the things she wants to say to us.

*I also love that she's starting to put two or three understandable words together now. The other day I sneezed and she said, "Bless you Mommy!" She also says things like "Help, it's stuck," "Baby sleeping," "In the box," "All the pieces," and she loves to name all the foods on her plate when we give her meals. Her voice is just too cute!

*Bubbles make her deliriously happy. She loves to take baths with bubbles, and her favorite thing is when we blow bubbles outside and she can chase after them. I love the look of complete joy on her face whenever she sees bubbles!

*Her best friends are adults, and I don't know why but she still gets pretty scared of other little kids. She adores Grandpa, Grandma, and our friend Chance and asks for them all the time. Grandpa helped her feel the water and all the rocks at the beach park and she had a total ball doing it.

*During the day, she regularly brings me random things from the pantry that she thinks she wants to eat. It's pretty hilarious sometimes to see what she brings. Today she brought over the baking powder. Yesterday she brought a box of Kraft mac 'n cheese (which she doesn't even like) and said "Open", and earlier this week she brought me a can of peaches with a bowl. I was impressed that she knew the peaches were supposed to go in a bowl. She doesn't get upset when I tell her something's not a snack (like baking powder, yummy!), she just goes and gets something else.

*She loves it when we tickle her, attack her, make funny faces at her that she can imitate, and sing songs in different voices.

*She's already getting sneaky. When I tell her not to eat something or to stop putting it in her mouth (since she does it to everything. . . crayons, candles, chapstick, sand, you name it), she turns her back to me and does it anyway. She thinks I can't see her if she can't see me!

*Aren't those mountains in the background at the beach gorgeous? I just love the Pacific Northwest. . .

I'm so glad she had a Happy Birthday yesterday, even though she didn't really understand what a birthday was. I'll be looking forward to having a party for her in a few weeks! I love my little girl!