happily ever after: Library, Ducks and a visit from the Grandparents! (Week 174/36)

Helllo! Had a much needed slow week. I am very proud of myself - I went into the office BOTH last Thursday and yesterday! Go Kathy! What's been going on this week...sleep training is getting better for Katelyn. I don't want to jinx myself and write that she's getting better though. (knock on wood!) We started last week and really started pushing the early bedtime. We try to have her bathed and ready for quiet time by 630-6:45pm. Really try to have her asleep before 7pm. We've had some really great nights and some not-so-great nights. I think she's getting the hang of it though! Also, starting to transition Katelyn from 3 naps to 2. We're still following her cues but sometimes that 3rd nap is just too hard for her. Ok, enough updates on K's sleeping situation!

Here's Katelyn sleeping. Sometimes, on the days she goes to daycare, her last nap ends SO early in the day (like before 2pm!) that she is knocked out by the time I nurse her before bed. We do quiet reading time after nursing, but sometimes she is SO knocked out that we have to skip it.

Thank goodness that Tyler is finally showing some interest in learning to write letters. He's got T and O down. Hah! Baby steps...

This weekend we headed to a local Farmer's Market. Got some fresh fruit (Katelyn tried some pluots!) and super fresh strawberries. We also picked up some really pretty pink gerber daisies. The florist said to put some bleach in the water to keep the flowers fresh (never heard that before!).

Katelyn liked being out and about.

Here are some pictures from Katelyn at school. Her naps are still pretty consistently 30-40 minutes long, still shorter than her 1-1.5 hr naps at home. Oh well, so much to see I guess.

She's gotten really good at pulling herself up lately. She LOVES standing! Whenever I go pick her up, she's almost always standing up against something now. We lowered her crib (last week?) since she was pulling herself up. Sometimes in the morning she'll be sitting there waiting for us. Its so cute!

Tyler is so tall compared to Katelyn!

Here's a video of Tyler at school playing in a tent. They sure get quite rowdy those boys:

Katelyn has also been trying many new foods. She's down to try anything! Her new favorite? Toast with cheese! ... and tortillas!

Here she was trying some peas and carrots. Her hair is so silly! Oh yes, and she LOVES Kix cereal too!

Video of Katelyn eating peas and carrots. She had a hard time picking them up! She likes them in bigger chunks I think:

Here she is trying out a teething biscuit. Oh man, those things are hard! She just loves to bite on anything.

I love busting out Tyler's old baby toys from behind the couch for Katelyn. Tyler always wants to play with all the baby toys - you'd think he doesn't have a ton of toys of his own!

Tyler's new favorite thing? A Target toy magazine (aka advertisement)! He'll just sit there and look at each page VERY carefully. Hah!

Ooh, a little pumpkin Tyler made at school, left over from Halloween!

Katelyn is getting so big, she's even starting to kind of wave hi/bye. It's so cute!

This weekend we also took Tyler to a local library. First time for him! He was excited to pick out some books (he picked a Thomas the Tank Engine and a Winnie the Pooh book).

Katelyn just hung out while Tyler flipped through some books.

Afterward we fed the ducks at the lake next to the library. We've had these hot dog buns in our car forever and they still look the same! Creepy.

Picture with the kids!

Tyler tried out the violin again this weekend. He's getting better at being more gentle but I have no idea how people teach little kids violin. Especially really energetic little boys!

Here's Tyler and Katelyn playing in the little ball pit. So cute!

Katelyn has a funny look in this picture!

My parents also came over to visit on Saturday! Tyler was very excited to see them. Here's my mom and Katelyn. Love the way she wrinkles her nose when she laughs!

Here she is with my parents!

And with my dad and grandmother!

Awww!

Smiley Katelyn!

Tyler was very excited to have some vanilla ice cream. Yum!

My mom actually spent the night (my dad was spending the night at my grandmother's). I think the last time she spent the night was when I had kidney stones back in May! Will and I even got to go watch a movie at the dollar theater (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Entertaining!). We didn't get back until almost midnight and I was SO tired. I'm not used to being out so late anymore!

This was a silly picture. So, my mom has this weird thing where she can only wink one of her eyes. She can't seem to do the other one. One of my cousins (on my mom's side) has the same issue! My dad was playing with Tyler and turns out Tyler has the same problem! Not sure if he'll grow out of it! It was so funny, Tyler would close one eye fine, then try to do the other and end up closing both eyes. He thought it was so funny!

He kept trying and trying.. no luck!

Tyler even got a piggyback ride!

And here's a Video of Tyler getting a piggyback ride:

And then him and my grandmother watched a bunch of my YouTube videos together. All videos of Tyler and Katelyn!

On Sunday I got some studying done while my mom and Will took the kids out for a walk. Quiet time!

Katelyn loves strolls outside!

My nanny took this video of Katelyn on a swing while they were out on a walk. She said Katelyn was squealing like crazy but then got upset when she went to get the camera from the stroller. Plus there were some dogs walking by that she kept staring at!