92-Years Young!

 
Kyrie and Lariska's great-great-grandma Cyr turned 92 today. Happy birthday, Grandma! 

So Little Time...

I have so much to say and share and so little time! But, I will try and get it all in:

Lariska's Six Month Stats
We saw the pediatrician today and Lariska is growing like a weed. She is now 26.5 inches long (75th percentile) and weighs 15 lbs. 4 oz. (25th percentile). They must've measured her head wrong at the last appt. because it is back to being in the 25th percentile. Weird. Dr. Grunske seemed quite impressed with Lariska's leg strength and mobility and reminded us to pack up any tiny objects (especially of Kyrie's) because she is now into absolutely everything. Lariska received 4 shots (poor girl), but weathered them well. Way to go, Lariska!

Baby Updates
I just received a call from my brother - come April he and Cathy will be expecting a GIRL! Yeah!!! More importantly, their little one looked completely healthy in the ultrasound and they got to spend around an hour staring at their tiny miracle. So much fun!

As of now, that makes 100% of my friends who know what they are having that are having girls. As the mother of two little girls this, of course, thrills me because we can do girly stuff together. I know that having boys is fun too, but since I have yet to experience it I am really happy that some important people in my life can experience what I have as well.

Rant
Finally, to complete this entry I would like to rant about the new Picasa - the software I use to upload photos to my blog. It is dead-@ss slow and locking my entire computer up when I go to use it. I am very disappointed. This is why there has been a lack of photos in recent days. Who has time for that?!?! Does anyone else use this software and what do you think? Let me know!

 
riding the beetle 

 
Laying low 

 
Gearing up to make gingerbread houses 

 
Can I eat this? 

  

 
Thank you for making gingerbread houses with me, Grandma! 

 

Mommy does storytime tonight - and a rare photo of all the girls 

  

 
From then on I was running...or jumping! 

Deep Thought

How is that when our number one job as mothers is to help our kids grow that we are actually quite shocked when it happens?

Six Months Old

  

 
Can I have that? 

 

Lariska is six months old today. Can you believe it? Six whole months. She has really blossomed these last couple of weeks and is so much more involved in the world around her. She most definitely knows her name and recognizes the people she sees the most in her life (Mommy, Daddy, Kyrie). She is scooching everywhere - quite adorably I might add - she pushes up on her legs and kind of throws herself forward. If she can't get there by scooching, then rolling works, too. Three days into the rice cereal and she is a pro. She loves it. I also discovered yesterday, quite by accident, that not only does she take a bottle, but she also enjoys giving it to herself. She can hold it and even tips it up to get the milk out. She sits for short periods of time and that is not because she can't but generally because she chooses not to. She prefers being on her tummy so much that she would rather take a well-coordinated face-plant than to work to balance herself in a sitting position. She also enjoys standing by holding onto the "book-bench" or her "learning table" or "jump chair" as we call them. She is fascinated with Kyrie's sippy cup and I give her tastes of it when Kyrie is having water. She has no trouble with this either. It seems Lariska just enjoys eating and drinking in general. She is still a crazy sleeper, averaging around 16+ hours a day. And, while she continues to love her sister, I think she has lost a little bit of her luster since reality has set in and Lariska is beginning to realize that the quick-moving thing can do some damage to her. Our L-Dog is going to be a tough one, I think. Kyrie now refers to her sister as either "'Riska", "Guber" or "Goofey"...the "Goofey" nickname being her own. We won't find out Lariska's stats for another three weeks yet, but we will be sure to let you know the new measurements when we do. Ain't life grand? 

Rite of Passage?

Is there some sort of Colors on Everything rite of passage? I know I have seen many a photo of such a thing, so I am guessing that maybe (I hope?) most kids do this at some point. Well, Matt came home late again tonight so we did the Kyrie reads her books while Mommy nurses Lariska thing. Obviously, this routine needs to change. But, before I left Kyrie I went through all the rules:

1. No touching the blinds on the windows
2. No touching the plugs or outlets
3. No touching the lamp
4. No touching the fan

I guess I neglected rule #5: Don't take a marker to everything in the room! I don't have any photos, but when I walked in my heart literally hit my toes. There were kleenex everywhere colored in blue marker and as I began to take inventory I saw that there wasn't much not colored in blue. Her teddy bear? Check. Her giraffe? Check. Her pajamas? Check. Her books? Check. Here diaper changer? Check? The dresser? Check. The footrest? Check. The floor? Check? Her socks? Check. Her hands? Check. Her sucking-thumb (which was in her mouth while I cried and looked around)? Check.

Luckily, there is a happy note to this sad, sad story. The marker was a washable marker and came out of most everything. I think her hands were actually the hardest thing to get it off of. Still, it took a lot of time and a lot of heartache to clean the room before bedtime tonight. Kyrie apologized ("Sorry Mommy. Sorry Mommy. Sorry Mommy! Sorry! Mommy! SORRY!!! Mommy!?)

The moral of the story is this - children get taller. Don't just put things out of reach. Put them WAY out of reach.

First Taste

  

  

 
I like this spoon thing better than what's on it.

Lariska gets her first taste of the big-girl food. She launched herself right into it, but proceeded to spit most of it back out. Still, this kid has been salivating for several months now whenever dinner-time rolls around. I felt bad making her wait this long, but felt it best for my little guber-pie.

Now, if only I had a few more sets of hands. One set to stir the dinner, the other to get Kyrie in her booster seat, another to feed Lariska, and a final set to clean up all the messes as they happen between these two munchkins...oh yeah, and another to pour me a much-needed glass of water. 

Vote

Tuesday, November 7th may be Lariska's 6-month birthday, but it is also election day. I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone of that and encourage you to get out and vote. There are a lot of issues going on this year and no matter what you think you ought to vote.

Just my opinion.

Here's a link to a video put out by the organization that my favorite band's lead singer started - One

 
Daddy and his daughters 

Storytime

  

 
Hi Daddy. I love you. Give me a kiss.