8 months for the babe!

Somehow we lucked out with this one...

She is just the sweetest little thing.  We can't get enough of her.

Kate absolutely loves bathtime.  She gets so excited when she knows I'm about to put her in the tub.  Recently she has started throwing a fit if I put Trey in the tub and not her.  At first I thought it was just coincidence, but nope.  She wants to get in that tub too and she's gonna let everyone know it!!

Kate is in no hurry to crawl.  She's content for now to just sit and watch everything that goes on around her... who needs to crawl when you have a brother who brings you everything you need!

She sure is a picky little eater.  I remember at this point with Trey I was giving him a lot of finger foods and other table foods besides just the pureed fruit and veggies out of a jar.   Kate is really not a fan of finger foods.  She just doesn't seem to care for it, it mostly ends up on the floor rather than in her mouth.  And if I ever give her something new to try she makes the most disgusted face and gags.  It's too bad because I often used things like puffs and mum-mums as a distraction for Trey at things like church or in his exersaucer....that trick doesn't work for Kate.

I'm really hoping Kate is going through a short phase right now with her night time sleep.  She has been waking up way too much this past week (I'm talking anywhere from 4-5 times a night)... and she was doing so good for about a month sleeping almost 10 hours straight!  I keep thinking she's probably teething but I've yet to see anything pop through.  Poor girl just isn't quite herself lately.  I'm hoping to see some teeth soon so I can have something to blame it on.  5 times a night is just too much!!

Kate gets so excited whenever I go in her room to get her out of bed.  Her arms start going a million miles a minute.  It's the cutest thing.  She is for the most part always happy when she wakes up and will often talk in her crib for quite a while after a nap or in the mornings.

Some of her recent tricks include clapping (she doesn't do it very often, but she has done it!), high pitched scream, she says: ma-ma, da-da, ga-ga, and lots of other little noises.  Her most recent discovery is something that resembles that of someone who is just about to halk a loogy (sp?).  I don't know where she learned it, but it's funny.

Sure do love my sweet baby girl.  She makes me happy that's for darn sure!

I am certainly no photographer and don't intend to be... but I did my best trying to get a few shots of her at 8 months.

Good thing I had my little sidekick to help me out.
(my old camera is a lifesaver!)

 These next three are a sequence of events...
Lately, as soon as she discovers that bow on her head that is the end of it.  In this particular instance, she snapped the bow back on her head and that concluded pictures for the day.

Look at those tears!  :(
(You can obviously tell I was feeling really bad if I continued taking pictures... haha)

Take 2

He sure is a cheeseball lately!

And then I tried to take some pictures similar to the ones I took of Trey at 8 months...

Crazy the difference in their size!

Trey was a CHUN-KER!!

And then I took about a billion more because I couldn't help myself...

Happy 8 months baby girl!

This and That

Jeff and I have been trying to soak up what's left of these beautiful summer evenings and have taken the kids on a lot of walks.  The weather has been so perfect these past couple of weeks, I'm really not excited that winter is just around the corner.

On this particular evening, we took the kiddos to a walking trail not far from our house.  The sunset was beautiful.

We just recently bought a double stroller (it took us forever to decide what we wanted) and when we finally did, Trey refuses to ride in it.  All he wants to do is walk... or he begs for us to hold him.  Awesome.

At least Kate seems to like it...

Lookout point just off the trail.
Trey has really got his cheesey grin down.  haha

Running off into the sunset!

Racing his cars on the path.

Last night we went to a local corn maze.  They had a bunch of fun activities for kids.  It was fun to get out and do something a little different.  I think Trey had a good time.

And Kate... well she's just a sweetheart and hardly made a peep the whole night.

 I had to laugh at this picture.  I didn't realize I got a picture of this until I got home.  haha

They took us on a little wagon ride around the corn field.

We were brave and took on the challenge of the corn maze with two kids.
Only we got about a quarter of the way through and decided to turn back.  Jeff pulled up the map on his phone and realized we had quite a long ways before the end and it was getting late, so we found our way back to the beginning.  But it was still fun... until all the teenage kids started making their way in and ran around like crazy people.  Jeff nearly got taken out from a girl who was running and texting at the same time.  Teenagers!  Ha.

It was a fun night.  Next time I think we'll go before all the high school kids show up.
Plus we need to pick ourselves out a pumpkin and try the freshly made kettle corn!

Can you see a resemblance??

30!

Today is a BIG day!!

This old guy just turned 30!!!

 [and he's still just as good looking as 20!]

Wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

30 always seemed so old, but now that it is just around the corner for me, I don't feel nearly old enough to be 30!

And Jeff... well he can speak for himself!

We love you Jeff and couldn't ask for a better dad/husband/dentist!  :)

Trey and Kate

Our kids are growing up way too fast!  I'm having so much fun watching them interact more and more with each other.  I'm really looking forward to the stage when they can actually play together.  Trey is so cute with Kate, I hope they grow up to be good pals.  He gets so excited whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap.  He loves to run in her room and then always wants me to put him in her crib with her.  He'll run in and say, "Hi Kee!  Hi Kee!"  He never wants me to take them out.  It is so fun to sit and watch them on the video monitor when they don't know I'm watching.  If she falls over, he'll try and sit her back up... he tries to make her laugh by running around her in the crib or throwing her toys up in the air... he'll cover her up with her blankets and lay next to her... and so forth.  It's pretty cute.  Another thing he has started doing is bringing her a toy if she is upset.  I often don't even have to ask him.

Trey and Kate are quite the opposites when it comes to their personalities and things they like.  Kate has always been more laid back since day one.  She is much easier to adapt to different schedules and is pretty happy and chill most of the time.  She loves the baby bjorn and is always content when I put her in there.  It makes for much easier shopping trips.  Kate is a breeze to put to bed.  Trey always wanted to be rocked as baby and it would often take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to put him to bed.  He's STILL harder to put to bed than Kate and still likes to be rocked for a few minutes.  I really don't mind because I do enjoy that he will let me rock him even as a 2 year old.  I know that stage will pass all too quickly.

I love my sleeping baby...

Kate is sitting up much better on her own.  She still falls over a lot but I think she'll have the hang of it soon.  Trey does his best to try and sit her back up but often just upsets her more.  I find it quite comical.

Kate is eating solids twice a day now.  That is progress.  It was quite the task getting her to open up her mouth and not gag when I fed her.  The one thing we are struggling with is getting her to eat anything that has even the slightest bit of texture.  She eats pureed things like a champ, but if I give her something as little as a puff or even a half of a pee... she will gag and throw everything up.  This happens EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.  It is getting super frustrating.  I try breaking up a tiny little puff into thirds or give her the slightest sliver of a watermelon and she still gags!  I never had this problem with Trey so I'm at a loss.

We enrolled Trey in a program called Early Intervention, and if he qualifies (which he did), will get free therapy until he is 3.  A lady comes to our house once a week for about an hour and works with him on his speech.  She mostly plays with him and does different activities with him, while encouraging him to say different words and sounds.  She gives me a lot of great suggestions and "homework" to do for the week, then we meet again the next week and discuss how the previous week went and so forth.  We are hopeful this will move Trey along the path of talking.

Trey has entered the independent stage.  Lately he has to do everything by himself.  Sometimes it's nice but a lot of the time it can be frustrating.  Especially when we are in a hurry!

The weather has been so great these past couple of weeks.  We have gone on a lot of walks in the evening to soak in the good weather while we can!  Summer is going to be over before we know it and I am dreading the thought.

Jeff and I took the kids to the fair this last weekend.  Trey had a ball.  We were a little doubtful that he would actually go on the rides by himself.  He surprised both of us and wanted to do them over and over.

 And a bunch of random photos of the two of them together.
I am one lucky mom!

Montana!

Montana has treated us well thus far.  I have finally learned my way around and am feeling more and more confident every time we leave the house.

Our house is finally starting to feel like home.  I'm loving all the extra space that we didn't have in our little house in Pittsburgh.  It's amazing the things you take for granted.  Two of my favorite things about this house include a fenced in yard and a garage.

Another thing I love:  we are only a 5 minute drive to Target and Wal-Mart.

Jeff took us on a little drive when we got here to show us around the city. (since you know, he had A LOT of time on his hands to explore while he was here alone for 2 weeks)

 View overlooking the city of Billings

Trey showing off his muscles

We've enjoyed having a splash park within walking distance from our house.

As well as Lake Elmo that is only about a 5 minute drive.

 This little peanut loves the water.  She is much different from her brother that way.

We finally got a second car!

A mini van was something I'd sworn off long ago.

I am now converted.

I love my mini van!

Have I mentioned we have antelope in our backyard?

Okay, not really in our backyard but close enough!

They roam the streets and fields next to our house... I had to wait the other day on my way to church for a herd of them to cross the street.  It was crazy!

This picture was taken in the church parking lot by our house.

We've been to the library a few times, but it is definitely not in walking distance.  It takes about 15 minutes to get there and you have to pay to park!  Double bummer.  I was more impressed with the little library by my house in Pittsburgh, that we could WALK to!  The good news is they are building a brand new one across the street from the old one, so it should be nice.  I look forward to the day when we can be closer to a Library again.

They do a movie here every Thursday for kids.  It's 2 dollars a person and that includes a drink and popcorn.  Pretty good deal if I say so myself.

We've gone a couple of times.  Trey doesn't necessarily pay attention the whole time but he does well enough that it's fun to give us a little something different to do.

This particular time we went with Taryn and Stella.

These two are becoming good little buddies.

 Kate did great through the movie as well.

We've gotten together quite a few times with our friends the Palmers and the Lowe's.

It sure has been nice already having a couple of friends out here.

 Trey went from having mostly boys as friends in Pittsburgh to now having mostly girl friends.

I think we're in trouble....

 Whenever we go over to Stella's the girls like to play dress up and wear their plastic high heels around.  This is all new for Trey.  I'm not sure he knows quite what to think.

Well the other day I told Trey that Stella was coming over to play, and the next thing I knew he was walking out of my closet with my high heels on!

Jeff is enjoying his job.  He works on average 3-5 days a week depending on the week.  He works long days on the week days and is off by 5 on the weekends, so overall it's not bad.  We're just happy he has a job and we are finally getting an income!  Woot woot!

Our ward is on the smaller side but everyone has been very welcoming and kind to us.  I think we're going to like it here.  Jeff and I just got called as the permanent primary substitutes, and I am also helping serve on the enrichment committee.  Hopefully that will help me get to know more people.

We look forward to our next few years in Billings!