Swimming lessons

The kids started swimming lessons in January. Sevea passed her level this summer and is on to learning even more. She really enjoys it. She’s good at listening to the instructor and her favorite part is jumping off the diving board. She has a good balance of not being scared and not being too fearless.

This is Cohen’s first time in swimming lessons. He’s in the class that pretty much just wants to get the kids used to being in the water and growing a love for water time. Troy’s been great at helping him have fun while still really getting him used to the water, ie dunking him several times a class. He loves trying to dunk Troy in the water as well. Troy has to end up facing him away from him otherwise Cohen will repeatedly try to push his head down to dunk him. Guess he deserves it! He loves throwing the balls and swimming after them. And does great at jumping in the pool even though Troy lets him go under every time. I’m hoping this approach keeps him loving the water and not caring about going under water.

D.W.

We had someone join us for dinner the other night. Her name is D.W. and she quickly became a good friend of Sevea’s. She enjoys having a conversation with you and likes to play games. She surely added some entertainment to dinner that night.

A big THANK YOU to my aunt Phyllis for sending D.W. to live with us. The kids have really enjoyed listening to her commands and playing games with her. Cohen was a little freaked out that the doll moved which only made it fun for mom and dad to watch. And I love having D.W. around because it reminds me of my all-time favorite cartoon Arthur. Thanks again Phyllis!!

Yum-o!

Pure delight from these two. Carissa made homemade whipped cream and gave them the beaters. Pictures like this remind me of the little things that can bring such joy to a kid. But really who am I kidding, I would have been happy as clam to clean the beater too!

Brynna 6 month update

We’re at the half way mark. And boy oh boy I am not ready for the next 6 months to fly by. These first six sure did and I know those next 6 go even faster. Better start planning that 1st birthday party now, haha!

We’ve really fallen into a groove with Brynna and more and more she feels like apart of the family. I think many times we just felt like we had two kids and a baby. The older she gets the more our family feels complete. We can envision three kids running around together and laughing together, but also three kids getting in trouble together and making messes together. We see more and more that adding Brynna to the family while may make more work for us definitely adds a ton more fun as well.

Last month I talked about how Brynna learned to roll over from her back to her belly. She often doesn’t stay on her back long these days. And then when she gets on her belly she tends to make her way all over. She either scoots backwards or rolls from here to there. She doesn’t have purpose in her movements yet though. I really don’t know if I am ready for her to be mobile! She’s gaining strength by practicing her planks and trying to pull herself up on her knees.

For as much as she burns energy learning new physical skills, she just doesn’t have the interest in eating baby food to replenish that energy. It is a struggle to get her to eat. Our next step is trying table food. We’ll keep trying baby food as well. The doctor said that if she doesn’t take to either she might have to do speech therapy. Interesting since you wouldn’t automatically link the two at first but I can see how they are connected. The doctor isn’t concerned about her weight but since she isn’t taking to solids he isn’t surprised she’s still waking up often at night. Her weight was 14 lbs 12oz (24%) and height 24.75 inches (11%). I was a little surprised that her height dropped in percentile so much. She only grew half an inch in the last two months. Since she’s still only nursing I’m hoping she is getting enough nutrition. The doctor wasn’t worried at all so I’m trying not to.

She seemed like she might get another tooth this month but nothing. She gave us a lot of funny faces that seemed like it might be because of teething but nope. She still has just three on the bottom. And the funny faces have since vanished.

Funny faces or not, we very much look forward to the days ahead this next month. Each day with her is a blessing.

Choo choo

Cohen got his first train set for Christmas this year. He absolutely loves it. Which isn’t real surprising since he is a boy who loves cars and trucks and such.

But leave it to Cohen to make us laugh and fall in love with him once again just by the way he plays.

You get the best view watching the train go by when you’re upside down. Haha! Gotta love this little guy!!

Fun with fluffy white stuff

I think many of us would like winter to be over and spring to come like yesterday. The extremely cold temperatures are getting old and making the winter even more miserable. Without the freezing temperatures we could at least enjoy some time outside. Snowfall after snowfall we just watch it fall wishing we could play in it. Thankfully the kids did get a couple times where the temps were good enough to spend more than 10 minutes outside. And boy did they take advantage of it. One daycare day we had fun going on a scavenger hunt. Interesting finds: a milk jug and a throw pillow. Yep we found a throw pillow on our scavenger hunt around the fence. Cohen’s favorite summertime activity was definitely swinging. He’s been missing out all winter. This is the way he prefers to play in the snow.

Sevea loves all ways to play in the snow. Swing, attempting to slide down the slide (note attempt since it was more of a push herself through the snow down the slide), build a snowman, sledding, and most recent fort making and playing. Troy has declined my offer to purchase a snow blower for a couple years now. One benefit to him/I (he takes on the brunt of the work but I’ve pitched in my share when I could) shoveling is the big piles of snow at the end of the driveway. They made a great sledding hill and place to build a fort.

We’ve sure tried to sneak in as much fun as we could on the few warmer winter days this year. Even still we’re excited for spring weather to come.