Kayte playing in the leaf pile

This is Kayte playing in the leaves and using her imagination. She really enjoys playing outside. We love the fact that our girls don't watch much tv and get outside a lot, even in the cold. And enjoy playing together with their toys!

Emma Crawling!

Emma crawling. This is the beginning stages of her crawling. Taken back in November. She has come a long way. Now she is pulling herself up on things, even the bath tub!

SOLD!

We have moved! We put our old house Tradewinds on the market and sold it 4 days later. It was freaking awesome. Closing came 1.5 months later making the sale official. After having a few houses ripped from the grasp and 29 days left to close on a new house, we finally found a little gem. The next step to where we wanna be. We now live in Indianapolis. There are so many great things about this house. It's bigger, it looks out to a nature preserve and one of our neighborhood ponds, it has a much bigger garage. I wish I would have taken more "Befores" before we tore some things out and changed out some fixtures. Oh well
  .

Our sold sign got put in about 3 days after we reached an agreement of sale. 

 The front of our house. The plants in front of the porch will be gone
and replaced with better looking plants and landscaping. Joe is loving the 3 car 

garage. 

Living room. I love the fireplace. It is only an insert, but one

day I would love to have a real wood burning fire place! 

Dining room, excuse the mess. Our mud room/pantry isn't 

fully functioning yet. 

My kitchen. My favorite part, the new black sink! Hehe, Joe
put that in for me! I LOVE IT! 

My favorite view. No neighbors behind us. A pretty pond and 

a grassy nature area next to it. I especially love the ducks! 

Kayte's New Bed!

Kaytelynn has a new bed! She has been upgraded to a full size bed. Not only was she upgraded to a full size bed. She got a platform bed frame AND a MEMORY FOAM mattress. How freaking awesome, right? I was so excited that we could get her such an awesome bed. A few reasons for our choices (not that I need to justify) of the new bed. Full size bed= no more bed upgrades for Kayte and because she moves around so much she now has more room.  A memory foam mattress means she will sleep better. Now Nikki, how do you know this, I am sure some of you are asking. Well, Joe and I have a memory foam and when Kayte sleeps in our bed she sleeps a lot better compared to her inner spring mattress. And so far this has proven true for us. She now only wakes up for potty. Whooop.
Her big girl bed came Monday December 12. When I told her what was in the packages she was very excited. "My new bed!!" Joe was at work so when he got home on Tuesday morning he put it together for her. And she helped. It was so simple.

Helping daddy open the boxes

Taking the bed out of the box! 

Putting together the platform bed frame!

It's put together, now we need to put the slats on!

Putting the slats in!

Her PINK memory foam mattress!

One last romp in her toddler bed. 

Doesn't have all the sheets and bedding she wants yet, 

but it will suffice. She still loves it!

Emma has a tooth!!

Emma's first tooth has finally popped through. It popped though around the Sunday night/Monday time frame (12/11-12/12) It is on her lower gums. She has another one coming up right beside it on the bottom. It should be through in the next few days I think. When she chews on our fingers she likes to scrap them again the tooth. Does that feel lovely!

*Her "smile for daddy" face!* 

Emma is 6 months!

November 19 was the official day! She is learning new skills each and every day! She can scoot/half crawl and is working on crawling on her hands and knees. She is doing such a great job at it too. She is such a chatter box too. She says "mama" too. She loves to spend time with mommy daddy and Kayte. And dislikes when someone leaves the room. Emmalee really enjoys her food too. She likes to sit and eat her food whenever everyone else sits down together. Her hair is growing as fast as Kaytes' did. Soon enough it will be long enough to put a pony in. Very Exciting. Emma is also pulling herself up when she can. She thinks it is wonderful when she does. She gets a big smile on her face and giggles. Silly baby!

Baby Led Weaning

It's getting close to that time again for us! Emma is going to join us here in the food world, not just the world of boob. We are all very excited to have her start on the journey into food. Around the 6 month mark, we are let  Emma dabble in foods. Real food, table food, solids, people food, whatever you call it. But it is not baby food, puree's, mashed food or whatever else "traditional" house holds call it. Her first food was apple slices! She loved. We took pictures and a video. Her second food was a banana. More pictures and she totally thought it was yummy. And her third food so far is pears. She likes those too. She definitely still prefers boob-milk over everything. Just because we have started BLW, does not mean she is going to be weaned off Breastfeeding. In this house, it is child led weaning. I hope to continue to breastfeed until at least 15 months, just like with Kayte. Hopefully we can make it to the 2 year mark. She does not get food all day everyday either. She gets to taste a food every few days, because we aren't jumping full force. Just like learning to skills it takes time and practice.

I am sure some of you are wondering what Baby Led Weaning is.

Baby-led weaning (often also referred to as BLW) is a method of introducing solid foods. It allows a baby to control his solid food intake by self-feeding from the very beginning of the weaning process.

Baby Led Weaning is the emphasis of giving the baby control of what and how much she wants to eat. Solid foods are offered as a complement to breastmilk or formula starting around 6 months, while the baby continues to nurse or drink formula until at least 12 months.

With baby led weaning, there's no need for weaning spoons or "baby food". Baby led weaners generally skip purees altogether. Instead, the baby eats finger foods or the same foods as the rest of the family (with a common-sense approach to avoiding choking hazards). Sometimes baby led weaners offer runny or pureed foods, but allow their babies to handle the spoons on their own or with a little help, or use "edible dippers" (like pita bread).

A leading child-care expert has spoken out against pureed baby-food. Gill Rapley, deputy director of Unicef's Baby Friendly Initiative, claims that the foods are unnecessary, reduce the nutritional benefits of breast milk, and that babies fed on them are slow to acquire chewing skills and become picky eaters.
"In 2002, World Health Organization-backed research found breast or formula milk provided all the nutrition a baby needs up to the age of six months. That research said feeding a baby any other food during their first six months would dilute the nutritional value of the milk and might even be harmful to the baby's health," she says.

Baby Led Weaning is not new, it is practiced all over the world in countries where formula is not available and was in this country before formula companies told 1950s mothers that their breast milk was no good...so they started feeding formula. The 1950s formula wasn't able to sustain a baby and so weaning and introducing food had to be done sooner (3-4months) which meant purees for babies.  
Which made sense that you would HAVE TO supplement with pureed baby foods so early.

However, formula these days can now sustain babies and if your breastfeeding you never have to worry about not giving your baby enough.  Breast milk changes it's content as baby grows...pretty cool huh.

So, why do so many parents introduce solids at 4months?? Because they are still relying on outdated information or old school theology. However, World Health Organisation, theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, Health Canada, Health Insite - Australia and the Department of Public Health (U.K.) as well as theCDC all recommend that babies receive nothing but breast milk and/or formula for the first 6 months of age.  

There has been a large amount of research on this in the recent past, and most health organizations have updated their recommendations to agree with current research. Unfortunately, many health care providers are not up to date in what they're telling parents, and many, many books are not up to date.

Now ya know! :)

I discovered BLW sort of by accident when  I was researching solids for Kayte. I ran it by Joe and he thought it was a good idea and was behind me 100%. So we made a go of it. And now with Emmalee we are doing the same thing and very excited. 

I have found that by doing BLW that Kayte is very efficient with silverware and enjoys a wide variety of foods. And is always up to trying new foods that we don't normally eat.  

Her Apple! Love her face!

Her banana! yum.yum.yum.

Pears!! 

*As you can tell, she gets her food in the morning at breakfast time. And we 'recycle' PJ's* 

Sewing

I have always enjoyed sewing. I have created small no thinking projects for the girls. Mainly blankets, and a silkie.  I recently taught myself how a new way to mend clothes! So now, I can actually fix Joe's jeans when they get a hole and he doesn't have to worry about his 'undies' showin' (Wow that does not sound masculine at all 'undies')

And last night I finished a reusable bag that had multiple colors on it and a storage bag to keep the reusable bag in. They both came out pretty darn good for going off the pattern/tutorial thing I started with.

I recently made Kayte a whole set of pajamas! Flannel/fleece monkey material. They turned out AWESOME for my first clothing sewing job and for my first 'real' sewing project. Now I want to make Emmalee a matching pair.

I have a couple other projects that I want to sew up, but they are being kept under wraps! So check back later!! 

Crunchy Leaves

It officially fall and has been for awhile now, 2 months almost. And we finally got to play in the leaves. This year it seemed we had tons of leaves. We raked them into a pile. Okay, well actually, Joe blew them in a pile with his blower. He and I thought it would be fun to take the girls outside to play in the pile.  Both girls weren't feeling super great, but Emma was feeling worse of the two. 

This is the first time Emma has sat in leaves. She was content enough for this shot

And this shot with her sister. 

Then she decided she didn't like the leaves/grass. So she hung out with me
on my lap or in Daddy's arms.  

Kayte and Daddy playing in the leaves. Cool Shot of the 

leaves in the air from them throwing them and jumping into the
pile at the same time. 

Me and the girls in the leaves, you can tell Emma isn't super 

thrilled to be in the pile.

Daddy and his girls. 

Kayte and Daddy ( ♥ them. Crazy goofballs)

Daddy and Emma. So Cute ♥ this

I caught this after we started to bag the leaves, she was pouting,
I called her name and she looked up. So precious. (And she convinced Daddy
to leave the leaves out just a bit longer)

Stuckey Farm

We went to Stuckey Farms to get a pumpkin and some apples. Unfortunately we missed the best time for picking our favorite apples. So we got 'stuck' with the apples that thrive during this time... I can't remember the name of them. Kayte enjoyed picked apples off the trees when we could find some. (There are no pictures of Em because she was behind the camera with me) We picked a pumpkin from the prepicked because it was so chilly and started to drizzle.

Reaching for the apples!

"I got it Daddy"

"Here mommy"

We bought the caramels that Stuckey Farms make and this 

was her "please" and excitement face to get a piece! 

Maybe next year we will actually get to the farm in time to pick our favorite apples!! 

Our Crazy Girls

These two little girls adore each other so much. They make each other so happy. Here is just a tidbit of what Joe and I deal with on a daily basis! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 

*If you are wondering Kayte is eating some pears at the same time and that is what she is doing athe counter.*

Kingston

Adopted in August of 2010, Lost October 22, 2011

Rest Easy my friend, you will definitely be missed. 

♥ Sisters! ♥

As I was doing the girls "Spot light" posts, I noticed how hard it is to find a picture of them seperately. So I thought I would share a few pictures of the girls together before I do posts on the parents of these beautiful wonderful girls. These two care so much about each other. Emma loves Kayte and watches her, talks to her and will get sad if Kayte leaves her sometimes. Kayte loves her little sister, she will bring her toys, try to console her if she is crying. And sometimes she will just lay with her and play and talk to her. 

Playing a match game

Reading Emma a 'night night' story she said.

These girls love their books! that makes me happy!♥

These are just a few pictures from September. We will be taking more this month as we make our way to the apple orchard, pumpkin patch, the zoo, and more fun places!

Emmalee Nicole

Emmalee is growing so quick. We feel like time is flying by. This girl is so smart, happy, she is a quick learner, amazing sleeper. She is just as wonderful as her sister. We sure are proud of our girls. I could brag about this amazing little girl just as much as her sister! 

Check her out! So Cute. 

Splash park! She was getting sleepy and was trying to find her thumb.

At the firehouse. Wearing Kayte's fire hat because Kayte didn't want to!

LOOOVE this picture of her! So Adorable!

We love babywearing! She is not happy I pulled her thumb out of her mouth.

Sorry for the slobbery face ;)

Snuggled in close! We love our wrap!

"I loves my daddy!"

Sitting up playing with her toy. 

Concentrating so hard. (She has mommy's concentration face, look at that tongue)

So happy! She likes to play with Kayte's 'putey' 

This sweet little gal can do so many things. Roll over, sit up, turn herself around, grasp things, TALK, and in no time we think she is going to be crawling. Oh boy, we are gonna be in for it then. But we are looking forward to it.

Kaytelynn Elizabeth

 She is now 2 year and about 3 months old. She is crazy, smart, energetic, helpful, silly, adventureous, kind, caring. I could seriously go on about how wonderful this kid is.. 

She insisted she help mama clean the bathrooms. 

Kayte really enjoys when we go visit Daddy at the Firehouse.

 She looks so small driving Daddy's fire engine.

Peeking at us from between the trees.

Check her out. She is on two seperate rocks, but it is hard to tell in this picture.

I love her face though

"Rock climbing" at the playground. Look at her leg 

muscles. She climbed up all by herself, with Daddy telling her where to

put her hands and feet at times.

Another thing she can climb all by herself.

At first when Kayte would do things like this, I would

have a heart attack. Now it is more like a bad panic attack. Maybe one 

day it will ease into something less...

Climbing trees!

Helping me make banana bread! I should have taken a picture

of her eating the results.

Pretending to be asleep! 

Helping mommy make waffles for breakfast! (Yep, I cheat sometimes and 

use pancake mix as my base)

.

Kayte is growing so quick. She is talking so well in sentences. She is learning so quick with her letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. She enjoys going to the library for our books and occasional DVD. Kayte loves to play with her sister. Kayte is doing so well as being a big sister. We are so proud of all of her accomplishments and milestones she meets each and every day.