At Nana Pam's

Two pictures that show just how mischievous these two are becoming! They are definitely a handful these days, but lots of fun!

They just look like they have trouble on their minds!!!

Big Kid Seats

Well, this morning was the first try at the big carseats. Katie was a fan, Tyler not so much. We have only managed to install them in my car and will get them in Lance's soon. My car (mini-van - I might as well get used to saying that) is easier because I have the latch system - Lance doesn't and it is a royal pain. Our big hope now is that the seats fit in his truck - they are bigger than I thought, especially rear facing. We wanted to move them into these before the trip to see if they might work better and I think they will be more comfortable, but I hate them because I can't see the kids. The backs of the seats block out the mirrors and I have gotten used to just being able to look back and see what is happening. The new recommendation is to keep them rear-facing until TWO, we'll have to do more research on if that truly is the case or not. Lance has a hurt back so I was responsible for the install - we might just wait until his back is feeling better to get the others in. We were able to get four seats and the ones we ended up with seem really cushy and like good seats - thank you so, so much to my Grandpa (the kids Great Grandpa) OB for helping us with the seats - I don't know what we would have done with only two. Here are some pics of the kids in the seats and a few more I took in the last couple of days.

As long as Katie has toys she doesn't care where she sits!

Maybe Tyler didn't like it because he didn't have any toys - or because of that sun! Katie is getting a few curls!

and learning how to crawl! Tyler is loving being able to stand and play with everything.

But, most of all he wants to do what we don't want him to - like play with that vent he is eyeing.

Katie is such a girl, her favorite toy is the phone - although she does love remote controls and keys too!

Almost 10 Months - Pictures!

Well, the kids were quite fussy today - I think learning how to do new things wears them out and they are just sooo tired. We did manage to get a few pictures of them, though. They hate being dressed these days and they each required a change since what they were wearing this morning was soiled so the outfits are not picture worthy really, but I was trying to capture one of their brawls. Didn't manage to get them tackling each other and laughing about it but here are some others!

Here is Katie clapping after she sat up on her own (3rd time today) and we went crazy! Usually when we are so happy and clapping like that we are trying to get her to clap too.

Tyler can pull up on pretty much anything now - he is a standing fool!

Katie has started picking on Tyler too - and she loves his ears!

They both really do think it is pretty funny unless one of them

indavertently hurts the other.

But, as usual Katie is most happy when in her daddy's arms.

Tyler just likes being silly, anytime - any place!

Katie Is Getting It

Well, I went into the room to check to see why Katie was not taking her nap and found her sitting! She has done it twice today and neither time did I see how she did it. I think she might be using her brother or the crib rails for leverage but at least she has figured it out a couple of times and maybe that will prompt her to keep trying. I am not too keen on her becoming as mobile as Tyler just yet, but if she can learn to sit-up on her own things will be a bit easier. Right now she is an easy target for her bully brother since he just mangles her and she can't get away. Plus, when he knocks her over she is then stuck laying down and can't figure out how to get back to sitting and whining ensues. They have both started mimicing yells which is too cute. They can both hold their own bottles now, but it seems to take a lot longer to feed them these days since they play with the bottle half the time. Nevertheless, when you try to take over they grab it from your hands as if to already say "I can do it by myself." Still don't have the hang of the sippy cups (no matter which one we try), but we had a little success with these new ones I bought that have a straw and more of a bottle shape so hopefully we can get that going. They are eating three meals a day now and have tried yogurt, cottage cheese, and crackers. I am still scared to death to give them food so that's about it so far. They will soon be ten months old (so hard to believe) and before we know it they will be one year and we will stop with formula (woohoo). BUT, I have got to get them used to drinking from the cups and eating more foods first - maybe I will focus on that as soon as we get back from South Carolina (just around the corner - looking forward to it but nervous as heck about the drive).

Craziness just beginning

So, Tyler is literally all over the place these days and we know that it is just a taste of times to come. In just a 30 minute time-span this morning he showed us quite a few things that need to be addressed in terms of baby-proofing in the bonus room. H grabbed the cords of the television and when redirected went immediately to the curtains that he tried to use to pull up on (not sure they are sturdy enough for that). Then he found the door spring thing that stops the door from hitting the wall and had tons of fun with that but eventually moved on to the bookshelf where he managed to pull out three books (one he would not let go of) before we could stop him. THEN, he was racing toward the open door (which is at the top of the stairs sorta - yikes) before we could get it closed. When we have two of them like this we are in T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Tyler can pretty much stand whenever he wants these days as long as he has on object or person around to grab onto. Katie's teeth (I think) are finally coming in - the ones on the bottom are about to make their appearance as best as I can tell. To add to the ever-growing list we need to get a new camera - the blurriness and malfunctioning of our current one is ridiculous but here are a few pictures from this morning that weren't completely blurry! We did order our carseats and the first time using them will be on our looooong trip to South Carolina so we'll see how they do!

Tyler about to stand if he doesn't get distracted by an urge to tackle Katie (who absolutely loves it by the way).

Tyler standing - on his tippy toes! He is doing great - almost mastered how to fall on his bottom.

Katie showing off her teeth. She looks pained, but she has actually been surprisingly (especially if she is actually getting teeth) happy and smiley lately.

He did it!

I don't have much time and no pictures (:-() but wanted to update on Tyler's big feat! He has been trying to pull up on everything and does a pretty good job of it but hadn't quite figured out that he could do the same thing in the crib. Well, this morning he did it - oh no! We already have trouble getting him to sit down to sleep I am sure that trying to get him to stop standing will be a nightmare. He has developed quite a temper (hmm, wonder where he gets that) and it is pretty frustrating to him that he can't move like he wants but he is still sweet and smiley most of the time and is quickly figuring out how to get places. Now he sees an open door and is off - that or anything at all in the room that we don't want him to get ahold of is the first thing he is after. We have moved furniture out of the bonus room to give him room to roam and it of course isn't enough - he is definitely testing his boundaries these days. Katie is still not moving much and STILL has no teeth! She has started rolling around more but more often than not she gets so frustrated that she can't do what her brother can do that she just lays there and yells. She also is pretty vocal about not liking him crawling ALL OVER HER and pushing her down to try to just rub it in her face that he can get what he wants and she can't! I am hoping that she will eventually get fed up and just one day say look I can crawl too! She is learning to mimic and last night we had quite a loud yelling competition - too fun!

Losing Battle

The babies are doing better - they still have very, very sore bottoms but they only scream now when you change them and not so much when they are just sitting and playing (or at least that was what happened this morning). I gave them cheerios and crackers yesterday trying to keep their meals bland and Katie is definitely her mom's girl - she LOVES the starches!

I have decided to give up the battle of trying to keep pieces of the mat out of their mouths. I learned that if I just let Tyler pull a piece up and chew on it then he doesn't continue to crawl over and destroy the mat. I was trying to enforce no and take it away from him and redirect but that was exhausting and it really won't hurt him to chew on some foam - I'll save my energy for the harmful stuff that he is bound to get into. He is all over the place and it is soon only going to get worse. He is trying to pull up and get himself into standing position (and is getting really frustrated that he can't do it on his own yet) and crawls to the one thing in every room that he is in that he is not supposed to have. I am beginning to sound like a broken record but it really is time to full-force babyproof! It is becoming very obvious that we have no clue what we are in for when both of these little munchkins are mobile and into everything - I am having trouble handling Tyler now and he isn't exactly speedy!

Here are some pics of their mat eating adventures!