Feeling Better

Rough week but we have put our first 2 child sickness behind us. Makena is up to all sorts of new tricks on a daily basis now. She rolls over, as well as crawls on her back by arching it up and down she can make it 3-4 feet. Big smiles are always easy to coax out of her. She will grab anything within her reach and if it's interesting enough, into the mouth it goes.

She's also discovered her feet :)

Tigger

Still needing practice dressing

This shot is not a one-off thing. Maddy grabs her dolly, finds a nursing pillow and just like Mom does to Makena, feeds her baby. The funny part about this is she sticks the doll on her belly-button (she has an outie). She continues to do somersaults in toddler class while the whold class has circle/song time. Sad day today, we ate the last of the season's raspberries from the neighbors berry patch.

Uggg Sick

Makena's first cold is 3 days old and she's a complete mess, not eating or sleeping well. The rest of us have avoided it so far but's it's making for some exciting tense times around the house. One sick kid was manageable last year, but a active 2 year old and sick kid are tough to manage.

Makena and Madelyn are starting to interact with each other, Maddy can get Makena to giggle and kick her legs. She'll also do a sympathy cry, the other night Makena woke up crying after we put the girls to bed and Maddy decided that if Makena had something to cry about she should chip in and cry about it also.

Madelyn continues to be Madelyn, I took her to toddler class on Friday and while everybody circled up and sat on laps for song time she decided to entertain everybody with not one but five somersaults in the middle of the circle. Sit on a lap? Why do that when there are all these great toys hanging around and I can show off? She still in love with all things Curious George, in addition to watching his show she has a few of his books that we continue to read over and over and over again, if Dad reads another one he is going to $hit a banana. Mom bought her a Dora the Explorer flashlight and she enjoys locking herself in the pantry or bathroom so she can check things out with it, "Oh my Gosh", is heard several times when she gets a hold of something this exciting. Words and sentences are tumbling out of her mouth at a furious rate, she talks in her crib to herself for about an hour every night.

On to other good news, Karin signed us up for Pictures for a Purpose again this year. proceeds from the photo shoot go to fight child trafficking, how can you beat that? Our photographer, Kara Hicks, coaxed a few great pictures in of the girls in between the tears. It was a pretty stressful shoot, though only 20 minutes. We'll have to try the whole family next year. Yes once we pay for the CD the watermark will be removed.

Not a Happy Camper

Hips!!

Dr White said that Makena's hips are just fine so we are done with the brace. Yippiee, one less thing to worry about. Mom can make Makena giggle but she's not so sure about laughing for Dad yet. She'll roll over on her side to check a toy out and will grab Madelyn or Mom's hair if it's close by.

It's hard enough trying to take a picture with one kid, and trying to pose two kids, forget it. This was as good as it got.

Enjoying a ride on the carousal

Lovely, thanks for that Smile kido.

Maddy says...

"I go home see my Mom, see my Dad, see Makena."

Little Chatterbox

The fun never stops around the Potter household these days. About a month ago Madelyn decided that she really wanted to start talking and its been nothing but chatter ever since. We sometimes shrug our shoulders at don't have a clue what she's saying but most of the time we can get the gist of it. It's been amazing to watch this leap in her language skills.

We've been snacking on the last of the neighbors raspberries lately. If I ask Maddy where they are, she's off and running to the berry patch. This impress me because it's about 50 yards away and I get the feeling she would have no problem going over there all by herself. She grabs at any semi-ripe or ripe berry that she can reach and when she's done she looks like a bloody mess, her hand and face covered in berries that did not make it into her mouth, Mmmmmmm good.

In the mist of all this chaos Makena is growing up, she's learned to giggle for Mom and we watched her roll over this afternoon. She's moved to her crib and for the most part will sleep for 11 hours a night, sometimes waking up only once and other nights she'll wake up 2-3 times. 45 minutes after she goes down she cries out for an encore, by the time you get to her room you would swear something was in the crib trying to eat her. Most of the time if you put the pacifier back in her mouth or pick her up and tell her it's ok, the episode will be over in 30 seconds flat. She's getting interested in food and loves to watch what Mom & Dad eat, we'll probably hold off until around Thanksgiving before diving into semi-solid foods with her.

New Phrases

"I big girl" - answer to "What is your name?"

"I go bike my Dad" - to Meme when she was talking about biking with Dad

"Big truck hurt me" - Loud truck in the parking lot was making a lot of noise.

"Wyatt kitty hurt me" - well don't stick your hand near him when he makes that funny face.

"I take Mom Dad bath" - She loves to take baths in Mom & Dad's tub.

Pumpkins

The Potter family headed out on a glorious Fall day to find some pumpkins. The patch was prime this year, little mud, light crowds and Madelyn's friend Molly(and family) was there as a bonus. She's making faces at Maddy on the Hay ride above. We also ran into her friend Phoenix. The trip was much more enjoyable this year.

Heading out after scoring some prime pumpkins :)

Makena slept for most of the trip, she could not resist napping on us while in the Bjorn.

Pick that one up and your name is Hercules

Snacking in the wagon with her frog boots, man life is rough.