February 2014

February was an interesting month for us.  Anna and I started it out by making beeswax candles for Candlemas.  Anna made a heart candle for Valentine's day and a purple taper.  I made 4 small red candles to be used for Advent later.  It was a simple activity and Anna had a lot of fun.

A day later, though, I broke out in terrible, horrible, awful hives.  They were so bad!  I had them on my eyelids and the soles of my feet!  I ended up having to go on several medications plus get a steroid shot.  It took the rest of the month for them to completely disappear.  Steve was a trooper and took several days off of work to take care of the kids because all I could do was itch, take oatmeal baths, and be miserable.  Matthew was also a trooper.  Because of the steroid shot, I had to stop nursing him cold turkey that day.  Heavenly Father must have been helping him, because he hardly fussed at all to moving to a sippy cup.  The sister missionaries were great and came over to clean the house because I was so behind.  My visiting teacher also came and took my laundry home to do for me.  My doctor thinks I may be allergic to the antibiotic Flagyl because I had just finished a course when the hives came on.  Needless to say, there are no pictures from this period of time.

Matti Ihalmo & Steve

Steve & Sirpa Ihalmo

The last big thing in February was Steve's week long trip to Poland.  Google flew him and his team out there to meet with the rest of his group to have some team-building time.  On the way, he stopped in Finland to visit some friends, the Ihalmos.  Unfortunately, his layover in Frankfurt turned into a nightmare.  When he arrived, the security people were having a strike so although he got in, he couldn't get out.  His 3 hour layover turned into a 36 hour one.  When he finally did get to Finland, the airline had lost his luggage!  Luckily, Matti Ihalmo had a suit that fit Steve for church.


The rest of the time was spent in Poland at a resort outside of Krakow.  I'll put labels on the pictures so you know what you're looking at.

Standing

Here are a couple of pictures of Matthew standing up in his crib.  When I come to get him in the morning, he's usually standing up shaking the bars back and forth.  Let me out!  Let me out!

Murdock Park

I wanted to share a post about one of our favorite places here in San Jose.  It's Murdock Park and it's
just down the road from Steve's parents' house.

The kids and I go there at least once a week during the day.  We go with Steve about twice a month in the evenings.  It's such a nice park.  There are a lot of trees and a big field for running around in.  There are picnic benches, a barbeque area, and even bathrooms!  There are also 3 different play-areas, each designed for a particular age group.  We often go to the toddler area, but Anna is also starting to gravitate to the older kid spot, too.

Sometimes I push the kids on the swings, but often, I just spread out a blanket for Matthew in the grass and do a little sewing while we watch Anna run around.  She loves going to play and for scoping out possible playmates.  We bring the sand toys for
playing in the sand and Anna's balance bike for riding around
the play areas.

It's such a peaceful park.  We hear birds and see squirrels.  On Tuesdays, there's a group of Asian people that gather and do Tai Ji.  We love Murdock Park and will miss it terriblely when we move.

(Key to pictures- Top: Matthew & Anna at the top of the slide; Lefthand from top to bottom: M&A swinging together, Happy Anna, Anna trying to go UP the slide;  Righthand from top to bottom: Matthew's first swing, Anna crawling through the tunnel, Matthew exploring a magnolia leaf)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Yesterday was Matthew's 6-month mark.  For us, that means starting solids.  Yay!!!

Anna started with carrots and I intended to have Matthew start with that, too, but it didn't turn out that way.  I couldn't find the time to cook the carrots, so we settled for a ready-to-go banana.

Matthew wasn't too thrilled about sitting in the highchair at first.  He kept sliding forward and his head would sink down so low I couldn't get the food in his mouth.  After some adjustments, we got going.

He loved the bananas!  Really, what's not to love about bananas?  He would get so excited about the spoon and food coming toward him, that he would grab the spoon and shove it into his own mouth.  He does push some of the food out of his mouth and he gagged twice, but nothing was really bad.  Nothing that would have us put off solids for longer.

I'm really excited about this step.  It means Steve and I may actually get to go somewhere without the kids!  I'm also hoping it helps fill his tummy so he sleeps longer at night.

She's Got Wheels

Steve, the kids, and I went to a kids' consignment shop last week to pick up some summer clothes for Anna and Matthew.  While we were there, I saw it.  A balance bike!  I'd been thinking of getting one for Anna for several months, but they can be kind of expensive, $70-$100, and I couldn't quite justify the expense.

For those of you that don't know, a balance bike is a small 2-wheel bicycle with no pedals.  It moves by the child pushing it with their feet, which can reach the ground.  The idea is that the child will learn to balance on two wheels without the need for training wheels and can transition to a regular bicycle more easily.

Anyway, I saw a Prince Lionheart balance bike in the store.  It had a price tag of just $49!  So, we bought it.  After a little adjustment in the seat, Anna got to take her first ride.

It's going to take some getting use to.  I had a hard time convincing her that she needed to sit on the seat, not just stand straddling the bike.  Also, she's still pretty wobbly and slow.  We'll have to make time for more practice.  Even so, Anna is so excited to have her own bike.  She likes to wear Grandma's bike helmet when she rides.  So cute.

Anna's First Hair Cut

Before

This past Tuesday we all went in for haircuts.  Steve needed his regular up-keep, I needed something shorter and cooler so Matthew couldn't grab it so much, and Anna needed her very first haircut!

We'd been talking about getting Anna's hair cut off and on for a few months, but with the move and everything it got moved to the back burner.  Also, Steve wanted to put it off as long as possible.  He thought it would be cool if she didn't get her hair cut until she was 5.  I finally convinced him to let her get it cut anyway.

She didn't have a whole lot to cut.  The lady at the store just trimmed a little from the back and on the sides.  She did tell me that I should have shaved Anna's head when she was younger and it would have grown in better.

After

Anna sat very still and was really good for the 5 minutes it took.  She's so proud of her big girl hair and even Steve  had to admit that her hair looks much better.

This and That (part 2)

Here are some more random pictures.

Picking flowers in Stansbury

Anna's first picture trying to draw people (our family)

Anna and her good friend, Kaylee

Anna and her other family, the Ricks

Steve and Anna on the pier at the lake at the cabin

Matthew sleeping all wrapped up on my chest

Anna and Steve in the 'wheelchair' at the cabin

Smile!

Here are some pictures of one of Matthew's first smiles.

He is such a smiley guy.  All you have to do is talk nice, clap his hands, or smile at him and he breaks out with the hugest grins.  Recently, he's added giggling to his repertoire.  So cute!

First Bath

Here are some pictures from Matthew's first official real bath.  He didn't like the water at first, but soon settled down.  Now he hardly makes a fuss. Under that, see a cute picture of Matthew in his bunting.

Matthew's Blessing

We had Matthew's blessing the Sunday after he was born.  He was only 5 days old!  Luckily, we were able to have my parents and Steve's parents here.  We also invited Ken and Kate, Uncle Paul and Aunt Diane, and Allison.  Bishop Jarvis and Brian Ricks also came.

Steve gave a wonderful blessing and Matthew was great.  He didn't cry once.  He looked adorable in his little white knitted outfit.

After the blessing, we had a lunch of baked potatoes and cake.  Then, Allison took my parents to the airport and Steve's family all went to church.  I stayed home with Matthew.

Anna Visits the Dentist

Of course, she had to be goofy.

Waiting for the dentist.

 
Anna had her very first visit to the dentist last week and she did great!

Getting her teeth checked out.

Last year, I grabbed a bunch of different books from one of my boxes to see what she would like.  One of the books that she latched onto and loved was called First Experiences: A Visit to the Dentist.  It shows a little boy visiting the dentist for the first time.  He takes care of his teeth, sits in the waiting room, rides the 'magic' chair, and opens his mouth WIDE for the dentist to count and brush his teeth.  Anna asks for us to read it to her for bedtime consistently.

Her prizes for being good

I think because of that book, she likes to have her teeth brushed and flossed.  We always go first and then let her do it herself for a couple minutes.  So, when I told her that she was going to go to the dentist with mommy and daddy, she was ecstatic!

Here are some pictures of her there.  The hygienist was great and showed her all the tools and let her press the buttons to make water and air come out.  She soaked up all of the attention.  I was surprised that she let them brush her teeth with the electric brush and paint on the fluoride varnish.

It's Potty Time!

Anna has been very interested in the potty for a couple of months now.  We got a little potty at IKEA and put it in the upstairs bathroom.  She loves to sit on it.  The usual routine is for her to do her business in her diaper and then run to me and say, "Sitta potty? Sitta potty?". So we go upstairs and she gets to sit on the potty long enough for me to sing ABC's twice.

We have had two successes!  One #2 and a #1.  We're not officially potty-training her, she's a little young, but as long as she's interested, we're going to let her sit as often as she wants.  Here are a couple of pictures from the other day.  She decided she needed to read her favorite books while sitting.

The picture below with Anna's funny face is when I asked her to smile.

Miss Independant

So, Anna has decided that she no longer needs Mom to help her eat any more.  This means that anything she puts in her mouth has to be put there by her.  Even gooey, semi-liquid stuff.  I must say that I have to restrain myself from grabbing back the yogurt and baby food jars.  She really seems to enjoy it, though.  The two down points are that she makes a HUGE mess and that it takes her a looooong time to eat enough to make her full.  She hasn't quite figured out the scooping action.  Usually she just swishes the spoon around and hopes something sticks!  Here are a few pictures of her adventures in self-feeding.

Water Baby

Anna went 'swimming' for the first time today.  Her friend, Kaylee, invited her over to try out their new wading pool.  Exciting!  I finally got to have Anna try on her bathing suit.  She was so cute!
She wasn't quite sure what she thought about the pool at first.  I had to get in to coax her in.  Then, she would only stand.  I asked her to sit and she'd squat down just far enough for the bottom of her diaper to dip in, then she'd stand up real fast.  She did slip and fall on her bottom once- she didn't like that.
After spending about 20 minutes in the pool, Anna was done.  She wandered the yard and ate strawberries and chased bubbles.  We ended up spending almost two hours hanging out with our friends.  What a great day!

Anna News

Just a little update on life with Anna.  We've been spending a lot of time outside on the front lawn, whenever there is sun and the temperature is decent.  It's been nice to get some sun.  All of the neighbor kids like to come over and ohh and ahh over Anna.  I got some decent pictures on the 11th.

One of her favorite things to play with are the blocks I made.  She loves to hold onto two of the blocks and then hoists them high over her head.  Steve calls it her, 'By the power of Grayskull!' pose.  (from He-Man for those of you who don't get it)

The really big news is that Anna has started walking!  She took her first step by herself at her cousins' birthday.  Then, this past Friday, I set her down and off she went for 4 or 5 steps before falling down!  She's getting so big so fast!  I can't believe she will be a year old this Saturday.  Oh my.