Chris: Age 3

Chris is 3! This has been a big year for Chris. Here are some highlights:

• Learned to talk in amazingly grammatically correct, full sentences. We left him at Grandma's house for a week, and he magically went from saying one or two words at a time to telling us stories. Everyone is amazed at his speaking skills.
• Became a big brother when Kate was born in November. He loves helping with Kate, and he is a great big brother (as long as she isn't stealing his toys). 
• Sleeps like a champ, and is a super easy kid to get to bed. (a rare child in this house)
• After much difficulty, finally learned to ride his tricycle.
• Eats just about anything if we can get him to sit still long enough.
• Has very high cuddle needs, especially in the morning. You can tell if Chris hasn't had adequate morning cuddles because he is grumpy. Life cereal is his favorite breakfast.
• The terrible threes have hit, and there is a lot of crying and tantruming going on lately.
• Loves playing in water, whether it is the bath, the sink, the tub, the hose, or the water table.
• Knows all of his letters and numbers and is starting to learn their sounds.
• Started potty training 6 days ago, and he is doing great!
• He is a very independent player and is pretty happy to be left on his own in his room to read or play trains. In the morning, he wakes up and plays happily until we come to let him out, then greets us excitedly.
• Still definitely Mommy's boy, but he loves Daddy now too. He has learned that Daddy is the fun one. 
• His favorite toys are his wooden trains, Play Doh, Hot Wheels, Little People, and any kind of building toy (legos, blocks, magformers, etc.) He also loves puzzles.
• Favorite Shows: Baby Einstein, Stinky & Dirty, Chuggington, DinoTrucks
• Favorite Place: Grandma's house
• Favorite Foods: olives, watermelon, pineapple

 We started Chris's birthday with pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls before church.

 After church, we decorated the cake, and of course the birthday boy got to lick the beater.

 We partied with family at Grandma & Grandpa Hindman's house. He had some help from Sarah & his cousins opening his gifts. He got cars, a puzzle, a Little People carnival, and trucks.

 Chris was very specific about his cake request. He wanted a chocolate cake with lots of red letter B's. No one knows why. He was thrilled with it.

 Blowing out the candles. Only took 50 tries.

 Delicious!

 Chris's potty training selfie. I had a hard time convincing him to ditch the diapers, but now he is very proud of his undies, which he says are very soft and comfy.

 Finally mastered the trike.

 Happy boy!

 Cutest kids.

We love you, Chris!

Kate: 10 Months

Kate is 10 months old! Here is Kate at 10 months:

• Standing! First, she got really confident pulling herself up to stand on the furniture. Now, she is standing straight up from the floor. She hasn't attempted any steps yet, but I bet we will have steps before too long.

• Kate LOVES to laugh. She giggles all day,and it is infectious. If anyone is laughing near her, she will always join in. She is always good for a courtesy laugh.

Kate loves food. Pretty much all food. I handed her half of a toasted tuna cheese sandwich, and she was in heaven for about 20 minutes. 

 

• Sleep: something we don't do enough of at our house. I suppose we will keep her anyway.

• Kate loves water, both in the bath and in the pool. Chris was playing in the baby pool one day, and she was not about to be left out, so she crawled right in.

 First trip to the county fair. It was pouring rain, but we had fun.

First concert! Kate got to see The Piano Guys with Mommy & Daddy. She loves music. She gets up on her knees and dances. Her other signature move is the head shake.

Practicing those standing skills. She hasn't figured out how to cruise around the furniture yet.

 Modeling another of Mommy's church dresses.

 I always have to get a shot of those beautiful eyelashes :)

 She's been doing a lot of chewing lately, and she has been pretty grumpy. Maybe that first tooth will make its appearance soon!

• Now that Sarah is in school all day, these two get to spend the day with Mom. We have lots of fun together. 

Kate: 9 Months

Look at our big girl!

•  Kate is 28 inches tall and weighs 17 lbs 14 oz. That puts her in the 66th percentile for height and the 22nd percentile for weight. It is hard to believe that she is so low on the weight scale, because she has some very squishable chub. 
• This baby is very mobile. She is crawling like a speeding bullet and pulling up to standing on everything. 
• She is in to everything. Her title has gone from "Best Baby Ever" to "The Tiny Terror".  She likes to terrorize whatever her siblings are playing with. Two of her favorite things to do are pulling all of the books off of shelves and eating any piece of paper she can get her hands on. In the absence of paper, anything else on the floor is free game for eating.
• We have a toy on the fridge that plays music. Kate has figured out how to push the button, and she is very proud of herself. She turns it on and then dances on her knees.
• Sleeping has been awful lately. It's a good thing this girl is so cute.
• Kate is by far our friendliest baby. She is fairly happy to be held by just about anyone, although  she does particularly love Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma. She also thinks Sarah and Chris are hilarious. 
• She still eats everything. We have left baby food far behind, and Kate eats everything we eat, although there are still no teeth in sight.
• We all love Kate to death, and she gets thoroughly spoiled around here.

 Kate doesn't like grass or hard surfaces on her knees, so she has a tendency to crawl like a spider.

 Kate on the attack. If you are on the floor, she will get you. Sarah's hair and glasses are popular targets.

 First time in a shopping cart seat when Mommy forgot the baby carrier. She looks happy. She was not. This was a disastrous shopping trip.

 Playing at the lake with Daddy

 Miner's Jubilee Parade

 Kate loves playing outside!

 I went in Chris's room, and he had made Kate's bed with his pillow, blanket (yes, Chris has claimed Sarah's pink blanket as his own), and favorite bears just for Kate. He insisted she needed to get tucked. He is a good big brother (at least when he isn't hitting her for stealing his toys.)

 Kate went huckleberry picking twice this month. She was very content as long as I fed her a berry every couple of minutes.

 Grandma's yellow swing is always a popular choice.

 Hiking at Catherine Creek

 Sweetest sleeper

 Going for a walk at Mason dam while Daddy and Sarah were fishing

 First time successfully pulling to standing!

 What happens when you leave the baby with Daddy and he finds a fluffy hat

So proud of herself!

Kate: 8 Months

Another month has flown by, and it has been a busy one! Here is Kate at 8 months:

I feel like Kate has grown up a lot this month (as well as out. Her thunder thighs are impressive!)

Right around 7 months, she got up on hands and knees for the first time. She spent most of this month practicing hard on her rocking skills. She knew she could get somewhere, but she couldn't quite figure it out. This was while she was practicing in the foyer during a training with Elder Neil L. Anderson that she got to attend with me.

Kate has been eating all the things this month. She has pretty much given up on purees in favor of table food. She likes basically anything we give her. I hope this means we have another good eater in our future.

Salmon and broccoli were delicious! Kate gets very excited when she sees the food coming to her tray.

 First trip to the swimming pool. I was worried about how to deal with everyone at the pool by myself if she didn't want to get in, but she loves it! She starts kicking her little legs as soon as she gets in the water.

 First camping trip: ward campout at Phillips Lake. There was very little sleeping involved until she got to come in Mommy's sleeping bag. Then she was happy to sleep. Sleep has been a troublesome issue in general this month. Kate has suddenly decided that she wants to wake up multiple times a night and be awake for hours before she will go back to sleep. She is in danger of losing her Best Baby Ever title.

 Practicing those hands and knees skills at Grandma Judy's house in Spokane. She would get on her tummy and sort of pivot around to get to anything within her radius. 

 Happy vacation baby

 Kate had her first ophthalmologist appointment this month. She has anisocoria, meaning her pupils are unequal. I noticed it a few months ago, so we made an appointment to have her checked out. She passed with flying colors. Apparently it is a normal condition in 1/3 of people. Who knew? 

 Learning about new textures in the grass

 First trip to the zoo. We went with Grandma, Aunt Katy, and cousin Anne. This was taken in the butterfly exhibit. Right after this was taken, I looked over to see she had a huge, blue butterfly clasped in her hand. She didn't kill it, but it may have been maimed. She was quite proud of herself.

 Grandma's yellow swing - a popular summer pastime among Hindman grandbabies

 1st Fourth of July celebrated in Baker City and Haines with the Hindman

 I was afraid she would hate the fireworks, but she didn't seem too bothered. 

Hanging out at Uncle Jeremy's house

 2nd (and probably last until she decides to sleep better) camping trip. Phillips Lake with the Hindman crew. She loved playing in the lake and trying to eat all of the rocks and weeds.

 Lake time with Aunt Katy

Doing some reading with Sarah. Kate is lucky to have an extra mommy around.

 Kate has some impressive noises right now. Her most common one is squawking like a pterodactyl. She also yells Dadadada a lot. We are going to work hard on Mama before she realizes that she is actually saying Daddy's name.

•  Big milestone for the month: Kate is crawling! She had moved forward a hand or knee a couple of times earlier in the month, but she finally got the hang of it at Grandma's house over the 4th of July. Something about Grandma's house is encouraging for learning new things. As soon as I got the camera out to take these pictures, she crawled across the bed at top speed to get me. 

 Could she be any cuter?

 Yep, Kate is officially mobile, and the honeymoon is over. She is figuring out how to crash her siblings toys and generally be a menace. She doesn't like having her knees on cold surfaces, though. She does an impressive splits move. 

Sleep or no sleep, I guess we will keep her. She is just the sweetest baby (as long as it isn't bedtime)!