A busy 2 1/2 weeks for Kai

I can't believe I let time keep getting away from me, but I do, so here's a recap of Kai's busy last couple of weeks ... On Wednesday, he turned 9 months old. He is now 19 lbs, 9 oz and 28.5 inches long (the girls and I liked the repetitive 9's and thought he should have stretched to reach 29 inches ...). =) He started crawling a week and a half ago on Wednesday. Although sometimes he still prefers to stay put, if he's interested in something, he goes. His favorite things are all things electrical. If it's plugged into a wall, he wants to touch it. Seriously. Yesterday, on two separate occasions, he almost pulled a radio on his head and a laptop on his head by pulling on their cords. And he tries to unplug anything and everything. The girls never did this and I obviously need to get my act together to make our house a bit safer for this little adventurer. It has been so warm here this week and we ate dinner outside in the front yard a few nights. The first time, I put our plates on the ground for the picnic. After Kai had beef and noodles and sour cream everywhere in about 10 seconds, Audrey went in and brought him back a jar of baby food, a spoon and a bib. =) And the next night, I got smarter and we ate our dinner on the little table outside while Kai looked on from the grass. =) Kai also now has 4 little teeth poking through and he is quickly becoming a big eater! And yesterday, he learned to clap, and today it seemed that he was just randomly clapping all the time. Very cute (& smart) he is! And for recording other cute things, Audrey's new word is "attackle" ... as in, "Mom, Avery just attackled my baby but my baby just came out of my tummy and she's too little for Avery to be rough." Anyway, Iain and I think the word makes perfect sense so instead of correcting her, we may just submit it to Webster's for inclusion in the next edition. Pictures will be forthcoming ....... =)

2 random things

Kai is so close to crawling. SO close. He routinely moves from sitting to the crawling position, reaches to grab toys (much to Avery's sadness), and then stays there until he eventually either sits back up (in which case he usually scoots himself around on his bottom) or falls flat on his tummy. Anyway, it's tons of fun to watch him and the girls have started getting in front of him, either with a toy or smiling, saying, "come on, Kai. Come on. You can do it." So cute. Yesterday morning, out of the blue and for the first time ever, Audrey called me "mom". Mom. Not Mommy. Not Mamma. Mom. And she has called me that every single time she has addressed me since. I think I am now officially Mom to her. And so I know that kids grow up. But she's not even 5 (yes, it is less than a week away, but still...). Can't I keep Mommy until she's at least 6? Life is good! Tomorrow is Audrey's last day of preschool (both girls were mid-year dropouts). But she is excited! And I am excited! I can't wait to have all 3 of them home with me every day. That's the truth!

Whew, it's been a tough morning!

There Were Three in the Crib ...

We were getting ready to go to the pool today (yes, it's in the 20s outside, so an indoor pool is a beautiful thing). I left the girls upstairs with their bathing suits on and came down to get Kai ready. The next thing I see is Avery in this get-up (bathing suit on underneath). She really cracks me up!! Then Audrey, the little gymnast, monkeyed her way into Kai's crib, so I put the other two in and here are the beautiful McConnell children in another day of our paradise.

One other thing worth mentioning...

When the girls woke up this morning, I went upstairs. I asked them if they were ready to come down and see what Santa had brought. Audrey said, "First, let's get dressed." What?? Huh? This does not compute in my head. Get dressed first?? I'm 34 years old and I STILL don't want to get dressed before I open presents. =) Anyway, I can say that they got dressed faster than normal, so at least maybe there's a little proof that they are my children. =)

A few pix

Here are some pix from our stint as Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and two adorable sheep at our church's live nativity last week. Also a couple of pix from the girls' school's year-end celebration, playing outside last week, making smores in our living room campground, a few from yesterday (round one of presents, making sausage balls, and playing Little Blue Riding Hood, where Avery is the wolf pretending to be the sick grandmother and Audrey has come to visit), and of course, some from today.

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Merry Christmas

I have some grat pix and video, having technical difficulties. Hope to get them up soon! In the meantime, two funny stories... Avery LOVES to sing. A couple of weeks ago, she was singing Angels from thr realms of glory, and near the end, instead of saying "now proclaim Messiah's birth," she said "the siah's birth". Audrey said, "it's not siah's BIRTH, It's siah's EARTH." Today, they were playing with their new easel and Avery said, "I need to rase the chalkboard." Audrey said, "it's not RASE,it's UNRASE." Love it and love our kids! Kai went in for a 6-month checkup last week and was 17 lbs and 27 inches. He is big and happy, and especially loved the crinkly tissue paper this morning! :-)