Variety

Oh, I forgot to mention that Daniel seems to think Kyra's not getting enough variety in her diet. On Monday, he tried to give her a spoonful of yogurt. Last night, he tried to give her some of his orange juice.

Delays

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted -- and this one will be short, too. Work is very busy mostly with networking and marketing stuff but also with a couple of new clients and work. Kyra's 11 weeks old today and doing great -- smiling and talking (meaning making lots of happy noises) up a storm. Daniel has been waking up a couple of times a night -- we think it's his 2 year molars... that's all we can come up with. Kyra is doing about 7 hour stretches which would be fine if Daniel weren't interrupting! Last night Daniel slept through so hopefully he's doing better.

We are dealing with a bit of aggression on his part, though. He seems to think Kyra is a good pillow for laying on, rolling on, kicking, etc. We've instituted 'time-outs' and he is able to say what he has done wrong and to apologize but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the behavior. He immediately goes back to the old behavior. Any thoughts from those more experienced with this?

Daniel is also moving to the next room in day care -- he will be a "Tree Frog" starting next week and will have his meals in the cafeteria and be able to play on the big playground. I think he's interested in the idea but we'll see how he adapts to the new teacher. He knows a couple of kids in the class, though, which should help somewhat and the new teacher has come in to meet him and talk to him, etc.

3 on, 1 off

After three nights of 7 hour sleep stretches, last night was 5 hours. Plus an hour of putting her back to sleep. Then Daniel thought 6am was the right time to bang on the door. I know some of you don't have a problem with 6am... Unfortunately, I do. Needless to say, I'm not expecting 10 weeks (which is Thursday) to equal 10 hours... Can you tell I have a bit of an obsession with sleep?

We had an interesting morning on Monday. On Sunday, we determined Basil must have a urinary tract infection given his litter box and his overall temperment. So Monday morning, I expected to have to pack up the kids and head to the vet. Somehow Daniel had a big wet spot on his bed... not sure if the diaper leaked or what because his PJs weren't wet. So I stripped the bed and put on a new sheet. I came downstairs to find kitty had two hairballs on the carpet. So I began to clean those up while trying to keep Daniel out of it. Finally we got our act together and me with two hands and three loads (Daniel, Kyra, and Basil) headed to the vet. Turns out it's a urinary tract infection and now Basil's on antibiotics.

Daniel's been doing lots of artwork with markers, crayons, chalk and paint. Oh, and stickers all over the house. We've bought the "Once Upon a Potty" book and Daniel is now telling me when he needs a diaper change. All good, positive things!

Kyra's smiling and cooing a lot. She laughs at the mobile or if I kneel over her and kiss her cheeks. It's adorable.

Settling down

Things feel like they're setting down a bit. Daniel's back to sleeping well (at night at least - naps are still short but that's just Daniel). We noticed a new molar and wonder if that might have been his trouble last week... except the fever seems a bit high for that... as always, we can only guess. Kyra is up and down with her night time sleep -- last night was 7 hours, the night before was 4 hours... keeps me on my toes (and asleep by 9pm if possible).

Here are a couple of pictures of Kyra this week. I've also uploaded a few to Flickr -- you can find the link on the right side of this page. She's smiling a lot more and really, really likes to watch everything her big brother does. She holds her head up pretty well and is so inquisitive in her look. I was laughing a few nights ago (around 3am) after she had eaten and was wide awake looking all around the room noticing the things on the walls and the curtains and how they all looked with the shadows of the low light in the room. I couldn't even be irritated with her for being awake because she was so cute and happy checking things out.

Sleep does wonders

After three nights of not sleeping due to fever, cough or other things we can't put our fingers on, Daniel finally slept through last night and feels so much better today. Yesterday he went to daycare but was a wreck due to exhaustion probably more than anything... I'm sure we looked like awful parents sending him but he didn't have a fever (at least that morning) and we thought school might do him good. I had to pick him up in the p.m. because his fever returned but last night he seemed to be getting over it...

Kyra's waking up so gotta run... I'm washing all her 3-6 month clothes which has lots of wonderful things from friends and family! You'll see her new wardrobe in upcoming pictures.

I also got some great video of her smiling and cooing earlier this week. I just need to download it from the camera and get it on CD ROM for those who want it. Hopefully tonight or over the weekend.

Regarding our other ventures, there's a great Seattle Times article today about downtown Bellevue and it's growth -- Enjoy!

Jinxed

Not only did I jinx myself but I think I got a double-whammy. Kyra did her 5 hour gig last night and in addition, Daniel started a fever and was up. So between the two of them, I was up every 1.5 hours. Today, Daniel was obviously feeling miserable and woke up from his nap with a 102 degree fever. Fortunately, we were going to the doctor anyway for Kyra's checkup so they both got looked at. Right now it looks like Daniel's is just a virus so hopefully it'll clear up tomorrow.

Kyra is 14 lbs and 23 3/4 inches long. That's the 97th percentile in weight -- she's obviously caught up from her first week and 90th percentile in height. Doctor says she's doing great. She wasn't happy with her 4 vaccinations but recovered pretty well. She's a bit fussy this evening but that could just be that both thighs are very sore from the two injections each....

8 weeks = 8 hours

I hate to breathe a word of this but maybe jinxes don't work if you write it instead of say it out loud. The last two nights Kyra's slept 8 hours. Yippee! Too bad the 8 hours starts at 8pm... so if I go to bed at 9pm, I can get 7 hours. Not my usual bedtime but I can make it work. The other part that cuts into the sleep is that Daniel's had a cold and been up coughing all night. Two nights ago, Matt was up with him for a couple of hours and last night he was up earlier (around 9pm) but seemed to settle into sleep after that -- either that or we were both so zonked we didn't hear him.

Kyra goes to the doctor tomorrow for her 2 month checkup. As I recall, that's a 4 shot checkup. Should be fun loading the screaming baby and the 2 year old into the car and driving until the screaming baby passes out. Either that or feeding her in the waiting area of the doctor's office afterwards to calm her down while Daniel draws on the chalkboard and harrasses the fish in the aquarium. We'll see what makes the most sense.

I'm finally beginning to feel caught up with work and can take a breather. The wine bar is also progressing! Matt and I got to go out to dinner last night which was nice as well -- a new place in Kirkland called Mixtura, a tapas style restaurant with a Peruvian menu. The ceviche was exceptional!

Quick note

Kyra is 8 weeks old and smiling a lot more -- I finally captured one on film (or as digital bits and bytes). She loves the things on the wall in her room and some of the toys we've brought out. She sometimes even smiles at Mommy. We had one promising night of 7 hours of sleep (not me, Kyra) and now we're back to 4-5 hours. Growth spurt? Maybe. Or too much sleep during the day. This morning she was up most of the morning, slept most of the afternoon, and was up most of the evening. She didn't go right to sleep after her 8:30pm feeding so after 45 minutes of trying to put her to sleep, we brought her back downstairs and she fell asleep within 5 minutes in the bouncy chair while I was showing her the "Black on White" book.

No real progress with Daniel and the potty. He demands stickers adamantly but with no reciprocity in performance. So we'll just keep talking about it and see how it progresses. Today he fell into a table at daycare and has a big purplish knot on his forehead. Seems to be doing okay, though. He really is a riot and is keeping us on our toes as a two year old should. We need to toddlerproof the house by moving everything out of reach.

Bigger News

This morning we had an even bigger event... yes, still potty related. If you're queasy about these things, don't read on... although it's not as bad as Kyra's Olympic pooping. Daddy took Daniel to the potty and Daniel sat down and went pee-pee... but there's more! HE WENT POOPY, TOO! Those stickers are certainly motivating. We explained that it came out of his body and then flushed it saying "bye-bye" to the poopy. Now when he sits down to pee and he can't go, he says, "Won't come out of my body." I think it's funny. Unfortunately, there were other poopys (poopies?) during the day that had no potty component. We'll see what's in store for tomorrrow.

Big News

Daniel went pee-pee on the potty twice tonight. Amazing how simple stickers can motivate! We'll see if he remains focused over the next three days when I'm home with him. We can't really start fully training him until he moves to the next classroom at school where they have a bathroom but I was really excited (more than he was) about tonight especially since we haven't really done much except talk about it to date.

He pulled another Braveheart and this time the washable paint didn't seem so washable -- especially from his eyelids! But it's gradually worn off. It did wash out of the clothing though so I guess it can't be considered false marketing.

Kyra's doing well -- she's been doing the 5-6 hour stint for about a week now and I am content but hoping for improvement soon. Can't be too selfish, I suppose!

Today was gorgeous -- sunny and 60 degrees -- and we had our PEPS friends over. The kids loved playing outside.