Family updates

As usual it has been awhile since I've written. But I find myself with
some extra time without the girls so maybe I'll get caught up. We are
in lake Powell sans kids. Boy you have a lot of extra time when you
don't have kids around :)

I got here earlier today on a friend of Shaun's plane. It was a great
way to go. An hour and a half and poof, Lake Powell. Sweet Shaun drove
the boat down. What a sweet man.

Here I am in front of the plane. And a couple of shots from the air.

Update

It has been a while again since I posted.  I'm going to start with the most recent and then work back.  First we had two exciting things happen last week, one from each of the girls.  The first was Cecilia swam the whole width of the pool by herself during swimming lessons.  She has been doing lessons for about 2 months or so and each time I can see improvement.  It is amazing.  So she would scoop and kick for three strokes and then flip on her back to catch her breath and then flip back over and do three more strokes, the whole width of the pool.  I was so proud of her.  Here is a video of part of it.

The other exciting news is Vivian is walking!  She has slowly learned to go back and forth between Shaun and I and each time would go a little farther before getting down and crawling.  But last week she wasn't coached into walking and decided to take some steps by herself.  Since then she is easier to coax into walking but she still enjoys crawling best.  She can get around a lot faster crawling.  But I feel we can call it that she walks.  Even if it isn't all the time.  My babies are growing up...

Blueberry Girl

As you know we recently went to Oregon. Well I thought picking blueberries deserved it's own little post. Cecilia's favorite food is blueberries. She picked up on the sign for it really quickly. So we were so excited to take her blueberry picking. Unfortunately they weren't very ripe so we didn't get very many, but it was still fun to take her. She didn't understand the ones on the ground were not good to eat. So we had to watch her very carefully and she got pretty frustrated with us. We eventually took her away from the berries to alleviate the frustration on both sides :)

Update

Well Vivian is certainly in a growing spurt. Since her birthday she has learned how to eat with a fork, drink from a straw sippy, slide down the stairs (which I'm really happy about) and stand by herself
for a significant amount of time. She has yet to learn what she is supposed to do once she is standing, namely take a step and walk. But I'm happy with that because I still love to see her crawl, which she
does really fast now. Vivian really has a mind of her own and I feel is already getting frustrated with not being able to communicate it. So we have tried to do more signing with her lately. Maybe that can
stop the incessant whine she has also started. We are beginning to see how different Vivian and Cecilia are. Vivian is much more adventuresome and Cecilia is much more careful. The first time I let go of Vivian to let her stand by herself, she giggled. Cecilia would have cried and grabbed for me. It's funny how different people can be even at 1 year old. Cecilia helps me a lot with Vivian. She frequently
stands behind her on the stairs as that is now Vivian's favorite place to play. It drives me crazy sometimes, I don't know what it is about the railing on that second or third stair that she finds so
fascinating. But to her credit she has only fallen three times, two of which Cecilia has been there to catch her. Which, if you knew how much of the day she spends on them, is pretty good.

Cecilia started a summer program at a preschool near our house last week. It only took her two days to decide she liked it. She LOVES to play with other kids. Play dates are never long enough for her.
Especially with our neighbor girl Claire. She would happily spend every waking moment with Claire if she could. She does a great job taking turns with other kids and playing with them and not against
them as can happen so often. Cecilia has also started swimming and dance this summer and loves both of them.

Well that's about it from our end. I'll have to get a video of one of Vivian's accomplishments, til then you'll have to make do with this adorable picture of her after playing outside.

Video of Vivian eating her birthday cupcake

Vivian was really excited about her birthday cupcakes. She started whining the minute I brought the plate outside. I couldn't even get the paper off because she was so antsy for it. And she loved it. See
for yourself.

Vivian Turned 1!

My baby is 1 year old!  She decided to start her birthday with a bang.  She cut a tooth (and was up for 4 hours in the middle of the night with it), learned how to crawl up the stairs (do you know how many staircases we have in our house?!) and learned how to pull herself up to standing (in her crib when she is supposed to be sleeping and hasn't learned how to sit down) all the week of her birthday.  It was a fun and exhausting week.  She has really changed since she learned how to crawl.  She is so much more curious now and loves to explore.  She LOVES to crawl up the stairs so it feels like I spend my day either pulling her off them or standing behind her as she climbs.  Cecilia is such a good big sister and helps me lots with Vivian on the stairs.  She still loves to play with her (sometimes too much).  But I can see the beginning of the battle between toys is in our near future.  Then the real work starts.  But for right now we are enjoying our little girls.

Vivian sharing her birthday cupcake.  She loved it! Notice there isn't much mess? That's because she ate it, not smeared it!

Birthday presents! 

Crawling!

Vivian can crawl! Thursday she started rocking on her knees. Then Friday she moved her knee forward a couple of different times and even once moved both knees. Then Saturday she took three steps at a time and here is a video of her yesterday. I am so excited! Finally I have a baby that crawls! Cecilia never did because of the cast. She did a bum scoot then walked. I've been looking forward to this day for years! Remind me of this in a few months when I'm sick of chasing her around. Now I have to go finish baby proofing my house :)