Some fun comparison photos

After writing my Sean update (see below), I was determined to find that picture of Caityn also escaping from the crib. Funny how they do such similar things, and at the same age too!

Here's another fun photo comparison. I've always loved this photo of my sister and I getting bathed in Grandma's sink. I was excited to get a similar picture of Caityn and Sean getting bathed in that same sink! A little more crud in the background 30 years later! Sean really wasn't as scared as he looks in the picture. He actually really enjoys the water. This was just the only photo that came out with Caityn actually looking towards the camera :)

Sean Update

Well...we can't have a Caityn update without a Sean update as well. Sean is now about 5 1/2 months old and reaching new milestones like crazy. He's been eating solid foods now for a couple of weeks, and immediately the diapers became so horrendously disgusting. And I have to wash them too because we're using cloth diapers. Yuck!

Sean has been working on sitting up on his own and he's sitting for longer and longer stretches at a time now before toppling over.

The other day, I went in to check on him during his nap and found him trying to escape from his crib. Funny...we have the same picture of Caityn doing the same thing.

Sean has also become an excellent scooter. When he really wants something, he can crawl his way over to it. Not yet on his hands and knees, but he's trying.

Caityn Update

Wow! It's been too long since the last posting. We've been having trouble with our internet service. It would take literally minutes for each page to load. So, I didn't even think about trying to upload photos to our blog!

So, Caityn has been having a lot of success with her potty training. She uses the potty almost on a regular basis, but we're still putting her in diapers because whenever I put her in underpants, she'll have an accident. But for some reason, she doesn't go in the diapers as often.

We tried going to another ballet/tap class last week, but unfortunately she HATED it! It was a different teacher and a different setup, and the teacher was not that good with the kids. Too bad. Here's my little ballerina getting ready for class.

Caityn has also become very interested in taking pictures with the camera. Sometimes I don't even realize she's been taking pictures until I go to upload them to the computer, and I wonder "who took this picture?" We're going to have to get her one of those kids cameras. Here's a view from a toddler's eyes.

Daddy sleeping

Talking to Grandma on the computer

Her favorite little brother

A self portrait

Cute little feet

Caityn's next big adventure: Preschool! She starts in the fall!!

Fourth of July Fun!

This year we spent the 4th of July at the beach and had a wonderful time! My grandmother has a vacation rental apartment above her Mission Beach house, and since it wasn't already being rented, we were allowed to stay there. It was so nice to have some place to go and clean up and take naps during the day so that the kiddos would be well rested for fireworks. Both Caityn and Sean behaved beautifully and fell asleep on schedule for naps. Caityn was a bit nervous about the fireworks, but once she heard everyone oohing and aahhing over them, she soon realized that they were something pretty special. Poor Sean was so exhausted by the time the fireworks started that he fell asleep in Grandpa's arms and stayed asleep for the whole hour of fireworks. Sean also took his first wagon ride sitting up without the infant seat, and he LOVED IT!! He probably would have sat in there all day being pulled around the beach. Caityn was just loving all the attention from grandparents and aunts, and she spent tons of time on the sand and in the bay getting all dirty.

Caityn playing in a big hole in the sand

Daddy digs the hole while Aunts Breean and Kerry look on. Notice that fog in the background. That stayed around for most of the day.

Sean discovers his new sandals might make a tasty treat

Sean relaxing on the beach with his toys.

Caityn playing football with Daddy.
She caught the ball!

Sean enjoys a cold beverage...well, his teething gums enjoy the cold sensation.

Sean goes for a swing in the baby hammock.

Sean's first wagon ride...and loving it!

Caityn walked Grandma's dogs while Daddy pulls the wagon.

Both kids in the wagon

Sean falls asleep as soon as the fireworks start.

Caityn takes ballet classes

Ever since Caityn started liking Zoe from Sesame Street more than Elmo, she's been talking non-stop about tutus and ballerinas, because Zoe does ballet. I mentioned to her that maybe she'd like to take ballet classes, and she seemed very interested. So yesterday we took her first ever ballet class and she LOVED IT!!!

The regular teacher wasn't there, but the substitute was great and helped get her involved and participating. It was good, too, that there was only one other little girl in the class who started out shy like Caityn. Whenever we go somewhere where there is a big crowd of people, she tends to cling more to me. But yesterday, she let the teacher take her by the hand and soon she was jumping and running around and having a great time. It also helped that the teacher had props galore for the kids to use during each dance. Caityn loved dressing up in the fairy wings, tap shoes, swim goggles and popping bubbles. Okay...so it wasn't REALLY ballet, but how much ballet can you expect a two year old to perform. Tip toes, turning, and pointing were about all the ballet moves I saw.

Here's some pictures from her adventure. Not easy to get good pictures when she hardly looked at me the whole time!

Painting the roses red

Watching the teacher to learn the next move

Getting ready to Bibbity-Bobbity Boo in fairy wings

Popping bubbles Under the Sea

New Carseats

Caityn was just thrilled yesterday when we came home from the mall and sitting on our front porch was the big box containing her new carseat. "My new pink tarseat is here!"

I had ordered it about a month ago, and it was backordered until the end of June, so I was also excited to see it finally show up. Sean has been growing so fast, I was afraid he would outgrow his infant carseat before Caityn's new one came. Her new carseat is the Britax Frontier, which is a forward-facing only toddler seat that converts to a booster later on when she is big enough. Hopefully, this will be the last carseat that she will need. Now Sean is sitting in Caityn's old Britax Decathlon. So far, they both seem to be liking their new seats.

I spent much of yesterday afternoon cleaning her old seat for Sean, readjusting the straps, and cleaning out the back seat of my car. I sure did find a lot of Goldfish :). Last night, Abel installed our new seats. The new one must have been pretty hard to install because I heard a lot of grunting and groaning and he tried to tighten it in.

I was worried that moving Sean from the infant seat would be a problem, because he often still falls asleep in the car and we just bring him in and let him stay asleep in the carseat. But today, after we came home from a playdate, he fell right back to sleep after I took him out of the car and put him in the crib. Yay!! Maybe this will work after all.

Sean Update

Sean is now 4 1/2 months old and getting bigger and stronger every day. Now he is wearing size 9-12 month clothing and is as big as some of the older babies in our playgroup! Since Caityn was always so advanced, we were worried that, being a boy, Sean would seem super slow in his development. But so far, he seems to be stronger than Caityn was at the same age. We may have another early walker on our hands.

Yes, this is Sean standing up on his own holding onto his walker.




Last weekend we tried feeding Sean his first solid food. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He kept spitting it back out, so either he didn't like the taste of rice cereal or he just doesn't know how to work a spoon yet.




He's also working on how to drink from a sippy cup. I had to return all of our Avent bottles because they contained BPA, so we were left without any bottles. I gave him a sippy cup of water to see what he would do. He prefers to chew on the spout since he is still working on getting that first tooth in. Every once in a while he sucks down a bit of water and it surprises him when the water gets in his mouth.



The little booger is such a difficult child when it comes to putting him down to sleep. We've resorted to putting him in the carseat and rocking or swinging him until he falls asleep. Sometimes it works, but other times he just tries to wiggle himself out of the seat.




Crawling is not too far away!