Movin'

Jonah is on the move! We can't leave him alone on a blanket anymore. If we leave the room for even two seconds, he makes his move. He rolls as fast as he can (and he's getting faster) until he hits some type of barrier, like a chair. He can roll both ways now, so their are endless options. When he stops rolling, he stuff anything he can get his hands onto into his mouth. Last night he was making out with the corner of the chair until I moved him. Though this video doesn't show his rolling skills, it does give a picture of where he's off to.

Jonah is also working REALLY hard on sitting up like a big boy. He likes the sitting position. His core is getting stronger and it won't be too much longer before he can hold himself in the sitting position all on his own.

When Cairo and Xander are bust yelling and screaming and having fun, Jonah doesn't want to be left out. He's been working on his screech quite a bit lately. When he is next to you and decides to scream he really gets your ear drums vibrating.

Jonah is also moving up with his food. Lately, he as had been really interested in our food and intently watching us eat. A few days ago I decided that it was time to introduce him to solids. For the first two days he got rice cereal and gobbled it down. Next, I introduced him to apples. He really gobbled that down. It takes a few bites to get started, but Jonah eats like a champ and spits very little out. He turns his little motor on and hums "mmmm" while eating each bite. Jonah is doing a much better job than Cairo of figuring out solids.


For the past several weeks Jonah has been waking us up in the night to eat and play. It has now become a habit... a habit I want to break. For the last two nights I've let him squawk in his crib. He doesn't really cry in the night to be picked up; rather, it's as if he is saying:

"Hey, hey you mom! Come and get me.

Now Mom!

Come on, I want you!

Here I am, still waiting!

Dare you make me wait! This is unacceptable!

Moooooooommmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy!"

The first night he did this at 4:00 for about 25 minutes and then fell asleep. Unlucky for us, our fears and reason for putting this off were realized when Cairo woke up and wanted to play. We convinced her to go back to sleep in our bed and, even luckier for me, she fell asleep on my head. That was comfortable. This past night, Jonah woke up at 5:30 (and woke Cairo up again), squawked for a few minutes and fell asleep again before I have a chance to pick him up. We will see what tomorrow brings.... hopefully this solid food will work its magic and hold him off through the night.

Yucky Hives!

For some reason Cairo came out with hives all over her body yesterday. Today is Halloween and she sure does look scary because the hives are still here. I called the doctor and she is having us give Cairo some Benadryl, but the splotches are still there. We aren't sure what is triggering it, but it may be an allergy to lemon grass? That is the best guess we have right now. The doctor said that we may never know what caused it. Anyway, instead of having a princess for Halloween, it appears we are going to have a scary princess. BEWARE! Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!

It is hard to see the hives in these pictures, but they got worse as time went on.



Update: It appears that Cairo is allergic to milk.

Jonah's Baptism

Jonah was baptized at I.C., the same church as Cairo, Xander, Danny, Heather, my mom, and I were baptized at. Like Cairo, Jamie and Carri stepped in to be Jonah's godparents. We were the only baptism taking place that day, so we had a very personal ceremony... much to Erik's dismay. Both Jamie and Erik got put on the spot during the ceremony and were not prepared to answers the questions put at them. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them both turn red. :o) After the ceremony, the family came over to celebrate with muchies and cake.
When Cairo was baptized she was too large to wear the baptismal gown that the rest of the family wore at their baptisms. My Great Grandma Steis' maid of honor made the gown for my Papa's baptism some 86 years ago. Since then, my mom, uncle, all my uncle's kids, Heather, Danny, me, Xander, and, now, Jonah have also worn the gown. The gown had two pieces and is very delicate, but I think that if it is carefully the next generation will have the opportunity to use it again.




Always the lady-

Boobies!

Cairo wanted boobies. So, we hooked her up with one- literally! Cairo didn't really want to take a picture for me, but she kept grabbing her sock filled boobies. Oh, the fun of being a girl. I just can't wait to get Xander in a bra to take blackmail pictures for his mommy to use on him when he's older!

Taking Pictures

Cairo has really been enjoying taking pictures with my camera. One night Cairo decided to take pictures of her family. She got us all looking our best.

Daddy-
Mommy-


Grammy-
Notice a family trend?

Bapa at his Biggle best-

... and brother Jonah's big blue eye's

Jonah at 4 months

On October 9th we took Jonah in for his 4 month check-up and Cairo got her flu shot. Jonah is a big and growing boy. He weighed in at 16 1/2 pounds (the 75th percentile), his head and his length were in the 90th percentile. So, we have a big baby. He is chunky and healthy. At 4 months he is fitting the nine month clothing perfectly. He is a happy boy who mostly sleeps through the night. Jonah likes to be held, but he is good at sitting and chilling. Though he can be very vocal, especially in the wee hours of the morning, he is much less demanding than Cairo ever was. He has been rolling for a few weeks and it causes him to call out in the night. We have finally gotten comfortable with him sleeping on his tummy.

When we took the kids to the doctor, Cairo was very excited to get her flu shot. While we were in the waiting room she kept saying, "Mommy, I want my shot" and "where my shot Mommy?" This was followed up shortly by, "Want it, want it now, Mommy." I don't think she really knew what she was asking for. Lucky for her, though, she didn't get a shot. Instead, she got the nose spray version of the flu shot. Now, we just need to get a hold of the N1H1 vaccine.



Cairo loves her baby brother... This cute little boy is about 10 pounds behind her and quickly catching up. How long do you think it is going to be before he catches up to her in weight? He is short and tubby like I was, so I think my long and lean Cairo has a while before her brother catches up with her height.

June Lake

This past weekend the entire family packed up and headed to the mountains to be apart of my Nana and Papa's annual fishing trip. We stayed at a condo in June Lake with my parents, grandparents, and my sister's family. My cousins and Aunt and Uncle made it up on one of our last days up there. It was great getting the family together and, better yet, getting my grandparent's five great-grandkids on the same couch with them at the same time.

While we were up there we enjoyed many activities. Erik and I took the kids out for a few walks and short hikes. The wind was blowing pretty hard for a few days so we were a little limited on the length of our outings. Regardless of the length, though, we all very much enjoyed the fresh air, exercise, and sunshine.

On one of our excersions, Erik, my dad, the kids, and I went up to Virginia Lakes to look around, walk around, and eat. There was a cold breeze there so we quickly made our way into the Lodge for some lunch. After lunch we headed back to the condo. On the way back, we stopped in Lee Vining for a famous and yummy Mono cone. We decided that Cairo could have her own cone. While I fed Jonah in the car, Erik ordered the ice cream for us all. This was Erik's first experience with the Mono cones, so when I warned him to ask for just a little ice cream in the cone for Cairo, he took that warning as getting her a small cone instead of a large. He was a little surprised when they handed them this monstrosity-

One Mono cone, size small.
Cairo enjoyed the ice cream. We didn't let her eat it all and she didn't complain when we told her she had enough.

Once back at the condo, Cairo, Erik, Xander, and I played outside for a while. Cairo and Xander had their first hill rolling lessons, they went rock climbing, and we went on a walk to the lake.

The next day, we went out and walked to the Inyo Craters, toured around the Mammoth Lakes, and tried to keep warm with the howling winds around us.
By late Saturday night, the winds began to calm down. We were very surprised when we woke up Sunday morning to find white mountains and a powdering of snow on the ground. Cairo and I were up a little after six and to our delight it began to snow again. I quickly bundled Cairo up and we headed outside. Notice her p.j.s peeking out of her jacket.
Erik and Jonah kept warm inside.

Cairo and I came in after a short while and warmed ourselves up with a nice cup of hot chocolate.

The snow came and went all morning. After her hot chocolate Cairo was ready to head outside again. She had her diaper and gloves on and when we asked her if she needed anything else before we went outside she said, "Ah, yeah, my boots."
We reminded her that it was cold outside and that she might want a few more layers to keep warm.

At about 10:30 the snow really started to come down. So, back outside we went and this time the snow began to stick a little.

The people in the unit next to us recommended that we give Cairo the full snow experience and let her slide down the slushy, grassy slope on a sled. Cairo had a blast. Erik also taught her the art of throwing snowballs at Ta-ta and Grammy. What fun!

A few hours later, the sun was out, the powder melted, and we were left with this spectacular view from our condo window.

We weren't done with snow, yet, though. Heather, Paul, Erik, and I bundled the kids up and went looking for deeper snow and a better chance at snow sledding. We made our way back to Virginia Lakes to find a lot more snow, no one around, and 23 degree weather without the wind chill (and the wind was really moving). After about two minutes outside the car (Jonah stayed inside) Cairo and Xander wanted back in... and so did the rest of us.

The rest of our time there was spent visiting with family and enjoying the change of pace (or as much of a change of pace as you get with two little kids).

Erik, Jonah, Nana, and Cousin Lexie.
Jonah and Lexie- born two days apart.
Nana and Papa and their 5 great-grandkids.
Monday's weather was BEAUTIFUL. So, that, of course, meant that we needed to head home. The drive was long. Cairo and Jonah did not enjoy being strapped into their carseats, and it took up an additional hour to get home. We tried to give the kids wiggle time. We found a great park in Lone Pine with a shaded grassy lawn, gurgling brook, and nice playground for Cairo to enjoy while I fed Jonah.

The dry air and the plastic slide combine to give Cairo some pretty impressive hair.

The trip was great, but we came back pretty tired. Erik and I both agree that we can't wait for the kids to get a little bigger and a little older so we can take them on some real adventures. For now, we will have to settle for the G version of the great outdoors.

On the move

Over the last week, I snapped a few pictures of Jonah soundly sleeping in bed. More and more he is finding his thumb and using it to settle and sooth.
He has had a preference lately for falling asleep on his side. Isn't he cute?

Jonah has been rolling over for almost three weeks now. He's getting so strong. It won't be long until he starts to scoot around. Originally, I was really excited about it. Then, he started to wake up in the middle of the night because he no longer wanted to be on his belly. I am not excited anymore. I like my sleep. I'll be happy when he can roll back on his own.

It is pretty funny watching Jonah on his tummy. His belly is so large and extended that when he gets on his belly his legs and arms don't hit the ground and he rolls and bobbles around. I don't think that he finds this quite as funny as we do.

Jonah playing with Cairo's baby's spoon.