november catch up

just a had to share highlights from november...cause some good stuff happened!

maya moved from her mattress on the floor to her big girl bed (this may have happened at the very end of october...i can't remember)! it's been a seamless transition - she's yet to fall off the bed. i'm pretty sure since she spent the first two years of her life nestled in between aa and i, she was used to sleeping in one spot (meaning she never moved around in a crib all night long!). you can't see it here in this picture, but she actually uses her boppy as a pillow. i imagine she has lots of good association with that boppy and it also feels like she's being cradled in someone's arms (hooray for them not being mine all. night. long!).

in early november aa and i took a much needed weekend away sans kidlets. this would be our first time away from maya for more than one night (she had done that a few times when we moved and for our last anniversary). we hit the road mid day on friday so we could get down to the beach with enough time for a little happy hour at the salishan lodge, another beer at the salishack (a sweet, coasty dive bar) and then dinner at the side door (with our favorite pan fried oysters to start!). we basically did nothing the rest of the weekend but lounge, nap, catch up on magazines, watch movies or football (including an awesome duck win over stanford), snuggle on the couch and eat good food. oh and we did make it over to the lodge for a couple of swims/hot tubs. it was incredible to have some one on one time with each other (something that is SO hard to find with two kids...but SO important). the weekend was not quite as relaxing for the grandparents...sadly both kids slept terribly and were up multiple times in the night. much fun was had, but it might be awhile before we get another weekend away! :(

kellen and i raked (played in) a lot of leaves - the con to living in a neighborhood with LOTS of trees! truth be told, kellen and i rakes some leaves and aa raked a LOT of leaves! ;)

my gram was in town for a couple of visits and my kids had so much fun with "drammy". it brings me such joy to see my kids loving my gram so much. i can remember (and still do) loving my gram and grandpa so much that it hurt...literally, we'd SOB after leaving their house. i only wish my grandpa was still alive, cause i know they'd have so much fun with him and he'd love loving on them too.

kellen wrapped up about six months of semi-private swim lessons at the farber swim school. he grew so much in those six months and i was so proud to see how far he'd come. he's much more confident in the water now (although still doesn't love his face to go under water) and we're hopeful that when we start up again in the spring that he'll step right back where we left off. poor maya was demoted to playing in the hot tub...we couldn't seem to get a schedule with the instructor and our swimmate that aligned so we could do a mommy and me class while kellen did his lessons - hopefully that will also happen when we start up again in the spring!

maya potty trained this month! this girl was actually ready to potty train in july/august (going potty on the toilet 3-4 times a day without being asked), but with the pending move and because she wasn't even two i didn't think it was possible and was too afraid to make the plunge! after we settled into the house, she was no longer so eager...but during the first week of november, her interest peaked again and i took the opportunity to say goodbye to the diapers. she was diaper free for a week before spending the weekend at her grandparents (nov 12/13), but that wasn't really fair to ask someone else to forgoe diapers in her first week, so she wore diapers that weekend. once we got home that sunday, i packed up the diapers and we haven't looked back. she basically trained herself and is practically night trained as well. i can't tell you how happy we are to no longer change/wash diapers. now if we could just figure out how to get them to wipe themselves we'd really be set! btw, her favorite undies are these pink ones pictures - those are apples on them and she calls them her "undies apples". she'd wear those undies every day if she could! as soon as she takes them off she says "wash my undies apples please mama!". she also has "undies stripes", "undies flowers", and "undies swirls".

and this post is suddenly WAY too long and i haven't even hit on thanksgiving!  i think i'll end on potty training and come back for a little turkey and pumpkin pie.

swim lessons

after taking a long break from swim lessons over the fall and winter, we started up again this spring. the sessions last 10 weeks and this week was our last session. it wasn't quite as easy as when he was a four months and had no fear! the first several lessons he literally clung to us and would cry every time he went for an underwater swim. the only thing that kept him going was the fact that there were toys to play with, so he would gather up as many toys as he could hold in his little arms and that made him a little happy! slowly he started to get a little more confident, but it was still a struggle to pry the toys out of his hands and his body off of mine every time we'd want to do a swim to the instructor.

a few weeks ago we had a turning point! it actually was lucky on my part in that i had gotten off work a little early, so we had some extra time (instead of racing in from work at the last minute like we usually do!). we sat and watched several of the older kids having a great time in the pool, splashing, playing, swimming and laughing. as we sat there and watched, he decided that he wanted to join in the fun and asked to get in the pool. we went over and sat on the stairs and he just took off and walked into the water (the pool ranges from 1.5-2 ft deep!). now, we had tried walking in the pool several other times, but he was too fearful to really allow himself to do it. once he realized that he had full control of his body and could walk the whole length of the pool, he thought swimming was the greatest thing ever! the next several lessons we had no tears and instead of working to get him to let go of me, i was working to chase him all over the pool!

it was so great to watch his fear of the water and his confidence in the pool literally change overnight. he now enjoys kick, kick, kicking on his tummy and his back, jumping into the water from the side of the pool (assisted, of course) and even going underwater for a short "swim". in our last class this week, one of the parents brought an underwater camera and took a couple shots of each of the kids. i'm happy to have these pictures, since aaron wasn't able to attend many of the classes and these are our only shots of us swimming this time around! you can be sure that we will be keeping up our lessons to make sure his confidence stays up and his skills continue to develop!

i think he might even be smiling a bit in that underwater shot!