Model Shots

The hardest part about blogging about my sewing projects (which I do here: http://danikate-designs.blogspot.com/, if you didn't realize it), is taking photos.  I must take 50 photos every time I make an item for my kids. 

Danielle has gotten much more cooperative with modeling since I started bribing her with candy, but it is SO hard to get that girl to stand still!  Here are some of our outtakes from the last photo shoot we did:

She looks so awkward in this photo, so it
reminds me of every picture I take of Shawna

This was her "silly" face.  
Obviously we will have to work on her
acting skills if she is going
to be a movie star

So much random

Ugh, my entire blog post just got wiped out.  I don't have the heart to write it all again, but I will post some pictures (and caption them later).

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Mother's Day Song--the extended version

Danielle at play

I'm skipping a few updates for now, because I don't want to forget to post this video.  Ryan spent some Daddy-daughter time with Danielle yesterday and picked up a little Rapunzel book for her at the mall.  It had this little sticker puzzle in it, and I loved watching her work on it.  There's not a lot of talking, but you'll want to turn the sound up--we were keeping quiet so Ryan could work on something :)

Happy April

We've been keeping pretty busy around here.  Ryan is taking two college classes to try to finish up his degree, Danielle is nonstop activity from morning till night and Samuel has graduated from taking a few steps to toddling halfway across the living room.  We've done some Easter crafts and playdates and have Grandma coming to visit this weekend (whoo hoo!)

The kids love to roughhouse with Daddy

Danielle tried to burn down the house when she bumped
into her lamp (reaching for something she wasn't supposed to
have) and knocked the lampshade into the light bulb

Scooter & Raina love to try to catch
lizards that climb on the kitchen windows

We go to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa recently

 

Samuel has been weaned for a few weeks now (I had to stop nursing him as my hormones were uncontrollable) and has been sleeping through the night regularly (finally!).  He seems hungrier now than when he was on breastmilk and we are going through a TON of formula and soft table foods and snacks.  I feel like I'm getting a preview of his teenage years, haha :)  He does wake up at 330 wanting to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 530.  Ugh.  He is definitely not as good a sleeper as Danielle was.

He's a messy eater

And loves his daddy

I am going to start looking at daycares and jobhunting next week.  The plan is for me to work full-time, starting before Ryan gets out of the Navy this September.  That will help ensure we are financially stable when he makes the transition to civilian life.  I have mixed feelings about it, but am mostly looking forward to it.  Danielle is ready to be around other kids more and Samuel is very friendly and should adapt well.  I've been very blessed that both of them were such happy babies and react well to other caretakers.

They're both growing up so fast!

Danielle has her 3rd birthday coming up at the end of the month.  She wants fabric and beer again this year :)  We're going to have a small party with a Strawberry Shortcake theme.  She recognizes a whole slew of t.v. characters now, even if she's never watched the show--we do watch a lot of Strawberry Shortcake around here though.  She loves Dora also (Diego is temporarily banned in an effort to entice her to use the potty) and points out "Crocodile Lake" every time we drive past a body of water :)  She has a huge vocabulary already, and I find I have to remind myself regularly that she is only 2.  She is a bit dramatic and very passionate and I think it would be cool if she channeled that into becoming a famous actress that made lots of money and pampered her parents!  And Samuel can become a professional athlete who also wants to shower his parents with his millions as well...  In all honesty, I just want my children to grow up to have a strong relationship with the Lord and followed His purpose for their lives.  But it's fun to daydream a little :) 

Samuel Walks!

Ryan and Mimi have seen Samuel take 2 or 3 steps in the past few days, but yesterday he did it consistently enough that I finally got to see it and get it on video!

Samuel stands...

...everywhere!

Apollo, my first baby

Apollo's favorite place--curled up with Ryan

I don't think he slept alone if he could help it :)

We had to have Apollo put to sleep yesterday.  We'd been through 2 weeks of antibiotics for what the vet thought was an ear infection, followed by a referral to a neurologist and a round of steroid medications that was supposed to help the suspected brain tumor.  It would have cost $1500 to find out if he needed surgery, which would cost $4000-$6000, and that wasn't going to work for our single-income family. 

Raina & Apollo

He always wanted to be with people

It was awful to provide what was essentially hospice care to him for the past 3 weeks.  He wasn't himself at all, though there were about 3 days where he was marginally better and would actually walk around instead of hunching with his face towards the ground, not moving.  He didn't seem to recognize what was going on most of the time, and didn't purr much when being petted.  He barely ate, and ended up peeing on the carpet several times this past weekend.  It was very hard to spend 3 weeks full of hope, only to find that he wasn't responding to the medication.

Apollo & Scooter getting to know each other

Apollo & Scooter

Scooter and Raina (our two remaining cats) don't get along as well, and I think Scooter is rather lonely without his buddy Apollo.  Raina has been acting overly affectionate lately as well.  I think my heart hurts for them the most--now that the tough decision is behind me, I have a sick baby and a toddler with a staph infection to take care of, as well as the usual household chores, so life goes on.  But these past few weeks have really sucked, and the decision on whether or not to end a creature's life is probably the hardest one I've ever had to make.

Apollo: Feb 5, 2003- Feb 27, 2012

Guess Who's Crawling?!

Quick Update

I have some pictures to post from Christmas and our visit to Shawna's afterwards, but I wanted to share a few things real quick.

Samuel got his first tooth, yay!  It's the bottom right, I believe.  He's so drooly and it's very hard to get his tongue out of the way to see.  For those of you who are thinking "he's only a baby, how hard could it be?"...well, he's also 21 pounds of tough!  Ryan calls him tank:)

Not so yay is that both kids got ear infections.  They started antibiotics Monday, so they are feeling better, but some of the congestion and coughing is still lingering.  Samuel has been sleeping horribly and I've been up with him a half dozen times for the past few nights, so I'm hoping he'll do better tonight.

Finally, wanted to share one of the many entertaining exchanges that happen with my daughter.

Tonight, at dinner, Ryan and Danielle were talking.
Ryan: "I'm strong"
Danielle: "Strong like a llama" (she got this from Diego (on TV))
Ryan:  "I'm stronger than two llamas"
Danielle:  "No.  One llama"
Ryan:  "No, I'm stronger than two llamas"
Danielle: "Two baby llamas"

Haha, she cracks me up!  It's hard to believe sometimes that she's only 2.