All sorts of sibling togetherness . . . and a compost bin

This week I made another attempt at getting a picture of both kiddos smiling at the same time. Here's how it turned out. Will sorta smiling . . . I think he's saying "dinosaur" - that's what we use instead of "cheese." Okay - now it's Reina's turn!! Will has begun the pouting portion of the evening at this point. I just had to throw this picture of my little elfin princess in here. Isn't she cute? Look at the skin?! Women pay thousands of dollars for a complexion like that. Look! Reina's sleeping in her crib. Sorry for the upside down picture - not sure why it turned out that way. She's been sleeping in her crib for more than a week now and it's great! On a good night she sleeps from about 10:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m. That works for me! Look at her juicy deliciousness too - she's getting big! Okay, so Reina usually gets in our bed for the 4:00 a.m. feeding because then I just fall back asleep for a few minutes and so does she. Will tends to make his appearance around 6:00 a.m. or when Glenn's alarm goes off. This is another one of those photos that I'll save and use in a few years when I'm trying to convince them that "yes, you did like each other at one point." Notice Will's pink pull-ups? We're still working through the box. We bought a compost bin last weekend after talking about it for like 3 years. Will and I assembled it together. Normally, bringing Will in on a project adds about an hour and maybe a screaming temper tantrum or two (usually me) to your timetable. However, I discovered that the compost bin also serves as a very handy toddler jail when you are trying to put it together so it worked out great. Don't worry, I'm not using it as a toddler jail now that we've actually started composting. Tempting though. . .

Wheeeeeeee! This was my attempt at photograping Reina's mohawk. She's such a happy girl until she's not. And judging by the screams that I'm hearing right now, it appears that my computer time is over with. Hope you all have a happy weekend and make this face a lot.

When Children Attack

It was brought to my attention today that there are hardly any pictures of me on the blog so tonight we pulled out the camera and attempted to capture our life with the two kiddos. As you can tell, it was slightly less than successful. Will is so against getting his picture taken that everytime we bring it out he wails and tries to get away. Thanks buddy! In the first picture above, he's not trying to kick his dad in the face, that was just a serendipitous side effect - he was actually flipping from Glenn's shoulders onto his lap. Sounds safe, huh? The next picture provides more evidence to my theory that Reina is starting the teething process - she tries to gnaw on anything within reach, including my face.
Look at their little faces though, aren't they cutie pies? I swear, the combination of Glenn's DNA with mine makes for some pretty handsome babies. Look at those big blue eyes! And those scrumptious little faces. The elfin ears are a nice touch but check out the hair! Will's got more hair right now than my Dad (sorry Dad!) and we have to get it cut every 6 weeks or he starts to look like a slacker hippie beach bum. Reina is going to get a big dent on her head from being kissed so much. Will would have one too but he doesn't stand still long enough to get kissed. Even though most days are crazy and I hardly ever get a moment to myself, I wouldn't have it any other way. Love you kiddos.

Reina - Four Months Old

This week Reina hit the four-month mark. Time has flown by! It's been a pretty busy week so I'm narrowing this blog post down to the Top 10 highlights (in some cases, lowlights).

1. Reina turned four months old. At her check-up, we found out that she's 13.1 pounds which is still 50% and her height is now in the 70% so my dreams of her being a 6-foot tall runway model are probably starting to fade. The doctor thought she was very strong which we already know. You should feel her grip when she grabs a handful of hair.

2. Reina got her first ear infection. Not a milestone that we wanted to reach quite yet but she was coughing and gagging last Friday and it made me nervous so we made a quick trip to the doctor and found out that she had a double ear infection. Luckily the medicine worked pretty quickly and she's been feeling fine this week - until she got shots at the doctor's office.

3. I got tested for swine flu. After a wild night of hallucinations (I wanted an Orange Julius REALLY badly - do they even exist still?) and flu-like symptoms, the doctor's office suggested that I get tested for the swine flu since I was exhibiting all the right signs. Luckily, I didn't have it.

4. Will wore his shirt like this for 30 minutes.

5. We set up a poor man's t-ball game in the backyard. Will's aim isn't always accurate but it is powerful.

6. I bought a giant (and I mean gigantic!) box of Pull-ups for Will last weekend. Turns out they are the girl version. They are a lovely pink color with a picture of Dora on the front. They are going to love that at Montessori. I wonder what sort of psychological damage I'm inflicting on him to have him wear girl's underwear for the next 2-3 weeks . . .

7. It's been raining. A LOT. Cheyenne has had 3 inches more rain right now than this time last year. For Wyoming standards - that's pretty nice. As an official representative of the Dept of Agriculture, I'm not complaining about the moisture. I just miss that glowing orb thing that's usually the sky - I can't even remember what it's called.

8. Will's a little boy (not a baby!). Who likes to eat his own feet.

9. Reina slept from midnight until 6:30 a.m. last night by herself. She still doesn't sleep in her crib - instead she snuggles up in her car seat. But it works and that's all that matters.

10. Okay, so I can't think of #10. We had a good week and are looking forward to a fun but rainy weekend. Hope there's lots of fun and green grass where you are, too.

Diapers and a list of things we never thought we'd say as parents

Glenn did it again. No, he remembered a diaper this time but he found a creative way for Will to wear it. Sideways. As in, the waistband between Will's legs and a big puffy Pull-up sticking up through the top of Will's pants. If it hadn't been so obscene, I would have taken a picture. As it turned out, the waistbands of pull-ups aren't super absorbent so the little fashion experiment didn't last long.

Speaking of diapers, Will's probably about 75% potty trained (Glenn says 60). He's wearing pull-ups during the day and usually tells us when he has to go. Okay, no more paragraphs about underwear or peeing today. I promise.

Reina's still cute. She coos and talks way more than Will did. I swear she said "hi" the other day. I've heard that sometimes the second child won't talk as quickly because the older sibling talks for them. I think Reina's going to start talking next month just to get a word in edgewise.

We tried to have a little photo shoot on Sunday after church, with mixed results. Will won't sit still long enough for me to get a good photo of him, but he actually cooperated this time.

Reina's level of cooperation was a little less than desirable. That will definitely show up on her performance appraisal this month. We need more teamwork from you kiddo!

Without jinxing myself, I should point out that Reina's a great little sleeper. She's officially sleeping through the night since the experts consider "the night" to be 5 hours. Reina hasn't been waking up until 3 or 4 every morning so I get a nice stretch of sleep in there.

Finally, here's a shot of sibling togetherness. Will is very interested in all things Reina or Wey-na as he calls her. He loves to be right where she is. Which brings me to my last thought.

Glenn and I have been composing a list of things we never thought we'd say as parents. So far they have all been directed at Will.

1. Stop hitting me with the toilet brush. (yeah, why am I letting him even play with the toilet brush much less use it as a weapon?!!)

2. Stop sticking the corn cob in Daddy's ear.

3. Quit standing on your sister!

I'm sure this list will grow and grow . . .