Shaun's mom & dad came over to help Shaun mix and pour what ended up being 65 bags of concrete to fill in a garden along the west side of our pool area. Patrick thought the mixer was lots of fun and had a great time watching.

Here he is being a big helper by holding Grandma's gloves and sitting on the concrete bags:
Helping Grandma measure out water for the mixer:
And playing in the sandbox - which was also helpful because we didn't have to worry what he was doing! I love the effect of the afternoon sun on this picture.
This picture was taken earlier in the day. My Aunt & Uncle in BC gave Kathryn this outfit and I wanted to get a picture to send to them. I love the way the kids are making eachother laugh!

I'm done back-dating with photos and videos for now. The furthust back is Kathryn's first swim in the pool.

I'm going to upload some of Patrick's cute baby footage - but I'll let you know where to find it when I do.

Here's my big girl! She loves to stand up. She has really strong legs too! And here is her lovely 'old man face'. She's not upset! Its just a face she knows how to make :)

Patrick got new shoes yesterday - size 7! He is growing up so fast. He also weighed himself yesterday morning and is 28.8 lbs. And he's getting really tall - he finally fits into 24M pants, although the waist on most are much to big for my skinny boy and have to be taken in! Thank goodness for those adjudtable waist pants and for easily-adjusted elastic waist pants!

CONGRATULATIONS TO KATHRYN ON GETTING YOUR 2ND TOOTH!!!

Now you have a matched set of bottom chompers.

Way to go!

Milestones.

Kathryn is graduating to size 4 diapers! The 3's just aren't doing the trick anymore, so as soon as we're finished with them, we'll be moving forward.

Speaking of growing, it was finally cool enough yesterday to break out the fall clothing! Kathryn wore a gorgeous "classic pooh" overall set that was a gift from my Aunt and Uncle in BC. She also wore a pant set I got for her when Independent cleared out their kids clothes. I am so sad that BOTH OUTFITS fit snugly. This likely means that most of her fall clothes are going to fit NOW which means I will have to get more! Its not so much the shopping...but I am sad that she won't be able to wear these cute things for very long :(.

Patrick's vocab is growing all the time. He speaks in sentences - most of which we still don't understand - but he's got quite a collection of words to help us all understand eachother. He's also getting better at 'starting the conversation' so to speak (haha) and will ask for what he wants instead of making us guess.

Patrick is starting to show interest in being potty trained, although we're not quite there yet. He now announces when he's pooping, but still doesn't want a bum change! I figure by the fall, when he's wrapped up in more clothing, he'll be really interested. At least I hope so. I'm getting really tired of dealing with 2 sets of diapers and I'm ready to train him now. When I bought him diapers yesterday, I got the uber cheap ones and I'm hoping they're not as comfortable - a bit of an incentive! We already have a collection of underwear... so all we need is the right timing!

After potty traning will be big-bed training. Oy. Hopefully by then Kathryn will actually sleep at night (instead of getting up 2-4X).

CONGRATULATIONS KATHRYN ON GETTING YOUR FIRST TOOTH!!!!

I discovered it this morning after breakfast. My little girl is growing up! Its her bottom left middle and not the one we were expecting to be first! Her lower left eye tooth has been trying to poke up through the gum for quite a while now. Perhaps it will be next.

The car seat situation is working out well. I do not miss the bucket seat at all!! Kathryn sits up very well in carts, so it hasn't been a problem at all, and now that she's sitting up unsupported, its easy to sit her in the front hall, get P and I ready and then just pick her up and tote her out.

Kathryn is also now eating solids with much less fuss. We're up to 2 times a day - breakfast (cereal and water in her sippy) and dinner (cereal, veggie mixed with cereal, and water from the sippy). She eats with us, which she enjoys, but it does make meal times quite ... crazy.

Patrick's vocab is improving every day! He's such a parrott and can be a chatterbox. The other day he expressed interest in using the potty so we got it out. He has since announced that he's going to use the potty and sat on it to pee in his diaper. Next step - underwear! Wish us luck.

I am so excited that blogger has video upload!!! YAY! Now I can share all my cute videos! Check for back-dating!!!

K is blowing us raspberries in this one. Super cute!

Patrick is getting interested in his potty. Here he is figuring out how to sit on it all by himself! We have yet to try using the potty for its actual use... but for now, its a fun 'toy'.

K's first cracker!

Kathryn had her first big-girl ride in the shopping cart today. We left her bucket seat in the car and she sat beside her brother - thank goodness for double-seat carts!

It made us realize how big she's getting and how fast she's growing up. She did a great job of staying upright - and we used a blanket for support too.

We're also working with her on using a sippy cup. She seems to like it and she's always grabbing for Patricks. I gave her apple-water today and a bit of that got in - much less than got on her clothes and the table but that's another story. Its a skill. It takes time.

Speaking of car seats, I bought Patrick a new one so we can use his current one (in the rear-facing position) for Kathryn. I am quite excited to be putting the 'bucket seat' away - I'm tired of tripping over it and Kathryn is getting too heavy to lug around with it anyway. I won't miss it!! I bought it when I was in Orangeville - it was on sale - and my parents are bringing it up to us when they arrive later today as I had no room for it on my return trip! Its amazing how much baby-related-periphenalia is required when we travel with the kiddos.

Kathryn turned 7 months old yesterday! In celebration, Patrick got a much-needed hair cut and we had our usual photo session:

These overalls are cute but too small!!! Either that or Kathryn is too chubby. I could barely bend her at the waist to sit her down....
So we tried a dress instead. Cute cute cute! No frilly sox this time, sorry Anna.
The famous sibs-in-a-chair shot. I love the way she's smiling at him.
Here we are, eyes front! (but not center.)
Such a cutie pie!

Kathryn swam in the pool for the first time yesterday! She really enjoyed it and did lots of 'frog' kicking and hand splashing!
Swimmin with Grandma:

Pool boy:
Swimmin' sibs:

"Froggin'"
Splash-splash!
"Flying Frogger"
Proud Daddy!

Kathryn's first swim in the pool

Pics from Boo's 27th Birthday Party!

Ya... I didn't take too many.

Kathryn had her 6-month check up today.

She is now 16lbs, 10 oz and 26 inches long!

She had 2 shots, but only cried briefly for the second one. The rest of the time she was her happy, smiling, jumping & laughing self!

As for milestones she reached by 6 months:
- she can now sit independently
- she eats cereal twice a day
- she is almost sleeping through the night

I love this age. She is so interactive!

But the best part is watching her 'play' with her older brother. He makes up games for everything - he's a very creative boy - and he's made up a game that he calls 'peek' that they play while she is in the jolly jumper. He'll get around behind her, and wait for her to 'chase' him and turn to where he is, then he'll laugh histerically, say "peek" and run around to her back again. She'll laugh and then work her hardest to get the jumper turned around to him again. It is the cutest, most heart-warming thing to watch. We have tried to get it on video, but as soon as the camera comes out, Patrick tries to run towards it, and thus the game is over.

Kathryn loves her big brother. She wants to be with him all the time. She isn't happy unless she can see him from where she is. She won't eat her cereal unless he's eating a snack, and if she's close enough, she'll try to 'steal' his sippy cup. When I get them up in the morning, I lay them side by side on P's bed so I can get him dressed, and she'll reach over to grab his arm or his hair and then gasp and smile happily as he turns to smile at her.

Patrick thinks Kathryn is pretty cool too. He gives her toys and says "Hi Kat-run" (or sometimes "Kat-rik"). He'll hand me something and say "Kat-run" meaning he wants me to give it to her. He gave me his favourite backyardigans book the other day and 'asked' me to read it to Kathryn - then he went back to playing with his laptop.

I've heard it said that the best gift you can give your child is a sibling and I must now agree. They love eachother - and its wonderful.

Its Kathryn's 6-month birthday today so we had a little photo shoot! When Patrick turned 6 months old, I did a series on his 'body parts'. So we captured Kathryn in the same fashion!

Here you can see how strong she's getting - look at her push up on chest! You can also see her strawberry birthmark!
Pretty little princess.
Close up profile: Love those chubby cheeks and button nose.
Patrick, of course, wanted in on the photo action too! Unfortunately, he rarely stays still for photos, instead he runs towards the camera. This is the only one of about 20 that actually turned out well.
Here are the "sibs". Mr. maxed-out-relaxed and Ms. Serious.

I had to share this photo of K and I as well - I love how she's smiling at me!

Daddy decided it was time for some Mommy & Kathryn pics since generally I'm the picture-taker in this house.

Here we are hanging out on the floor, after much piano playing. Kathryn loves to bang away on the fisher-price piano. We got some really great footage of it too - but only Shaun knows how to upload videos.
A token picture of Kathryn's second favourite thing: The kitty. Her favourite thing is her brother, who she adores.

And of course, a lovely shot of my sexy man and my beautiful little girl.

Kathryn keeps trying to steal Patrick's juice cup when she can reach it so I decided to get out a smaller one and wash it up for her. She really liked holding it and even put the spout in her mouth!!