July & August Update

Hey all,

A quick update as August is more than halfway over!

July was busy with ballet class, glam camping in Santa Barbara, lots of swimming and park days, and sleeping great as both kids have been simultaneously sleeping 12+hrs a night!

This month...

Grady's baptism this Sunday

We sold our house (yippee!) and close escrow 9/4

Looking for our next place (yikes, running out of time!)

Scarlett starts preschool 9/5 (How did is it that she's old enough for school?!)

GLAMPING GROUP!

Nonni & David made the trek for the wknd too

Fun bikeride on the beach in SB!

Grady Update: 5 months

What he's up to:

Putting EVERYTHING in his month, finally able to roll back from back to tummy, can put pacifier in all by himself!, playing in his jumpy is a new obsession, watching us eat and grabs for our food (1 more month G!), getting some blondish-brownish hair (fuzz), eyes are a rainbow of colors (blue/grey/brown/green), sitting up with the boppy pillow behind him, lost swing privileges when he tried to lean all the way forward to get out, screams and grunts when he wants our attention, and looks around when you say "Scarlett" or "Hazy".

Sleep:

Grady is still a fabulous sleeper. We dropped the dream feed without much notice. He's on 2 naps a day, and now sleeps with Scarlett daily so I get 2-3 hours of peace EVERY DAY! Hallelujah! He also has been going to bed earlier, around 5:30/6 and gets up around 6:30/7. We don't go in his room anymore to rescue him from rolling or pacifier squacks. Took him about 3 nights to learn that he was on his own, but now he sleeps all night long! We usually hear a little chatting or singing around 6ish and he'll play with his toes for a bit before he falls back asleep. Life is good at 5 months! 

Personality:

Lots of energy- wants to be doing something at all times or watching Scarlett, LOVES to be cuddled and held-- he stops fussing or crying the second you pick him up (unlike his crazy sister at that age!), very happy babe and still loves to sing and coo, touch our faces, hold our fingers, stare and Hazel, and LOVES bath time with big sis. She is so much fun!

Everything else:

Grady got a cold on our glamping trip which turned into CROUP. He was on 3-4 nebulizer treatments a day, on steroid antibiotics, and spent half of July sick. You wouldn't even know it since he was still so happy! Our unofficial weigh-in at the Dr was 16.5 lbs, be we will know for sure when we do his 6month checkup in September.

Scarlett Update: 2yrs/27Months

What she's up to:
Pretending she's a ballet teacher daily, wears tutu and ballet slippers from 8am-10am daily, telling me, "I do it, I'm a big girl", using manners without prompting (1/2 of the time), being silly & sweet with Grady and has yet to show any jealousy (thank gosh!), can hold G and feed him a bottle all by herself, talking about and getting excited for preschool, eating vegetables again (well some) after a 1 year hiatus, and telling us how much she loves all day long :)

Everything else:

Scarlett is very funny and makes us laugh all the time. She also knows how much Grady loves watching her, so every time he screams or cries she comes running over shouting, "Don't cry Grady, I'm here! I'm here! Look at me!"  :)

She is excellent at singing songs verbatim, clapping and dancing at music class, following directions at ballet class, and has gone back to an early bedtime of 7pm (parents love this!) since she exhausts herself during the day ;)

She had a 1 week flu the week after Grady recovered from croup (tired mommy) and had 102.5 temp and lost 2.5 lbs :( The 5 days of downtime showed me how hard it was for her to not be active-- she was very frustrated having to stay home and play quietly even while sick. She has a lot of energy and loves always being on the go. It will be interesting to see how she does with the move. She LOVES her house and yard :(

Besides that, we are keeping busy and trying to stay sane throughout all these changes! We are praying and relying on God to make it all work out accordingly!

Enjoy the rest of your August!

LOVE, THE KINGS!

June & July updates

Man, I'm not doing so well at this blogging and photo uploading thing. I USED to be quite efficient. Ha. Now it takes me days/weeks to accomplish the simplest of tasks :)

Here we go...

June in a nutshell: 10 day trip to OC & SD to visit Huefners, friends, & Larabees, we had our dining room reconverted into a 3rd bedroom (original 1947 layout) to accommodate the kiddos, Scarlett started ballet, Great Grandma Isabel came to visit,  and Scarlett went to Patrick's wedding in Grass Valley with Larabees & Mimi/Boppy which gave Jeremy and I a whole weekend alone (Grady doesn't count since he's a piece of cake)!

Huefner gals

 Strands beach walk

Uncle Ev and his fan club

Mission Bay with the cousins!

GG Isabel comes to town

And comes to watch Scarlett's 1st ballet class

Scarlett goes away for a wknd with S & H

Siblings!

July in a nutshell: I had a girlfriend-overnight to Healdsburg Hotel & Spa with Michele (amazing!), had a mellow 4th off bbq & pool with the Bluffs, we celebrated our 5th anniversary, with a fun night in the city, we finally bought and built a full sized crib for Grady, Scarlett had her 2nd haircut (VERY exciting for her), and this weekend we are headed "glamping" in Santa Barbara with the Petaluma camping group.

Twins!

My patriotic duo

An attempt for a family photo, G wasn't having it

First bro/sis bath

Family tea party!

S & G playing in G's new crib ;)

Grady

 3 Month Photo

 

4 Month Photo

What he's up to: Grady is still a mellow man. He LOVES to watch Scarlett, eat (a chow hound), sit in his bumbo chair, obsessed with his pacifier (another one?!), roll over (in his crib nightly, yet will never perform for us still!), and thankfully is finally awake more so we can actually do stuff. He just lost all his hair in the past few weeks (except for a stylish ring around the back) so we are wondering what color it will come back in as?!

Sleep: He is an excellent sleeper- naps 3 times a day, goes to bed now at 6pm (He couldn't make it til 7pm anymore!) with a dream feed at 10 (that we are weaning him off of), a squack around 4 or 5am (when he rolls over and panics) which we usually ignore, and his latest wake up time this week has been 7:45am. This kid is awesome. We will definitely have more thanks to his amazing-ness ;)

Personality: Happy, smiley, chatty (coos and sings all day long to himself), sweet, and loves to be cuddled

Everything else: We had a feeding problem after our last post. His weight check at the end of May showed weight LOSS. Long story short, after tracking my milk supply (pumping exclusively for 5 days) & 2 blood panels, we realized that my milk supply had been cut in half (probably a result of antibiotics from mastitis which I had just recovered from) and Grady was basically starving. Of course my mellow man would never scream or cry like all other starving babies, so we had NO idea. He was put on a "feed him, feed him, feed him" plan. We took those instructions very seriously- Grady went from 10.3 lbs (5%) to 14.9 lbs (30%) in 4 weeks! YAY! Our ped was very happy! His percentile was 60% at birth, so we are on the right track of getting him back to "normal"! I am still pumping exclusively (groan!) since I never got my milk supply back to normal, although it is better thanks to some herbs from Whole Foods and milk makers cookies- yum.

Last 4 mo check-up was:
head 60%, length 25" (47% and grew 3"!), and weight 14 lb 9 oz (30%)



 

Scarlett

What she's up to:
Talking non-stop STILL.I swear she says 10 new words a day. Today was, "I want to cut my strawberries in half myself." Literally. She loves playing with Hazel in the backyard by herself. The two of them love to get into trouble together- you never know who was the instigator ;)
Lately, when I've tried to leave Grady at home with Jeremy or a sitter so we can do something by ourselves, Scarlett gets very upset. "Grady come! Grady come!" I think she's finally used to having him around.  

Everything else: Dancing (ballet is the highlight of our week), going potty on the big toilet all by herself now (no more yucky plastic potty that I had to empty and clean) going on the big girl swing at the park, singing songs fully with perfect lyrics (Twinkle Twinkle, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, etc.), able to be left in the nursery at church without panicking, and most of all, she is REALLY good at pretending. We play "Dr. Lee" (her pediatrician) DAILY with the handy dandy doctor kit from godmommy Allie. Two is sure busy!

A Two-Year old and a Two-Month old!

April & May Update

 

This is going to be short and sweet :) Both kids are sleeping right now and time is of the essence!
The past 6 weeks have been so fun. Scarlett loves her little bro, we had a Nonni visit, all our King/Larabee cousins came to visit, Scarlett turned 2, we hosted her bday party, Grady turned 8 weeks, and I celebrated my bday on Mother's Day! Busy busy!

Grady Update: 8 weeks

(One month photo that I forgot to post earlier)

      Two month old boy!

What he's up to: cooing, smiling A LOT, watching everything around him

Sleep: G is a great sleeper just like Scarlett. He's waking up once a night to nurse around 5/6am. So right now I'm getting about 6-7 hours of straight sleep! Awesome!

Personality: He is still easy going. Loves to be held, fed, or looking around in his bjorn bouncer or activity mat. He hates the car seat (just like his sis did). I carry him in the Ergo most often so I have 2 free hands to help Scarlett at the park, etc.

Everything else:  He is eating every 3 hours during the day. We just had his 8 week check-up which involved 3 shots. He was NOT happy about that :( He is weighing in at 10 lb 8 oz and 22.5" long which is 17% and 18% in size/length....MUCH smaller babe than S was! But, he's happy which is all that matters. We go back in 3 weeks for another weight check.

Scarlett Update: 2 years

 

What she's up to: TALKING non-stop (latest funny saying, "Mom, I want appetizer!"), running everywhere, reading books any chance she can, getting more and more comfortable with the water at Mimi & Bop's pool, playing with any big girl that she meets, becoming more and more brave & independent (if that's possible?!), and is pretty darn silly too (likes to pretend to be a superhero with the Knueppel brothers which involves pan lids as shields and bandaids as superpower buttons. Ha.)

Everything else: We had a great gymnastics bday party for S! Imagine 17 kids running around a gym? And then imagine them hyped up on cookies and cupcakes after?! Quite the sight.
Scarlett also went to the pediatrician with Grady for her 2 year appt. She's weighing in at 32 lbs (95%) and measuring 35.5" (96%). She also got a shot and a blood test, both of which she DIDN'T CRY FOR! Amazing what a lollipop will do :)



 
  

 

Happy almost summer!
Love,
the kings!