A little bit of our January

 Our little Mikey getting ready to go ice fishing. He got the hat, snow pants and snow boots for Christmas. He's been ice fishing more times than I have now!

 This boy loves puzzles and he got this one from his cousins for Christmas. It only took him a week or so before he mastered it. Now he gets mad if anybody puts the pieces in the wrong space. He always wants it to match.

 He also loves his baby sister. He is constantly giving her "hugs" but since she is usually lying down, it equates to doing a dog pile on her.

 She's getting used to him lying on top of her by now, so she doesn't make too big of a fuss.

 We found Mikey like this in his high chair one night for dinner. He kept saying "tuck, tuck" and we realized he meant "stuck." 

And here's Ginny in an outfit we got from a friend of my parents in Brazil. Thanks, Ruth!

We are all doing well. I'm mentally gearing up to try to finish potty training Mikey soon. I checked out some books from the library and I'm realizing that Mikey is very ready, and is well prepared since I've been teaching him about the toilet since he was 8 months old. Anyway, he is very good at telling me when he has to go poop, and very rarely poops in his diaper now. We are going to work on the bladder control. It will be nice to get him out of diapers.

Ginny's update is that she is falling asleep for her naps easier right now than she has been for weeks. We can wrap her up and lie her down wide awake, leave the room, and she just goes to sleep. Hopefully it continues, but she has been anything but consistent when it comes to her sleep habits so far! She is getting bigger, getting much better at holding up her head, and still sleeping well at night. When she's awake, she gives the hugest smiles that just melt our hearts. We are so happy to have her in our family.

Kevin and I are working at the dental office... Although he works a few more hours than I do. I have started to go into the office two days a week for 3.5 hours each day to stay caught up with my work. A good friend of mine in Grand Junction watches the kids for me so I can get a lot done. It has been a fun little diversion from the daily grind. I'm also doing a few more things to get me out of the house and give me a break from full-time mothering. Tomorrow morning I'm going to a sewing class at Quilter's Corner in downtown GJ, and then next weekend I'm going bowling with some girlfriends after the kids go to sleep. Kevin has graciously agreed to babysit so I can still have time to myself occasionally. This has made me a very happy camper, and by that I mean, a very happy person who is sleeping in her warm bed every night and not camping.

My Babies

I've been wanting to make this post for a while. There are some kind of fun things that Mikey and Ginny have in common.

1. They were both born on a Saturday. (Cue Saturday's Warrior theme song... "Who are these children coming down... coming down like drops of rain through darkened skies?...") I know you all thought it too ;)
2. They were both named after other people: Michael is Kevin's middle name; Ginny is the name of a friend of mine from grad school and Kay is my mom's middle name.
3. They were also both named after places: Gannett is the tallest mountain in Wyoming, in our favorite Wind River range; Ginny is short for Virginia where Kevin and I met.
4. They were both share birthdays with another extended family member: Mikey shares Feb 20th with his cousin Savannah; Ginny shares Oct 8th with her aunt Autumn.
5. They are both freaking cute.
6. They were both born at home. :)

I might add to that list if I remember anything else. I had quite a long mental list going. Now here are some fun differences.

1. Mikey was a very frequent spitter-upper. We're talking 20+ times a day most days, until he was 6 months old when it started to taper off. Ginny spits up probably an average of twice a week.
2. Mikey was heavier and longer at birth, but Ginny has been gaining weight and growing in length at a much faster rate than Mikey so far. I wouldn't be surprised if she catches up to him at some point.
3. Mikey was an incredible sleeper - he started sleeping 12 hrs a night with one feeding at about the 8 hr mark when he was three months old! Ginny is also an incredible sleeper at times, but she is less consistent. She has slept through the night several times already (she's just under 3 months old) and very frequently sleeps a total of 12 hrs with one feeding in the middle somewhere.
4. Ginny's poops are WAY smellier! (She's gonna be really happy I mentioned that when she's a teenager.)
5. Mikey took almost 3 hours of pushing to be born, Ginny took about 3 seconds.