Magical Milner Family: July 2008

Time has flown since Mikayla arrived. All the things I imagined myself doing with my new baby girl just aren't happening like I thought. Things like getting her 6 week pictures, getting her scrapbook started while I was "caught up", and sitting at the park in the shade of a big tree while Timmy played happily by himself - just haven't happened. What we have done a lot of is learn how to juggle two kids and still function normally. I'm laughing at myself so hard thinking how overwhelmed I felt with just Timmy to deal with in the early stages. I'm also considering myself very blessed that Kayla is such a happy baby most of the time.

Updates:

Mikayla rolled over for the first time on Wednesday the 16th! She has yet to do it again but she is really close. It was from tummy to back and she was as surprised as we were. Also she has begun to "rotate" meaning we'll leave her in one position and minutes later she'll have scooted and wiggled till she's done a 180. She is now sleeping in her crib and had no adjustment problems - although I think she rather preferred being in the bed with us. She never really liked her bassinet so I'm glad I didn't spend much for it. We found a cool mosquito net with stars and moons and hung it over the crib. We'll have to take it down when she can pull herself to standing so there aren't any accidents. Her hair is as long as ever - she'll be the first one year old sporting a french braid at this rate. We'll be getting her pictures done tomorrow and can't decide to keep it down or put it in pigtails (or antennae...).

Timmy is growing his vocabulary by leaps and bounds. I still think I owe it to PBS and Disney's Playhouse programming. My current favorite is when I ask him to do something he sometimes replies "of course I can". He still can't remember when to say "thank you" verses "you're welcome" but it's kinda cute. He's mastered identifying the letters of the alphabet and his numbers and is now working on shapes, colors and being introduced to letter sounds. (for a great reading website check out Starfall). He is obsessed with water, being naked (nakee!) and his bellybutton, go figure. He loves eating veggies out of our little garden but can't tell what's a veggie and what's just foliage. I've caught him eating grass, pea leaves, and the swiss chard.

Joe is still working at Alpha Bay and is still looking forward to when they land the contract. It will mean many changes in his responsibilities and a new office. The biggest change for Joe recently is his new calling in the church as a Sunday School teacher. He loves the challenge of making the lesson material interesting and refreshing for his class and is doing a great job. With me tied up with caring for Kayla he's spening lots of fun quality time with Timmy and the two of them have grown really close. Timmy can't wait for him to come home from work everyday.

ME: I'm doing my best to find ways to do some things just for me. I've taken up running and am looking for a 5k to enter in September. I go out early in the morning while it's still cool and the babies are sleeping. The things that have helped me most with this is the couch to 5k program. I recommend it to anyone who wants to try running but is scared that they might hurt themselves or push too hard and then quit. I use the program in together with a music from www.djbeatsmith.com, a site that specializes in techno music set to specific BPM's for interval training. They have the whole couch to 5k series in easy to follow downloadable music files. I just download the appropriate track for where I am in the program and off I go.

Anywho, here's what everyone wanted to see in the first place - pictures!