.: Finally, an update!

And since its been 2 weeks since my last update, I have so many things swimming around in my head that this is going to be done "random musings" style. No rhyme or reason. Just as I think of things that I want to share, I'm gonna type 'em out.

First and foremost, my nephew was born on July 14! He weighed 8 lbs., 7 oz. and was 19 inches and he's just as cute as cute can be. He did have to spend a whole week in the NICU but came home yesterday and is doing wonderfully.

Second, McKenna started a fire. I'm totally serious. She has always been really good about not touching our stove. In fact, she backs away from it when she sees it and says "stove hot". One time, one of her toys rolled too close to the oven and she came and got me so that she didn't have to touch the oven (which was not even on at the time). She's just always been really good about that. So we haven't put the baby gate up in some time. And quite frankly, I wouldn't want to climb over that thing being as big as I am right now anyway.

Well, the Monday before last, my sister, Luke and my Mom were all over for a visit. Everyone was in the living room when I suddenly saw smoke coming from the kitchen. My sister and I ran in there while my Mom got both the kids out of the apartment. McKenna had thrown her gigantic pink ball up on the stove (she's never put ANY toys up on the stove before) AND she had pushed the bottons on the main burner. So the dang thing caught fire and melted with lightening speed. My sister tried pouring water on it but it still didn't go out so out came the fire extinguisher. By the way, for anyone who has not used a fire extinguisher before...even if you use just a little and have perfect aim, you WILL get that white dust all over everything within a 6 foot radius. It was a disaster. Because of the fumes, my sister and I stayed outside with the kids. And my Mom (god bless her) for some reason decided to brave it all and go scrub my kitchen top to bottom. So that was quite a scary/messy adventure. Kenna had no clue that any of it happened really. She probably just innocently thought she was doing nothing wrong and then a few minutes later she was whisked away to play outside. She had no clue there was even a fire.

A few other scary-OMG-am-I-raising-a-delinquent moments -

We went to a picnic with a whole bunch of other mommies and toddlers. All the kids were the same age as McKenna. She has always been SO extremely good with kids. And I still maintain that position. She is sweet as pie with them. However, apparently all her WWF-like wrestling with Daddy got her into some trouble when she tackled another little girl in the bounce house! At first I didn't realize that McKenna had been the one who started it. She's always so gentle with other kids. But apparently a hugging game quickly turned into a wrestling match with McKenna pinning the other little girl down. While McKenna thought it was all in fun and just wrestling the way she does with Daddy, this little girl didn't like being pinned down (and who could blame her?) Apparently McKenna can be quite strong when she wants to be. She can even take Lukey down and Luke is much bigger and stronger then her. This was one thing I did not expect. I mean, McKenna is 6th percentile for weight and height. She is a peanut through and through. I didn't think she'd be a wrestling maniac.

When we were at the mall yesterday, she took a box of Good 'n Plenty's (that we had not purchased) and put them in our stroller basket. At first I thought I had a little shoplifter on my hands but thankfully, some of my mommy-group friends have assured me that their little tots have tried the same trick. Apparently there is something about the age of 2 where they think the world is their smorgasbord.

Also, same day/same trip to the mall, we were strolling along the second floor of the mall when McKenna decided she was done with her milk and chucked it over the side onto the first floor. Thankfully, she did not hit anyone. But I swear I held my breath in horror. If she had, can you imagine how much that would've hurt? What if she'd hit another child? Oh, I just hate to think of it.

All this to say that 1) these things she is doing is just normal I-don't-understand-consequences behavior (in case any other moms are reading this and wondering if their kids are also little hell-raisers) and 2) you have to watch your kids MUCH more closely at this age then you might think. Potentially serious trouble and danger can be found anywhere. Don't mistake their sudden need for independence as just a more lackadaisical time for yourself. Toddlerhood is scary business.

But oh my gosh its so fun too. Even though she has her share of "snips and snails and puppy dog tails" in her, she is also full of "sugar and spice and everything nice."

She loves to cover us in kissies.

She loves to play "this little piggy" and the other morning I went in to go get her and she was lying on her belly doing "this little piggy" to her baby doll's toes.

She also loves to play a game she made up. She puts her fingers into a diamond shape and then peeks through and says "I see you Mommy. I see you Daddy."

She loves to kiss and hug my belly and say "Hi Dyla. I'm Denna." (Hi Kyla. I'm Kenna.)

Her current favorite song to sing is "If you're happy and you know it." She calls it "happy feet".

She was doing the sweetest little ballet dance the other day. So when we went out, Erick bought her the cutest lavendar shirt with a ballerina on it that says "Tiny Dancer". He said he'll always remember that moment when he was watching her twirl around the room.

Potty-training is going well. If we leave her diaperless at home, she has very few accidents. In fact, she's gotten really good about just going right to her potty and going and then not even asking for beans afterwards...as though she's realizing that its just the normal way to go potty and that no reward is necessary. Don't get me wrong, she still asks for beans quite a bit. But many times, she just isn't concerned with getting rewarded. And the other night we were out to dinner and she asked to go pee-pee. So I took her to the ladies room and she tried her hardest. Nothing came out but I told her how very proud of her I was for trying while we were out.

We took her to the county fair last week and she had an absolute BLAST. She LOVED the bbq corn they served. I don't think she spoke a single word the entire time she ate it. She did notice the rides and said "Mommy! Rides!" I said "Yep, we'll go on the rides after we eat dinner." So she handed me her corn and said "Rides?" I told her "Well, after Mommy eats dinner then we can go on rides." And she promptly grabbed her corn back from me and continued eating. I guess she figured if we weren't gonna go on rides right away then she wasn't about to give that corn up.

Erick won her a plush flower and a puppy dog. She was so excited and pleased that her Daddy won it for her. She kept kissing both of her prizes and then saying "Tay too Dada" (Thank you Dada).

The funniest thing was that we let her run around a lot and she thought the whole place was HER playground. She ran from sight to sight and right up to a fruit stand, grabbed a nectarine and took a bite out of it. (Don't worry, we paid for it after!)

She is quite excited about her birthday coming up. If you ask her how old she's gonna be she answers "two". If you ask her about her birthday she'll say "Birday Chuck E. Cheese." She knows her bday party will be at Chuck E. Cheese and that she's having a "Bear Bear Party" (Care Bear Party). She knows she'll get "pesents" (presents) and "cake" and everyone will sing the "birday song" (birthday song). She can't wait.

She's already gotten her first present too! Tonight my Dad and Cheryl gave it to her.....HER TODDLER BED!! Oh my gosh, she (and Erick and I) were SO excited! She's been talking about her big girl bed for weeks so we knew she was ready. They got her the frame and the mattress so now we just have to take her out to let her pick out her very own bedding. We promised her she'd get to choose her own. I'm a little scared to see what she'll pick. While I'm hoping for something like Tinkerbell or Strawberry Shortcake, she is saying she wants "firetrucks" or "aminals" (animals). But I did promise her she could choose so I will stick to my word.

What other random thoughts do I want to share?

I'm really excited that my Taste of Home magazine arrived and there is a blueberry pie on the cover. I've been looking for a really good blueberry pie recipe.

We got to see our new apartment. The previous tenants just moved out so we saw it in its messy state. But it is still AWESOME! The tile and carpet are much newer then what we have now. The previous tenants left a nice, sturdy steel screen on the front door (yay for fresh air without flies getting in!). All 3 bedrooms are a great size! The living room is huge. And the best part...there's a BACKYARD! Its a pretty good sized back yard too! We are so excited! We'll need to replant some grass but after that, the girls will have a great place to play and enjoy our beautiful California weather! We can't wait to move. It should be about mid-August when we go. We'll be in the same apartment complex, just back further into the complex. We'll be on the bottom floor with no one above us! Woohoo!

I'm finally done with working! And just in the nick of time too. They wanted me to stay on for one more week but I was just feeling too exhausted from it all. Good thing I told them when I did because the week I stopped was the week of 1) the fire 2) Mel's false alarm labor 3) Mel's real labor and Gavin's birth and being admitted into the NICU. And immediately following that came this week, which includes McKenna's birthday party! So just too much going on for me to continue the schedule I was on. Now I just work 3 hours on Wednesday evenings and that's it!

And while I'm updating on work situations, Erick is very close to getting stationed in a permanent unit at work. That means a more solid work schedule. And THAT means....no more doubles on holidays! YIPEE!!!! Even if he ends up working on Christmas morning or what-not, I don't care. At least we'll get to see him on holidays! This working Christmas eve, 16 hours on Christmas stuff is crap.

Oh! I'm trying out a new hobby - Digital scrapbooking. I can't tell you how much I've fought this. A whole bunch of my friends have been doing this for months now and they are really, really good at it. I just haven't had the drive to learn. For one thing, I don't learn by reading, I learn by actually trying it. But I had no idea how to start and it seemed so overwhelming. There are so many things to learn about it but it really is fun! Here is my very first finished page:

(c&p it into a browser)
http://www.biegerfamily.com/playgroup/Pigtails3.jpg

Well I may as well let that be my segue into pictures.

My beautiful new nephew, Gavin Christopher Henry Catalano: