11 months

I forgot to post about Kaitlynn turning 11 months yesterday. So here we go.......Kaitlynn is 11 months now and it has gone by sooooo fast. Here are some stats that I have on her.......-Been walking for about two weeks now
-she is a climber
-wants to go and do whatever Drew is
-babbles all the time: some of her words....Grandpa, more, hat, dad, (signs) food, (signs) all done
-weighs about 17 lbs
-loves to wear shoes and change them all the time
-likes to sit on the potty chair
-laughs all the time
-loves her family
-loves to give kisses
-loves cuddling
Can't wait to see what she is doing in another month. Wow has the time gone bye so fast.

Getting Brave

Andrew has been learning how to hold his breath and go under water. It all started with him copying a kid at the pool. Drew was doing whatever the other kid was doing. (ie: deep breaths before putting face in water, kicking while laying on stomach....) We have been so proud of him and we think that the life vest has given him the confidence that he could do it.
SO anyways, Drew loves to go into Grandpa and Grandma's "pool"(it really is a spa, Drew just calls it a pool) every time that he goes over to their house. I was watching him play in it a couple days ago and I thought that I would share his fun with you all. I tell ya, this kid cracks me up.
Here he is entering the "Pool"

More of the swimming (Kinda on the long side)

Sky City Bounce house

I took Andrew to the Sky City Bounce house today. It is similar to Scooter Jungle but much more convenient. It was so much fun to get out of the house and do something we all could enjoy. Andrew climbed, slide down slides and played for almost three hours. We played in all three rooms. We left only because the adults got tired and hungry. We had a short snack break. Grandpa bought us drinks and donuts.

Andrew sat and drank the whole apple juice before he went back to playing.

Kaitlynn even got into the fun once she got some snacks into her and a drink.

Kaitlynn really didn't care much about going down the slides. She preferred to play at the bottoms of the slides and climbing the stairs. But we took her on some slides down a slide. Here she is going down with Grandma. I just love their faces.

Much better now that she is at the bottom.

Grandpa even went down some slides with Drew. What a sport he was today. Here is grandpa going head first down the slide. He didn't read the feet first sign :)
One last slide before we forced him to stop so that we could go home and eat.

After we played hard, Andrew enjoyed at run through the sprinklers to cool off. Then a nice relaxing time hanging out on the couch watching some tv with his mom.

Thank you to my parents, Grandma and Grandpa, for going with me today to play with the kids while David is out of town. I definitely will be going again very soon.

Excitment in the Shepherd Home

As you all know, Kaitlynn is 10 1/2 months and we have a new FIRST accomplishment. It was a good day in the Shepherd home. Not only is she drinking from a sippy cup now but take a look at the video.....

Kaitlynn has been so close for about a month now and just this morning she started to move a little bit, nothing big just two steps. I was so excited because I hadn't left for work yet and I was able to see it myself. She was content until I invited my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Romney, over for Dinner and she went to town and got better as the night went on. She was having fun performing for everyone and I even got Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd to come down stairs to see the show. This is huge and we are so proud of her.
With all the excitement of Kaitlynn, we had to give Drew some camera time. I flipped the screen around so he could see himself.

After all the excitement of Drew talking, Kaitlynn decided to walk some more.

10 months and then some

My little girl is growing up so fast. She is already 10 months old and not the whole family has met her yet. She is so close to walking now. She will walk around the house while holding on to one of your hands. All she needs to do now is to get the confidence to walk all on her own.

Kaitlynn has such an opinion now. She talks all the time and just loves her brother so much. She is good at putting herself in harms way when I comes to her brother. If he is on the couch, she will climb on to the couch. If he is playing with the train set, she will sit in the box.But from time to time she does fall and get hurt.She fell out of the train box and got a black eye.

Here she is showing off her climbing skills. She climbs on to the chair next to the couch and then climbs onto the couch. Whenever she does this she is so proud of herself and laughs so hard that she made it and got caught at doing so.
But she went further the other day. She was on the couch playing when David heard her laughing so hard and hitting glass. This is what he found.
Kaitlynn had managed to climb up the back of the couch and was playing in the window.
Now, I just couldn't resist these last few pictures. They are just so cute and very funny. This first one is from her cousin's, Addison, 2nd birthday party. They had a bounce house and Kaitlynn was having so much fun.
Then on Sunday I was in the backyard with Andrew and Kaitlynn wanted to join us. When I looked at her inside the house, this is what I saw.
I was laughing so hard. While I was trying to get some shots of Kaitlynn I was also trying to get a picture of Andrew holding up three fingers. But instead I got him saying three. I was so proud of him. I didn't take the picture of him saying it because I was so proud that he said it. Here is a recent picture of Andrew playing with safety goggles.This week he is out of school but he will return on Monday for summer school.

Perfect Day to go to the Pool

We went to the pool today and it was the perfect day to do so. It has gotten hot the last couple days and I'm not in the mood to just sit around the house with two crabby kids and no husband. So I gave our friend Dusty a call and invited her to join us at the pool. I also put the offer out to my parents to join us at the pool. We had a small pool party. So I took my camera along to get the first pool enjoyment of the season and Kaitlynn's first time to the pool. I put Kaitlynn in Andrew's old swim suit because I wanted a swim shirt on her and I had to put the shorts on too because I have two suits for her and they are either too small or too big. She fit perfectly in Drew's suit. Can you guess who is who?This year I'm borrowing a life jacket from my parents for Andrew to wear while in the pool. That way I feel comfortable with taking him in the water while I'm holding Kaitlynn. We still are planning on trying to teach him to swim but I can't do it by myself. I was very surprised that Andrew willingly put on the jacket and didn't put up a fuss. He had to get used to it but once he got the hand of it and realized that he wont drowned, he was all over that pool.

Here he is testing out his jacket on the stairs.

Here is a family picture, once I got into the pool.

Andrew was too excited to stay very long for the picture.

Kaitlynn had her fill of the water and preferred to sit in a chair in the shade and eat.

My poor little man has no fat. Even though is was hot, he was still shivering. So he kept going into the spa for a dip to warm up.

We stayed at the pool for a couple hours before I got to hungry for lunch. We walked down the the model homes where they were doing a festival with food. We played games, looked around the models and ate good food. There was corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, shaved ice, hot dogs, drinks and more. The games all have prizes and it tired the kids out. Andrew and Kaitlynn fell asleep on the drive around back to the house. I'm glad that I wasted half of my day out of the house with the kids. I just have to survive tomorrow before David get home from his Scout trip.

Made by Drew

I wanted to show off some of what Drew has come home with from school.

I forgot to post my Mother's Day gift as well so her it is. I love my son.

I have tons of more projects by Drew but that would be to long of a post.

Another New Family Member

Yes we have another new member to the Shepherd Family.
AGAIN this isn't mine
My sister-in-law, Amanda and her family welcomed a Baby boy to there family on Monday.

Rusty Bryce Shepherd
5-17-10

7 lbs. 4 oz.

21 inches.

Congrats to her and her family. Enjoy your new little guy.

9 months

Kaitlynn is 9 months old now! Wow how the time is just flying and she is getting so grown up already. I don't have any of her stats but tomorrow we go the Dr's for her check up and I'll update later.
UPDATE:(5-20-10)
Kaitlynn weighs only 16 lbs 4 oz. She is on the small side of the weight but we aren't worried. She is long though, she is 27.75 long. She has a little cold or she has allergies. Either way she is all stuffed up but she is doing just fine.

Here she is all ready for church and as happy as she can be. I bought her some Minnie Mouse sunglasses from the Disney store. They don't really fit her because they are for a 3 year old and when she looks down they fall right off her face. It is pretty funny to watch.The last couple weeks she really has taken to her walker. She will stand up and walk it around the room. She is great on the carpet but once she hits the wood floor she starts to run. We are always laughing at the things that she is doing.
Kaitlynn has learn the concept of under. She is constantly trying to see what is under everything. She will lift the toilet seat and try to look in. She will lift the hamper lid and try to look in. If she sees David go under a blanket she will lift the blanket and put it over her head. The other thing that she is doing is opening the cabinets in the kitchen. We have one cabinet that she is allowed to play in because nothing is breakable in it. I showed it to her and she goes to town with playing with the bowls. So yesterday she was playing in the kitchen while we were making dinner and she vanished. I looked into the cabinet and she was inside.
I wasn't fast enough to get the inside shot but you get the idea. Kaitlynn is such a cute little girl and we will have our hand full when she gets older. She is very talkative and she loves her Daddy. She will call me Dad and I have to correct her that I'm mom. Then she will look at me and say mom then look at David and say Dad. She is constantly talking and on the move. Can't wait to see what happens in the next few months. She already wants to be facing forward in the car like her brother. Until next time!

New Family

There is a new family member to the Shepherd Family.

NO It isn't mine.

My sister-in-law Carrie and her family welcomed a new baby BOY to her family.

Jack Owen Shepherd
9 lbs 11 oz
22.75" long
Born at 9:30 AM (Ohio time)
5-5-10

Congratulations to her and her family.