Krista's First Communion

Here are some of the promised photos from Krista's First Communion. It was a GORGEOUS day...the weather was wonderful, the kids were well behaved and we won first row seats in the Church for the service (lottery style seating)! Can't ask for more than that :) It was surely a day to remember. The service was very lovely. Krista looked beautiful in her dress and the children sang heartwarming songs and all marched proudly up to receive their First Holy Communion. They have been busy preparing for this day for 2 years!! They've attended classes every other week for the last few years, so it makes the day all that much more meaningful for them. I'll upload a shot of the bread itself. DEFINATELY an advantage to having your First Communion in France! LOOK at that bread!!

We took plenty of photos of the big day and also some family portraits outside the church after the service which I'll post (later) as well. It was also Father's Day so we had a nice gift opening ceremony afterwards, and later in the evening went out to dinner to celebrate both Krista and Toomas' big day. Krista received a white gold cross and a mass book with rosary. I might post some more shots a bit later. I got some cute ones after the service of Krista and Kaitlyn and also the whole family together!! :)

Teething Time for Evan!

Yes you read that post correctly. Little tiny Evan Thomas, at only 4 months old has sprouted his first tooth. Erik had his first tooth at 5 months, Kaitlyn I believe was nearly 7 and Krista was 6 months. I'm amazed that he is teething, but NOT surprised. He has been drooling and putting his hands in his mouth for at least 6 weeks now and I knew they were on their way. The poor guy is in SO much pain. I took him to the doctor 2x last week (one was conjuntivitis) and the next time was just because he as SO unbearable and had a clear runny nose. He wants to be held constantly and is nursing just TERRIBLY. Part of it was the nose. I could hear him having a lot of difficulty breathing, but today the nose is almost clear and he is still not nursing for as long as usual. I know that before the teeth sprout there can be a lot of pain and pressure to nurse, so I should have known it was teething pain. Also when I give him tylenol he is able to nurse perfectly about 40 minutes later....so pain is definately the culprit. I was worried about an ear infection but it looks like teething since yesterday the pediatrician said all looks perfect.

Yesterday he had his well baby visit and I complained to the doctor about his difficulty in nursing, coupled with wanting to be held constantly when awake and putting BOTH hands in his mouth (and constant drooling). The doctor said it was highly unlikely that it was teeth yet. WRONG. Bottom lower right incisor is on its way today!! I'm glad that he'll soon be out of pain (once the other one goes), but a little worried about how difficult he is going to be in getting teeth. Maybe it will just be these 2 that pose the problem and then he'll get used to the pain of teething. Wishful thinking I'm sure! I think some kids are just better teethers than others. This little sweetie just doesn't like the pain. I still can't believe he is getting his first teeth already. HE WAS JUST BORN!! WOW. On the stats yesterday..he weighed in at 8,560 grams and was 67 cm tall. This puts him nearly off the charts on weight...maybe in the 99% percentile or possibly even slightly over... (hooray for Mother's Milk!) and he was about 80% for height. These are based on French standards for a 4 month and 3 week old. The doc was impressed with his strength and development. He was amazed how well Evan could sit and stand already. He LOVES standing and can honestly hold his weight for a few seconds...and as previously posted, that is a good bit of weight! He's more than doubled his birthweight. I'm just amazed that he can keep up this rate while sleeping so long at night. 8.5 hours without nursing is the norm these days and has been for a few months. I was sure he'd slow down his weight gain once he started sleeping through the night but this is not happening. I'm sure it will taper off soon...especially as he is getting more and more active. Next appointment is in 2 months (hooray no shots) and the doc said we could start toying with food at around 6 or 6.5 months. With Erik I didn't start until he was 7 months. I can tell Evan is INTERESTED in food. He is always watching us eat and opens and closes his mouth when he sees us eat. I think we'll give some fruits and veggies a go once we are in the USA this summer. So that is the update on our little boy. Fussy teething times, but all is well. :)

Kaitlyn can walk!!

I have promised a walking clip so here it is!!! Kaitlyn continues to enjoy toddling along. She is still falling pretty often but she has the idea down pat now.

On the vacation front, Toomas and his parents returned from Switzerland a few days ago and had a really exciting adventure! They went to the peak of a few mountains and where it actually SNOWED! I will have to post some pictures of their trip because it was really breathtaking!

As I type right now Toomas is on his way back from Germany where he took his parents to the airport this a.m. We had a really fun time having them here, but as usual the time goes too quickly! It was really fun showing them around our new house and yard. The weather was just great too, so we lucked out being able to eat out on the patio every night.

So here is the promised walking clip. She is really LOVING the freedom of walking!!! At least someone is--- because since she's taken those first steps I've certainly lost mine!

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Kaitlyn took her first steps!!!

I'm not going to say that Kaitlyn is walking yet, but she sure is taking steps on her own!!! On Thursday night my friend Sharon came over to put up the security gates she lent us (THANKS SHARON), and that very night we let Kaitlyn cruise at will in the upstairs loft area. SHE LOVED IT! She was cruising around holding onto the banister (with one hand) and just loving the freedom. THEN, all of a sudden she released her one hand and she was just walking. I'd say she took 6-8 steps and then bent over to get down to a crawling position. She was very controlled, it was so wild to see her walk! Toomas, Erik and I were there and our jaws just dropped. It was so funny because she didn't even know she was walking! It wasn't a fluke either because by the end of the day Friday she could take as many as 10 steps at a time to a goal. She is doing this "goal" walking still, but she is taking steps. I'm a little worried about her falling so I'm not giving her the opportunities as much as I should. I'm thinking we should go to Tubi-Tuba one of these days so she can really practice-up where it is nice and padded. Some days I would just LOVE to have wall to wall carpet in at least ONE room of my home. So anyway, that is the big update!

In other news, we have visitors coming on Thursday! The kids are really getting excited to see their Vanaema and Vanaisa, all the way from Estonia. It will be the first trip Toomas' parents have made to stay at our new house. They will also be taking a trip to Switzerland with Toomas while they are here also. It will be a fun week for all.