Skyler is 7 months

Skyler is doing great, she got the start of her first teeth earlier this week. She started saying “dada” and “mama” a few weeks ago but her first word was “dada”. Jeff was proud and tries so hard to get her to say “mama”, according to him she has said it a few times but I only hear “dada” when she talks.
She just gets a kick out of Valkyrie. At breakfast or dinner time as we are all gathered around the table those 2 will just start laughing and then laughing at laughing and it is the most beautiful sounds in the world. I wish I could make it my ring tone.
In the past few days we have tired giving Skyler little bits of solids, we gave her mashed up broccoli and peas. She hasn’t got the swallowing thing down and just sticks her tongue out and gums it against her lips and gums and she will smile with the food smeared all over her mouth. So funny.
She grabs at everything on the table and in your hands while holding her. A few days ago I almost spilt my water on her as she grabbed my glass while I tried to take a drink.
She does this cute little trick where she will open and close her hands real fast as if she is saying hi and her hands move even faster when she is happy or excited. I love it, and when I pick her up at daycare I will do it back to her.
Skyler does well with Valkyrie, Valkyrie likes to play a little rough sometimes and it really worries me with Skyler, but Skyler does her best to tolerate her sister but she isn’t afraid to tell me when it is just too much. Valkyrie likes having Skyler on tummy time. She will sometimes say to me when I’m holding Skyler too much “Mama, Skyler tummy time.” Then Valkyrie will share her toys with her but the cutest thing is when Valkyrie gets a book and reads to Skyler.
We have started bathing the girls together, Skyler was just creating a disaster in our kitchen in the sink, there was water everywhere, the windows, floor, us, stove...so both girls bathe together and it works out well for the most part, it is still a 2 parent job, so when it is bath time all 4 of us cram into that hall bathroom and even Huey sometimes.

Valkyrie is doing well. Recently we have been having a little trouble with her parroting us. She has picked up on a few phrases we don’t like and we are doing our best to correct it. Now more than ever do you HAVE to watch what you say around her, and once she finds out you don’t like a certain word or phrase she will say it just to watch us react. So frustrating.
Valkyrie loves to swim and is so brave; she almost gave G-ma a heart attack. She knows how to hold on to the walls of pools but then she will say “mama watch” and she will let go and go under, so that is our signal to push her back up to the surface where she will reach with a smile. She will sometimes go under and push herself to the top off the bottom of the pool, if it is shallow enough. She doesn’t mind going under and jumping off the edge. She can almost be too brave because once she got away from us at the pool this past weekend (while on vacation) and all the adults where out of the pool and she ran to the edge and almost jumped back in but luckily I was able to drop my towel and beat her to the water. We need to get her into a swim class, however this summer is going to be a blast at the local pool.

People have described Valkyrie as intense and constantly on the go, the girl can not sit still, she has to get that from her dad.

She loves to color but the crayons spend more time in her mouth then they ever do on the paper, coloring is still very much so a supervised play. She is very loving and close with a lot of people but sometimes she can pick on the weak. She sometimes bullies the younger, shyer kids around at daycare....I am raising a bully. I want her to be able to stand her ground but not at the cost of others, she needs a little work on not playing so rough.

She has an expensive appetite. We will ask her what she wants for dinner and she will say “Shrimp, rice, broccoli”. While on vacation at the coast we had to get her own crab cocktail so she wouldn’t eat ours. She knows the good stuff, we hardly order off the kids menu at places, most places have a sad excuse for kids meals. One place we went had everything fried on it. (what, just because they are kids it is okay to fed them fat?) So we find something off the normal menu for her and about 80% of the time she eats it, even if it is just a side of veggies and a soup. Funny thing is she doesn’t like fried things like nuggets, fried fish or breaded things. However she is a sucker for fresh bread, she gets that from me. She always asks for “more bread, please” and after a few bites of veggies we normally cave.

Jeff is doing good, he is almost fully recovered from his “procedure”. He has some training coming up for his motorcycle instruction certificate and any excuse he can use to take the bike out on a joy ride he will. We are working on making some cuts to prepare for the times ahead, so as an FYI soon we won’t have cell phones anymore but we will let you know before we cut them off for sure.

I am doing okay. Trying to make the best of the situation, I have been putting out job applications to a variety of places and just hoping for the best. I have made my peace with where I am and have come to realize that my health is more important. I have recently done some “clearing of the air” and internally I feel much better. Just trying to stay positive as I wait for my ship to come in. Sometimes others prayers are answered, but I have faith that mine will be answered soon too. :) Chin up, stride strong.

Thanks for taking the time to check in with us. Love and miss you all!!!