February 16-23

Olivia got a haircut.  Her bangs finally grew out enough that they now reach her chin, so I trimmed the rest of her hair to match.  This haircut went better than her first, but not so well as her second.  She was willing to sit still while I did the right side, but every time I got over to the left, she tilted her head.  Luckily, I was just trying to match up the length with her bangs, so it came out okay.  Also, she's a toddler, so she never sits still enough to tell if it's uneven.  :)

Gretchen is in 12-month clothes.  She's actually been in 12-month clothes for a while now, but I kept forgetting to mention it.  She spent exactly one day in a 9-12 month outfit before I moved her up to just plain 12-month from her previous 6-9 month.  It would appear that 9-12 isn't very much of a size change; what little change there is seems to be mostly width, often at the expense of length.

Olivia likes looking at pictures of herself as a baby.  She THINKS she's looking at pictures of other babies, though.  In her mind, every picture is of a baby she knows who is approximately the same age as the baby in the picture.  We have a lot of pictures of Baby Edward right now.  :)  The same problem occurs with videos; she and I watched the earliest Olivia videos we have, and Olivia kept talking about how she wanted to watch more of Baby Gretchen.  (Side note: Olivia's hair when she was younger was fabulous.  I recommend watching Olivia in the Johnny Jump Up for an example.)

Taxes are done.  I finished the federal and state ones a couple of weeks ago, but city ones took longer because of the work I did with the Lima Symphony.  Federal and state forms handle self employment relatively painlessly, but city forms are less complicated enough that any income that isn't W2 based causes problems.

Pictures and Videos:

February 9-16

Olivia has been accident-free all week.  She's also been diaper-free, even at night.  This is a BIG DEAL.  I do have to remind her periodically to go to the bathroom, because she tends to get too involved in things to worry about paltry details such as her exploding bladder.  Also, I just don't trust her.  So I have a phone alarm that goes off every hour and a half (as much to remind me as her) and she sits on the potty whenever we switch activities and so far we've been dry.

Gretchen is standing.  She seems to prefer standing, actually, although she does NOT like it when whatever she's using for balance moves.  She has also learned to sit back down (hooray, hooray!), although she still looks a little worried about it.  Her 9-month check-up was Monday, and she's 19 lbs, 2 oz.  They told me she's 30 inches long, but I don't believe them.  Babies are measured very imprecisely: the nurse lays Gretchen down, puts a pen mark on the paper at the top of her head, and pulls her leg straight before placing another pen mark.  Then I pick Gretchen up and the nurse measures the space between the marks.  Gretchen was being difficult and wouldn't let the nurse stretch her leg out, so I'm pretty sure she scooted an inch or two during the process.  I measured her at home and only came up with 28 inches.  It will be interesting to see how big she is at her 12-month check-up.  Click here for Olivia's stats, for comparison.

(Aside: I read the post that contains Olivia's stats and was quite pleased with it.  I apologize if some of my more recent posts have been lacking.  I've been putting off writing them until the last minute and then dashing them off in a hurry rather than recording my witticisms as they occur to me.  I shall strive to do better.)

I got to cross something off my 30 Before 30 list on Saturday: I asked Bryan what kind of cereal he wanted for breakfast and he said, "surprise me."  I hid a Quaker Oat Square (three, actually) in his Cheerios.  This was not what I was planning to do to surprise him, but it worked anyway.  :)

Pictures:

February 2-9

Olivia likes to sing.  You know this.  You probably also know that she carries a tune remarkably well for a toddler.  Usually I know what she's singing even if I can't understand the words because the melody is so clear.  In fact, up until recently, I could ALWAYS figure out what she was singing from the tune alone.  About two weeks ago, though, she added a new song to her repertoire.  The tune was... indistinct.  After much careful watching (because this song had motions) and listening, Bryan and I figured out what she was singing: Little Cabin in the Woods.  Apparently she knows most of the words and actions, but has absolutely no idea what the tune is.  Since she likes the song, she sings it anyway, making up her own tune as she goes along.  :)

Gretchen is speeding through developmental milestones.  She started clapping a little bit this week, shakes her head all the time, and blows raspberries with Olivia.  Her favorite thing to do with toys is move them from one basket to another (or, in a pinch, from the floor to the basket and back again).  She crawls on hands and knees now, but only if she's not in a hurry.  She pulls herself up on furniture, much to her sister's dismay, and cruises (cautiously) along the edge.  Since the concept of walking is still difficult, she mostly wobbles along the edge of furniture and hopes her feet will follow.  Currently, her trips back to the floor are terror-filled ordeals that often end in tears, so we're hoping she masters lowering herself down next.  On Saturday I saw her go from hands and knees to sitting for the first time.  I'm not even sure she realized that she did it.

We were with Bryan's parents this week because I had symphony in Lima.  Olivia especially was excited to spend so much time with Grandma and Grandpa.  :)

Did I ever put up more of our family photos?  I know I gave a link that I am assuming worked because no one said otherwise.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Fun with the Kleins

When we do things with the Kleins, they're much better about taking pictures than I am.  They share them with me periodically and then, months later, I remember to turn all those pictures into a post.  Here we have the first installment of Fun with the Kleins.  I've tried to put them in order and gave a rough date (you can tell how rough by my phrasing) for each set of pictures.

Eva's Baptism (May 2012; I'm her godmother):

Me holding both the girls (mid 2012):

Olivia loves Eva's flying saucer (mid 2012):

Olivia and Eva (mid 2012):

At the zoo (June 2012):

Olivia's 1st Birthday (August 2012):

Olivia photobombing a picture (late 2012):

Eva's 1st Birthday (December 2012):

Shopping with the 2 girls (late 2012 or early 2013, I think):

Olivia and Eli (mid 2013):

At the fair (August 2013; eating a deep-fried oreo, chasing each other around trees...)

Gretchen and Eli (Browns/Vikings game 2013):

January 26-February 2

Gretchen can use a straw now.  Every time I pick something up while holding Gretchen, especially when in the kitchen, she grabs it and puts it in her mouth.  Olivia's water cup was no exception.  Usually I take advantage of the fact that my arms are longer and hold the cup out of Gretchen's reach, but one day her determination and complete lack of regard for her own personal safety won out.  She waited until I had a moment of distraction, then lunged and captured the cup, immediately putting the straw in her mouth.  Though she couldn't figure out how to make the straw work that particular time, I've let her continue to try.  After much spluttering, she has finally mastered the straw and can now get a drink of water whenever I leave a cup within reach.

Gretchen is also able to help out when she's getting dressed.  If I aim her arm towards the correct hole in her shirt, she'll push it through.  Bryan appreciates the fact that she's willing to stick her legs straight out and hold them still while he puts on her pants.  I suppose that is preferable to the kicking and rolling that used to be the norm.  :)

It seems I never have any Olivia news recently.  She's developing new skills, too, just at a slower, less obvious rate.  She picks up new words ("beautiful" and "friends" are her latest vocabulary enhancers) and gets better at things she could already do, but she's in refining mode rather than learning mode.  She and I DID manage to complete a game of Candy Land last week, and the only cheating was when I stacked the deck so that she got the upcoming character cards (and the ones we'd already passed were quietly removed).  She also enjoys playing her Uno Moo game, although she's still a bit fuzzy on the rules.

Keep an eye out for the Bonus Post coming this Wednesday.

Pictures:

January 19-26

We spent last weekend visiting my family and this past week with Bryan's family because I had orchestra in Lima.  Olivia happily adjusts to quickly to visiting now, and is generally friendly to everyone.  Gretchen, on the other hand, has reached the "I don't recognize any of you people, so stay away" age.  She's too young to remember people from trip to trip, and too old to go trustingly to just ANYbody.  She warms up a little after a few days, but by that time we're leaving...

Olivia's vocabulary has exploded again.  Or perhaps it's just her pronunciation that has improved.  Whatever happened, both her grandmothers noticed how much easier she was to understand than when they saw her last month.  Bryan has also noticed, pointing out that she uses words like "probably" correctly.  My favorites are some of the phrases I've heard from her lately: "What you whining about?  You're fine.", "Gretchen needs to get a grip.", and "Yes, that would be fine."  I can't imagine who says any of those.  :-P

Gretchen learned a new trick: she can shake her head.  Her favorite time to practice is while she's eating, which makes getting the spoon into her mouth extra challenging.  She also likes to open her mouth as wide as it goes, start making noise, and shake her head back and forth against a nearby surface (usually my shoulder or knee).  I can't tell if she likes the sound it makes, the disorienting sensation it produces, or the fact that she's successfully doing three (kinda) things at once.

Gretchen has been spending large amounts of time rocking back and forth on her knees.  She doesn't actually crawl, yet, choosing to continue dropping to her stomach if serious moving is required, but she's practicing considering the idea of using her knees.  She seems to appreciate the extra height that she gets from being on her knees.

Continuing along the Gretchen trend...  She's trying to pull herself up on things.  Thus far, her choice of things to pull up on has been rather poor.  She favors baskets, blankets, and my skirt, all of which are rather unstable.  I think she'll do better once she decides to use furniture as her brace.

Pictures:

January 12-19

Gretchen's sleeping problem was fixed by adding a fan to her room.  A lighter sleeper than her sister, she seems to have accustomed herself to having white noise while she sleeps.  Whenever we travel, we put a fan on so that the noise of older people still being up doesn't keep her awake, so Gretchen took our week and a half of travel and became dependent on the fan.  This was easily fixed (although accidentally discovered), so that's good.

Olivia seems to be too busy to bother with going to the bathroom.  She will go when required (usually in return for some sort of reward or privilege), but often she doesn't like to leave whatever she is doing.  Since she's still remarkably terrible at deciding for herself that she has to go to the bathroom, even when she's in between activities, I've taken to requiring a bathroom break every couple of hours.  Using this method, we've managed to keep her (mostly) dry.

Gretchen's mouth is a little lopsided right now.  She has had five teeth (three on top) for several weeks now, but has shown no signs of getting a sixth to even things out.  On the plus side, she is learning to use the five teeth she does have, so she is more likely to chew her food before closing her eyes and swallowing forcefully.  She still has her moments where she decides that teeth are useful only for biting and not chewing, and then she twists her head on her neck (very much like Danny Glover before he shoots his gun in the Lethal Weapon movies), stretches her neck as far as it goes, closes her eyes, and gulps.

Gretchen has a philosophy about life:  If it exists, it is edible.  She will try anything.  Food, people, toys, dust bunnies, furniture, animals, etc.  When we visited the Kleins on Wednesday, she ate a board book.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  All babies gnaw on board books.  This is true.  Olivia used to eat her board books, but no significant chunks ever came off.  Gretchen was EATING the board book.  When Steph noticed that there were actually pieces of book missing, we dug a quarter sized chunk of paper pulp out of Gretchen's mouth.  Every time we thought we had it all, Gretchen would grin and we'd see that she still looked like she had more than her aforementioned five teeth lining her gums.

Jacque came to visit for the second half of the week, and she and Olivia had a great time playing with playdoh and dancing around the house.  Gretchen tolerated this new person when she had to.  :)  While visiting, Jacque did try her hand at bread dough for the first time, and it turned out great.  At least as good as Olivia's.  :)

No pictures this week, but I do have two videos (password BarhorstBrewed):

Gretchen's Orientation Part 1

Gretchen's Orientation Part 2

January 5-12

Olivia got a toy kitchen for Christmas.  It sits over by our attic door and holds some pots and pans she got last year, a basket of plastic Easter eggs, assorted empty spice jars, and some plastic fruits and vegetables.  She enjoys pulling out the fruits and veggies and passing them around for people to eat.  Her favorite thing to do in her kitchen, though, is bake cookies.  That's all she bakes, in fact, and she makes them all the time.  She'll bring a pot of cookies and a spatula over to everyone else and pass out cookies until she decrees that they're all gone.  Then she goes back and bakes some more.  :)

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Olivia can sing her ABCs.  She can also identify most (if not all) of the letters, her numbers up to 10, and even numbers up to 18.  She counts to 10 very well, but after that becomes more sporadic, usually hitting 11, 13 or 14 (I have trouble telling which it is), and 16 before jumping straight to 20.

Gretchen has decided that she'd rather do most things standing up.  The only problem with this is that Gretchen's standing skills are terrible at best.  She has no balance (probably because she stands on her toes), her feet slide out from under her, and she always looks worried about falling over.  Recently I've been able to use a fun looking toy to convince her to sit for a while.

If you'd asked me two weeks ago about the girls' developmental milestones, I'd have told you that Olivia was potty trained and Gretchen was sleeping through the night.  In fact, I've made both those statements in previous posts.  A month seems a long enough trial period to celebrate success.  If you'd asked me the same question one week ago, I'd be lamenting the fact that Olivia pees on the floor and Gretchen wakes up for no apparent reason and refuses to go back to sleep.  We're back to timers and rewards (stickers this time) for Olivia.  Gretchen refuses to be comforted, and holding her keeps her awake, so she just cries herself back to sleep.  Both girls improved over the course of this week, but they're not where they were two weeks ago yet.  :(

Pictures and Videos:

December 22-January 5

After much holiday traveling, we finally returned home this past Thursday.  It was snowing in the morning when we left Steve and Murry's house, so the drive took longer than usual.  As we drove, we debated the wisdom of leaving in time to get Bryan to work rather than having him work from home one more day.  The snow continued to fall pretty heavily all day, though, so I guess it was better to drive in the morning.

Olivia's most treasured possession is now the Barney stuffed animal that her Grandma found her for Christmas.  Murry apparently had to drive an hour and a half to find it (because Barney isn't really a "thing" anymore), but find it she did.  It sings the "I love you" song, but it's not too obnoxious and we've convinced Olivia that Barney has to sleep, too, so it gets turned off for naps and bed.  It didn't leave Olivia's side for two days after she opened it, but now she takes occasional breaks from holding Barney to do other things, too.  Somehow I do not have a picture of Barney yet, but I think Jacob took some, so when I get those pictures up then you can see it.

Although Gretchen had not yet conquered forward motion when I wrote the Christmas letter, she is now beginning to look like an old pro.  She doesn't crawl yet, preferring to move along like an inchworm most of the time.  She does occasionally slip into an army crawl, but her favored motion is to stick her little rear up in the air and then lunge forward with her arms.  When on carpet she'll get up on hands and knees and rock for a little bit before dropping to her stomach, but she's failed too many times on the hardwood to care much anymore.  Olivia, though surprised at first, has been adjusting well to the necessity of keeping her toys on elevated surfaces if she doesn't want Gretchen to get them.

Olivia's surfaces are going to need to get higher soon.  Gretchen is also trying to pull up on things, although she is again thwarted by the hardwood floors.  It's also not really a fair fight, because her mother insists on keeping her toes warm with socks and/or sleepers.  Even the feet with sticky things on the bottom are still too slippery.  On the rare occasion that she does get to a standing position, Gretchen mostly balances cautiously on small portions of her feet (usually her toes, but sometimes the sides of her feet) and looks tremendously concerned at her precarious position.

Alison and I are training for another half marathon.  This one is in April, so most of our training will be done when it's cold and dark outside.  These two things alone would not be a huge problem (although they would make running miserable), but there's also ice to consider.  Here, at least, almost all of our snow has a layer of ice underneath, making running particularly treacherous.  I tried running at the local Y, but 17 laps to a mile is tedious and I worry about my knees (I had a knee injury in high school related to running lots of laps around the gym during track practice).  I decided to give treadmills a try, and decided that I like them well enough to go to Planet Fitness for a quarter of the cost.  Bryan decided, though, that driving to Planet Fitness and back every night was more than a little inconvenient, so he insisted that we buy a treadmill for me to use during the winter months.  Hopefully this will keep me running even after this half marathon is over.  :)

Our Christmas photo was (we think) the best family one of a photo shoot that happened about a month and a half ago.  If you would like to see and/or order the other photos (including some individual ones) or if you'd just like to laugh at the spectacle that is Olivia hating pictures, try clicking this link.  If the link doesn't work for some reason, someone please tell me so I can try to fix it!

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Side-by-Side

Merry Christmas!  Since we have been (and still are) traveling, I haven't really had time for an update.  To hold you over until next week's post (which will cover two weeks), I've put together a picture-heavy (read: only pictures) side-by-side view of the girls.  I'm really last to the party on this one, as several others have done it already.  Regardless, here it is: