"Hello? What's Going On?"

Keifer on our drive after the MN Twins game to pick up Kyla. She is hilarious- picks up her phone (not a real phone) and says "My phone's ringing! Hello? Hello? What's going on? Okay, okay okay!" This time, she called Uncle Corey! :) Enjoy
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Go, Twins!

For Father's Day this year, Keifer, Kyla, and myself got daddy CJ a new MN Twins Tshirt and tickets to a Twins game. Sunday, July 12, we dropped Kyla off at Auntie & Uncle's house, and took Keifer to her first professional baseball game: go Twins!

We drove to the Light Rail loading point, and took the "Choo choo train" to the Metrodome, where our girl, running on no nap, proceeded to last 4 innings with no issues! We're hoping to take her again, hopefully having closer seats and maybe an actual nap, so we can stay longer!

Keifer enjoyed telling her friends at Ballroom the next day she went and saw "baseball " on the "choo choo". :)
Mama tried to explain to her that the boy on the "little brown circle" (the pitcher") was throwing the ball to the guy with the bat (which she understands, haven't seen a bat at Elaine's house) and the boy was trying to hit the ball and then run run run! When Punto hit a ball and ran to first, as he slid in,she turned to CJ and said "Dada, he fall down!" Other comments included "he throw it!". So sweet!

Keifer Lynn's heart really DOES belong to daddy!

The Soup Family, minus Kyla
Daddy going to catch the Light rail

Our light rail system

Keifer is thrilled to be on the "choo choo train"
Looking out at thing with Dada

Enjoying her first "Dome Dog"

So excited!

On daddy's shoulder's in the Plaza

On mama's lap

A tired girl leaving after 4 innings

Calling Uncle Corey after to tell him about the game (phone not real)

Slacker

Yes, I am a slacker in the blogging department. However, I am not a slacker in any other area of my life! Life with 2 - a toddler and a newborn- plus 2 dogs, and being summertime- well, I have a lot going on! I promise- more to come tomorrow!! SOON! SOON! SOON! We have been non-stop here in the Soupy home and I am exhausted! Whew!

Wordless Wednesday: Like mommy, like daughter

*Opi's "Party in Your Cabana"

Duluth with the girls

Last weekend, I ventured up north to Papa Dale & Nana Dian's house with Keifer & Kyla. Luckily, both girls slept most of the 2 hour, 45 minute drive! YEEHAW! I was sad to leave the puppies behind, but Daddy took good care of them (and got lots of uninterrupted rest!).

I have a ton of pictures, but here are a few to share of the family fun we all had! Enjoy!

Keifer & "Auntie" Becky

Great Auntie Nancy

Cousins Nate & Brittany

Keifer loved playing with Nate- he was so good with her

Our girl putting her own sunscreen on

Everybody should wear a PAPA watch on their upper arm, no?

Me & my friend Jess- we've been friends since we were 10! This is her 8th child (yes, 8th!) - our girls are 2 weeks apart!

Giving Great-Grandma a hug goodbye

Kyla's first trip to the Elbo Room - a must for our family! LOL

Uncle Darren escorting his favorite niece to the car

Keifer told Uncle Darren that she was going to ride in his "big red truck" to watch "races" (aka stock car races! LOL - this was news to all of us!)

Great Auntie Jeanne meets Kyla and feeds her

Silly Papa Dale - that hat is too small!

Nana Di enjoying Uncle Danny's puppy Jay

Nana & her girls

Nana and Keifer grooving

Keifer & her friend, Holland- who was thrilled to meet Miss Kyla!

Great Auntie Barbara ("Bobra" to Keifer) meeting Kyla

And that's all, folks. I have many, MANY more pictures, but that would take all day! LOL

Poop, baby, Poop!

For some reason, Keifer is obsessed with talking about Poop lately. Yuck. Poop. Last weekend, I had the girls up in Duluth with my family. CJ stayed home to work and be with the puppies.

When asked where her daddy was, Keifer answered: "Daddy at home, he pooping. He poop on the big girl potty." She then proceeded to pretend to squat and "push" the poop out, complete with the grunting and look of concentration on her face.

WHAT? LOL.

Then, last night, Keifer was having some pooping issues (surprise, surprise). When we saw she was concentrating on going, we rushed her to the potty, where she sat for about 10 minutes, but managed to get her poop out (yay!). While sitting there with her, she was very chatty.

She then told me: "Mama, we don't eat poop. It's gross" (complete with look of disgust on her face).

Um, thanks Keifer, for that enlightening tidbit of information. I'll be sure to remember that.

WHAT? WHERE? EWWW?!!!!!

Feeding the giraffe!

On the 4th of July at the MN zoo! SOOOO amazing!
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Inside the Goat Pen :)

Keifer had to pet EACH and every goat :)
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Happy (belated) 4th of July- 2009!

Happy Belated Birthday, USA! We had a great weekend - Papa Jim and Nana Margie (aka "Nanny Margie" as Keifer would say) came down to stay with us for the weekend. A great time was had by all- especially Keifer and Kyla: Keifer, because Nana spends so much time doing what KEIFER wants, and Kyla, because she was held and cuddled all weekend long!

Once again, the Soup family ventured to the zoo for the 4th. It started out somewhat drizzly in the AM, and that seemed to hold people off from the zoo- so we had a great time with very small crowds! The weather cleared up and was beautiful, and we left just as the sun started to beat down on us. When we got home, a major thunderstorm passed through, so we were lucky to have had such a gorgeous day there. We grilled out (steaks, etc.) and enjoyed the company of great family. Keifer and mama didn't stay up to watch the fireworks, but Nana, Papa and CJ watched them from our window and deck- we have a front row view of our citie's show!

Keifer showing off her flag that she made

Nana Marge and her girls

Sissies

Papa & Keifer on the tractor at the Farm

Flashback to last year: Papa Dale had Keifer on it that day!Keifer enjoying the cows

Flashback to last year: Keifer meeting some goats
Keifer made sure to wash her hands after touching the animals - repeatedly (our girl is obsessed with washing her hands, uh oh!)

Kyla hung out and was great!
Peek-a-boo Chicken Keifer!

The Soup Family

Flashback to last year: minus Kyla!Snuggles with mama while waiting to feed the giraffe

Daddy & his girl

Mama & Keifer feeding a giraffe!

Nana bought Keifer a stuffed giraffe : she named him "Camel" (she thinks we are all named "Camel" - because, well, if you know our last name, and think about it: (pause) she thinks she is Keifer Camel! LOL)
Keifer didn't make it out of the parking lot before she passed out cold!

We're going on a Camel Hunt.....

Last Friday, up in Duluth, Papa took Keifer on a walk to look for the "Camels" we had seen in our backyard. The camels? In Duluth? Yeah, they were actually 2 Mama Deer and their twins (each one had twin babies with them). Keifer loved them, so they went looking for them. (*Camels? Bwhaaaaa haa haa*).

"We're Going on a Camel Hunt, we're not afraid, no way!"

Instead, they got back to our house and found Uncle Danny (Keifer's GREAT Uncle) had stopped by, with his 1 year old Yorkie puppy, Jay (Jay bird to us!). She LOVED Jay! So did Nana Dian and myself, as we had a Yorkie for 15 years (RIP, dear Misty aka Poopers **sniff sniff**)

Wordless Wednesday: Little & Big

**Do you think Pampers would give us a free case of diapers for advertising we use them - and a LOT of them - around here? *smiles**

*I should add: Kyla is just out of P-S size Swaddlers- the Preemie ones! Into Newborns, now...and Keifer is in Size 6! Size 6, people!*

She's gaining on us

Kyla had a weigh check this past Thursday, before we headed up North to visit our family. Our girl was up to 8 lbs, 1 ounce! Whoo hoo-she's gaining! Please continue prayers- they are working! Our girl is a hungry, eating machine these days!

A swimmin' singin' good time

The girls and I have been up at Papa Dale & Nana Dian's house since last Thursday, so more to come soon...lots of pictures and stories to post! Until then, here is our little fishie, doing what she does best: hamming it up in front of the camera :) Enjoy! And thanks to Papa for purchasing this awesome pool for our fishie to swim in while we were there!
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Kyla's First Movie

Yesterday, mama took Kyla to her favorite place: the movie theater! Yep, I figured, she sleeps through racket all the time, and what better place to enjoy lying on mama's chest, sleeping away while Mama enjoys a new movie she wants to see? Kyla did great! She only squawked a few times at first, but then slept through the whole movie- The Proposal. And, the movie was great! A great romantic comedy, that was hilarious. Betty White and Oscar Nunez (from The Office) were total scene stealers. YAY! Maybe Kyla will have a love of movie theaters some day, too? Perhaps?

Hers or mine?

Last week, I took out the play mat for Kyla to use. Keifer took one look at it and decided it was HER play mat all over again. She literally drug it from one side of the room to the other, lying on it for hours. She even wanted to take it out on the deck one night to sleep out there! Um, no. When I place Kyla under there, she goes nutso with excitement to share it. Let's see how long THAT lasts, shall we? :)

And last night, Keifer carefully collected some of her stuffed rattle toys from a bin in her bedroom, and threw them all down the stairs to the living room. Then, she picked them all up and gave some of them to Kyla to play with! Here is the end product! And yes, we put Kyla's bouncy chair in the pack and play for safety reasons (safe from her big sissy pushing on her!)

She's baaaack!

Our headband girl made a reappearance the other night! She was insistent on wearing her headband all night long!

"tough' love

Trying to teach our girl to be gentle with her new sissy is quite the challenge! Our 2 year old BAB (Big ass baby) doesn't realize her own strength!)
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Wordless Wednesday: So proud of the Princess shoes

...that don't fit. LOL. Cousin Aubrie passed these to Keifer, much to her delight. However, our girl's WIDE foot makes it hard for her to wear them. Enjoy her "posing" for us the other night (she was the one who wanted her picture taken, no lie!)

Keifer likes.....

* to talk. A lot. And sing. A lot. And dance. A lot. But you knew that. She talks and talks everywhere we go - in the car, in the grocery cart, on our walks, in our house. Talk talk talk. She talks until she drops (off to sleep). Literally.

*to shop. But you knew that too. The best thing in the world for her is either, Target, (she cheered "good job, mama" when I turned into the parking lot last week), or Cub Foods, where she can ride in the "car seat" (seat with steering wheels). Ahh,the joy of Cub foods. It's the simple things in life, no? (man, that cart is HEAVY and awkward to push!)

*the zoo. Ask her what she wants to do and she'll say "go to the zoo!". Mama was brave and even took both girls by herself this Wednesday to the zoo. Alone, yes. It was great! So much fun! Keifer made it so enjoyable with her enthusiasm.

*to be funny. She has the best sense of humor. We can tease her and she "gets" it. It makes us laugh and makes her laugh. I love it.

*she loves her sissy. I've said it before, but will say it again. Interesting that she will NOT allow my mom or any other person or child to touch me (even). Not even a hand holding with my mom (her Nana). Oh no, "MY mama!", she says, complete with a very intense scowl. However, I can touch and kiss CJ and I'm OK with Kyla. Apparently she understands the "Family unit" thing?

*she loves to make choices. I'm so used to giving her the choice of "this one or this one" that she has now started asking ME "this one, this one?". Hilarious. Every night she picks out her own PJ's in the drawer. Tonight, she told me as we climbed the stairs, "I wear my hot air balloons jams, mama, I NEED to!". What a riot. She "needs" to.

* to help. She is so proud getting the blanket or burp clothes for us. She will put the bottles sucked dry in the sink for us, and loves to stand over on "her chair" while we change Kyla or bathe her. Tonight, she was so upset when CJ took her off the chair while we waited 10 minutes to give Kyla her bath. She was so upset because she thought we weren't going to let her help. She needs to learn patience, huh? She also loves to help put laundry away -- ahh yes, the laundry. I found her stuffing her pile of clean clothes all in the top drawer of her dresser. Not the right spot, but hey, she wants to help!

*she loves to read her books. Yesterday, we organized/cleaned out her living room book bin. She was so excited with all the books spread out and spent an hour reading them and passing me books to read. "Mama, I read books" she told me, so proud of herself. And she does - she reads them out loud. They might not make sense, but they do to her. Lately, her favorite books to read repeatedly at bedtime include: Please, Puppy, Please (who knew Spike Lee was a children's book writer?), My Daddy Snores (because she knows HER OWN daddy snores and snores LOUDLY!), The Family Book, and of course, the old stand by, My Very Own Name book.

*I mentioned she has a great sense of humor. Tonight, I was watching the new (updated old) show Million Dollar Password, and I told her it was a "word show". She loved it. Whenever the audience clapped or the contestants screeched or waved their arms, she imitated them or clapped along. Too funny. Then, she asked me to put "her pillow" (a couch pillow) on my lap: she propped her feet up, and covered herself with the blanket. I said, "let's go to bed, Keifer". She said, "no, I seep (sleep) on the couch!", and then put her head back on the pillow, closed her eyes and pretended to snore! Ahh, what a riot!

My heart, my loves

I love saying this: "My girls" (*sigh*) The love I feel could burst!

Can you tell Keifer is ecstatic about her sissy?
I love this. K1 is SUCH a mama's girl lately and she doesn't even KNOW that she is copping a feel in this picture! LOL

Loves

We are family- the girls!

Happy One Month to Kyla

Starting the monthly pictures out, just like we did with Keifer Lynn!

What is this wiggly creature? Big sissy will have to teach me about it! *Poor Sager, so many babies to take care of*

Where is it going?

Dear Kyla Whitney:
Happy One Month old birthday. You really should've only been here, gracing us on Earth with your presence outside of mama's womb for 1 day- as your due date was June 18. And....mama's Csection was scheduled for June 11, so you would maybe be only a week old. But you decided to come into our lives a month early, and thank God you are a healthy and beautiful baby girl!

You spent your first 17 days in the Special Care Nursery, learning how to suck your bottles, so you could grow and gain weight. Thank God you learned how to do that, and much to our happiness, you are home with us: your family, including your fur siblings. Mama is extrememly happy, as she had a very difficult time leaving you every day at the hospital, even though the nurses were wonderful to you.

Your big sister adores you. I can't say it enough: she LOVES every little thing about you, including your cute little toes. I overheard/saw her playing "this little piggie" on your foot the other day, unbeknownst to us. It was so sweet. She calls you "honey" and "cutie" and loves to sing you songs and try to entertain you. The minute you make a squeak (and you are ONE squeaky baby!), Keifer will immediately let us know that you need a diaper change and bottle! She is the best big sister helper ever! We hope this love between you grows and grows each and every day.

Right now, you sleep in mama and daddy's room in a new bassinet. You have a tendency to scare us, as once we put you down, we can hear you fussing and fretting and eventually somehow (*!*) moving your entire body to the side so that your forehead can press against the side of the bassinet. It scares us to pieces, but we so far haven't had any emergencies with you pushing your face against the side. I wonder if that is how you were positioned in my womb? Mama has a very difficult time sleeping when you are awake: you are one noisy baby, just like Keifer was. You squeak and moan and talk and we wonder: will you be as chatty as Keifer as well? Hmmm. Once you are sleeping better through the night, we are going to move you into the nursery, which you're going to share with Keifer. We hope you two are able to sleep well together.


You are continuing to improve each day with your sucking skills, and are taking an entire 2 ounces (and sometimes a bit more) at every feeding. You are now sometimes demanding to be fed around 2 or 2 1/2 hours after your last feeding, which makes us so happy! We pray that you continue to grow big and strong so that you can keep up with our family!

We love you so much, sweet miracle baby girl. We are so thankful to the egg angel who was an anonymous woman this time. She gave us the gift of her eggs so that we could produce YOU: the second most beautiful baby in our lives!

Hello, cutie.....

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Cheap entertainment is good :)

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Tomorrow, You're only a day away....

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High ho, high ho, it's off to work I go

Princess Back Pack: Free (hand -me-down) from Cousin Abby

"Hard" hat: 10 cents at rummage sale

Minutes of fun for Keifer Lynn: Priceless

(*and yes, I say "minutes", because that is how fast her attention goes from one activity to another lately! *)

Tucked away

I thought this was so cute: I couldn't find Keifer's milk the other night, so I asked her where it was. "There is", she said, pointing to under her stroller. She had put both her water bottle and cup of milk under her stroller- just like mom and dad do! Too cute! She doesn't miss a beat!

Wordless Wednesday: She's a lady.....

Dada's taking us to the zoo tomorrow...

We ventured out as a family unit of 4 this weekend- to the ZOO! (We love love love our new stroller! Heaven!)

Keifer has learned the art of posing: the head tilt!

The new African exhibit has ostriches: Keifer called them 'big ducks"
And you can FEED the giraffes (although we didn't this time, we will next time, we are season pass holders.....)

Of course, all trips need snack breaks!

Keifer really enjoyed her sno cone that daddy got her!

Our little "big" helper

Keifer is a great big helper. She loves to give cuddles and lay her head on top of her baby sister (ouch! - we stop her!)

She also loves when Nanas and Papas come to visit. She asked yesterday when "Nana was coming home?" She helped mommy carry Kyla's bath towels downstairs

And was the overseer on the bath that night

Reading to mama and Kyla is a big job
Just two mommies feeding their baby Kylas

Don't forget to burp them!

Kyla's Doctor Report

Our girl doesn't fit in ANY of her clothes-yet!

Keifer patting Kyla (in her carseat in the stroller) on the cheek yesterday: I wish it were more clear, but oh it was such a sweet moment!

Kyla and I trekked back to see Dr. J again today. Good news: our girl is up to 7 lbs, so she gained weight since our last visit on Tuesday. Whew. She said to continue our girl on her high calorie formula, and we go back in 2 weeks to do another weight check and make sure all is on the right track. Our girl did great, and has been slowly but surely improving her sucking on the bottle and with her ability to stay awake for longer eating times.
Keifer is still a great big sister, and has now taken to calling Kyla "honey", as in "ohhh, honey". It's the sweetest thing.

Nana Di has been here helping me all week, as I was sick earlier, and goes home tomorrow. It's been so nice to have 'live in help"!!!! We will all miss the help, and Keifer girl will miss the opportunity to just hop downstairs to wake up Nana whenever we want!