Good to be back!

It is good to be back- Internet up and running. I can't believe how much I missed it- on so many levels. Mostly for my coupon and deals though! Craziness.

We're doing good. The kids are getting so big. We measured Natalya in front of her growth chart yesterday and she's up another inch. That's over four inches since we put it up a year ago!

And Z has his 4 month well baby appt on Monday, but as of his appt Thursday (poor baby has a cold), he is amost 17 lbs and 25.5" long! Yeah. He's a big boy. And sweet! He has the best smile and giggle that puts a smile on my face any time. And boy does he love his sister. She entertains him constantly- makes him laugh and she loves his smiles almost as much as I do. :)

Natalya is doing awesome- she's writing her letters- capital ones, and learning her lowercase ones. She can write her name, but, let's face it, it's got a lot of letters, and she forgets how to spell it, but when you help her remember the letters, she writes them pretty well. She likes to write them HUGE though. LOL. Like, signing a card, she writes the N half of the whole space them tries to squeeze the rest in. :) And loves to sing. And...her memory is phenomenal. She remembers the words to books that I have only read her a couple of times. All the words. Unbelieveable. She is also great at sorting and series things, anything workbook related, she has several, she is great at it. It blows my mind.

Zachary is showing signs of being just as precocious and brilliant. He already can scoot himself into a circle- I put him in the crib while I was folding clothes and when I came back, he was facing the other direction so he could get a beter look at his crib toys and mobile. He watches Doug eat very intently and already is trying to grab things off my plate. He loves to reach out and snag toys and papers, and he has an odd habit of gripping things in his hands- he either grips his shirt, or my shirt, or just grips his hands together. And his grip is super strong! He almost cuts off the circualtion to my fingers when he grabs on.

Natalya is doing great at gymnastics. Her teacher recommended moving her up to the next level of class because she is so far ahead of her age group. We're also going to get her into soccer this year - a seven week program- and see how she likes that. She is so physical and loves being active. I have a hard time keeping up with her!

Doug is still at Pepsi, but just got his doubles/triples, haz-mat and tanker endorsements, so perhaps there are new things on the horizon there. And I am still working on my book, and also thinking of starting an online store...so we'll see! Lots of interesting and new developments for us.

Thanks for checking in with us...