Growing like weeds

A quick, picture-less post about the girls.

Miss M:

• 2 years 5 months
• Sings a lot
• Obsessed with Harry Potter
• Counts (1, 6, 7, 8, 9!)
• LOVES nursery
• Loves being a big sister
• Loves her aunts and uncles and her cousin Jordyn
• Refuses to accept that my sister-in-law's baby (due in Nov) will also be her cousin. (No, my cousin Jordyn!)
• Loves to play outside.
• Loves to help me.
• Loves princesses. Yesterday she told me she was "Princess Hermione."
• Loves dress ups. And dresses in general. That's almost all she'll wear anymore.
• Is a super slow mover in the morning. It's a good thing my babysitter (aka Grandma) picks the girls up from my house in the morning. There's no way I could make it out the door in time if I had to get her ready in the morning.
• Still teeny.
• Picky eater.
• Went to the temple last week for my cousin's wedding and has been talking about it ever since.
• Surprised me on Sunday by identifying President Monson in a picture on the bulletin board at church.

Loaf Cake:

• 10 months
• WALKING!!! Average is 4-6 steps at a time right now. Most is somewhere in the teens. Her first step was last Wednesday. She doesn't mess around.
• TALKING!!! A few weeks ago she said her first word "Uh-oh!" She has since added Gma, Dada and dog to her arsenal. Of course, she's only said "Mommy" once.
• She doesn't do anything half way. She's a go getter. She climbs the stairs, gets into EVERYTHING, and has a bit of a temper.
• Is still a very good natured little thing. Just give her what she wants when she wants it. ;)
• Still only has two teeth.
• Crawls quickly. Mostly uses her feet instead of knees to prevent rug burn. We call it the stink bug.
• LOVES baths. She screams with delight pretty much the whole time.
• Brave. She attempts to climb the vacuum. While I'm vacuuming. She loves water coming out of the hose or faucet, something her older sister avoids.
• Eats almost constantly. And pretty much everything. Especially pasta. She LOVES pasta.

In other news, I was accepted to Idaho State University's online Speech Language Pathology program! I'll start graduate school in the fall!

Weekday Update

So the girls have been up to some pretty cute stuff lately that I wanted to document. Sadly, I don't have any pictures to back any of this up but I still think you'll die of cuteness.

Miss M:

• She is talking SOOO much lately. My favorite new phrases is "I LOVE it!" You have to hear her say it to understand. It's so stinking cute I laugh every time.
• My mom bought a Cinderella tea set and M LOVES it! She plays with it all day when she's there and today she asked for it when she woke up. I told her that it was at Gma's house and she asked to go to Gma's house. When I told her we weren't going there today, she was pretty upset. So Gma bought her an Ariel tea set to have at our house (spoiled, I know.) She gasped about 10 times from excitement while opening it and hasn't quit playing with it since. She's so excited.
• M is such a good big sister (most of the time). She has her moments, but usually she plays so well with L.C. and loves to help her. She brings her toys, diapers, binkies, anything she thinks will make her happy. She always tells me if L.C. is crying and whenever we are going to leave the house she asks "Soph come too?" Aw... Sisterly love. :)

Lil' Loaf Cake:

• Crawling machine! L.C. started crawling a week ago and there is no stopping her. M was helping me make dinner tonight and L.C. kept crawling in from the other room to be in there with us. She was busy before, but now she's crazy! She never wants to be held or sit in one place for very long, she just wants to explore!
• She's a funny eater. Some days, it's difficult to get her to eat anything at all. Other days, man! can she pack it away. She recently went on a bottle strike and wouldn't drink any milk. Fortunately, that's getting better. I think her recent eating issues were mostly caused by:
• A TOOTH! L.C. broke her first tooth yesterday. It's the right hand center tooth on the bottom. Those two teeth have been flirting around for a while so I wasn't surprised to find it but I didn't realize it was that close.
• While teething, L.C. wasn't the happiest baby (not terrible, just not herself) but now that the tooth is here, she is back to her happy, smiling, giggling, babbling self. We love having her back!

We are so blessed with our teeny packages of spunk. I'm grateful everyday for them. We love our little family!

6 (or 7) month checkup

At six (or really seven) months, Loafie is:

• 26 inches long
• 14 1/2 pounds
• Got a big head- that just means a big brain, right? :)
• Clapping and raising her hands above her head (touchdown style) when we say "Hooray!"
• SOOOOO close to crawling. I saw Miss M crawl into the kitchen this morning out of the corner of my eye and for a second thought that it was L.C.
• Pulled herself up to a standing position for the first time the other night. I missed it! :(
• Eating three meals a day. She's kind of a funny eater. It often takes some convincing to get her to start eating but then when she does she's just like a baby bird, sitting there with her mouth open waiting for the food. Her fav is sweet potatoes, just like her sister at that age.

Picture taken at about 6 1/2 months. This is her fav new toy
she got for Christmas. She almost wont sleep without it.

Halloween

Trick or Treat!

This year was M's first year trick or treating. We taught her to say Trick or Treat, bought her a princess costume, got her all ready to go. Then, two days before All Hallows Eve, she was struck by the stomach flu! Oh, let me tell you, it was awful. If you got that super nasty stomach bug that was roaming, you know. She was mostly better by Halloween night but still not in the best of spirits. M helped me pass out candy to trick or treaters until daddy got home. She loved taking the candy from the bowl and putting it in their sacks and would say "trick or treat" after they left. When it came time to put on her costume and go out herself, she majorly wigged out. I had to force her costume on her.

Then Daddy got home. And threw up. M had passed her stomach flu onto her dad. He sucked it up long enough to go down one street with us. M enjoyed going to the door but wouldn't say trick or treat or thank you. About the time Husband had to head home to bed, his sister, dad and dad's fiancee showed up to trick or treat with us (M's the only little kid in the family so everyone wanted to participate). M started saying "thank you" when given candy and at the last house on the street, she actually said "Trick or Treat!"

When we got home, Grandma and Great-Grandma and some more aunts and uncles came to see the girls in their costumes. Unfortunately, by this time Daddy was in bed and Mom was starting to feel sick too. When everyone left and the girls went to bed, mommy did too. That's when the misery began. The next 18 hours were just disgusting. I won't bother you with details. The worst part, however, was watching my four month throw up, unable to eat anything at all, and cry because she didn't know what was going on and because she felt so awful. Ugh. M spent the next couple of days at her Grandma's house to lessen the load at home and to make sure she didn't get it again.

Anywho, not the funnest Halloween but makes me excited for next year when I'm sure M will be enthusiastic and we (fingers crossed!) won't be sick.

L.C. the kitty cat.

"I ate too much candy!"
(Ok- I really don't think she was going to throw
up in this picture. I think she was just crying.)

Hogle Zoo

In October, my mom and I took the girls to Utah's Hogle Zoo. I'd been wanting to take them for ages, sure that M would love all the animals, but had to wait until Lil' Loaf Cake was old enough and until the weather was cool enough. So, over fall break, we went.

M loved it. She knew several of the animals by name already so it was really fun to watch her point them out. Her favorite animals at the zoo were the giraffes. After visiting them, we had to take a break so L.C. could have a lunch break. M made Grandma take her back to see the giraffes. I think she was amazed at how big they were. She also loved all the monkeys, the baby elephant and the rhinos.

I didn't know there was such a cool playground at the Hogle Zoo. After visiting all the animals and riding the train (another fav!) we got to play for a little while on the playground.

You can't tell but M is sitting on top of a rhinoceros statue. 

Riding the giraffe on the merry-go-round.
She told us she wanted to ride it but then was very
scared at first. She calmed down eventually.

This peacock walked right up to the stroller!

M loved riding on the train.

Inside the giant tortoise shell on the playground.

"I'm goin to Boise, Idaho!!!"

Last month we (my mom, sister, my girls and I) took a girls trip to Boise to visit family. I was pretty intimidated by the idea of driving five hours in the car with both girls, especially a new born, but the trip actually went as smoothly as could be expected. We got to spend quite a bit of time with my aunt, who recently had her gallbladder removed and was recovering from surgery, and my grandmother, who I find myself seeing less and less frequently, which makes me sad.

On the last night of our stay we went out to Meridian to my uncle's place. My mom's family lived there when she was little and he's lived there my entire life. This place has change a lot in my lifetime but I have very fond memories of some summer days spent jumping off the roof onto the trampoline and riding horses. I was excited to take Little Miss M to see the horses and chickens because she's been super into animals lately. She loved chasing the chickens around and holding the eggs (until she threw one) and she loved the horses from afar but was terrified when it came time to ride one. We had a great time out at Uncle Brett's and I can't wait to take her again!

My cute, pregnant cousin Megan

My mountain man uncle, Brett

Megan's daughter Kaitlyn

Grandma's Little Helper

Linking to Summer Snapshots on The Starfish Blog.