Still Here

Not sure if people are still logging onto my blog...but we are still here. It has been a long time since I have posted last...this I know...things have just been a bit busy, and I haven't felt very blog inspired. Nonetheless, I will update now:

1. Hailey is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up and working SO hard to take steps. She walks all around the furniture and with her little push toy. She FINALLY has pushed through her first tooth after months of teething. She is still a little piggy and at her 9 month check she weighed almost 24 pounds. She is adorable and fun and I love this 9-12 month age.

2. Ella is talking MUCH more. Just yesterday she went upstairs and half way up she turned to look at me and said "I'll be right back okay mom". I don't know why that was so profound to me, but it was like she was actually communicating. She starts preschool in two weeks. She goes one time a week for 2 hours. It is a co-op, so I have to be in the classroom once every 3 weeks or so. We have two other close friends in the class.

3. As a family, the summer has seemed to fly by. We went to the coast in July with a stop in Portland to go to the Zoo. We went with some very close family friends. We also went camping for a couple of nights, which the girls LOVED. Last weekend we were up in Sandpoint, ID for a wedding that was held at the top of Schweitzer mountain...very pretty. We may head back to the coast for Labor day weekend, but that has not been confirmed. Other than that just our daily life seems to keep us busy. We have done a lot of visiting with friends and family, swimming, running through the sprinkler, and sleeping when we get the chance.

4. Two of my close friends have welcomed babies in the past 2 months. My friend Mandy from nursing school welcomed a baby boy named Eli on July 13ths. My very good friend and neighbor, Tera, welcomed a baby boy, Chase Matthew, on July 22nd. Since Tera and Chase live just around the corner I get to see them a lot and get my baby fix in. I just have a thing for newborns.

I hope everyone else is doing well and enjoying their summer. I will make an effort to blog more often to keep you all updated.

I will leave you with some photos from our July trip to the coast! Enjoy

Sink Bath

Hailey loves taking a bath. She especially loves the sink baths because it provides a nice mini tub for her. Usually I bathe both girls together in the big bath tub and Hailey sits in a little bath seat. Hailey is becoming such a happy baby and smiles ALL the time...even at 2:00 am. This is a stark contrast to the first four months of her life that she spent screaming. Now if I could only get her to sleep a little better at night we would be set. She only sleeps for about 3 hours at a time. 8 months of that is getting to be a bit tiring. Nonetheless, she is beautiful and wonderful and a joy to be around!

Bed Head

Ella has the most amazing bed head every morning. She has my hair....thick, wavy/curly and a ton of it (thanks mom). I am sometimes amazed at the shear amount of hair she has. You all are lucky you don't have to comb it. You would not believe how many people come up and ask me "How long did it take you to curl her hair like that?" I am always thinking in my head "I can hardly even get a comb through her hair...I can't imagine coming at her with a HOT curling iron...Hello people".

On this particular day she had gone to bed with wet hair and woke up looking like this. She would not look at me because I was standing in the way of her Micky Mouse Clubhouse show...God forbid!

Bathing Beauties

With the weather getting warmer, we have been spending more time outside. Today was the first time we broke out the kiddie pool and both girls loved it! They both looked so adorable in their swimming suits so I had to share some photos. I only wish all the rolls looked as adorable on an adult as they do on little miss H! I hope everyone else is enjoying the warm weather as well!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I hope all you mom's out there have a wonderful Mother's day and take some time for yourselves. And I hope all of you have Children and Husbands who take the time to let you know how much you are appreciated. I would like to give a little "shout out" to my mom....who is so wonderful and caring and helpful to me. I don't think you completely appreciate you mom until you become a mom yourself. And I don't know what I would do without her. I love you mom :)

Amazing Artist

I got E an easel for her birthday and finally got it put together last week. She was beside herself with excitement as she watched me put it together. She loves painting....usually finger painting, but sometimes attempts to use the brush. It is a great activity for her to do in the afternoon.

Playing Dressup

E got a lot of really cool dress up clothes for her birthday. The tutu was hand made for her from her very talented auntie C. She loves to play dress up and dance around the house. Now if I could only get her to look at me when I am taking a picture...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELLA

My baby is growing up!!! She had her second birthday on the 13th of this month...yes it was Friday the 13th! We had two little celebrations for her. One on Friday with all the family members. And one on Sat. with all her little two year old friends. We had a garden themed party where each kid got to pick out and plant a flower into a little pot. We had "dirt" cups instead of cake. Basically chocolate pudding with oreo cookie crumbs. And each little party bag had a watering can a shovel for future planting adventures. It actually went over far better than I was expecting. It was raining that day which I thought would put a damper on the whole thing, but we just moved the planting part into the garage.

I can't believe she is already 2. She is my baby. I swear she was just born. They grow up way too fast!

Happy Easter

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my 27th birthday! The first in two years that I haven't been pregnant for! It was quite exciting. We had a few people over with their kids and hung out, ate BBQ and drank red wine! For my birthday I bought myself a really cute new diaper bag/purse. I am loving it. It is cute and springy and pink! My little nephew called me an couldn't believe my birthday was on April Fool's day. I hope everyone else had a great weekend as well!

Best Friends

H is finally getting to the age were she and E can play together a bit. I can often find them laughing at each other as H thinks E is so funny, and E thinks it is funny that she can make H laugh. H is so tolerant of E and lets E give her tons of kisses and hugs. I hope they remain the best of friends as they grow up!

First Food

H had her first "real" food this week. Cereal with breast milk and bananas. She gobbled it all up, but if she got a bite that had too much banana, she would act like it was sour tasting and squeeze her eyes shut. She looked so grown up having her first bites of food. I can't believe she is almost already 6 months old!!!

Finally

Finally we have some good weather and have been able to go outside a bit. January and February are the worst months for me because they are so cold and dreary around here, and when you are stuck in the house with two kids it gets even worse. We are all so excited to be able to get out and play. There is a new park about 2 blocks from our house that has absolutely perfect toys for my little E. The photos posted are of my kids and our friends' kids at the park.