Uhhh...

Sorry about that. I have neglected the blog and I'm sorry. I have to admit that Facebook gets most of my photos and updates now. But I realize that some of my family doesn't use Facebook. Sheesh.

But lots has happened since the last post. Avery is walking! She has five teeth with three more about to make their appearance. She says "baby" and signs it (basically rocks back and forth while saying it) and she waves and dances and wiggles and shakes and claps and is basically very cute. She loves to smile, and when she does, she crinkles her nose. So cute! She's eating big people food more often now. Before, she would gag and make "ew ick" faces when we'd give her real food. She went down one size in her diapers. Probably from all the calories she's burning trying to keep up with her big sister.

Speaking of the devil Emily, she is still a hoot to be around. She prances and dances and sings all the time. Right now, her big thing is she wants to get inside the books she reads. One time she said she wanted to get in the magazine I was reading, so I told her to go ahead and get in, and she did this diving motion and said, "Oh, it's no use." And then the other night I was reading her a story about Tarzan and she said she wanted to get in the book and play with Tarzan and I said, "Okay, dive in!" and she touched the page and said, "I can't, it's made of glass." I put the book up to my face and I said, "I'm in the book!" and she said, "Tell Tarzan I said hi!" So funny!

We struggled with what she wanted to be for Halloween this year. She has wanted to be a princess, Hannah Montana, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumble Bee, and a zombie. I was pushing for the princess (I know, I know, shocker), anything but a Transformer. And then I was going to dress Avery as a frog to go with Princess Emily (Nana's idea). But just the other day, Emily saw a Supergirl costume and liked it and I tossed it in the shopping cart and said, "Okay, let's go!" before she could change her mind. She put the costume on after we got home and LOVES it! So yay for not being a Transformer for Halloween!

Her name isn't Grace for a reason

You know how it is, you're walking along, minding your own business, and then oops, you trip. You may fall, you may not. Mostly you don't fall because your reflexes are like a cat's. Well, most cats. Not my cat because she's really a sloth.

Anyway, usually if you look back at what you tripped over, nothing is there, right? But just in case someone's watching, you point to the spot you tripped over, saying something like, "Oh hey, watch out for that spot. It's a doozie!" or "Did you see that? The sidewalk totally grabbed my shoe!"

Emily trips all the time. Usually over nothing. Sometimes over something, mostly because she's not paying attention to where she's going. But this morning, she tripped over nothing. And it's not like she trips and catches herself, she TRIIIIPS and I swear, each limb hits at a different time: flop, bang, oof, splat, ugh! Poor thing.

"Oops! I took a tumble!"

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah... I was trying to leap and I took a tumble."

Seriously? A tumble? A leap?

If only she was as good at walking as she is with words.

It was a good day

Last night I slept good. Better than I have in several nights. Avery is teething, so she has been waking up several times (like 5-7 times!) at night. She just cries and cries and tosses and turns. She starts off in the crib, but I always end up bringing her to bed with me. Anyway, last night she slept until 3am! Glory be, I slept four hours straight! I haven't done that in months. After that, she woke at 5 and then at 7. So she only woke three times! It was great.

So we were all in a pretty good mood today. Emily and Avery played together. It was so fun to watch them. Especially since I thought Emily would hate Avery forever. Emily was playing on her slide and Avery was underneath it and Emily would peek over the edge or through the steps and say, "Boo!" and Avery would scream with glee! So fun. And Emily was so happy that she was making Avery happy.

While I was on the floor changing Avery's diaper, Emily exclaimed, "Momma! There's a booger on your computer!" I asked her, "How'd it get there?" and she said, "I put it there." At least she's honest.

Giveaway!

I love the work over there at Cinnamon Sticks Boutique. I want to win the giveaway she's having. Check out her stuff!

The Circus

I'm trying to catch up on blogging today. Avery is asleep and Emily is eating her lunch. So I'll quickly tell you about the circus we went to last week!

It was Emily's first circus, and mine, too. But I was more interested in watching Emily watch the circus.

We loved the elephants.

And the tigers were awesome! Emily thought they were cute.

The motorcycles in the cage were so cool! There were seven of them in there all at once! Crazy!!!

We had seats in the nose-bleed section, but we still had a good view.

The circus was fun. But don't buy souvenir cups from the vendors there. They are EXPENSIVE and they leak.

My Little Gymnast

We signed Emily up for a gymnastics class. We basically wanted her to go and socialize and learn to listen to instructions. She came away from the class having done just that! She enjoyed each class, learned to listen better (a little), AND she can jump off the balance beam, which is something she couldn't do when she first started. Needless to say, we're signing her up for the next semester in hopes that she'll learn to listen EVEN BETTER and that she'll make more friends!

(Plus, it gets me out of the house at least once a week)

The first part of class is, of course, the warm up. They run around and gallop and have a good time.
I think she really likes this little boy. His name is Landry. She talks about him during the week.

She can hang on that bar longer than I can...

Look how her toes are gripping that beam!

Ta-dah!!! She just finished her floor routine, which was a jumping forward roll onto a wedge (which basically helps her roll forward. It's shaped like a cheese wedge.), then a donkey kick that will eventually turn into a hand stand when she gets stronger, a monkey kick that will morph into a cartwheel, a crab walk, and it ended with an assisted backward roll. She told the instructor that she wanted to do it by herself, which she did until the backward roll. Big stuff!

The kids were awarded a medal at the end of the "show". She wore it all day that day. We actually need to sew the medal back on to the ribbon.

So, what do you think? Is she proud???

I am Old.

Yesterday, Emily and I went to the park. Grandma watched Avery, so it was just me and Em. We were the only ones there for a while. It was nice to be able to watch Emily run around and have fun.

She was having so much fun, that I decided to have fun, too! This is where the saying, "The older you get, the better you were," rings true.

We rode on the turn thingy. I don't know what it's called, but it's metal and it turns and you sit on it and get dizzified. I got dizzy before it got around once. When I was a kid, I could ride that thing for days.

So, instead of riding it, we threw rocks on it and watched the rocks get flung off as it spun around. That was fun! We got dirty and laughed hard.

Then I rested on the park bench and got bit by fire ants. I hate those things!

I tried the monkey bars. Ha! Can't do those things any more. It kills my hands! And I have zero upper body strength. Boy, when I was young, I could zip along the monkey bars like, well, a monkey.

And the swings! Those are still fun. My tummy did sort of flip-flop when I swung really high. My goal was to reach eye level with the bar, and I did. And then I thought about jumping out of the swing. That thought didn't last long. Heck no! I used to love doing that. Not so much now. I did, however, get in the swing on my tummy and flew like Superman. But then when I tried to stop myself, my knees dragged in the rocks and I banged my knee on rock that was stuck in the ground. I thought for sure I had broken my kneecap. Nope. And then I thought for sure I had dislocated my kneecap. No. And then I thought for sure I'd end up with the coolest bruise ever. Eh, no. Today, there is a tiny red dot where that rock hit.

But, I do have several bruises on the other knee that I have no idea where I got them. Figures...

Is it bad?

Emily stayed with her Grandma Hill last night. Is it bad that I enjoyed a quiet-ish home last night?

And I enjoyed saying all the bad words I wanted to without having to worry about someone repeating what I just said.

Oh really now, do you think I say BAD words?

I walked around the house saying things like "butt butt butt" and "that's just dumb!" and "stupid!" It was very liberating. And on my way home from dropping Em off at her grandma's, I told the other idiot drivers on the road that they were idiots. In a loud voice! Usually I just say it quietly or just end up saying, "Dude!". But yesterday I really let those idiot drivers have it. Well, as much as I could give with the windows up and a sleeping baby in the back. But still...

If you don't win, you're losing.

You know that song by Queen, "We Are the Champions"? And you know it goes like this: "We are the champions. No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions...of the world."

Yeah...

So, Emily was singing into her microphone (the telephone held upside down) and she was singing with all her heart, "I am the loser, I am the loser..."

*sigh*

I did keep trying to show her how the song goes and she's no longer a loser. "I am the tuna! I am the tuna!"

8 Months?

Wha? Where'd the time go? Someone asked me last week how old Avery was and I said six months. Nana had to correct me and say no, she's seven-almost eight months old. I should know that!

She's standing up while holding on to the furniture. She is very brave! She will hold on with one hand and balance for a bit and then sits down. Yesterday she pulled herself up to a stand at the coffee table and thought that was probably the coolest thing ever! She pounded on the table with her hands and laughed and squealed in delight. It was so fun to watch her discover a new frontier!

Oh man, I dread the walking...

I caught the girls sitting together watching TV last night. They were kind of doing the same thing; putting their fingers in their mouths. They had just bathed and were smelling pretty sweet and were feeling pretty good. I love these moments.

She and Emily are becoming better friends. They play better together (not great, but at least they're playing together).

Little Food Critic

Avery loves to eat. As if you didn't already know that. She's still adjusting to baby food, though. We're still introducing new foods to her and so far she loves everything she's eaten. Except today. Today we tried PEAS. Dun-dun-dunnnn.

*sigh* "So what do you have for me this time? Something icky looking. I already don't like it. It looks like something I'd deposit in my diaper."
"Yeah, I don't like it. It's yicky."

*gag* "Oh, I'm gagging! And salivating like a bulldog. Gross!"

She actually puked after trying the peas. She did try three bites of it until her body rejected it.

So...on to something we DO like!!! Sweet Poh-tay-toes!

"I approve of this vegetable. It's sweet!"

See the blur of the feet? That means she's very happy!

Verdict: Peas = Puke. Sweet Potatoes = Smiles.

Little Emily

Emily loves to play "I Spy". *Last night Emily, Avery and I were sitting in the car while Daddy was in the store and we were playing "I Spy". It went something like this:

Emily: "I spy sommmmmethinnnnng...brown!"

Me: "Is it my hair?"

Emily: "Yes!" In all actuality, it could've be whatever was brown. I could have picked dirt and she would have said I was right.

So then it continues...

Emily: "I spy a blue car!"

Me: *laughing* "Is it...a blue car?"

Emily: "Yes!" She always sounds so amazed that we guess what she has spied.

One time while Emily and I were playing on the bed, I pretended to squish her with my body. She laughed her sweet little laugh and said, "Hey, you squished me like toothpaste!" Love it.

She loves to sing. She sings while watching TV. She sings while bathing, going potty, and she sings to Avery when she gets fussy. Actually, she screams the song to Avery and usually Avery cries louder and then the singing gets louder. Viscious cycle. Anyway, a lot of her songs have no end. Like Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. No end. They go forrreverrr. And as she sings the "verses," the song gets faster and faster. And sometimes the words get mixed up, like this: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Hop above the world so high..."

Emily is taking *swimming lessons. She loves it so much! And, quite honestly, she's not that good. I can say that--I'm the mom. But, in her defense, she is one of the smallest in the class. What she lacks in ability she makes up for in enthusiasm and really cute giggles. She won't jump in the pool or put her face in, but when she does try, she giggles and then the instructor begins to giggle, so they're both out there in the water giggling at each other.

*I began this post over a week-and-a-half ago, so it's already outdated...

Can I Keep Their Lips?

I want to keep their lips. For.eh.verrrr.

But then they'd probably talk funny and then they'd get made fun of and their self-esteem would suffer and then I'd have all that guilt... *sigh* Fine! They can keep them.

Cabbage Patch Babies!

Emily
Avery

Very Curious

Avery is loving crawling around the house. We put up the baby gates again, to keep her out of the shoes in the entry way, the cat's food, and the kitchen. With all these fun places blocked off, Avery finds her own adventures. Like the cool cord that goes to my laptop...but guess what, that cord is attached to the laptop and when you pull on it, the laptop follows. Get my drift?

She pulled the laptop onto her face! Can you see the bruise? It starts under her right eye and goes up over her eyebrow. She had four bruises on her forehead last week. One from the laptop, then one from the ottoman, one from the entertainment center, and then there was one other one, but I don't know where she got it. Probably the coffee table.

7 Months!

Avery is cruisin' now! She loves to crawl and is getting really fast! She explores every part of the house she can get to. In fact, we blocked off the front hall with diaper bags and she scaled those rather quickly.

She's finally eating baby food. When she tried it the first time, she just made a horrible face and slobbered until the food came back out. Now she's excited any time I bring her bowl and spoon to her. She is, however, a lazy eater. She barely opens her mouth, so most of the food ends up on her face. So I shovel and scrape, scrape, scrape, shovel, and scrape. This method does take longer, but she seems to enjoy it. She growls the whole time!

Avery and her sister are beginning to play well together. Emily still tries to shove Avery out of the way when they're playing, but most of the time they do a good job of co-existing in the toys. And last night they took a bath together! Avery loved every second of it. She splashed and splashed and Emily pretty much played on her own while Avery splashed. I did have to tell Emily to get her finger out of Avery's crack. She said, "Nudey booty!" and pointed and stuck her finger in Avery's crack. Oh well, gotta laugh.

Summertime

We've been enjoying the pool this summer. The girls love the water!

Here are some more things Emily has said lately...

While looking at crayons, we came across a gray crayon. I asked Emily what color it was and she said, "It's old."

Now that Avery is crawling, Emily is interacting with her more. Emily said, "I want her to do a trick," and then she threw a toy and said, "Go get it!"

"Ladies and gentlemint!"

We found a trail of ants near the back door the other day and Emily said, "Aww, ants! They're so cute!" Ha. Cute? Not really. But Daddy did "help them outside" with some special spray.

Before I Forget...

Yes, I have neglected the blog. I keep getting further and further behind and the more I think about it, the more I put it off, so the further and further behind I get. Kind of a cycle, huh?

But, literally every time I sit down at the computer, someone needs something. Like just now, Emily needed some juice in her cup. So see? It's not ALL my fault. And sometimes when that happens, I don't even get back to the computer until a few hours later.

And guess who's crawling? For a while, Avery would do the "rock and launch" technique. She'd be on her hands and knees and sort of rock back and forth and then launch herself toward her target (usually Emily), and now she has incorporated moving her hands forward when she moves her knees forward! It's much more of a fluid motion than the rock and launch, plus, fewer bruised foreheads and skinned noses.

Yes, I have pictures of that.

Avery has two teeth now. The two bottom ones came in a couple of weeks ago. On the same day! And she now can sit on her own! She can put herself in a sitting position, too! So nice!

And now Emily wants me to help her with a puzzle. Seeeee?

I'm going to try to sit at the computer this evening and work on photos. I have lots. But to tide you over until then, I'd like to share some cute and funny things Emily has said and done lately.

Emily has discovered the movie Zathura. It played on TV and we recorded it on our DVR and she watches it often. This is how she asks to watch it: "I wanna watch the boys and the robot and the lizards and the green poop and the game! Please!"

"I can't eat that. I ate that yesterday." Or, "I can't take a bath. I had a bath yesterday." Apparently she did A LOT of things yesterday.

And there are so many things that are the best she's ever had/done/seen/played with. She had her first movie theater experience yesterday. Something we actually DID do yesterday... We saw UP and she loved every minute of it. I found myself watching her watch the movie. She sat there with her very own box of popcorn in her lap and her drink in the drink holder and she was leaned forward and taking it all in. During the movie, leaned toward me and whispered, "Mommy, this is the best movie I ever saw!"

Another thing she did yesterday was go to her first Little Gym class. It's a tumbling/activity class for 3-4 year olds and she had a blast! They walked on a balance beam and played with a parachute. I think it'll be a good opportunity for her to work with other kids and adults and learn to listen AND OBEY. There were many times during the class when she'd wander off, but what was good was she always went back to her group when asked. We figured the instructors would get to know her name very quickly because they kept calling her name. "Emily... Emily! Come back to the group!" I think she was so excited to be there and she was just so busy taking everything in. I'm excited so for her to take this class!

Oh, and today, she decided she didn't want to be in the clothes she was wearing and she took them off. Stripped naked! I said, "Emily, where are your clothes?" She said, "I'm nudey booty! See?" and then she stuck her bum out at me and pointed to it. I just shook my head and laughed. What a toad.

The Mouths of Babes

I absolutely love watching my girls' mouths when they're concentrating. Their lips pucker and move and smirk. I could watch their mouths all day long.

I bought Emily a puzzle that helps with spelling. You put the picture together and the letters on each piece spell out what the picture is. Emily LOVES puzzles, so I thought this would be a fun way for her to learn about spelling. She's even learning about lower-case letters, that they're different than upper-case letters, something I hadn't talked to her about yet. Anyway, she'll put the picture together and then spell the word out, "C-A-R! That spells car!" She had the fox picture put together and she spelled it out: "F-O-X! That spells coyote!" I guess the fox looked like a coyote...

Mother's Day

It was a good day Sunday! Daddy and Emily started the day off by making me breakfast!
Then we had a good day at Church, a nice meal with Grandma and Grandpa Hill, and ended with a fun evening of playing with glowsticks in a completely dark house!

My Favorite Avery

Okay, so shoot me. I forgot to post Avery's 5 month photo last month. At least I remembered to take it, right?

And now, here is Avery at 6 months! Her hair is getting longer! No longer just peach fuzz. She's rolling and scooting and sitting (for a little bit). She's an absolute doll!

This is her new thing now: biting her bottom lip. She even smiles while biting it.

See, she's sitting! Sorta. She will sit there for a while and then eventually fall over. If we're not careful, she'll throw herself backwards and bonk her head.

Mmmm, those cheeks!!!

And arm rolls!

She is truly a joy. That must be why her middle name is Joy.

Great Family Day

The other day we went to ride the train at Trinity Park. So much fun!

Emily kept saying how "awesome" it was!

At the halfway point, we stopped at a depot and got some popcorn.

Emily ate half of her popcorn and decided she wanted to feed the turtles. We had seen some turtles in the river during the train ride. We stopped over at the Botanical Gardens and fed the rest of the popcorn to the turtles and fish. I have to say that was The Best dollar we've ever spent! It was so much fun!

There was a turtle there that had to have been a hundred years old at least. He was digging the popcorn.

Emily gladly shared her popcorn with some kids.

That's the last of it!

So cool! He posed like that for a minute or two. I think he thought I had food. "Duuude, gimme some food!"

It was a grand day out.

...right, Avery?