Lovin' It!

I love being a mom. It's getting close to Mother's Day and I am so happy! I hated it at one time. But now I love it.

My girls mean so much to me! They are so cool and cute and pretty and smart and talented and funny.

Avery does this funny thing when she's "asking" for food. She'll fuss, but it sounds like she's making an "L" sound. "Luh-looo-luuuuh-loooo-looooooooo..." So funny! All I can do is watch her. Her bottom lip kinda juts out and is shiney from the gallons of slobber pouring out of her mouth. You'd think she'd get dehydrated.

And then she gets tired of me giggling and staring and she gets really mad and I have to get back to my motherly duty. Blah, blah, blah.

Emily came up to me a bit ago and looked at me with these sad blue eyes and said in a fake raspy voice, "I'm hot," then pointed to her armpit and said, "I need a tempature." The last time she was sick, I took her temperature in her armpit. Because the rectal technique is icky.

But anyway, she was very pathetic. I felt her forehead and she's fine, no "tempature." I said, "Oh, you're fine," and she said, "Momma? I need a chocolate banola bar." (granola bar)

And guess what? She got one.

As I'm typing this, Avery is rolling around all over the place. She is very speedy! She's beginning to shift directions on her tummy. That comes in handy when she gets stuck under the coffee table. I think crawling is around the corner. Oh man, I am NOT looking forward to that. I like putting her on the floor and having a general idea of where to look for her when she starts crying.

Birthday Weekend

I have a cute family! I love them!

We went to Renee's wedding in Austin this weekend. I was the photographer! It was so fun. Renee is so pretty and fun to photograph.

And then on Monday, we went to the Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown, Texas. So fun and very cool! Emily was so excited to "go an adventure and explore a cave!" We saw a bat sleeping on the ceiling of the caverns and Emily wanted to pet him. Ick, no.

It was a good weekend. Minus the temper tantrums (Emily) and diaper rash (Avery).

Not Much...

Not much going on here. I thought I'd share some funny things Emily has said or done lately.

Emily LOVES her new bike helmet. She wears it while watching TV. She wants to be "safe"! She wore it the other day to rake the yard.

She also loves her new stick horse. She rode it at the post office. It was cute! She got lots of comments from the other people there.

Last night we had zucchini with dinner. Emily kept talking about how she couldn't like green "bikinis". Daddy is happy that she can't like bikinis. Only one-piece bathing suits for her! :)

Emily and Daddy went shopping for my birthday. When they came home, Emily ran in the door and said, "Momma, we got some presents for your birthday!" I said, "Shhh! They're supposed to be a secret!" and Emily got close up to me and whispered, "Momma, we got you some presents!" So funny! And then Daddy told her she needed to keep it a secret and she said in a frustrated voice, "I don't like secrets!"

Three Years Old!

What happened to the time? It flew! Sort of.

Emily is really a cool person. She has her moments, but don't we all? She is funny and smart and she amazes me every day.

Catching Up!

We set up a small tent in our livingroom. The girls love it. Well, Emily does. Avery just does whatever. I enjoy seeing them interact together. Until the screaming starts.
Avery is rolling over!!! She started a couple of weeks ago and is getting very good at it! I really didn't think she would be rolling this soon since she's sort of a chunk (ha!) and I just figured she'd be stuck where she was put. Anyway, she loves rolling!
The other day, Emily got frustrated with Avery because Avery was crying and Emily hates it when Avery cries, so she dropped a can of beans on Avery's head. Not much damage was done, and I think Avery was scared more than hurt. You can barely even see the red mark above her left eyebrow.

Emily has allergies. Therefore, she has boogers. Sometimes she gets this far away look in her eyes when she picks her boogers. I try to tell her to use a tissue, but that doesn't sound as fun to her, I guess. But to her, it's especially fun to bring Momma the boogers. Yay.

Emily is learning to paste! It's messy, but fun. I found a book that has some pasting activities in it. It's our special mother/daughter activity while Avery naps. (I don't have any photos of this!)

Ummm...

I have neglected the blog. Sorry. However, I have LOTS of pictures! But not yet.

Coming up on "Oh My Stars!": (in no particular order)

• a can of beans
• paste
• a tent in the house
• boogers
• rolling over

Oh, aren't you so excited? The suspense must be killing you.

Learning

I just love watching Avery reaching for things. Her hands are so cute and busy.

And she gets a very determined look on her face.

Then pauses for a thumb break...

Tummy time is going better. She can lay there longer. But not too long.

"Heeey! How you doin'?"

I absolutely LOVE the back of her neck! It gets lots of momma and daddy kisses!

Excuse me while I pause for a neck snack...

Almost Three

One thing that scares me about Emily turning three is she's building memories that she'll remember the rest of her life. I remember when I was three. I remember our chinchilla and how soft he was and the cage that he lived in. I remember walking on the sidewalk on a summer day in the town we moved away from when I was three. I also remember dropping my Weeble Wobble in light yellow paint and getting in trouble. I remember my dad running over my Trike Bike with the car because I left it in the driveway. I remember dancing with Walt at the Christmas party and pretending to fall down just so he'd help me stand back up.

Is Emily going to remember the things I say to her or things I do or don't do when she's three? Am I doing/saying enough so that when she's thirty-something and she's blogging about her kid turning three and she's remembering when she was three, she remembers the good stuff?

Wha? Huh?

What'd I just say?

Or will her memories be of my failed attempts at giving her the evil eye and sending her to her room for screaming? Will she remember how frustrated I've been with her potty training? Will she remember that I spend a lot of my day in my PJs? Or that sometimes I don't leave the house for days?

My Avery

Avery sucks her thumb. I like this. I like this because it means she's pacifying herself! I love this. I love this because I don't have to constantly shove her pacifier in her mouth to shut her up stop her crying. And most of all, I love this because she's not using ME as her pacifier.
Ahhh, so nice.

I sucked my thumb as a baby. I was a good baby, right Mom? And I needed a good baby. Oh man, I needed a good baby! Not that Emily was bad. She was/is just loud and cried/cries a lot.

I love how Avery is crossing her ankles in this photo. She crosses them all the time, like she's just chillin' out, relaxin', takin' in the sights.

4 Months Old!

Avery is four months old! Time is a-flyin'!
She went in for her four-month well check and shots yesterday. She is 16 pounds and 24.5 inches long. I think she's longer than that. I don't think the measurement is very accurate with a wiggling, non-bendable baby.

Obviously, she has found her toes! She loves to grab at her feet and play with her toes. I love to play with her toes, too! And eat them. They're delicious!

She hasn't quite figured out how to roll over. She does scootch on her back a lot, and I find her in a different position that where I left her. She giggles and smiles and loves to touch her daddy's face. Probably because of his scruffiness. And I have found her sucking her thumb a couple of times! She can pacify herself! This is good.

Emily's Garden

There are many things I love about Target, but I think my very favorite part is the dollar section. It's the first place we come to as we walk in the door, and sometimes it's the only place I visit in the store. We found these cute little flower pots in the dollar section. It's a mini garden kit that includes the flower pot, soil, and seeds. All you do is add love. And water.

We had so much fun getting dirty and planting our little garden.

Emily did a lot of the work (and the mess).

We planted daisies (my favorite!), sunflowers, clovers (for St. Patty's), and lavender.

We lined them up in the kitchen window so we can watch them grow!

And look! It's already starting to grow! This is after four days!

And this is six days later!

We are also working on our vegetable garden on our patio. We found some mushrooms growing in our tomatoes...

Oh My Stars

She's testing me. And I'm failing. Anyone have some Cliff's Notes I could borrow? I really stink at this parenting thing. And I need help.
She has this stubborn streak. And she's not afraid to use it. In public.

Rewards

One of the rewards Emily gets during her potty training is fingernail stickers. Here she is showing off heart-shaped stickers.

Pictures

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted photos!

Avery turned three months old! She's a cutie! She smiles so much now. She is improving on tummy time and is even grabbing at her toys.

Emily got her hair cut! Her ends (where all the curl was) were dry and splitting.

My friend, Pea, cut her hair. She did a great job and Emily's hair is healthier looking now. I was sad to see the curls go. I saved a lock!

Awww, I love these daddy/daughter moments...

There is a bird in our neighbor's window that I think is a momma. There is a nest and I'm hoping there are egg babies! Emily named the bird "Flowette." Sweet. I hope we can keep an eye on them and watch the family grow! This is a picture of the happy couple.

Avery loves the Bumbo! She loves the vantage point.

Look at her cute socks!

Oh, and big news over at the Big Steps blog. This is a private blog, so if you'd like to read about our potty training efforts, leave me your email in the comments section. (If you don't want it published, leave it in a separate comment and I won't publish it!)

Good Morning!

Okay, so yesterday was a bad day (see yesterday's post). Emily was into everything. I tried cleaning up her toys and stuff and for every toy I'd put away, she'd pull out two. Her crayons were all over the floor and I kept stepping on them and breaking them. Very frustrating, because really, who wants to color with a broken crayon? (I do have plans for the broken ones, though) And then Avery cried most of the day. And some of us had, um, tummy troubles. Blah.

So this morning, the first thing Avery did after opening her eyes was grin a big, huge, cheeky grin. So sweet! And Emily began chattering away like she usually does. She noticed one of Avery's teething rings and began to list off the colors and what each color was like, such as, "Oh, yellow! Just like mustard! And red, just like ketchup! I like ketchup and mustard. And green, just like juice! I like juice. Yum!"

So, we began the day with smiles. Let's see what the rest of the day brings, shall we?

At this point, we're watching WALL-E and playing with Em's treasure chest of gold-ish coins. And Avery is on the floor doing some exercises.

Meh.

I feel blah. I have pictures. But I don't feel like making the effort to post them.

Isn't that selfish?

Meh. Blah. Blech. Poot. Muaaaahhhllllggglllgggllllhuuuuhhh.

Love Rocks

happy valentine's day

Some of the Finer Things in My Life

• Snuggles with Avery while nursing in bed
• When Emily comes up to me and says, "Uh, Momma? I love you."
• Emily's sticky hands. I know this sounds weird, but the other day, after she had eaten some ice cream, she put her hands on my face and kissed me and her hands were sticky. It was just nice.
• Avery's smiles. They start off lopsided, but then straighten out.
• Avery's dimple.
• Emily's train of thought: "I like Wall-E. And I like dinosaurs and animals. And pancakes."
• When both girls nap at the same time.
• Getting to take a nap because both girls are napping at the same time.
• Emily singing.
• Wearing flip-flops year 'round.
• Camp Nana & Grumpa
• Emily's logic: She asked where Avery's teeth were, and I said they hadn't come in yet, so she said, "We have to go buy them!"
• A caring husband.
• Reading blogs.
• Playing dumb addictive games on the computer.
• Reading in bed after everyone else is asleep.
• And the finer-est thing of all: being a mom.

Sisters

I had a really good little photo session with the girls the other day. I was trying to get Emily playing the guitar for a photo idea I had. Avery had a good time watching...
She absolutely LOVES to watch Emily, whatever she may be doing.

And even though Emily avoids Avery as much as she can, she has moments like this where she'll give her a kiss or a hug, but only if someone else comes up with the idea.

SuperBowl Brats

We rolled the grill out Sunday and grilled some brats and dogs. Mmmm! Can you smell it?

Daddy, the griller.

It kinda looks like Grandpa was praying..."Please cook thoroughly!"