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?

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!)