Girls, Girls...

These two pumpkins are getting so big, and it's been a while since I updated what they are up to.  I'm not very organized about this, but here it is :)

Emily Mae

* Poor baby has been sick again.  I just know her immune system someday is going to be stellar.
* Em loves books.  Notice that I didn't say that she loves reading?  She just loves books.  She loves to flip through the pages and point out anything circular in shape.  The sun, the moon, circles, any round object...
* Em is cruising around, but she sits right down if I try to prod her to walk.  She seems quite determined to walk on her own time (hmm... that reminds me of someone).
* She LOVES locating her belly button.  She loves locating other people's belly buttons.  At any random moment.  Complete strangers have their shirts lifted and their belly buttons pointed out.
* Em loves to giggle.  She does a fake laugh at about everything when she's happy.  When she's not happy, she does a pathetic, fake sobbing tactic.  That isn't quite as funny :)
* She is still a total clown.  She is just waiting for an audience as she eats, goofs off and plays.  Elyse is her preferred audience, but she'll take anybody.

* She finally started saying "Mommy!"  I admit, she crawls around the house chanting "Daddy" most days.  She will try once in a while to mimic words we try to get her to say, but she is mostly content to make funny noises & squeal.
* She is getting quite attached to sucking on her right hand's index finger.  It's cute now, but...
* Em has mastered the look of false innocence.  It's priceless.
* Em's jabbering is so funny.  It's completely nonsensical, but she usually waves her index finger around while she does it.  If I only knew what she was trying to say!
* New favorite activities include: jumping around in her crib, screeching, throwing one toy across the kitchen floor just to chase it down, sticking her fingers in her nose, dancing, trying to get my phone, and wrestling with Elyse.


Elyse Noelle

* Typing her name reminded me that she named a little pony of hers "Ottoman" the other day.  Now, she refers to herself as "Elyse Noelle Ottoman."  I'm sure she'll fix that someday.
* Elyse is getting into all things girly.  I bought her some chap stick today (I'm sick of sharing mine), and I might as well have given her the moon.  My sweet neighbor came over with armfuls of new books and toys for the girls, and all Elyse could do was show her the new chap stick.  *sigh*  She has about 24,000 layers on as we speak.  She was very sad that it couldn't come with her to bed.  I also broke down and painted her toenails, and she just loves it!  It is pretty cute, I must admit.
* She's been talking up a storm, but singing is the new favorite activity.  She loves to make a medley of every song she knows.  I love that she'll just make up words when she forgets.  It's great.  The other day I heard her singing, "Our God is an awesome God, he went to work then took a nap..."  I wish I had listened closely to the rest of the song, but I was too busy laughing.

* She loves to hold hands.  It's quite possibly the funnest thing ever.  I got to sit in the back seat of our van with her last week as we drove home late, and she asked to hold my hand.  She said, "Mommy?  I hope we can see the stars and moon!"
* She is my classic anticipator.  She loves to remind me what will happen if she runs on the kitchen floor when it's wet... she'll slip.  She will shake her little finger around as if she's a very experienced teacher.  She's also so excited when we tell her when we'll be going on vacation, or when she's going to see her grandparents next.  She'll be eating her breakfast, and she'll say, "Guess what?  When Emmie's done with her nap, we're going to see Gramm & Pops!"  I hate telling her otherwise...
* She is still a Daddy's girl.  Daddy is the first person she wants to see every morning, and she asks for him all day.  I'm starting to wonder if she'll ever get used to the fact that he works!

waiting for Daddy

 Yea, that about says it all.

What's up?

Well, that's a good question.  What is up?  How we can be so busy with ordinary things is always a mystery...  We've got a busy July ahead of us, but we're thankful that the "busy" is fun.  That's always a perk.  Here's a little of what we've been up to lately.  Yes, it's so exciting.

* OBX trip over Independence Day.  SO fun.  We visited with friends and spent a couple of nights down there.  We enjoyed the beach, the park, and lots of good family time.  We knew it was truly a successful getaway when 2 full days seemed like a week  :)

* Birthdays!!  We've had some "little" friend's birthday parties and also had extra fun celebrating my nephew's birthday on Sunday.  He and my niece are now FIVE, and my mind often drifts down memory lane...  Crazy how long that lane is getting!  Shiloh had a beach party, and I was especially glad to see that my toddler is overcoming her intense fear of waves.  YES.  Em has not yet developed a fear of being filthy, which is kind of sad.

* Parks & More Parks.  We've been frequenting the park often, and though Elyse is having a blast, Emily just wishes she could walk.  I'm really hoping she'll brave a few steps soon, but I'm not going to hold my breath :)  She will try and try to get around, but when she fails, she'll just start playing in the dirt.  I happen to know from a little experience with my eldest that chasing a toddler around is actually worth it!  Em's doing well cruising around, so I hope she will get a bit more daring soon.  They both love the swings, but Elyse could go up and down slides all day long.  Yes, her going "up" slides takes a bit longer, but it's fun to watch her look of accomplishment.

* Swimming!  We've been swimming a few times this summer, and I'm thankful both girls are enjoying it.  I seem to vaguely remember days of lounging in beach chairs by the pool, but I think I'm getting an extra workout keeping two kiddos afloat.  That's good, right?

* SHARING.  We've been working a lot on sharing lately.  Emily's getting to that age where she's more persistent, and Elyse has been at that age for a while.  It's kind of hilarious to watch them both persist, but they can get quite loud.  I made the mistake of bringing home a toy yesterday that I got on clearance at Target (one of those plastic balls that bounce and light up...) for the girls to share.  It took all of 1 minute to hear how that was going down.  After numerous talks about sharing & generosity, I resolved to accomplish the task of DINNER, so I set the egg timer for 2 minutes, and we started the routine of taking turns.  Elyse was very puzzled at the beginning of the experiment, but she then started standing in front of the egg timer to wait for the "ding."  After a turn or two, she started giving the toy to Emily during her turn, just so she could wait for the "ding."  She ended up forgetting about the toy altogether by the time we served dinner.  Oh, my.  Emily obviously learned nothing during that whole process :)

* Jordan overheard Elyse having a "picnic" with Hippet (her little stuffed blanket animal) at bedtime the other night.  Her imagination is really getting active!  She stretched out a blanket on the floor in her room today, invited Emily ("Emmie, come here!") and spread lots of books out for them to read together.  I knew the camera would ruin the moment, but I had just had to record it.  Elyse had an eye exam today, and it was the first exam that they could ask her to tell them what she was seeing.  The eye chart consisted of lots of objects, most of which she knew right away: birthday cake, hand (she said "five" for the 5 fingers), a duck, a truck, etc..., but one picture seemed to stump her.

She finally came up with "birthday chair," so that's what it is to her :)  ???  Speaking of Hippet, today Elyse asked me where he was born.  Hmm...

* Emily's talking is cracking me up.  She uses so much inflection to say so little.  I have no idea what she wants to say, but it comes out as just a series of soft little noises with lots of expression.  She pulls out "Daddy!" all the time now, and I quite like it.  I believe I heard her say "Mommy" today, but it's unconfirmed...  She's also being quite a ham lately.  She'll close her eyes and rest her head against the back of her highchair while she's eating.  The food sometimes makes it into her mouth, and sometimes doesn't.  Elyse loves to remind me to pay attention to what Emily is doing.  Why, thank you, dear.

That's what's up.  See, I told you it was exciting!