Giggles.

Elyse has said some other funny things lately, and I wanted to record them in the history book while they're on my mind.

* Elyse is really into listing off all of her friends.  She loves to name them in a sing-songy little voice, and the list usually goes like this: "Shiloh, EEEEEli, Nonny (for Natalie), Brynna, A-Day (for AJ), Ben (for Brynne), {some other names we can't make out}, etc..."  The other day, she said "hi!" one-by-one to her complete list of friends and ended with, "Hi, Potty!"

* She has a little book from Gramm called "Thank You, Lord."  She was prompted the other day to say "No, thank you, Mommie" instead of "NO!!!" when I asked her something, and she responded with, "No, thank you, Mommy, no thank you, Daddy, no thank you Lord."

* Elyse is totally into sharing everything food-related.  She wants to give us a bit of everything she is eating or a "bite" of everything she's drinking.  She's especially perplexed by the fact that Emily can't try anything. I can no longer give Elyse anything to eat without 100% supervision when she's close to Emily.

* Elyse named her dolly "Momika" for either Aunt Anneke or my friend Monika.  Can't tell.

* The other night, Jordan was trying to get Elyse's attention about *something* and said "Look at me, Elyse."  Elyse looked him right in the eye and said "Look at ME!"  Glad I wasn't the one that had to look away!

* She is OBSESSED with going through tunnels.  She asks to go through the downtown tunnel at least twice every day.  I think Elyse might think that her friend Brynne lives in the tunnel, since I always reiterate that we go through the tunnel when we visit Brynne...

* Elyse is into an "okay?" phase that cracks me up.  For instance, she'll ask me to read a certain book to her, and if I can't read to her at that particular time, she'll "insist" by saying, "Mommy?  Read good book, OKAY???  OKAY???  OKAY???"  She'll even back up to me with her little bootie so she ends up right in my lap.  Hard to resist, I must say.

* WARNING: This is gross but hilarious to me.  Don't scroll down if you are squeamish about spit-up.  Emily isn't into saying anything FUNNY yet, but these two pictures crack me up.  Gotta love self-portraits. I was wondering why I felt something warm all over my arm...

Now THIS...

... will make me forget about the laundry that needs to be folded,

...about the lack of dinner plans,

... about the mess in the girls' room,

... about the severe tangles in Elyse's hair,

... and all about my messy kitchen floor.

At least, temporarily :) 

That's what's been goin' on.

* I'm getting a new nephew this winter!  I couldn't be happier about this little guy, and I hope he looks just like Kris  :)

* I've been offline recently due to a small technical disaster.  I can still close my eyes and envision my sweet Elyse trying to take a drink of water out of my big girl cup not three feet from our computer.  The wave of water splashing onto the keyboard is forever etched upon my mind.  Note to self: do NOT plan to cook chicken enchiladas, talk on the phone, and expect that your toddler will sit quietly and twiddle her thumbs. :)

* My girls are getting so big.  Schedules have aligned lately in such a way that these two get to go through the bedtime routine together. I love having a girl on each knee as we try to read, sing, pray, and keep Emily's hands from touch Elyse in any way.  Ah, sisterhood.

* Elyse won't stop talking.  No, I'm not upset about this, but it's just the way it is.  I should count how many times I hear "Mommy?" in a day, but I'm not sure I could.  It's quite possibly the most adorable stage yet.  I hear "look at this!" and "C'ya!" at least 4 billion times during a day.  She makes her hand go "bye bye" under her shirt (while laughing hysterically), and she loves to identify each and every item around the house.  "Mommy?  Emmie's banket."  "Mommy?  New shoes."  I do love "Mommy hug" and "Mommy kiss" the best!  Lately, she's been confirming her obedience by chanting, "I will obey Mommy, Daddy, Emmie..."  Can't wait to tell Emily that one some day...

* Emily is just loving life.  Plain and simple.

* We pulled out the little pink potty the other week to break Big E into seeing what her little potty looks like.  She seems to love looking at it.  Going on it, not so much.  We'll take that one slowly...  We do have a lot of "potty" language going on, though :)  FUN.

* New favorite moment with my girls: as I'm burping Emily, Elyse loves to come up closely to her face and just smile at her.  Emily just smiles back :)

* I've made at least 6 trips to the grocery store this week.  3 of them were made in the span of 1 hour.

* Elyse loves having tea parties.  We had a tea party this morning with Daddy & Emily.  Elyse downed the pretend sugar bowl.

* It's been raining for three straight days, and I've actually loved the excuse to stay in with my girls!  Plus, naps have been longer :)

* I am totally and completely addicted to Smuckers Natural Creamy PB.  New favorite snack: stir a spoonful of pb into a bowl of vanilla yogurt- add a chopped apple or a crushed graham cracker.  Yep.  Deeeeelish.

* Emily is almost officially out of her 0-3 month clothes.  She still seems tiny to me, but she's obviously not that tiny...

* Elyse is totally and completely addicted to cornbread & grapes.  I can get her to eat just about ANYTHING if there's a grape or a piece of cornbread waiting for her.  It's SO so so so great.

* Elyse loves to drag a blanket around the house lately.  She also loves to say "cuddle" and actually does cuddle with me if I'm on the couch.  I love it.

* I'm starting to wonder when Elyse will automatically say "thank you."  I've only been prompting her for a few months, but I'm starting to wonder when she'll pick it up on her own.  Hmm...  I must say, that will be nice.

* Emily's awake more these days.  I really like that.  I think she's awake between 50 min and 1 hour between feedings.  I get kind of sad when she goes down for a nap!  I do love hearing Elyse say, "Emmie take nap; bye bye, Emmie!"

* We have a silly book called "Baby Face" - I think I actually got it at a grocery store (lame), but pictures in the book describe facial expressions, and one of them is called "yummy face."  The baby in the picture has nasty sauce smeared all over his face.  What is that?  There is no expression called "yummy."  Plus, I'm not a fan of that word.  Sure enough, Elyse had spaghetti all over her face the other day... You guessed it! "Mommy?  YUMMY face."  Guess I should start previewing books before I pay even a buck for them :)  

* I made the most ridiculously delicious minestrone soup the other night.  Yummy face!  J/k... :)

* I love my husband.  He's seriously so nice to me.  From making coffee to other random thoughtful gestures, he makes me thankful every day that we got married.

Four Months Old!

Wow.  I seriously need to come up with more creative titles to these posts.  Emily Mae almost missed getting a special post today because Mommy almost went to bed without remembering to post this!  But, how can I neglect these important milestones and still sleep well???  We have lovingly nicknamed Em our little piglet these days.  Partly because she's suffered from 3 colds this summer (yuk), but also because she's got that natural newborn stuffiness you hear about in the "What To Expect" books :)  Yes, I'm admitting that I actually took her to the doctor to find out why in the world she still sounded stuffy weeks after a cold.  I'm sure the doctor was really impressed with my keen maternal senses.  She's also our little piglet because she seems quite tiny (though she was almost 13 pounds a couple of weeks ago) and loves to raise her eyebrows in the most genuine look of innocence and curiosity that I've ever seen.  Okay, that might not have much to do with piglet, but she kind of looks like piglet, too :)  Emily enjoys playing on her tummy, which is fun, but she still doesn't notice very many toys.  Perhaps that's because she's too busy following her big sister with her eyes?  Elyse is her primary source of entertainment!  She loves to give Elyse big smiles and even "talks" to her.  Not only is Emily's jabbering incredibly loud at times, but she's so expressive with her inflections :)  She is starting to do some 12 hour stretches at night, so Mommy is LOVING that!  She loves Mommy, Daddy, Elyse and long walks in her double stroller.  Here are my new (or repeat, since not that much has changed...) fun's and not-so-fun's for this month:

fun's:

* having her wake up happy in the morning
* watching her wiggle her little eyebrows
* She is almost constantly fidgeting with her hands and fingers!  I have no idea why, but she always seems so busy :)
* smiles, smiles, smiles
* she is interacting with us all so much more, but she especially interacts with Elyse
* hearing the girls "work it out" in their room at night :)  Sometimes I just have to sit here on the couch and laugh as they try to talk over each other!  I know it's only the beginning...
* This should probably be in the next category, but I believe I'm sensing a fake cry??

not-so-fun's:

* still dealing with weekly blowouts.  Seriously.  When will this end?
* Emily still jumps a mile when Elyse gets up in her face and laughs or yells...
* The poochy lip is killin' me!!
* She's getting less flexible when she misses a nap & she's not falling asleep as much in random locations...
* She's outgrowing all of her cute baby stuff, and I think I might need to do some shopping for her winter wardrobe!

Emily Mae, you can quit getting big anytime now!  STOP!  We love you to pieces and can't imagine what our family was like without you!

A couple of funnies...

While it's on my brain, I thought I'd type out a few of the funny things that Elyse has done lately...

* The other day, Elyse was digging in my clean laundry basket and discovered a pair of my shorts.  She likes to identify laundry, so she immediately said, "Daddy shorts."  I responded by saying, "No, those are Mommy's shorts."  She said, "Daddy shorts" a few times and finally left and went to check with Daddy since I apparently wasn't giving her the right answers.  She holds the shorts up to Jordan and says, "Daddy shorts."  Jordan responded just like I did.  After a few more go-a-rounds, Elyse stood up and yelled, "DADDY SHORTS!!!!" at the top of her lungs :)  For a 20 month old, that's one stubborn response!  We then had a short discussion about arguing that went totally over her head.

* We were at a friend's house Saturday night, and they have a dog named Riley.  Elyse really like Riley and enjoyed playing with her for a few minutes.  A couple of days later, we had some new friends over to the house, and their little girl is named Rylee.  I told Elyse that her little friend had arrived, and she laughed and said, "Riley, woof woof!"  She barked at her a few more times before she eventually forgot.  :)

* Elyse was playing with her doll house, and she held up one of the little beds and asked, "Whazzat?"  I responded it was a bed.  She repeated, "Bed.  Nana bed."  This girl is obsessed with banana bread!!!

"I simply remember my favorite things..."

Yes, I've had that song stuck in my head.  Just thought I'd give you a little "ear worm," too :)  (Yea, look it up; it really is a term for that pesky song...)  In light of the mental picture you all have now of Maria dancing around with the Von Trapp kids in their pj's, I'll bore you with one of my confessions.  To give you a little background, I had one of those weekends.  I had one of those weekends where I was taking care of sick kids and feeling like a sick kid myself.  I had one of those weekends where all I craved was a day out, but all we could do was stay in.  I had one of those weekends where it was so easy to complain and so difficult to be thankful.  I had one of those weekends where the fellowship I was craving from my church family just couldn't happen because of sickness.  I had one of those weekends where every conversation with my husband was interrupted with either snot, poop or intense whining.  I had one of those weekends where I needed a catapult to get me out of bed in the mornings.  I had one of those weekends where it took me days to "get over it" instead of minutes, like it should have taken.  I am definitely not proud of the fact that I spent a few days in a slump, but I am thankful for God's grace and patience with me even when I'm bull-headed.  I may have mentioned this before, but months ago, I began emailing back and forth with my mom and my sister every few days with a list of things we were thankful for.  It truly does serve to slap me upside the head at times and bring me back to the incredible blessings of God.  Here are some of my current reminders of God's goodness:

* A God who loved me so much that he sent his only son to die for me

* A husband who not only tells me he loves me, but shows me every day

* Two sweet little girls that can send all the doldrums away with their big smiles

* I don't have to be with my church to have a relationship with God.  

* On that note, I can pray while I'm washing out diapers.  Yes, it happens.

* Feeling a very full lap when I get to hold a girl on each knee

* Even when my husband has to leave the house, I always get a kiss :) 

* Hearing Elyse say "hug, Mommy!" as she toddles my way

* That baby smell that Emily carries after her bath

* Cooking for my family with the provision God gives

* Having to remind Emily to eat because she's grinning ear to ear

* Great conversations with Jordan, even over goofy toddler talk at the dinner table :)

* Pulling on Elyse's ringlets and watching them boing back into place

* A place to live & bills that get paid with money that God gives

* A washer and dryer to clean our clothes, even though they get cleaned a lot

* A God that is patient with me, even when I am not patient in return

* Friends that encourage me to love God and love my family

* Sunny days and the joy of blowing bubbles with Elyse

* A husband who will work out with me to keep me movin' :) 

* Hearing Elyse count to two over and over again...

* Being able to laugh with my husband at things that would normally make me scream :)

* Rest when I really need it

* The privilege of mothering, even when mothering means getting up 7 times in the night.  It's worth every second.

* Psalm 103:

1 Let all that I am praise the LORD;

  with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2 Let all that I am praise the LORD;

  may I never forget the good things he does for me.

3 He forgives all my sins

  and heals all my diseases.

4 He redeems me from death

  and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

5 He fills my life with good things.

  My youth is renewed like the eagle's!

6 The LORD gives righteousness

  and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

7 He revealed his character to Moses

  and his deeds to the people of Israel.

8 The LORD is compassionate and merciful,

  slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

9 He will not constantly accuse us,

  nor remain angry forever.

10 He does not punish us for all our sins;

  he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

  is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

12 He has removed our sins as far from us

  as the east is from the west.

13 The LORD is like a father to his children,

  tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

14 For he knows how weak we are;

  he remembers we are only dust.

15 Our days on earth are like grass;

  like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

16 The wind blows, and we are gone—

  as though we had never been here.

17 But the love of the LORD remains forever

  with those who fear him.

His salvation extends to the children's children

18   of those who are faithful to his covenant,

  of those who obey his commandments!

19 The LORD has made the heavens his throne;

  from there he rules over everything.

20 Praise the LORD, you angels,

  you mighty ones who carry out his plans,

  listening for each of his commands.

21 Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels

  who serve him and do his will!

22 Praise the LORD, everything he has created,

  everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the LORD.

(New Living Translation)

Picture time!

Our sweet friend took some pictures of our little family a couple of weeks ago, and these are some of my favorite shots.  We had a less-than-cooperative toddler this pleasant Sunday afternoon (what should we have expected from her without a proper nap?), but Sarah still managed to eek out a few sweet shots of her.  Shanna, if you're reading this, that dress you bought for Emily is so incredibly darling...

... and last, but not least (drumroll please) my favorite:

Yes, she broke that stick over her knee.  Precious Memories :) 

Hard to forget...

...this outfit.  It was one of my favorites when Elyse wore it, and it's still one of my favorites now that Emily can wear it.  I dressed her Sunday morning and just had to shake my head in awe of how fast these days are going.  Seems like yesterday!  Elyse's picture was taken when she was 3 months on the dot, and Emily's picture was taken at 3 months and a few days.  As you can see, Elyse wins in the tummy department, but Emily is definitely winning in the cheek department.  Sisters :)

Elyse Noelle

Emily Mae

and she's UP!

Yes, as you MIGHT have guessed from the title, Elyse is walking.  Beeauuuutiful.  Finally.  We are SO happy that she has decided that walking on her feet is way more fun than crawling or walking on her knees.  Love it. She start taking "chances" about 6 weeks ago, and she's slowly progressed into walking (or toddling) around the house at leisure with a stumble or two.  Again, I love it.  I never in my wildest dreams thought that my little girl would wait so long to walk, but it's been fun to see her do this on her own.  No matter how hard I tried to encourage it, she was determined to make it something she would do in her own time, thank ya very much!  I perhaps would have picked an earlier date, but I'm so happy that she's now movin' right along.  Here she is cruisin' around with a good book...

Anyway, enough of that reveling.. Elyse is ALSO 20 months old today!  I didn't think I'd have too much more to report as far as this age goes, but there are some new fun things.  Elyse's hair is getting very long (you'd never know), which makes for some nasty knots & messy tangles.  We get through, but it's not always pretty.  She is outgrowing her glasses, so we really need to figure out where to hunt down some more teeny specs...  She is really enjoying her dirty laundry basket (which has been sorted to contain only semi-dirty clothes.. I promise)... it's bizarre, but she loves to sort the clothes and identify what each item is and who wore it.  She does the same thing when I fold laundry.  We were wondering why she started cussing, but it seems that she's actually attempting to say "shirt."  Hmm...  She loves to stack her books & gets very frustrated when they aren't perfectly aligned.  I'm SO tempted to hide any puzzles (she gets severely angry when she can't get them solved), but I'm determined that she's going to figure out how to chill soon enough!  She is putting words together, and it's fun to hear the mishmash of sounds that come out of her mouth.  She loves to come with me to get Em up from her naps, and she usually says "get Emmie" as she toddles behind me.  Once she gets to her bed, she pulls up as far as she can and yells "Emmie" at the top of her lungs.  What a pleasant awakening for Emily.  I can hardly believe she's on the road to AGE TWO.  But for now, here are some of my fun's and not-so-fun's for this stage:

fun's:

* I love watching her try to figure out something.  It's so fascinating to see a little person learn!
* Elyse loves to go on walks- I get such a kick out of hearing her say: "Mommy, CAR!" or "Mommy, Buurd!"
* She loves to point out our facial features, even during the most serious of moments.  It's SO hard to keep a straight face!!
* She can make the happiest "I'm innocent" face EVER.  Wow.
* I love that she'll still rock with me before bed & asks me to keep singing when I stop.  Maybe I should have her hearing tested?
* One of my favorite moments this month was in the car a few weeks ago.  I was sitting in the back with her trying to coax her into napping... I was playing with her hair as she settled down, and when I stopped, she looked up at me and said "more, please?"  *sigh*
* I love how she's still addicted to Daddy :)
* Elyse is cracking us up with the way she has been pigging out on her food.  The other night, she ate a WHOLE sandwich, almost a cup of peas, almost a cup of grapes, and plenty of craisins for dessert.
* Her eyes light up when I give her a cookie in a way I never thought possible :)  That's my girl!
* I love watching her interact with Emily when she doesn't see me watching.

not-so-fun's:

* Still working through tantrum issues... YUK.
* It's REALLY hard to teach a little person how to be nice, you know???
* The word "no" can turn from polite to evil in about 2 seconds.
* Again, seeing her get so frustrated with toys :)  Okay, it's kind of funny, but I do feel bad sometimes :)
* She wants so badly to play with the big kids, so I'm hoping she gets proficient in this walking-thing quickly!
* Her eye teeth started cutting 6 weeks ago, and they're STILL not through!  OWW.

Elyse, we just love you to pieces.  I hope I always remember the adorable way you look up at me when we read together & the way you smell after your bath.  You'll always be my baby girl!

You just keep charming us :)

3rd month's the charm.

Happy 3 month birthday, Emily!  These months have been crazy, but oh, so fun.  Emily is just charming, I might add.  I forgot how fun this age is.  Smiles everywhere, more interaction with surroundings, still small enough to cradle and cuddle, etc...  Fun, fun.  Emily doesn't seem to be growing like a weed, necessarily, since she still seems small to me.  She is definitely different from Elyse in that department!  I still remember digging into bigger clothes for Elyse pretty early on.  Emily is content to wear her baby clothes comfortably, and I'm really not sure how much she weighs right now.  Maybe 12 lbs?  She's my sweet little peanut.  We have settled into a comfortable routine, and I'm enjoying the fun each day brings.  Emily is still taking some naps in our room, but her evening and night sleep (as well as early morning) is all in her crib. . . ALL under the watchful eye of big sister.  Actually, I've had to cover the foot of Emily's crib with a blanket so nosey big sister won't stand at the edge of her own crib and yell for "Emmie" to wake up.  Yes, the joys of sharing a room :)  Then there's the random night where they compete in a yelling competition.  THOSE nights are fun!  I have learned to relax and let them work it out, and now, most evenings are pretty peaceful.  Elyse loves having Emily in there, and she will often ask for her first thing in the morning.  Emily enjoys having Elyse in her face (surprisingly), and she loves to give her big smiles and "talk" to her.  Elyse loves pointing out Emily's facial features (not too carefully, I might add), and she seems fascinated by her new little friend.  Emily is napping well, but she still usually can't make it more than 40 or 45 minutes after the time she gets up from the last nap!  Whereas Elyse found her thumb early on, Emily loves to chomp on her fist and usually ends up finding her index finger knuckle to chew on.  She seems to be enjoying her surroundings, and I've found that she'll stare for a long time at toys we place in front of her.  She hasn't rolled over since her first episode a few weeks ago, and I'm okay with that!  Vacation the first week of August brought back EVERY night feeding (yippee!!), but thankfully, she's back on track doing 8.5-9.5 hours a night.  I was starting to fear for my sanity.  Here are some of my fun's and not-so-fun's for this age:

fun's:

* I love that she'll search me out with her eyes, even if she has to look around for a while :)
* She crinkles up her little nose like a bunny when she smiles.
* Her cooing is getting louder and MUCH more dramatic.
* She is SO close to giggling but just can't quite get it out.
* I love watching her kick around like CRAZY when she's on her back...
* I love watching her little head bob around like a woodpecker when she's on her tummy :)
* Her 2nd chin is getting SO fat.  It seriously is taking up half of her face at times.
* She can hardly finish a meal without grinning from ear to ear!
* Her hair is getting so thick, and it hardly stays down at all these days.

not-so-fun's:

* It's not as easy for Em to sleep soundly just anywhere these days...she prefers a BED.  Makes going out a bit more challenging!
* She is now giving us her messy diapers about 9 or 10 days apart.  Holy cow.
* Her poochy lip is incredibly pathetic.  I'm so pathetic, I actually delay a nap once in a while if she pulls that one out.  I can't take it!
* Do I detect a bit of a temper when bedtime comes these days?  Surely not.
* Hiccups still haunt her- maybe only a few times a week, but she still despises them!
* My baby's getting big :(

We love you to pieces, Emily Mae!  Keep smiling, and we will, too!

Happy Birthday to you!

He's faithful, loving, patient, gracious, kind, gentle, strong, resourceful, hard-working, creative, caring, compassionate, merciful, bold, energetic, industrious, sacrificial, humble, joyful, curious, persistent, generous, and he's all mine.  Happy birthday to the love of my life.  I'm so thankful for you!

  

Don't worry, J, we're still cool, even if this is our last year in our twenties...  

Vacation!!!

There's LOTS to love about vacations!  There's time with my girls, time with their daddy, time with my parents, time with my siblings (including their spouses), time with sweet nieces, time with great grandpa, no cooking, no cleaning, no cloth diapers, no schedule, lots of food, lots of fun, lots of sun, lots of babysitters, ...  Yep, there's lots to love.  

See?  This little love bug enjoyed it!

So did her big sis...

I got to spend lots of time with my honey with no "gotta go to work"s to interrupt us...

Grandma and Grandpa got lots of hugs and kisses in...

Emily finally got a break from the grind of life... 

And this pumpkin had lots of fun, new experiences.

Yes, there's lots to love about vacation.  Next year can't come fast enough.