We had an amazing…no glorious…no I really can’t even think of a word to describe what a wonderful family vacation we just returned from! We went to Big Sky, Montana and visited Yellowstone and stayed with my family in an amazing home – and it was just perfect. Really. I didn’t want to leave. I could have stayed for at least another month. This is not how I normally feel at the end of a vacation. Normally I am ready to go home, even if it is a lovely trip after 7 days…I hope we get to do it again someday. Bella was a champ – she hiked some steep hikes and asked for more and more. She played with cousins, swam daily, and was a generally happy kiddo. Audrey was along for the ride in the Ergo, and slept fairly good and I think the mountain air and hangin with family did us all a little good. As a sidenote, when people ask Bella if she had a good vacation and where she went, she says, “I don’t know where we were, but we had fun…and my favorite thing was the tooting mud (artist’s paint pots in Yellowstone)..”

I have a bazillion photos to go through, but I will post soon.

We came back to our birthdays – Bella decided she would like a party, so the day after our return, we invited a couple neighbors over for birthday cake and grabbed some Dora decor and a pinata from Party City. She had a blast. Her requirements (as she said to me the night before) were “Mom, I’d like a party…you know with cake, balloons and presents. Owen and Desi can be my guests.” It was very simple and easy going and she was totally happy. Phil took the kids to his house for a dip in the jacuzzi to top the day off! It was lovely.

Bella had her 4 year appointment the next day and she is 36 lbs and 40.5 in. Right in the 65ish% for both. She sure is growing. When she does something good right now, and I praise her she will say, “I know..that is because I am four!” She cracks me up as always.

Audrey is growing too. Today she had a doc appt, and she weighs 15 lbs 8 oz – so she has finally reached the 20%..yea!! I guess feeding her 3 times a day is working finally…she is a pretty picky eater – only likes oatmeal, prunes and orange foods so far…but I plan to keep trying to expand her palette. She is crawling all over now – and has finally learned to sit up. She is already trying to pull up too – she wants to be where her sister is at all times.

No photos today, just wanted to write down some notes. Will go through them all soon!

As usual, summer is just flying by. The Laird Family came out for a week during fourth of July. As usual, we had a blast. I think the photos say it best. Bella just loves seeing her cousins – and Audrey had a great time too! We even met up with the Radcliffe Family in Mission Bay one day. The girls loved the paddle board.

Bella is just growing up so much – she is such the “Big” girl. Today, she went with me to get her first pedicure. It was hilarious – and she absolutely loved it. I let her pick the color, and she was so happy she got to hold the glass bottle the whole time. (She chose neon orange.) The lady gave her a flower on both big toes. She stayed so STILL at the end, so that they could dry. I was really impressed. She can be such a girly, girl, but at the same time, loves to do absolutely disgusting things. Two conversations that we had over the past two days crack me up, so I’ll share:

Mom – Bella, want to go on a fishing lesson when we go on vacation?
B – Do I get to put the worm on the hook and everything?
M – I think so.
B – Do I get to touch the fish?
M – If you catch one…
B – Mom, I LOVE slimy things, so I REALLY want to do that!!!

Later, Jer was out of town, and she was playing nicely downstairs while I was nursing Audrey upstairs and putting her to bed. She yelled up to me this conversation:
B – MOM! Hazel is licking the carpet, but there is nothing there for her to lick.
M – It’s ok, Bella. Don’t worry about it, I’ll check it out when I get Audrey to bed.
(a minute or so passes)
B – It’s OK, MOM! I tried it and there isn’t anything there.
M – (panicked) – Bella, PLEASE, don’t lick the carpet – it is REALLY dirty and can make you sick.
B – MOM, I didn’t lick in the same place that Hazel licked…I just wanted to try it.

On to Audrey…she is now a crawling machine – and is ALL over the place. She has two bottom teeth – and is eating three meals a day in addition to nursing. She is pretty picky about what she will ingest so far – and due to her reaction a couple of months ago, I feel limited with what I give her..but so far Oatmeal, Carrots, Mango & Prunes are the safe bets. She is a crack up – and absolutely lights up when Bella plays with her. She just loves her big sis. She barely naps (like two 30 min naps a day would be common for us…) But she sleeps 11-12 hour at night, so I’ll take it!

Life is good – feel like we are getting into the swing of things. Summer has been pretty awesome so far – can’t believe it is halfway over.

Her first tooth (on the bottom in the middle) finally broke through!! I was wondering why she has been waking up so early…hope this is why! AND…SHE STARTED CRAWLING!! She is so stoked about being able to move around. She has been trying SO SO hard for the past few weeks, and tonight Bella was playing a game on my Kindle, and she must have really wanted it. Neither of us were paying that much attention, and all the sudden she just crawled right over. Once that happened, we were putting toys all over the living room to try to get her to come to us. She was so entertained by it all. Let the crawling games begin!!

We had Audrey’s 6 month appointment last week. Here are her stats:
Height: 26.5 in – 73%
Weight: 13lbs 13oz – 9.5%

She is doing everything that she is supposed to be doing (trying to sit up, babbling, trying to crawl, sleeping better). But the doctor was concerned about her weight. SO we are aggressively trying to get her to eat SOMETHING. She is not very thrilled about the idea. I’ve decided to keep a little diary online of what I’ve tried so I can keep a record:

We have started over from scratch since the Avocado/Pear/Applesauce throwing up incidents. I’ve decided I am just going to avoid those things for a while and keep trying others.

1> Sweet Potato – totally rejected it. Didn’t even swallow any.
2> Zucchini – see above for sweet potato
3> Rice Cereal mixed with Breast milk – spits it out but doesn’t completely reject it, I feel like a very small amount is at least getting into her belly with this one so we tried it for 3 days. She woke up at night (and has been sleeping consistently through the night before this) for 2 of the days twice during the night. I think maybe her belly hurt. She also got a little rash on her face. Could be because it is so messy when she eats? Or maybe a food allergy?
4> Oatmeal mixed with water – spits it out but doesn’t completely reject it. We are on day 2 of this. She woke in the night both nights and has not had a BM since we started it. Still has the little rash on her face.

So…we are just going to keep trying and move slowly through. I’d like to get her to like the idea of eating before we move through too many foods. I will post a funny video of her idea of eating…

Other than the “trying to beef her up” thing, she is doing great. She seems happy most of the day – doesn’t nap much, but sleeps ok during the night. (when she wakes I just give her a passy…)

Summer is in full swing and we are really enjoying it. I’ve been reading “Parenting the Strong-Willed Child” in an effort to improve my parenting skills with Bella, and the suggestions are really seeming to make a difference. She has been really easy going the last two weeks (and Jeremy was even traveling for a good part of that!), and it is much more peaceful in our house when she and I are in a good groove and she is following directions (which she is doing a really good job of as of late!).

Preschool is on a break – and we’ve been having alot of fun enjoying the outdoors and meeting up with one of her preschool friends “Jake”. We spent some time at Balboa Park recently – which I haven’t really done. It is really cool – and I feel like there is alot more we need to explore over there.

The Lairds come for a visit at the end of this week. I’m so excited I can hardly contain it. We are going to have SO much fun. Bella has started her “countdown” of the days. I’m so happy that they are willing to pack up the family and come out here for a visit. I know it is a lot of work for Chrissie and Charlton – but we are THRILLED every time they come – and it creates such wonderful memories for Bella (and I’m looking forward to hangin’ with my sissy and Charlton on the patio at night once the kids are in bed

Here’s some photos!

[gpslideshow]

Wow. Today I was in the car, and I just starting thinking about how lucky I am to have these beautiful little children in my life. Often, I find myself looking ahead to the next thing: for Audrey – excited about her eating soon, and crawling and sleeping better; for Bella – excited to see her making true friends, learning social skills and discovering her world in so so many ways. But today, all I could think is that they are growing so fast – and sometimes I wish I could just freeze a moment in time. They are beautiful right now, and I will never get them at this age again – and I absolutely love it. And even though I want to stop time sometimes, I realize it just gets better and better.

Bella can really test you – as she is learning SO much right now, and we are having to teach her about “right” and “wrong” behavior. I have to remind myself alot of days that she is only 3, because she speaks like a 5 year old, and she comes up with some really creative ideas for her age. She imitates everything – including other kids (which can sometimes not do the “right” thing). Often, I don’t even think she realizes that she is doing something “unkind”. (For example, she called me a “poo poo head” the other day when we were walking home and I said something she didn’t like – she said it a bit apprehensively, like she didn’t know for sure if it was ok to say…I definitely let her know it was not in that case…) We had a talk tonight about how important when you are doing something that you see someone else do, that you need to look into your own heart to decide if it feels “right”. The golden rule – do unto others as you would have done to you…I think she got it. Although I am sure it will take years to really try to follow. I do think she wants to be “kind” to others in her heart. It is exciting to see her try to learn how to empathize a bit. What a big skill for a kid to try to wrap their head around!

Audrey is trying SO hard to crawl. She is so darn close. Today she learned how to hurl her body forward to get what she wants. Not really a scoot – more of just getting up on her hands and knees and then pushing her whole body forward on her tummy one time. She is also trying to sit up. She is very determined and quite strong for her age. I am still waiting to feed her “food” until I see the doctor next week for her 6 month appt. But, she is sleeping better at this point. Her naps are erratic, but at night she will go from 7:45 until 5 am fairly regularly – maybe waking just once in that time frame. You know I love my sleep and would love to have her make it until 7 – but after the past few months I’m celebrating just getting to sleep for more than 4 hours in a row. I’ll take what I can get. 🙂

Summer is here – and we’ve been very busy already. We had a wonderful visit with Christi, Jason, Caitlin and Dianne at our house a few weeks ago – and this past weekend we went to Houston and visited with GoGo (MiMi came for one day) and Big Don. It was really fun to see the great-grandparents. We are blessed to still have them in our lives – and I love to hear their stories about when they grew up. Both our grandparents actually grew up in the Houston area…Big Don was telling me a story about the planes he used to fly, and how he landed one without the wheels on a trip with MeMe’s dad, and also about raising my mom, aunt and uncle – and hang drying all their diapers (yuk!). I wish I could force them to write a book, because I just love to imagine what it was like when they were raising our parents. It is so different now. (My kid will never be get to roam around a forest for hours like GoGo did as a child…wouldn’t it be wonderful to allow them that freedom! They will probably have cell phones implanted in their brains and gps to boot by the time they are in middle school.)

Thought I should post an update today – as I know as summer rolls on, I won’t get many chances to do so. We are looking forward to so many things!

I don’t have my photos just yet from Houston – but here are a few from when the Kennedy’s and Mi Mi visited. Sorry some are sideways – I didn’t have time to edit.

Audrey just can’t seem to catch a break. After our debacle last week thinking she had the stomach virus, and then deciding she just was allergic to avocado. (She puked all afternoon on Tuesday, wouldn’t drink anything for 8 hours and became super lethargic…), I decided to just breastfeed her – no more solids for a while. Then, she came down with a little cold this weekend, and is snotty and coughing. So today, when she seemed better, and was watching me intently eat my breakfast – I thought…hmmm…let’s let her have a little food today. We tried Pears. She didn’t like it. I mixed a little rice cereal in. She tolerated a few bites, but had very little interest so I decided to stop feeding her. Two hours later…we were in the same situation as last Tuesday. Poor kiddo was puking up everything until only bile was coming out. She calmed quicker this time, and fell asleep for a few hours, but still refused to nurse or drink Pedialyte until about 5pm. After she did – she was all smiles again. Even trying to crawl and such. She seemed more tired tonight than usual and fell asleep nursing (which we don’t normally do..) Now, I don’t know what to think!?!?! BUT – I do know that I do not plan on feeding that child anything but breastmilk for the next month. I don’t want to see her poor little lethargic sad pukey face again. I guess I definitely have some stuff to ask the doctor about at her 6 month appt.

Besides her health issues – she is doing great. She is a smiley baby, very even tempered. Trying SOOOOOOO hard to crawl, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets it in the next few weeks. She currently “crawls” backwards. She also does “Downward Dog” and then falls forward. It is pretty funny. If she can just figure out how to put one hand forward, she’ll have it…And then, I got to do some serious baby-proofing around this house!

I’ve been working on getting Audrey into a major Routine (schedule) and it seems to be helping with her sleep a bit! Two nights ago I even got 6 hours in a row!! This is huge for her. (Who would think I would celebrate being woken up at 5am ten years ago?!) I actually feel a little bad for her, as I am constantly schlepping her around to get Bella at preschool during her nap times, so I am taking advantage of Dianne being here to try to give her some consistency in her crib this week. It seems to be helping – YEA! I got video of her laughing yesterday. Thought I’d post..Click on the link below to see.

PS> Yes – We are all still sick. This is really starting to be a bit ridiculous.

We have butterflies (2 so far! I think more will come out of their chrysalids tomorrow!)!!! And Strep and nasty colds (AGAIN!)…but what can you do? Since Bella stayed home from preschool today, it gave us something fun to do. We picked out flowers from the yard and dropped sugar water on them for the butterflies to drink.

Since bugs seem to be our favorite thing right now, we decided to make snails for dinner tonight. Bella ate everything on her plate. 🙂

Audrey update – her hips are just fine – she is just not very flexible – YEA! She is still not sleeping (although it is was a teensy bit better last night – only up twice instead of three times…) She also refuses to sleep on her back, immediately flips to her tummy. I’m constantly a worried mama due to this, but I am trying to get over it and just be happy that she is at least asleep.

Mi Mi visits in 5 days! YEA!!!!! As usual, Bella is counting down the days. Hopefully we will all be well by the time she gets here.

Audrey is officially a roller! She is rolling from back to tummy super easily, and tummy to back until she gets tired (and then she just screams until you roll her back onto her back).

We tried a four hour feeding schedule for 7 days last week. I’m sad to report that it did absolutely nothing to help with our sleepless nights – but I am going to keep trying. We put her down at night drowsy but awake after I feed her and she normally settles right to bed, but when she wakes in the middle of the night, she immediately starts wailing. Normally I will feed her the first time (around midnight or 1 am) and she drains both sides, and then the second time (anywhere between 3:30-5) she does it, I just try to comfort her with a passy / patting / gas medicine / burping until she falls back asleep (this normally takes an hour – good times) and then feed her again when she wakes for the morning (anywhere between 6-7:30am). She is a super gassy baby. When I pick her up she burps and toots like an old man. I think she is having some plumbing issues, and I’m hoping that just works itself out as she grows. I’ve tried eliminating dairy from my diet – and I am thinking about trying gluten next…we’ll see how patient I can be…I do think she is eating better during the day since we spread apart her feedings – so I guess that is a good thing. She is not a big fan of eating rice cereal. I don’t think she minds the taste – as the first few bites she seems fine, but after a few, she gets frustrated and starts arching her back like she is gassy…hmmm

We are actually going in for an ultrasound this week to check for hip issues. Maybe she is just uncomfortable? Time will tell, right?

In the meantime, I am looking for a new domain name for this blog. Something to represent both my girls – if you have any ideas – shoot me an email.

As usual, the days are moving by me so fast that I am nowhere near up to date on the blog. We did finally get to have Christmas with my mom last week. It was great to finally have her out here. Bella loved opening up gifts again. Mom got her a CD player for her room, and much like her dad, Bella is taking the music thing very seriously. She has taken over quite a few of my old CDs, and plays music morning and night. Unfortunately, both my girls weren’t sleeping super well (mostly because Audrey was waking the whole house…), so they were a little testy on some of the days, but we still had a very nice visit. Mom helped me a bunch, because Jeremy had to go out of town on business. It is so much harder now when he leaves than when it was just Bella and me. I know this will be better once Audrey is sleeping through the night, and once I can bathe the girls together – but that is quite a few months down the road. (Although in the scheme of things, I guess that really is just a drop in the bucket!) It was very nice to have her here to help.

I’ve been meaning to write down some stuff about the girls that I just don’t want to forget.

Bella:

The girl is crazy about BUGS. She loves SLIMY snails – I’m talking put your finger deep into the slime of the snail and twist it around and stuff. It is the rainy season right now. There are lots in our yard. I’m in a constant state of disgust when she starts playing with them and asking me to touch them, but she is enthralled. We have an Ant farm (Thanks Lairds!) – and we find it very fascinating to watch the paths that they create through the gel. (Okay, I am actually fascinated by that one!) She calls them her pets. Our neighbor, Mary, brought over an awesome big green grasshopper last week. We put it in her bug house that MiMi got her, and she has been feeding it flowers and water. (Unfortunately, I saw Hazel get a hold of it today when I was nursing Audrey and Bella was at school. She made quite a toy out of it. I think I am going to have to discreetly get rid of it, and hopefully she will forget about it.) We just got some caterpillars for the Butterfly house that Dee Dee got her for Christmas. They are growing very quickly, and we watch them every day to see when they will make a chrysalis. Her school has them too, so we have been comparing ours to their growth. The school also got Lady Bugs, and the teachers tell me she is fascinated and just watches them so carefully. Do we have a future entomologist on our hands? Who knows?!?!

Bella and Daddy have this amazing special bond right now. Since I’m busy with Audrey at bedtime, he puts Bella to bed most nights – and they play a game called “The Kind Owl”, and she is always bragging to people about how Daddy tells the best stories. She just lights up whenever he is around. Last night they set a gopher trap together, and today they checked and had gotten one. She was SO proud. They brought the (dead) gopher on a string up to the window to show me (yuck). Grandpa George just sent us this funny card with a picture of him holding a turkey (which Bella really enjoyed!), and all I could think was that he would be so proud! HA!

Bella has started up swimming again. She is showing more and more determination in the pool. Today when we were at lessons, I heard her saying to the teacher. OK, show me, but then can I do it by myself?! She’s still my water baby.

Bella is quick to test us on a regular basis right now. She wants to do things her own way, and is not very good at taking directions at the moment. We are working on it…one day at a time right? It is funny how she can be so helpful one minute and then absolutely refuse to do the simplest task you ask the next. Tonight, she played so nicely with Audrey while I made dinner, then went to feed Hazel, and then asked me if she could unload the dryer for me? (Why YES! you can – THANK YOU!) all of this without me really asking, but then when she came in filthy from getting the gopher it was like pulling teeth to get her to wash the dirt off her hands mostly I think because we told her she had to.

Even though Bella loves a big ol’ mess (and is frequently covered in it), she still loves a big frilly skirt – or a fancy dress. Today, I put on a casual dress to pick her up from school (mostly cause it is SO hot at her swim lessons), and she said, “Mommy, I love your dress…can I get one like it?” She’s all about putting on makeup when I am doing mine as well.  (Hers often goes all over her legs though…I think she likes that she can see it better there…)

Audrey:

My sweet babe, Audrey. She is such a peanut. Her smile just melts me. She loves to be talked to – and for the most part, she is a very easy going baby.  She just started laughing – and hearing her do it brightens my whole day. (It is impossible to be irritated with the fact that she keeps me up all night when she looks at me with those sweet eyes and that big smile…) She’s had a really rough time sleeping through the night especially the past week or so (waking 3 or more times famished throughout the night…) I feel somewhat to blame for this, as her nursing/napping routine has been pretty much nonexistent (turns out it is MUCH harder to have a routine when we are trying to keep up with the almost 4 year old’s activities). I’m working really hard on getting her on a four hour nursing schedule this week. The doctor recommended that we go ahead and start her on rice cereal in the evenings too, since she is so small (12lbs 4oz – 13th percentile in weight) in hopes of getting her some more calories during the day. (She is growing on a good upward trend – she is just little…) The past two days have been better, and I’m hoping that this will help get her sleeping a little bit better through the night. She has started rolling over on to her tummy in the middle of the night, and then she screams when she wakes and can’t get back to her back (which totally freaks me out because of the whole SIDS thing) This too shall pass – right? I think she may have had a growth spurt last week a bit too, as she looks bigger to me right now. Even though she is happy to kick for a little while on her own, she loves to be held…and in the evenings, she pretty much downright demands it. She has just started having a little anxiety when other people hold her versus when it is me…so I am making sure that she has a some time with the nanny and at the gym to try to get her used to other people. I’m absolutely head over heels for my little babe. It is crazy how it has only been a few months, but I can not imagine life without her.

Throughout the days, there are so many times that I see Bella do something or Audrey have a first “moment” and I think I need to write that down, that small thing just makes my heart sing and I am going to forget it someday. And then, by the time I have gotten a second to sit down to do this, I really have forgotten. But even when I am frustrated with having to wrestle Bella into doing something, or super sleep deprived, that feeling will come back to me throughout the day. That happy feeling, that tells me life is really good and I am grateful. I know that I am so lucky to have these two beautiful, healthy, amazing girls. (And their Daddy is pretty awesome too…)

I feel so blessed. Bella, Audrey – Mommy loves you and she always will.