Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A little helper

My littlest sister, Cassidy (8), came up to stay with us for a few days since it's spring break. Bria could barely contain her excitement when we told her Cassidy was coming up, she was thrilled. She arrived Sunday and Bria has been her little shadow ever since. It's super nice to have someone entertain Bria and help out so much, plus I love that I get to spend time with her too.
Sunday night we went to Out of this World Pizza and yesterday I took the girls to the Zoo. Not sure what we are going to do today, maybe lounge in our pj's and paint our toenails :)



My super, awesome, talented friend, Jen made this hat.
It kills me it's so cute! So is the little girl wearing it :)




Brian's twin sister is in town this week too, all the way from Kentucky! Her little boy, Gabriel is a little over a year and the last time we saw him he was 6 months old so we can't wait to have them over. Bria is getting all sorts of spoiled this week with so many playmates :)
Thursday Reese has her 6 month check up, I will post her stats when we get home! Then Bria has a dentist appointment later that day. She's gone in once before when they had the free check up before age 3, but this is her first real appointment. I think she is going to do great but I hope I'm not being overly optimistic.
Speaking of teeth, I think Reese's 2nd bottom tooth is finally about to poke through, I can see the little white underneath the gum. Her first one has grown pretty far. She is eating baby food a lot better and even took a bottle on Sunday morning! We decided the best time to try was in the morning when we knew she would be really hungry. Brian said it took awhile but she finally drank it. Yes! We tried again last night but I don't think she was hungry because she was squealing and just playing with the bottle.
Alright, I'm going to continue drinking my coffee and playing with my baby. Happy Tuesday!

Friday, March 23, 2012

6 months

I was eating breakfast with the girls this morning and looked at the date. It's the 23rd. Reese turned 6 months on the 21st.
I was wondering when the monthly birthday would slip my mind. I seriously forgot the dates all week and thought the 21st wasn't until next week. Scatter brained!
Anyway, let's see what Reese is doing at 6 months old:
  • Sitting up by herself for long periods and playing with toys while doing so
  • Stands up while holding onto something (the edge of her crib, or a toy)
  • Will kind of walk when you hold onto her hands and help her
  • Isn't crawling, but definitely trying, she rolls and scoots and moves all over
  • Is starting to eat a lot better! She has oatmeal with a vegetable every night. So far she has had sweet potatoes, carrots, apples in the baby food variety. In the little mesh feeder she has had frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, mangos, and oranges. I've let her gnaw on a banana as well and at first she made a funny face then decided she liked it. I'm determined to make her like fruit!
  • She wears size 2 diapers, 6-9 month clothes, and has adorable chunky thighs :)
  • She is so smiley and loves to squeal when she sees me, her Daddy, or Bria
  • Refuses a bottle, we've tried 4 different kinds. Grrrr.
  • Loves to cuddle, especially when she wakes up. She cozies herself in your neck and then cradles your face with her hand, it's precious.
  • Is blowing raspberries, which is fun during meal time ;)
  • And I don't want to forget her adorable sleepy noises, she has done this since she was born but I keep forgetting to write about it. She sucks in a big breath and then kind of moans and groans for awhile. It is so funny, and super handy because we always know when she's tired. Seriously though, people stare when we're in public and she does it, it's that funny.
  • Her hair is kind of starting to grow in a little, although it's still pretty light. I am about 90% sure it's going to be curly like Bria's, I can just tell.
  • She is still the most ticklish baby ever.
  • We did a little sleep training with her. I didn't mind her waking up once a night to eat, but she started waking up multiple times and she wasn't hungry, she just wanted the boob to help her go back to sleep. So we decided a little tough love was in order and she is doing so well now. She sleeps 11 hours straight which is fabulous...only that means she is waking up between 6 and 6:45 am...I like 7:30 am but I'm not going to be picky.
  • She naps 2 or 3 times a day, depending on how long and when she takes them
  • She does NOT like dogs. She cried hysterically when MJ came up for a visit, like the kind of cry where you'd think a grizzly bear was coming after her. And MJ is a small white dog. Poor child.
  • Is the sweetest thing ever and I just love to sit and rock her and cuddle.
And for comparison and your viewing pleasure:

Brand new baby Reese

3 month old Reese

6 month old Reese

I'm going to ignore the fact that she is half way to 1 because obviously time is flying by way too fast and I choose to believe I can slow it down if I just forget the dates.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Cup of Joe

I love drinking my morning coffee. I don't always wake up in a great mood, sometimes I do, but sometimes I don't. Either way, just thinking about drinking my piping hot coffee with my hazelnut creamer (and not just a small amount, a LOT of creamer) makes me get out of bed faster. That, and going to see my smiley girls. :)
Sometimes I need a second cup of coffee while Reese is taking her first nap, and when that happens my other little munchkin demands a cup of hot chocolate.
"Hot chocolate, here, now."

I proceed to tell her to use good manners, but I feel kind of hypocritical considering that's pretty much me in the morning before my cup of coffee.
Plus, she is hilariously cute when she says it.

While we sip our delicious hot beverages, we chat. I sure love this little girl.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

My twins

At first I thought they looked different, the newborn days make it hard to tell what they will look like. But now, I think my girls may be the first set of twins to be 3 years apart.

Bria or Reese?
Alright, so the date gives it away, it's Bria.

Again, Bria.

Reese

Bria

Reese

Some of the pictures I can see differences, but overall I feel like they look so much alike. I guess it's the pouty lips, blue eyes, and bald head/blond fuzz. Oh, and of course the super adorable chub :)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Running just as fast as I can

We've been staying busy with fun playdates these days and Bria is enjoying it. It's definitely hard because I feel like I am constantly telling her to share and be nice and take turns, but it's good practice for her.

Kenzie, Bria, and Bristol playing in the princess tent together

Seriously adorable.

Bria taking her stuffed animals for a ride on the train, all aboard!


Pretty in purple
I love those baby blues!

Reese has gotten so much better at eating baby food. She is definitely messier than Bria was, but I figured that would happen because Bria was a pretty clean eater. We purchased these mesh feeders at Christmas time and just started using them. Reese loves them. I put frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, and she gobbles them down. When she had devoured the blueberries she cried until we got her more. Maybe I will have a child that likes fruit!

Kenzie and Bria playing dress up

The weather this weekend was crazy, absolutely crazy. Blue sky, sunny, freezing, rain, hail, snow. You name it, we got it. It's not fun to look at the rest of the country getting heat waves while we are suffering a miserably cold winter. Grrr. I cannot wait for warmer, sunnier weather.

Despite the frigid temperatures and unrelenting rain, I am jogging. That's right folks, I've decided enough is enough, I need to be more active. The weather in Oregon is never going to get better, I've lived here for 28 years, I should know this by now. So I'm just going to grin and bear it. In fact, my loving husband wants to support me in my jogging endeavor so we are now the proud owners of a double jogging stroller.


And as a bonus, it doubles as bike trailer! We are super excited about this, we got an awesome deal at Costco.

Anyway, I would really like to make a habit of jogging with the girls, I'm thinking about 3 times a week. I know that's not a ton, but it's realistic for me. I'm really hoping I can stick to this, I'd like to turn some flab into muscle.

Friday, March 16, 2012

This is nice

By "this" I mean, being a Mother of 2. This time around I am more confident and comfortable.

Reese is such a sweet girl and we love her to the moon and back. The transition from 1 to 2 kids has been a lot easier for me than from 0 to 1. I have been so much more relaxed and I have enjoyed the baby stage immensely.

With Bria I was so nervous and wondering if I was doing everything wrong that I didn't relax and just soak in the sweetness. Don't get me wrong, the baby stage can be hard. They can't communicate with you, their sleep is consistently inconsistent, and they need you for absolutely everything.






But it's also such a sweet phase. They are innocent, happy, and just want to be with you. I absolutely love the way Reese looks at me, it's a look of undying love and it makes my heart melt.



I don't have her on a strict schedule and when she isn't ready to go to bed I don't stress, instead I make her giggle and laugh and just cuddle her.


When her first tooth broke through I was excited but then really sad. That sweet gummy smile is going to change soon and that kills me. My baby isn't going to be a baby much longer and that makes me so sad.



I LOVE this picture, too bad it's blurry :(

I'm just glad that I have gotten to enjoy the baby stage this time around. Don't get me wrong, Bria was my first born and I did enjoy it, I was thrilled. I just stressed a lot and had a lot of anxiety which was hard. I also think it was hard being needed so much when I wasn't use to it. Now I love that Reese lights up when she sees me and always wants me to hold her. I'm relishing in it.



We sure love our girls.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

School time

I've decided to start working on letters with Bria since she is having a hard time with them. I can't blame her, I haven't been teaching her in an interesting way so she has a hard time paying attention. She's known her ABC's for like 2 years and she can spell her name, but she can't identify all her letters.
I found an awesome website that has preschool lesson plans and I went to town. My goal was to do "school time" 3 days a week. Obviously not all day, but at some point in the day (while Reese is napping). You focus on one letter each week so they learn it really well and incorporate themes with it. I've had a lot of fun doing lesson plans on Sunday nights and doing little craft things. Bria is a cute little student and I will find her teaching her Jessie doll throughout the day. So far she knows A and B! C is next week :)

A is for Ark! She learned all about Noah's Ark and the rainbow

A is also for Apple, she made apples in the tree with paint and her thumb.

And this noodle necklace is just a fun craft we did :)
Noodle necklaces are the new thing

Sometimes while I am teaching Bria, this little cutie is hanging out:
She helped with B, B is for Baby!

I love how you can see my Bria Ballerina in the background


This is blurry because I thought she was falling and set the camera down, she wasn't though
My strong girl.

These days with my little girls are just flying by. I'm looking forward to the summer where we can spend lots of time outside playing.