Lunch Time

A couple of weeks ago, Emma went from using her high chair to using a booster seat. She is doing very well with it and she looks like such a big girl in it. It's so cute to see her climb up the chair and sit down to eat. Plus, I like that she is sitting at the table with us now. Ryleigh is doing great with her meals too. I have really been working with her the past few weeks on taking a sippy cup. She gets water or juice every day with her baby food and she takes it all from a cup. She does very well and will now take multiple types of cups. She tries so hard to hold it herself. She will grab the handles but doesn't quite understand to tilt it up. Feeding her has become so funny and challenging at the same time. She gets so excited about eating that she kicks her legs and waves her arms and it's hard to get the spoon to her mouth without her grabbing it, or kicking it and making a mess. Ryleigh has also been eating puffs for a few weeks now too. As I put it in her mouth I crush it a little so that she can "chew" it the rest of the way. She is learning so quickly and I love being able to give her different things. She is becoming such a big girl.

Finally!

After months of teething, Ryleigh finally has her

1st tooth!!!

The past few months of teething have been brutal. I never had a problem with Emma teething so this is all new to me. Emma also got her 1st tooth around 8 months or so and Ryleigh is 5 1/2. But Ryleigh kept teething and I kept thinking something was going to come and it never did until a couple of days ago when I could see a little point start coming through. Last night she slept from 8:15-3:45 but then woke up crying, so I fed her and usually she will go right back to sleep. But last night, she fussed for 2 1/2 hours before finally falling back asleep. I would get her asleep for 5 min. and then she would woke up crying. I tried everything I knew but nothing was helping. So when I felt around in her mouth, I can now feel that the bottom left tooth has broken through all the way now. Once we got up this morning, I could see it really good. The bottom right tooth isn't too far behind. The point of that one is already through. I'm hoping that what everyone says is true, and that the first ones are always the hardest. She has had a rough time with these teeth. Hopefully now we will get a little break before starting up again.
I tired getting a picture but you can't hardly see anything, so maybe a few more days and I'll be able to show you!

Birthday Fun!!

Today Josh only worked a half day, and then came home to spend time with us...especially Emma. We planned a special trip to Build-a-Bear. I was on the fence whether Emma was old enough, and in some ways she is, but in other ways she's not. I forgot to take my camera in the store but it wouldn't have mattered because I was too busy chasing Emma and helping her. Once we got in the store I took her to pick out what she wanted to build. She looked at a few and then picked up a little frog and handed it to me. So then she went and helped stuff her. I then lifted her up and let her grab a heart, and she put it inside. While the lady was sewing her up, I helped Emma pick out a little outfit. It was too cute. A little pink top with flowers and capri jeans, something I could definitely see Emma wearing. Once the frog was stitched up, Emma took it over to the "bath" area. She laid her on the table and there was a little thing you push with your feet and it blew air out to clean your animal off. Once I showed her how to do that, thats. ALL. she. wanted. to. do!! We had to pry her away from it long enough to dress the frog and make a birth certificate. We chose to name her "Bubbles" because that was technically Emma's first word. She carried her all the way out to the car and hugged her the whole way home. Once we got home she made sure to show Bubbles around and even let her ride in her new baby stroller and tricycle. It was so cute. I'm so glad we took her. It was a great way to spend her birthday!Josh and I let Emma open most of her birthday presents yesterday at her party, but we wanted to make sure we left one for her to open on her actual birthday. So today she got a little bassinet for her baby dolls. I screwed up really bad because I THOUGHT when I bought this that it came with the bassinet and a baby doll but we were kind of disappointed when she opened it and then realized that it was only a bassinet. But that's ok. She has baby dolls that she can use it with. I felt so bad, but I picked it up when I was shopping with both girls, and surely you moms out there can understand why I didn't have time to read the whole box before purchasing. I just mainly looked at the picture and in the pictures was a baby in the bassinet. Oh well.Emma got this cool alphabet and numbers mat puzzle from Josh's mom and dad. We took some of it out and put it together for Emma to play with. She loves puzzles and can always find where things go. She had tons of fun taking pieces out and putting them back together. It's been such a fun day. Emma has been going non-stop all day playing with all her new toys. Emma has had a great birthday!


Happy Birthday little Emma. Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

2 Years in Pictures

Emma is 2!!

Today is my little lovebugs birthday! I can't believe Emma is 2 already. The past 2 years have flown by. Josh and I have seen her go from a helpless little baby to a very independent little toddler. She is so sweet and also very stubborn. Last night we had Emma's party at our house. Most of our families came and it was a lot of fun. She got tons of new toys that she hasn't stopped playing with since. Josh and I gave her a new kitchen. We covered it with a sheet and let her pull it off. She loves it.

SURPRISE!!!

Saturday night was Grandma's SURPRISE 75th birthday party. Her birthday is actually today. [Her and Emma share a birthday!] We got to the church around 4:45 and Grandma came around 5:30 and was so surprised to see all her family and friends there. Her face was absolutely priceless. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner and then several people got up and told some great stories about her. Then there was cake. We had to leave around 7:15 to get the girls in bed but we still had a lot of fun. Happy Birthday Grandma. Love you.

Changes...

The past week, Josh and I have been really busy making a lot of changes around the house. We have been wanting to do these things for a long time and now with Emma's up coming party this Sunday, we thought this was the perfect time. My goal is to make a ton more room in our living room. So we mounted our t.v. above our fireplace and Josh ran wire to mount all of our surround sound speakers around the t.v. Now we can get the big t.v. stand out of the way and clear up a lot of space. Also, last night we switched our couch and loveseat around and believe it or not it makes the room look so much bigger. It didn't really create a lot more room but we have more room in different places now. I have moved around several toys and Emma's toy box. It looks like a completely different living room. I'm so excited.[I'll take pictures soon]

I can.not.wait. till Emma's party Sunday. I have put a lot of effort into planning it and I hope everything goes as planned. We got Emma's birthday presents Monday and I'm want to give them to her so bad but I know waiting till Sunday will be worth it. We have a super busy weekend coming up but I've made all of my lists so that nothing is forgotten. I've even made Josh a "honey do list" that he actually is working on completing...instead of ignoring it like he usually does. ;-)

In other news. Last night Ryleigh slept all night in the same room as her sister. She takes all of her naps in her crib and we have been trying to get her moved into her crib at night for some time. Usually she only makes it part of the night and then I put her back in her pack n play for the other part. It's mostly my fault because I haven't been as consistent with making her sleep in her crib at night. But last night, she slept from 8:30-1 and then 1:45-7:45 in her crib. Her and Emma woke up at the same time and neither of them woke the other up during the night. So we are making progress. I knew having a 2 year old and 5 month old in the same room was going to be challenging but I'm trying to embrace the challenge instead of stressing over it. It will all be alright and we'll figure it out. It's just going to take some time.

OK, gotta go wrap some birthday presents. Only 4 days till the party!...and 5 days till my baby girl turns 2!!!

First Bath....

Together!

This past week Josh spent three nights volunteering at the Wyndham Championship. So I had the girls all to myself for 3 whole days. Thursday night they both needed baths so I decided to just put them in the tub together. It will be so much easier once Ryleigh can sit by herself in the bath tub. But that had fun. Emma kept wanting to wash Ryleigh and Ryleigh just looks at Emma likes she's crazy.

Exersaucer & Bananas

We have been doing a lot of rearranging around the house this week. Our condo is not exactly big and with two girls and all their toys we quickly are running out of room. So this past Sunday we decided to go ahead and move Ryleigh to her convertible carseat and then I sold her infant carseat, swing, infant seat, and boppy pillow to make more room. She would only sit in her swing her about 10 minutes and it was just taking up too much room. I was so sad to see all that stuff go, but I know that I can't keep everything the girls ever use. Ryleigh has been using her jumper some but it is still a little big for her and there aren't a whole lot of toys on it for her to play with. Yesterday while I was out picking up a few things, I ran across this! I got this $100 exersaucer for $20!!!! It was too good of a deal to pass up. And Ryleigh LOVES it. She will stay in it so much longer because there's a ton of stuff for her to play with on it. It even plays music and lights up. I love when I find great deals like that!

About a month ago I bought these mesh feeders when Ryleigh started solids. I tried them then, and she didn't care for it. I think she was just too young to know what to do with it. Last night I tried it again and she chewed on that thing for about 20 minutes. She ate all of the bananas that were in there. She definitely knows what to do with it now.