Adoration

Ellie really "looks up" to Hayden. She's always craning her head around to see what Hayden's up to. She laughs the hardest when Hayden plays with her. She calms down when Hayden talks to her. Ellie definitely loves her big sister.

I took this pictures of the girls together the other night and I think that Hayden's love for Ellie is evident in this picture. Hayden loves to look at Ellie, talk to her, sing to her, entertain her, and take care of her. Hayden is looking at Ellie with such adoration in this picture and it just melts my heart.

















Having never had a sister growing up, I'm really enjoying getting to watch these sisters bond with each other and start their lifelong friendship.

(As a side note - I have one heck of an amazing brother and wouldn't trade him for anything - not even a sister! He and Afton moved to Texas almost two weeks ago and we miss them SO much every day. I love you Ashley! Thank you for being such a wonderful brother!)

Nine Months

Ellie had her 9 month check up last week. Matt usually takes the girls to their check up appointments but I got to take her this time. Yay!

The appointment went great and the doctor said that she's doing well. She's about 85th percentile for her height and only 60th percentile for her weight. I'm pretty sure the graph is wrong though. Look at this chunk of love! She weighs over 19 1/2 pounds!! I love every inch of it though. Her little belly, the rolls on her legs and wrists, and her big cheeks. I just want to eat her up!!

The doctor commented on how happy she was and how active she is. While she's still relaxed and laid back she has definitely become more active in the last few weeks. She's always flapping her arms, kicking her legs, or rolling over. We know that our days are limited until we have TWO mobile children. I guess we need to start looking for that baby gate in the garage.

She said that before her next appointment (her 1 year check up - HOLY COW!) that she should be "talking" more, crawling, standing, and eating a bunch of new stuff. What's happening to our little baby? I guess I need to enjoy every minute of her chunky rolls while I can!

Home Depot

We took the girls to Home Depot last weekend to get a few things we needed from around the house. This was the first time that we put them in the cart together and they both seemed to love it. We are still working on Ellie so that she doesn't pull Hayden's hair the whole time but otherwise we'll call this a success!

Golfing

On Father's Day we spent the day doing things that Matt wanted to do, as it should be. We went to Village Inn that morning for his favorite breakfast, drove to Babies R Us to get a new stroller (okay so that was a little bit for me), drove to PGA Superstore for more golf balls, and then home for golf on TV. We ended the day with fajitas and pool time with the girls.

While we were driving to PGA Superstore Matt told Hayden that we were going to the golf store. She said "I want to golf at the golf store". This was of course music to Matt's ears. I think he may actually be counting down the days until he can take the girls out to play on an actual golf course.

Luckily, PGA Superstore is massive and has a driving simulator area, a chipping area, and a putting area. Matt took Hayden over to putt a little bit and I couldn't help but take a few pictures. My favorite is the first picture where you can see her underwear-covered bum. Yes, I took the picture and THEN told Matt to pull down her dress.

Two Tat

Last night Hayden was walking around saying "Two Tat! Two Tat!" We couldn't figure out what she was asking for or what she was saying and kept trying to guess.

Two Cats?
To That?
Tooth?
Too Fat?

After several minutes of this it dawned on me that earlier in the day she showed me a sheet of stickers. Those stickers, I said, were TATTOOS and she could have one later. Mystery solved! She wanted a Tattoo and got a little confused on the pronunciation. However, hearing her yell "I want a Tattoo" was a little horrifying and I started wishing she'd go back to saying "Two Tats".

Below is a picture of her Tinkerbell Two Tat.

Pool Weather

Last Sunday we took the girls into the pool. It was Anabelle's first time in the swimming pool and while she seemed to like it she was SO not in the mood for it. She was a little fussy before we got in and continued to be fussy while we were in there. We gave her the pacifier and that seemed to help but she was definitely not her normal self.

We had a fun time though. Hayden isn't taking any swim lessons (yet) this summer. The last two summers she's taken ISR training and this year we were looking into more of an actual swimming class instead of just survival. We haven't found anything yet but are still looking. Hey - we've still got more than 3 months left of pool time this year, right?

But, she's been really good about jumping to us from the baja step, letting us throw her back and forth, doing "shamu" with Matt, and sometimes doing "Jack in the Box" with me. (Jack in the box, Jack in the box, Jack goes IN the box - we go underwater together). Sometimes this is fun and sometimes she says "no more Jack, mommy."

We are looking forward to many, many more lazy Sundays in the pool with the kiddos this year.

Father's Day

Take a Stand

Look at our big girl standing up! She's become a lot more sturdy and stable in the last couple of weeks and will now stand next to stuff for about 10 minutes at a time. Such a big girl!

School Pictures

A few weeks ago we got a notice that it was time for school pictures at daycare. At one time I thought that having "school pictures" at daycare was so ridiculous and basically just an excuse for the large picture company to weasel money out of parents at an even earlier age. I still feel like that's the case, but now I'm one of those suckers!

We got the girls dressed up in their cute outfits and also asked that they pose the girls together for a couple of shots. Later that day I heard about the actual photo "session" and was cracking up. Basically, Hayden didn't want to pose for a picture - at all. Not even a little bit. One of her teachers was eventually able to bribe her with candy and after a little tantrum and some crying the pictures were taken. I could picture the entire scene in my head as the teacher told me the story.

A couple of days ago we got our pictures and they are even better than I expected. I seriously love everything about these pictures.

I love Hayden's pose in this picture. Classic, posed, school picture.




















I love Hayden's CRAZY HAIR in this picture.




















That face!! I love it!




















I love Anabelle's gigantic cheeks in this picture. And I love that they captured her not smiling. I actually didn't even think that was possible, considering she's the happiest and most laid back baby in the universe. Seriously.




















There's the smile!! I just want to eat her up.
















The thing I love the most about this picture is the size of Anabelle's enormous head. It's as big as Hayden's. Maybe bigger. Look at the size of that noggin! I guess my girls have big heads for all of those BRAINS in there!




















My favorite picture of the girls. I love Hayden's fake smile. I love that Hayden is lovingly squeezing Anabelle's head to her head. I love that Anabelle is so relaxed and is just going with it.
















I guess school pictures were a success. Now excuse me - I need to go and place my order for 14 wallet sized pictures, 10 4x6s, 20 5x7s, 12 8x10s, and 3 posters. Just kidding...kind of.

More iPad fun

Hahaha. This app cracks me up! Doesn't take much to amuse me, I guess.

Fun with the iPad

Matt surprised me with an iPad a couple of nights ago and I've been glued to it ever since. Needless to say, we've been having some fun with the photo booth this morning. Hehe

Beastie Boys

For those of you in our generation, we hope this cracks you up as much as it does us. For those of you that aren't in our generation, the band said it best,

"Mom busted in and said 'what's that noise'?
Mom you're just jealous, it's the Beastie Boys!"

I realize that we're dealing with two different songs here - but you get the picture.

Now...enjoy...

Birthday Girl

Hayden's third birthday was a month ago. This was her birthday outfit; both for her party at the park and for daycare on her actual birthday. We had such a great couple of weeks celebrating her birthday! Our big girl!

Sleepy Heads

A few weeks ago I let Hayden take a nap on the couch. In an effort to get her to sleep I laid down with her...and promptly fell asleep next to her. Matt snuck up on us and took this picture. It cracks me up that we both have our hand tucked in between our legs the same way.

Dada!

We were eating tonight and Anabelle started babbling. Babble, babble, babble and then she said Dada! It was awesome. I said, "Matt, did you hear that?" And she said it again. And then again. We all started clapping and were so excited. She got a huge smile on her face and looked so proud of herself.

In just a couple of days she will be nine months old. She's grown so much in just the past two months. Her little face has gotten bigger, and her legs are super chunky. I love those little legs!! She is a champion at sitting up now and it seems that she really loves her new view. She has shown zero interest in crawling, and we are completely okay with that. It's just so much easier to manage when babies aren't mobile. We are trying to enjoy it for now because we know that once she's on the move she will be all over the place.

She smiles all the time and is such a chill baby. She rarely cries and is happy to just hang out. Sometimes I go into her room in the morning to check on her and she's wide awake just hanging out. No crying; just totally content. She has such a great little smile too and laughs so much. Hayden makes her laugh the most and when she finds something that makes her laugh she will do it over, and over, and over so we can hear Anabelle crack up.

She has only gotten in one tooth so far. She's been drooling non-stop for the past three months though so more teeth are bound to poke through soon. She eats baby food 2-3 times a day and loves vegetables and fruit alike. She's a great little eater...which explains the wonderfully chunky legs she's sporting.

Anabelle is such a sweet baby and we are so grateful for her. She's the perfect addition to our little family!

Oma and Opa

My Mom and step-dad, Mark, were here this weekend for Afton's graduation from medical school. They stayed at our house for the weekend and we just had a great day with them. We had breakfast, went to the park so Hayden could ride her bike and play on the playground, went to Costco, and hung out in the pool. We just took them to the airport and were so sad to see them leave. Both of the girls had a great time visiting with them. Come back soon, Oma and Opa!