The big birthday girl!

March 1- We celebrated E's birthday today, we started out the day with a breakfast donut. Then she opened her presents (a playmobile pyramid) and we played most of the afternoon. We ended the celebration with dinner at the Nitty Gritty.

I can't believe our little E is a four year old! She is getting more mature each day, her imagination is flourishing, she has started drawing pictures rather then scribbles. She drew her first picture of her and her sister the other day. E is getting silly learning to tell jokes and ask funny questions. E is getting more sensitive to social situations, unfortunatly, not a day passes were we don't get a story about some social aspect of daycare (usually someone calling someone else a name, etc.). I can' wait to see what this year brings.

February 28- The strange thing about M's birthday being on the 31st, is that it is hard to know exactly when to take these pictures, and February was challenging. So, we took the 11th month on on the 28th, figuring it was as close as we could get. Today E and dada went to see Beauty and the Beast, the play that dada's high school is presenting. They took a picnic to eat in dada's classroom, and had quite an evening. Unfortunately, they both got food poisoning, which cut the evening short. The food poisoning made for a long night, E ended up sleeping in my spot, while M and I camped out on M"s floor.

M and I spent the evening together, we did a little grocery shopping, and some playing. M has discovered (or learned) where her nose is. So she spends lots of time putting her finger on the side of her nose, and then smiling at you, until you compliment her on finding her nose!

February 27- M loves these Sesame Street books, we have several, and she loves reading them. What is noticeable to me about this picture is the fact that she is squatting. When we had questions about her leg development, I remember worrying because she never squatted, only sat when she wanted to look at something. E squatted all the time, and started at a very young age. I asked my mom about M's sitting vs. squatting, and she pointed out that E started walking so early, which is why she seemed to squat so long, whereas M started walking "late" for our family.

February 26- E has been really into feeding her dolly lately, of course, this puts it right at M's eye (and hand) level.

M, and E before her, love playing with the pieces of my breast pump. I have no idea why, they both loved unpacking all the pieces and carrying around the little bottles. M  knows how the unscrew the lids (as long as they aren't on too tight).

February 25- Me and my girls! If one is on a lap, the other won't be far behind! We had something of a milestone today, when I picked E up for daycare, one of her teachers (her favorite Miss Trisha) came up to me and said "you are never going to believe what happened." Apparently, during nap, E put a bead up her nose and couldn't get it out. Fortunately, Miss Trisha fixed it, and we didn't have to go the doctor. E was pretty embarrassed about it and promises not to do it again.

February 24- This is M, refusing to go to bed, she's got her sleep sack on and everything, and prefers to just wander around. M is not a particularly good sleeper, and is very hard to put down. We have been struggling with her bed time for a while now. One of the biggest issues is the fact that we can't let her cry without E freaking out. Once M starts crying, E starts calling for us, and if we won't go get her, E offers to.

February 23- Looks like we missed another day :(

February 22- We have a song we sing all the time, "Sisters love each other, yes they do its true" we use it in situations like this where M is on E, no matter what E is doing. Here, E wanted to have quiet time downstairs, but M had other ideas. Today we had lots of girls and mommy time. Daddy and a friend went out for most of the afternoon. We even got to play with our friends A and A. M refused to take naps today (sleeping about 40 minutes total) she she went to bed early, which let dada and E have a Star Wars movie party. Complete with dancing to the Ewok music.

February 21- This was one of E's favorite toys, and I'm so glad that M loves it too. M got to spend the day with Ama and Ada, and even go out for breakfast. After work and daycare, the girls went to the library to play, M loved having lots of books to choose from, E likes the puzzles and the computer. E even got a Happy Meal treat for her good behavior.

February 20- E rediscovered this Dora dress, and is in love. She's been sleeping in it, and wore it to Ama and Ada's house. We had a little conflict today, E has been wanting to eat at McDonald's and for some reason, thought we would today, but it was a Mickie's day. E and Ama went to story hour today, and we snuck out for another walk when we got home.

February 19- We finally got a break from the crazy cold weather we've been having this winter and got a chance to go outside. M watched E go out and cried until she got to go out too. Once she was there, she wasn't too impressed with the snow. But at least she tried it. After M went in, E and I took a nice long walk, it was a welcome change after a winter spent mostly inside.

Also, M finally began to love Captain America, just like Dada hoped she would.

February 18- E got this balloon at her friend A's valentine's day party, and M has been playing with it ever since. She loves to carry it, wave it, and bounce it.She also loves to try and chew it, which we always stop, but to her dismay.

February 17- I always love this view of my girls.

February 16- M has never really liked being "worn" she's always wanted to see where she is going and what is happening. We had a little luck with her last summer in the Bjorn, but never the Ergo, until today. She managed to only take a 30 minute morning nap today, so by the time the afternoon came along, she was ready to sleep anywhere.

E had a sleepover movie party with Ama and Ada today, and according to them, really enjoyed having time to be by herself. I can understand that, M is at an age where it is hard to leave anything set up, since she will immediately be in it. I also think M liked her time as an "only." Dada and I were talking when we were home alone with only M, how much harder two kids is then one, and how you'd never believe it until you try to do it. Someone told me this before we had M, and I didn't believe her, but turns out she was right!

February 15- We had quite a day today, E and dada went to the circus, due to some mis-management, the circus lasted 4 hours! M and I stayed home. We went for a walk at Westgate with Ama and Ada, and then played around the house. Miss M loves her sister lots, which is great, but when E was gone so long, it was clear M was lonely. We had fun, but I'm a pale comparison to E.

February 14- Dada got each girl a rose for Valentine's Day. M carried hers around and played with it until it broke, E kept hers nicely on her bookshelf (you can see it in the background). E spent the holiday at A's house for the 3rd annual Valentine's party. M stayed with Ada and Ama a little longer so dada and I could have dinner together.

February 13- M is heading in to her favorite room, the bathroom. She LOVES carrying things in there and putting them into the empty tub. It doesn't matter what it is, it goes in the tub! When its just M and I, we spent our time going up and down the stairs. In the half hour between when we get home and E comes up, on average we go upstairs 7 times.

February 12- Despite M's face, this was a great day. M is sad here because E and I are upstairs, and she is down. She's been a bit of a momma's girl lately, and it was hard for her to be away from the other girls.

Today was the day we'd been waiting for, since M was born, her trip to the orthopedist.  She has always moved her left side differently, and we've been worried about it and wanted to make sure it wasn't a sign of a problem. We were thrilled to learn that they believe she'll grow out of it by the time she is two. We went out for dinner to celebrate, which made us remember why we don't go out!

February 11- On the stairs again.

February 10- E tried to include M in our dance party today, it worked pretty well. M was happy to participate, although she doesn't like to dance holding hands. M is a great dancer, if she is sitting when the dancing starts, she bounces her top half up and down. If she is standing, she plants one leg and walks in circles around and around.

February 9- Today I took E to see the movie "Turbo" which she has deemed, "not appropriate for kids" she's asked me several times today when the "kid Turbo" will be available. M was a bit off today, she was generally pretty cheerful, but not much for naps, and bed time was quite hard on her. She and dada went to the grocery store while we were at the movie. They played quite a bit today, and really enjoyed reading books. E got a chance to play in the snow, and M wished she could!

January 8-M is a climber, rather than a runner like her sister, her latest trick is trying to climb on this step while holding on to the gate. The problem is, in this kind of slippery PJs, it can end in disaster! Today, we spent some time around the house, M and I spend some quality time while E was swimming. Then she got her dada time, while E and I were at R's house.

January 7- I turned around for one minute, and M had completely destroyed this ball of sock yarn. I'm not sure why she loves chewing on yarn so much, but she tries to get her hands on it as much as she can!

 



 

January 5 and 6- Nope, they don't share a bed

, but they are both very, very hard to wake up in the morning. On the 5th, I picked M up and moved her to E's bed, in an effort to wake up E. On the 6th, we moved E to try and wake her up. Neither worked. I've started tickling E awake in the mornings, whereas M, you just have to give her time.

January 4- M just loves to walk around and carry things, and nothing crinkles like a wipe package.

 

 

 

January 3- Every night during E's program, M finds her "treasure" and gives it to the TV. If we are on the second floor, she gives her treasure to the bathtub.

 

January 2- We finished off this box of Cheerios today, and the box has been so much fun. M loves carrying it, chewing it, putting things in it, and tipping it over. All in all, its one of her favorite things right now.

 

February 1- E work up this morning and went right to the computer, she announced that she had some work to do. Not to be outdone, M got right in there and started typing too.

January 31- Today I spent half the day with M and then we picked E up "three early" from daycare. M and I had a great time running errands, she was talking up a storm today, she had stuff to say all the time, and even talked to the people we met on our errands. Once we got home, E asked if she could have a turn holding M, and they had a very nice snuggle.

Today was also M's 10 month birthday, it was hard to get her to hold still for her picture. She's a gal on the go most of the time.

January 30- We are so lucky to have breakfast every Thursday with Ama and Ada, its a wonderful tradition that has been going on for several years now. Each Thursday, I go to work a bit late and we meet at Mickie's. E has a cinnamon, and the rest of us have eggs and potatoes.

After breakfast, the girls get to spend a day with Ama and Ada, they always have a wonderful time, they usually go to open gym or library story hour. On this Thursday, M had to go to the doctor's to get her ears checked, but Ama and E went to the library. They made a nice art project which is hanging in my office.

January 29- M got to spend some quality time with dada, while E and I went to Target. M is getting better and better at getting into everything in the basement, E has learned that none of her stuff is safe!

January 28- It was a PJ day at our house, Daddy had a snow day from school and stayed in all day with Miss M. It had been a long time since Daddy and M had had  day just to themselves, they both really enjoyed it.

January 27- No picture :(

We had to take our car in to the shop this evening and while there, E fell in the parking lot. So we went off to urgent care to get her cut looked at. By the time we got home, we were so frazzled, we forgot!

January 26- Daddy's action figures have always been a Daddy and E thing, so M was excited to finally get a chance to play with all that cool stuff! She made herself right at home, and found a comfy way to sit on some of them.

January 25- First taste of watermelon, and its a hit! E and M ate an entire half pound deli container of watermelon for a snack. We had a busy day, dada and Grandpa Ada had to fix our car, so it was just the girls. We went mall walking with Ama and had a pizza lunch, then to the grocery store. No one napped, so we spent the afternoon hanging around the house and playing.

January 24- E discovered that the Build a Bear box could double as a mask, she can peek out of the eye holes. M thinks its pretty funny.

January 23- Momma's girl, today M was just a touch under the weather, she wouldn't go far from her momma. She's starting to have a bit of separation anxiety, but nothing too bad (yet!)

January 22- M's favorite place is the bath tub. She loves it with water and without. I usually follow her up stairs, she heads right to the bathroom, and tries to crawl in. Some days she plays in the tub, with tub toys and no water. Other days, I give in and we have bath/play time.

January 21- M LOVES to open and close her sister's door. She has no understanding of how doors work, so after this picture, she started crying because it wouldn't shut (her foot was in the way), she is always trying to open and shut her sister's door, but she hates it when her sister shuts it, and she is on the wrong side.

January 20-E took the girls to Build a Bear today. It was a reward for E for quite a bit of good behavior, cooperation, and good bed times. But, M had a great time too. She loved this pony on roller skates because it could travel around the store. That evening, the girls spent some time with Ama and Ada as well.

January 19- this experience taught E the phrase "Monkey See, Monkey Do." Just before I took this picture, M was in an all out struggle with E for E's cup. But, once she had a cup of her own, no problem.