Rhys @ 9 months

9 months, already!

(back dating this post - it was written but not published because our laptop was out of commission...but it's fixed now! Still need to take some 9 mo pictures, but it was a gorgeous Sunday morning so we played outside and had a "picnit" as Natalie likes to remind us).

Rhys is trying to pull up on things.  When I sit on the floor, she'll crawl over and try to climb up into my lap.  This morning, she tried pulling up on a plant and dumped dirt all over the floor!

Last night, I put Rhys down in her crib and then turned to get her clothes out for today.  When I turned back around she was sitting up!  I knew she was close, but this is the first time I've seen her do it.  I guess it is time we pull the crib side up so she can't fall out.

(first time eating pancakes - huge hit!)

Rhys is still army crawling her way around the house.  She goes all over - living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms.  Sometimes she gets her knees up and pushes off with them, but most of the time she is just pulling her whole body around.  It's not slowing her down one bit!

I think she is getting bored of the pureed foods.  Some days she clamps her mouth shut and refuses to even try.  It's kind of hard to tell, because she's been sick for almost a week, so maybe she is just not hungry.  She's been refusing the baby crackers too, but she seems to like Ritz crackers and she ate one of Natalie's cheez-its last weekend.  Silly girl doesn't have any teeth though, so solids are still a little tough.

We've been giving her an antibiotic to clear up her cold, and she hates to take the medicine.  So weird because Natalie always loved the sweetness, but we have to force it down Rhys.

We are going through a clingy phase.  Rhys doesn't want me to put her down - ever.  It all started with her cold, and now she's have a really rough time being independent.   Nice that she is a cuddler, but at the same time: my gosh! It's hard to get anything done!  I'm trying to remember to just soak up all the hugs and snuggles, but it's making every day stuff more time consuming.  I remember reading about other babies doing this when Natalie was this age, but she never went through this.  Funny how they are so different from each other right from the start!

Rhys (and Natalie too!) loves the bath.  We've been putting them in at the same time for about a month now and they just love it in there.  She sits and plays with the toys, splashes water all over, and she's keeping her balance really well.  Actually, last night, she was trying to reach over for a toy and was about to start crawling in the tub!  Not so safe because as I wrote, she likes to crawl on her tummy...

We started swim on Friday night!  Natalie started lessons about the same age, but Rhys was super clingy and didn't like the idea of leaving mama's arms. She kept crying when I passed her off to the instructor. Hopefully that will get better soon! I have pictures, but they are on my other camera...which is in the car, I think. Will have to post them later.

Sleep has been ok.  The past week or so was rough with the cold, but other than that, she's a great sleeper.  She usually goes down around 7 or 7:30 and sleeps until about 6:30.  I don't remember exactly when, but I cut out the "dream feed" this past month.  Seemed risky at first, but when she started sleeping longer stretches, I wondered if my feeding her around 10pm was disturbing her.  So, I cut it out one night, and she slept all the way through!  Much better - now I don't have to wait up to go to bed.

For about 2 weeks now she is blabbering a lot.  She says "blah, blah, blah, blah" and "ma-ma-ma-ma".  She's such a mama's girl, I wouldn't be surprised if she says "mama" first.

9 month stats:
Height: 26+ inches
Weight: 18.5 lbs
Diapers: Size 3
Shoes: haven't worn them much, but I'd guess she is still a size 2
Clothes: Moving into size 12mo and 9-12 mo

Rhys goes in for her 9 mo check up on the 14th

April weekend

We went to a wedding this weekend for David's cousin.  The original plan was to go sans-kids, but we had to make a last minute change when Rhys woke up not feeling well.  She was content to be held the whole time and Natalie went to play with Tali, Trisha & Travis.  Ciara & Nate had a beautiful wedding in Arroyo Grande and lucked out on some sunny weather!

Sunday morning we joined most of the family at the park.  It started out with sun, but quickly turned to overcast / foggy and was kind of chilly!

Natalie & Anna on the tire swing

And then joined by Mason..(Olivier was there too, but we didn't get any pictures of him!)

Being pushed by Aunt Tania

We tried to take pictures of the girls together after we got home, but they weren't so excited about it.  My Gramma gave the girls these dresses for Easter, so I was trying to get them together so I could send her a picture, but they weren't cooperating very well.

Rhys liked to stand, but she is still super wobbly..

She reached over and grabbed one of Natalie's Cheez-its! yumm.

And she spent the rest of the day like this...

Sleeping on my lap.  She was still miserable Monday morning, so I took her to the Dr.  He said her symptoms are consistent with Roseola (high fever followed by a rash).  She had 100.4 fever on Saturday morning and we noticed the rash late Saturday.  She didn't sleep much at all on Friday. We didn't think to take her temp because we thought she was just fussy from being congested, so I have no idea if she really had a high fever or not.  Anyway, the Dr. gave her an antibiotic for her congestion (we were going on day 10), and said to keep her home until the rash is gone.  She has been one cranky baby...only wants to sleep if she is being held, doesn't want to eat, hasn't wanted to play or anything.  She is just starting to crawl around and be interested in stuff again.  Hoping we are on the mend and she will be back to her smiley self again soon!

Silly Girl

Some silly pictures from this week.

Natalie likes to ask "did you hear that?" while putting her hand up by her ear..

I think she heard dogs barking or something this night. 

She also likes to ask "did you see that?" or she'll say "I need my binoculars" and puts her hands up around her eyes.  Very silly.

(And yes, she is wearing big girl underpants in these pictures.  This usually results in a mess for mom and dad to clean up, but tonight she actually went twice in the potty and kept her pull-up dry after coming home from day care until bedtime! Progress? maybe?)

I think we might be entering the tu-tu phase.  She got one as a hand-me-down this weekend, and has been wanting to wear her "dress" ever since because she can spin in it.  Here she is in her jammies with the tu-tu and her slinky..

And mama's glasses..

(Notice the couch cushion on the floor?! She keeps taking it off the couch.  We make her put it back, but she tries to get a few jumps in first. Super annoying, but I suppose there are worse things she could be doing).

And a sweet picture of Daddy reading the night time story.  Rhys was up late this night and got to hear the story too.  All of her 9 mo jammies on the small side, so we bumped her up to the next set.  These are 18 mo and a little big, and so crazy to think Natalie was wearing them not too terribly long ago!

Natalie @ 2 1/2 years old

Natalie is 2 1/2 today!  The time has gone by so fast and she has grown so much.

She is talking up a storm (more on that later). She is running and jumping everywhere.  She loves to spin around and sometimes even manages to stay standing up. 

She loves to color, loves to play outside, loves to read books, do puzzles, play with play-doh, and take baths.

Her hair is getting so long!  I've been doing pigtails with little pom-poms, but they are getting kind of heavy and don't stay in too well.

Last week I tried braids!  I did them after her bath, while bribing her with you-tube videos on my phone (hey, there is no way she will sit still that long without a bribe!).  They turned out pretty cute, but I've gotta practice my braiding.

Natalie loves art projects, especially painting (and she's been practicing her "cheese" face).

Here's a cute one - wearing Daddy's shoes.

Natalie is getting pretty good at her colors.  Gets some of them mixed up, but for the most part she knows them.  She randomly sings the alphabet but skips a few letters here and there.  She can do her alphabet puzzle and identifies some of them on her own, but when she sees any letters she usually says "A,B,Cs".  She does know "O", "T", "W" really well and likes to point them out.  As for numbers, she counts to 20, but usually skips the number 12.  She is counting things in books pretty well.  I taught her to "get her pointer finger out" (she will remind you of this if you are with her) and then she points to the objects and tries to count them.  Funny though, she likes to start "two, one, two, three", so sometimes there is an extra one or two of whatever she is counting.

I took these pictures last week, because I thought she looked so old in her pig-tails!  (and her 2T jammies that are getting too small...these went into the pile to be boxed up for Rhys after she wore them)

And, we are full swing in the middle of The Terrible Twos.  I can't wait until they are over.  This sweet little face has such an independent, defiant streak.  In the past two weeks we've had family gatherings with both sides of the family, and after various tantrums someone has said "oh my, that is exactly how you were when you were little" - funny thing is "you" meant both David and I.  Guess we are doomed!  The Threes have to be better, right?!  The good thing is that in between all of the tantrums and craziness, Natalie is very sweet and loves to help.  Here's some proof:

She helps do her laundry!  Not even joking.  Anytime I get the basket out, she runs in and begs to put it in the washer and helps transfer it to the dryer.  Now, if I can only get her to fold and put it away...!

We are still trying with the potty training.  Some nights she completely refuses to even try (mostly just because we suggest it), and other nights she'll humor us and sit there and actually goes!  Because she is so independent, she doesn't like us to help or ask her to do it, but I think that might work in our favor - when she decides she wants to potty on the toilet, she's probably just going to do it.  We'll see!

Natalie has been saying some funny stuff so before I forgot, I started writing it down in a draft post and have been adding to it for a few weeks...here's what we've got!
A few weeks ago, we were sitting at breakfast on Sunday morning and she got all excited and said "my brother and sister are coming over! Yay!" To be sure, I asked her to repeat herself, and sure enough, she was announcing that her (unknown?) brother was coming over.  No idea what she was talking about. And no, she's not getting a brother!

Then we came home one afternoon, and the guys across the street were using power tools and she said: "Mama! do you hear that? That sounds like a daddy!" haha.  David hasn't really used power tools much lately...too much going on, but she somehow associates power tools and daddys. Very intuitive!

Her favorite thing is to go up to Rhys and say: "Hel-doe Rhys" in her baby voice. Translation "Hello Rhys". Then she continues saying "she's so cuuuute", "tickle tickle", or "kaboo!" (she sort of truncates "peek-a-boo"). All of these things make Rhys laugh or at the very least, smile.

We were quizing her on body parts the other night...ears, tongue, elbow, ankle, etc.  She was standing in front of me and I asked her where her Booty was.  She spun around and stuck out her bottom and said "riiiiight there".  We all laughed so she kept repeating.
She was laying on the couch the other night and kept putting the pillow over her head.  David was sneaking up and tickling her.  One time she pulled the pillow away and said "Surprise!".  Definitely surprised us...that was a first time she had ever done that.

She got up on the arm of the couch the other night (not usually an "approved" activity, but what she said was too funny).  She started saying "yee-haw, I cowboy horsie" and was "riding" the couch.  No idea where she gets this stuff. And too bad it's so hard to be serious about not wanting her on the arm of the couch when it makes you laugh.

And tonight she told us that she had a "boo-boo" on her toes.  (Her Easter shoes rubbed on her toes and gave her little blisters).  She kept saying "boo-boo" with this southern drawl and it kept making us laugh and so she would say it again until she started doing her delirious laugh.  She does this when she gets tired.  Vicious cycle of laughing! Too fun!

2 1/2 year stats:
Height: 35.5 inches (45%)
Weight: 30 lbs (65%)
Diapers: size 4 - ugh, was hoping we'd be done with them by now!
Shoes: depends on the brand, but we've been buying 7s and they have a little wiggle room
Clothes: mostly 3T, but again depends on the brand.  Her jeans are still 2T, but some of them are on the short side.

Happy Easter - 2012

Happy Easter - 2012!

Rhys thought the Easter basket was pretty fun, but Natalie wasn't too thrilled to share with her.

These dresses were some that my mom made for Patty and I when we were little.  I have a picture of us wearing them that I will try to scan in the next few days.  I love that they are the same age difference and that they were able to wear the dresses. And it's fun to dress them alike!

Uncle Jake has a way with these two...Rhys hardly goes to anyone that is not mom or dad, but Rhys goes right o Jake.  And Natalie was always the same way.

We got Jake to take our picture..no easy task!

The kids played in the yard.

Rhys ate and enjoyed her bunny ears. Pretty sure she didn't even know they were there.

Natalie found herself some pie.  She looks so happy in this picture, but this was after a minor melt-down/tantrum.  Lack of naps the past few days and a sugar high probably didn't help.

And then the big hunt!  The kids all did a good job finding the eggs.

And of course they had to check out the jelly beans inside.

Tried to get a good picture of all 4, but this is as good as it got.  Hopefully someone else has some good shots.

That was our less than 24 hour trip to the valley.  Natalie spent Thursday and Friday with Grammy & Papa.  A nice treat for her (and us!), and then we drove over after I finished up work on Saturday.  Easter in the middle of Tax Season is never too enjoyable.  Luckily it does fall late sometimes and I'll get to relax a little.  They both took naps on the way home and were pretty good in the car.

Next weekend we're having a little Remillard celebration.  Better late than never! And it's always fun to watch the kids play together.  Hopefully we'll get some good pictures of that too!