Cheeezzze

Lilly cracks us up. This picture is from today during the time that Grandmother Ann came to visit. Lilly loves to do puzzles and is very good at them - this is a new one that she got today. She watches Gabby doing puzzles and then will go get her puzzles to do at the same time. She is talking more and more each day. Some words are easier to understand but most of the time we can make out what she is saying. She is a very happy girl and waves "good-bye" when I leave for the office. What a lucky mom I am!

Hanging with Maddy

Madeline is on the move. She is rarely in the same place for more than a minute. She has learned to roll and before you know it - she's not where you left her. Once the older girls go to bed, Maddy gets about 45 min of mom and dad time. She's taking 2 naps a day and is sleeping through the night (she wakes up at 4am for a quick bottle and then is back down until 8am)! There is not a lot of extra padding on her but she certainly is growing. She is ready to try some rice cereal - I think I may give her her first taste this weekend! She wants a bite of whatever we are eating so I think I'll give it a try. Maddy is the first baby I've had that rolls from her back to the front better than from the belly to the back. It is truw - they are all different. Her hair is growing and coming in blonde. She continues to be the "smiley" baby and will have teeth within a couple months at the rate she is drooling and munching on things.

Neigh Neigh

We went to the farm last weekend for a fun horse ride. We were going to go for a bike ride as well but my mother said it was very windy....there was little to no wind the whole time we were there! Lilly LOVES to ride horses. She says "neigh" "neigh" when she is talking about a horse - and she never stopped saying it the whole time she was on Morning Glory.  She is not as fond of Freckles right now - I think he is too big and he still scares her although I have never met a dog who just wants to cuddle more than Freckles. We had a wonderful trip to the farm and the girls enjoyed the change of scenery. Grandma Debi had some good time with Maddy and I think even Grandpa Dale helped when she was crying.

Cheese

Lilly is learning how to pose for a photo....She can really smile! Both girls are doing well  and enjoy when Ann comes to the house to read to them. They are both getting a lot of really good attention and we are happy that we have such good help!

Maddy's Rolling

It's official - Maddy is rolling! I still have not seen it in person but here is the proof :) Front to back and back to front. She is growing up so fast! The other day I had her in the bouncer and before I knew it, she had wiggled out the bottom and it was ALMOST a problem. It won't be long before she decides being mobile is more fun. Holy Moly!!

Mexican Independence Day

This is a short portion of the song Gabby's class sang yesterday for Mexican Independence Day. Gabby had a great time and is one of the more animated kids in her class.

A Fun Trip to San Diego

We had a wonderful trip to San Diego this past weekend. Lots of activity! We left Friday morning, went to the zoo. The best part of the zoo is that you never know what animal is going to be "the best view ever" that day. We have had some incredible experiences and this trip was no exception. We got a great view of the male lion, we saw the baby Okapi nursing, we saw great Gorillas & Orangutans, we saw a mother peacock with 2 baby peacocks, amazing hippos, good crocodiles, and the komodo dragon was hunting Gabby! We enjoyed the escalators and the skyfari is always a hit with the girls. We had incredible weather at the beach as well - Gabby spent hours in the ocean and Lilly finally learned how to play in the waves and started to really enjoy it. Maddy was either on my chest or Gordon's so I don't have a lot of pictures of her - but she was there the whole time and was a trooper. Gabby met a boy at the zoo and it was fun to watch them go down the Tiger Trail together...Gabby made another friend at the beach and they played in the ocean for a long time together. We had a ultrasound for Gabby - and it came back clear!! I went to a family friends wedding - the bride used to nanny for us - where does the time go? Gordon had an evening with some friends and we even found time to get a new road bike :) The girls were great travellers and we enjoy our hotel and weekends very much. I think we'll have to go back in October....it's kids free month!

Happy Girls

Lilly loves the color blue and demands to wear this shirt every day! Good thing we have 2 of them. Maddy is recovering from her 4 month shots but is doing great otherwise. She's a happy girl!

Aunt Kalli's Babyshower

Yesterday was Aunt Kalli's baby shower. It was at the Kern County Museum, in the Hotel Fellows and was a very nice party. Gabby got to get dressed up and come to the party with me. It was a lot of fun to take her to a party - she LOVES to get dressed up.  Aunt Kalli was showered with love and gifts for the new baby that should be here right around Gabby's birthday!!!

As we were leaving the party, Gabby asked why it was called a shower and not a baby party. It was one of those questions that made me pause and think, my little girl is growing up so fast. Hard to believe she is almost 5!

Tummy Time

Lilly is very sweet with Maddy. Whne Maddy does her tummy time, she gets down on the ground to encourage her. Maddy had her 4 month check-up and she weighs exactly the same as Lilly at this age. I guess we have smaller babies :) She's 12lbs 2 ozs and 25" long (which is in the 75th %). Tall and skinny. She did a lot of talking with the doctor and was smiling until it was time for shots. She is officially teething and the doctor thought that by 6 months she would have her teeth! YIKES!!! She is drooling everywhere and I cannot keep her dry. She gets a lot of hugs and kisses from Lilly and she'll need them after her shots today. Maddy is also rolling and moving around so I may have to small mobile kids!! I'm not sure I'm ready for that.
Lilly is doing great and knows several of her colors. She is getting more and more confident with her words and her vocabulary grows everyday. She has been getting a lot of great reading from Grandmother Ann and that certainly is helping. She decided she likes tomatoes last night and ate about 6 grape tomatoes (I still cannot get Gabby to try one!!). She also discovered that ranch on her carrots tastes pretty good. Lilly is enjoying her horse books and is getting more advernturous in the pool. She has taken to a baby doll and is always putting her to "night-night".

We hosted a Labor Day Pool party for the family at our house. I am not sure how this is the only picture I ended up with....but it is. I was able to get the natives off the reservation but I couldn't get anyone but Grandma Debi to hop in the pool....I guess we needed the temp to be 110 - not 100! The girls had a blast hopping in and out of the pool. There was lots of food, tri-tip, butternut squash soup (fresh from Susan's garden), fresh canteloupe from Tom & Kristi's garden, watermelon, roasted corn & veggie salad, bread, homemade brownies with Dewars vanilla ice cream. It was a low-key event but I think that everyone had fun. The highlight of the party was Heston walking pushing the little car and Lilly hiding and everyone on a hunt to find her (I found her in Maddy's room hiding behind the changing table and crib playing with the phone (that doubles as a baby monitor) and Q-tips! She's a tricky one!! Gabby had 4 desserts but was in "great" spirits - or just an incredible sugar high. It was a great party and fun to get everyone together.

Lilly Goes Bye-Bye

I remember when Gabby was this age and did the same thing...grab a bag and say bye-bye. Only Lilly makes sure to grab her phone :) Lilly is full of spunk and is talking more and more each day. She still LOVES her horses and is good at talking on the phone.  We had a full weekend with playdates, naps, swimming and Aunt Susan and Unlce Scott coming over to hang with the kids for a couple hours.

Gabby's 1st Soccer Match

Gabby had her first soccer game on Friday. She did awesome! She participated in the drills and then did a great job chasing the ball. The whole family went to opening day but I don't think we will do that again :) It was hot!!! Gabby is a good runner and the game had 4 5-min quarters. Smaller teams would have been better (it was 7 on 7) but it was a start!