Don't worry...

...we're alive.

I've been making a more conscious effort to reduce my [computer] screen time during the day when the kids are awake.  I was getting into the bad habit of spending too much time online - facebooking, catching up on blogs, etc. - and leaving the kids to themselves - much too often at moments when I needed a break...but the girls needed me.  Not good.  So I'm finding other times and ways to recharge, and kind of quit cold-turkey here.  Sorry, I guess I could have warned you.  It did me/us immeasurable good.

A quick catch-up post...

Where did we leave off...before T-giving?  Yikes.  Might have to do this in parts.

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Daniel's parents, Abuelita (still Lipa...I have a feeling that's going to stick) and Pepere, came to see us for Thanksgiving, and as always it was fun sharing the kids with them.  :)  We continued our effort of the last few years to have healthier holiday meals in more realistic portions (e.g.- less leftover).  Hence, our crust-less, slightly sweetened pumpkin pie in personal-sized bowls:

The chocolate chips?  My valiant effort to un-healthify my portion.  :)

Have I mentioned that the girls are sharing a room now?  This was their first night together (back in November).

(Excuse the mess)

Also in November, we finally got Blake into her cloth diapers!

Look at that grin :)

Blake laughs up a storm, but rarely for anyone but Big Sister!  Sisterly love, lemme tell ya.  Blake is getting stable enough while sitting that she can reach out and grab Hollie's sleeve (or whatever she can reach) and Hollie just gets a kick out of that.  Hollie smothers her with hugs and kisses, and Blake just laughs and laughs, so my reminders of "Hollie, be gentle!" go ignored.  

Try being mad at these faces, though...

Yes, you got that right - Blake is sitting up really well!  She wants to crawl, too...she tries so hard!  Exhibit A:

Lately she has been getting all the way up on her hands and knees, but just can't get the forward motion going.  She can scoot backward on her tummy, something Hollie never did.  Pretty quick, too!  We're always having to pull her out from under chairs and tables, and she's always surprising us with the places she ends up in.  Of course, this is really messing with her sleep.  People warn you about those sleepless nights with your newborn, but they never tell you about the sleepless nights with your six-month-old-learning-to-crawl.

Blake had her first rice cereal a few weeks ago.  We took some great video, but it's long, so we might edit it down a bit before we post it.  She gobbled it up!  We've tried banana and sweet potato as well, but she didn't seem to like them as much.  I suspect she will be like her sister, and enjoy eating much more when she can hold solid pieces in her hands.

She also found her toes...

...and has hardly let go of them since, and it's making diaper changes very difficult.

Hollie is using the big potty!  I miss cleaning out that little bowl in her potty chair....NOT.

Have I mentioned Hollie loves to cook?  Let me elaborate...
Left the kitchen...accidentally left out the vanilla extract...

Again, try being mad...

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I think that pretty much gets us caught up to this point...with the glaring exception of Christmas.

Our Christmas was wonderful.  Our first Christmas in our house (that we have lived in for over two years!), just the four of us, and the first Christmas that Hollie could really grasp the whole idea of Santa and reindeer and trees and stockings...absolutely magical.  But this post has gone on too long, so I will save all that for next time.

Blake says good bye!

...and good night

 ....and mwahahaha!

There's nothing like...

...making a quick run to Target with the girls this morning,

getting back out to the car and not being able to find my keys,

going back inside and asking if anyone's turned them in at customer service,

no luck,

asking the cashier if we left them there,

ditto,

retracing our steps through the store,

and coming up empty,

calling Daniel,

who is about to go into a meeting,

and doesn't have the spare key anyway,

(it's at home)

getting Hollie some lunch to eat while I go through the diaper bag again,

giving up,

getting Blake out of her carseat to feed her,

AND FINDING THE KEYS,

IN THE CARSEAT,


UNDER HER LEGS.


?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Future engineer???

"Mommy, come see my plane!"

Yes, those are scraps of baseboards.  The epic, ongoing, basement work continues.

Blake's 4-month check-up

Better late than never, right?

16 lbs. 10 oz. - 94th percentile

24 and 3/4 inches - 61st percetile

Blake has more than doubled her birth weight, and is over half of Hollie's weight.

She did great.  She had big smiles for the doc, and even chewed her fingers a little - okay, that's not important, but it was still cute. 

We are going to try rice cereal soon!  (By we I mean Blake...haha).

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I leave you with these...

Caught!

On the potty, 

with a bowl of popcorn, 

and reading Daddy's pocket-size edition of the Constitution.
(I'm not sure what she has in her other hand)

Can I chew it, pleeeeeease?

Oh. good.

I was out for a walk with Hollie this afternoon, just the two of us.  She obviously needed to pee.  She was dancing and wiggling like crazy.  I asked her if she needed to go home and use the potty, reassuring her that we'd come back outside again.  She said "No", and I think that it's important to show her that I trust her, so I said "Okay".  I asked her every few minutes, but the answer was always "No".   Finally, she had an accident.  I said, "Oops!  Let's go home and get some new pants".  While we were walking, I said, again, "We need to get you some new pants, so that you don't get cold", to which she replied, "It's okay, it's nice and warm".

So.

So, Hollie's using the potty like a pro.  It was a rough start, but after the first week we had a visit from Daniel's brother and family, including 3-year-old cousin J who, I think, showed her the ropes and gave her the toddler perspective she needed.  Now she's doing great.  Jumps up and tells us when she needs to go, even when we're out of the house.  I got one of those little seats that sits on top of the adult toilet seat, but she's not willing to try that yet, so we're taking her little potty everywhere!  Accidents have been very rare.  When it clicked, it just clicked.

We're still putting her in diapers at night, just because we didn't want to overwhelm her with expectations of dry days and nights.  I see us making the switch to underwear at night pretty soon though, because she's been waking up with dry diapers.  She wakes us up pretty much every night, at least once, for help using the potty, so another next step will be limiting her fluids in the evening.  But yeah, one step at a time.

Blake has started sleeping through the night, after weeks and weeks of just waking up once, around 5am, and going back to sleep.  Between her waking to eat and Hollie waking to use the potty, I was not sleeping much!  They are such great kids though.  Hollie is becoming Blake's favorite source of entertainment.  I swear, Blake spends half the day getting poked, prodded, having toys waved in her face, and being generally harassed by Big Sister, but Blake smiles more readily for her than she does for anyone else!  I think Hollie even got Blake's first laugh today.

Little Sister is holding up that big ol' head better and better.  She's about to be sitting on her own, I can tell!  Spending more time on her tummy, too.

She'll be four months old this weekend.  That's a third of the way to ONE YEAR.  Holy moly.

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This past weekend we made our annual trip to Phoenix for the ASU Homecoming game.  Both girls just soaked up the attention from the grandparents, and loved every minute.  We visited a park that we used to live near, and hiked this hill...Hollie's first time!

She made it about halfway up, then asked GB (grandpa) to carry her.  She ran around at the top for a little while, and then he carried her all the way down, too!

Blake slept the whole time :)

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Our Halloween was a big deal this year.  We have dressed Hollie up every year, but this was the first year that she has really grasped the idea, and also the first year that she has known about CANDY.  Yeah.  Oh boy.

She chose her costume for the first time, too.

We bought the ears and tail for her, but she picked out the rest herself from her own clothes.

Blake was a hula dancer, with a grass (gold ribbon) skirt and a kiwi bra.

Can't forget the candy-corn socks.

Hollie picked out this little pumpkin bucket herself, too.  I was standing there in the Halloween aisle thinking "man, these candy buckets are huge" when Hollie grabs this little bucket (intended to hold a candle) and says, "this is for my trick-or-treating!"  Didn't have to think twice about that!

More later (whenever that is)

 :)

I know, I know.

It's been too long.

First, pictures.

Next, stories.

Potty training, by the way, is going amazingly, but of course it didn't start off that way.  This was our first trip to the store in underwear.  She picked her own clothes, including the hat (on an 80-degree September day, why not?).  The trip, for the record, was a complete disaster.  She did fine until we got to the cashier and when I wouldn't let her get any candy from the display (I hate those candy displays right there at the register.  Grrr...) , she had a meltdown and once she was calmed down I noticed her pants were soaked.  Came prepared, thankfully.

Cousins!

Another outfit picked out all by herself.  Shoes on the wrong feet, and everything.

At Blake's baptism in Lake Charles!  This is the church where Daniel was baptized, we were married, and Hollie was baptized too.  I love it!

Best picture ever!  Poor Blake.  Poor Hollie, too.  She had been sick the night before, but she powered through the baptism and was just fine.  The heat and humidity were wearing on all of us, I think.

 We love Pepere!

This is what I get when I ask Hollie to smile.

little [14 lb.] sister

She smiles!  Has been for a few weeks, but now we have proof!!

Next up, stories.