September already!??

 

I'm sorry, but these two are just the CUTEST kids EVER :)

 Where does the time go?! Seriously, it was just the beginning of August like, yesterday!! Well, at least we are closer to Fall and cooler weather (hopefully!) Just as I type this, today is supposed to be a high of 110 degrees - yikes! Guess we will be staying inside most of the day! So, to catch up a little bit...

 

Rylie is doing GREAT at preschool - we could not be happier! This was crazy hair day at school. I love how they do fun things every week, so cute - makes me miss school! She sometimes still complains about going in the mornings, but once we are there she's fine. She has a few good friends, and loves drawing and coloring pictures for them to take the next time she sees them. So adorable! She gets nightly homework, and we keep a reading log of books that we read together. We are hoping this will really get her ready for Kinder!

 

Here's Miss Lilly, pulling herself up on everything! I see walking in our future pretty soon (Rylie started right at a year, so I've got about a month and half if Lilly follows along! Scary!) She's crawling all over the place, and is pretty quick! She'll be down the hallway before you know it, and loves when you chase her - she gets a big kick out of that! She loves to chat, scream, and tries to copy all of Rylie's sounds too. I can't believe how fast she's growing up! She's mostly sleeping through the night (yay!) and SOMETIMES lets me sleep until 7am :) 

 

Rylie got moved into a big girl booster seat! She seems to love it and is more comfortable in it! Such a big girl... Lilly took over Rylie's old car seat, no more infant seat! She was getting way to heavy to lug that thing around anyways, guess I better start lifting weights instead! ;)

 

My little fashionista has started caring more about her daily outfits, it's so cute to see what she wants to wear. I help her out a bit, but mainly let her decide. She just loves these light up cowgirl boots that daddy bought her!

 

Just like big sis, Lillian is not scared of water - AT ALL! It was too funny taking her to the splash pad, now that she can crawl, she went right for the fountains. She didn't care one bit about being soaked! 

Love our family date nights! It's getting a little easier to take Lilly out, as long as we bring plenty of snacks! I'm sure that won't last, so we will take what we can get!

Rylie practicing writing her name, love this so much!

 

Making funny faces, happy kids!

 

Here's hoping September/October brings cooler weather, some visitors (we miss our Peepaw, Nana J, Grandaddy and Nana B to name a few!! And of course our good friends in Cruces, I hope we can get down and see you guys soon!)

We have a preschooler!

 

 

So Rylie started preschool this week (well technically last week if you count her orientation day)! She did PERFECT! I can't believe how easy it went, for both of us! No tears, no fears, just "Goodbye, see ya Mom!" Her teacher praised her politeness and sweetness, and said she seemed to catch on to things really fast (classroom rules, raising of hands, etc.) She is currently going just 3 days a week, part time, but it's really is a nice break for me too! Lilly and I come home, she takes a nice nap (usually) and I work or read or catch up on a tv show, it's great! There have been a few tears when we go to pick Rylie up, however, it's just because the nap cots have been taken out and she thinks she has to nap, haha! Silly girl.  

Lilly is just a crawling little monster these days! She just wants to explore everywhere, and you can usually find that she's wandered down the hall and into the bathroom (still so thankful that we bought a one story these days!!) She is still having slight problems navigating the one step that goes down into the living room, she can go up but hasn't quite figured the down yet :( We've had a few minor falls, at least it's just one step and wood floor. She also threw her first tantrum the other day! I took a toy from her for one second, to buckle her into her car seat, and BAM! she flipped out!! We're going to have a super fun terrible two-ser on our hands!

 

And I have I mentioned how good our dogs our with these kids? Just check out Cyra below - as the pile got bigger and bigger and bigger, she just laid there so still and didn't seem to care one little bit!

Our summer so far!

 Geez, time flies! Especially when I realize I have not blogged in over a month, oops! Life gets busy I tell ya! Well, so far this summer, we have celebrated a big 4 year old's birthday and a big 2 year old's birthday (cousin Chase), gone to our share of pool and splash pad play dates, hosted our very first play date in our new house, had the most QUIET 4th of July EVER, had friends come into town and visit, saw a teddy bear making factory, went to the children's museum, napped (and not napped!), slept through the night (a few times), chopped off many inches of hair, and just yesterday - someone officially started CRAWLING! Ahhh we're in trouble now! :)

  

Our Lilly-bug's personality is really coming through nowadays! She's going to be a feisty one, that's for sure! She knows what she wants and will definitely let you know she wants it NOW (usually be screaming her head off, it's fun). She's finally getting better at napping, and almost sleeping through the night... she likes to tease me by doing it for a week straight then waking up usually one time again. Ahhhh what I wouldn't give to sleep until past 7am these days. I guess I could go to bed earlier, but what's the fun in that?! Momma needs her book/tv/relaxing time! 

Rylie has proven to be such an awesome big sis! She will entertain Lilly for me, a very big help sometimes (like when I'm trying to vacuum the house or cook dinner). Lilly does NOT like the vacuum one little bit, I've never seen her get more hysterical over anything else. I try to sweep as much as possible, but I've got to vacuum at least once in a while! Sorry Lil! 

 

 We are really enjoying the area that we moved to, there is so much to do around us! And the mom's group we found has been super great, and we've made some good friends so far. It's nice having other moms and kiddos to go play with during the day, instead of being stuck at the house all day (which sometimes happens too - it is summer). Splash pads are great! We get to cool off, burn off some energy, and the naps when we get home are usually GREAT! 

 

Our girls playing so cute together :) I love watching them grow and play together! Reminds me of me and my sister, we always had such a blast together! Fought too, yes, but the good memories outweigh the bad for sure! I'm so happy our girls will have each other to play with but also to be best friends from now until adulthood.

 

Rylie LOVES crafts! Is she my kid or what?! I love that she is getting older and we can do more structured crafts together ;)

 

And last but not least, I chopped my hair off! It was so overdue, my poor hair was just being pulled back daily (I have a grabber here)... plus it was just so hot and I needed a change. So chop I did!! I'm still getting used to it, but I am loving it and it feels GREAT! :)

 

Until next time! Hopefully sooner than a month from now! Haha!

Almost 4?! And 7 months?!

Where does the time go?!

It doesn't seem like it flies by day by day... but then BAM! Suddenly it's less than 2 weeks until your eldest turns 4! She's not a baby anymore! She surprises us day by day how big and smart she is, and she's proven to be quite the helper. She's by far the best entertainment for Lilly - by a long shot! I notice this even more when Rylie gets to spend the night at Nana's house, and Lilian is so much more trouble to entertain by myself. Rylie also gets the best laughs out of her :)

Our little Lilly-bug is growing by the day also - she's pretty much in mostly 12 month sized clothes at the moment. This little chunker loves her food! I'm excited for her to start more solid finger foods, just waiting on a few more teeth before that ;) She is full-on rolling over, at least from back to belly, and loves to practice in the middle of the night (FUN!) So out the cute comfy bumper went, and in went the mesh one, just in case! I think she is slowly becoming a tummy sleeper. However she wants to sleep is fine, I just wish someone would tell her that sleeping all night is even better (one of these days, I keep telling myself!) At least nowadays, I'm only up once to feed her thank goodness. I still yearn for the day that I can sleep past 7am after an all night's rest!

These days we are enjoying the last few days of 90 degree weather before the hundreds hit and we are forced to stay inside. Chris is working out of Phoenix now, at least for the meantime, so it's been great to see him everyday! I know Lilly especially likes to see another face besides mine all the time. We are loving our house, and finally feeling officially settled in - I still want to take nice pictures and share, when my house is clean (one of these days, haha!) And I can also say, I'm very happy to NOT be pregnant this summer, it should be a much more pleasant experience :)

Appreciation

Lately, every time I have wanted to write a blog post, it's usually been after one of those "trying" days - like the kind where you can't wait to put the kids to bed, veg out in front of the tv and go to bed. I have had a lot of those days lately. I could go on and on about how difficult my little teething/fussy/short napper my Lillian has been for the past couple weeks, or how Rylie is still having those days where she just can't seem to get to the potty in time and it's panty change after panty change. I could go on and on about all that... but I had an epiphany just the other day. I realized how dang lucky I am to be able to stay at home with these two ladies, in our wonderful home, with a husband who provides and takes care of us without complaint, and close family nearby who helps out whenever possible. I'm lucky to have a few close friends that I can call or write and vent to when needed, and get no judgement just understanding. I'm lucky to have healthy children, who are at most times happy and fun to be around. I love being a mother, even when it's hard. I have to remember this sometimes, when Rylie just won't be quiet during baby's nap, or when Lilly is screaming on the way home from the grocery store. Being a stay at home mom is hard, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I wouldn't want to miss any of this :)