Who am I?

Today, Mia called weird and a superhero in the same sentence. Sweet.

Morning Solitude

All three of my babes (that includes Josh) are still sleeping, and it's almost 8:00!! This is rare. The girls are almost always up around 6 or 6:30. My body is used to that schedule, so of course, I have been up for a little bit. But it is so nice to have my own time. I should really be more productive right now...shower maybe?

Kid Catch Up

Lucy has been growing up so much lately, and I have failed to record it. :( She's still not crawling, but she is making advances. This week we could put a toy in front of her, and she started to reach and scoot towards it, almost like an army crawl. We can tell she wants to move, but can't quite understand that she needs both arms and legs to work together, so she gives up and rolls over. She does love being on her feet. Her balance is getting pretty good. I can let go of her for a split second before she loses it. She thinks it's a fun game, so we do that a lot. Also, she's starting to communicate really well. She points to everything and yells "Baa!" when she wants me to see what she sees. She definitely has opinions. If she doesn't want a toy or her binkie, she'll wave it off or throw it to the side. If she doesn't want to be put down, she flings herself backwards so Mommy will catch her and stiffen up until Mommy picks her up again. She loves to laugh. If she's not crying she is laughing. Mia can really get her rolling with laughter. All she has to do is get in her face or jump up and down, and Lucy just cracks up. She has six teeth now, four on top and two on bottom. Teething has been rough on her, but fortunately, there has been a little break, so she's a lot happier. Mia's imagination going full speed these days. She's been learning about the different types of instruments recently, and so she's been taking household items and pretending they're everything from a french horn (a small globe) to a timpani (a large metal basket turned upside down). Just now, she took a plastic battery package, started hitting it with a pencil, and called it the xylophone. And she'll take our plastic cooking utensils, scream "1,2,3,4!" and pretend to play the drums on any surface. She's such a rock star! She also learned recently what a stethoscope looks like, and one day she pick up one of our phone charger cords, put it around her neck (loosely), called it her "step-ee-scope," and put it up to my chest to listen for a heart beat. This little girl cracks me up! I'm so grateful for these girls:-)

No Small Achievement (Sort of)

Mia doesn't like it when I do her hair. She doesn't like to sit still for that long. But the other day, I put on her favorite Baby Einstein video, plopped her in front of me, and I braided her hair. Braids are pretty difficult for me since I haven't done them in years, but it turned out really well, and aside from the occasional scratching of her head, Mia was perfect. :-)

Disclaimer: Pay no attention to the messy room or unmade bed. That was fixed (mostly) later that day.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went camping for the first time since having the girls, and it was quite the adventure. Nobody had more fun than Mia (those her cranky disposition on the second day said otherwise). We went to Dillon Beach where Mia and her cousins found little "treasures," climbed on rocks, chased dogs, and ran into the water. The last two were Mia's favorite I think. Lucy did really well for her first time being at the beach. She was content soaking up the sun in my arms, and even fell asleep in my arms. After the beach we came back to the camping/trailer site for some BBQ. Hyrum did a stellar job at the grill with his own concoction of BBQ marinade chicken. Everyone was pretty content just hanging out the rest of the day until we went for an evening stroll where the kids more "treasures" and small sand dunes. Mia had such a good time, she didn't want to go to bed. The night was not the most fun for us, and that is all about that. The next day the men took the kids to "Monster Dune," this giant sand dune that is apparently really fun to sled down. I think this was Mia's favorite part of the whole trip. She kept talking about it the rest of the day/week. There have been a couple times this week when she mentioned going back to "Monster Dune." We'll go again soon, Mia. :-)

Peekaboo!

Lucy has figured out how to play peekaboo. Josh and I discovered this the other day when we were chatting, and she started to put a blanket over her face. (She was sitting up, so no smothering was going on.) I saw this, and called out "Where's Lucy?" She immediately dropped her blanket in arms and looked over, and then I squealed, "Peekaboo!" She had a big grin on her face from it, but Josh thought it was mere coincidence. However, when she pulled the blanket up to her face again, and repeated the process a few more times, he (we) was convinced that she knew what she was doing. Ever since then, she loves playing peekaboo. I love it!

(Original started a month ago...)

Hello.

Hello blogging world. It's been a little while. I don't even know where to start, so our evening walk from yesterday will have to do. I love that summer is here. It's such an inspiring time. I'm not a big exerciser, but with the evening weather being so perfect, it's hard not to get out and enjoy it. So, Josh and I have decided to take an evening stroll everyday. We are not very good (meaning mostly ME) at keeping to goals, but hopefully, we can stick to this one. Last night was just perfect. With each girl in a stroll- and shielded by bug repellent (a must have for Mia)- we took to our neighborhood. It wasn't a very long walk, but it felt nice to take in the fresh air. We came to a small park that was pretty much a glorified field, and Mia just loved it. She's always been a runner, so that is what she did, with her dad of course. We couldn't pass up the opportunity for a photo op:-)

(Post originally started a week ago...)

Letter of Notice

Dear Allergies,

Please, evict yourself from my sinuses. Or else...

Sincerely,
Amy

New Love

I have jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. There are just so many awesome ideas and tricks; I feel so inspired! I found a great healthy recipe for banana oat muffins that is just delectable! I even tried my hand at being crafty with a pin I found for a vintage style faux canvas picture. I tested it with a cute picture of Lucy when she was two months old. I think I did a pretty good job, so I'd like to do the same for a picture of Mia. Thank you Pinterest for coming into my life!

Beautiful Day Means Temple Trip

(This was about a month ago.)

The weather was just perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. Warm enough to not need a jacket. It just begged us not to stay inside all day.

I had been wanting to show Mia the Sacramento Temple for the longest time. I thought she would be fascinated with the building itself, and then just love walking around the grounds. I was right. She had a blast, and I enjoyed being at such a beautiful place on a beautiful day with my two beautiful daughters.





The water fountain was most fascinating.




Hi!

Girls Update

It has been a little while since I last wrote about the girls. Let's see. What has happened...

*LUCY*

I mentioned before that she started teething, which I think around Christmas. At that time she'd gotten her front two teeth on the bottom. Now, after months of gum swelling, she's starting to have her two top K9s (I think) poke through. Yay!

She has started to sit up on her own within the last month or so, and that has been fun for everyone in our house. Lucy doesn't like to lie down very much anymore, so she's been excited to have a different position. Mia thinks it's fun because her little sister is becoming more like her, which means more play time together. And Josh and I just love seeing our cutie grow up.



The weather has been really enjoyable the last couple of weeks, so the girls and I have played in the back yard quite a bit. Mia loves the swings, and Lucy just loves the sunshine. Well, the other evening, Josh came home early, and we were all playing on the swing set when he got the idea to try Lucy out in the little swing. She LOVED it! She had a smile on her face from ear to ear.
Mia even got in on pushing her.




Lately, I've been trying to show Lucy how to clap, and today, I swear, she clapped on her own for the first time! Not on command, but when she was watching Mia jump around, and then got super happy. I was so elated that I tried to get her to clap again, but she immediately got shy. Oh well! I am constantly amazed at how fast this little one is growing up (teardrop)!


*MIA*

I cut Mia's hair for the first time last month. Just her bangs. I was so nervous, but I knew she needed to get the hair out of her eyes, so one day I manned up, got a pair of scissors and snip snipped. Mia was actually pretty good for me. She sat very still just fascinated with what was taking place. She focused hard, and went cross-eyed as I cut. I didn't do too badly if I say so myself:-) And I can't find the picture I wanted to show, so this will have to do. Still cute!



Mia had a rough week last week when she got stung on her arm a couple of times, and the two days later got bit by a mosquito by her eye. In both cases she swelled up in the struck areas, and in both cases I didn't see it happen. I felt so bad for her! But she was a trooper when I applied the baking soda paste to her arm multiple times and when we took her into the doctor the next day b/c the swelling didn't go down and when we kept taking pictures of both her arm and her eye. Her eye swelled shut in fact, and when we went to a family member's birthday party, everyone seemed shocked by the sight of her. But she has healed, thankfully. All is well!





Mia is learning how to pray, and the apprentice is quickly becoming the master. She is so good at reminding us when to pray--at mealtime and at bedtime, she is the first to instigate "fold arms" time. Sometimes, she randomly comes up to me during the day and says, "Fold arms?" so we take a break to say a quick prayer. I am truly humbled by this little spirit.

The girls quickly becoming the best of friends. They love playing with each other. Mia always asks where Lucy is, and Lucy always lights up when Mia is around. The other day they took a morning stroll together and had a blast, especially Mia who loved that she could drag Lucy around.

Yay!

Lucy rolled over today! Front to back. Unfortunately, it was not captured on camera. But here's a cute picture of our littlest movie star.

Naked Baby Hang Out Time

I was changing diapers on both of the girls the other day when I thought it would be cute to take some photos of them in just their diapers. Well, they were being so cute together that photos turned into video, so voila!

Nice Day

We've had beautiful weather this week, but we've been sick. Yesterday, I finally took the girls outside for a while to breathe in some much needed fresh air and soak up some sun. We all needed it, and Mia especially enjoyed her explorations in the back yard.

One of the few moments that Mia will actually draw. She usually tells us what to draw.


She feels like such a big girl when she climbs this ladder, though Josh and I freak out the higher she goes.


She may look mad, but Lucy was really enjoying the fresh air.


Bonus! The first fruits of our mandarin tree. Yay!

A New Year: Update

First of all....HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012 has been quite beautiful so far, and I look forward to the rest of the year.

Lucy update: She turned five months on Jan. 2nd. I can't believe how fast the time is going. Two of my girlfriends at church just had babies over the weekend, and their babies are SO tiny! Lucy is definitely not newborn size anymore. She's already in nine month clothing, and continuing to grow everyday. She's such a happy girl, always smiling and laughing. Mia can really make her smile just by getting in her face and saying hi. They are going to be good friends as they get older. Oh! And Lucy got her first tooth the week before Christmas! Looking back, she showed all the signs of teething; the drooling, the chewing on everything, the extra amount of fussiness; but I didn't think anything of it b/c that all had been going on for a couple of months. Plus, Mia didn't get teeth until around nine months, so I wasn't looking for it. So, when Josh looked at her, and said, "Hey, she's got a tooth," you can imagine my surprise. I was so excited for her, and she got excited, too, when she saw me squealing. She had a proud moment:-) And this week, she cut a second tooth, which has been rough on her, causing her to not feel very well. But she's been such a trooper, smiling through it all.





Mia: She is growing up so fast! She talks and talks and talks...and I can understand the majority of it:-) She loves learning, especially about animals. She loves Blue's Clues and Dora, and she recently got into Elmo. She loves our iPhones, and can navigate them better than I can at times. She's happy and sassy and so much fun to watch.