One More Month

until we meet Baby Rugani!

Congrats Tim and Abby!

Friends

Emma and Leah

Lily and Kira

A wonderful girly playdate with good friends. We really can't wait until our schedules coincide for the summer so that we can spend more time together!

Captions

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words :)

12.5 Months

I realized that I didn't mention anything about Emma's progress on her birthday post so wanted to do it now.

**This picture was taken by Big Sister, notice the gorgeous big toe :)**

Some things about Emma this month:

-Wears size 3 diapers and size 12 month, 12-18 month and some 18 month clothes

- Takes a long time to eat

- Has enough hair to have a bow stay!

- Loves to play baby dolls

- Gives huge slobbery kisses and running open-armed hugs

- Knows where her mouth, hair and nose are

- Can follow two step directions

- She will grab her shoes and go to the door when she wants to go outside

- Is a climber

- Can reach a doorknob!

- Can stand up while getting dressed and will lift her feet up to step into pants

- Dances and loves certain songs like Wheels on the Bus

- Spins in a circle

- She has the Princess couch as her own

- Loves, loves, loves cars and trains!

- Smiles ALL the time

- Finds her big sissy amazingly entertaining (still) but doesn't hesitate to put her in her place

- Can sit for short amounts of time to focus on a book

- Says only some sounds/words: Dada, Mmmmm, dn (down), Yeah

- Runs and kicks a ball to play with Lily
- Loves Maci's tail, well everything about Maci

Love you Em.

Painting, Painting, Painting

Lily loves to paint. She has come a long way of not wanting to get anything on her hands. The first time we had her try paint she wanted to wipe off her hands as soon as something got on them. She still doesn't like to have ink, chalk or markers on her hands but I guess she has changed her mind on the paint situation.

Today, we set her easel up in the kitchen, I put up the wooden gate so Em wouldn't bother her and she painted all by herself. She painted for probably 45 minutes to an hour completely by herself. She did 4 paintings so all I did was change the paper and give her more paint. Such a big girl.

Tired Baby

Today is our last non-school Monday until school is done at the end of May. We have made the most of our spring break and done a lot and mostly outside getting some of that wonderful fresh air. Emma has hung in there with her big sissy but today it finally caught up with her.

We made a very quick trip to Target so we could head home to play outside in the water. Of course Emma fell asleep during the car ride home. I carried her inside asleep to lay her in her crib only for her to pop right up for me to hold her again. Lily wanted to get her swimsuit on so Emma went into Lily's bed.

I had one hope for this:

The lights were on, Lily and I were having a conversation so the odds of Emma staying asleep were slim to none. Great, quick nap means a good afternoon nap for Miss Em.

No such luck.

Not only did Miss Emma stay asleep but as I was getting ready I heard Lily whispering to her. I peeked in and I saw Lily covering Em up with her blanket, kissing her gently on the head and telling her to have a nice nap. :) As I said how sweet she was being she gave Emma another hug which woke her up. Yay.

After playing outside in the water, swinging and running around after Maci they both took wonderful naps!

Only a few more days Miss Emma until we can slow down our schedule :).



Happy Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

 My two favorite pics from the morning before church.

The girls woke up bright and early but thankfully we heard them leaving plenty of time for Mike and I to sneak in the backyard to hide eggs for their egg hunt. First thing Lily said while popping out of bed was, "Did the Easter bunny come? Did he leave me a note?" Ha Ha. Everyone leaves her a note so why not the bunny. But, no. He didn't. Whoops. Anyways, the girls found their baskets and loved going thru them over and over. We didn't even have enough time to do the hunt before leaving for church since I wanted to get some picture of our girls.

These are all of the pics that didn't make the cut. There are some good ones but mostly they make me laugh. The good ones of Lily she's chomping on a cookie, the ones that are sweet from Em are the ones where she's completely distracted. I love the one where Em's mouth is wide open. Mike is standing there trying to get her to smile so he asked her where her mouth is... that was her response. She definitely knows where her mouth is. :) The gorgeous azaleas are outside the church and were amazing! So happy that we were able to get a few shots in front of them.

After lunch and a nice nap the girls were ready to go out to play. Yes, we had to take all of the MELTED candy out of the eggs that had been outside since 7am! One was the victim of ants and the others from the 90 degree sun! :) Lesson learned. Lily found all of the eggs while Emma was quite happy the entire time in her swing. They eventually got into the water table and had some fun...

...hence the third outfit for the day. Tried to get some cute sister pics but another failed attempt. Will have to bribe them with food next time.

Swing Me Higher

The swing set is up, almost. The swings are up at least and we'll be working on the tower with the floor, the climbing boards and attaching the huge slide.

But all these girls are concerned with are their swings. Emma is mildly obsessed bordering on completely. She will now immediately run to her swing when we let her out the door and she will throw a tantrum if we take her out of it.

Lily is loving her big girl swing too and is working on pumping her legs. She's doing great and is enjoying just telling us to "Swing me higher". Some things Lily says is funny. Not grammatically correct at all and she hears us when we correct her. How do we know? Because she'll respond, "I know you're supposed to say....but, I'm going to say it like this." HA. So there I suppose.

Mike and I are prepared to put our new camping chairs to great use behind these swings :) as we see ourselves here for long periods of time this summer.

Craft Time

I'm loving the packages of craft foam projects. They contain all sticker details and easy enough for Lily and Emma to do together. It was a lot of fun to spend a morning decorating Easter eggs to make a few decorations. I'm also thinking we may attempt to dye eggs this weekend. maybe.

Maci Girl

Maci is old.

Maci gets grumpy. Very easily.

Maci likes to have her space.

Maci is very protective of her food and water dishes.

Maci doesn't know how big she is.

Maci has tried to resist becoming friends with the girls.

Finally, Maci has surrendered.

Maci plays ball everyday.

Maci gets lots of hugs everyday.

Maci gets A LOT of table food everyday.

Maci is very, very loved and I think she's loving every minute of it.

*Maybe*

Water and Swings

The bathing suits came out, the sunscreen went on and the water table was filled. The girls had a blast. Emma mostly drank the water while Lily dumped it on Maci. I had to refill the table countless times but it filled our morning and had a great time.

This girl loves the swing! She has a fit when you try to take it out and tries to attack Lily when she wants a turn. Hopefully the swing set will be completed this weekend to help out on this little situation.

Best Water Buddies.

Garden Tuesday

We are making the most of our spring and spending as much time together as possible. This week is spring break here so everyone is out of school and everywhere is extremely busy! But we had fun at the Gardens anyways.

We found some hidden boardwalks on the lake and some quiet trails to enjoy the birds, butterflies and beautiful spring flowers. And, amazingly enough the girls leave all of the flowers alone.

We went to overcrowded children's garden and enjoyed the swings. It was very difficult to get Emma to leave them. After Em took a pretty good tumble down an incline on fresh topsoil where she got some very rosy cheek and a mouth full of dirt, we went on to our lunch picnic.

I love this spot. I believe it's called Statuary Vista because it's lined with statues. But the reason I love it; it's safe. Lily and Emma are always in plain sight, it's safe for Emma to run around and there are never very many people here. We claimed a nice shady spot and enjoyed our lunch. As soon as the blanket came out, these two girls ran to it and sat down ready to eat. So funny.

Can't wait til next week when it'll be a little calmer.

Love Watching

We girls love watching Daddy mow the lawn from inside the house.

And, I'm pretty sure this will be one thing that will never change :).

Busy and Lovely

We had a wonderful time outside today in our backyard. These two girls cannot get enough of the fresh spring air and luckily our allergies haven't **knock on wood** been that bad.

Lily is very much into dressing up these days. And no girl is to be without her tu-tu for very long, even outside.

And, Miss Emma is everywhere. She's chasing Maci, in the house, out of the house, she's pushing the baby doll stroller, the bubble mower, she's on the ground, she's in the little car, she's absolutely everywhere and getting around a lot better than we thought she would be.

Emma is also loving this playhouse! She loves playing peek-a-boo and just getting in and out of it. Since being able to climb up on Lily's bed and likes to be on the couch we have taught her how to get down so I don't have a heart attack every time she's up there. She now instinctively rolls to her belly and slides down. So, naturally this is how you get down a small step into the house and it's also the way you get off of the deck.

When the girls went down for their nap Mike and I got busy putting this bad boy together! Yep, this is a tower to their swing set. When I say huge, I mean huge. It towers our shed not to mention our house. But it should be loads of fun and we have to send a huge thank you to Grammy and Poppy for giving it to us! 

After nap we still weren't done with our day. We went on a 35 minute family walk around the hood. Lily walked the entire way pushing her doll stroller filled with her friends; Peaches the chick, Pineapple the cat, baby (whose name is just baby) and Jack Jack the mouse from Cinderella. We took the double jogger in suspicion that Lily would be wanting to ride somewhere in our walk but it didn't happen and Emma rode solo.

Isn't springtime wonderful to be outside with your family?!?

Stormy Saturday

We played outside for a bit this morning but with looming dark, scary clouds we decided to come in. Even though we only were outside for a bit the fresh air took Emma O.U.T. She fell asleep mid-bite during lunch.

We also waited ALL day for these storms to start up and not only did they begin late, they came in strong! There were a lot of reported tornadoes and we were in a warning for about 45 minutes where we read books in our hallway listening to news on the tv. The winds were crazy scary and we were very blessed in not having one of the deadly tornadoes here in VaBeach.

And, on a much better note...

Happy Birthday Uncle Mark!!

We can't wait to see you in May!!!

Well Check x 2

What I love, love, love about our pediatrician is that she takes time to talk with us. Not talk at us, she has conversations with us and treats us as though we know what we're doing. Most of the time we do, and then there are others that we need her expertise on. This visit was one of routine for us. We didn't have too many issues to bring up or questions to ask, just nice conversation.

Emma, 12 month appointment:

When we took Emma in a month or so ago for her ear infection I became a little nervous about her weight gain (only a pound in two months) but with her being sick, I dismissed it. They didn't weigh her when Mike took her for her ear check 2 weeks later but I did have him ask Dr. Wick about introduciong whole milk and/or pediasure because of her weight. She only gave the green light with the milk but I wasn't too sold about counting out the pediasure.

Well, today she weighed the same as she did on her ear infection weigh in. :(. Dr. Wick didn't seem too concerned since she was healthy and that she didn't have that big of a dip on her growth chart (she went from 50th% to now 25th%). So, I asked again about the pediasure knowing that it has the extra calories that Emma needs. We now can give her formula with milk and pediasure. She is really liking it and isn't missing her friend "wa-wa" too much. I'm really hoping that by her 15 month appointment in July she'll put on some weight.

Her stats:

30 3/4 inches tall, 97%tile (+1 5/8 inches)

19 pounds 15.5 ounces, 25%tile (+1 pound 5.5 ounces)

18 1/2 inch head 90%tile (+1/2 inch)

Lily, 3 yr old appointment:

Had her first big girl doctor's appointment! It was a very different experience with her since she actually was aware of what was going on. She did a wonderful job with the urine sample :), liked the "doctor's hammer" to check her reflexes, didn't complain about the blood pressure cuff and was such a big girl during her finger prick!!! They stop measuring head size and start documenting blood pressure and BMI. Yikes, BMI already?!? They also begin a new growth chart, using a new growth curve starting at 3 yrs old. When Dr. Wick showed us Lily's chart, we laughed when we saw Lily's plot all the way at the top of the height chart. She is off the charts tall for her age which we already knew and anyone would realize by looking at her legs!!!

Her stats:

40 1/2 inches tall, 97+%tile (+1 3/4 inches)

34 pounds, 75%tile, (+4 ounces)

BMI: 15%

BP: 92/68 :)

Our next well visit will be in July with Em for her 15 mth appointment and Lily doesn't have to go back until she's 4 years old! Unfortunately there will be a few shots waiting for her but nothing a sticker and a treat won't be able to fix.

Looking Forward to Summer

and spending time outside with our girls!

Happy Birthday to the girls with our most favorite Craigslist find ever!

Egg Hunt and Easter Party

This morning was Lily's Easter Egg Hunt, Easter party and last day of school before spring break. The kids made their baskets ( they took brown paper, rolled a truck through brown paint and then rolled it on the paper) and were to find 6 eggs. Lily found 6 and was very concerned that there some kids that found more and didn't count. She received stickers and candy in her eggs and it made her one very happy little girl.

The "party" consisted of a healthy snack and a treat. I supplied the healthy snack, mini-blueberry muffins, apple chunks, grapes and strawberries and the cutest bunny crackers ever! There were only four out of seven kids there today but it was cute anyways.

How the party started out, Lily and her friends.








Then it turned into a party for two.






And, the last one eating was....

EMMA!

Happy First Birthday, Emma!!

So today, Emma Grace you turn 1!

It seems like yesterday that we were calling the hospital to see if they had room for us and it definitely seems like yesterday that we brought you home. This has been one of the fastest years of our lives and it is now over with the blink of an eye. Although you are 1, you act as though you are a year and a half. You are into everything, understand a lot more than we give you credit for, very smart and absolutely gorgeous! You have made our lives so much richer than we ever could have imagined, we count our sweet blessings and thank God for you every single day.

Today we celebrated by spending the day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful day to be outside. We went to a Tot Tunes class in the children's garden when Miss Emma, you were definitely the most outgoing little one there. You had no problem fighting kids three times your size for a plastic bottle filled with beads and you went around waving to everyone. You danced to the music, chased Lily up the hill and then back down, and knew when you needed to rest so you would sit down to take a break. You truly amaze me.

We went on quite a lengthy walk where you decided you would rather ride in the stroller having your snack instead of joining your sister on the stroll. You enjoyed finishing your snack next to the pond and showed no fear of the pollen-filled water when you charged towards the geese.

After a nice afternoon nap and Daddy got home you got to open your presents, with the help of your big sister. You received a train, a baby doll of your very own and your favorite present, a Minnie Mouse car. You enjoyed putting your presents into your Tinker Bell bag and then taking them out and doing it over and over again. Since your tummy is having some problems you'll get your tasty cake later but I'm sure you won't mind since you don't have much of a sweet tooth.

Baby Girl, we wish you a very, very Happy First Birthday!
Love you to pieces.

Dilemma

After the first road trip we took with Emma did we remember how difficult it was to travel with a baby who is facing backwards. Suddenly all of the memories of reaching back to give a binky, a toy, snacks and singing all the way home to stop her from crying came rushing back. We were now ready for the first year to be done so we could turn Emma around in her seat.

Now the day is upon us and we are so excited BUT then here came the American Academy of Pediatrics with their "recommendations". I believe when Lily turned one they recommended to wait until age 2 and we still turned her around. But for some reason, we are now rethinking our decision. Although they now recommend age 2 or when the child outgrows the height/weight requirements for the seat to turn them, we will definitely not wait this long. But, how long?

Emma is not as big as Lily was at this point. She's tall but skinny. Which scares me. Do we wait until she's a certain weight, a certain age? How do you know? She's now content in her seat, doesn't cry, falls asleep easily and can see out the window with no problem. I guess she'll stay this way until it becomes a problem or until we take our next trip and my arm can't handle the reach back into the seat.

Happy Birthday Kira!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Kira!!

It was a gorgeous day and we were able to take full advantage of it! Once Kira's new swing was properly hung from the tree (a long story and a lot of laughs later) all the kids had a blast taking turns. The food and cake were delicious and we can't believe Kira is 3!

The Newest Toy

Aunt Kiki and Uncle Steve were very sweet in sending the girls birthday presents. Among the presents was this singing/learning picnic basket. And, it's a complete hit with both girls. Here Lily was able to have a picnic with her newest friend (actually a friend from the bottom of her stuffed animal pile) Peaches (a name that Lily came up with on her own).

One Year Ago

I was miserable and impatiently awaiting Emma's arrival. Oh how I remember this day. It was hot, muggy, sweaty and all I could wear was this shirt that did not cover my entire belly. My mom laughed at me while she was taking these pictures. Was not funny at the time but looking back now, I guess I would have too.

This year, I'm dreading my baby girl Emma turning one!

Only a few more days left of being a baby.

Someone's Hiding

Little Miss is now hiding while doing her business.

She is also understanding when I tell her we need to go change her diaper. We've been working on going to her room and getting a diaper to give to me. So far she can go to her room, point to the diapers and then she runs out. She still is not a fan of getting it changed so maybe it'll get her potty trained that much faster :) I can hope.

Happy, Happy Wednesday!

Today Lily was able to celebrate her birthday at school (Monday was picture day). I brought in snack and cupcakes for her class. She wore this crown all day too.

Today at lunch Lily asked if she could feed Emma. We just refill her tray when it gets empty since she's a slow eater. So I said OK. Then, she started sharing her lunch with Emma. She would ask, "Em, you want some more blueberries?" Emma would shake her head yes and say Yah. As I started to explain that I cut Emma's blueberries in half, I didn't even get half of it out before she instinctly bit a blueberry in half and gave it to Emma. :) I was able to eat my lunch without having to do a thing for either one of them....double :).

After lunch they wanted to play and here's what I found. Lily and Emma hiding from me :) They are beginning to play a lot together. Lily talks to Emma a lot, she asks her lots of questions and Emma is doing really well in responding and trying to answer back. We can really tell that Miss Emma understands a lot of what we say!

And, Breathe.

I have been working since March 23rd on these bows and flowers. There is a consignment sale that I contacted in February about making bows for their sale and after a week I heard that they wanted me to be there only bow person there. I finished making them on Friday but then had to get them ready for the sale by putting them on cards and filling out price tags. Mike made this board for me and it worked out great. I ended up with over 150 cards, some single bows and some packs of 4. This evening the four of us delivered this to the sale and I'm so relieved to have it done!