curls

I would have never imagined for Grace to have all this crazy curly hair. Sure Adam and I both have wavy hair, but it is really more frizzy than curly. I've been told my grandmother had beautiful little ringlets, but I've never seen a picture.

So when her hair started to curl at the ends around 15 months or so I was so excited. Now its crazy curls. I LOVE IT!


The longer it gets and the more humid outside that it is... the more her hair curls.


I wonder if Emma will have curls too?


Here is a pic of Grace on her first bday.. no curls in sight!
And look at her now.

trying

I've been doing a lot of thinking about blogging, but I just haven't gotten here to write about it.


One thing I've been wanting to say is that when I say I'm busy I mean it. I feel like sometimes people don't understand how you can be busy and not be working. No I'm not trying to say that my job is harder or easier than other moms, I'm just saying that you can't compare.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to open a can of worms, I've just been a little frustrated lately. I guess its like a little quote I've heard a few times...

"From the outside looking in you can't understand it, and from the inside looking out you can't explain it." (I've actually heard this quote to describe my beloved Aggieland... but it applies well to this scenario.)

Anyway, so back to blogging about what I love most.


My girls.

Here is some sisterly love. Grace has really turned into a super sweet big sister. She loves to give Emma hugs and kisses and loves to sing to her... especially patty cake!
We've been walking a lot and boy do I have a good workout. My sweet neighbor and I have been tring to get out and walk several times a week. I figure I'm pushing about 60 lbs or so... that has gotta help burn something...

Emma has found her tongue. It's precious... she loves to stick it out when she smiling :)
We put a hole in the wall... I know we own a new home for less than 6 months and we are already tearing it apart. Not really. There was this "dead space" under the stairs (which also happens to be right off the family room) so we decided we would like to use this space. So far its just a big cut out, but hopefully it will be a little closet soon enough.... like maybe before we have friends that are coming to visit this weekend with a very curious crawling nearly one year old. (hint hint Adam!)

And last but certainly not least... I've been missing my friends up in Oklahoma. So Grace, Emma and I drove up to visit my friend Melanie and her two little ones. It was just a quick day trip, but well worth it. We even had all four kids down for a nap at the same time... sadly it only lasted for about 30 minutes. But we got to eat lots of yummy cookies while they slept. (We didn't want to share... and you know if you eat anything like a cookie in front a toddler they want one too... )

Grace, Emma, Sophia and Lucas

Hope everyone else is doing well. I'm going to try to catch up on my blog reading now. Sorry Granny that I haven't posted recently. I'll be better! love you!

boots

We worked on our flower beds this weekend. And of course Grace had to "help". I told her go upstairs and get her shoes so she could help.

Well she came down stairs in these red boots. A good friend gave these to Grace last year and they are by far Grace's favorite shoes (Thanks Margaret... we are still getting LOTS of use out of the clothes). Only problem is that they are still a little big. So normally I just let her prance around the house in them. But yesterday I let her wear them to help garden.

Afterall boots and gardening are a norm here in Texas... right?

computer time

The only time I really get a chance to blog is when Grace is alseep. So if Emma is awake she joins me to blog. Here is a picture of Emma and I the other night. She fell asleep hanging out. So cute. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does stuff on the computer with their child is in their lap! I use to do this too when Grace was little.

KY

Emma and I got back from a few days ago! The trip to Kentucky couldn't have gone better. She did fabulous on both plane rides... only crying for seconds on the way there and not at all on the way back! Since the plane wasn't full either way I was able to have 2 seats so we had plenty of room to spread out.

My brother and sister-in-law's little boy is simply precious! Although he is little peanut, he is such a cutie with these amazing dimples. Watch out girls, because he is going to be a heartbreaker!!

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos.

Jackson (6 weeks), Emma (9wks)

Grace and daddy also had a great weekend! I even came home to a cleaned house :)

a potty post

Potty Training...Where to begin?

Ever since Emma was born I had decided it was time to potty train Grace. I guess when you change those itty bitty newborn diapers you quickly realize that your HUGE toddler needs to learn to go on the potty.

So I've been saying that I would train Grace this summer when she could run around the house in her panties and just a t-shirt.Monday morning arrived and I decided to just see what would happen if I put her in Elmo panties (the cutest things ever!).

A little background... Grace LOVES the potty. She hates being wet or poopy and recently she learned to take her diaper off. She has being going on the potty for about a year now, but it was always on her terms... she had to ask. Which she did often. So I felt like she has been ready.

On Monday morning she stayed dry for a couple hours and then she got busy coloring (she LOVES to color) and had an accident. It was actually really cute... she ran over to me saying "Mommy, Mommy... WET!". I did put a diaper on for her nap and I thought that was enough potty training for the day and we would try again the next day. (Mainly b/c I had to run some errands and I wasn't ready yet to take on the challenge of training outside the house.). She was NOT happy about this. She wanted Elmo panties. Finally I convinced her to put a pull-up on. (OH and Pull-ups are the dumbest thing ever invented!... its just an expensive glorified diaper that they can pull-up and down themselves... I guess I just feel like its all or nothin'...

Anyway, yesterday didn't go as well. I had her in panties in the morning, but then Gracie's friend Travis came over to play and she had an accident, so I put her in a diaper. I figured it was a bit distracting to have a friend over. But after her nap we put panties back on and she didn't have an accident for 3 hours! Adam was out of town last night, so we went to my parents house for dinner so I again put her in a diaper. So that is where we are... not very far.

I know I'm going to have bite the bullet at some point and just leave her in panties when we leave the house, but I'm nervous. I'm also going to out of town tomorrow, so I think potty training will be put on hold to next Monday. OH and I almost forgot. Everytime she goes potty she gets one M&M! Is that bad?

So here are my questions:
*When did you leave the house with your kids that were potty training?
*How often do you ask them to go potty? I'm asking as often as I can remember... normally about every 15-30 minutes.

Well I better run. More potty training days to continue!

2 months!

Emma is really growing fast! She got her first round of shots today and was really brave... only crying for a minute. Here were her stats for 2 months:
Weight: 11 pounds 6 ounces (67th percentile)
Length: 23 inches long (76th percentile)

These are all things she has been up to over that last month:
~She smiled for the first time. Although Emma is a pretty serious baby and normally keeps a straight face, she does grace us with those gummy smiles a few times a day.
~Emma is sleeping through the night! Yes, you read that right. For a couple weeks now she has been going to bed around 9:30ish and waking a little after 7! I think I'm still in shock b/c Grace didn't sleep through the night till closer to 6 months and even then she still had nights she got up for a nursing snack.
~Loves her pacifier. It is a true cure-all!
~LOVES to watch her sister.
~Has found the fan, the mobile and anything else that is within a couple feet of her. When she is awake she is very alert.
~Emma is a constant mover. When she is awake she is busy working out her arms and legs by constantly moving them every which way.
~Emma is still a very laid baby and relaxed baby. She is usually very patient, and typically we only hear her cries when she is hungry, or has a little gas (which thankfully isn't very often!).

I think that pretty much sums up our little Emme for this month. :)

OH and happy Cinco de Mayo!

I love my sister

They are just so cute. Grace has really become a sweet and caring big sister. I was worried at first that she loved her a little too much to the point of smuthering her, but now she loves her on Emma just the right amount. Emma also seems to enjoy watching her big sister and is very tolerant of her when she is in her face 24/7!

Isn't Emma getting so big already?! She is holding her up very well... 2 months next week :( I keep telling her to stop growing, but she isn't listening!