The Oliver Castaways

Woohoo!

2012-02-17T14:23:00.000-06:00

Guess what Phil is doing?! Registering for his LAST SEMESTER! Woohoo!

PS Do you see that pedometer? Ask him about it. While you are at it, ask him about the pull-up bar he bought... he is on a bit of a health kick :)

Yum

2012-02-16T14:10:00.000-06:00

It is so fun to watch both girls eating... one gets food all over her face, hair, hands, clothes, floor, chair, mother...

The other can feed herself easily and even drink out of a cup...

And make funny faces at me at the same time :)

What cuties :)

Compare and Contrast

2012-02-14T15:05:00.000-06:00

Today I thought I would do a little compare and contrast, since it has been a while!
Kyra at (almost) 9 months:

Sadie at (almost) 9 months:

They look so different to me now! Also that dress Kyra is wearing? I retired it off of Sadie months ago... too many to remember... what I am saying is: look at their knees...heehee, cute, chubby Sadie :)

When I got down on the floor to take the above picture of Sadie this happened:

As soon as I got down she dropped her toy and started crawling to me. This happened twice until I took the picture from standing up so she would stay :)

Speaking of crawling, she really crawls now, not just army crawls!

For more compare/contrast pleasure, here are those two cuties again, together :)

Laundry Helpers

2012-02-12T14:23:00.002-06:00

I had some helpers doing laundry the other day...

Or rather, they played nicely and looked cute while I did the laundry :)

The Incredible Talents Of Sadie Rhea!

2012-02-10T14:43:00.000-06:00

Guess what Sadie does now?

Yes, she chews on books, but that wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for. Try again!

Yes, she climbs the stairs, but I believe we established that in a previous post... try again.

Yes, she sits nicely in her high chair and is always interested in snacks, but I am looking for a more recent development... try one more time, I know you can figure it out!

Yes, she stands! Nice guessing!

After work one evening Phil looked over to Sadie, who had pulled herself up to stand using her bouncer chair (see 1st picture of this post) and said, "She stands!" "Old news," was my reply. It didn't seem new to me. Then I thought about it for a second... and realized she had been doing it all day, but she hadn't done it the day before!

Babies learn so fast! What is brand new to them one day is habitual and effortless the next. Or at least, so it seems sometimes :)

Dance, Dance, Dance!

2012-02-07T18:30:00.000-06:00

Kyra loves to dance.

Dance class? Not a huge fan...

It is too structured for her taste.

She likes "free movement,"

expressive movement,

the ability to switch from one dance style to the next.

Unfortunately, for her, dance causes...

sweatiness...

and tiredness.

Reveal

2012-02-05T15:44:00.002-06:00

Finally, here is the gallery wall, all updated!

It still isn't quite the right scale for that big wall, but I left plenty of room for expanding and it looks much better than before! It is also nice to have Sadie on the wall :)

Here is the other part of the reveal:

As Kyra would say, "ta-da!" I never thought that me and Phil would ever be able to agree on a couch given our very different tastes, but this is the perfect mix of what I like and what he likes :)

We now have the perfect place for "together time..."

And a nice backdrop for pictures...

And a nice in the background hulking shape, or out of the background thing to remember it is there...(Really I just wanted to share these pictures and I couldn't think of what they had to do with the couch, so I tried, but sorry about the weirdness)

On a side note, I have started a new blog, which will just be short posts of a "mothering joy" each day. I got the idea from the book 5 Spiritual Solutions for Everyday Parenting Challenges, which me and Phil are reading. (Fantastic book, by the way!) In case you want to check that blog out ever I put a link on the sidebar.

ps I haven't figured out a great way to answer questions you ask me in comments, so I am just going to answer your questions as a comment. So, if you ask a question that you actually want an answer to, check back later :)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

2012-02-02T18:39:00.000-06:00

Sadie can climb our stairs :)

Botanical Gardens...Again

2012-01-31T17:56:00.000-06:00

We really like the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, in case you couldn't tell from the frequency of our visits :)

Yum, lunch...

She wanted to hold her Happy Meal box and "dolly" the entire time :)

Peeking out

Moving along the tunnel...

Made it!

Balloon Fun

2012-01-29T17:55:00.001-06:00

Kyra and Phil got balloons when they went to the dentist.

Sadie really liked them :)

The gallery wall is just about finished! I am waiting for one picture to arrive in the mail (it is too big to print!) I love it!! Here is a sneak peak:

No Words Needed

2012-01-24T10:02:00.000-06:00

Up To

2012-01-22T19:50:00.001-06:00

Just some quick up dates about what we've been up to!

Pinterest inspired this cute dry erase menu board:

I have done a couple quick sewing projects: purse and dance bag for Kyra, Kindle cover for me

Speaking of dance bag...

Kyra started dance class! It is a combo of ballet and tap. She has gone twice so far. Both times she has been nervous about going in, but she was participating by the end!

I love how she rotates through her toys; one day she loves her puzzle, the next she only wants to play with her dolls, and the next she colors all day!

Sorry, no pictures for Phil's activities :)

He started his new semester and his new work rotation. He is busier at work and so has to actually do his homework at home... :( Really though, he is looking forward to feeling like more of a contributor at work.

Sadie is starting to pull herself up to stand and can play with things while resting her back against the couch. She has also tried to climb the stairs a couple of times...

Dancing With Her Prince

2012-01-21T20:05:00.000-06:00

Although technically he is MY prince... we won't quibble about that at this point :)

Please notice the "crowns" on their heads... Please also notice Kyra's eclectic clothing... it is a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, a skirt, leggings, and knee high socks...

Dancing is one of her favorite activities. Even without music on! :)

ps Our living room looks nothing like that now... we have some exciting new things and I am rearranging and updating that ~~awful~~ not great gallery wall, when it is finished I will do a big (ok, a little) reveal!

8 Months

2012-01-18T10:22:00.000-06:00

*disclaimer: some photos have sentences that go with them, most do not. The photos are from oldest to newest and the words are basically what I was thinking at the time*

I can't believe Sadie is 8 months old already!

When I think about how Kyra started walking at this age I think I finally understand just how crazy that was! Sadie is way too young to walk!

She has just started moving quickly around a room although she doesn't "crawl..."

She army crawls and rolls.

I had forgotten how babies find everything that is on the floor and put it in their mouths. Even things that I don't notice. Vacuuming has become a lot more essential...

She still sleeps really well at night and falls asleep in the car almost every time we go anywhere.

Yesterday I unpacked the 12 month size clothes...!

She loves her baths and especially loves to splash in her baths.

She is not interested in baby cereal, but she likes bananas (see photo below...) and "baby mum-mums," (baby rice cakes) both of which she can eat by herself...

Although she doesn't pull herself up to stand yet, Phil often sets her next to the couch to stand and she really likes that. She just needs to learn how to fall properly before that can happen without close supervision...

Most of the time she is content to just sit on a lap and watch what is going on around her or crawl around by herself from interesting place to interesting place.

When she does get excited she kicks her legs back and forth quickly and makes funny, cough-like noises.

It seems like this age for her is all about exploring. Exploring her voice, new foods, ways to move, and her surroundings.

Washer

2012-01-16T16:17:00.001-06:00

Alternate title, "Fortunately, Unfortunately."

Fortunately we have a laundry room. Unfortunately 2 days before we left for Utah our washer broke in the middle of a load. Fortunately I only had that last load to wash. Unfortunately we had no time to fix it before we left. Fortunately Phil had an "off Friday" the week we got home and was able to spend the day working on it.

Unfortunately he spent the entire day working on it. Fortunately there was a really helpful website with great how-to videos for him to follow. Unfortunately after he had followed many different videos he still didn't know what was wrong with it.

Fortunately when he went back to it Saturday morning with a fresh perspective he found the problem!

Unfortunately that problem was a sock very, very wedged in and difficult to remove. Fortunately I have small fingers and know how to use tweezers and Phil has strong fingers that could yank it the rest of the way out. Unfortunately I lost a sock.

Fortunately our washer is fixed and we didn't have to hire someone to fix it or buy any parts!

Yippee! :)

Hanging Out With Some Bakers

2012-01-14T09:31:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning breakfast of tiny box cereal and caramel pull-aparts...

night before we left...

There were more people at this table a minute ago...

Hanging Out With Some Olivers

2012-01-13T09:15:00.000-06:00

"fishing..."

Dress-Up

2012-01-08T21:21:00.001-06:00

One of the things Kyra liked about visiting the Bakers and the Olivers recently was the dress-up. She often put on dresses. Sometimes those were accompanied by hats/tiaras and one particular outfit (not shown here... sorry!) had a tiara, plastic shoes, and a purse...

Haircut

2012-01-07T11:04:00.000-06:00

Kyra got a hair cut! Well... more accurately a bang cut!

She and I were both tired of hair getting into her face all the time, plus I missed the bangs, so...

Great Great

2012-01-06T14:36:00.000-06:00

We are back from our holiday! :)

I am always too lazy while gone to post and when I get home I am too busy, now things have calmed down and I have plenty of posting to do!

Kyra, Sadie, and I were able to visit my Great Grandma and get a few 5 generation pictures.

Grandma always has a good attitude and a smile.

It was sweet to watch Grandma and Sadie together...

Kyra!!

2011-12-26T23:18:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures from Kyra's 3rd (!!!) birthday:

Cake time! (My mom made it!)

(I will post more when we get home :) )

Phil Is Famous!

2011-12-12T12:29:00.000-06:00

Check out this article:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/08/3582063/lockheed-martin-employees-give.html

Phil is the one riding a bike in the background of the picture.

"Christmas Card"

2011-12-11T20:37:00.001-06:00

In lieu of mailing out a Christmas card this year (not like I have gotten it done ever yet...) I made this year in review to summarize our 2011.

That's all!

:)

Oh, Kyra...

2011-12-10T15:13:00.001-06:00

Movie

2011-12-10T15:10:00.001-06:00

I took Kyra to her first movie in the theater! We went to see Arthur Christmas, which was great! She said that she liked it although she looked like she does in the picture for half the time :)

Phil's Adventures In Photography

2011-12-06T09:26:00.001-06:00

Landscapes

Continuous shooting

Depth of field study

Stop motion

Close-ups

Not-your-average-portrait

Portraiture

Has Your Child Ever Thrown Something At Your Face So Hard You Bleed?

2011-12-02T16:10:00.001-06:00

Mine has.

Getting Ready

2011-11-30T07:53:00.001-06:00

Thank you everyone for your kind comments about the family pictures! It is amazing what taking the time to plan and edit photos will do! :)

I am going to give myself some photography assignments to remember what I learned in all those photography classes and I will post them here so you can join me if you want!

Christmas preparation is in full swing over here! I have one more store to go to and then all the shopping will be complete, wahoo!

I still have a long to-do list, which stays pretty long since I can't do much work on it during Kyra's waking hours... :)

Christmas decorating happens today and Christmas music is playing almost constantly...

Speaking of Christmas music... yes, I added some to the blog, so turn up the volume and enjoy! :)

Family Pictures

2011-11-27T12:43:00.001-06:00

Firsts

2011-11-20T18:39:00.001-06:00

Sadie and Kyra had a great first week in the same room. Their bedtime and morning routines didn't have to change so that was good! They actually let me "sleep in" the first morning, which was nice :)

(Probably time to either finish putting the ties on the bumper or just remove it from the crib...)

Kyra went to her first drop-off birthday party yesterday! It was a Tangled theme and she came home with plenty of fun stuff...

sparkly netting-like skirt...

apron...

Rapunzel hair...

When I got to the home to pick her up she was wearing plastic dress-up high heels, the sparkly skirt, and her Rapunzel hair. I was told that the idea to put them on was purely her own...maybe it is time for some dress-up clothes? :)

She also came home with some watercolor paints. She wanted to paint her toes...

Oh yes, and she wants to wear skirts and dresses all the time... She is certainly proving herself all girl!

As another first we all went to our Stake's volleyball tournament yesterday. Phil and I to play, Kyra and Sadie to watch :) Our ward had only 6 people show up, (so no substitutes) and we won the first two rounds! We lost in the finals though :( It was so much fun! I never really realized until then how much activities like that were such a big part of college life for us! I now want to set up an all girls (ok, let's face it that would never happen, so, fine, coed) weekly sporting game/tournament! Ok, let's face it that will never happen either, but it is fun to dream right?! Really all I am saying is, it was a blast and I would like to do it again sometime :)

ps Sadie is 6 months old!! When did that happen?

Cute Girls

2011-11-15T19:42:00.000-06:00

I am so glad that Kyra and Sadie like/entertain each other...

they are cute :)

Sadie is learning a new trick! She gets up on her knees and pushes herself forward! Crawling may be in the very near future...!

Sometimes when she is up on her knees she gets onto her toes and flips onto her back.

She is also getting a tooth (maybe two??) and has moved into Kyra's room. Tonight is their first night in the same room... hopefully they get some sleep and don't stay up all night chatting :)

Phil: The Good Sport

2011-11-13T19:40:00.001-06:00

"Hold still, Phil. Don't move, Phil."

"Daddy."

"Daddy... don't move and don't talk. K, Phil? Let me paint your hair. A different color? What color hair you want to be? What color is your hair? What color you want your hair?"

"Um... brown."

"It won't be hair anymore!"

"What color do you want it to be?"

"Blue. Your hair's blue now!"

"Are you going to paint this arm now?"

"Yes. One second. Hold still. Now your arms are blue! You're all blue! You're all blue and me is all pink!"

I have been typing as I am listening to a conversation between Kyra and Phil. She was using a toy paintbrush and spit to "paint" :)

Create

2011-11-12T09:59:00.001-06:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about a new method of discipline because the current one seems to not be working and we needed one a little more fun :) I had an epiphany yesterday and so me and Kyra got to work putting it together.

(You can see a couple unfinished projects in the background :) )

Here is what we made:

Kyra moves the clothespin up and down during the day and if it ends up above the red at the end of the day she gets to put a sticker on the sticker chart. When she gets 5 stickers she gets a prize.

We are also going to try this time-out alternative to help her calm down instead of sending her to her room, basically just a snow globe.

I got a bunch of fabric for free at my Relief Society activity last night! I have a project in mind for all of them :)

Phil has also been creating! He made a game in Excel. I was so amazed when he showed it to me! He set up a draft with tons of different players, coach statistics, formulas for games and tournaments, and more :)

Playtime

2011-11-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

A typical play-around-the-house-day usually includes:

Trying on shoes, by Kyra;

sitting and smiling, by Sadie;

coloring, by Kyra;

smiling while watching Kyra, by Sadie;

hiding, by Kyra;

and chewing, by Sadie.

We also have a lot of dancing, bouncing, stacking, reading, singing, laughing, finger sucking, snacking, and movie requesting :)

Chuckle

2011-11-08T20:30:00.000-06:00

Lately Kyra has been making Sadie laugh. All the time. I have 3 different videos of it in the most recent upload from the camera! Sadie's laugh is more like a chuckle/giggle... it actually sounds a lot like her upset noise, haha :)

Speaking of videos, I have been listening to this cover of Adele's Someone Like You over and over since I first heard it. The video isn't rock star quality, but the singing is the important part and it is great! Go listen! Seriously.

Botanic Gardens

2011-11-04T18:37:00.002-05:00

We went to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It is becoming a semi-annual tradition :)

We Went To The Park Today

2011-11-02T12:23:00.003-05:00

ps I finally SAW Sadie roll over! She is taking after Kyra by doing things a little backwards: sitting up before rolling.

Trunk-or-Treat

2011-10-29T09:39:00.000-05:00

We went to a trunk-or-treat last night and we should have won the award for best-costumes-all-done-in-45-min-using-only-items-we-already-had :) Kyra likes to be in pictures, can you tell? :)

A Haka Dancer

Phillip Michael Oliver III

"Kitty Cat" (possibly a mouse...)

Aerobics Instructor (pretend she has a boom box)

Practice, practice, practice

2011-10-26T22:43:00.005-05:00

Guess what me and Kyra have been spending a lot of time doing lately?

Practicing letters! It is a little embarrassing when children 6 months younger than Kyra recognize all the letters in the alphabet and Kyra recognizes only 4 (O, Q, K, Y)... I never really thought to practice letter recognition outside of reading her alphabet books...

Anyway, we now practice :) Her favorite way to practice is coloring on the white board. She likes to trace the letters I draw or draw them herself. I guess along with letter recognition she wants to practice writing too...ambitious.

She is very precise and goes slow when she traces...

Sadie has been practicing a few things as well.

Sitting

and ~~contortion~~ toe-chewing.

Blog Blahs

2011-10-20T21:27:00.002-05:00

Sorry about the lack of posting lately, I think I have the blog blahs...seems impossible when I have such cuties to take pictures of all the time, right?

Sadie rolled over for the first time the other day. She hasn't done it since, so I don't have a video or anything, but here is the "after" picture, she started on her back on the blanket.

Since we moved into this house I have wanted to change the door knobs... they are what I heard someone call "sassy brassy"

Replacing them all would be expensive, so I decided to spray paint them and see how that holds up. Since it was so much work (and might not hold up very well) I only did one knob as a tester. It looks way better, so I hope it stays.

I also made a pair of booties for another friend who is having a baby soon and I remembered to take a picture this time!

Anyway, that is all I have for now!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-10-16T21:47:00.000-05:00

Phil went all out this year!

I got flowers:

A necklace:

a date, and a cake!

Cake (and a cute Kyra standing on tiptoes to help mix it) makes turning old not so bad :)

Babylegs

2011-10-12T19:56:00.000-05:00

I made Sadie some leg warmers following this tutorial and she looks adorable in them :)

Also, she is sitting up...

Sort of :)

Farmer Kyra

2011-10-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

We went to an apple orchard today.

Kyra picked (and ate!) black-eyed peas...

went in a couple of tunnels...

watched some chickens...

and picked her own apple off a tree!

This is what she told Phil about it at dinner, "I picked an apple off a tree then the lady washed it, then it rolled around (that is how they dry the apples), then the lady put honey on my apple, and I ate it, then it fell on the ground and got dirty so I put it in the black garbage can."

Knob, Vandal Revisited, and Friends

2011-10-08T12:00:00.003-05:00

We got the knobs for Kyra's dresser! They make it feel whimsical! (More so than the other knobs anyway :) ) We got them from a shop on Etsy called Poshdots.

I stopped trying to force Kyra to nap and instead she has "quiet time" in her room. It has made a big difference in her attitude about that time of day and she even falls asleep in her reading-nook-closet sometimes. It also has made a big difference in reducing the amount of vandalism that occurs... until yesterday.

She had been taking such good care of her things that when she asked to have the "Amella Bedella" book from the library with her I thought that would be fine.

Not fine.

Poor Amelia Bedelia :(

On a happier note, Kyra has started to play really well with her friends! Kyra had a friend over last night for us to babysit and they played together great! Sadie also played well with the baby sister of Kyra's friend (although they were kicking and hitting each other so we had to move them apart a bit :) )

Sadie recently discovered her feet and grabs her toes all the time, which is one of my favorite things babies do.

Daily

2011-10-05T14:00:00.003-05:00

I don't think many words are necessary for this post. Just enjoy the pictures :)

Artist Compared Snuggler

2011-10-01T21:04:00.002-05:00

Kyra loves to color.

She loves to color on her board.

She also loves to color on other mediums. (Is that the correct way to phrase that?? Sorry if it is wrong...)

*gasp!*

No worries, Mommy, it comes right off!

I love the compare and contrast pictures so I now take pictures of Sadie similar to pictures of Kyra at the same age to more easily compare and contrast...

Kyra

Sadie

And lastly I am throwing this picture in because I love it and we need more of Phil on here!

Stress and De-stress

2011-09-28T22:18:00.000-05:00

I was feeling stressed this afternoon, so I decided to take Kyra and Sadie out somewhere. We ended up at the Dallas Temple.

I took some pictures...

...then Kyra took a few pictures...

...then I took a few more.

Vandal

2011-09-25T18:01:00.001-05:00

You know how I mentioned before that Kyra vandalizes anything in her room during naptime? I think I jinxed something because the next day I went into her room after hearing some banging/crashing while she was "sleeping" and saw this:

The large white pieces are bits of her ceramic piggy bank, which I already fixed for her once. I was worried to go into her nook, but I did anyway because I wanted to know where the rest of the pig pieces were...

They were under the pillows. She hadn't been in her room for very long, I still had some hope that she might nap, so I quickly vacuumed and picked up and put her back to bed.

Bad idea.

Just a few minutes after I went out I heard more banging/crashing noises...

*Sigh*

I guess I should just give in and stop trying to force naps to stop the destruction... :)

On a creating not destroying note... check out this hat I made for a friend's baby shower:

Of course I had to try it on Sadie :)

And now more pictures of Sadie... (pictures of Kyra next time, I promise :) )

Hack!

2011-09-21T16:51:00.004-05:00

Hello!

I completed my first Ikea hack! I think technically it isn't a "hack" because all I did was paint it, but hack sounds cooler than paint :) Kyra, Sadie, and I made the long drive to Ikea yesterday and when we got home I painted all the pieces white. Kyra helped out and she did great! She was really hoping to get paint all over herself, but I was let's-not-get-messy-right-now-Mom instead of sure-get-paint-everywhere-you're-being-creative-Mom :) Kyra also helped out by coloring the knobs with a marker. I plan to buy other drawer pulls as soon as I find the right ones, so I thought letting her color these would be a great way to keep her occupied while I put the pieces together.

I have never painted furniture before and have wanted to do something like this for a really long time, I think it looks great and I had so much fun!

Kyra wants to hold Sadie all the time now. She likes the fact that Sadie smiles at her all the time and watches everything she does. It may also be because Sadie doesn't need much support to sit up so holding her is easier.

But, Mom!

2011-09-19T16:11:00.001-05:00

I spent a large part of my weekend organizing! Hooray! Do you think I could organize other people's houses and get paid for it? Dream job. Actually, real dream job: organizing my own house and getting paid for it... lovely... (But really, really my dream job is being a Mom, of course!)

Sorry, back onto topic... Having Kyra in the large room with wood floors really wasn't working out so I moved her back into her old room. Which meant that I had to take out all the junk that I had stuck in that room's closet and move it to the other room's closet. Well... I got started clearing things out and ended up continuing until it was completely empty, which was not exactly the plan :) I put needed things back in and decided that I wanted to make a fun little nook for her, so I stuck our futon mattress and throw pillows in too. It hasn't gotten much use yet because Kyra's books stay in the living room to avoid the vandalism that occurs to anything that is left in her room during "nap time" but hopefully that phase will pass quickly and she can use her comfy space soon.

Obviously it needs some painting too...wow...

Since most things were already out of the wood-floor-room's closet (and on the floor...) I worked on that one too. I had just bought a bunch of clear plastic storage bins to hold not-currently-in-use baby clothes so I filled those up and tossed everything I don't want anymore into a donate box. Anyway... this closet used to be filled with cardboard boxes. Now it isn't. Less "junk" closet, more "storage" closet :)

This summer we have had watermelon in the house almost constantly for Phil. At first Kyra wouldn't have anything to do with it, but now she likes to have her own spoon and she "eats the watermelon water" along with her Daddy. Which means she scoops up the juice with her spoon. Sometimes she does actually eat some watermelon, too... Sometimes.

Lately after I have put Kyra in bed and am at the door saying my last "Goodnight, I love you," Kyra says, "But, Mom!"

...

That's it.

She just says, "But, Mom!"

Even when I ask her, "But what, Kyra?" I get back, "But, Mom!" I think she just wants to stall bedtime and knows that when she asks questions she can usually wrangle a few extra seconds :)

Home

2011-09-14T14:42:00.001-05:00

Alternate title: Sadie, Sadie, Sadie!

I was uploading pictures from the last few days and noticed that every single picture was of Sadie! I guess that is fair since I only took a few pictures of her on our trip...

Speaking of our trip, for anyone who was wondering, we used cloth diapers while traveling! I was a little worried about how that would go, so I brought along some disposables leftover from Kyra, but we didn't even need them! I love cloth diapers. :)

I took the bouncer chair out of the back room yesterday because Sadie really likes to be upright lately and I thought she might like it. She loves it! At first she slumped over because she isn't quite sitting up by herself yet, but I just wrapped some blankets around her middle and she stays up just fine.

On Monday Sadie will be 4 months old! I can't believe it! It was at this time with Kyra that I became a stay-at-home mom instead of a taking-18-credit-hours-and-being-a-research-assistant mom. Life is completely different this time around!

Let's do a compare and contrast, shall we? It has been a while...

What cuties.

Sadie's hair is getting longer on top and still rubbing slowly off the sides and back... she has a funky little back-of-head-mustache... :) As I mentioned before, she likes to be upright and is getting close to being able to sit up on her own. Right now I just have to hold her so she doesn't crunch forward onto her face. I love the way babies look when they are first sitting up!

(That is Kyra, not Sadie, in case you were confused :) )

Anyway... Sadie enjoys her tummy time more and more. She also loves to bat at toys hanging above her and watch whatever Kyra is doing.

This next picture shows one of my favorite things that she does. When she gets excited or upset she lifts her legs up, stiffens them, and points her toes for a second or two. Then she wiggles, kicks, and bounces a lot for a second or two, then stiffens up again... :)

Just a few last pictures...

Cumberland and Nauvoo

2011-09-12T10:23:00.000-05:00

We only got to stay one day in Cumberland visiting my grandparents and we only took one picture because we spent the day chatting and playing indoors. It was raining steadily the entire time, but it was a very nice visit.

These are some things we heard often from Kyra: "Great-Grandma, will you come play with me?" and "Where did Great-Grandpa go?" (Ok, I don't know that she said that last one a lot, but she at least said it once and I loved how she called them Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa!)

Although there were 2 days between Cumberland and Nauvoo they are going on the same post because otherwise this post would be really small :)

So. Nauvoo!

We started out with an oxen-pulled-wagon-ride.

We went to almost every site in Nauvoo, (like the bakery, print shop, gunsmith, brick maker, etc) but we only took pictures at the fun ones :)

This next one is the Family Living Center where you learn how the Saints in Nauvoo made yarn, bread, candles, rugs, rope, and barrels. There was a little spot in the middle with a table to set and babies to play with that kept Kyra occupied while me and Phil learned :)

We got to make a rope to take home with us!

This was Kyra's favorite area - Pioneer Pastimes (And probably Phil's too!) I posted a video from this area on the video page. In this area you get to dress in pioneer clothing and play the games that they used to play. There were tops, Jacob's ladders, stilts, baby dolls, table bowling, blocks, and other things I don't remember :)

This game is actually one that the women would play called 'the game of graces'. When you catch the ring on the stick you then put the other stick through the hoop making an x with your sticks. To make the ring fly to the other person you pull the sticks away from each other undoing the x to make a v!

This missionary was the only man who Kyra would talk to. With all the other men she acted shy. With the sister missionaries on the other hand she talked a lot! When we had just gotten to the brickyard I was helping Phil get Sadie in the wrap and Kyra ran over to the sister missionary who was walking by and started talking to her. When Phil and I started walking toward the brickyard Kyra grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her along over to us! :)

I could tell a difference in the atmosphere when we left "Historic Nauvoo" and went over to the Community of Christ area to see the Joseph Smith sites. One area was all about building your testimony and feeling the spirit, the other area about making money... I was really glad we didn't end there and went back to see more in Historic Nauvoo.

Our final stop before we headed home: The Nauvoo Temple

Pittsburgh Adventures

2011-09-11T18:33:00.000-05:00

There are about a million pictures for this post :)

Here we go!

Saturday night. Arrival. Hot.

Sunday. Early church. Rain. Walk to one of the largest cemeteries in the US. Get to know "Chewy". Rest.

Monday. More rain. Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning. (Sorry no pictures... go see the website, it was a really neat place!) Drive-through tour of Pittsburgh with tour guide Brent.

(I did not take that picture...)

Wednesday. Sun :) Children's Museum of Pittsburgh!!

This was the greatest place! We all had a blast, not just Kyra! We spent about 2 hours there before it closed, but we didn't even go to a couple areas and we could have easily spent another two hours there. I didn't say anything about each picture because there are so many of them and this post would be a little too intense if I did... so, if you have any questions ask in the comments and I will answer as a comment :)

Next up: Cumberland and Nauvoo

Around The World In 80 Days

2011-09-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Or more accurately "Around Part Of The USA In 9 Days."

We are home!

I didn't really mention that we were leaving, but now you know the reason for the long hiatus :)

Basic overview: Drove to Pittsburgh to visit Jena and Brent. Hung out with them for two days then drove to my Grandparents Baker in Cumberland, MD for only a day. Then back to Pittsburgh for one last day. Thursday morning drove to Illinois and spent most of Friday touring Historic Nauvoo. Started our drive home that night and arrived home this evening!

There were about 200 pictures on the camera and there is so much to share that I am going to break up the trip into a few different posts over the next few days :)

Tonight's post: The Drive.

These are some of the "while driving" activities:

(Please pardon the shirtless-ness... she gets really carsick and I didn't want all her clothes dirty before we even got to our destination. We gave her Dramamine for the first time this trip and it worked great so on the way home she was fully clothed :) The other methods we used to keep carsickness at bay/easy to clean up: lollipops, sea bands, ginger cookies, ziplock bags, hair up, peppermints, and cool air)

We had this little duck with Kyra and this was the first time we got it out for Sadie--it kept her entertained when she wasn't sleeping!

Hello!

My personal favorite of her activities...

(Funny thing about her sleeping in the car... she would sleep talk all the time! It was so funny, she would be asleep and suddenly she would say something either meaningless or too mumbled to hear and whoever was not driving would turn around to ask what she needed, but she wouldn't respond...)

Between a recently potty-trained toddler, a hungry baby, and normal road-trip stops we stopped about every other hour. On the drive to PA we added 5 hours onto the projected arrival time from all our stops...! But. Taking all that extra time made a huge difference for morale :) The hours went by quickly and (mostly) happily!

A lot of our breaks were like this:

My favorite break took place at the evening of Day 1... in Memphis...

Ya! This break was purely for me :) Unfortunately the gates were closed when we got there, so I just jumped out of the car to peek at it and take a picture of the sign :)

I was worried about traveling with Sadie and possibly throwing off her wonderful sleep schedule, but she didn't seem to mind, this picture pretty much captures her attitude for the majority of the time:

And just a couple scenic type shots...

I actually took that last picture so I would remember to post what Kyra said about the moon.

We stopped to get gas while it was dark and woke Kyra up. She looked out the window as we started driving again and said, "The moon is following us!" Then when it would go behind the clouds she said, "The moon is hiding from me!" Not just one time... many many times :)

Stay tuned tomorrow for "Pittsburgh Adventures"

I Am So Smrt

2011-09-01T21:01:00.001-05:00

Ta da!

I finished Kyra's quiet book! I am kind of sad to be done, but I have a few more projects in the works, so I am not too sad :)

Kyra is a smarty pants (in the best possible way, of course!) No surprises there. Let me share a funny story...

So. Kyra, Sadie, and I were checking out at the hardware store the other day. Usually Kyra just smiles shyly or turns her head and grins slyly when clerks talk to her, but this time... "Is that your little sister?" Silence. The clerk tried again, "What's her name?" Kyra astounded her (and me!) by saying, "Sadie Bria Awlver." "Oh! And what is your name?" "Kyra Sophia Awlver." What a smart little cookie-cutie! I knew that she knew her own name, but I had no idea she knew Sadie's too!

Speaking of Sadie... here are some pictures of her!

FHE

2011-08-31T11:15:00.001-05:00

I just thought I would let you take a peek into our Family Home Evening...

Lesson this week was reading some stories out of the illustrated Book of Mormon stories.

Our game was (as usual) duck, duck, goose. I posted a couple of videos on the video page of us playing because the wonderful Kyra-ness could not be captured by photographs :)

Sadie pretty much just hangs out...

On a completely different note, here are the last of my quiet book pages!

Hooray! I got so excited that I was done that I started sewing the pages together before I did the embellishments I wanted to do, haha. I think I might make a pocket on the last page with the things in it so Kyra can take them out and put them wherever she wants, which will probably be better anyway :) After that I just have to make a cover!

Another One Of Those Sad, Yet Funny, Stories

2011-08-29T19:40:00.002-05:00

So. Kyra went down for her nap today around 1 and I went into the kitchen to work on the quiet book. At 3 o'clock I figured Kyra would be waking up soon so I went down to the living area so I could hear her better when she woke up. I got distracted by another project for the quiet book and when I looked at the clock it was 5! Kyra does not sleep for 4 hours in the middle of the day... I went to her room to check on her. When I got close I heard crying, but it didn't sound like it was coming from her room... I opened her bedroom door and:

no bed. No Kyra.

I opened the door wider...

Ok, there is the bed, where is Kyra??

I still heard crying and decided to check her closet...

Do you see her back there?

According to the state of her face and the sound of her crying, she had been crying for quite a while... :( There is a quilt and extra sheets back where she is and I guess she went to play in there, fell asleep (seriously??!!), woke up scared, and "was stuck," so she couldn't get out.

(I took those pictures after I found her, so when I first went in the lights were off and the door was closed...Also the Easter baskets and grass are usually up by the Christmas lights...)

It was hard for me to not laugh, but also hard for me to not feel really bad for her :)

Love.

2011-08-28T08:51:00.000-05:00

Hangin' Out

2011-08-27T18:00:00.000-05:00

What we did today (and yesterday):

Fun :)

2011-08-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

Kyra has recently found a new favorite outdoor activity. Digging.

Here she is preparing to go for a dig. (This was the best picture I was able to get... more often than not lately she doesn't like me to take pictures of her...)

I attempted to make homemade laundry detergent the other day... it didn't turn out so great:

I am pretty sure it is not supposed to have those lumps... :)

I finished some more quiet book pages! Go me! :)

Weaving with a tennis racket inspired by Phil

Just your average looking barn, right?

Guess again!

Those are finger puppets! I thought Kyra would like that :)

I am trying to get as much done as possible before our big road trip coming up. Unfortunately I think I saved the most time consuming ones for last...

On a completely different note... I did get Kyra to let me take a couple pictures of her the other day

(look at the circles under her eyes! I wish I could figure out a way to get her to sleep more...)

This is the face that Sadie makes all the time. I can't tell if she is saying, "Mom, you are odd." Or possibly just, "How curious and strange these people are here."

Together...

2011-08-21T17:22:00.001-05:00

♩ We're all together again, we're here, we're here! ♩ (Repeat in your head about 20 times with every 3rd line having a different melody than the other ones and that is the Primary song that is stuck in my head right now.)

Phil is home!

Yay!

While Phil was gone I put Kyra to sleep in her own bed, then when I was going to bed I went into her room, picked her up, and carried into my room :)

Phil brought Kyra some "Christmases," which in Kyra speech mean presents...just like all cake is "birthday cake" :)

Speaking of Christmas presents... Phil's little sister Jessica gave us a magnetic framed picture of herself as a gift last Christmas, which Kyra loves. She recently figured out how to take the picture out and carry it around. This is where I found the picture the other day:

Haha! Below the sink, stuck between two fake drawers, silly Kyra :)

Speaking of silly Kyra... she has been looking through my wedding album lately and has started to talk about herself getting married. She was going to marry her daddy, but I got to him first, so now she is just going to marry "a boy." She planned it for an afternoon after her nap, but since that day didn't work out, she decided to be less specific and just say "I am going to get married to a boy." "Where?" "In the temple." :)

Finally... because I can't resist... pictures of my girls that have nothing whatever to do with the rest of this post :)

Happy Three Months, Sadie!

2011-08-19T17:34:00.001-05:00

I can't believe she is 3 months old already! She has the greatest little chuckle and gets excited whenever I come into her line of vision :) She likes her "tummy time" and would rather be sitting up than laying down. She also really loves the toy bar above her bouncy chair and makes not-very-accurate swipes at it. She recently found not just her fist, but her thumb, which I am not excited about. The pacifier you can throw away, but the thumb will be there forever...so I am going to try to keep her from becoming a thumb sucker...we'll see how it goes!

Now I will bombard you with pictures :)

No, I did not match them on purpose :)

I am now going to bombard you with quiet book pictures and information:

Dress-up girl close-up (I actually made her mouth with tan thread and colored it pink with a highlighter!) Please pretend it is perfect and that you don't see my mistakes :)

Outfits: dress, PJs, casual :)

Not sure why that shirt looks orange... it is really hot pink...

Laundry page. Kyra decorated the laundry basket herself

Balloon page!

Here is one more Kyra and Sadie picture so the post can end on an adorable note :)

Hot Cereal and Zeebwas

2011-08-16T21:16:00.000-05:00

Kyra went into the pantry to get a snack the other day and was in there for a long time. I went to check on her because she wasn't coming when I called, (which means she knows she shouldn't be doing what she is doing) and found the hot cereal box completely emptied onto the floor... She has been asking to eat it for breakfast lately, but it is too hot for hot breakfast! I guess she was tired of me saying "no" and decided to take matters into her own hands...

That stuff is really difficult to clean up, by the way... :)

I am sure you are poised on the edge of your seats hoping I will show you an update of my quiet book pages, so I will :)

Dress-up girl - still needs under things - there will be a clothesline page right next to this one for the clothes. Also, I did my first embroidery! (The eyes and mouth.) There are eye lashes there, which is sort of why the eyes look a little wonky :)

Ballet shoe tie page - still needs the ribbon for the tying

Match the colors page - still needs snaps on the rest of the white balloons and then those need to be sewn onto the colored felt balloons and the other side of the snaps need to be sewn onto the colored-on balloons below where the felt balloons are now...

I can't decide if I should do a title on each page or not. I think I may decide when all the basics of the pages are done and see how ready I am to have it finished :) I also have a lot of details I want to add, like butterflies, clouds, etc. Those may or may not happen as well :)

One of Kyra's friends came over yesterday and we decided to get out Kyra's "zeebwa pool" for them to play in. It is so fun to watch Kyra with her friends now because as soon as one child does something the other one does the same thing... it seems like playing is really copy-cat back and forth!

Also, I posted another new video--more of Kyra singing

New Videos

2011-08-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

I uploaded some new videos, go to the videos page to see...

The Hills Are Alive...

2011-08-15T09:18:00.001-05:00

...with the sound of music!

I tried something new with Kyra's hair yesterday for church and that combined with the dress she picked out to wear made her look like she popped out of The Sound of Music set :)

Here is her hair about 4 hours later...

Haha, by the time I took it out at bedtime only the part at the front of her head was still in :)

On a completely different note, I finally got a picture of Sadie smiling!

Yay for baby squish! And smiles :)

And slobber...

ps Phil is out of town this week, we took him to the airport early this morning, so I won't mind visitors and phone calls and such :)

For those curious about the quiet book: a quiet book is a soft activity book to keep little people occupied when they need to be quiet, like church or airplane rides. I found this blog that is all about how to make a quiet book and has tons of links to other quiet books. All my page ideas came from links I found on that blog. Hopefully I will have more pages done soon!

Today

2011-08-13T15:31:00.002-05:00

It rained today.

You know that feeling when your throat is so dry and parched that it feels like Texas-after-an-almost-record-breaking-heat-wave and then you finally get a nice, cool drink that seeps refreshingly deep and it feels almost like it is healing you inside and out*?

That is how my yard feels.

Except even more so.

:)

*disclaimer: I am not a poet, nor am I profound, I am just being silly because I am so happy it rained

Baked and Half-Baked

2011-08-12T17:36:00.002-05:00

Here are some things I have been working on lately:

Typed and framed Mr. Darcy quote :)

Bead board and chair rail for the Master bathroom...

This is how far I am... I still need to recut the molding, buy and cut more bead board, paint... ok too much, I won't write it all... :)

Here is my progress on the quiet book:

1 page almost done! I have hand stitching to do - numbers next to each row and maybe a title. I have all my patterns and pages cut out now and have started cutting out the felt! It is fun and challenges my minimal artistic skills :)

Here is my little helper helping (this is an only-during-Kyra's-naptime-project)

I Meant To...

2011-08-10T12:07:00.001-05:00

I have been meaning to post since Saturday... I won't bombard you with all my excuses, just one or two :)

I have started working on a quiet book for Kyra! I have planned out and sketched all my pages and bought the materials, now I just have to cut and sew! Just, ha! :) The plan right now is to do some hand stitching, but I have never done it before, so I will have to see how that goes :)

In other news: Phil is done with classes for the semester! Yay! He can now actually come home after work! Unfortunately that means I have to start making dinner again :) He has a break for a couple of weeks and then starts up again, but only twice a week and after dinner. The end of this semester marks the halfway point for both MBA and OLDP classes!

Also, we sold my car! Bittersweet for me! It was my first car and I have had it for 5 years! But it is really nice to have a car that Phil can actually drive (with Sadie's car seat behind the driver he couldn't scoot his chair back far enough for comfort, haha), that doesn't give you a back massage when stopped, and that has A/C in the back.

Kyra has now started to act like and call herself a statue...

Contrary to what these pictures look like, Sadie smiles a lot. I promise. She just gets too interested in the camera and stops looking at my face :)

Sweet ❤

2011-08-04T15:09:00.000-05:00

I always sing to Kyra before I put her to bed. Recently I have started to let her pick the songs. The first time I did that I let her pick 5 different songs. The next time I let her pick songs she picked the same 5 songs in the exact same order...! Ever since that first time she always picks the same songs in the same order! I can't just sing one after the other though, I have to ask her what song she wants next and she almost always acts like she's thinking and debating about which song to pick and then picks the song that is up next on her playlist. It is funny! Is she more fastidious than most toddlers or is this an age/stage thing?

When I sing to her I sit on the floor near the middle of her bed and hold her hand (when she wants it, of course). Last night she asked me to lay my head on her while I sang, so I did. Then she started stroking my forehead and hair! She did the same thing again today! What a sweetheart.

Cooling Cleverness

2011-08-02T21:47:00.001-05:00

What is that?

Only the greatest ribbon, velcro, scrap fabric, ice packs, and flannel ever!

It is a car seat cooler! Genius!

I was browsing through Pinterest and found a link to a car seat cooler so I thought I would try it out. I always feel bad going anywhere with little ones in the car in the middle of summer and have tried a few things to keep them cool, but the only thing I ever achieved previously was to keep the metal from burning them by putting a towel/blanket over the seat. This is basically that, just taken up a notch or 5 :)

I only made one (and altered their pattern quite a bit...) to see how it worked. We used it this morning and it worked well! I don't know why this idea is not more well known, it should be. Especially in Texas. In the summer. Have I mentioned that we have had over a month of 3 digit temps every day? Yep. Today's high was 110. And it won't be getting cooler anytime soon. Gross.

The real test will come on Sunday... will it keep the car seat cool until we are done with church? We will find out!

Speaking of Sunday... Sadie looked especially cute on this last one so I took a couple pictures:

And to end:

my favorite picture of Sadie so far, this is the way she always looks up at me when I am getting her out of her car seat

My Friends Call Me Speed

2011-07-30T16:56:00.001-05:00

This week went by way too fast! I thought I posted something 3 days ago not 6!

We don't really have anything exciting going on, just the usual stuff: still haven't sold my car, Sadie still acts like a newborn and sleeps all the time, Kyra is still fun and entertaining, Phil is still plodding away at his summer classes, and I still spend way too much time thinking about (not necessarily on) Pinterest :) Phil and I actually got to go on a date this morning though! We played Frisbee Golf! Now I can't wait until it is cool enough to play Ultimate Frisbee!!

This is Kyra doing "I love you." (Forgive her dirty face, she can't reach the sink yet.)

I will probably do this a lot, but I took a picture of Sadie the other day and it was just like another one of Kyra from almost the exact same age, so, here is another compare and contrast:

Aw, such cuties!

I have been practicing my don't-say-cheese-but-be-crazy-and-funny way to get Kyra to smile and here are some results:

Corn Sitter Sisters

2011-07-24T17:11:00.001-05:00

Happy Pioneer Day! :)

We babysat this cute little guy the other day and had one non-mobile non-talking child, one mobile and non-talking child, and one mobile and talking child.

Kyra likes him and contrary to what this picture looks like, he likes her too! She followed him around, talked to him, and made sure he listened to me :)

She also liked his playpen and decided to climb into it when I put her in her room by herself...

Sadie is growing up fast! At her 2 month check-up last week she was 24 in and 11 lbs 4 oz! That is 4 lbs and 5.5 in bigger than at her birth. She is in the 91% for height and about 50% for weight (which is funny because she was in the teen percentile for height when she was born...)

She is starting to rub her hair off on the sides already, which makes me sad :( I guess I just need to work on baby wearing more!

There is a video to go with this picture on the video page (it is only 11 seconds long...)

Last, but not least, tummy-time entertainment:

Reveal!

2011-07-23T20:31:00.000-05:00

And now, The Big News:

A new car! "Well, used, but new to us." (name that movie!)

I never thought I would be excited about this part of life...but I am! I can actually fit both girls in the car! And, I can get the car seats out of the car. And we will no longer dent doors in parking lots. And there is so much space. And it has automatic locks and windows. And you can push a button to lock/unlock. *happy sigh*

The only problem is I am now a mini-van mom. I love how my life is turning into a stereotype :)

Know

2011-07-22T18:42:00.000-05:00

I am sure you are just dying to know our news, but you have to wait until tomorrow, sorry :)

Pig

2011-07-20T17:32:00.001-05:00

I know, I just posted, but I need to write this Kyra quote down before I forget.

Context:

Kyra has one of those ceramic piggy banks and the day she got it she dropped it on the kitchen floor and it broke into a lot of pieces. I was able to glue it back together, but Kyra talked about her "broken pig" for a couple days afterwards. The next time Kyra tried to pick up Sadie, Phil told her that Sadie is fragile, like her pig, and so she needs to be careful with her. This was probably a month ago.

Anyway, Kyra just woke up from her nap and I went in her room to get her. She brought her baby and baby clothes over to me and asked me to dress the baby. Then she said:

"She is fragile (said like Ffraaa-jiile) like my pig and my baby sister."

:)

First

2011-07-20T15:06:00.001-05:00

I forgot to mention this, but Kyra had a very important "first" on Saturday!

She went to the dentist! There was a tad bit of drama when she didn't want to lay back and let the dentist look in her mouth (she sat on my lap facing me and so had to lay back onto the dentist's knees...), but finally through coaxing with promises of balloons and stickers as well as a tiny tiny bit of forcing she did it. Once we got her down she was great! She opened wide and got her teeth cleaned and fluorided (yes, I just made up that word) with no further drama. The dentist said she has, "surprisingly good (or maybe he said smooth) teeth!" Hooray!

Here is happy-that-the-first-dentist-experience-is-over Kyra with her balloons:

PS We have some BIG news coming up on Friday! :)

200

2011-07-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

This is my 200th post! Well... on this blog... after deleting all the posts before the "renew post" :) (Should not have done that by the way. Never delete posts! You will eventually want them.)

Lately when I ask Kyra a question this is how she answers, "Yes, Momma." (Said in a soft, submissive voice.) I love how she doesn't say, "Yes," or "ya." Just quietly, "Yes, Momma."

"Would you like some graham crackers?"

"Yes, Momma."

Aw :)

I have finally gotten her to eat peanut butter sandwiches! Hooray! She now eats at least 1 a day! We are to the point with certain vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, lettuce) that if I am eating them she will ask for some for herself and maybe stick it in her mouth, but I can never get her to actually eat it... even with dips. Hopefully that will end up like the peanut butter sandwiches and she will eventually start to eat, but I have been working on veggies longer than sandwiches... she just knows what she likes and feels no need to branch out :)

I love the way she drinks out of cups with the top rim pressed into her forehead. (She is hiding from the camera in the "cup" pictures, heehee.)

I always wonder why I cut my hair short when I actually have to do it when it is short... otherwise I look like this:

Awesome.

Anyway...

Next is Sadie, bathing:

Then the Moby twins:

And lastly is a picture that I took after... well... let me tell you a tiny story. I set Sadie down on her belly on Phil's lap because she had soaked through her diaper at the back. I was walking away and looked back to see her laying there contentedly. Anyway, it was cute, so I took a picture. Then I uploaded the picture onto the computer then onto the blog and now I am telling you a tiny-gotten-longer-totally-unnecessary-story about the picture... :)

Here is a video of the same thing...just in video format, so it has cute sounds and sucette sucking :) I realize (because this is my second child and not my first when I thought everyone on the planet was as interested in my baby as I was) that most of you will probably not care about it, but for those who do, here it is :)

ps Do you ever get in the mood to just talk? Well, that is exactly how I am feeling right now (typing, not talking, although I would probably be doing that if I wasn't typing.) In case you couldn't tell... :)

Photobooth Phun

2011-07-13T14:59:00.000-05:00

I opened up Photobooth (a cool application that comes with Macs) to take a picture of Sadie asleep on my shoulder...

...and found about 40 pictures that Phil and Kyra had taken together a while ago. I thought they were cute and funny, so I am posting some of them to make up for the lack of Phil and Kyra in the last few posts :)

Looks like they had fun!!

All The Pictures Are Of The Same Person...

2011-07-12T13:34:00.001-05:00

How strange...

:)

Not like Kyra and Phil aren't cute, there is just something so easy and fun about taking pictures of a tiny person who can't run away and basically will pose just how you want them to :)

Many of my favorite pictures of both girls are when I get a picture of them looking at their father with fondness :)

*Did I fool you?? That last picture of a baby all by herself is not Sadie, but Kyra :)

The Funny Doggy

2011-07-08T17:51:00.001-05:00

We now have a doggy in the house. No we did not get a puppy, rather, "the doggy" is what Kyra has been calling herself :) She actually started out by refering to herself as "the monkey," then she switched to "the kangaroo," but I think she finally figured out who she is because she has now only been "the doggy" for the last couple of days. For example: "What's the doggy doing?" "Where's the doggy's daddy?" Heehee, children are funny :)

More funny Kyra-ness:

Here is what Kyra was doing while she was supposed to be napping this afternoon:

I thought she was sleeping until I heard her start crying in her I-am-hurt way. Phil and I rushed to her room only to find her torso stuck right in the middle of one of the drawer frames which she caused to fall over while she was in it. She hit her face on the bed which is where the I-am-hurt came from. I didn't take a picture because ~~Phil pulled her out before I got the camera~~ she was a little too distressed :)

Those stacked up bins are actually drawers that usually contain her clothes, which belong in the drawer frames, which belong in the closet. The hamper usually sits on top of said drawer frames in the closet. Her bed actually belongs on the wall you can't see (I think she pushed it around the room to turn on all the lights).

You can't really tell from the picture, but she has on almost all the bloomers and underwear she has :)

Upset to smiling-for-the-camera in 1.4 seconds... (yes she did also put on 2 shirts...)

Of course I can't do a post without a picture of Sadie's newly acquired smile:

Or just her sweet face :)

Guess Who

2011-07-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

I know, two posts in one day, but I thought this deserved its own post :)

Guess who:

Same background, same clothes, same age, not quite the same state of alertness :)

I know it isn't hard to guess, this is really just my oh-so-clever way of comparing and contrasting :)

4th and More

2011-07-06T16:07:00.001-05:00

As part of our Independence Day festivities we headed over to our neighborhood park to feed the ducks/geese.

Kyra didn't want them near her. She would yell, "Don't eat me, ducks!" if they came too close :) (See new video on video page)

Regardless, she had a great time throwing pieces of bread to them.

This is how me and Sadie look almost every outing:

Don't you love those tiny little legs sticking out?! I do. :)

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I like it, so I posted it :)

Bunches

2011-07-04T10:41:00.001-05:00

Happy Independence Day!!

This post is fairly random :)

A few of the emotions of Sadie:

hungry

distressed

curious

happy

My little organizer...

or should I say my meticulous organizer :)

Our first family picture!

Film or Not.

2011-07-01T14:40:00.001-05:00

I was so excited about a photoshoot of Kyra and Sadie that I did the other day with my film camera that I have not used in years. The film camera is an SLR and my digital is just a point and shoot, so I was excited to see how much I remembered from all those photo classes in high school.

Then I got the pictures back:

Ah!! What is that dark band down the bottom?? It was really bright, why the dark background?? Why is it so grainy?? Only a couple had the dark band, but they were all very grainy and dark.

*tear*

After moping for a bit I decided I would scan the pictures I liked and try to fix them so they at least look decent because, of course, there were some adorable pictures in there :)

My Photoshop skills don't really include portrait editing, but I tried :) Here are my favorites:

This one looked so vintage that it needed a vignette :)

(that dark band is impossible to get rid of... you can only crop it out :( Just imagine how the rest of the picture looks...)

♩Miss Independent ♩

2011-06-28T20:50:00.001-05:00

♩ Miss Self-Sufficient...

Kyra has gotten a lot more independent since Sadie was born...

She can now open up the fridge, unbuckle herself from her high chair, and other things that I can't think of right now and/or won't mention :)

It is both good and bad.

Good: when she starts dancing around I don't have to be free to run to the bathroom with her.

Bad: "Kyra, put the ketchup back in the fridge, please. No, don't open it! No, don't squeeze it onto the floor!!! Oh bother."

:)

Also, here is a picture of Kyra's blessing dress, as requested:

Blessing

2011-06-26T20:50:00.000-05:00

Although we had Sadie's blessing 3 weeks ago we only took one picture in her dress that day... :) So we took more tonight because I finally remembered...

My mom made the dress for her, isn't it fantastic??!!

Just Sadie

2011-06-25T14:43:00.000-05:00

...and just pictures

Mostly :)

(I am so sad this picture didn't turn out so great, because I love it: scrunchy forehead and smile!!)

TCHeck-up Time!

2011-06-23T13:56:00.001-05:00

Which in Kyra language means ketchup... (as in catch-up...as in time for me to catch you up on our happenings...) :)

Happenings:

Pool...

Snuggle...

Sleep...

Play...

Sadie Pictures!

2011-06-15T20:21:00.001-05:00

Sorry about another link, but I will give you a preview of why you really want to follow this link:

Sadie's Photoshoot

Visit Pics

2011-06-13T13:33:00.002-05:00

My mom posted a bunch of pictures from their trip here on her blog, check it out!

http://wealthofhome.blogspot.com/2011/06/visit-to-texas.html

2011-06-12T19:45:00.000-05:00

Look!

2011-06-10T14:10:00.000-05:00

A new post! :)

So what is new with us...?

The Bakers left us after a great visit. We were very well taken care of during their stay and Kyra loved the extra audience/playmates.

Unfortunately I didn't really take many pictures while they were here... my mom did though, and I am sure she will post them on her blog soon (right, Mom??) and then I can give you the link :)

Kyra found a good (and patient!) hair model:

That's all, I will be a better picture taker again soon, promise!

Compare and Contrast

2011-06-02T17:18:00.004-05:00

Kyra at 2 weeks

Sadie at 2 weeks

Sleepy-heads

2011-06-02T17:11:00.000-05:00

ps Sorry I have been slacking in my posting... I have no excuse except that I just doubled the amount of children in my household a couple weeks ago.

pps Sadie just had her two week check-up and she now weighs 7 lbs 13 oz and is 20 1/2 in long (that is up 9 oz and 2 in from birth)!! My tiny baby is growing up so quickly! :)

More!

2011-05-27T12:33:00.000-05:00

Hanging out with Dad

Sadie lifts her head up like this all the time, just like Kyra did! (Uh oh! :) )

I spent a lot of time on Etsy the other day looking for a headband for Sadie and decided that I really wished I could make one myself. Some didn't look very hard, but where would I find the things I need for them?? Then we went to the fabric store the other day (Sadie's first errand running!) and I saw the cutest little ribbon flowers, so I decided to buy them and some elastic and try my hand at making a headband! I started with one for Kyra. I haven't done much hand sewing lately, but it was kind of relaxing. It turned out well!

Here are more Sadie pictures:

Already playing air guitar...

Although a lot of the pictures from today are my favorite, I have saved my favorite favorite for last:

Kyra is such a sweet big sister! She is so soft with Sadie and loves to give her hugs and kisses. When Sadie cries she goes, "Aw! Don't cry Baby Sadie! It's OK. It's OK, don't cry." Accompanied by patting/hugging. As you can see from the pictures Kyra also likes to rest her head ("Softly please, Kyra!") on Sadie's when she holds her.

In other news, I am packing away my maternity clothes today. It brings tears to my eyes. Tears of joy. I have missed non-elasticized waistbands.

Also, I am in the process of uploading a new video, which you don't want to miss!! It will be up around 2 my time.

Some Hospital Pics From My Phone That I Failed To Post Before...

2011-05-24T11:39:00.000-05:00

ps Today I did my first household chore in almost a week! I started the dishwasher :) Go me!

pps Sadie has made eye contact! As in, she has actually looked at things now for more than a passing glance!

Happy Birthday, Phil!

2011-05-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

It is Phil's birthday today! The only gift he got was two days early :) My mom made him his yearly Boston Cream Pie birthday cake and we splurged and got Dominos pizza for his special birthday dinner. He is so spoiled :)