What's New?

Vanna went in for her doctor's appointment yesterday and weighed in at 12 lbs. 12 oz. She is really filling out. She had a growth spurt with her height too - she is now 24 in. So instead of just growing "horizontally" she is also growing "vertically" now too. Unfortunately, Vanna is losing her hair but new shorter and a little lighter hair comes in. She is starting to babble, has even squealed a few times and yesterday, for the first time, she blew bubbles. She is our little butter ball and getting more adorable by the minute (in my opinion). Here's a look...

We stayed up way too late last night moving the crib in Vanna's room and putting together Cash's bed. Because we don't have an actual guest room, we got Cash a queen bed so that when company comes they can enjoy an actual bed (rather than the air mattress which was our only option before). I just need to get a bed skirt and hang the curtains we have that match the bedroom set.

It might sound silly but I'm so excited to have this done - I finally feel like we're making progress in getting our rooms put together. I have big plans for painting which I can't wait to get started on. I plan on painting irreverent stripes in Vanna's room to go with the new bedding we got (given to us by some amazing friends) and painting Cash's room a kahki green 1/3 the way up and topping it off with a chair rail to match the new bedding we bought him. I have a few ideas for their wall decor too - I'll send completed pictures whenever I get it all done. It might take me a while but the anticipation is fun for me.

From Two All The Way To Five

I read an article in a magazine the other day about stealing your kid's healthiest habits and some included: 1) Try a new food more than once; 2) Spend more time in the tub - that sounds nice; 3) Snack on cereal - so much healthier than those darn cookies I keep making; 4) Don't overdo soda; 5) Keep your hands clean; 6) Schedule a rubdown - massages are as good for adults as they are for kids and can really help with any stress you, or they, might have. There were more included in the list however, I felt one was missing - kids genuinely enjoy life - they have a habit of having fun! I thought the article was interesting - you can really learn a lot from yourself (by doing the same things you've taught your kids to do - you know that thing we're taught - be the example) and you can really learn so much from kids.

This last couple weeks I've been watching a friend of mine's kids - three little girls to be exact. Poor Cash has been so outnumbered. Lately, he's had a hard time sharing so the experience - for however long it lasts (I'm just watching the kids until she finds a permanent babysitter) - has helped him a little with that. Here is a picture of the whole crew...

As you can imagine, (with a house full of five kids - all age five and under) we've been busy - busy playing (including playing referee). I guess you could say we've had a little bit of that "fun" aforementioned. We've played soccer, made paper airplanes, made forts, etc. In fact, here was our fort today...



Don't get me wrong - I love the girls but it will be nice to get back to my regular day and routine. But we'll enjoy our regular play dates while we can.

Stopping to Smell the Roses

It's been a little while since I posted - it just seems like time is slipping by so fast. And for that reason I've tried to simply focus on enjoying the kids and the things they are doing - to stop and smell the roses. I easily let myself get caught up in the busy-ness of things and get distracted from what is most important - and kids grow so fast. So the past couple weeks have been filled with swimming, canoeing(sp?), more running through sprinklers, hide and seek, coloring, trips to the park, farm animal petting zoos, bbqs, storytime, bubbles, chocolate chip cookies and more. It has been exhilarating actually to just put everything (okay not everything - a girl has to keep a clean house, do laundry, etc.) on the backburner and just relax and have some simple fun.

Cash loved the petting zoo I took him to at the park. His favorite thing was the goat. He liked the sheep too but got nervous when they made any kind of noise. He was also fearless around the pony and llama but scared of the bunnies. Go figure.

We've made daddy his favorite "sweet" surprise more often this past couple weeks than we have in the past year probably - chocolate chip cookies. Cash wants to be involved in everything you are doing and loves helping me stir in the ingredients. He likes the eating them part too (not as much as I like eating the cookie dough though-yum!) I think chocolate chip cookies are Cash's favorites too.

Cash loves playing with bubbles and playing in the water so..."put them together and what do you got...bippety boppety boo." He'd stay in the tub all day if I let him.

Poor Vanna gets dragged wherever we think we can find some fun and although she can't necessarily participate in it all, she seems to enjoy it. She is most content playing pat-a-cake and sucking on her hand lately.

So I guess now it's time to get back to business - like my new calling and decorating our house, etc. but I think I need to do more of the "stopping to smell the roses" kind of thing more often. It's been fun!