Swimming

Well we finally got to spend more than 5 minutes in our pool! We went Saturday afternoon and had fun. The pink hat is Abigail : ) She was busy trying to chew on the side of the float:
It took about 30 minutes before Emily would venture out past the pool steps. We bought a float for Abigail in case I get up the nerve to go to the pool by myself with both girls. I wanted to have something I could put Abigail in and not have to have both hands on her just in case I needed a quick minute to help Emily. But this float is too big for her. Her head doesn't even go over the top of the float . . . and if Emily continues to only want to hang out at the steps I won't have much to worry about. We got to the pool about 5:00 and most families were heading out to go eat dinner so the pool was pretty empty . . . which was nice.

She is now taking her 2nd set of swimming lessons. Today was their first day in the big pool. Emily is in the very back of the photo sitting at the end of the pool:

The teacher had them jump off the side of the pool (she caught them) and then "swim" to the side of the pool and then they had to get themselves out of the pool. Emily cried just a little but did what the teacher asked her. Abigail and I hid out over in the corner so Emily wouldn't see us.

Friends Reunion

Emily had a sweet reunion today with her friend Julia. We met her and her mom and sister at a park today:
Abigail got to enjoy a view from the top with Rachel and Lilly:
Later today we went shopping and I put Abigail in the grocery cart for the first time. She fell over while I was trying to get Emily out of the car so I had to prop her up with my purse and diaper bag:
I had toys for her but she was too interested in my purse strap!

Abigail also cut her first tooth today! Her bottom left tooth is now officially on its way. My baby won't have that sweet gummy grin for much longer . . .

Emily has been taking naps on Tuesdays and Thursdays at her home day care she has been going to and last night the girl didn't go to sleep until 11:00 pm!!!! Help me . . . I've got to figure out what to do . . . she doesn't take naps at home because we can't get the girl to go to sleep . . . but I'm limited in my control of what happens in someone else's care.

Tags

Why do babies love tags so much? Abigail will do all she can to get to the tags on her blankets and on toys . . . too funny:
Also . . . do your babies have a poop outfit? You see this outfit right here:
the last 4 times Abigail has worn it she's only had it on for a couple of hours (sometimes less than 30 minutes) before having a major blow out and needing a new outfit . . . I mean . . . how does she know I'm putting that outfit on her?

Emily had one of these outfits too as a baby:
We also got our baby gates put up this afternoon for Abigail:
. . . on a totally different subject, I graduated from high school 20 years ago yesterday! I can't believe it. Here I am on graduation night with my Mom and Granny B:

Crazy Hair

Abigail's hair was driving me crazy yesterday . . . so I just stuck it in a ponytail to get it out of her eyes for a while:
It didn't seem to bother her and we all got a good laugh out of it. We decided to go for a walk after supper last night and I forgot her hair was up in that ponytail. We stopped and talked to our neighbor across the street and when I got home and looked at Abigail in the stroller I thought . . . oh my word . . . I sure do hope our neighbor doesn't think I normally do this to my poor baby! Oh well . . .

Monday is typically laundry day around here so at least once during the day in the middle of hauling laundry from the dryer to my bed for folding, Emily always climbs in and wants a ride. So yesterday I decided to give Abigail a ride too:
everything with Emily now is about "her turn". If Abigail gets ANYTHING she says, "in a few minutes it will be my turn". So when she saw Abigail with a toy in the laundry basket she had to get one too for their ride around the room : ) At least she is sharing . . . although she did ask me the other day if I could move Abigail off of her mat because she was taking up too much room and it was Emily's turn to play on it . . . uh . . . no . . . I had to convince her there was plenty of room for both of them.

We also moved the baby bed mattress down for Abigail last night. I think she likes it:

How We Roll . . .

. . . this is how we like to spend time at the pool:

- 5 minutes to find everyone's bathing suits.
- 8 minutes getting everyone dressed.
- 3 minutes to pack towels and hats and find flip flops
- 4 minutes digging around the closet trying to remember where I put the suntan lotion
- 6 minutes getting everyone loaded in the car and cramming our pool floats and toys in the trunk
- 1 minute to run back in the house to grab a water bottle and the pool pass.
- 30 seconds to drive to the pool.
- 2 minutes to unload, grab kids, toys, towels and walk to the pool.
- 6 minutes to spray suntan lotion on everyone and put hats in place.
- 30 seconds to jump in the pool
- 1 minute to get Abigail situated in her float
- 1 minute for Emily to find friends near the steps and play with them
- 2 minutes for Emily to swim around with Dad . . . .

10 seconds for everyone to jump out of the pool when a big thunderclap hits the sky!!!! . . . 30 seconds later everyone runs home and the bottom falls out.

27 minutes to get to the pool . . . less than 5 minutes spent in the water . . . and that's how we like to go swimming around here : )

In other fun news Emily spent more time as a princess:

and then she asked her Dad to dance with her and my heart melted all over the floor:
Saturday was my birthday so we had lunch at my favorite restaurant! Abigail sat in a high chair for the first time. She looks like such a big girl! She even ate a few puffs for lunch:

After baths last night (cleaning up from all the time spent at the pool!) Joe got Abigail ready for bed while I bathed Emily and got her ready for bed. By the time I got back downstairs, Abigail's hair was completely dry . . . but Joe forgot to brush it . . . so just in case you ever want to know what unbrushed hair looks like on a baby . . . here it is:
I had to get this picture of Emily. She said her friend Julia was here and needed to take a nap. So I had to make pallets for both of them:

More Milestones . . .

We have noticed lately that Emily has started trying to color in the lines instead of just scribbling on her coloring books. And the other day she wanted to just draw for a little while . . . and while I was watching her she started making smiley faces on the paper. I was so impressed!

She also wanted to dress up like T*nkerbell last night and today. When she is in her costume she told us we couldn't call her Emily but had to call her T*nkerbell : )

Abigail has started sitting up on her own. I have to sit her there but she stays sitting up for a couple of minutes . . .
. . . before something else catches her eye that she tries to grab:
you have to really watch this girl! She will go for anything . . . I've caught her gnawing on my shoes and Emily's shoes, she grabbed my water glass the other day and sent water and ice flying across the room . . . she's eaten napkins and magazines . . . and the phone charger! I don't remember Emily getting into so much stuff : ) And bless her heart . . . today I sat her on the couch to change her diaper and just turned around for 2 seconds to grab a diaper and she rolled right off . . . I guess every child has to do that once in their life.

And somehow today she pooped while she was in the bouncy chair and somehow missed the chair she was sitting in and shot it right down her leg and all over the carpet! I've put carpet cleaner down twice so far today and scrubbed a lot and you can still see the stain . . . guess those sweet potatoes she ate last night are here to make a permanent mark in our lives.

This morning Emily got up really early and came and climbed in our bed and went back to sleep and I never knew it. When Joe's alarm went off this morning I went to nudge him and realized I was nudging my 3 year old instead . . . she's a sneaky one : ) She managed to sleep thru all of us getting up and getting ready, including Abigail's loud jabbering this morning.

More Zoo Fun

This weekend they had Members Only night at the zoo.
They had lots of characters there and Emily wanted to wait in line to see her favorite!
Abigail hung in there with us even though it was past her bedtime:
This was my favorite part about going at night . . . this is the only time we see the Lions:
On Sunday Emily wore this outfit that I made for her:
We also got a swing for Abigail. I found it on Cr@ig's List and our friend Jason picked it up for me since it was by their house. We were able to get it from them yesterday and Abigail enjoyed swinging in her new swing:
She also totally grossed me out trying to chew on the straps!!!!