Sunday, April 11, 2010

First Part of April 2010

I've been trying to spend more time just playing with Anna, so as part of that effort, I bought her a basic set of water colors. I took a water color class in college, but after I learned that I should have taken the drawing class first, I gave up on the hobby and dumped my paints. I wish I would have kept them. Maybe I'll just get my own set of cheap paints so that I can paint with Anna instead of just sitting beside her and dying a little every time she takes the brush from the red paint directly to the yellow without rinsing. She's having fun and the paints were cheap.


During General Conference weekend, Anna decided she liked sitting inside her lego box. Dan likes to ask her if she wants to be "tumped" over. I think that's East Texan for dumped/tipped over. Dan also likes to ask her how the bobsledding run is going.



Anna is still putting all the stickers she can find on Evie. Evie mostly just puts up with it, but she doesn't look too please, does she?


Now that we have two kids, I decided that I wanted a new double jogging stroller for my birthday. It only took me a full month to actually purchase the stroller and then once I got it, it seemed to snow or rain every time I got up the courage to get it out. But finally the stars aligned this past week. The weather was nice and Evie finished her bottle in time for us to take a little walk around the block. It was wonderful to have such nice weather and to be able to get outside and enjoy it.

Saturday morning we went to my parents' house for breakfast and to see my sister Katie and her husband off as they move to Arizona. I had been holding Evie, but she was a little squirmy so I put her down on a blanket. Then my sister Christa picked her up and I followed Anna out into the backyard. When I came back in to check on Evie, she was back on her blanket and asleep. She often falls asleep on her blanket and would probably sleep really well there, but I usually pick her up and move her since I never know when Anna's going to try to sit on her or fall on top of her.



Today was Evie's second Sunday at Church since we were home last Sunday for General Conference. Earlier this week I dug out one of Anna's dresses to see if it would fit Evie. I bought this dress for Anna when she was six months old, but it was always a little short, so she didn't get to wear it very long. It works great for Evie right now, although the sleeves are a little long.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sticker Art

Monday morning, Anna started going through Dan's scripture case and found a sheet of Sesame Street stickers. I planned to use them to distract her during Church, but once she found them, it wasn't worth the fight to get them away from her. Evie just happened to be lying on the floor next to her. I can't remember what I was doing, but I wasn't paying attention to Anna or Evie and the next time I took a good look at the two, Evie was decorated with stickers. Luckily for Evie, Anna likes to move her stickers around lots so she never really adheres them as well as she could, making it painless to remove them from Evie.


Ding Ding Ding!

Recently, there has been a lot of noisy construction going on in our neighborhood. The noisiest has been the pile driving. At first we hear a constant, loud pinging and then as the large metal beam moves deeper into the earth, my house is taken over by constant shaking. Most of this work involves large cranes which Anna finds fascinating. Once she learned what they were called, she liked to point at them and name them.

She also has a book that has pictures of cranes in the background. This morning she pointed to one, said, "Crane: ding, ding, ding." I'm constantly amazed by how much she picks up on.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Photos from March



Anna supports Evie in her tummy time.


This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I bought this potty chair. At least Anna doesn't exactly know how to open doors yet.


Enjoying the last of the Elmo cake.


Anna put this hat on by herself and then told me "outside." I think it was sixty degrees that day, so she didn't need the hat, but I thought it looked cute.


March Snow: Every January/February I get anxious that we're not getting enough snow and before long Utah will turn into a sandy desert. But by March I'm ready for the snow to be gone.




If you can't tell, those are panties on Anna's head. Again, not what I had in mind when I bought them, but cute just the same.


Anna seems to enjoy this toy now more than she did when I originally bought it for her when she was an infant.


Evie at Two Months

Evie had her two-month check up on March 23. At her two-week check up, she weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20.67 inches long, putting her in the 61% for weight and the 66% for height. Before taking her into the doctor, we made guesses about how much she would weigh. I was sure she'd weigh at least nine pounds, probably ten, but Dan thought she couldn't weigh more than nine pounds. When I put her on the scale and saw 12 lbs. 9 oz., my mouth dropped open and I asked the nurse just to make sure I was looking at the right number. Her length came in at 22.5 inches. Currently she's in the 52% for height and the 88% for weight. Recently I had to get out Anna's six-month clothes for Evie. She can still wear some of the newer three-month sized outfits, but some of the outfits Anna wore a lot are getting too small and Evie has a hard time straightening out her legs in them. I love all her little rolls and chins. It's so fun to have a chubby baby.
Evie is smiling more and more these days. When I go to get her up from a nap, I can usually get her to smile at me if I talk to her.

Evie is an amazing eater. These days she can drink up to eight ounces at a time, but usually it's more like seven. She's also sleeping really well. She's usually awake between eight and ten in the morning. Then after some tummy time and a bottle, she'll often sleep until the late afternoon, waking up between three and five. She usually wants one more bottle around seven or eight before going to bed for the night. These days she only gets me up once, between one and three in the morning. I'm still exhausted in the morning, but I've given up on sleeping in and now I get up with Anna. I've learned that if I keep Anna's door closed (she still can't open the door and I'm not teaching her how), she'll often stay in her room until 7:45 instead of running into our room at seven.

When I get a chance, I love to "talk" with Evie. She's great at gurgling and cooing back. I recently got out Anna's gym mat so that Evie can work on batting at toys. She's just beginning to try to reach any toys dangling over her, but she seems to use her entire body.

I've also noticed that she is showing signs of recognizing my voice and focusing on my face. The pediatrician pointed out that Evie seemed to be turning towards me and watching me while the doctor checked her breathing and heart rate. Today we took Evie to Church for the first time and she slept the entire time. I was a little nervous about RSV, so it was nice to be able to keep her in her car seat and covered up. She seemed really content, except for when I would make comments in Relief Society. Then she would start to fuss and fidget, but as soon as I stopped talking, she calmed down.


Twinners

My friend Teresa gave me matching outfits for Anna and Evie. What a great present! I had never thought of putting my girls in matching clothes, but now I love the idea, although it probably won't happen as often as I'd like since Evie mostly wears Anna's hand-me-downs.



The outfits below don't exactly match, but after Dan's mom sent Anna this outfit for Valentine's Day, I found the same pants in Evie's size on sale and decided I couldn't pass them up.

Anna Turns Two

Anna turned two on March 5. Dan's parents made the trip to help us celebrate. We saved the big party for Saturday, but on Anna's birthday she got to play in the snow with Grandpa and her friend Will, and she got to eat one of the chocolate cookies Sandy made while she was here. It was a perfect day.

helping Mom make the birthday cake

all dressed up for the big party


Anna got lots of presents for her birthday including lots of play-doh from Grandma and Grandpa Baxter and large Lego-type blocks from Grandpa and Sandy. She got too many presents to open at one time. So after awhile, we took a break and had some Elmo cake.

Anna loves Elmo. Before her birthday, I asked her if she wanted a rainbow cake or an Elmo cake. Since both words sound the same (enbo and elmo), I wasn't ever sure which one she wanted, but I think she wanted the Elmo cake. Now she refers to all cake as Elmo cake. I made some cupcakes this week and she said, "Elmo cake?"

I guess I got carried away with the black dye. Oh well.



Anna loves the sunglasses that Sandy and Grandpa Brough gave her. She often takes them to bed with her. She also LOVED the little dog and pet taxi that Ralph gave her and she took it to bed with her that night. I was just impressed he brought a gift, but he gets extra points because it was one of Anna's favorite presents.