Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed getting to spend Thanksgiving with both sets of grandparents this year!  It is such a blessing to be able to share the holidays with both, and I am so thankful that our girls will grow up to know all four of their grandparents.  Unfortunately, they were both stopped up, coughing, etc. the whole break!

School Picture!

So update on the girls!

Kya:

We have been working on having table manners, and so, this means that you are not allowed to say poop or booty at the table (it was getting out of control!).  Well, Kya will get up and stand about 10 feet from the table if she needs to say poop or booty in the middle of dinner.  It is quite hysterical - and she will do this even if she is the only one sitting there coloring or making something.  Eric and I have also had to spend time in time out for saying poop or booty at the table.

She has been doing so well at memorizing her bible verses from church.  I love hearing her say her memory verse!  She has some pretty special ladies at our church that have done an amazing job with her!

She has been praying more and more on her own.  We don't push her to pray before she goes to bed - Eric or I will pray, but now, she is starting to want to pray, too.  

Kya is also getting really into telling stories and writing them.  Eric and I will transcribe for her.  I love her imagination!

Bailey:

Bailey just had her first ear infection, which is probably a miracle considering she is 10 months and has been in day care since 7 weeks!  I must say - we have reaped the benefits of breast milk!  I am thankful that I have been able to produce for this long!  Two more months!

She can stand on her own for a few seconds and is literally into everything.  She hates being by herself, too.  She will scream if you put her in the "baby cage".  If we get in there with her, she does not mind being in there.

She has had a lot of other firsts, too - she is now eating table food.  She has done so well, too.  Kya would choke on everything, but Bailey mashes it really well with her gums and four teeth.  She has tried everything I give her, and has gotten to where she wants to feed herself only.  She took her first bath with Kya, and tried to climb out several times because I think she was like - why am I not in my bathtub!  Then, she finally settled down and was giggling and splashing with Kya.

She can also climb the stairs!  This girl can wear you out!  

I can't believe how fast it is going!  She will be one in January.  I think I will probably cry the whole day since this is probably our last one.  

Halloween!!!

We have had a busy month during October with visits from Grams and Big Daddy, youth Fall Retreat, FOUR birthday parties, visit to P6 farms with Nan, Pop, and Big Daddy, and Bailey plowing through some milestones!

On Halloween, we went trick-or-treating for almost 2 hours with both girls!  It was so much fun.  My parents joined us for the first half and then helped Josee and Chance pass out candy the rest of the night.

So - Bailey-Boo can do the following:
- Pull up (even when she is in her sleep sack!)
- Pronounce consonant sounds like: ma-ma, da-da, a-dah, uh-oh, ya-ya-ya
- Clap
- Turn off lights
- Eat finger foods (puffs, mum-mums)

At her 9-month check-up, she was 44th percentile in height and 87th in weight.  If you have seen her chunky legs, you will understand the 87th in weight.  I have to put her in a size bigger pants.  She can still wear 6 month shirts, but it has to be 9-month pants.

Her bottom teeth have come fully in, and now, her top teeth are coming in.  Eric and I were wondering why she was having a hard time sleeping the past few weeks - DUH, she has teeth coming in.  I didn't think to look until last night and one has broken the gums.

She also enjoys playing hide and seek where I go hide and call her name and she crawls to find me, HATES the doctor (cried entire 9-month check-up), will sit still for me to read books to her, does not like long sleeves, and she can actually flip the switch to turn off lights.  She still likes sucking on tags and her bib while we try to get her to eat, and I hope she grows out of that soon.... I am enjoying watching her grow and guessing how she will be as she gets older.  She loves to laugh and have a good time - we'll see what that means in the coming years.

Kya is your typical oldest child.  She loves to please you and hates being in trouble.  She has to do her homework - just right and things have to be put in their place.  She is very particular about the funniest things.  I get her ready every morning because she doesn't like how Eric fixes her hair, which is awesome and horrible at the same time - I face much more traffic and have to stay a little later, but I love that she wants to see me in the morning!  She also loves giving hugs especially to Bailey who pushes her away most of the time.  So, here are a few funny stories from the past month:

I got a call from daycare, and after I called back, the teacher told me that Kya had taken one of her friends' earrings out, and was so upset after it happened that they had to call me to calm her down.  She cried more than the friend whose earring got taken out.  Thankfully, I knew the mom, so I called and apologized and gave them a gift card to Claire's!

Kya: (friend from school) hit me today.
Me: Did you do something?  What did you do after she hit you?
Kya: No, she wanted my Capri Sun.  Then, I told the teacher.
Me:  Okay, good.
Kya: Then, she said sorry and we held hands and we are best friends again.

I wish we could all forgive so easily and be best friends again!

 Kya:  Mom, why did you marry Eric since he has DIABETES?
Me (trying not to laugh because of how she said this - first of all, she called her dad, Eric as if she was not associated with him and really emphasized the diabetes):  Well, Daddy didn't have diabetes when we got married (he has late on-set type 1), but I would have married him anyways.

Kya had to draw a picture using white, and she drew a picture of herself in a wedding dress and her boyfriend.  I asked her who her boyfriend was, and she said. "I DON'T KNOW, YET."

We love Fall!

The past few weeks have been filled with firsts for Bailey!  She turned 8 months on September 28th, which is Pop's (my dad) birthday!  The day before she crawled forward for the first time, and I was so thankful I got to see it!  AND I noticed that week that her bottom two teeth have finally broken the gums.  She has been sleeping terribly, but hoping it will get better soon!  

Bailey loves swinging!

Happy birthday, Pop!

Bailey and Hudson (my long-time bff's son)

Now that Bailey is mobile, I need to start baby-proofing!  Kya crawled at 10 months and only did it for a month or so until she started walking.  Bailey is also now wanting to stand all the time.  She is growing up WAY too fast!  She loves to make everyone listen to her, too and she is still very giggly.

Kya bug is a great big sister and loves helping.  She helps me with dinner and load and unload the dishwasher.  The other night she was re-organizing the silverware because someone had put the big forks in the wrong place....  Eric looked at me and said - THAT IS YOU.  She has a little OCD in her. If I turn on a light and she wanted to turn it on, she will turn out the light and turn it back on herself.  She is also doing really well in school.  She can write her name AND you can tell what it says.  She still loves reading which I am so thankful that she does.  Bailey just likes grabbing the books and putting them in her mouth, but we will continue to try to read!

We are so thankful for these blessings and we are so thankful the Bulldogs are 5-0!  Go State!

Vacation 2014!

Last week we had our first family vacation as a family of four, and I will tell you this - in the seven years we have been married, we have never had so much trouble trying to go on vacation....

It all started when I picked Bailey up from daycare and she was running a 102 fever.  She had zero other symptoms, so I brought her home, gave her meds and waited to see if it got worse.  Eric went to church (it was Wednesday), and when he got home, the medicine had dropped it to 99 and she had eaten all of her food and was acting totally fine.  We thought it might be teething related, so we drove to my parents (to break up the trip to Grapevine) in Montgomery to stay the night and see how she was in the morning.  We'd decided that Eric and Kya would go if Bailey was not better the next morning.

Bailey slept decent, and her temperature was 99 in the morning after the medicine had worn off and she was eating, etc just fine, so we decided to go.  Everything was going pretty smoothly until about an hour away from Great Wolf Lodge when I noticed the tire indicator.  I asked Eric what that meant, and he said low tire pressure, but we will just check it when we get there.  Five minutes later, we were pulling over off of I-45.  So, the great thing about when you go on vacation and have to change your tire is that you have to unload your entire trunk (which has about 99% of your house when you have a baby).  Eric got to work, and he had the tire changed in less than 20 minutes - unfortunately, we had to buy a new tire when we got there....  So, we continued on and I wondered what would happen next!

Right before we pulled up to Great Wolf Lodge, I looked at Eric and told him I had forgotten to pack my swimsuit.  I had made a list of about 50 things, but my bathing suit was not one of them.....  Thankfully, Target was having a massive sale, and I was able to get one for under $15!

Then.....the next morning we woke up and it was 50 degrees outside and the high was going to be 65. Being from Houston, 50 degrees is freezing to me.  Did we have any warm clothes? Of course not!  I knew a front was coming through, but in Houston, it was only supposed to be 80, so like a dummy, I assumed it would not be that much cooler in Dallas.  So, we got to go to the Outlet Mall and buy some warm clothes.  The one positive was that the waterpark is in inside, so we were still able to enjoy it in spite of the terrible weather!

Once we finally got there, we had a great time!  The staff was amazing.  The waterpark was so much fun, too.  If you book in advance, you can save 20%, so it's a really good deal when you consider the waterpark admission is included in the room rate.  We will definitely be going back!  We also got to play with one of Kya's friends from daycare because her family was there at the same time.   Here are some pictures of the trip!

Kya at our Mommy and Me pedicure!

Bailey was pretty much confined to the room to rest.

Coloring her Great Wolf Lodge shirt in the Cub Club

Holding "Kari"

My makeshift blanket for Bailey

One part of the indoor waterpark

Getting our tattoo right before we left!

Summer is over.....

August was a busy month with visits from Grams and Hayley, Eric going on a youth beach trip (and me taking care of girls by myself for multiple days in a row for the first time - which neither slept good both nights he was gone.....),  Kya starting Pre-K, and Bailey becoming more and more mobile!  We have also been undergoing some changes at our jobs - our pastor, Eric's boss, has recently taken a job at another church, which we are sad to see him leave, but excited for his new journey AND WM has been restructuring the corporate office in a major way.  So lots of changes for both of us!

Back to the important stuff - the ladies!  Bailey has been rolling all over the place, and she is constantly grabbing everything in reach and sticking it in her mouth.  She especially likes sucking on tags - she will always find the tag on anything you give her.  Her bottom two teeth are taking FOREVER to come in, but I can finally feel them under her gums.  She is so close to crawling and gets really frustrated when she can't do it.  She also has this weird grunting thing she will do.  She especially likes to do it when we are all sitting at the dinner table or you are trying to feed her.  It's like this deep-throated grunting.  It sounds painful to me, but she loves doing it....  Hopefully, she will saying things like "Ma", "Pa", etc soon instead of the painful grunting.  She is still giggly and smiley most of the time - unless she is hungry, of course.

Kya has started Pre-K, and absolutely loves it.    She had her first night of homework, and she wanted to do all of it immediately.  We would tell her - we can finish later - "No, I need to do it now!" - followed by "I love homework."  She has also quit dance and started gymnastics.  I'm not really sure what changed in one week, but she loves gymnastics!  She will try anything, and so, I am thankful for that!  The other cool thing about her starting gymnastics is that she is taking at the place I took when I was younger.  It was kind of neat going in there and watching her.  The gym is a little different, but it is laid out pretty much how I remember it!  Little bug still loves barbies, dolls, Frozen anything, books, watching Christmas movies at all times of the year, and trying to tell us what to do.  Eric and I are very blessed to have two beautiful daughters!  If only I could convince Eric to have one more......

Sweet Summer

The ladies are getting so big, and I just love watching them grow up!  Kya has moved up to the four-year-old class at her daycare and has already made new friends.  Eric and I were talking about how she pronounces everything correctly now, except for a few things.  

1. Each udder (Each other)

2. Nuffing (Nothing)

3. I can't think of anything else....

She continues to expand her vocabulary and has started arguing with me like a teenager as if she knows everything.  I love that she tries to use reasoning to convince me she is right, but was not expecting to deal with this so soon!  She made my night this week when she asked to go on a date with me and have girl time - Eric typically takes her on a dessert date on Thursdays, but we went together instead.  I was sad for Eric but pumped that she wanted to spend time with me. 

Our first mother/daughter date

Eric and Bailey's first daddy/daughter date

She also is not scared to just be herself.  If a song she likes comes on in a store, she will stop what she is doing and immediately start singing as loudly as possible with motions and everything - especially if it is a song from Frozen.  She makes friends very easily, and I am soooo thankful for that.  Any time we go anywhere with a playground, she tries to meet new kids.  

Sweet sisters!

And then, there is sweet, smiley Bailey.  She is now 6 months, and the sweetest little baby ever.  She is still a great sleeper and loves laughing.  She can sit really well - it kind of took me by surprise, like all of a sudden she could sit!  I hate that I miss so much because I am working.  She changes so quickly!  I am very thankful for the ladies at her daycare and how much they love and care for her, though.

I love sitting!

We love the jumper!

At her 6 month appointment, she came in at 17 lbs 13 oz (75th) and 26.5 inches (75th).  Her head was 85th percentile.  Again, thankful for a healthy  baby!  She did so good with her shots and only cried a little after the third.  The nurse at the girls' doctor is amazing at giving shots super quickly.  

She is still eating so well, and we are about to start the stage 2 foods.  She eats everything we have given her except for peas.  She also loves to put everything in her mouth with tags being her favorite thing to chew on.... 

Update on the little ladies

So, Bailey and Kya are growing so quickly!  Bailey is now on solid foods and loves food!  She was not sure what to think the first time she tasted rice cereal, but it has grown on her!

Bailey's first feeding!

I think she likes big girl food!

Her favorite foods so far are any fruits, sweet potatoes and carrots.  Man, she can down some carrots. She does not care for peas, though....

She also loves to bounce and roll around on the floor.  She can even get her legs underneath her belly - I don't think it will be long before she crawls. AND she turned 5 months on June 28th.  I can't believe it is going by so fast!

She still laughs and smiles a lot.  We love making her laugh and tickling her.  She gets the biggest kick out of us lifting her arms and tickling under her arms.  I love it!  She still sleeps great at night and goes down so easy.  It amazes me.  I will try to rock her and she just throws her head back because she wants to be in her crib.  Kya used to have to cry herself to sleep sometimes, but we haven't really had that problem with Bailey.  I think it's because she hates napping, so she is exhausted at night.  I know I am so fortunate to have two great sleepers.

Kya is growing up to be such a sweet spunky little girl.  At her 4-year-old check-up, she was in the 80th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight.  I am not sure if this will keep up or not, but Eric and I were always the smallest in our class, on our sports team, etc.  She was so good the whole time, and even took her FOUR shots like a champ.  We had a little crying, but nothing a milkshake from Sonic couldn't fix!

Right now, she loves the words poop, booty, and poot.  She loves to joke about poop ALL. THE. TIME.  She just loves being silly!  I am ready to quit joking about poop, though!

She has proven to be quite dramatic about everything (like a girl), and we are trying to steer her away from the drama....  My mama didn't put up with it, and neither will I!  She does crack me up with her talks about getting married and asking me who she will marry and when.  Then, she told me she would get married when she is 25 after she finishes college - I said that is a great plan.  My 4-year-old planner!

She still insists on wearing dresses all the time and loves pink (and chooses food items based on its color - pink ice cream, pink cupcakes, pink snow cones, etc.).  We started her in dance last month, and she already loves it.  She is doing ballet and tap, and it is so fun to watch her.  She has a few girls from her daycare in her class, so that makes it even more fun for her.

First night of dance class!

She did the sweetest thing the other day - she started randomly praying for her friend Bella who has been pretty sick the past few weeks and asked God to make her better.  It was the cutest thing, and I was so proud of her.  Then, a few days later we were talking about how we give money to the church because our money is from God and that we should give some back to him, and she said - BUT, I don't want to give any back.  Baby steps, baby steps!

Graduations, Birthdays, Holidays, Baby Dedications and Fun!

June was quite the busy month! Starting off June, we went to my cousin, Macy's graduation in Huntsville. She graduated third in class and is attending A&M in the fall! We are so proud of her! I was sad we didn't make it to my other cousin, Nicole's graduation as she is a national award-winning speaker and gave a speech at her graduation. I'm so proud of these two young ladies and can't wait to see them succeed in college! Kya did pretty well at Macy's graduation and talked Pop into buying her a doughnut at the concession stand - oh the things your parents will do for your kids that they never would have done for you!

Then, we celebrated Father's Day and somehow, I don't have any pictures.... Eric had mission trip the week before and told me all he wanted to do was sleep! My mom and dad came to help me with the girls which was such a blessing, but we were glad to have Eric home that weekend.

The third weekend we celebrated my 31st birthday. Eric was so sweet and planned everything out from getting my parents to come and watch the girls and even ordered dinner from Antonio's to celebrate with my parents that night. Kya woke me up at 6:30 with "Wake up, birthday girl" over the monitor. It was so sweet, but I wanted to say - GO BACK TO SLEEP! She couldn't wait to "surprise" me and spilled the beans immediately about everything Eric had gotten me and planned. She has a hard time keeping secrets when she is excited (exactly like me!). We went to Whataburger for breakfast (like we do every Saturday) and one of our fave employees was working and made sure to ring us up and hook us up with some free breakfast. I love that place! Then, Kya and I got our hair cut and got back in time for my parents to come watch the girls so Eric and I could go out to lunch and go shopping. Going shopping without kids is the most amazing thing and I took it for granted for so long!

The last weekend of June, we had Kya's Frozen birthday party! I cannot take any credit for how well it turned out because my mom made it her mission to get the invitations together, get all of the decorations and supplies, make things for the activities, make sure I ordered the cake in time (and gave me a coupon), and came and helped me shop and make the food for the party. I was sooooo grateful because my job at WM has changed quite a bit and I have been a lot busier, so it made having the party a lot less stressful with her help! We loved having all of Kya's friends from daycare and church over.

Then, on Sunday, we had both girls dedicated at the church. Yes, I know Kya is 4 and we are just now dedicating her.... We were going to do it when we moved to Texas, but we wanted to wait until both sets of grandparents could come, then, we decided that we would just wait until the second kid..... It was really special to me that both of our families were there to have the girls dedicated, and we are grateful for the awesome grandparents that they are to the girls.