Christmastime is Here (or was!)

I have been so thankful this year that we have gotten to spend Christmas AND Thanksgiving with both sides of the family.  It has been so nice having everyone altogether and the girls stayed relatively well during both holidays.  I ended up getting sick the week after Christmas, but it's just not vacation without me getting sick at Christmas!

During the Christmas Eve service at our church, we did our first advent candle lighting as a family.  It was definitely interesting.  Bailey enjoys being in front of people apparently and continued to coo the whole time we were on stage.  I tried so hard not to laugh while I was reading from the book of Luke, but failed miserably.  Eric did a much better job of not laughing, but I laughed almost the whole time he was talking.  Then, Kya prayed.  It was the cutest thing, and she told us she was not nervous at all.

On Christmas, we woke up and did Santa and opened our gifts.  Then, all the grandparents and my brother came over to exchange gifts.  The girls had so much fun.  Bailey played with the wrapping paper and boxes and Kya was tearing through gifts.  After that, we had some brunch and hung out . watching football.  Then, we ate dinner together and I was exhausted by this point!  It was an awesome day, though.  I love how our families get along so well and we can do holidays altogether.  It's especially nice so we don't have to travel back and forth, too!

So - on to the update about the girls:

Bailey has continued to grow and change over the past month.  She can climb the stairs at lightning speed, she enjoys finding the outlets I have not put the plugs in, she likes throwing things or crawling with stuff in both hands, she is eating mainly table food now, still fighting the sippy cup!  She can also say very clearly: ma-ma, da-da.  She likes shaking her head no and seems to understand when to do it.  She prefers her daddy WAY more than me, but maybe one day she will start to love me again - when I buy her clothes and girly things!  She loves attention and music.  One day I put some Taylor Swift videos on the TV, and she was almost trying to sing or something.  She got really excited - it was so cute.  She has also moved up to a new class at daycare and has had some issues with being somewhere new.  Thankfully, one of her old teachers will go in there from time to time, and Bailey just loves her, so I think it helps.  She will get it, though.  I'm thankful I have liked all the teachers that the girls have had at their daycare!  They are amazing ladies!

Kya-bug is constantly making us laugh.  She told us the other day that she didn't have calories because she is young and pretty.  She can be so sweet one minute and then she is super sassy the next.  She argued with me one day about the sun moving, and then, said - Mom, you don't know anything.  I was glad I was driving and was able to keep my facial expression to myself!  Oh - how I corrected her when we got home!  She has also been very curious about how boys and girls are different.  She even asked Eric if he could describe how his private parts are different.  LOL.  I had a younger brother, so I never had to ask those questions.  I didn't know we would have to deal with these questions at 4!  If anyone has tips on how to handle this situation, I would appreciate it.  I don't want to lie to her or brush her off, but not sure the appropriate level of detail to give her right now.  She is the sweetest and most loving little girl.  I hope she always wants to give me a hug and tell me she loves me!

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....