Entertainment Please

Niki's 3.5 months already!

I have been told how "first babies" are always your smartest, mostly because it is all new to you and you are so amazed at what babies can do. Contrary to popular thought, I've been constantly impressed with Niki. It's either because I'm more aware of what she's trying to tell me because I now have some experience with deciphering children, or I just can't remember Lily being this way at her age. Probably both.

Niki is a totaly different baby this week! Sitting up (with help), playing with her toes, go go go.  I can tell whenever she is really concentrating on something because her little feet just start kicking like crazy.  She's been insisting on sitting up instead of laying down. I finally got the walker out just so I could set her down and keep her sitting up. She's so curious about all her toys. Unlike Lily, she's constantly demanding entertainment. After 10 mins she's done with her toy and wanting a change. And don't even think about leaving her alone in a room. She'll play for an hour in her crib if Lily is in the room playing, but the moments after Lily leaves, Niki starts crying for attention.

Niki's already trying to keep up with her sister. She signs so much better/earlier than Lily did. She not only plays the piano in her crib (a neat trick) but no matter where I set her down in the crib, she will wiggle her way over to it so that she can play.  She puts herself to sleep and sleeps through the night. When I read them books and Lily points at the pictures, Niki tries to touch the pictures. When Lily's taking a bath and Niki hears the water running, she will cry and fuss 'till I put her in too.  Addicted to her pacifier and lovey, She's such a petite little go-go-goer.

Funny Story

So we finally figured out how to hook up our computer to our TV.  This means we ditched our cable and now only pay for internet.  Yea!  It's surprising how much TV is actually on the internet anyways.  Here's an article about how:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110122/you-dont-have-to-pay-for-cable-tv?mod=series-a-article

Anyways,
  growing up we had a favorite book that Dad would bring home from his campus library:  Pigs in Hiding.
We found it on Between the Lions and now Lily asks for it everyday.  She laughs every time the pigs come out to eat food.  Enjoy:
(on the site scroll down and choose Pigs In Hiding)
http://pbskids.org/lions/stories/animals.html

Having fun with Lily

Saturday, July 17
Elmo came to visit on post.  Lily was enthralled by the live singing and dancing.  She of course loved Elmo, but Super Grover was a close second.  Our friends were there too.  Baby Zoie was born 2 weeks after Niki, which made Lily a big sister and Corey a big brother.  Somehow all of this got interpreted by Lily to mean that Corey is her brother.  So Lily would say, "We saw Elmo dancing, with my brother Corey and with baby Zoie and baby Niki"


Monday, July 19
Lily came in to wake me up fully dressed in her Ra Ra outfit.  Notice the zipper up the front and the inside-out bottoms.  Funny Girl.
She's been learning cheer moves from her Dad.  Having grown up with a cheer-leader sister, he knows more about that stuff than me and frequently demonstrates with random cheers.  They are both getting pretty good I say.


Tuesday, July 20
Lily built a house out of blocks.  She is quite pleased with her creativity.  She had some help with the windows, but the door was her idea.

Ballings come to visit!

We had so much fun on our stay at home vacation with my Mom, Dad, and Heidi.  We tried to come up with the most exciting things Killeen and the surrounding area have to offer.  I think we visited almost every pool/water park in the area.  We really enjoyed just spending time together and were very sad to see them go.  We can't wait for the next time we get together.


 
We also caught Niki's first laugh on camera. I just can't get enough of the rolling giggles.

Summer Days

Here are some snippets from the last week:

July 12
"Mom, mom, mom"
   "what Lily"
"It's time to take my picture!"


July 13
Killeen has a "Water Park" too.  Tyler and I enjoyed the slides, although they were a literally hard to ride.  Lily's favorite part, as always, was just swimming in the water.

Niki was so tired afterward that she fell asleep with her arm in the air, still clinging her toy.


July 14
Niki took her first real swim.  She actually lasted about 40 mins. just content as can be, watching everything and relaxing in the water.  Not even Lily's splashes bothered her.  Everyone around was impressed by how she seamed to be enjoying it.  After her fish sister, I just figured all babies love water.  If you look closely at the last picture, you can see the pool reflected in her beautiful blue eyes.

New Car!

Tyler's pround and happy to be in his new car. I guess we are an official Mazda family now. Tyler spent MANY hours researching and finding just what he wanted. Even Lily is excited and keeps asking to go for a fun ride in Daddy's car. It's a special treat for us all. Without further intro, here it is:

Splash Park Break

We went shopping at Costco (a big ordeal since we drive for an hour to Austin just to get there) after a long day of car shopping. It was hot, as usual, and we were dreading the long drive home. Then we saw it, a splash park playground at the "Taraburger" next door. We had just purchased a swim suit for Lily from Costco and that sealed the deal.

Splash Time for Everyone!

Picture Time Reposted

Niki is officially 3 months old.  That means time for professional pictures.  Lily actually warmed up to the photographer quickly once she learned that her name was Niki too.  After that, she sat just where she was told to and said "Cheese" a lot.  Niki was just cute, squirmy, and talkative.  I sure had fun dressing them up.  Thank you Tyler for all your help.  All this and I managed to spend less than $30!

Head, Shoulders, Knees, ...

and Toes of course!

My favorite part is the fact that she only sang for the camera on condition that she would get to see it afterward.  She wastes no time once the song is over getting me to show it to her.

View Album HeadShouldersKnees