Girls, Girls, Girls

All I have is girls.

Things a Picture Can't Capture
Lily can do a somersault.  I have no idea how she learned it.

Niki rolls with laughter whenever she gets to do something like Lily.   We helped her jump on the bed with Lily and both girls begged for more for 30 mins.

Lily is potty training.  She noticed some of her friends going to the bathroom and wearing underwear.  Then she told me she wanted to wear underwear.  So we got some and we got some potty treats.  We've only had a few accidents and she's starting to get the idea of holding it.  She gets upset when we make her put on a diaper to go to sleep.

Aug 12
Lily's hair finally fits into a pony tail.  Well, kind of.  She still has so much fun playing with her dolls.

Niki loves playing in her walker.  It's a great break from laying down all of the time.  If she stretches really hard, she can push off with the tops of her toes and scoot backwards.  She started eating solid foods.  Now she whines and signs eat like crazy when it's time for dinner.  She doesn't want to be left out.  She sits and chomps on a rice cracker or I feed her some oatmeal or squash during our meal.  She gets so excited to eat like the rest of us.

One night we gave in and let Lily eat some apples as a snack just before bed.  Apparently she was more tired than she thought.



Aug 2
I went to get Niki out of her crib and found that I had not attached her diaper properly during my half-awake middle of the night feeding. Her but was bare, clothes were soaked, and sheets needed changing. Then we had breakfast which Lily gets all over herself lately. I had just finished cleaning that up when I discovered what Niki had been up to while we were eating.  Poop.  Gross:

Some days I say to myself sarcastically "Oh that's all right. It's not like I was planning on doing anything with my day anyways."

Hooray for Captian West!

(can you guess the Disney movie quoted?)

Tyler put on Captain this week. We were very proud of him. I even made a cake for the occasion. The party turned out well for only have a day's notice to plan.

At ThE BeaCh...

Oh how we miss the beach!

We drove 4 hours to Corpus Christi last weekend.  Our friends Devon and Sarah came too.  It was fun very hot and felt even hotter due to the humidity, but we had fun anyways.  That's what Vacations are for.

It took Lily a while to warm up to the ocean again.  She was mostly concerned about the sand that was getting her dirty and felt funny on her feet.  But soon she realized it would wash off with the water and that she could splash the waves with her hands as they pushed her around.
Funny Story - Lily is potty training and needed to poop.  There were no bathrooms so we tried digging a "camping potty" hole.  She wouldn't have it.  Soon she was screaming and crying from the torture!  "I want to go on the potty!!!"  So we tried holding her up like a seat.  Then we tried just going in the water.  Finally, after a good 20mins of tears we constructed a seat using her sand pail and a diaper pail bag liner.  I can't believe she held it in that long.  Silly girl.

Niki just loved splashing and jumping and acting like Lily.  She slept a lot in the beach bouncer too.

We did all there to do in Corpus Christi:

• We rode "Captain Cook's Flagship" paddle boat around the bay.
• We drove over the bridge and around the town and along the bay view.
• We took a quick swim in the Navy base pool before it closed.
• We stayed in the Navy Lodge impossible-to-get-during-the-summer suites.
• We went to the aquarium and watched the dolphin show.
• We went to the beach and even caught a few small waves on the boogie boards.

Climbing Wall

Tyler and I haven't been as good as we should about our "date night" recently.  We finally got out and the only thing we could come up with to do so last minute was the climbing wall at the gym.  While it may not seem like much, the time we get without the girls is AMAZING regardless of what we do.

Ode to Jenni's Mom

"When you have a crab,

put it in WATER."

This little piece of advice from Jenni's Mom has stuck with me.  No matter the age or ailment, it ALWAYS WORKS.

Why are mom's always so smart?
Forget a PH.D., I'm working on my M.O.M.

A Fountain at Twilight

Lily couldn't resist playing in this fountain.  We were just finishing our tour of the SAN ANTONIO river walk with one last stop in the town square.  Lily was overjoyed by the small, "BABY ONE" because she could touch it without getting sprayed in the face.

She was having fun staying dry 'till a corner of her bumpkins got wet.  Then, oops, there goes part of her dress.  Oops again.  You guessed it.  By the end she was SOAKED, but it sure was fun.

ABC's and Graduation

Niki has GRADUATED to bathing in the big tub.  She loves to kick and splash.  I think she even splashes more than Lily, though Lily's splashes end up on Niki's face more. 

Lily is learning her letters.  She put all the letters she knows up in the tub.  I can't believe she knows 16 along with a word that begins with that letter:  "D for daddy", "T for Tyler", "C for Cookie", "U for Go Utes" she says.

Niki likes the letters too, but in a totally different way.  She's teething and loves to gum on them.  She whines when she drops them 'till Lily gives her a new one.  The sibling manipulation has begun.

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!