Little Sitting Bull

So these pictures are not of her sitting. The video is though. She is still wibble-wobbley but she is making huge improvements everyday. Anyone that has seen her legs KNOWS she has a strong "base" :) I feel like in the next few weeks she'll be good to go! YIPPEE!!!! I love a sitting baby. That means mommy is not holding the baby....all day long. Way to go Em! She will be 6 months old tomorrow- happy 1/2 birthday sweets!

Not a whole lot of anything

It has been awhile since I have posted and the reason is probably because we have not been doing a whole lot of anything since we've been back from our GA trip! Funny how it takes so long to truly unwind and get back settled in...or on the other hand, I may just be enjoying being lazy. Either excuse is fine with me.

We have been finding ways to stay cool in this unbelievable summer heat. We are making several trips to the library each week and have actually come home with BOOKS this time! I was laughing with Kristina as I was telling her we were headed into the library to check out some new DVD's and realized...hmmm...I bet Caroline would love new books, and I think she's past the stage of wanting to rip every page out of the books, so we tried it. It was a total HIT! She loves picking out books and actually finds certain ones more interesting than others. It's so fun to see what her little personality likes. So far, she loves non fiction. :) Yes, I bet your thinking, what?? But she likes to pick out books about baby animals, or babies in general. She is all about narrating the pictures to me, so they need to be real life stuff for her to do that I guess. Her language skills are blowing me away- she can name almost anything you point to and is saying it fairly clear. But I also "speak Caroline" since I'm her mommy at home with her everyday. She hasn't really made any sentences yet except for her favorite- "I did it!!" but she is starting to put her words together in true sequence that will eventually be a sentence. She will start saying words with small pauses between them that "go together" like- Mommy. Sissy. Milk. Bottle. Yum. or Mommy. Cook. Hot. Bowl. So I think it's amazing to watch and get to experience first hand how her little brain is growing at such a fast pace.

Caroline is also now labeling everything by what color it is. She knows red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink, and black. She gets red and pink mixed up every now and then but I totally get that. :) Brad painted her toenails red and she thinks that is the neatest thing in the world.

She has really started mimicking her dvd's that have dances or movements to them. We got a "work out" dvd from the library for her about how animals move and it is probably one of my favorite things to sit and watch with her because she cracks me up with her moves. I love love love seeing all of her almost-2-year-old energy bursting out and going towards a good cause-dancing!

Along with that note- a lot of her energy has been refocused on what I think is the beginning of the terrible 2's. NO is a new favorite word and has a new, extremely defiant twist to it this go round. Sometimes her "no!" is just an attempt, and sometimes it is a full out scream, high pitch shriek accompanied by some flailing arms and legs. She will scream so loud at me, pause, look at me as if she is even appalled with herself for making that awful sound. So needless to say, a lot of disciplining, regrouping, and consistent behavior from me is making me a tired mommy! BUT, I have no doubt that she will learn quickly (she is usually a bright one!) that it is not ok or acceptable to tell mommy or daddy no. We talk about obeying and having self-control and making good choices already. I know our ride is probably only going to get more intense as the months go by, but with a lot of prayer and persistence...we hope to make it out alive.

Emily is sitting back and watching all of this so sweetly. She cracks me up. She will watch and giggle as Caroline goes about her daily routine and absolutely adores any attention that big sister will throw her way. She is enjoying her excersaucers, jumperoo, and even loves being outside even in this awful heat. She can ALMOST sit up for an extended period of time unsupported, but still wobbles back and forth. She can do it for a few seconds though. She is rolling like a tornado around her bed and on the floor. She has her two bottom teeth in completely and we think another one may be in the works. She has started sleeping a lot better (if you call only getting up 2x better:) We have been letting her cry it out some and it proved itself by about 4 days of good sleep (one night she slept for 11 hours straight...but that didn't last!), but then I think the teething came back into the picture and we're back to feedings at 11 and 4. I don't mind too much. Guess we'll just wait it out a bit longer to see if those will disappear on their own. LOL.

We are enjoying playgroup at our house each Tuesday and love having a social outlet as mommies as well as for the babies. It always leaves my girls so tired and wore out which hopefully makes for good long naps for everyone. I am amazed at how God is bringing such sweet friends and families into our lives and hopefully will continue to cherish these friendships for life.
This Thursday will be the kick-off for the new Side By Side bible study that Laura and I are starting in Little Rock. We are anxious and excited- it is a little scary to plan and prepare for something and not know if a single soul will show up. Either way, it may start out very small and grow steadily as it gets around word of mouth, etc. Small may be good so that we are not overwhelmed ourselves. Laura and I are meeting at Starbucks tonight after the kids are in bed to pray and plan for it. I think this will be an awesome ministry to other wives out there that are in the same "mold" of resident, physician wife. One major request...that Emily will relax and chill long enough with the childcare/nursery worker for me to be able to stay focused during our meetings. She had only let me get through ONE service at church without being paged out....I am not sure why this would be different, but I am praying that God will work it out.

And now the good stuff.

This is Caroline's "I'm about to pitch a fit" look....

I took these pics at playgroup today. This is the only one that actually caught all 3 looking at the camera. Good face Caroline. :)

Daddy and his girls before Emily's bedtime. Caroline was in the middle of saying "cheeeeese"

Catch Up

I finally got some pictures up and have a few new posts...so keep scrolling down for the newest ones. Here are some random pictures from a few weeks ago and some from this weekend.

We got bored as can be hanging out inside every day bc it is so hot so we made and Elmo cake one day out of things we already had in our pantry. Turned out pretty good I think...Caroline loved it and that's what mattered most!

Bows, Boas, and Bling earrings have taken center stage!

Enjoying Elmo with Daddy

This next video is a prime example of the moves Caroline shows off to me daily. It takes her awhile to get going, but when she does....there is no stopping her! This was during the Hobbs last visit to LR. Poor Caroline- she has no one that pays her any attention. ;) Watch and see.

Trip Pics

We had a great trip this past week with friends and family. We stopped in Nashville on our way there and back and got to visit with Kristina, Shaefer, Camden and Caleb. It was a lot of fun to get to catch up and see our kids interact. I won't lie and say the traveling part of the trip was much fun, but we survived. We stayed in Atlanta with Cara, Chris and Charlie from Friday-Wednesday and enjoyed visits from both sets of grandparents. Niki and Chris took a lot more pictures and have some really great ones that I have yet to get my hands on. So I will post more later. While in Atlanta we got to take the girls to the Georgia Aquarium. Caroline has a recent obsession with fish so this was right up her alley. She LOVED it. We are glad to be home but are thankful that we got to see and visit with our family through out the last week.

Emily is eating!

Emily started rice cereal about 2 weeks ago. She was showing a lot of interest in our food, drinks, etc. and was ready to enjoy her own. She is still working on mastering the spoon but she gets about 50% of it in her belly I think. She is growing up so fast! We were going to wait until 6 months to start, but we ended up starting at just past 5 months with just one meal of cereal a day. Soon we'll switch to 2 meals, then 3 meals a day.

Atlanta

Once again...I have been a little behind on blogging. This week the reason is because I took the girls back to Georgia to surprise my older sister in Atlanta for a week. Cara was TOTALLY shocked and we pulled it off. Thank you Chris for making it happen! It's been a great trip and we look forward to getting together again in October for Charlie's first birthday! However, we are missing daddy desperately so we begin our journey home tomorrow. Pictures to come. We SHOULD make it back to Little Rock on Thursday evening. We have made stops in Nashville on our ways to and from so that has helped break the long drive up. We had a blast with the Spires crew and look forward to our next adventures together, but again, more to come.

5 and 20

Where to begin??? It's been a great couple of weeks with visits from grandparents from both sides of our family. Thank you so much for taking time from your busy weeks and coming to see us. Our hearts were filled up to the brim...and hopefully it will last us until we see you again! Niki was amazing and took some great pictures while the Hobbs were around, but wouldn't you know that my parents were here and we didn't think to pick up the camera ONE time!?! I guess we were to busy playing to think of it. So...next time Grammie and Grandpa....get the camera ready!

The Hobbs helped us get our back porch cleaned up, decorated, and fixed up beautifully so that we could use it as a "hang out" spot. It is SO hot right now, but I cannot wait until the weather simmers down a little bit and we can enjoy being out there for hours. They also bought Caroline and Emily their first little picnic table! Caroline was so excited and we have used it everyday- for games, snack, or just hanging out. The Wakefields came in and helped save the day as I got ready to host an ENT resident dinner on Wednesday night. I prepared all day long for their journal club meeting that night and mom and dad were angels helping me get the house ready, the girls occupied and taken care of. I could NOT have done it without their help. Thank you for an amazing week- full of help with the girls, help cleaning, and dates with my husband (YES- I think we went out a whopping 3x while they were here to keep the girls. It was MUCH needed and so much fun...who knew dating your husband would be so FUN! JK. I knew, I just miss it desperately!

On a totally random note- here are some things I want to document before I forget them!
-Emily got her first tooth! We noticed it on Aug. 1st. She is about a month behind where Caroline was, but boy when Caroline got one, the rest followed quickly. We'll see if Emily follows suit.
-Emily tasted her first solids- rice cereal, last night for dinner. She had been watching and grabbing for our food as we ate and seemed to be passionately pursuing something yummy to put in her mouth, so we went ahead and started her on it. For now, just at dinner. Soon, 3x a day!
-Caroline is doing amazing at the potty! I'm not pushing it AT ALL...but I try to offer for her to use it whenever I think about it and she always takes me up on it and is successful. She is so smart and taking off with it on her own. So proud of her. We've invested in some pull-ups to make the transitions easier...we'll see how it goes! Cross your fingers...or your legs ;)
-I am sure I'm forgetting something...but nap time is ticking away.
So....on to the pictures! :)

Niki, our fabulous Aunt, friend, and photographer captured some precious moments of our little girls- Emily 5 months and Caroline 20 months, hence the title of the blog. :)

Best friends already

I can only begin to imagine the secrets that will be told between the 2 of them

OK, so the first pics of Emily with a bow are credited to her sister. Caroline insisted that Emily have a bow as well. I am well aware that Emily has lost her hair somewhere this past month, but we obliged Caroline and threw a bow on her head.