Still swaddled

Reese is still taking an afternoon nap. (Hooray!) But most often I have to wake her up after 2 hours, you know so she will go to bed before midnight. Reese usually does pretty well having to be woken up...especially if I swaddle her, give her a snack and let her wake up while watching a show. ;)

Getting closer

Maleah is starting to get her belly off of the floor....and she is so proud of herself, so cute!





Being outside creates extra motivation as Maleah wants to run and play like Reese does!

Blue Cannon

We bought a football discount card this year. The freshman boy rode through our neighborhood and did such a good sales pitch. And he entertained Maleah while I got the money for him. (Smart boy)

Anyways, it has a discount for pizza at Blue Cannon. Reese loves it there! Probably because we let her play and then eat when she wants to. Makes it so she has fun, eats some, and Matt and I get to chat, almost like a date! ;) Plus I really enjoy their pizza.

Reese's favorite "game" is the race car...she thinks the preview is her actually driving...saves us a lot of quarters! Maleah went for a short ride with her sister....and to think they will be doing this in a real car all too soon.

Sleeping baby

LOVE to peek on my girls sleeping!



Maleah loves to sleep swished between the sides of her crib....she is getting long!



Still celebrate each good nap that they take! That is their daily gift to me! :)

Preschool art

I am hoping this lovely Costco pack can get us through the school year....not sure that will happen but we can hope!

Reese is at the age/stage where she loves making things for people. My daddy came and took our lilac trees (YES!) and he was having a little trouble getting them out. So Reese came in and drew him a map. So helpful!

Reese and her good friend doing dot art on a paper towel....add a little water and it is like painting. Well, kinda.

Moo, Baa, La La La

Maleah is reading one of my favorite board books! She will sit and read books now for a little while....



But if the books get away, like her favorite one, SMILE, she is happy to chase after them.



Wondering how much longer until all this rolling and scooting turns to crawling. This is new for me! Reese kinda crawled at one year for a week...then she walked. So having a moving baby on the floor is a whole new world!

Princess overload!!

Reese is so into princess these days....and I for one am done! I keeping hoping she will move onto something else. But not yet....oh well, it could be worse right?!

Currently, she likes to do princess dress up, princess color forms, read princess books, listen to princess music, dance with her prince (daddy), play and sleep with her princess dolls and she has requested a "sleeping beauty" princess party....at JUMP....that should be interesting! Oh and she wants me to dress up as sleeping beauty....yea, not gonnna happen.

The one good thing about this phase is that when she is in "princess mode" she becomes very helpful, kind and sweet. She LOVES to clean while she is pretending to be Snowhite! So there is a sliver lining to this phase....still ready for it to be done.

Teacher Reese

Reese starts preschool (YIKES!) this September and apparently she is ready. Here she is being the teacher to her student Maleah. Things I learned in her class yesterday:

• Teachers have to wear glasses, that makes them the teacher.
• No cameras at school! (I got in trouble for this picture!)
• Babies are to sit up and if they fall over their mommies have to sit them back up right away.
• Story time is first and then circle time.
• And when the teacher needs a potty break the mommies have to keep an eye on the babies for the teacher.

Story time with Daddy

Matt sure loves to read to his girls. We have been trying to get better at finding/making time to read to Maleah. Just not as easy as it was with one!



Sometimes (often) Daddy is more entertaining than the story!

New old toy

I got out this toy that we used for Reese the week that Maleah was cutting her first two teeth in hopes it would distract her from the pain.



It turned out to entertain Reese more than Maleah. Go figure! But what was great was that Reese would sit and play with Maleah and this made Maleah happy, well happier. :)

Photo shoot in motion

This month the 8 month marker proved to be very entertaining:

8 months old!

This is Reese at 8 months old. We have this picture in a frame and for a while now, okay since Maleah was a couple weeks old, Matt would walk by it and ask "How long until Maleah gets to be like that? I like that stage!" Well dear, we are finally there! :)



Maleah cut her first two teeth this month. She did pretty well. She still napped pretty good and slept fine at night. But during the day, she just fussed constantly. Nothing bad but it was different for Maleah who usually would just play happily. She needed more attention. And she has now learned that fussing gets her attention. So we are trying to work on that one. :)



Maleah also went swimming for the first time this month! She LOVES the water and LOVES watching Reese swim. It is hard to keep her from going under the water. So just this week I took her under twice. First time was perfect, second time she got a lot of water. But she was still having fun!



Maleah is moving now. Rolling and scooting all around the floor. Lucky we have so many toys that she stops to play pretty often so she doesn't get to far. Her new found love of moving made it harder to get this months photo.



Maleah also tried finger foods this month. After the first two teeth came in we started her with puffs. We give her half of one. She is pretty good a chewing, moving it all around her mouth, but she can not yet pinch it and get it to her mouth on her own. Soon though, and we are looking forward to the entertainment and independence that finger foods bring to meal time! :)

Maleah goes through phases of being more aware. She likes to now pull down the bumper in her crib and look out into her room, when she is suppose to be napping. :)

She is talking more. She does say "Dada" and will look for daddy when you ask her where he is at. So we think this is her first word. I do have two daddy's girls!

Tough choices...

Reese is eating better these days. We have really cut back on snacks like crackers, she usually has fruit. Funny that when she was a baby, she mostly ate carrots and sweet potatoes (and was a little orange for a while) but did not care for the fruits as much. Now she is quick to eat fruit and will tolerate some veggies. But for the most part she is eating well and growing like a weed! ;)

On the move

My sweet baby girl who was content to sit and play....



Is now enjoying rolling and moving and exploring so much more! I still set her down sitting but quite quickly she leans to the side and gets on her tummy.



Maleah was having so much fun playing with Reese's dishes. She really liked seeing her reflection in that toaster and spent a while talking to that baby. :)



Pretty good reaching!



She gets her arms up to crawl but still leaves that belly on the ground, so rolling works for her right now. And she is pretty fast at it. I am glad I have a watchful big sister who lets me know when Maleah is getting into trouble! :)

Happy 4th of July!

This morning we got up early and headed out to run the "four on the fourth" with Gramps and Kami and Grammie to cheer us on. Here is the group, with Grammie taking the picture:


The girls already to go:


Maleah fussed/"baby sang" the whole way but wasn't too bad. Reese cheered and sang "america" songs the whole way. She was awesome! And then she got out to run the last 1/2 mile with us...which was up a hill. Reese ran the whole way! I was so impressed!
Thanks for the action shot Grammie!



Afterwards Reese was quick to ask were the treats were, ie kettle corn, so we visited the street fair and got some. It was a great start to our day!

Comparison

I like to do this every so often....






Can you tell they are sisters?