September 2014 - 20 months old

9-1-14 The girls are getting really good at walking up and down stairs by just holding on to the vertical railings! It's nice that I don't have to take two trips carrying them very often!

9-2-14 Violet is definitely teething, but I can't tell which teeth are coming in. She's been chewing on her fingers, has had a small appetite, and a fever. Lily might be teething too; she's a little crankier than usual. Poor things! It must really hurt!

On our nightly walk up and down the street, Lily has been stopping, turning around, and walking backwards! It's so funny! She'll go a few feet and then turn around and go forward. Now she says, walk!

9-3-14 Lily says “I la la!" for I love you!

I just found out our girls are sororal twins! "Sororal Twins" is another and more accurate term for fraternal girl twins. Sororal stemming from the Latin word “soror”, meaning “sister”, where fraternal stems from “frat”, meaning “boy” in Latin. I think it sounds nicer too!

9-5-14 Opa! We went to the Greek festival tonight! The girls ate really well! They ate chicken souvlaki right off the stick! They loved watching the dancing and would dance right along with the music. After we ate, we walked around a little and Lily wanted to help push the stroller. Suddenly, it feels different and I looked down to see Lily hanging on to the stroller, but being dragged! Luckily it was just a few steps. She wasn't crying at all! It's a good thing she didn't let go!

The girls have been saying things are "hot" and they don't want to eat them. Now we say, "Blow on it!" and they do then eat it right up! I'm glad that works!

9-10-14 They love chasing each other around the column by the living room and the front door. They giggle and smile! I love hearing them play together and laugh together!

9-12-14 Violet was talking to Lily today. I can only understand a few words, but Lily must really understand her because she kept saying, “ya."

9-15-14 Daddy was playing with the girls and Lily said, “Silly Daddy!"

We usually wash the girls together in the tub, but tonight Ryan washed Lily first. While they were upstairs, Violet was cooking me all sorts of stuff in her kitchen! She was talking up a storm and bringing me mushrooms, cabbage, apples, and a drink. It's so cute to see her walk over to the little cabinet and squat down to find her play food. Then she tries to balance it on a plate and laughs when it falls off. She bends over and grunts while she's reaching for it. When it was Violet's turn for a bath, I gave Lily two books to read in her crib. When I came back 5 minutes later, she had the Olivia book open and she had her head resting on it with The Going to Bed Book under her arm! She stood up and I read her The Going to Bed Book. It has a nice rhythm and she was rocking back and forth. Then she read her Olivia book again before she went to sleep.

They loooove books! In the car! On daddy's lap! After work with mama! At bedtime! Books! Books! Books!

9-18-14 The Happy song by Pharrel Williams came on and the girls loved it! They were dancing and singing Happyyyy. Lily kept singing happyyyy the rest of the day! (and weeks later!)

9-20-14 Violet has been saying “Ya" a lot like Lily does! Lily says “I want more!" all the time! It sounds like “ahwah more!"

9-24-14 Lily is quite the character! She can now pull a chair out and sit up at the table. She wanted her water and said wawa. Ryan said it's on the table (their little table), and she sighed ah. She got down, pushed in the big chair, got her water and took a drink, put it back on the table, back to pull out the big chair again, and then sat on it at the dining room table!

In the mornings she'll get her clothes when daddy says it's time to get dressed and then sit down in front of him and flops back! Ryan has to catch her! When it's Violet's turn, Lily kisses her head! If I'm standing in the kitchen she'll come up to me and kiss each of my legs!

Violet gets so hyper at night! It's hard to describe, but she goes a little crazy! She jabbers and climbs up her slide, and giggles like crazy!

Stairs.....oh my, they're getting fast! Up and down. If they want to go really fast, they'll snake down backwards on their t

9-25-14 My mom watched the girls again today. They had so much fun! She brought jewelry for dress up that they loved! This afternoon BOTH girls started saying “mine!" Uh-oh. Yia-yia said she didn't teach them that! Lily started saying “why" and daddy admits to teaching her that one! Violet says “book" all the time because she loves reading!!!

9-27-14 I was sitting on the couch crocheting when Violet came over to sit with me. She was happy sitting on my lap watching me work and then she grabbed my hook and dropped it between the couch cushions. I said, "Shit Violet!" and I hear it again from Lily across the room! Uh-oh, we now have a parrot on our hands. We better watch what we say! 

It was a rainy Saturday so we went to the big library downtown for some new books. I was happy because I was one of the winners for the summer reading program and won a gift card to the Natural History Museum. We went downstairs to the children's section and Violet was super excited! She started squealing in excitement to see all of those books!! It was so sweet! We read and then checked out a sack full of board books to take home. We often go to the library near us, but it was such a different experience going to the big one and riding the glass elevators. What a perfect rainy day outing!

9-28-14 We went swimming today at the rec center! The girls had a great time! They've got a nice kiddie area that's shallow and fun for the girls to play around in. There were only about 5 other people there other than the water aerobics people. Sunday morning is a great time to go to the pool! Violet loved playing in the bubble/water jet things and Lily loved being chased by Daddy and going down the hippo slide! 

Violet started saying no today! Ahhh!!! The girls were making the funniest faces at dinner tonight! I love it when they're being silly girls! Even though I thought they were teething earlier in the month, no new teeth have come in. I think I can see some getting close though. I hope when they do come in, they come in quickly. I'm sure that really hurts!

 Violet at Red Butte Garden

 Lily at Red Butte Garden

 Greek Festival!

 Yummy Souvlaki!

 Mama and her girls!

 Sharing apples

 Silly Violet!

 Cheese! What a ham!

 Sweethearts

Yia-Yia brought dress up stuff! My princesses!

Great sadness

My sweet cousin, Abi, has been battling brain cancer for over a year. Things were looking better, but then an MRI showed that the tumor was growing and spreading to other parts of her brain and her spine. After many chemo and radiation treatments, ups, downs, hopes and fears, Abi earned her angel wings this past Saturday morning. She will be greatly missed. It's hard to understand why this happens to a young girl, but I'm glad she no longer has to suffer and be in pain. That's just too much for a ten year old to bear. From Abi's diagnosis until now, I try not to, but can't help thinking of my own precious girls. I know I can't think about the "what ifs" and I need to focus on the fact that they are healthy and happy and growing. My heart aches for Abi's parents, grandmother (my great aunt), and her little sister. Even though I'm not religious, I strongly believe we will be with our loved ones after we die. As my friend said to me, "There's either nothing or there's something. If there's nothing, we won't know. If there's something, it's got to be good." I hope it's more than good for you, Abi. We miss you and love you.

Read more here and http://www.donationto.com/team-abi.

Sometimes I'm crafty

I've always loved projects. I stayed busy with my girls all summer, but I think I was missing something for me. I needed my brain to be working a bit harder. I read a TON of books this summer, some really good ones too (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was my favorite), but I just needed something else. I needed a project or two. Lately I've been working on a few that I'm really excited about. 

I started making a growth chart for the girls a while ago and I made a lot of progress on it this summer. I stitched the numbers and the measurements in black thread that I got from my Grandma Joyce (she loved working on projects too). I wrote their names out on paper first, in cursive, and then traced it on the fabric. Then I stitched their names. I love how they turned out! My next step is to sew up the sides, hang it with a dowel, and then add a whole bunch of crocheted flowers up the entire chart. I have about a dozen flowers done and I'll be able to attach them as I make them. In my mind it looks awesome, but it's not quite there yet. I think I'm going to buy some oval shaped wooden buttons for writing their heights and ages, then I can sew them on as they grow. I found a bunch of fun colors of yarn, I just need to get those flowers made!

I found some really soft, chunky yarn and thought, "I should make a blanket out of this!" Well, I ended up making TWO blankets so they can each have one! It's only been the last few months that I've been getting back into crochet. I think the flowers for the growth chart got me hooked. Ha! Hooked! (You crochet with a hook, in case you didn't know.) I've never crocheted granny squares, but wanted to try them. I ended up going a little crazy and now I'm making two blankets! I have all of my squares finished, and I finished sewing one together today. Now it needs a border. I'm very excited to be done with these and hope the girls love them for many years. 

 Lily loved the blanket! She grabbed it to her face and then said, "Purple!" and pointed to a purple square.

Violet just woke up from nap and wasn't too happy! Sometimes you just need to cry!

I'm just barely starting another blanket, but this one I'm going to take it slow, especially now that I'm back in school. I bought a crochet book a while ago that has really helped me with stitches and techniques. I made some funky coasters from the book and I've always wanted to make the blanket (afghan) on the cover. It's similar to granny squares, but the shape of the "squares" are hexagons. I found some amazing acrylic/wool blend yarn that I absolutely love. The colors are so vibrant and just perfect for this project. It's called Sheep(ish) since it's 30% wool. What a fun name! The colors are red(ish), plum(ish), robin egg(ish), etc. I've made two hexagons so far and I can't wait to make more. I'm going to try not to get too obsessed and rush. It's actually quite relaxing to work on these after the girls have gone to bed and Ryan and I are just chillin on the couch. 

Now my mind is going crazy with other project ideas: scarves, gloves (with that sheep(ish) yarn!), baskets, pillows, gifts. We had a funny idea that I should crochet a cactus and take it to my class. I should have students "water" it and every few weeks make it "grow" and even add a cactus flower one day. It could be pretty hilarious, especially if they buy into it as a "magic" cactus. Maybe they're too old to have fun with that, but it might be fun to try!

August 2014 - 19 months old

8-1-14 Summer is almost over! We’ve spent so much time together, and it will be hard to adjust to going back to work. We’ve spent many mornings at Liberty Park walking and swinging, and we’ve visited the Tracy Aviary and Hogle Zoo several times. We’ve visited Great Grandpa Jay a few times, too. We’ve been to the aquarium and went on a few hikes. We’ve played outside and gone on walks. We’ve been going to the library every Wednesday for Book Baby/Toddler Time. I will miss doing all of these fun things together, but will look forward to spending quality time together every afternoon and weekend.

8-1-14 When we went to check on the girls before we went to bed, Lily was lying on her back on all her stuffed animals and she was up against the side of her crib with her arm out. I moved the animals and Ryan touched her hand to move it. Lily opened her eyes, clapped her hands, said, “Yaaayyy!" and then went right back to sleep!

8-3-14 We scheduled our pictures to be taken this afternoon in the mountains. The skies were dark and as we were taking the first family shot, it started raining! It didn't let up so we went to Murray Park instead. We had so much fun! Violet had to hold a flower, in fact every time we are outside she looks for flowers! At one point Lily had a flower too, and when she was done with it she dropped it and stepped on it! We hope the pictures turn out!

8-5-14 We love playing with the chunky Lego blocks! We have a base with wheels and they stack the blocks as high as they can. Then they say, “Choo choo!” Violet especially loves the blocks and says, “I did it!" every time she adds a block! Lily loves dumping the blocks out of the bag! Luckily they both help clean up!

8-7-14 They are talking so much! Lily says Bu-bu for blueberries, and Violet says Uh-puh for up. Lily's good with animal sounds. She says Mau for cats, moo for cows, and woof for dogs. She says Bi-bet for Violet. Also cookie, Ah-no for I don't know (or Oh no), hat, pees for please. Violet says down, and she'll try to say a lot of words if you ask her. She gets really close on them too! She's said thank you, bird, flower, and she says woof every time we see a dog! Both say all done, swing, outside.

8-8-14 We went to Murray Park again to play with Grandma and Caryn and the kids. Violet found the one dried leaf on the playground and held it the whole time!!

8-12-14 Violet said “I love you" today! It was so sweet! I just got them home from Mary's and I told the girls that I was happy they were home and I love them, then Violet said I love you in her sweet little voice. Before we got in the car at Mary's, I asked how their day was and Lily immediately started jibber jabbing away in baby language! I said, “Really!?" And she just gabbed some more.

Violet has been talking so much! A lot of it is jibberish, but even that is more frequent now. We've been putting her thumb bracelet on so her mouth is freed up to try new words! Lily has been cracking us up, as usual. She’s talking up a storm, and dancing. When she dances she tilts her head to one side, looks slightly down, and spins in circles. Sometimes her hands are behind her back. It’s adorable.

8-13-14 I've been reading a little about potty training lately and found it interesting that many cultures train for poop first because people usually go at about the same time every day. When we got home this afternoon, Lily hadn't gone yet so I thought I'd try it. I stripped her from the waist down and brought her potty out to the main, uncarpeted area. She was eager to sit on it, which is great because she hasn't been interested for a few weeks. I had a bunch of new books from the library that kept her engaged. Violet sat on her potty a little bit too! The last book was a train book and they LOVED it! I read it three times in a row! There's a big picture of the conductor on one of the first pages and Lily kept going to that page shouting ductor! By this time I was making dinner, she'd been there on the potty about 30 minutes, but still happy about it. She kept kissing the conductor and it was so cute! I grabbed the camera and was recording when Ryan got home from work. She stood up and we were surprised to see a lot of pee pee in the potty!! Yay, go Lily!! She was so proud of herself and we were very proud too! She sat on there with daddy a little longer, but still no poop. Ryan and I talked tonight and decided we're going to try training her over the next few days, at least for daytime. It would be crazy to train them both at the same time so we're glad Violet isn't quite ready, although she is comfortable sitting on the potty which is a good sign. We have the girls' 18 month appointment tomorrow so we might ask the doctor what she thinks, although we might change our minds considering our experience with her.

As for Violet, she's been wearing her bracelet most of the time, and I've noticed that when she's not wearing it I can tell her to take her thumb out and she will. I think she doesn't even realize she's sucking it so the bracelet has helped her do other things. She's still talking a ton and said I love you again tonight, this time to Lily.

8-14-14 This morning Lily was not interested in sitting on the potty. We went to the girls' 18 month appointment and the doctor thinks they are doing really well! Violet weighs 18 lb. 5 oz. and Lily weighs 19 lb. 10 oz. Violet is a half inch taller than Lily! It's funny that Lily was taller when they were born, then Violet passed her up, then Lily was taller again for a while, and now Violet's in the lead! Dr. Cox said most people don't potty train until 2-3 so we shouldn't try, but Ryan and I know Lily and we think she's ready. The girls just got one shot each and didn't cry at all! Amazing! They had silvery Band-Aids and each got an Elmo sticker. That made their day! Ryan had to go to work and I took the girls to the store before we went home for lunch. At home, I said, it's time to go pee-pee on the potty! When I got her diaper off, it was dry! It was from first thing in the morning before breakfast! She sat right down and peed! After lunch, she sat again, and this time went poopy! We all get so excited when she goes. We take it to the toilet and they both wave bye-bye as it flushes down. Then they wash their hands and turn off the light, which is their new favorite thing! I have to turn it back on for the second baby to turn off. After nap, she was wet and wasn't too interested in the potty. She sat on it, but not for long. We went outside to swing and had puzzle time. Violet is really good at the shape puzzles! I got dinner ready and just sat down when she started screaming, “I pee pee, I pee pee!” and was pulling at her bib. I quickly got her down and she peed! I think going 3 times in one day is a great start! We'll see what tomorrow brings! If she's not interested, that's fine, we don't want it to be a power struggle, but if she's willing and it's a positive experience, we're going for it!!

8-15-14 Lily said “I love you" to me today! J Violet is so funny when she's hyper. She’s been getting hyper and so silly, mostly at night! We went to The Dodo restaurant tonight. They always eat really well there. Anyway, I thought Lily had a big piece of cheese in her mouth and I asked Ryan to get it so she didn’t choke. He pulled at it, but it wasn’t cheese, it was the wadded up straw wrapper! Ryan pulled it out of her mouth like a magician pulls on a scarf! It was hilarious!!!

The girls are really good at saying Yia yia for Grandma, and Lily says poppy for Grandpa!

8-17-14 Today we took trax to my mom's house for dinner. The girls were super excited to ride the choo-choo! We waited at the platform for our train. The girls were in their stroller. We watched one or two going by before ours came and the waved at every one. The platform was under construction so we didn’t have to pay on the way there! Once on the train, they kept saying choo-choo. The train operator came out of the front at one of the stops and smiled and waved at the girls. Then they kept saying ductor, ductor. My mom met us at the station and we walked to her house. It was hot and uphill, but we made it and were relieved to have a yummy picnic dinner outside on the deck. The ride home was nice too! They were so good all night!

8-18-14 Lily gives lots and lots of kisses to everybody and everything. She was kissing Daddy through the glass on the back door while he was out grilling. She clicks her tongue when she gives a kiss so she opened her mouth and clicked her tongue against the glass! Violet was busy “cooking” in her kitchen and serving it on a plate. Sometimes she’ll bring it to us to try!

8-19-14 Lily calls Mary Me-me. As soon as we got home from Mary's, Violet sat down to read.

After bath I was holding Violet and we were looking in the mirror. I said, “Who's that?" and she said, “I-let!" She said her own name! Now they can both say Violet, but not Lily yet.

8-22-14 They loooove books!! We are reading every chance we get! Animal books, Elmo books, baby books, train books. Board books are still preferred. They've ripped a couple of paper books, but nothing too much. They love their Olivia books!!! They are always asking for those! They say, “O-lia!” Those are paperback too, but they love them! Lily's favorite is the last page where Olivia is going to bed. She says, “night, night.” She points to Olivia's family and shouts mama, dada, baby! Violet loves Olivia just as much!

This was my last week off! I worked 3 days and was home with the girls for 2 days. They were perfect. Monday we went to the park and played in the backyard. Wednesday we went to the library and shopping with Grandma and Andrea, Addy, and Harrison. I'm ready and not ready to go back to work. I think that's just how it should feel.

8-24-14 Today is Sunday, I start school tomorrow and I'm in bed with a cold!! Yuck! Violet has it too and Lily has sneezed a few times. I have a feeling it's going to be a long week.

Lily has been walking on her tippy toes. When we read the peekaboo book, Lily says all of the animal sounds. At the end there’s a mirrow, we ask, “What does Lily say?” She says, “Ya.” She really does say that a lot! Haha!

8-27-14 They both learn so many new words every day! Today Lily said her own name! She sticks her tongue out and says it! So funny! Now at the end of the Peekaboo book she says “Lily.” They both know A LOT of animal sounds too! They love the animal magnets on the fridge and they'll pick an animal and say the sound, but Violet's favorite is the gold fish! She always brings it to us to show. Maybe because Elmo has a goldfish named Dorothy.

8-30-14 I wore my Where the Wild Things shirt today and Lily pointed to the monster and said, “Dada!" When I told Ryan, he said that she points to the monkey in Eric Carle's book From Head to Toe and says, “Dada!" I asked, “Lily, is Daddy a monkey?” and she said, “Yeah.” Violet said Apple today at lunch and continued saying it this afternoon. She likes practicing her new words!

8-31-14 We got our pictures back and they are soooo cute! There are over 150 of them! It’s funny because Violet has the same unsure look on her face for the first shots and you can see her slowly warm up to Natalie and start smiling more and more. I can’t wait to get the disc in the mail so I can print some and share them!

Now they both know a lot of animal sounds! We have a Clifford book that has animals on a farm. They know all of the sounds except the mouse. They both know eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, head, and belly button, and they say them all too! I really think they are learning one or two new words every day! It’s so hard to keep track of them all!

 Book Baby/Toddler Time and Miss Lisa. We'll miss you!

 Everybody loves Liberty Park!

 I love sleeping baby pictures. They are my sweet angels!!

Elmo says, "Ah, help me!" Lily ALWAYS gathers up her dollies and sleeps on them.

Ten Year Anniversary!

Ryan and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on August 6th! We went out to eat to celebrate at Sapa for sushi the Saturday after our anniversary and Demi watched the girls. The food was sooo good and we ate a lot! We had spring rolls and soup, four plates of sushi, and a delicious chocolately dessert. It was a beautiful night and very romantic. 

I couldn't think of what to get Ryan for the longest time. I finally decided to get two tickets to a Red Butte Concert. Ryan likes Conor Oberst and he's playing there in September. I asked Demi if she'd babysit that night and she said she would! Ryan was totally surprised by his gift because he thought I didn't get anything since he didn't have any ideas. I got my new ring the weekend before and couldn't wait to start wearing it! I've been wearing my titanium band a lot, but I'm a little sick of it. I don't wear my diamond wedding ring every day. I just wear it about once a week and it always feels more special when I wear it. I wore it to the jewelry store when we were shopping for my new ring, and the jeweler looked at it and was shocked it was in such great condition for being 10 years old! (I guess 11 because we were engaged for over a year before we were married!) It hasn't worn down at all! Anyway, I've been wanting a new every day ring for a while, and found one I love that's the same brand as my wedding ring, Simon G. I decided to get rose gold with white gold details and my birthstone (alexandrite) in the center. It has 22 little diamonds too. My birthstone is color-changing depending on the light. It can be red, green, or purple. Usually it's purple, which I love, but all of the colors look good with the rose and white gold. Sometimes it even looks teal! So cool! It's fun to get new jewelry! I told Ryan I don't want to wait 10 more years before I get something else! Haha! ;)

Ryan and I have had an amazing ten plus years together! We've lived in three places, each had two or three jobs, and traveled a lot. We've been to India, Paris, Australia, Portland, New York, Connecticut, California, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. I have so many memories of our years together. Now we have two beautiful, smart, perfect daughters! I couldn't ask for a better partner in life. Ryan's an incredibly caring and nurturing father. Happy anniversary to my one and only! 

Movies!

We are half way through our movies! I have them organized alphabetically, and we started at the beginning, only skipping holiday movies. Last night we watched Life is Beautiful. It is so funny and so sad. I think they call it a tragicomedy. I just finished reading Unbroken so any WWII films/books/stories are more powerful to me now. We also watched Roberto's speech on the Oscars. He's hilarious!
Our next movie is A Life Less Ordinary. It's one of my favorite movies!!! Soon we'll be onto the Lost series. Apparently it's the 10 year anniversary so there's a lot of articles online that have been getting us excited about it.
Speaking of 10 year anniversaries, our 10 year wedding anniversary is next week! Wow!

July 2014 - 18 months old

7-1-14 Lily loves Elmo from Sesame Street! She's always saying, “Emmo, Emmo, Emmo!" We bought them each a small Elmo doll and now we hear Emmo even more! Haha!

Last weekend we went to Gordman's looking for one thing and left with two new toys. Lily got a little choo choo train with a little conductor. She loves that thing! Choo choo, choo choo! We put up their kitchen last week too and she puts her choo choo and Elmo in the cabinet on the left. It's her spot. When she wakes up from nap before Violet, I'll bring the monitor down with us. She wants to hold it and then put it on the shelf in their kitchen. I'll ask her if Violet is awake yet and she'll get it out look at it and show me, then put it back in the cabinet. First she usually gives Violet a kiss through the monitor though!

I was watching the weather forecast and I said, “It's going to be hot, hot, hot!" Lily ran into the kitchen and pointed to the stove and said, “Hot, hot, hot!"

We usually walk up and down the street after dinner and tonight Violet was walking without holding my hand! We always have the girls walk for a few houses then they get a little tired so we'll carry them for a few houses. They like to look at the flowers, bugs, rocks, and see the doggy barking at the window.

7-2-14 The girls and I went to Book Baby/ToddlerTime at the library today. Lily is so funny. She gets so excited to sing and listen to stories that she claps her hands, smiles, and says “yeah” or giggles a little. The librarian said, “Well you can just stay with me all day!" This time we played with a parachute at the end. They loved that! I bought a water table today and we tried it out after nap time! They loved it! They were splashing around and giggling! It's a great way to cool off on these hot summer days!

Lily's been saying, “no no no." It's so funny because her little lips go in a round little o and her voice is a little deeper. Now we use it on her when we want her to stop doing something.

7-3-14 My girls are 18 months old today! It’s hard to believe a year ago they were only 6 months old and starting solid foods! Now they eat pretty much everything! They’re working on using a spoon on their own. It’s fun, but messy!! When we pull out any fruit for dessert, they get so excited! They scream and Violet waves her arms around. They are such good eaters!

7-4-14 Lily is an escape artist! She was having a hard time falling asleep at nap time. I walked back in to check on her and she was standing at the rocker footrest reading Goodnight Moon! I looked for Ryan, but he was outside washing Bella, so Lily must have climbed out on her own! I didn't want to put her back in without lowering her crib all the way (it was on the second lowest), but since Ryan was outside I decided to rock her and then put her back down when she was sleepy. She was pretty much asleep when I put her in the crib. Five minutes later, I hear a loud bump/crash and scream. That nerd! I ran in and she was fine. It scared us both so much! Ryan came up and lowered the crib. It was a surprise she could even get out of it because the top rail was up to her armpits! Now her mattress is lower and we have a pillow on the floor. She's quite determined sometimes!

Violet is so funny! Lately, she's been blowing raspberries when she's mad or irritated or doesn't want to do something, like wash her hair. Imagine her in the tub blowing raspberries while daddy is washing her hair!

7-8-14 The girls are getting some attitude! Lily whines a lot, “ah noooo, ah noooo,” especially when something doesn't go her way. They'll pull toys out of each other's hands then Violet hits. Mostly they are really sweet, but these attitude moments are tough on me. They really wear me out some days.

7-11-14 Lily peed in the toilet twice today!! We're not really starting potty training, but we have their froggy potties in the bathroom. They usually sit on them fully clothed. Today Lily told me, “I poop.” I said, “Do you want to go to the bathroom?” and she said, “Yeah.” She already pooped in her diaper, but I thought I'd put it in the toilet so she sees where it goes. I took off her pants and diaper and she peed! She was happy to dump it in the big toilet and flush her peepee and poopy and wave bye-bye. At bedtime, Ryan was putting on her jammies and noticed that she was dry and didn't need a new diaper. It had been a few hours since we changed her. I suggested that they go in the bathroom and sit on the toilet. He said as soon as she sat down, she peed! Wow! Maybe we should start potty training this girl!

I bought a little cloth thumb-guard bracelet for Violet to stop her from sucking her thumb all the time. Already in the few days we've had it I think she's talking more! She actually likes it because it has pretty butterflies on it. We mostly use it in the car and stroller. It's funny because she'll be sucking her thumb and I'll show her the bracelet, and she pops her thumb out for me to put it on. I want to use it for naps and bedtime too, but I think I'll wait and increase the amount of time she wears it slowly.

7-13-14 Lily pooped on her potty!!!!!!!! She told daddy that she had to poop so he asked if she wanted to go to the bathroom and go on the toilet. She said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah," as she ran down the hall. She sat down and went right away! Wow!!! We are so proud of her! She's so adorable. When she flushes, she always waves bye-bye as it goes down. In the tub, she waves to the bath water too!

7-14-14 I bought some kitchen stuff for the girls at IKEA and they love it! Violet stirs in the pots and pans and Lily tells us all about the banana and kiwi (kiwi is her new word). She still loves her little train and the “duc-dor” (conductor). They both love Choo Choo Soul and get so excited when we put it on!

7-17-14 Now Lily says “kwiwi" for kiwi! She thought the limes at dinner were kiwis. Violet has the cutest sound she makes when she's concentrating! It's hard to describe, but it's part grunt and part total cuteness! She loves flowers and rocks. It's hard to get her to walk when we go out after dinner! Today a neighbor had a sprinkler on and Lily went right up to it and was giggling and having a great time getting wet!

I'm in the process of weaning the girls from nursing. For the past week we've been doing every other night and it's going well. I think I'll nurse just once or twice more and then we'll be done. It's definitely bittersweet.

7-19-14 We went to Brighton for Kris' wedding tonight. It was so nice to go up to the mountains and get out of the heat! (Our AC broke on Friday night! New one comes on Monday!) Violet is such a great walker now! They were both going around and around, through the kitchen and dining/dance area, outside one door and through the outdoor patio, and then back into the kitchen. Ken was having a great time chasing Lily around! They had yummy Greek food and the girls loved it! They especially loved the falafel! Violet is walking so confidently now! What a big girl!

7-22-14 We went to Red Butte Garden for the Tedeschi Trucks Band concert! We went with Grandpa Doug and Mindy, Demi and Danny, and Liz, Rusty, and Jack. The girls had a great time! They were dancing and running around, getting lots of attention. We almost made it to the end and left at 9:30.

7-23-14 Violet has only been down the little slide on her own a few times. She'll sit at the top looking nervous, and then go down the stairs or down the slide with help. Tonight we were playing and she was holding my fingers as she went down the slide. After 4 or 5 times she'd go down by herself. I'd pick her up and plop her at the top again. She was laughing and being so silly! She probably went down the slide another 25 times! At first her legs would be stiff and she'd plunk head first into my lap! Then she got the hang of it and landed on her bum. Her laugh is so contagious!

Sometimes when I'm holding Violet, we'll hum together, always in the same breath. It's kind of a cool connection we have!

Lily's been somewhat of a stinker with all the No's and attitude, but then she'll run up and hug you! She is so good at sharing and taking turns! She's always looking out for Violet and sharing her water out getting her shoes. They've both fed each other a few times. It's so sweet! Have some bread, sissy! I'm so glad they are sharing and not fighting over things (too much)!

7-24-14 We went to Red Butte Garden this morning. It was a free day at the garden! 

Tonight was my last night of nursing. I had them on for about 5 minutes and I just knew that this was it! It was easier than I thought it would be! I guess we were all ready to be done! I made it to 18 months. That’s crazy!

7-25-14 We have a fun midday routine to get the girls down for nap. We eat lunch and I always serve veggies first, followed by their protein and starch, and then fruit for dessert. I get them washed up and down to play while I clean up. Then I change diapers and open the gate to the stairs. Once I see them give signs that they’re ready for nap I sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and they head straight for the stairs! It works every time! They know that song means nap time!

7-28-14 Sometimes Lily's hair goes in three long ringlets down her back. Boing! They both have such long hair! People can't believe how long it is for their age. Violet's will curl and flip out to the side when it's a little wet or she's sweating. It's been so hot, we've all been sweating!

Violet says “Uh-oh” now instead of “Uh-uh!”

The girls still go in to the bathroom and sit on the toilet, but Lily hasn’t been going on it too much lately.

7-29-14 Lily grabbed a wipe and washed her hands and face, which is pretty much licking the wipe! Then she wiped her feet with it, then right to her mouth again before I could stop her! Then she wiped Violet's feet! I tried to grab her, but she's too quick! Back to her mouth again! Ew! Then I said, “All done! Take it to the trash!" and she said, “Ah done!" and put the wipe in the trash!

When Violet is tired, like she was today after Mary's, her favorite spot to rest is in my arms with her head on my right shoulder. I could hold her there all day!

7-31-14 Violet put the sock to her foot and said, “Sock, sock!” Her favorite spot is at the lion pillow chair. She leans back and then puts her right ankle up on her left knee. We got a play set last week and they love going out back to swing. They don’t want to come back in! They could swing all day!