Summer Daze

As with every summer it seems, life gets crazy, busy and loads of fun. We've been spending our days at the pool and playing with friends, our weekends at the lake and celebrating birthdays.  And we wouldn't have it any other way. Claire is a fish, getting braver everyday around the water. She jumps into the pool by herself and goes tubing in her very own tube. We're up to 16mph tubing (with no dramatic falls so far) and are hoping to get her on skis by the end of the summer! Paige is fairly content sitting on a blanket or bouncing in her saucer at this point, but mobility is not far away! Oh, how life is about to change. Summer, slow down!

Ruffle Pants Upcycle

Follow these six simple steps:
1. Go to Goodwill, try to ignore the smell.
2. Find a dress with a ruffled bottom.
3. Use an existing pair of pants as your pattern. Don't have any? Pinterest has gobs, imagine that.
4. Sew pants using existing hem and side seams, leaving triple the width of your elastic at the waist.
5. Hem to length and create your waistband, then thread your elastic and sew closed your opening.
6. Add a button or a pocket and a darling daughter and there you have it.

From trains to tiaras...

Claire has recently decided to jump on the pretty princess, dress-up, and pink-loving bandwagon (with very little persuasion from us, in all honesty). She's thrown her trains to the side for tutus and tiaras. It's endearing and sweet, yet sometimes a little scary. If it's this dramatic at two-years old, what will life be like in ten years?! Thankful that we still frequently catch her reciting her alphabet flash cards, asking to play her animal memory game and kicking a soccer ball in the backyard with her daddy. After all, no little girl actually grows up to be a princess, right?

Playing princess with her besties, Emme and Addie!

Trouble?!

 

She's even got Paige on board...yes, she sure did put this on her sister "all my byself!"
Yes, you read correctly.

Graham is here!

Our new nephew has arrived! Graham Lee was born on April 14th, a six-pound peanut, the spitting image of his daddy. We are so excited to add a boy to the mix and can't wait for the many, many memories that are to come!

Halfway to ONE

Since we basically run on "birthday-time" around here recently, Claire thought it was pretty cool that we were celebrating Paige's half-birthday this week. Six months has absolutely flown by, and our Paige Abigail is one growing girl. She remains pint-sized: 15 lbs (23%), but climbing her way slowly up the growth charts. She's rolling, nursing five times a day and eating baby food and cereal, taking two naps a day, sleeping 12 hours at night fairly consistently, scooting (backwards only so far) in her walker, and except for a few weeks of being pretty sick, is still a very happy and content baby. She's absolutely fascinated by her big sister and loves to be held and snuggled, much to her mommy's delight! After a few days of very high (we're talking 103!) fevers a few weeks ago and a very traumatic doctor's visit, we found out that Paige had a UTI. Since she was so young, they've scheduled a kidney ultrasound for her once she's completely off of her antibiotics, just to make sure that there wasn't an anatomical reason for the infection. We're praying it was just a one-time deal and that our ultrasound is completely normal.  Happy half-birthday Paigey Pie!

Check out my mohawk!

 

 

Practicing her "wasn't me!" expression...

 

 

 

Easter 2013

Easter festivities consisted of a neighborhood egg hunt, church with friends, and our first big holiday gathering in our new home. So much to be thankful for! Especially our quick- minded two-year old who now associates the word "disappear" to the story of Jesus's resurrection. "Momma, you just disappeared from me like Jesus and the tomb!" Love. Love. Love.

Staying warm during the egg hunt

Bestill my heart...

 

 

My Easter beauty...

 

Woodland Shower

We are patiently awaiting the arrival of our first NEPHEW in April...yes, my little sister is having a baby. And as much as it sort of freaks me out, I know she will be the most perfect mommy to a most-precious and pint-sized peanut. My mom and I hosted a Woodland Babies baby shower at my house this month, and thanks to Pinterest  our dynamic creativity, it turned out darling. We can't wait to meet you, baby boy Fillmann!

Deep down in the woods today, a new little one is on the way...

 

 

Diapers Shmipers....

We're potty-trained...well, basically. We've been struggling attempting to potty-train for about six months now, since CE started showing interest in the potty and big girl panties. With the new baby sister and the move, we had some set-backs but about two weeks ago, we officially transitioned to underpants, FOR GOOD! We still have some #2 issues and definitely will have a pull-up at night for quite a while, but other than that, she's a potty-pro and only has occasional accidents. I did lots of research on the best way to potty train (who knew there were so many opinions on the subject?) and found that setting a timer has worked best for us. We put panties on as soon as she wakes up and set a timer every hour. She has to sit on the potty and at least try to go, every time it goes off. She gets a marshmallow (she's gonna lose those baby teeth anyways, right?!) with every pee and a dum-dum for #2. The first few days, she really only went when the timer went off, but we've noticed that recently, she's actually telling us when she has to go, even if we don't set the timer. It's worked for us, so we're sticking to it. It's pretty cute that after 267 times of peeing on the potty, she still says "Momma, I did it, I did it!" every single time! So proud of how grown up she's getting...and can I just mention, she looks pretty darn cute in Minnie-mouse undies.

Not a fan of potty photography!

Birthday Queen



Anyone who knows this girl, know she's obsessed with birthdays. Over the course of a couple of weeks (of incessantly asking over and OVer and OVEr and OVER!), she's learned almost all of our friends' and families' birthdays...she's one smart cookie!

Four Months Old

Our Paige Abigail is growing quickly and such a complete joy. We never thought we could have a happier baby than Claire, but I think we've done it! She's sleeping 9-10 hours at night (still wanting that 10:30pm snack!) and taking 2 or 3 naps during the day. Paige is happy and healthy, roly and poly, and full of giggles and smiles. She weighed in at 13.1 pounds (26%) and 23.5 inches long (12%). She's nursing 6 times a day and working on taking a bottle of breast milk. Mom and Dad are heading on a Breckenridge ski trip next month, so we're trying to perfect the bottle skills! She loves her activity seat and has started the grab-a-toy-and-stuff-it-in-my-mouth technique that we all know and love. She's pretty slobbery but no teeth yet! Enjoy some pics of our sweet four-month-old.

 

 

Shhh, don't tell dad....I love to suck on my fingers!