Annual Cookie Baking Day

Last Saturday we had our annual cookie baking day...and for the first time, Grandma was in town, so we decided to hold it at her house!  The kids had a great time playing together...although they weren't too excited about the actual cookie baking.  We did get them to do a few things, but for the most part, they really just wanted to play together (which I LOVE).  Here are some shots from the day...

The chairs provided the perfect boost they needed to reach the counter!

Isabella tasting butter...Grandma's idea....ewww!

"Cheese!"

crushing vanilla wafers for 7 layer bars

Kai & Leah

My ADORABLE niece and nephew!

Demi getting in on the action

Kai helping G'ma pour (and Bella deciding her finger works better than a spoon)

Working together!

Y-M-C-A

Sprinkling...

making melt-a-ways

Grandma bought the kids their own Christmas tree...and they decorated it!

Even Demi got to put an ornament on!

Taking a break from cookies to play some Christmas Carols

Isabella LOVES her baby cousin!

We attempted a group shot...as you will see...it wasn't too successful!

Chaotic...but cute!

As I said...Bella LOVES her baby cousin!

One of my all-time favorite pictures of these kiddos!  So cute!

How cute is this little guy??!!

Buddies!

Success x 2

As of yesterday, both babies can officially pee-pee on the toilet.  Is this picture TMI?  Oh well...I am excited!!  Heidi has been AMAZING with potty training the girls...I absolutely give her 100% of the credit for the fact that both of my girls can pee on the potty on a regular basis!  She has been working with them all week and just yesterday, Bella finally figured out how to do it!  Who knew figuring out how to pee would be so tough??  Anyway...I am a little nervous because next week I am on my own for potty training while I am off school for Christmas break...but...I will do my best (and thankfully, if I suck...Heidi will be back in a week to pick up where I am slacking!)! 

*Side note:  Hope this post didn't gross you out too much...I guess if I was looking at a toilet of pee about someone else's kid, I would think it was nasty.  But...oh well....this is my baby book, so I need to document these milestones.  He he he!!!!

Santa

Here is our anual picture with Santa...

Oh..the girls are missing...yep...they are!

That's because they were TERRIFIED of Santa.  Well...Leah was, and therefore, Isabella became terrified.  Grandma came over last night and went to dinner at Ledo's with us because Santa was going to be there.  I knew we were in trouble when Santa walked by our table and Leah got a little weepy.  Isabella said Hi to him and seemed OK, but Leah was having nothing to do with him.  We asked them if they wanted to go say Hi to Santa, and Leah kept saying, "No Santa, No Santa."  We tried to bribe them with candy canes and bells (he had a bell and Leah loves bells).  Leah finally agreed to get out of her chair and walk over, but she wouldn't go near him.  By that point, Bella realized that Leah was scared and figured she must have a reason for it and didn't want to go near him either.  We even tried to get them to just stand in front of him, but no such luck...So, we let Santa hand us candy canes, said "thank you and bye bye" and went back to our table to eat pizza.  Guess we'll try again next year!! 

Gingerbread House

The girls made their first Gingerbread house today (with A LOT of assistance from Miss Heidi!).  It looks like they had a lot of fun!  She said it took them a while to realize they weren't just supposed to dip the candy into the icing and lick it off!  Weird that my kids wanted to lick the pure sugar!!

"Ta-Da"...very proud of their accomplishment!

Ear Tubes Update

Yesterday we had Isabella's 6 month follow-up for her ear tubes.  Her right ear is doing great..the tube is still in and clear.  Her left ear on the other hand has already pushed out the tube.  Not ideal as we were hoping it would last 1-2 years, but on the upside..she didn't have an ear infection.  She has been really sick the last week...very very snotty and just a nasty cold, which would usually mean automatic ear infection for her.  However, her ears were clear yesterday indicating that her body is naturally clearing the nastiness from her ears on her own!  Yay!  The doctor did make me feel like a horrible mom though as he told me she was probably very miserable based on all the snot and mucus around her nose and he was very surprised that I hadn't taken her to the doctor yet.  Whoops.  He wrote me a prescription for antibiotics but said that if she seems better within 48 hours I didn't need to give it to her!  I really don' t think she needs ANOTHER round of antibiotics, so she won't be getting them unless she gets a lot worse!!  Just call me mom-of-the-year!!  Anyway, we will go back in 6 months to have the right ear checked again, but we are hopeful that she is in the clear with the ear infections!!

POTTY!

OK, so if you have had a discussion with me about this ever, you know that I am SO SO SO dreading potty training.  But...it would appear as the girls are getting ready...they love sitting on the potty, they tell us when they are wet, they are able to tell us when they are about to go (eventhough they still never make it to the potty before going).  So...I guess Heidi worked with them on it today..and...she had success!  Both girls pooped on the potty today!  I don't know how she did it...but I am just greatful that she did!  Maybe I will just leave it to her to potty train the girls...he he he!

Leah is going to kill me when she sees this when she is older...oh well!! 

2 Year Stats

I have been dreading this post for a while. Not because I don't want to post about their stats...not even because I am sad that my "babies" are growing so fast (although I am)...but because I know I want to write a little blurb about what they are like at 2 and I just can't figure out how to do it. When they were 2 months..I could write that they were finally smiling. Period. At 6 months, they were crawling a little. Period. Even at 10 months, it was that they were walking and maybe a few other random things. But at 2, there are so many things I could write about. They are real people now. They do so much and I LOVE so much about them that to summarize it in a little blurb is just so difficult!
So...I will attempt to do it, but I am sure I will not do them any justice. There is just too much!

LEAH:
Leah is 29 pounds (50-75th percentile), 35.25 inches tall (50-75th percentile), and her head circumference is 48.5 (75th percentile).


Leah is our sweet and stubborn baby. She has a HUGE heart. When we read books where someone is crying, she gets upset. She says, "oh no..." and she gets a very sweet frown on her face like she is very concerned. If she thinks someone is sad, she will always go up and give them a hug and a kiss. Even if she is in the middle of something, she can't help but to stop what she is doing and comfort you. Leah also knows what she wants and when she wants it. She throws more tantrums than Isabella and she will not back down unless it is on her terms. She is the Alpha of the girls. She leads Bella in almost everything. She loves to clean and she always wants things organized and in their correct place. She is very much like mommy in many ways!!

ISABELLA:


Isabella is 27 pounds and 10 ounces, 35 inches tall, and her head is 48.5cm in circumference. Her percentiles are the same as Leah’s (guess it isn't as specific when they get this big). She is our laid back jokester. She is always trying out new funny faces. She doesn't mind that her sister bosses her around...for the most part, she just goes with the flow. However, when she decides she doesn't like something...she screeches! If she is playing with something that she really wants and Leah takes it, she will immediately scream at the top of her lungs and throw herself onto the ground or run to the nearest adult. She doesn't fight back...she just throws a fit! She loves to laugh and makes jokes in her own little way. She is very much like her Daddy in many ways!!

As a pair, they are amazing. They love to play together. They have their own inside jokes and a few phrases that no one else understands (like they always say "bow bow, Leah" or "bow bow, Isabella" and the other will say.."nooooo" and then laugh hysterically...no idea what that is about but they seem to think it is hilarious). They are VERY active! The love to climb, jump, run, dance, kick a soccer ball and do just about anything that involves moving around.


They love to learn. Although their grammar isn't perfect, they are speaking in full sentences. They can say the alphabet with very little assistance, they can count to 10+ in both spanish and english, they know all of their basic shapes and are starting to learn letter recognition. They know about 4 or 5 letters and we really haven't even started working with them on this...they have just seen these letters in some books we have and picked up on them.


The still LOVE to read. We read all the time. They love when one of us reads to them but they also really have taken to reading independently quite a bit.


They still love Dora...which we don't love...but we have tried other things and they have no interest yet...but we will definitely keep trying!


They are still great eaters! There are very few things that they wont eat. They love family dinners. They love sugar (wonder where they get that from...)..they love fruit snacks, lollipops, ice cream and the chocolate from their advent calendars, and just about anything else that has sugar in it!.


They love washing their hands, visiting grandmas house, the LOVE bounce U, the kids room at church (once they get there and we leave..they still cry a little at the beginning), story time at the library, going to the grocery store (and pushing their "own cart"), shopping, going to the playground, hanging out with their cousins, and really just anything that gets them out of the house.


They love all animals, especially dogs.


They are pretty good sharers. If you tell one it's the others turn, they will usually wait patiently for the other to finish with whatever it is.


They are sweet and fun almost all of the time.

They love Heidi our nanny and love all the fun things she does with them and teaches them. They always make sure she hugs and kisses them before she leaves for the day. They talk about her when she isn't around and point out things that are "Heidi's"...like cars that look like hers or water bottles or anything else they associate with her.


They DON'T like the doctor, potatoes, mommy leaving for work, being in their crib when they aren't sleeping, being told not to do things they want to do, or turning off the TV when "Dora TV" is over.
This doesn't even come close to covering everything, but it would take forever for me to write everything. Overall, they are sweet wonderful funny amazing babies that keep us on our toes and keep us smiling ALL day EVERY day!!

Nightly Naked Time

So, every night now the girls have "naked time."  As soon as they get down from dinner they always say, "naked" and want to take off their clothes.  We have jumped on this as a step in the direction of potty training as they always have to pee at some point between dinner and bath (although it has never yet made it in the potty).  They are getting better though.  They tell us when they have to go and try to get to the potty, but usually fall short or pee right next to it.  Oh well...we are working on it!

The other funny part about "naked time" is that they love to jump and dance on the couches during this time.  I got a video of it the other night...it was tricky trying to get a video while still keeping it "modest," but I think this one at least captures the show we get every night!

I also just realized that my computer has movie making software, so this is a very sad attempt at using it.  I will have to play with it some more, but I thought I would just throw some translations in to this one in the meantime! 

December Play-Date.

This morning, Deanna, Kai and Demi came over for a playdate!!  The kids had a great time playing together and it was nice to have a chance to catch up with Deanna just the two of us!!!!  The cars were the biggest hit with all the kids...even Demi!  For the most part, they all played well together, took turns sharing and really had a fun morning!

Leah playing bumper cars with Demi

All the girls in the cars

No big surprise that Bella is the one acting like a crazy woman!

Kai and Isabella

He must have told her one funny joke!

FINALLY the girls are sweet and gentle with Demi all the time.  There was no hitting or pushing over today, but there were a lot of hugs and kisses!!

Leah and Demi playing catch.  Leah asked Demi to play by throwing the big ball at her head, but laid-back Demi just picked it up and played! 

The kids thought it was really fun to all run into the tent and then jump up and down and scream once they all got in!

Leah & Demi

OK, so this picture was not from today, but I forgot to include it with the Christmas tree photos, so I thought I would sneak it in here...this was the girls' first look at the tree.  We decorated it while they were sleeping, so this was me bringing them down in the morning before I left for work to see it!  Wish we had a video of it, Leah said, "ooooh, tree" in her really cute sleepy voice.