Staycation!

During the second week of July, Ryan took some vacation. After seeing how traveling affects Heather (not in a good way), we decided to stay home and do some fun things close to Longview. We were a little bummed because we are such outdoor people and we couldn't really enjoy the outdoors because of the heat! So, we tried to find activities that were indoors to stay cool!
The first day we went to the miniature golf course in the mall. It was neon glow in the dark. This was our first time taking Brooke mini golfing. She loved it, but had no idea how to "really" play the game and refused to listen to us. She would take her ball and place it 2 inches from the hole and then hit it several times until it finally went in the hole. It was fun to watch her.

The next free day we went to the alligator farm at Alligators and Friends, just east of the Texas border in Louisiana. This is a really neat place. I know this is not an indoor activity, but we only stayed about 2 hours before we were all having a heat stroke!

They, of course, have alligators and a large petting zoo.

When we first showed up it wasn't feeding time, so the water was calm with a few alligators swimming. There is this green algae that sits on top and makes it look super swampy. I guess that's the way the gators like it. An hour after we were there it was feeding time and the gators went crazy!I apologize for my thumb, the sun was reflecting a glare on my phone and I couldn't see the picture I was taking. That is about 20 gators crawling all over each other for food! It was kind of scary standing on the bridge above them.

We bought some feed to give the animals in the petting zoo. Brooke loved to feed them and Heather thought it was so funny.


There was about 500 deer or so it seemed and they all knew who had the feed!

I was trying to capture a picture of Heather's excitement while holding her. It was so funny to see her expressions around the animals!


In addition to deer, they had kangaroos...


miniature donkey's....


llamas......


and baby camels! These were the cutest!

Brooke even got to ride a pony for the first time. Ryan got to lead her around the course. She was a little unsure at first, but quickly warmed up to the horse and loved it!

The next outing was at the Sci-Port in Shreveport. It was a neat science museum, but nothing compared to the one in Ft. Worth! Brooke had fun exploring and playing with the exhibits.

They even had an infant area with huge blocks for Heather to climb and she loved this.

Brooke is driving a truck and watching her picture on the screen while honking the horn.

Brooke is driving the boat, watch out!

Brooke is lifting her self in the chair using the buttons on the arm rests.

It was a fun week spent together as a family! I hope to have many more!

A day in the life of...

I'm stealing this idea from another friend's blog that I read.
Ryan is on call today, so this will be a glimpse into my life while my husband is on call. This usually means that I don't hear from him all day (no texts or phone calls...nothing)!

It's 5:30 and I hear Heather crying on the monitor. I sleepily walk to her room to nurse her. This is her typical time to wake and nurse and then she usually falls back asleep for another 1 1/2 to 2 hrs.
This morning she wakes back up at 7 a.m., but she is babbling and having fun playing with her doll and blanky. I drift in and out of sleep watching her on the monitor because I'm not ready to get up. A few minutes later it is silent, this is my lucky day! She has fallen back asleep and it lasts for 30 minutes. Then I get up and put in my contacts and go to get her.


Ryan is already up and ready to go as his call starts at 7am. He is lying in bed trying to rest and dreading not knowing when he will get his first call.
After we let the dog out, I called the Institute's daycare (local exercise center) to reserve a spot for Heather, if I want to have a chance at exercising today. Infants 12 months and under require a reservation due to the state's strict worker to child ratio and most days it is really difficult to get a spot before 11am. I'm in luck today!
Now it is time check on Brooke. She is still asleep, so I eat my "champion" breakfast of a Boost and granola bar. Then I play with Heather and get a load of laundry started.


Over the past few days, this car has become the object of desire. Brooke would play with it some, but now that Heather has figured out how to climb in it herself Brooke has a new interest in playing with it. This morning Heather gets to enjoy it by herself!

Brooke is a little camera shy this early in the morning!

After Brooke wakes up, I fix the girls breakfast. Today they ate sweet potato pancakes with strawberries and yogurt. While we were eating, Ryan got up and greeted us for a few minutes before heading to work.


After breakfast, the girls played, while I got ready to go and exercise. After getting the girls dressed and ready then we headed out to exercise!
I ran 2 miles on the treadmill, which is all the energy I could muster out of me today because I hate running inside, but it beats running in the heat. Then I headed to the locker room for a quick shower! I used to never take a shower at the gym, before I had kids. Now it is kind of nice to get a peaceful quick shower without being interrupted or having monkeys climbing your legs while you are trying to dry off! I have to hurry because I can only reserve a spot for Heather for 1 hr and my hour is almost up!

On our way back home from exercising, I stop on the roadside to buy a watermelon. I have seen these people selling the watermelons all summer I was curious whether they were worth stopping. It turns out to be one of the sweetest watermelons I have ever tasted!


Then we head back home to eat some lunch and put Brooke down for a nap. Heather took a quick 15min nap on the way home so she isn't ready to sleep just yet. I let her play for a little while and change out the laundry. I caught her on video (click here for the you tube link) being silly playing with this basket.


While she was entertaining herself, I looked up an article that was published in Longview News Journal yesterday that featured us from Saturday picking grapes at a neighbors house. The newspaper didn't print the pictures they took of Brooke, but they were on the internet. Here is the link. I didn't expect the paper to be there, but I will keep the article for Brooke to look at when she is older.


Once Heather is finally asleep (the whole process for putting her down usually takes about an hour most days), I eat my lunch and then I start to work on this post. This is taking way more time than I thought it would.

I remembered I need to take a package for my nephew, Ethan, to the post office today, so he can get it for his birthday party this weekend. After the girls wake up from their naps, I pack them up again in the car to go to the post office. This is a huge ordeal to take both girls to the post office. I usually do it when Ryan is home, so I can leave them with him, but this package has to go out today and I cannot wait until tomorrow. What should take 5 minutes (the PO is just a mile away) ends up taking 30 minutes or more. However, I love going because the lady that works at the tiny Judson PO is so sweet and remembers who you are and asks about your family! She saw me unloading the troops from the car and came out to help carry in my package today. It was so thoughtful!

After we got home from our "trip" to the post office, I told Brooke I would make her a smoothie for a snack. She loves to help pour the ingredients and push the button on the blender. This is one of the power foods that I know she will gobble up, so we usually have it at least once a week.
Heather even got a few bites today.

After snack time, it was free play until I noticed Brooke straining and asking for a diaper change. There wasn't anything in her diaper and I asked her if she needed to use the potty. Of course the answer was no! Potty training is something we have been struggling with the last several months. She knows what the potty is and even how to use it, but refuses to use it and has been having emotional breakdowns every time I mention it. Well, I think that just recently she has discovered that she can have control over her BMs and has chosen to hold it, which of course leads to constipation. It has been 2 days since she has last gone and I know that she has to go, so today I gave her the option to sit on the potty or get a suppository. She wisely chose to sit on the potty and sit and read and sit and read....for a whole hour with no results. I hated doing it, but I felt like I had to give her the suppository because I saw how bad she was straining and I didn't want it to get worse. Well, hopefully she has learned her lesson! In a 30 minute time span, I had to change 3 diapers. She did say that her tummy felt better!

During this whole time, Heather didn't like all the attention Brooke was getting so she was getting upset and just wanted to be held. Sometimes I just feel like a jungle gym with kids climbing on me all day. You would think my arms would be sculpted with how many times I pick up and hold my children all day! I need to keep reminding myself to enjoy it because on day they won't want to be held!

Well, tonight was special because my dad was coming to babysit so that I could go out to dinner with a few friends. I heated up a lasagna for them to enjoy and told my dad the routine and kissed the girls good bye. Of course it would happen that just as I'm walking out the door, Ryan is coming home to grab a bite to eat. Since he is on call, I can't tell my dad to go home because he could get called back up to the hospital any moment.


I leave and savor the mommy time! It was fun getting to eat a dinner and chat with friends.


After coming back home, I find my dad holding Heather in her room asleep in his arms and he has been like this for the past hour and half because he doesn't want to set her down. Every time he tried to lay her down she would wake up and start crying. Ryan tried to tell him this was an every night occurrence and that is just the way she falls asleep, but he is not numb to her cries like Ryan and I. I take over and lay her down. She fusses for less than five minutes and then falls asleep. I know she will outgrow it. I just wish it would be sooner than later! While I was away, I learn that Ryan hasn't been called in the whole time and 5 minutes after I walk in he gets paged and has to go back, but it isn't urgent so he sticks around for an hour so we can catch up. During this time, my nightly chores still have to get done, which include watering outside, which takes a good 1/2 hour. Ryan normally helps, but can't tonight since he is on call. I cannot wait until we finally get some rain or the weather to start cooling down. This seems like the never ending heat wave! After watering, I still have the laundry to finish drying and folding. Then I have to clean the kitchen and do the dishes. Maybe just for tonight some of this will wait until tomorrow....

I hope you enjoyed a day in my life!

Visit to Great Nana

We traveled to see my Great Nana in North Carolina over the July 4th weekend. It was just my parents, me, and the girls. This was the first time for my Nana to see Heather. It was such a delight to see her with her great granddaughters. I loved to watch them interact.


Here is Brooke in her own plane seat for the first time!



We flew from Gregg county airport to DFW then caught a flight to NC. While we were waiting in DFW we took advantage of their little playground for the girls to burn off some energy! Brooke and Heather both loved running around.


Watching the planes outside.

After we got to my Nana's, we went to the store and bought some bubbles and a kiddie pool. The weather there was in the upper 80s, so it felt really nice to be outside!


My Nana trying to catch all the bubbles!


Brooke and Heather enjoying their pool!

Here is a cute picture of my Nana with the girls! My mom sewed their dresses.

I tried to get a picture of them with their July 4th outfits, but Heather only wanted to squirm away and this is the best I got! I also had bows in their hair, but they kept on pulling them out and I didn't want them to get lost. One day I keep hoping that Brooke will consistently wear a bow!


Here is my Nana enjoying playing patty cake with Heather.

We are about to leave to head back to Texas.

Around the house...

Brooke loves to streak around the house after bath time and this night she chose to accessorize with her favorite hat!Heather is trying to figure out how to climb onto the horsey.

We celebrate Granny's 70th birthday earlier this month! She sewed the girls adorable dresses.

Our last trip as a family we hauled along the bulky heavy pack-n-play for both girls. Brooke still sleeps in her crib at home and I am not ready to test her being in a big bed by herself yet. I know that she will get up at night and wonder around plus I don't want to worry about her rolling out. I was trying to think of an alternative to hauling around a pack n play. I found these light weight pop-up sleeping tents for toddlers. I thought this would be perfect for when we are traveling, especially on airplane trips. I figured I would just try it out on Brooke first and we are going to visit my Nana in North Carolina next week, so I ordered one to test it out. I got it in the mail last week and decided to open it up and see what Brooke thought before we put it to the test later this week. Here is a link to the video of them playing in it. Both girls had a blast playing in it. I am still not sure if she will actually sleep in it. And since I am now publishing this after we took our trip... Brooke loved the tent and slept very well in it. It was a great investment!

Heather 9 months

Heather's personality has really blossomed this past month. She loves to watch the animals and even tries to catch them, but they are too fast! Sam occasionally lets her get a few grabs hair and she squeals in delight. She is starting to babble a lot more and we have heard her say mama and dada. She squeals and claps when she sees a toy she likes or when we are listening to songs. She dislikes it when I leave the room. She lights up in the morning when she sees Brooke. She loves to play with Brooke and I love to hear them giggle! Brooke is being a great big sister and is always watching out for Heather. She lets me know if Heather is going after a bug on the floor or Sam's water bowl or something else she is not supposed to have. Brooke is being very kind with sharing her toys too!

Heather is climbing on EVERYTHING! She has no fear. What ever her feet and hands can cling, she is climbing it. Just a few days ago, she climbed to the top of the slide that is part of their ball pit. She also tried climbing up the slide at the park and would get half way, but kept slipping down on her tummy. She loves to slide. I love to see her get excited when I put her at the top of the slide and help her slide down.

She is pulling up on everything and getting more confident each day. The past couple of days she has even let go of one hand and just been holding on with one. She is getting better and faster at cruising. When I put her in her walker, she walks on her tip toes all over the house. She also likes to practice walking while holding on to our hands.

She has been refusing baby food lately and only preferring to feed herself. She is doing great with self feeding. I have given her chicken, cherrios, puffs, yogurt melts, sweet potatoes, peas, cantaloupe, banana, pasta, bread, and cheese all in bite size amounts and she has done great! She is still nursing about 5 times a day and drinking about 12 oz of formula throughout the day.

She is sleeping well at night and has dropped the morning nap in favor of a longer (2hr) afternoon nap! She is finally not crying as much when we put her to sleep (and not at all for the past week) and that makes me one happy momma!

She is wearing 6-9 month clothing and some 12 month clothes. She is in a size 3 shoe and size 3 diaper. On our home scale she weighs just over 16lbs and when I tried to measure her (she is such a squirmier it is quite difficult to do this) I think she is 28 inches.

Keeping busy...

We have had a busy June so far. I have been so tired at the end of the day most days that it has taken me a while to finally complete a post.

Here is Brooke, Heather, and Jason hanging out in the kiddy pool on our back porch.
We have definitely gotten some good cousin action in from all sides this summer.
The following week my parents were watching my brother's boys while him and Amy went on a vacation to Hawaii!

Here is Nana pushing Brooke, Ethan (almost 2), and Andrew (3).



Then they had fun running through the sprinkler in the back yard. They all thought it would be fun to drink the water.

Andrew and Ethan are diligently working on a card to send to mom and dad!


One day we went to the local splash park. They had a blast running through the sprinklers.
Here is Brooke and Ethan bouncing in a spring car at the park.




We took the kids to a wildlife museum one day and they had a cool playground. Brooke loved riding the old timey tractor!


I think they all loved the sand pit best. I let Brooke indulge for the day, but it reminded me of why I never want a sand box at my home! There was sand EVERYWHERE. I had to change her sheets after nap time and vacuum out her car seat because they were covered in sand despite my best efforts to dust her off!


We got a great picture of the kids sitting so politely and smiling! Never mind that I was bribing them with M&Ms in the background! How else are you going to get 3 toddlers to mind...


We also had Heather baptized two Sundays ago at the First United Methodist Church. She did great for the ceremony and even threw in some well timed babbles to which Pastor Jack responded that she is going pentecostal...haha.


Heather and Brooke are enjoying playing in their new tent/tunnel that Great Granny bought them!


Brooke and Heather loved taking a bath with Jason.



We FINALLY got some rain yesterday and I took Brooke outside to play in it for a little while. I taught her the song, "Singing in the rain" and she love to dance to it! Here is a video of her expressing our excitement about it raining. She loved it so much that I had a hard time getting her to come back inside.



Here is Heather demonstrating her latest feat, climbing! She loves to climb onto her chair in the play room and grab the magnets on the board behind it. She has even climbed onto the arm of the chair which is situated right next to a recliner and then on to the arm of the recliner and into my lap! She has this climbing thing down and I really have to watch her closely!

I have also included a video of Brooke "nursing" baba (her baby doll). I thought it was hilarious how she used her blankey to cover her up and I didn't video long enough, but she also switched sides. She really is paying attention!