Life is fast and furious

Well, as if our life wasn't busy enough already, life is REALLY fast and furious now.  I know that everyone goes through it, but life with a 2 year old, an almost 3 month old, 2 dogs, and 2 full-time working parents is CrAzY!  (And to think.. we're about to start building a custom house in just a month or two!  Are we NuTs?!?  haha)  There are just not enough hours in the day right now...  We do the best we can, we try to enjoy every second we have with the girls and make the most of it.  Oh, how I miss those precious weeks at home when I could just enjoy the girls and take as many pictures of them as I wanted...  Here are a few random pictures from last week!

 Avery LOVES playing dress-up!

 Sweet Natalie... she's just growing up so fast!  I pulled out 6-9 month clothes today, and she's only 12 weeks old!

 Oh... the joy of trying to take pictures of a toddler!  You just never know what you're going to get!

This girl is obsessed with washing bottles right now... oh, and watching Barney too =)

My girls are 2!

This is the only time in their lives that I can say my girls are the same age... My girls are 2!... 2 years, and 2 months, that is.  They finally had their check-ups today, and I decided to brave it alone with both girls, and we did great! 
Avery turned 2 on August 12th... she is weighing 26lbs (close to the 50th percentile) and is 34 inches tall (50th percentile).  She only had to get one shot today, and did great! 
Natalie is 11 weeks now... she is weighing (drum roll please... haha) 14lbs 4oz (90th percentile) and is 23 inches long (50th percentile).  She's a chubby little baby.  Her Momma's milk must be full of bluebell!  She had to get 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine today.  She did good as well! 
So, I survived our first doctor's visit with both girls!  Woohoo! 
Sorry, no new pictures to include... will share some this weekend!

1st Week Back at Work

Well, we didn't have the best week... but we all survived Mommy's 1st week back at work, and Natalie's first week in daycare.  Figuring out how to get four people ready and off to work and "school" who all wake up and eat at different times was a little challenging at first, but I think we figured it out by the end of the week.  We had some bumps in the road... like a dead car battery on my day off when I was supposed to take the girls for check-ups, and all sorts of drama with Avery (she decided to powder herself, her room, and all of her clothes in her dresser one night... and she chipped a tooth in the bath tub... so sad...plus, she hasn't been sleeping great the past few weeks... not sure why...).  Natalie did great, though.  She's sleeping through the night, and takes a bottle great.  Her teachers say that she is such a good baby!  Here are a few pictures from this week...

 Our little shoe diva!  The girl LOVES shoes!  I think these were her favorite birthday gift.  She sleeps with them!  Ha!

 Avery loves helping Mommy wash bottles at night.  It's pretty cute until she decides to dump the water on the floor instead of the sink =)

 Our sweet Natalie... she's getting so BIG!

 The girls this morning before church... Avery wasn't really into my photo session today... oh, well!  They looked really cute in their matching outfits.

 Avery helped me bake some sopapilla cheesecake tonight.

 Every good baker must taste their food to make sure it's good, right?

 How about a few tastes???

Don't you just love the one boot that she's wearing?  My silly girl and her shoes!!!  

Avery's Birthday Party!

Today we celebrated Avery's birthday with family and our close friends at a gymnastics place!  It was so much fun!  She and 7 of her little friends and cousins had a blast!  The adults probably had just as much fun as they did, since they got to play on the trampolines too.  Here are a few pictures from her special day!

 She had an Elmo themed party!

 Here's the Birthday Girl!

 She had so much fun in the foam pit!

 The bouncy house was fun too!

 Singing happy birthday!

 Blowing out her candle.

 Natalie did so good at the party!

 She had sooo much fun!  She passed out on the way home!

Here she is checking out her new tricycle from us the night of her birthday!  We can't wait to take it on a spin around the block!

Avery is 2!

2 years ago, we were given the most amazing blessing... our sweet little Avery.  We feel so honored to be her parents.  She has brought so much joy and excitement to our lives.  We cannot believe that she is already 2 years old!  She has grown and learned so much over the past year... especially in the last 6 months!  She amazes us every day... she is just a little sponge!  We love so many things about our sweet girl...
- We love how she gives everyone hugs and kisses (nice wet ones on the mouth... haha)
- We love how she wakes up singing, and doesn't stop until she goes to bed.  She is such a happy little girl!
- We love how she cares about her baby sister, and is always wondering where baby sissy is, what she's doing, and if she can help with her.  She will give her kisses on the nose and talk to her, and Natalie just loves it!
- We love how she says "I hold you Mommy/Daddy" when she wants to be held.
- We love how smart she is getting.  She talks so well!  She knows her ABC's, her colors, can count to 10, can name tons of objects/pictures, she loves reading books!
- We love how polite she is... she says Thank You, Please, Bless You...
- We love how she enjoys going to "school" and church, she really loves her teachers and little friends.
- We love how she knows everyone's names and wants to know where everyone is and what they're doing... Where did Daddy go?  Where's Nana?  Where's PawPaw?  Where's Grandpa?  Where's Natalie?  Mommy loves Avery, Daddy loves Avery... She goes through roll call, it is so funny and cute! 
- We love how she recognizes everyone's voices on the phone, and wants to talk to them.  When she says Mommy's cellphone, it sounds like "Mommy's hello."  It is so cute!
- We love how every time she sees anything that resembles a tractor, she says.. there's PawPaw's tractor! 

Avery loves Elmo (she did not know that TV existed until about a month ago when she discovered Elmo DVD's, now she LOVES watching Elmo!), playing with baby dolls, playing outside in the water or at the park or with bubbles, reading books, and she LOVES shoes (she picks out her shoes and puts them on all by herself).  We have introduced potty training, and she is sort of in a "hit and miss" phase, so we'll see!  She wears size 24 month and 2T clothes, size 7W shoes, and size 4 diapers.  We'll get her measurements next week at her doctor's appointment. 

This past year has gone by so fast, but we are loving the little girl that our "baby" is becoming.  This is such a fun stage, watching her learn and grow.  We are so proud to be Avery's parents, and look forward to the years to come!  Here are some recent "silly" pictures of our big girl...

 She loves bath time with Daddy!

 She insists on brushing her teeth herself... hopefully they get clean!

 She loves playing in the backyard naked!

 She spends more time in the bumbo seat, bouncer, and swing than Natalie!  (Check out her new Reef flip-flops... she LOVES them!)

 She loves dressing up in these boots that belonged to cousin Courtney!

 Watching Elmo with baby sissy!

Singing in the bath tub.  

LOVE THESE GIRLS!

I can't help myself... I will only be able to dress these 2 precious girls alike for so long... So I take full advantage of it when I can!  Aren't they cute?

 Avery even wanted to wear a headband AND a bow for the picture!

 This picture cracks me up!

 Pretty girl!

 So cute!

Enjoying the bumbo seat!

Natalie's 2 month update!

Natalie is 2 months old today.  I have one more week at home with my sweet baby before returning to work... so sad.  I have enjoyed every moment of it!  She is just growing too fast!  She is around 13 pounds or so, and probably 23-24 inches long.  We don't go to her 2 month check-up for another week, so I don't have official measurements yet.  She is wearing 3-6 month clothes now (and completely filling them out!) and size 2 diapers.  She sleeps through the night MOST nights - WOOHOO!  She will usually go down at around 9pm and sleep until 5 or 6am (7:15 once!).  She still loves to eat!  She nurses every 2.5-3 hours during the day, and does great with a bottle too.  She is smiling and cooing, she loves to have her diaper changed, loves baths, and loves interacting with her big sissy.  Here are some new pictures from this week! 

 Going around the block with big sister Avery.

 "Little Sis" is not so little anymore!  Already sitting in the bumbo seat at 8 weeks!

 Bath time!

 Daddy's Girl!

 A quick picture of the girls before church!

 Nothing like a big, wet kiss on the mouth from big sissy!  Ha!

 Cute girl!

 There's a little grin!

 Some cute little smiles!

 So pretty in pink!

 Sitting in the bumbo seat... she looks so chubby!

And a little fun comparison... Avery on the left at 12 weeks, Natalie on the right at 8.5 weeks.  They are looking so much alike, don't you think?