February 2013

February came and went in the blink of an eye, seems like it was a short month...oh, yeah.  The biggest event the girls had this month was celebrating Whitney's first birthday, so that seems like the appropriate place to start.  It's hard to believe, but we now have two girls over a year old!

The day of Whitney's birthday, we took a family trip to the children's museum.  The girls had fun playing and exploring all the exhibits together.  They really enjoyed spending time in the 1800's exhibit.  Emry was hard at work making a birthday feast for the family....

Stoking the fire is essential to maintain the temp on the rotisserie.

Now that Whitney is a year old, we thought it was important for her to start learning some new skills.  We skipped sign language and speaking, we opted to go straight to handwriting...

"Rirruto?"       "Those are Z's."      "They look like R's to me."
"That's not fair!  Rizzuto is not a word, he's a baseball player.  You're cheating!"

So she hasn't mastered handwriting yet, but Whitney has picked up some new skills this month.  She has been cruising on furniture a whole lot more.  In fact, she really got into a climbing.  The morning of her birthday she pushed Emry's footstool up to one of the dining room chairs.  She climbed from the stool onto the chair.  When Ken walked into the dining room she was in the process of climbing from the chair onto the table.  Crisis averted!

By the end of the month, Whit got to the point where she was standing on her own for extended periods of time, but still hadn't taken that first step yet.  Other physical things she's done lately are blow kisses, play peek-a-boo, waving and saying "bye-bye".  She also added "baby" and "uh-oh!" to her vocabulary in February.

How big is Whitney? So big!

But back to the museum...another exhibit the girls enjoyed together was the construction room...

If she doesn't make it as a project manager, she could always
try out for the Village People...

As you can see below, Whitney weighed exactly 23 lbs on her birthday, which was February 23rd.  We don't know the significance of that fact, but maybe Jim Carrey will make a movie sequel about it...

"Its bad enough you put me in this thing for a photo op...then you
advertise my weigh on the internet.  How embarrassing!"

After the museum visit was over, we went to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt  ice cream.  Whitney had birthday cake flavored ice cream with sprinkles, and loved every bite of it!

Whitney continued the celebration later that night by pooping in the bathtub for the 5th time this month.  We don't know what started this phase, but hopefully it will pass by quickly!  Luckily, Whit has an understanding older sister who is willing to wash her in the sink after she's ruined bath time...

Maybe she just likes bathing in the sink?

The next day, we celebrated Whit's birthday by having a small party with the extended family.  For Whitney, the whole thing was just another day on the calendar.  Emry, however, was a lot more excited about the cake, the visitors and all the presents.  Emry was a huge help when it came to making Whit's cupcakes and getting the house ready for the party. 

"Beater licker" is the most important job when it comes to baking

A lot of times you'll see a child hesitate when they are eating their first birthday cake.  Emry did such a great job baking that Whitney didn't hesitate to jump right into the cupcake!  Of course, she had Emry there to teach her the proper way to eat a cupcake...

"First you admire the beauty of the dessert."  "Ooh, nice!" 

"Next, you inspect the sprinkles"

"Check!"

"Then, you take a huge bite!"

"Yummy!"

"Finally, you show off your
messy-face."

"Like this?"

"I ate that cupcake like a boss"

After cupcakes, it was finally time to open presents!  As we mentioned, Emry was a lot more excited about all the gifts "they" had to open.  Whitney was more content with the paper and bows, but eventually Emry convinced her to play with the new toys...

"Whitney, you drop the ball in the top like this.

15 more years and she can pose with a real car...

The girls have been playing together really well lately.  One of the new birthday gifts that was a big hit with both girls was a trailer for the Cozy Coupe.  Emry and Whit have had lots of fun being pushed throughout the house together in their new ride.

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While its true that the girls have been playing well together and sharing a lot, sometimes they get in each other's way and take each other's toys.  They have even developed a little hint of a rivalry.  Its a friendly rivalry, and Emry seems to instigate it most of the time.  For instance, sometimes we'll play the game "How big is Whitney?  Soooo big!"  But Emry will quickly answer "Soooo tiny!" 

Emry has also been pretending a lot this month.  Sometimes Emry will assign each member of our family a certain role, and we have to address each other by our pretend persona.  An another example of Emry instigating the rivalry is when she assigns our pretend roles, she always gives Whitney a crappy character - usually an insignificant animal.  She sometimes pretends we are the neighbors, and she is Elise, Ken is John, Maren is Julie, and Whitney is the cat. Poor Whit doesn't even get a name!  When Emry pretends we are Disney characters, Emry is always Mickey, Ken is Goofy, Maren is Donald(or Minnie), and Whitney is always Pluto.

Emry is "sharing" Whit's new toy leopard, but at least
she was quick to comfort her.

Everyone is happy again!

Emry has been making us laugh on a daily basis this month with the things she says.  Besides pretending a lot, she has been very observant of the things around her and makes very inquisitive comments about them.  Every morning on the way to the babysitter's she talks about how the trees are naked.  We told her they will get new leaves in the spring.  Emry also has picked up a lot of random sayings from various sources.  One day Maren asked Emry to get a book from her room.  Emry sprang up from her spot on the living room floor and said "I'll be right back sweetie!"

Speaking of books, Emry has been reading like its going out of style.  Sometimes she doesn't want us to read to her, she just wants to flip through the books on her own.  There will be times when she gets a stack of 10 books and flips through the pages, looks at the pictures and talks to herself about what she sees.  When she gets done with each book she neatly places it in a new stack until she's read all of them.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Well another month gone by in 2013...it'll be no time before spring is here and the trees have clothes.  The girls are ready to wave bye-bye to this cold weather.  They can't wait to take the new car/trailer out for a spin around the block!

January 2013

January was an eventful month for the girls.  It was full of lots of ups and downs.  One of the high points of the month was starting swim lessons at the YMCA.  Emry showed Whitney how to splash and put her face in the water.  Both girls love being in the pool!  The lowest point of the month was when both girls were struck with illness.  They battled runny noses, gagging coughs and ear infections for about two weeks.  Both had to be put on antibiotics, and this marked the first time that Whitney had to show Emry how do something...because it was the first time Emry had ever been put on antibiotics.  In fact, the Dr couldn't believe she went 2 1/2 years without them!  Whitney did a great job showing Emry how to take the medicine.


Apologies for not taking nearly as many pictures as usual this month.  We can probably chalk that up to the iPhone effect.  However, out of the few pictures we took, Whitney was not camera shy at all.  She was kind of a camera hog this month.  She really opened up and started showing a lot more personality.  Here are some of the many faces of Whitney from January...

This is her punk look

Cheesin' like there's no tomorrow!

Doing her best Gene Simmons impression

Showing how much she enjoys one of her new
favorite hobbies...stacking blocks!

Smiling at her favorite book!  

Whit now recognizes mom and dad.  She says da-da when she sees Ken and ma-ma when she sees Maren.  Whit really gets upset when Maren leaves the room.  She will hold her arms up and call for ma-ma!  She has a new favorite hobby, which she is getting pretty good at...stacking blocks.  She also likes throwing things and she will sit to roll the ball back and forth.

Other things she's done this month include mastering the art of drinking from a sippy-cup...

Drinking with two hands is for babies!

...pulling up on furniture and cruising...(In fact, its only a matter of weeks before she'll probably venture out to take her first step)...

"I'm not ready to let go yet!"

...climbing...

Climbing up to help mom and dad with the dishes

...and mastering body control.

Mastering body control through yoga and chair-rocking!

Whitney tries hard to stand up on her own and it looks like she is practicing yoga sometimes.  She'll get in a plank position then move into a downward dog, but never quite makes it completely to her feet.  Its been a lot of fun watching her develop this month!

Emry was a lot of fun in January too, but she was also quite a handful.  Early in the month, she went through a really whiny phase where she would complain and start fussing over any and every little thing.  We felt like we were walking on eggshells for a couple weeks, never knowing what would set her off.  We thought this wasn't supposed to happen until the teenage years?!  She was also not eating well and became very picky about her food.  In addition, she would stay up late at night playing in her bed - sometimes until after 10 o'clock.  She just wasn't acting herself at all...but in Emry's defense, this phase happened right before she got sick, so that was probably what was causing her(and us) all this anxiety.

Emry's mood was slightly more sturdy than
this block tower for most of the month...

Over the past couple weeks she got back into her normal routine.  In fact, at the time of this post, she has been diaper free for 6 straight days!  We told Emry if she got potty trained that she could go to preschool next year.  We're pretty sure this might be the only time we'll be able to use "going to school" as motivation for anything!  

Emry didn't get a lot of camera time by herself this month, but she provided us with lots of entertainment.  The video won't make sense right away, but we suggest playing it and enjoying the music while you read the following stories.  It will be relevant later...

--Emry told her first really big lie this month.  Maren saw a scratch on her finger one day and asked Emry how she cut it.  Emry said she cut it on the ceiling fan in her room.  Maren asked how she did that.  Without hesitation Emry said she went outside, got daddy's ladder, brought it in her room, climbed the ladder and that's when she got scratched by the fan.  We were impressed by the details and facts she presented.  She must have taken notes during Oprah's interview with Lance Armstrong.
--Emry fell asleep under the dining room table one afternoon this month.  She calls that area "the cage" because all the chairs and table legs make it seem like she's caged in.  We carried her to bed, and when she woke up from her nap we asked if she remembered falling asleep.  She said "I fell asleep in my cage!"  Hopefully CPS never catches wind of that...

The Cage!

--One day during Emry's "cranky, runny-nose phase" she got up from the dinner table and went into the bathroom to pee all by herself.  Ken went in to check on her just as she was finishing up, and much to his delight, she had a successful trip to the potty!  Ken enthusiastically exclaimed "Great job Emry!" and stuck his hand down for a high-five.  Emry grabbed his hand with both of hers and wiped her snotty nose straight across his palm...eggshells.
--A few days later, Maren was laying on the living room floor and said her back hurt.  She asked Emry to rub it for her.  Emry rubbed it for a second then started patting Maren on the bottom.  Emry started laughing and started hitting Maren's butt with even more force.  She continued to laugh and said "Mommy's booty is really jiggly!"  All of a sudden Maren's ego hurt worse than her back.
--Another day Maren was singing the John Fogerty song, "Centerfield" from the video above.  She sang "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play..." Emry overheard and joined in singing "Mia and Coach, I'm ready to play..."

Other than just doing and saying funny things, Emry always impresses us with her memory and ability to put things together.  One evening Ken went next door to meet our new neighbor, we'll call him "James Farmer" for the purposes of this post.  Maren asked Ken 20 questions about him, and Ken told Maren "We didn't talk long because he came outside in a t-shirt and was probably freezing his booty off."  Emry overheard and repeated "He freeze his booty off."  So we left the house and went to dinner.  On the way home, Maren asked "What's the new neighbor's name again?" Ken responded "James Farmer."   Emry heard him say "James Farmer" from the backseat and said "He freeze his booty!"  Emry continued to ramble on for a couple minutes about his frozen booty and how he lived in Elise's old house.  We were amazed that she not only recognized the name after only hearing it once before, but that she also associated it with the neighbor who moved into Elise's house and Ken's comment about him freezing his booty off.

Nice hair Einstein!

The girls have been a complete joy to us this month.  They continue to grow together and bond each day.  Its fun to watch them interact and play with one another.  Emry still likes to help Whit do new things and is currently trying to teach her to cruise and walk.  Emry finally got to the point where she wants to hold Whitney, but Whit is getting to be too big for that already!

Fun times together!

"When did you get so heavy Whit?"

"Eat your citrus...Vitamin C helps keep the cold away"

Hopefully February will bring better health and even more happiness for the girls!

December 2012

December was a fun month for the girls and full of lots of opportunity to spend with family and friends. Both girls continue growing up before our very eyes, and it’s hard to believe another year has gone by. And of course with Christmas being this month, the girls got completely spoiled by all the gifts!

Whitney got to meet Santa for the first time when he came to North High School to visit all the teacher's kids. Whit was completely oblivious to the whole situation - just like the first year Emry met Santa.  Whit sat right on his lap, and did really well with the experience.  This year, we had been talking to Emry about Santa, since it was the first time she would be aware of what was going on.  Emry was excited to meet him...that is, until the moment finally arrived and she was completely scared out of her mind!

"Who are you?...And what are you doing with my baby sister?"

The real Santa was busy at the North Pole that day, so the funny part was that her great-grandpa was filling in for Santa, and Emry didn't want any part of it! She finally agreed to stand on the floor next to Santa to tell him what she wanted - "Mickey blocks."

Awkward family photos...

The next weekend the girls went to a Christmas-themed exhibit in Louisville called kaleidoscope. Whitney was fascinated by all the colorful lights, and loved staring up at them. Emry wrote a letter to Santa and changed what she wanted a little bit "a horn...Mickey blocks...stickers...and her baby sister wanted Goofy blocks." We don't know how Emry randomly came up with wanting a horn for Christmas. After that day though, anytime someone asked what she wanted for Christmas, Emry's answer was "a horn!" Emry still wanted nothing to do with Santa, so we skipped him and went to ride the polar express train and visited the snow-fairy princess instead.

Chillaxin' on the caboose

She's so much nicer than that Santa-guy!

A week later the girls went to the Fantasy of Lights and got to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride! Again, both girls were fascinated by all the colorful lights. In fact, Emry loved just driving around and looking at Christmas lights. She called the lights, "Christmas or-ma-nents."

Awe-struck by the fantasy of lights!

Emry also got into the spirit by singing tons of Christmas carols. Her top 3 were:  1.Jingle-Bells  2.Hark! The Herald Angels Sing(she called it the Charlie Brown song)  3.Santa Claus is Coming to Town. As much as Emry loved singing carols, she probably danced even more this month. She would dance to any kind of music. One day we put down a cardboard box on the living room floor and practiced break-dancing. Emry even taught Whitney how to dance too!

On Christmas morning, Emry was excited to see that Santa came to visit! She was really impressed that he ate the cookies and drank the milk she left out for him.

Skim milk so Santa can keep his trim-figure!

"Puffs! Best(only) Christmas Ever!"

"A Horn!!!!"

Taking a rest on the yoga mat after a long
morning of opening gifts!

In addition to the cool things Santa brought, Emry and Whit were spoiled by their aunts, uncles, and grandparents too!

Her look of excitement and anticipation was
the best gift we received this year

Our very own snow-fairy princess!

Giving some luvin' to her new baby doll

Besides all the holiday fun and excitement, the girls continued to grow and learn new things this month. Whitney started eating a lot more solid foods in place of baby cereal and baby food. She is a pro a using her hands to feed herself and started using a sippy cup at meals. She goes absolutely bananas for bananas, as they are her favorite food.

That sly-grin makes you wonder what she's thinking...

Whit is also crawling all over the place now. She is really fast and we've only lost her in the house like 3 or 4 times so far.

She skipped the scooting and inch-worming and
went straight to crawling

On Dec 23rd Whitney pulled herself up to a standing position using the basement stairs. A few days later she pulled up on the coffee table and started cruising! Prior to that, Emry had coached her on the proper cruising technique...

Earlier in the month, Whitney started imitating our body movements. Shortly after, she began clapping, waving bye-bye and playing the "How big is Whitney? Soooo big!" game. She also started repeating ma-ma and da-da when we'd say it.  Whitney is still very serious most of the time, but as she started becoming more interactive, she also started smiling more and more.

She can smile when she wants to!

Emry's communication skills continued to grow exponentially this month. She impresses us with how she can hold a long conversation on a single topic and with how analytical she is when she tries to solve a problem. She takes a long time to think about her answers, and you can almost hear the gears turning inside her little head. Emry is also not nearly as shy around other people anymore. She jumps right in to play with other kids, where in the past she was usually very hesitant.

Emry's favorite movie this month was Dumbo. This was the first time she actually found humor in a TV show where the characters did something to make her laugh.  Prior to Dumbo, Emry would point out things happening on shows and talk about what was on the screen, but this was the first movie to make her laugh out loud. Unfortunately, the scene that made her laugh was where Timothy and Dumbo get drunk on champagne and Timothy gets the hiccups, starts stumbling around and keeps popping the champagne bubbles.

This whole scenario has left us with two questions: 1. What does this say about Emry's future? 2. Can you imagine the outcry if someone tried to produce Dumbo in 2013? Between the drunken BABY elephant and the not-so-subtle racial stereotypes of the black crows...sorry, we're getting off topic. Back to the girls...

Emry's imagination continues to impress us as well. One day she found the old baby monitor in Whitney's room. She drug it around the house by the cord, pretending it was a dog on a leash. She would stop to pet it, roll it over, and she even named him Biscuit. After this went on for two days, we hid "Biscuit" and told Emry that he went to live on a farm. We took one of the stuffed doggys off the shelf above her bed, and introduced him as the new "Biscuit". This satisfied Emry, and she now has a 'real' pet doggy!

Emry has also become quite the artist.  She colored in her coloring books almost everyday this month.  She was really excited to get water color paints for Christmas.  Now her new favorite hobby is painting!

The artist is hard at work!

The last big thing the girls got to experience this month was SNOW! Whitney didn't care too much for it, but she looked really cute all bundled up in her snowsuit. Emry had a blast being pulled in the sled, making snowballs and a snowman, making snow angels, running through the snow and going down her snow-covered slide!

Cheesin' that big with a mouse on your head
could be dangerous!

The girls got along and played together everyday this month.  Not a day went by without Emry saying something that made us laugh, or Whitney doing a new 'trick' that brought smiles to our faces.  As we said in the beginning, it was a fun-filled month for both the girls and us. We were all very blessed this year, and we are looking forward to a great 2013!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!