The Little Gym

Rilyn started her class at the Little Gym last week. The first week Jeff took Rilyn, although he had Emerson with him as well. I think it was a little hectic for him considering the class is based around parent-child interaction. Also, he said Rilyn was a little shy at first, but I have to say this week she came out of her shell. She was running all over the place and was actually following instructions. I think she had a great time and I look forward to taking her back next week. The instructor promises she will learn to do a cartwheel by the end of the semester, I guess we will have to wait and see......

Sneaky, Sneaky

Some of you may have heard these stories before, but I definitely decided they are blog-worthy. Rilyn is known for placing items in small holes, this has been occurring throughout the last year. During the season there were two incidents in particular, one was when we were having a girls game night. Us girls were busy playing Catch Phrase, while Rilyn was busy playing with my friend Larkin's puzzles and cards. One of the walls in her apartment had exposed brick, with a couple holes in it. Soon we came to realize Rilyn had been placing the puzzle pieces and cards into the little holes, which meant they were lost forever. Another time Grammy was visiting us and we were watching the baseball game from one of the stadium's suites. During the game we saw that Rilyn had gotten into Grammy's wallet and placed some of her cards down the heater vent, I think for sure a Starbucks gift card again was lost forever. Luckily, now the incidences we have had lately haven't been so unfortunate. Here is a picture of a hole that is in our closet. One day Rilyn got a hold of our cable box keys and decided to place them in the hole. I had the bright idea to try and use Rilyn's fishing pole since it was magnetic, and low and behold it worked. The keys were saved! Now, you would think we would have learned our lesson by now, but again today our little mischievous munchkin figured out how to unscrew the top of our tv stand and figured the speaker hole was a good place for them. Jeff was about to freak out on Rilyn when I assessed the situation and decided that although our hands were too big for the hole, Rilyn's hands were the perfect size. I explained to her that she need to put her hand down the hole and get the circles out. She obeyed and now we have restored harmony within the house. Let's just hope we can keep a better eye on here from now on.

The Best Sound Ever!

The other night, Emerson was sitting on Jeff's lap with both fists in her mouth. He commented to her, "Do you have both fists in your mouth?" and she started belly laughing. We both looked at eachother thinking, she thought that was funny? and OMG she is laughing!! He kept repeating the phrase and for about 5 minutes she thought it was the funniest thing ever. Jeff wondered if I was a little jealous that he got her to laugh first, but I told him I didn't care, either way it is the best sound to hear!
Here's what Rilyn was doing last night when we went in to check on her. She said she wanted to be a moose. I guess now that Christmas is over, the reindeer are out of sight out of mind.

Mr. Mom

For those of you that don't know, I have gone back to work waitressing and Jeff is home with the girls. The first day I was very nervous for Jeff because not only did he have both girls, but it was also the first day of Rilyn's Little Gym class. He said it went fairly well, although he was the only Dad and also the only person with two kids. The class is a lot of interaction between the parent and the child, so I am sure it was quite a scene for Jeff to be juggling a baby in the mix. I am so proud of Jeff, he has handled his parenting duties extremely well. I have worked three days shifts in a row, and everyday when I get home the girls are napping, clean and fed. In addition he has been cleaning the house and doing the laundry, he's my very own "Mommy" and he is doing great! Now, hopefully we can get Emerson better at taking a bottle for his sake. This actually is a picture from the girls taking a nap together in Kauai, but I thought it was fitting since this has been the scene I have been coming home to. I have to say, for once having to work isn't such a bad thing. :) Rilyn found some markers we had put away until she was a little older, but we figured since they were washable we would give it a shot. She had a blast coloring with them, but now the problem is she only wants markers when she colors and as you can see they are temporarily messy. Oh well.....

Our Newest Additions

To reward Rilyn for being such a great little traveler, and also to hopefully help with her sleeping problems, we let her pick out two new friends. It was fun taking her to the store and letting her pick two fish and some tank accessories. We asked her what we should name the fish and she told us to name them. Jeff and I came up with Bubba and Captain Jack. One of the fish are much bigger and the other only has one eye, so that's why Jeff suggested Captain Jack. We started referring to the fish by their new names until Rilyn told us that wasn't their names. We asked what their names were and she replied, "Fishy and Fishy". We tried to explain how they needed different names, but she insisted that they were both named Fishy. Oh well, so now we have two new additions to our family, Fishy and Fishy. They have seemed to help a little so far with keeping Rilyn preoccupied at bedtime, let's hope they continue to entertain her. It is fun having our first "pets" since we won't be moving around anymore for the time being. Here's a picture of Fishy, aka "Bubba". The other fish was camera shy, probably insecure with only having one eye.

Here's our little Boo-Boo just chilling. She is growing so fast. We have introduced her to Baby Einstein, and she seems mesmerized by it.

A Vacation From Our Vacation

We are finally back from Paradise, aka Kauai. It seems though that we may need a vacation from our vacation. The 3 hour time change has thrown the girls for a loop. I have to say, we were really anxious about our flight home, considering we were on a red eye to LAX and then had a 4 hour layover at 5am before heading back to PHX. Rilyn was an absolute angel, we have never been more proud of her.
Now, on to our trip......I guess I never thought much about what it would be like vacationing with two kids, since it was our first experience with it. Gone is the time of laying out, reading a magazine while sipping on a pina colada. Thank you Nana for all your help with the girls, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy my vacation without you. Of course the guys were off playing golf 3 of the days we were there, so my mom pampered the two of us to an amazing massage one day, that was a highlight.
Overall, we had a great time. Rilyn had a blast at the beach in the man made lagoons with her floatie and was excited to see most of the ocean animals she had talked about. She saw a sea turtle, monk seals, whales, dolphins, crabs, fish and chickens (they run wild around the island). As you can see, Emerson was enjoying herself as well. She was a trooper, and almost always took a nap while we were at the beach. Here is the view from our house, we were only a 10 minute walk to the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous there, so lush and green, exactly what you think of when you think tropical. Rilyn enjoying a little beach time with Uncle Grayson.

Grandma Mary catching a wave. Cowabunga Dude!

This day we spent checking out the "Grand Canyon" of Kauai. It is similar to the one here in AZ, although not as big, but much more green.

Here is Rilyn on the catamaran we went on for whale watching during a sunset cruise. Her and Jeff sat on the front of the boat to get a good view of things. There were about 7 whales all jumping and tail slapping in the same area near our boat. They said this pod of females were on a heat run and it was fortunate for us since they were so active. Here is one of the whale's tail slaps, it gives you an idea of how close we were. Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit seasick during the cruise since I stayed below with Emerson. At one point, Rilyn came down to lay on my lap and rest and ended up getting sick on me, oh the joys of motherhood! I am surprised that wasn't the final straw to make me lose it.

Gramps and Emmy. Here's Rilyn and Gramps being baby crabs walking along the water. Nice view, Gramps!

Grandma Mary hanging out with Emerson on the beach. Thank you again Nana and Gramps for such a wonderful memory for our family!

Airline Policies

Tomorrow is finally the BIG day! We are so excited for our vacation, just a little anxious for the travel and time change. It is a 4 hour time change in Kauai, which will definitely be interesting to see how it affects the girls, let's hope for the best. Now, I have to say, traveling is becoming such a pain, with all the extra fees. I was looking online to see what the baggage allowance was for United, and unless you booked before June 2008 every bag has a fee. Luckily, we booked on May 28th, so we are allowed 3 checked bags for free, since Rilyn was a paid ticket. Now, considering my husband has to bring his golf clubs, that leaves us with only 2 checked bags for 4 people. It was very interesting to try and fit everything into two bags. Let's just hope we don't end up with much extra stuff on the way home. Another pain with all the airline adjustments is that they don't serve meals on the flights anymore. I was hoping that since it was a 5+ hour flight that we may be served a snack atleast, but I guess everything has a charge. Is water still free?? Wish us luck, I am sure I will have many stories to share once we are back.

I thought I would include a couple pictures from our day today. We had Rilyn's friend, Kayla over and it cracked me up because we decided to play hide-and-seek. This is the girls hiding, they are obviously a little confused at the concept.

Here was Emerson just watching the girls run around playing. It will be so fun one day when she is big enough to play too!

Emerson's 2 Month Check-Up

Yesterday was Emerson's 2 month Dr.'s appointment and we are happy to report she is healthy and growing like a weed, LITERALLY! When it came time to do her measurements the nurse took down her length and head circumference, left the room and then came back in to repeat the measurements. I wasn't concerned, but when the Dr. came in she said, don't be worried, but we double checked and your daughter is off the charts for her length. Again, I didn't really think much about this and the Dr. went on to say how there always has to be the one baby that makes up the top of a range. For all those who have kids, Emerson was 21 1/2 in. when she was born and now is up to 24 3/4 in. at two months! Luckily, her head circumference and weight are all proportional. She is really starting to enjoy stimulation from the bouncy chair and watching her sister. Also, we are trying to get more "tummy time" in. She has rolled over once, but it happened when no one was looking, so we can't wait to actually witness it. We feel very blessed that she is healthy and happy.

I bet some of you all are probably wondering how things are going with Rilyn and bedtime (and now naptime). We are still in the thick of things, Sunday night it took 2 hours for naptime and 3 hours for bedtime. We definitely are spending more time trying to get her to stay in bed and get to sleep then we are awake it seems. The biggest problem of all is that no matter what are efforts are up to this point, we are leaving on Friday for a 10 day family vacation to Kauai. I am sure some of you can relate in the frustrations of always traveling and changing routines. Don't get me wrong, we are ecstatic to being going on vacation, thanks to Nana and Gramps, but the timing is a little off right now. We figure we will get through this week and then worry about starting all over once we return. They say the thing kids respond to best is routine, so unfortunately we will have to put off this routine until we are back from traveling again!

Mommy Moment

Why is it that it always seems that when Jeff is away chaos occurs? He is at a convention in Palm Desert for only 2 nights and it has been 2 very difficult nights without him. Let me start by saying that the one thing we have always acknowledged and been thankful for is that Rilyn is a great sleeper. Transitioning from a crib to a big girl bed at 2 was a piece of cake, and she has always had no problem sleeping anywhere which says a lot considering we are always on the go. Now, with that said, over the last two nights Rilyn has done a 180. She has been hysterical at bedtime once I leave the room. She has been complaining about being scared, not feeling well, etc., etc..... anyway to get me back into the room. The difficult thing has been that both nights Emerson has been crying while I am dealing with Rilyn. Every time Rilyn comes out screaming, crying, I walk her back in to her room while Emerson starts up. I have told Rilyn to stay in bed and that didn't work, so after about 50 times I put a gate up, which she must have found amusing, considering a couple minutes later she was standing in the hallway again, I didn't realize she could climb up and over it. She finally fell asleep after almost 2 hours the first night and then only 1 1/2 hours tonight. There is so many lights on it looks like it is daytime in her room, but I thought that might help. These are definitely the moments only a mom can relate to. It's times like these that I feel like I am going crazy. Let's hope every night gets a little better. Any suggestions would be welcomed!!!

Sweet Girl

It's funny how some days our little girl can be such a firecracker, with attitude and sass. Other days, like today, she is such a sweetheart. It is so fun to see how much she is changing lately, from the things she says to the way she acts. I need to start writing down some of the things that comes out of her mouth, she is always keeping Jeff and I laughing. We love her so much, how can you ever get mad a face like this? (Remind me tomorrow that I said that.......)

Special Occasion

First off, let me start by saying Happy New Year's! I hope 2009 brings much happiness and success to everyone. To celebrate the new year we spent the day relaxing as a family. Rilyn is enjoying all her new gifts from Santa and we have fun playing with them with her. Lately, Rilyn has been asking to take a shower with me and tonight I decided what the heck. It was fun to see her enjoy herself so much with this new experience. I was concerned she might not like having the water getting her face wet, but she was loving every minute of it. She didn't want to get out when I was done, so I let her stay in a few minutes longer by herself to really get the feel of taking a shower.
It was sweet to watch Rilyn all about Emerson today. She kept kissing her and loving on her. I just pray that as the girls grow they will continue to enjoy each other. Too bad Rilyn moves around so much throughout the night, I know she would love to sleep with Emerson. It is cute to see them snuggled up together, before we have to move them to different beds. I just love my girls!