Rilyn's First Bike Ride

For Christmas my sister gave me a new bike and we finally got around to putting the kids seat on the back so that Rilyn could go for a ride. She got all geared up and rode around the neighborhood with Dada. She had a lot of fun and told me about all the cool things she saw along the way! Thanks Auntie Hollie.

8 Months Already!

Emerson is now 8 months already and I have to say, this last month she has probably hit the most milestones yet. We saw her start to push up onto all 4's, which turned into crawling backwards, then taking one lunge forward, and now, watch out, she is on the move. Another thing she has mastered is being able to go from the laying position to sitting up on her own. It is strange to go into get her out of her crib and have her sitting there like such a big girl. We are still working on the sleeping. For the most part she will go for a stretch of 8-9 hours, feeding then sleeping for a couple more. Also, two teeth finally came through on the bottom. Now when she flashes us her sweet smiles, she has some added accessories. Another thing is that she is slowly starting to eat table food, bread, peas, green beans, cheese and bananas. So far she hasn't found a food she hasn't liked. Finally, she is starting to "talk", saying Ba-Ba and other one syllable words. As always, she is still Rilyn's biggest fan, it doesn't take much for her to laugh at anything her big sister does. Each day is something new and exciting, although it doesn't seem possible she can be nearing her 1 year so soon!

Now that Emerson is getting so big, she has figured out new ways to use her toys! :)

She is strapped in, just hanging out.

Why I love my kids....

Bryn Couture

I hope you don't mind Michelle, but everyone loves your clothes and keeps asking where they can get them, so I am going to put a link to your website on my blog. Here's the site, but you can also click on the link to the left side of my blog page and it will take you directly there.
www.bryncouture.com

Mini Family Vacation

We managed to fit in a mini family vacation since Jeff had a couple days off between the break of extended spring and the start of his season. We decided to make the quick drive over to San Diego, one of my favorite places. We got in Monday evening, just in time to head over to Old Town for some of the best mexican food around! The next day we went to Legoland, a first time for us all. It actually turned out to be a great place to take a 3 year old, Rilyn had a blast. There was so much to see and so many rides to ride. The weather was perfect, what else can you expect when you are in San Diego? Here's a few pictures from our fun day....

The next day we headed over to Balboa Park to spend a couple hours before heading back to AZ. Rilyn enjoyed the ponds and botanical gardens, but unfortunately the train and carousel are closed during the weekdays. Overall it was a fun but quick trip.

As you can see Christina, we received Rilyn's birthday present and we LOVE it, thank you!! Michelle you are so talented, it's crazy!! My friend Michelle makes the cutest kids clothes around!

My Girls

Emerson is such a little ham, every time I pull out the camera, she is ready to go. I was trying to capture a picture of her up on all 4's, since her new thing is crawling, backwards that is. As soon as she noticed the camera though, she dropped down and flashed me a smile. This picture isn't too cute, but it's what I see every time I go to spoon up another bite of food for her. Either I am too slow or this little birdie eats too quickly. Either way, that little mouth is open and waiting for more as soon as the spoon leaves her mouth.

As many of you may know, Jeff and I have decided that we are 99% sure that we are done having kids, no surgery is in the works for him yet though. It is funny because lately I have realized that if we ever do decide to have another child I think I would want another girl. I love my girls so much and they bring so much joy to my life, even on the days that I feel as though I am going crazy. Between the things Rilyn says at this age, like "trust me Mom", and the smiles and giggles that Emerson provides us with on a daily basis, my heart just melts at knowing these girls are mine and I feel blessed to have them in my life everyday! Seeing the girls interact together is truly a gift, Rilyn is always wanting to be around Emerson and Emerson is always looking for her sissy. No one can make Emerson smile like Rilyn can :). Here's a couple more pictures of the girls together, as you can see, I have been enjoying dressing them alike.

Rilyn's 1st Ballet/Tap Class

I have to say, having little girls can be so much fun at times! Yesterday was Rilyn's first ballet and tap class and it was so cute to see her and the other little girls all dressed up. She was a little weary at first, but did great!! I didn't know what to expect since this was her first class that wasn't a parent participation class. I just imagined her up against the window screaming for me to come in and dance with her. It will be interesting to see how much she learns in this 10 week course, considering all she wanted to do was jump up and down and listen to her tap shoes tap. I will work on getting some better pictures, I always seem to miss the moment for the perfect picture.

I Forgot To Mention....

We have been so busy lately between the kids summer movie program, dance class, swim lessons and playdates that I realized I have forgotten to mention one of the most significant things that has happened in our household. Once we returned from CA last month I finally pulled the trigger, well the plug actually. I had talked about taking the binky away for awhile now and there was no better time to do it, atleast before I came up with more excuses:). I was preparing myself for the worst, this has been Rilyn's security for 3 years now between the traveling, new homes, new friends, and everything else that changes in a young baseball child's life. I made a point to try and convince Jeff to get on the boat with me on this and no matter what, DON'T GIVE IN!! I knew our biggest challenge would probably be on the nights that I work and Jeff is home with the girls by himself. Surprisingly, giving up the binky might have been one of the easiest transitions we have made so far! We started off by telling Rilyn she had to put all her binky's in a box to give to the mailman for all the babies that don't have binkies. She was fine with this at first, but once she realized that meant they were gone for good she didn't like that idea so much. We kept one binky in the house, but cut the top off so that it was "broken". She tried using this one a few times but would get frustrated and yell she didn't like the broken binky. It really only took about 3-4 days of just whining for binky at nap and bed time before she finally realized she didn't need it. The only problem has been that now it takes her sooooo much longer to fall asleep, but it is well worth it!! You can even tell how proud she is of herself because she now tells us when she wakes up everyday, "Guess what, I didn't sleep with a binky!" This has become her new thing, sleeping on Buggy in the corner instead of her monkey bed. The funny thing is she practically hides underneath all the pillows to actually fall asleep. There have been a couple nights when I have walked in to check on her and freak out about where she is because I don't see her.

Here's my big girl enjoying an indoor picnic for lunch, which she thought was so cool.