Girlies

Here are Hannah's fangs. Thought I'd get a pic before we can see too much of her front middles. The girls in their diapers on Natalie's new big-girl bed. Ignore that the blue walls don't match.

They both happened to be smiling when I took this. Yay.

Some Hannah stuff

So here is a little movie of Hannah's army crawl and a little interaction between the sisters. It is cute, if I do say so myself. Btw the howling is Natalie, not me. Don't ask me what she was doing.

Also of note is that her middle two top teeth are coming soon. I can see them through her gums and she is really clingy and isn't taking her normal length of naps. Poor baby--4 top teeth all at once! Hopefully they come through soon and we can get back on schedule.

My exercise update

So in case any of you are watching my ticker over there ---> I wanted to provide an update on my getting in shape goal. Technically I haven't really lost that many pounds; my weight just happened to fluctuate up and down here and there and 7lbs is the difference between the highest and lowest. haha. At first that was discouraging. BUT I decided that even if the scale hasn't moved yet, I am still seeing results that just aren't as easy to measure. I have noticed:

• I have more energy
• I am getting more toned
• I have finally located my abs
• Said abs are getting stronger/detectable
• I have better posture
• I have no qualms about holding either of my children for an extended period of time
• I am happier over all because I have "me" time to recharge

So anyway, these are good. I started calorie counting using babyfit.com since it takes breastfeeding into account (which uses 500-800 extra calories per day) and it is helping me to not eat out of boredom. I am also making better choices since I would like to feel full from the food I eat but still not eat too much. This was my third day of doing it and I must say, it is easier. I made a rule for myself to only check the scale once a week, so at the end of this calorie-counting week I will see if it made any difference. I am really enjoying working out though!!

teeth

Since every kid gets teeth and it's not that exciting, I'll make this short. I just wanted to say that this little baby is doing everything completely different than her big sister did. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Anyway Hannah's second set of two teeth broke through over the past few days. But they aren't the top two. They are the top ones NEXT to where the top two will be.

Weird.

Natalie-isms

Just so I don't forget, here are a couple of things Natalie has said recently.

Nat: I'm a little sick, don't you? [meaning "aren't I"]
Me: Don't I (correcting one thing at a time here, people)
N: No, I won't die.

Me: [said on the way home from church, at which point Mark and I will put the girls down for naps] If I put you to bed, who will nurse Hannah? Daddy doesn't have any milk.
N: Daddy has little small milkies, and mommy has big ones!

She is so funny. She talks constantly though you wouldn't know it unless you were hiding somewhere in our house. Nobody in public gets to hear her cute little voice unless she doesn't think you're listening. Hopefully she'll get over her shyness sometime. I'm imagining taking her to kindergarten and leaving her screaming in the teacher's arms.

Hannah is army crawling all over the place. It's so cute and we all love watching her do it. I'll get it on video sometime soon before she learns how to really crawl.

We finished swim lessons and Natalie did great. She wouldn't let the teacher look at her or talk to her for the whole first week (parents are in the water w/ kids) but on the third to last day she let the teacher watch her float on her back while she covered her own eyes, and the next day she let the teacher watch w/o covering her eyes, and the last day she almost let the teacher hold her and help her float. Almost. Maybe next year she'll finally make it to the class where she's not with her mommy!

Current dilemma: potty training. If anyone has any suggestions, please share. Natalie knows when she needs to go--if she doesn't have a diaper on (like when she's getting changed into a swimsuit) and she has to go, she asks for a diaper to go pee in. Likewise, she'll tell me she needs to go #2 and go hide somewhere to do it. SHe refuses to go on the toilet though. She has a little one and a kid seat one that fits on the big potty. We've tried a chart, skittles as a reward, special potty snacks that she only gets to eat on the potty, and buying cool Elmo and Princess panties. I need help!

Random happenings

Here are some random pics of my girlies.

Hannah fell asleep like this after nursing (she only nurses lying down) so I snapped a pic before putting her in her pack n' play.

I thought this was a hilarious view of Natalie's feet.

Mom took Natalie and Brooklyn to a splash pad/playground while we were taking pics of Chloe (see post below). They had tons of fun.

I made some pizza dough and gave her her own little blob to roll. Just like Caillou (she's obsessed). It was fun.

I wouldn't recommend the Crayola animal shaped "markers" that toddlers hold in their fists to color. It's more like liquid paint coming out and she can never quite press down on just the point to make it draw. Invest in the crayons instead. Plus she might think it's lipstick and smear it on her mouth.

Our neighbor's cat had kittens so we went to play with them the other day. They all took a turn nursing, and I could totally relate to that momma cat (of course I only have one though). Natalie knew exactly what she was doing!

That's it for now. Please visit my photography blog!

The start of Chloe's modeling career

For more of Chloe's photo shoot, see my photography blog.