The girls

My girls. The girls. Our girls. Sweet baby girls. I can't say it, or think it, or love it enough. God is good!

Trip to the dentist

We found a very cool children's dentist. It has a playground in the waiting room, big screen movies playing while you are getting your teeth cleaned, and the coolest accessories to make sure you are comfortable during your stay. Charlotte did AMAZING! No cavities, she opened and closed her mouth on command, and let them clean away. She was even given the green light for sugar free gum, which literally made her jump up and down with excitement. We drove straight from the dentist' office to Publix so she could pick out her gum and them we rushed home so she could try it. She chewed it for a few minutes with the biggest smile on her face and then promptly swallowed it on accident. Oops! Oh well, it was a good reward for doing so great at the dentist!

Father's Day

We started out Father's day weekend at the Fulcher's house on Saturday. Emily decided to take a really long nap while we all swam and after dinner, Grandpa Bill broke out Charlotte's newest favorite: the Cotton Candy machine!

On Sunday we treated Bryce to a pancake breakfast and loaded up the car for round two. Everyone enjoyed the pool once again at my parents house.

This was our first Father's day with both girls, and once again I am reminded how lucky we are. Bryce is such a good Daddy, the love he shows these babies can stop me in my tracks and make my heart throb. When we got married, I knew that Bryce would make a good Dad one day, but he has totally exceeded my expectations. He takes such good care of his girls.

Anniversary 2012

June 12, 2004:

June 12, 2012:

Eight years and a whole nother life later! We love every minute!

Sleep Training

I've purposefully not written the post for a long time. We started sleep training at the beginning of the summer, and six weeks later it still makes me shudder. I couldn't even write about it. It was just that painful. I'm mad at myself that we even had to go through this. We've had a newborn before! I know how fast sleep habits form! I know how important good sleep is! But, I also have an excuse for every bad habit we created. Emily had reflux and she had to sleep at an incline. She slept SO GOOD with a swaddle. She got a cold and I had to rock her to sleep....and then the cold went away and I had to keep rocking her. Ugh.

So the last week of school I started gearing up. I re-read the major parts of three different sleep books. I decided to be super woman and start the process on a Friday while Bryce was still at work. In my head it was going to be no big deal. I'd lay her down flat in her crib without a swaddle, she'd cry for a little while, but eventually she'd be so tired she'd have to fall asleep. We'd be done with sleep training by Monday. Right? Right?! No. She cried for a whole HOUR with me going in and out like a mad woman. I gave up. But Emily was so MAD that she missed that nap that she feel asleep in my arms at the next feeding and REFUSED to fall back asleep in her crib at all. Even with all the props back. Fast forward one week. Take Two. Bryce is with me. We decide to try and break our habits at night. Emily went to bed at 7:30 and CRIED until midnight. She would.not.go.to.sleep. without her swaddle and nap nanny. At 12:00 we both gave up and the minute she had her props back she was out like a light. UGH. Fast forward three more days. We've rested up. We're ready. Come hell or high water, we are breaking her of this!! Honestly, I was afraid she would roll right out of nap nanny she was getting so big. It just had to be done. Take Three. We laid her down in her crib and walked out. The crying began. We waited and went in every three minutes. Still crying. We stretched out our to visits every five minutes. Still crying. We worked up to ten minutes. She finally went to sleep, but then started waking up every hour on the hour to cry some more. She cried so much the first night, that Bryce and I had to go sleep in our storage room upstairs and take shifts for going in to Emily (Charlotte miraculously slept through it all). Morning came and we were tired. But-we did it! She went a whole night in her own crib, flat, with no swaddle. The second night was better, night three even better than that. It literally took us a whole week, but by the end of the first week she was laying down in her crib and going right to sleep. No crying at all.

This picture pretty much sums up sleep training: Exhausting!

Rice Cereal

At Emily's four month appointment we talked about introducing rice cereal. Emily has been showing all the signs of readiness (sitting straight up, holding her head well, watching us eat, etc.). We knew she was ready for sure after a couple of days of this:

Got my bib on Mom, I'm ready!

Not so sure about the first bite.

Hmmm.....maybe I do like this.

Everyone was so excited to feed Emily and we all took turns trying!

Caught Ya!

We are dealing with "big kid-itis" over here. Charlotte wants to do everything BY HERSELF. She wants to go potty BY HERSELF. With the door closed Mommy! She wants to get dressed BY HERSELF. No, Mommy, I'll do it! (No matter where we are going or when we are supposed to be there). She wants to buckle her carseat BY HERSELF. Don't look Mommy, I can do it! (It doesn't matter if we are running late, she MUST do it). Lately we've been letting her get water BY HERSELF. She has a stack of cups on the counter and can fill it up with the filtered water from the refrigerator. I was feeding Emily and heard Charlotte call out "Mommy, can I have a drink". My answer was yes, but lo and behold I come out to find Charlotte with her stool out "getting a drink" of chocolate milk, which she knows is only for special meals. That's what I call Big kiditis. I can do it Mommy!