Growing up, 8 months, and Arts and Crafts!

There are some days that I feel like I can actually see both of my girls learning new things and growing.  While Lily is still tiny for her age she has gotten so much taller the last few weeks.  We have had a few cooler days this week so I tried to put her in jeans that she wore in the spring and they were all too short!  I guess she will be getting a new wardrobe.  The main problem is that she is so skinny compared to her height that most pants don't fit her.  A lot of her pants just slide right down when she is running around and she is constantly having to pull them up.  I just know it is going to get worse too because she is still in diapers so once she loses that extra bulk there will be nothing to hold up the pants.  I am going to have to find a belt for her.

This morning I swear she woke up with so much more language than she did yesterday.  Everything she has said today has been super clear and in sentences.  I love being able to have conversations with her.  I am always amazed at what all she has to say.

Evie is also small for her age (although I don't know a percentile because she doesn't go back to the doctor until September), but she is bigger than Lily was at this age.  Most of the clothes that Evie is wearing that belonged to Lily are from when Lily was right around a year.  So much for my idea that I was going to get to reuse all of Lily's clothes since they were both born the same month.  Luckily it has been hot here for the most part because Evie has just been wearing onsies or even just in her diaper.  Once it gets colder she will have to get a new wardrobe too.

Here are some photos of Evie at 8 months:

 

8 months

"Here Mom"

 So I got the crazy idea to have the girls finger paint on canvas to make some artwork for their rooms.  Surprisingly it was Lily that was messier than Evie.  I was going to put something down on the ground but figured Lily was going to slip or trip on it, and the paint is washable, so I decided to just let them sit on the tile and paint.  Evie loved it and did great not trying to put any of it in her mouth.  Lily of course got it everywhere including all over her body, legs, face, and hair.  I actually think by the time they were finished and I got them in the bath that Lily had more paint everywhere else on her body than on her fingers!

Figuring it out

She looks like she thinks she got caught doing something wrong

"I put on lotion"

The finished work

7 Months and 100 degree weather

I have been trying to find fun things for Lily to do outside.  This activity was actually going to be for both girls, but Evie was sleeping and I needed something to entertain Lily before she got too loud inside and woke Evie up.  These are just colored ice cubes made in muffin tins.  I think I put too much food coloring in each one as there were some spots that were super colorful and where the color was rubbing off on her hands and clothing.  She had fun stacking them up like blocks, naming the colors, feeling how cold they were even though it was close to 100 degrees outside that day, and even tasting them.  Later on we put them in a bucket and watched how the colors mixed together as they melted.

Exploring the ice blocks

Feeling how cold they were

She wanted to see if it tasted like a popsicle

Her hands were a little colored for a few hours but it washed off that night during bathtime

Evie is 7 months old!  I can't believe how fast this year is going.  

Smiling for the camera

Still not crawling and that is okay with this momma right now!

"Hey, what's this?"

Sean and Evie on the 4th

Things have been pretty hectic here recently so unfortunately I have been slacking with updating the blog.

Lily is growing up way to quickly for me.  All of her language is just amazing.  We can now carry on conversations where each of us will take about 4 turns.  Very rarely does she not use sentences.  It is great to see her personality come out even more.  She is quite the little negotiator.  She definitely does not get everything she wants, but there are times when she has made a good point so I have given in.

She is also quite social.  Every morning she asks me who we are going to see or play with that day.  Whenever we go on a walk at least one or two little kids in the neighborhood have to yell hello to Lily.  We have been hanging out with the neighbor and her kids and the kids she babysits.  She babysits a little girl a few months older than Lily and she has a son that is a few months younger than Lily.  She also has a 4 year old that Lily just adores and babysits a little boy that is just a few days older than Evie.  It is great to have friends close by for the girls to play with and to give me some adult conversation as well.

Evie has had a rough couple weeks.  We started her on solids.  Evidently the solids I decided to start on her coupled with her body changing the way it digests food, made her constipated.  She did enjoy the prune juice that Sean had to give her a couple times and that definitely seemed to work.  For the most part it didn't seem to bother her, she is such an easy going baby.  We slowed down on solids though to give her body a chance to regulate itself and have just recently started giving them to her again.

Last week I was working a lot so the girls were either with my mom or the babysitter a lot.  Evie is doing well with her stranger anxiety, but she still doesn't like to drink out of a bottle all that much.  There were a few days where she didn't drink much at all and then when I got home she wanted me to nurse her almost all night long.  That made me super tired the next day at work and made my time away from the girls that much harder.

Sean and I got to go see fireworks for the 4th of July!  We have never seen them together and it has always been something I wanted to do.  The girls are definitely too young, plus they go to bed hours before the fireworks start, that I didn't think we were going to get to go until they got much older.  This year though, my parents weren't doing anything so we left the girls there and Sean and I got an evening with some friends without kiddos.  Of course while we were waiting for the fireworks to start huge storm clouds started rolling in.  We decided to head back to the car.  We figured we would just watch whatever we could see from there and then be able to be in the car in case the storm came.  This ended up being an amazing idea because our car was evidently at a perfect viewing area!  Then we didn't have to walk to the car and wait forever to get out of the parking lot.  I can't wait for the years to come when we get to go as a family.  I just know they both will love them.

6 months

 Yesterday was Evie's 6 month well visit.  Sean was able to take the day off work to go with us which was a huge help.  I always forget to ask something or Lily wants my attention while the doctor is talking with us.  She is bigger than her sister was at this age, but still small.  It is funny because I keep thinking about how big she is (she is wearing clothes that Lily wore when she was 10-15 months old!) but she is still small compared to the averages. 

Weight: 14.22lbs (16 percentile)

Height: 25.5in (39 percentile)

Head Circumference: 16.25in (17 percentile)

The doctor says she is doing great and is happy with her development so far.  He did give us a handout on sleep because she is having a hard time going to bed at night and is still waking up several times throughout the night sometimes.

We also got the okay to start solid foods!  I think she has been ready for awhile, but he wanted to hold off since she has only been nursed.  She has been grabbing for our spoons and foods for about a month of more now so I knew she was going to be excited when the spoon actually came her way.

Here are the photos from her first feeding.  It took her only a couple bites before she had this whole eating solids thing figured out.

Not so sure

She really didn't like the first couple bites

Leaning in to get it faster

"You are going too slow Daddy, I will help you"

Sucking it all off the spoon

Giggling

Today as I was making lunch I heard a bunch of squealing and giggling coming from the family room.  Not wanting to miss out on a good time with the girls I went to investigate and this is what I found.  Lily is such an amazing big sister

Water beads and sitting up

The weather here has been amazing so we have been going outside as much as possible.  Lily just got a new pool because the one she had the last two years is small and better suited for Evie.  This one is really cool and you can hook the hose up to it and it will sprinkle water over her.  We haven't tried it yet because just playing in the water is so much fun.  I will save the sprinkler part for later in the summer as an extra surprise. 

 

The problem with going outside so much is using a ton of sunscreen.  The other day Evie was napping and Lily and I decided to go out and play for a little bit in the backyard.  Their sunscreen was in Evie's room so I just sprayed a little bit of mine on Lily.  I'm not sure if it is the sunscreen or the sun and heat or a combination of them, but Lily got what looked like little hives on her legs, back or her arms, and her neck.  She didn't seem to notice it so I am assuming it didn't itch.  Sean and I decided to keep her inside for a few days to see if that helped it go away and it seems to have.  When she gets hot it does come back a little bit, but not as much as before.  When I compared the two sunscreens I found out that the kid's stuff is PABA free which is evidently a big allergen for kids and people with sensitive skin.  I am not sure if we can keep her inside much longer since she keeps seeing all her friends outside so we will have to try her sunscreen again and hope that the splotches don't come back.

Since we have been inside we have had to find fun things to do to keep the begging to go outside to a minimum.  I have seen on Pinterst an idea to use water beads as a sensory activity for kids.  I had a few bags on hand that I had gotten at a craft show to put in vases instead of water.  I had never thought to let Lily play with them but decided to give it a try.  She loved them!  They start out as small beads and you soak them in water and they get bigger.  They are the size of marbles and feel kinda wet and squishy.  They were a lot of fun to feel, scoop, drop and let bounce, and try to pick up.  Since they are small they are definitely an activity that required adult supervision but we will be doing these again for sure.  They are great because you just let them sit out and they shrink back to they original size and can be stored easily for another use.

I soaked them all night so they were ready for her first thing in the morning so don't mind the pj's and messy hair :)

Feeling the water beads for the first time.

Examining them.

 

More examining

I did start out with blue, green, and purple, but I soaked them all in the same water and they all turned out blue. If I buy more I will make sure to soak them separately so there will be lots of colors.

Last weekend we did Race for the Cure.  It is a 5K walk/run to raise money for breast cancer research.  Sean's work does a team every year so we walked with them.  Since pink is the color for breast cancer awareness and  both my girls have lots of pink clothing it was easy to get them in cute outfits for the walk.  They both did great riding in the stroller the whole time.  I thought Lily was going to want out, but I guess there were enough people and dogs around us for her to watch to keep her entertained.

Evie at Race for the Cure

Lily holding Evie at Race for the Cure

The last bit of big news is that Evie can sit up all on her own.  Well, she can't get to a sitting position by herself yet, but if we set her up she can keep her balance.  She is also trying to crawl.  She can get up on her hands and knows her legs are supposed to do something, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. 

Evie setting up like a big girl