Phoebe has found her voice—mostly in the evenings. It is usually after dinner and a bath but just before bed she just jabbers and jabbers with a few squeals mixed in.

Phoebe turned 11 months this week. Still no teeth but getting very close on the walking. She is much more cautious than Sophia was. She can walk alongside me holding one hand. The farthest we have gone is from the couch to the fridge, which for a little girl learning to walk it is pretty far! I am so proud of her and just know she will be walking independently by her 1st birthday.

BJ enjoyed a night out with himself and picked up some books at Barnes and Noble and then watched Incredible Hulk. He didn’t seem too terribly impressed with it but enjoyed seeing a movie in the theater more than anything I think. The books purchased were: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (which I am reading and thoroughly enjoying right now) The Road by Cormack McCarthy (BJ currently reading),The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, and lastly Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. It seems like it has been MONTHS since I sat down to a good book that I read every night before bed. Actually, come to think of it the last book was winter last year—Empire by Orson Scott Card.

Sophia and I went to the same pool we have gone to the last few weeks with the same group of friends. We had such a good time but I added to my sunburn from the week before. Sunscreen WAS put on my back but my neck and shoulders still burned. Grrrr, I am tired of hurting and itching. We went Phoebe free this time (daddy worked from home and helped watch her). I think it was totally to Sophia’s benefit. She spent the first hour in the same floaty and unsure of herself. Without Phoebe I was able to commit all my attention to her and by the second hour I had her out of the floaty, not clinging to me, and running from the edge of the pool to about 5 feet from the edge. I was also able to finally take some pictures!

BJ and I have mentioned here and there before about Sophia being a little GIRL and others also being girls or BOYS and such. She has really taken to it this week and we took the opportunity to clearly define boys from girls. She can almost always accurately identify each gender now and seems to be very proud of herself.

I am a clean, organized person and have tried to instill some of this lifestyle into Sophia. Teaching her to pick up after herself, don’t touch things when your hands are dirty, clean up spills on the carpet and tile, etc. One morning just before she got into her seat for breakfast she seemed distracted and upset by something on the floor. I finally saw what she was looking at….it was a dime sized spot of marinera sauce from a couple days before. She was determined to clean it up so I had to wet down a rag and let her (by herself) wipe it until she was satisfied with the results. I thought it a little neurotic of her, but hey, look at her example! I also thought it good and sweet of her to do so and try and help.

Working for my mom one day this week I allowed Sophia to play in the packing peanuts. She has a HUGE container full of them so I plopped Sophia into them. She wiggled around and stomped for a bit until it tipped over and she hurt her head. Granny had the good idea of getting her a smaller box to sit in and fill it up. We did so but while transferring some peanuts we realized what all her stomping around in the big bucket did. It was slowly shredding the peanuts into a fine pulp. So instead of big ones that were easy to pick up and clean I had fine little bits everywhere that were sticking to everything! I took a picture of some of the mess with my camera phone. It was exhausting to pick up and only vacuuming in the end really did the trick.

Sanctuary! Phoebe is consistently sleeping through the night! We had a couple nights where Sophia wandered in and that was about it.

We have tried to crack down on potty training and decided to use M&M’s as enticement. The first day I sat her on the potty and explained the reward system to her. She went tinkle and was given 2 treats. The next day she sat on the potty and wasn’t doing anything but asked for a treat. I was surprised she even remembered, but unfortunately she did not earn any that time but was not upset when she didn’t get a treat since she understands the terms.

Saturday we went to the Dallas Zoo and had a blast. We went as soon as they opened at 9am so we were able to leave by 12:30 when it started to get really hot. We rented a double stroller from there and hoped that with them sitting side by side they wouldn’t fight too much. It worked perfectly with only minimal fighting. (BJ, this makes me feel even stronger about wanting to buy a doubler stroller or a sit and stand!) Sophia got to ride a pony and pet a guinea pig and rabbit. Sophia got to bring home a large blue and white snake we have named “Hissy Fit” and a giraffe shaped sports bottle. Phoebe got a zoo keepers shirt with lots of animals on it. We can’t wait to go back!

Tags: Dallas Zoo,Phoebe,potty training,Sophia,Weekly Family Update,weekly update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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Sooooo anyone who know me well knows I have a “sailor’s mouth” problem. I occasionally have it around my kids and have been working on not saying bad things around them, and then I can eventually work my way to not saying bad words at all. THAT will be a glorious day! Anyway, I am at my worst in the car because I HATE traffic and I think all other drivers are stupid but myself. Typical, right? On one particularly hard driving day something happened that caused me to say “shit” five times in a row. Sophia overheard me and and immediately started saying “shit”. I didn’t want to make a huge deal of it to bring a lot more attention to this new word of hers so I simply told her not to say it and went on with my exasperated attempt at driving. Days passed and no problems. This week we had return of ’shit’. I was driving to my mom’s house for work and we went over a bump in the road. A soft voice comes from the back–”Shit.” I redirect her and say, “Oh, you mean shoot. Shoot is what you are trying to say.” She pauses for a bit then says “shoot.” A few minutes later and another “shit” so another redirection back to “shoot.” At least for the rest of the car ride we managed “shoots” instead of “shits”. After this day we have had no other problems but I don’t put it past Sophia to have that little word still locked away somewhere in her tiny head to pull out a anytime. My ears are on alert. (BJ: and your mouth is on notice :p )

Phoebe has taken to saying “dada” completely. She has also learned to say “hi”. She says “hi dada” real soft one day when BJ got home from work. I am both proud and jealous.

Sophia enjoys playing with wooden clothes pins. She puts one in her mouth and uses her teeth the open and close it. I get a surprise on my bottom while doing the dishes when Sophia decides to pinch me with one using this wonderful mouth technique. She was so excited by my reaction she kept trying to “attack me”.

The same friend I visited last week at the airport called me in tears saying flights had been rearranged due to bad weather. She would miss her connecting flight at DFW. Her option at the time would be to spend the night at the airport. Hell would have to freeze over before her parents and I would let that happen so I picked her up at the airport Monday night. I did not get home until almost midnight and we were both up the next morning by 5:45am. I got her to the airport only for her to miss the 7:20am she was scheduled to be on, but she got bumped to a 9 something flight and eventually made it home! We were both exhausted but glad to see each other again and I was happy to help.

All I have to say with regards to the below photo is “Thanks daddy for leaving the permanent marker out where Sophia could reach and do this to herself.” The one small blessing is she ONLY colored herself–carpet and couches were spared.

I enjoyed another morning at the wonderful Sunset Pointe pool with some friends of mine. I very regrettably did not have sunscreen put on my back (this was the morning after just having had an Enrichment Night discussing Summer safety where sunburns, skin cancer, and the use of sunscreen were discussed). I suffer a terrible sunburn because of my stupidity and by the weekend I am peeling horribly and itching even worse. Phoebe had such a wonderful time and really loves the water. Sophia was once again being a water chicken and had to be in a floaty with my hand on the floaty at all times. Slipping under the water for a few seconds (about 2 weeks ago) has really affected her more than I could have ever imagined.

Sophia and Phoebe are playing so wonderfully together. They are getting along better and better each week it seems. Although, Phoebe (unknowingly) can really freak Sophia out. If Sophia is doing something or walking somewhere, Phoebe will inevitably follow. When Sophia sees her coming at her at a fast crawl she screams out in a terrified or anxious voice. There was one day in particular Sophia was leaving her room and coming down the hallway. I was standing near the hall closet watching over her. Phoebe came around the corner, pretty quickly, to get to Sophia’s room. It was so unexpected for poor little Sophia she gave the most high pitched, intense, frightened scream I have ever heard come out of her mouth. She even jumped! I had to reassure her and then we were all on our way to play. I can’t wait until Phoebe is steadily walking and then eventually running. Then they can REALLY chase each other!

Speaking of Phoebe walking…..she is still being pretty lazy and crawls everywhere. I have really begun to work with her on strengthening her legs and getting used to walking. I will walk behind her and hold her hands and help her walk. Sophia sees me do this and has tried to ‘help’ Phoebe do this as well. However, Sophia’s arms, obviously not being as long as mine, ends up right behind her sister with no room to spare so their feet just get tangled up with each others and I know it can only end badly. I have taught Sophia to guide her by holding her hands in the front. We had a very sweet moment on Sunday of her guiding her little sister around the living room for quite some time.

To also help Phoebe walk she uses the baby stroller as a stabilizer and toddles around the house with the babydoll in the seat. It is so cute too, if the babydoll falls out for whatever reason she stops and puts the babydoll back in then goes on her way.

Sophia has really taken to parenting BJ and I. If we are reprimanding her for something or yelling at her she “shushs” or “shhhhhs”. One day this week I was (very calmly) scolding her for something she did to Phoebe. She gets a scowl on her face, points her finger at me, and says in a low growl “TIME OUT!” I respond to her, with a bit of a giggle, “No, I don’t get time out. I am your mama. Only YOU get time out.”

BJ and I attend the temple again this Saturday to watch the Grumbles Family be sealed. BJ takes the family photos afterward and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. However, now it has him clamoring on how he can get more camera equipment to do more photos or portraits. He really has taken this camera and photography thing and run with it.

Happy Father’s Day to BJ! He enjoyed sleeping in, changing no poopy diapers (totally not on purpose though) and a long nap after church. I made baked parmesan chicken for dinner (which was fabulous and so delicious, will give the very simple recipe to anyone who wants it). It was a new recipe from a cookbook I had received for my birthday. We enjoyed trying out the new meal and were so delighted it turned out so well. We then ended the night with a homemade chocolate cake. Also a first time recipe from the Hershey’s website. The cake was so chocolatey and fudgy we almost couldn’t finish the slices we had. We are going to end up giving away half the cake to my parents because it is too much and too rich for us. Oh so sad, right? BJ and I eat too well and it shows.

Tags: Heather,Phoebe,Sophia,Weekly Family Update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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Monday morning I drive out to DFW Airport, with Phoebe in tow, to meet a friend from Phoenix who has a layover on her way to South Carolina. We enjoyed about an hour long visit over breakfast at the Hyatt. I do, however, have to add this extra bit to my story. I was not able to park on any of the ground levels because they were for one hour parking only, otherwise subject to tow. I was too nervous to park there knowing I would be longer than an hour and could not risk having my car towed. So I end up on the 4th level, get a tired Phoebe strapped into the (big) stroller, and start looking around for a garage elevator only to discover they don’t have any!! Through the kindness of strangers I was able to make it down the stairs safely in time to meet my friend. We had to walk back through the garage and more stairs to get over to the Hyatt. We parted ways at the restaurant and so I was left by myself, no kind strangers in sight, to wrestle the stroller up several flights of stairs to get back to the car. Poor Phoebe was jostled around so badly (right after a bottle too) I was sure she was going to throw up. She didn’t, thank goodness, and a tired, sweating Heather made it back to the car.

Tuesday, we had a very fun play group at the Sunset Pointe housing development pool. They have a sprinkler area for the kids and the pools are sloping at the entrance (like a wave pool) which was real different and fun. Sophia was very excited at first and got right into the pool. Two slips under the water later and she was no longer happy about the water. She was shaking so bad I had to take her out and have her sit in a chair, bundled up for her to calm down and warm up. I then put her in her floaty suite. The shaking stopped, but she remained unsure for most of the rest of our visit and clung to me. It wasn’t until the last 30 minutes she found her independence again and hated to leave. We really can’t wait to go back.

Getting ready for a nap one afternoon I take Sophia’s ponytail out and she tells me “Good job mama.” It’s nice to have encouragement!

Sophia’s manners are getting even better. She says “excuse me” if she toots or burps, but she also says it if anyone else does or if she bumps into something. She is becoming quite the polite little girl.

We had some friends over to play one morning and they brought with them a few rubber butterflies. Sophia was intrigued with them and really enjoyed playing with them. Claire was willing to leave a couple of them since she had several more at home. I thought Sophia would like that, but I was certainly shocked by her reaction. When they were getting ready to leave she was frantic about the idea they might leave them. She ran and grabbed them and held her hands out yelling (very upset) some toddler mumbo jumbo I could not understand other than she was disturbed. She was only okay once they took them back.

Sophia has taken to being afraid of the dark and “monsters”. We have battled off and on for weeks now with her going to bed or having a night light/not having one and other misc. trials. This week she kept asking to have her light on and then would get up and flip the switch herself. I have caught her light on in the middle of the night even when we started with it off. We gave up and have allowed her bedside light to stay on with a scarf thrown over it to dim it just a bit more. It’s just enough for her to be comfortable. Hope this stage doesn’t last too long. (BJ’s note: This all started about a month ago with the imaginative hinting of a certain cousin that there were snakes and monsters in the room and the light should be turned on to scare them away)

Only one mention about Phoebe this week. She impressed me greatly during the above mentioned play date. We were doing clean up and she saw us putting toys into a basket. She joined in and started picking up toys around her and putting them in as well, with no prompting from me. Good job Phoebe!!!

My good friend Meganne received her endowments on Saturday so BJ and I joined in for the 2pm session. We ended up being the “witness couple” which was our first time to do so, but it seemed particularly special since it was Meganne’s first session. BJ and I enjoyed dinner at Rafains afterward and the latest Indiana Jones movie to celebrate our 6 year anniversary.

Tags: Heather,Phoebe,photo highlight,Sophia,Weekly Family Update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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This happened on Sunday the 25th, but is still worth mentioning. We went to church with BJ’s parents because Michael was being ordained an Elder. I enjoyed a break from my normal Primary duties and actually got to attend Sunday School and Relief Society. It was nice for a change and I barely had to take care of Phoebe too! Also nice for a change. She fell asleep in Aunt Catey’s arms during the 3rd hour she was so exhausted. I put the girls in their matching daisy dresses and they could not have been more adorable. We got so many compliments and oh’s and ah’s.

On Memorial Day we had a BBQ at the Atchley’s house. I wasn’t there for most of it because I was out enjoying my birthday gift. An afternoon out shopping without the kids! I bought a lot of new clothes and a new pair of shoes. I was gone for 5 hours doing it and I loved every minute of it! Bekah and her hubby were in town for a few days and we enjoyed a visit with them and great food.

Also for my birthday I had a night out with 2 girlfriends of mine. We ate dinner at TGI Friday’s and saw “Baby Mama” with Amy Pohler and Tina Fey; two actresses I really like. On Sunday after church we went to the duck pond for a walk and then had chocolate cake when we got home. BJ made it all by himself which I am so proud of him for. Granted it was uneven and not frosted all the way around, and frosted when the cake was still warm so it took on a more fudgy consistency than fluffy. BUT it was delicious and I thank him for my sweet birthday treat.

Most of this post is going to be about Sophia because let’s face it, Phoebe is only 10 months and not really doing a whole lot right now. But here is a little of what is going on with our little sunshine:

She waves her hand. She kind of skipped past what babies normally do with the backwards waving and did it right the first time.

STILL no teeth! Argh! This child would be eating so much more right now if she just had some.

Babbling a lot more too. Has started to say dadadada and says mamama with more frequency.

Has slept through the night 2 nights! Yay!!!!

Sophia:

I was attempting to have a shower and managed to be left alone during most of it until the very end. Sophia walks into the bathroom, gets up on the stool and remains quiet. I am almost done so I don’t bother looking at what she is doing since I will find out soon enough. So, what WAS she doing? Unrolling the floss from the container. I was able to stop her in time to salvage just a little. Phoebe came crawling in just in time to grab the wad of it on the floor and start playing with it.

She discovered what Eskimo kisses were and thinks they are hilarious.

She has taken to biting people and Phoebe, her cousin Linus, and Daddy are her latest victims. She doesn’t do it often but it sure hurts when she does!

Speaking of cousin Linus…..this is too funny not to mention. My sister was in town over a week ago and one day they were at my house doing water play in the backyard. While Jennifer was changing Linus into his underwear and PJ’s Sophia stared at his penis trying to figure out what the heck she was looking at. She was so quiet and so still, and when he turned around to face the other way and sit down she came walking around, bent over and stared some more. We are all giggling of course and Jennifer tells Linus to tell Sophia what it is. He promptly does so and Sophia goes over to poke it.

She really likes the Backyardigan’s series and is memorizing more and more lines from the show. This week we catch her several times taking a cup or funnel, putting it on her hand and saying (in a sing songy voice) “Pirate, pirate, arrrr!”

One night in the bath she lays on her side, bends her knees slightly with her legs together and tells me she is a “mermaid.” I tell her she is a very beautiful mermaid.

BJ taught her to do this and I must say it is quite impressive but a dangerous thing since she is already so darn cute. Whenever someone tells her she has beautiful, pretty (whatever) eyes, she looks up at you and will bat her eyelashes with a slight grin.

I bought a new disk of lip salve and had it on my night table. Sophia has a tendency to get into it but she REALLY did it this time. We were both scrambling to get ready for church when BJ comes out of the bathroom to find Sophia’s face and hands and clothes covered in a light pink substance. He grabs her and brings her out to me freaked out asking me what it is and why wasn’t I watching her. It takes me 5 seconds to realize what she was covered in and then I took in a huge breath and yelled “oh no!” The salve was a total loss and she gets stripped down and thrown into the bath; where she gets greasy vasaline on the handle and sides of the bath, and of course she is pretty greasy herself. It took a few days for the grease to come off the bathtub. Oh, and some of our carpet got treated with it too. However, even with all the morning drama we still made it to church on time.

More messes for Sophia this week. I was on a phone call and let her out back to play. She got out a huge bubble container we have for blowing bubbles. I didn’t think she knew how to open it until I looked out and saw her playing with the bubble wand. I thought, “well I am not totally happy about this but I will keep an eye on her and she is really only making a little mess.” Oh what damage can be done in a minute or two. She had dumped it on its side and therefore half its contents, was sitting in it and trying to blow bubbles. I had also been feeding feeding Phoebe in her seat and she was done and getting impatient, ready to get down. I get off the phone, rush to Sophia and put the cap back on the bottle. I get the hose going, strip her naked and start spraying her and the patio off. She thinks I am playing with her and starts screaming and squealing and running around the yard naked. She ends up slipping in the watery, soapy mess scraping her bottom in the process. I plop a now crying, injured, cold, soapy, wet Sophia on a towel I had out there already (thank goodness) and finish the patio which seemed like it would never get clean. Phoebe, in the meantime has been in the kitchen crying and yelling at me. I now finish Sophia off and bring her in still whimpering, get a crying Phoebe down, got Sophia dressed, smelled a Phoebe poopy so I go to change her. While changing Phoebe and getting things ready for Sophia’s nap she decides to get her foot stuck in the ball drop of a stand up toy we have. She has done this MANY times but this time her foot would just NOT come out. I had to go get a screwdriver and take apart the toy. This was all within one hour. Exhausted, I get Sophia and Phoebe in bed and plop my butt in bed and get a much needed nap.

Tags: birthday,movie,Phoebe,Sophia,Weekly Family Update,weekly update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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I take a lot of pictures. I take lots of terrible pictures and then delete them. Sometimes my constant photo taking leads to great shots. Taking digital pictures is great that way. I probably need to get rid of even more pictures but my girls are so beautiful and my webhost space so large that I keep a lot more than I probably should.

This one would normally get tossed, except it’s hilarious. My Nikon D40 has a interesting feature where it flashes twice. It’s called i-TTL. The first flash is a test exposure to make sure the flash isn’t too strong or too weak when it takes the actual shot. When taking photos indoors, I will set the iso to 800 or so and use shutter priority mode so the ambient light has a chance to fill in a bit. I’ll usually flatten the colors since our yellow/burnt yellow walls look nuts when saturated. I can’t bounce flash yet since I need an external flash first.

The only reason I mention all this geek speak is to say that at 1/40 shutter speed, the time between the evaluative exposure and the actual picture is long enough that when taken close, phoebe will reflexively blink. This resulted in 3 or 4 photos in a row where she was just starting to blink. Here’s the only one that was in focus. This photo is so close that you can see the shadow from the lens heh.

Tags: funny,Phoebe,photo highlight
Categories: BJ, Photo Highlights
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Huh? Where is it? I keep asking Heather and the only thing she says is, “I know, I know, but I’ve been so busy.”

Good I say, that means there’s a lot to catch everyone up on.

Here’s a picture to help pass the time.

Tags: Heather,lazy,Phoebe,photo highlight,Weekly Family Update
Categories: BJ, BJ's Life, Photo Highlights, Weekly Family Update
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Sophia now says “I love you too” instead of “I love you.”

She is also beginning to show possession. She says “my” or “mine” before all sorts of stuff: my daddy’s shoes, my mommy’s cup, my shirt, etc.

Our struggle over the last 2 months (it seems) has been Sophia fighting taking naps and coming to our bed in the middle of the night. One of our methods came back to bite me the other day. In an attempt to get some rest myself, and get Sophia down, we laid in my bed for a nap. Anytime I moved, even a little, she pointed her finger at me and said in a firm voice “Lay down! Night time! Sh!”

I weaned Phoebe a few weeks ago and she has been packing on the weight very quickly being on formula. She has finally graduated to size 3 diapers this week. I thought it worth mentioning just because she is 9 months old and only now going up in size.

Sophia and I had play group again this week. We went to a fabulous duck pond with an ever better bike trail. The kiddos brought their bikes or scooters and we enjoyed riding around the trail and feeding the ducks. It was so great I went back with BJ on Saturday and he got some wonderful photos. Click on the duck pond photo here and it will take you to all the rest.

Sophia now responds to us calling her name by saying “what?” or “yeah?” She used to simply look at us with her sweet face but now she has more sass. It seems each week she is talking more and more like us. It makes it so much easier to communicate and get her what she needs.

Phoebe can stand alone for several seconds but then realizes she has no support and lets herself gently down by bending at the knees. I know if she really tried and had more confidence she could be taking steps by now. All in her own due time though.

Phoebe has also become quite the chatterbox. Most days my house is filled with the sound of her babbling all sorts of sounds. It is fun to hear and I babble right back at her.

The memories of me nursing Phoebe must not be too far off from Sophia’s mind. The other night we were snuggling on the couch with her head on my stomach. She leans her head to my chest and starts opening and closing her mouth real wide as if pretending to be a fish. But she was so specific about the area and was nuzzling me. When I finally figured it out I looked down at her and asked “Sophia, are you nursing?” She just looks at me with a big smile. Silly girl.

The big event of the week was having our front yard re-landscaped. Ever since we moved into this house 4 years ago I have hated the front yard. The planter boxes and bushes were not taken care of and BJ and I did not have the energy or desire to do it ourselves. With it being out front and not in our faces every moment of every day we have let it go this long. This was finally the year to no longer have one of the trashy looking yards on the street. We hired my mom’s lawn guy and he did a beautiful job in just 2 days. I still can’t get over the difference and love being in my front yard now! See the before and after pictures below.

We ended the week with Stake Conference. Three stakes were asked to meet at the Coliseum at UNT and it was announced that a new stake was being formed. BJ and I are now apart of the new stake and are excited about the change. We were blessed to hear from 2 members of the Seventy. The weather was so lovely that day and we were all in a good mood we went to the neighborhood park. Phoebe had her first time in a toddler swing. I really couldn’t say what she thought of it, I think she was more bothered by the sun being in her face.

Tags: Heather,Phoebe,Sophia,Weekly Family Update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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In the beginning of the week we were very proactive about Sophia going on the potty. Great success—3 times she went tinkle! The rest of the week not so good. We haven’t even offered. It’s hard to remember to take time to do it and do it so often. Any parents with potty trained kids have stories to offer?

Sophia began “sneaking”. She curls her shoulders over, bends her knees, and shuffles her feet forward inch by inch. She developed this trying to get into the room where I put Phoebe down when I am rocking the baby and trying to get her to sleep. I always kick her out to give Phoebe and I peace and quiet. Maybe she figured if she were more quiet about it she would be allowed in. Not a chance!

Our digital camera has been slowly dying over the last few months and was getting worse. So BJ decided to buy me an early birthday gift and got us a great new camera. We have enjoyed playing around with it and taking lots of new pictures—as I am sure most of you can see from all the other posts BJ has done this week.

Phoebe is teething so we have been enduring tons of drooling, crying, and crazy mucus poopy diapers which has led to horrible diaper rash. She has no teeth to show yet for all this drama. They better come in soon!

The big event of the week was Sophia’s birthday party! She turned 2 years old and we can hardly believe she has been in our lives that long already! We did a chocolate fountain this year with pretzels, marshmallows, pineapple, and strawberries. I did cupcakes as well and it was all so delicious! I did a Disney Princess theme with a dozen balloons and a big princess balloon for Sophia. Everything looked great and Sophia was very excited about the changes in her environment. Last year she made out like a bandit and this years loot was good too:

• Dora the Explorer big wheels tricycle
• enclosed trampoline
• plastic horseshoe and croquet set for the backyard
• a beautiful new quilt made by Granny and her friend Millie
• 2 princess sleeper gowns
• princess bathing suit with matching sunglasses
• a princess beach towel with crown hoody
• fun velcro activity folders for church made by Granny
• princess placemat (so far it is helping to contain the mess at the dinner table)
• play doe and color wonder markers with pad
• a Dyson toy vacuum

The day of the party the rest of the family got to see what I have known since Phoebe was active—she is Sophia’s shadow and has to follow her everywhere and be into what her sister is doing. They thought it was quite funny but on a daily basis and with the fighting and screaming that ensues from the little shadow it loses its humor.

I am the baby of the family and at least have the perspective of being the one who sees her older sister and want to do what she is doing. I told my older sister, Tiffany, who is only 18 months older than me (and we fought horribly as young kids) that when she has 2 kids she will understand the sibling relationship even better.

Tags: Heather,Phoebe,Sophia,Weekly Family Update
Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
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Sophia and Phoebe played in the park. There are 25 new pictures, here are the highlights.

Tags: activity,park,Phoebe,photo highlight,Sophia
Categories: BJ, Phoebe, Photo Highlights, Sophia
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I take Phoebe to the doctor for a swollen, red eyelid. It is a stye, nothing to worry about. However, after almost 2 hours at the pediatricians office I thought Sophia might enjoy some playtime. I have not been to a McDonalds in a very long time, but they have a new one near our house that has a great play area I thought she could burn some energy in. I could not have been more wrong. She ate wonderfully for lunch but I had to go up and rescue her twice in the play tubes. The first I climbed up and down (with Sophia) the narrow stairs with other children clambering around me to do the same. The second, I went up the same horrible stairs but went down the insanely long spiral slide (with Sophia freaking out). It was a total disaster and I remembered why I never go to McDonalds.

We had a surprise morning visit from a friend of Sophia’s she hasn’t had over in awhile. I had a good time visiting with her mama while she spent half the time wanting to lay on the couch with her blankets and cup. The other half of the time was spent trying to treat this other girl the way she would Phoebe by randomly hugging her at times and trying to pick her up–or taking toys away from her.

An amazing new discovery for Phoebe this week: the feeling of grass on her feet. She absolutely hated it and freaked out anytime I would let it touch her. This summer in the backyard might be interesting……

This is too funny not to tell. I have told BJ I think he is a milk snob because he only likes Braums milk and thinks all others are disgusting. He grew up in Oklahoma where Braums is based so I think for most of his life that is the only milk he has known anyway. He woke up one morning to tell me he had a nightmare. I thought maybe it was about me cheating on him, someone in the family dying, or the kids being kidnapped. Oh no! His nightmare was that he walked in to Braums to buy our dairy groceries and they no longer sold milk. His reaction was basically equal to that of the newly minted Darth Vader from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith when he reaches his arms to the sky and yells NOOOOO!

Phoebe turns 9 months old! She sure doesn’t look like it and most people don’t believe me when I tell them how old she is.

New foods for Phoebe this week: Ramen noodles (a big hit!), Gerber ‘lil crunchies (toddler version of cheese puffs), red vines (see picture, she looks like a vampire after a fresh meal) and freeze dried apple bits. So far she has not tried something she hasn’t liked.

I went and bought flowers for the pots we have near our front door. I had Sophia help me plant them which consisted mostly of her taking dirt out of the bag and throwing it on the concrete. I think she just enjoyed the time outside more than anything.

The girls and I had a play group this week which consisted of a tour of the local fire station and then lunch at the park. She was amazed at the truck and cried whenever she wasn’t sitting in it. She was not afraid of the fireman in his full gear and I was very proud of her for that. Although, she always has been a brave little girl and very adventurous.

I develop another cold this week. With the way things have been going for the last year and half I am right on time to be sick again. It has been about 2 months since my last cold. I had the CT review appointment with my ENT. He basically repeated what the radiologist told me but now we have a plan of care. While there he sprayed some horrible medicine deep into my sinuses to open them f