Elaina's 2nd Birthday Party

We had a great weekend celebrating Elaina's 2nd Birthday. This birthday's theme (ugh!): Caillou. He's the bald headed Canadian with the whiney voice. Nevertheless, Elaina LOVED the birthday festivities.

Here are a few pictures:

Special order Caillou cake. Thanks Albertsons!

Yes, they even have Caillou dishware.

Eating with Gabriel, Sophie, Amelia and Kendyl.

Other angle: Kendyl, Jen, Elaina and Gabriel.

She knew exactly what to do and was ready!

Got cake?

Opening up presents.

What's this?? A sandbox!

It's more fun to play in the tissue paper!

Carnival Fun

Back in March... yes, March, we took the girls to the Carnival at the local high school. The carnival was in the parking lot and the girls had fun.

Riding the Merry-go-Round

Cheese!

In the Fun House

Riding the Ferris Wheel

Amelia was scared, but you wouldn't know it in this picture.

Pancakes

This was taken a month or so ago... but Amelia was helping Daddy make pancakes.

The new Michelle Wie

Amelia got golf clubs for her birthday and this past weekend, Daddy took her to the driving range at the local golf course to break in her new set of clubs. :)

She looks the part!

She got some distance with her driver.

Hole in one!

Fourth of July

This past Fourth, we went to a neighbor's house for a party. It was very nice. Good food, good friends and good fireworks! Amelia and Elaina loved playing in the pool and slip and slide. And then in the evening they got to play with sparklers and watch Daddy set off smoke bombs.

Waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Throwing down a snap or pop it

Daddy lighting Amelia's sparkler

Whoa!

Mommy & Elaina having fun with the sparkler

She got really good with the sparklers and had fun with them.

Amelia's 4th Birthday

Here are some photos of Amelia's 4th birthday party. We had it at the Portland Children's Museum. It was go, go, go once we got there. A little party for an hour and a half in a room, followed by 2 1/2 hours of play in the hands-on museum. Thank you to everyone who made it!

Amelia picked out her cake

Make a wish!

Amelia got a set of golf clubs!

BFF Kendyl playing in the water.

Amelia and Kendyl (deja vu!)

Audry

Eli and Daddy (Dan)

Eric playing in the water.

Whitney and Mommy (Jen)

Lai (Eric's mom) and Elaina

Checking out

Veterinarian Amelia

Nathan, Amelia and Audry busy building a house.

Emily as a vet

Elaina and Nathan playing the drums

Long time, no post!

Wow it has been a long time since my last post of girls.

The munchkins, aka Amelia and Elaina, are growing, growing, growing. Amelia turned 4 last month. She had her 4 year check up and weighed 33 pounds and was 38.5" tall. She's just below the 50th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. She's on track to be about 5'3". I do so hope she gets a growth spurt. Next up, Elaina. She's turning two next month.

Here are a few random pictures...

Amelia wearing Mommy's hat (May 2012)

At the park (May 2012)

Elaina and Papa (May 2012)

Elaina and Amelia at cousin Audry's party (June 2012)

One of Amelia's presents for her 4th birthday

 I'll post some pictures of Amelia's birthday party....

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny successfully made it to our house for the 4th year in a row! He left two very filled Easter baskets for Elaina and Amelia this morning. We got up at 6.30a to see what he left because Daddy had to be at work at 7a and he didn't want to miss the excitement.

More to come... Grandma/Grandpa's basket and the easter egg hunt!

Elaina's First Sentence

About a week ago, Elaina put her first sentence together... and boy was it a good one. The sentence: "I go poo poo!" The emphasis is on the second "poo." The very next morning, Brad went to get her up and she had gone poop in her diaper. Her first words to Daddy, "I go poo poo!" And then today... she was at Becky's house and she said, "I go poo poo," stopped what she was doing and pooped a nugget in her diaper! She's so cute and smart. Oh yes, and the other day Amelia was going poop on the potty and she was hollering "poo poo!" She's my smart little kid.

Elaina's 18m Check Up

This past Friday I took Elaina in for her well baby check up. She's doing spectacular! Her head is 47cm (50%), weight 21lbs 11oz (25%) and height 31.5" (25%). She's matching her own growth curve. The nurse practitioner we saw isn't concerned about her lack of speech due to the fact that she understands everything. She says that she is into other things other than talking. She did have a good time watching Elaina move things around, get on the stool and jumping. She made some of the other nurses come in and watch Elaina jump. Too cute. Then Elaina had one shot. She didn't even cry! What a super girl. Next check up will be right around two years! Wahoo!

My pretty ballerinas

Here's video of my two pretty ballerinas from the other day.

Elaina's growing!

I love this age. Elaina is "talking" more and more. She's actually saying more and more stuff. The other day she started say "melmo" with a soft "l" sound. She had a plate that had Elmo on it and she was telling us that Elmo was on her plate. She's so excited to see Elmo and screams it. She loves saying "uh-oh". She's becoming her own little person it's great.

Here's video of Elaina and Amelia playing dress up together.

Nothing New

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to update this blog... it's been awhile since I have written anything new.

Amelia is plugging and chugging away. She's working really hard to get her Pillow Pet (which I want to let everyone know is hiding away in a closet) for going pee pee and poop in the toilet. She's really good at going #1, but #2 we're trying to get her to tell us instead of hiding away in a corner or in her new princess tent. So far she's doing really good at telling us when she's got to go poop. She's got one more time before she can get that pillow pet. We're excited. She's been waking up pretty dry. Every once in awhile she will have a little pee in the diaper. I would say she's about 90% potty trained. One day we will ask if she wants to wear her panties to bed. But I am not pushing it too hard. I am just glad she's going potty on a regular basis.

Elaina is growing up soooo fast. She's starting to say more and more words: blankie, popcorn, grandpa, etc. She loves to dance and do her sprout stretch at night. She's also getting more and more impossible at times. She's learning so much from her sister, good and bad. She definitely knows what she wants and she is stubborn as all get out. Elaina is a pretty good kid. I couldn't ask for anything more. She's also exhibiting more independence. We can now leave her for a few minutes to run to the bathroom or grab something upstairs. We know she won't get into too much mischief. But she does like to open all the kitchen cabinets. She's certainly a busy little girl.

As for both of them. They are getting along very well. Some days are better than others. I know that lately Amelia has been getting more assertive with Elaina. If she wants something, she'll push Elaina. But we're trying to correct that behavior. Other than that... nothing much is new.

Last night Grandma and Grandpa came over to deliver their Valentine's Day gifts... Amelia got a Cinderella plush doll and Elaina got Jasmine. They also got chocolate, candy and snacky foods. Amelia loves her Cinderella doll. It's so funny because Cinderella is making decisions for her. (As I speak, Elaina is pushing the doll stroller with a blanket over her head. Crazy kid).

Until next time....

Changes

No pictures today... but just an update on the girls.

Amelia:
Amelia is thriving and continues to grow. I can't believe how grown up she's become. She's mommy's little helper - wanting to help with dinner, cook, bake, take care of Elaina and more. She's very articulate and understands cause and effect very well (except when it comes to obeying mommy and daddy's requests). She pushes the buttons a lot, but that's to be expected.

Over the past few weeks she's crossed a big milestone... potty training. She has been dry waking up from naps for quite sometime, but just in the past few weeks she's been dry waking up from overnight. She's very proud of herself and it's going to be really soon when she's going to exclusively in big girl panties. Another milestone, we've ditched the toddler bed. Amelia is now sleeping in the big full size bed and loving it. We've had absolutely no trouble with this transition. It's funny because sometimes we'll check in on her and we'll find her sleeping cross ways on her pillows.

Amelia is currently in a 3T... for bottoms. She's grown about two inches in the past 2 months. And she's in a 4T on top. She's still petite in my opinion. She's all girl, too. Lot's of sparkle.

Elaina:
Elaina is up and walking around. She's constantly into everything. She loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse. For Christmas Santa got her a big stuffed Minnie and she hugs that thing like no tomorrow. We've noticed that Elaina has a temper. One evening as Faux Pa and I were moving the toys from one room to another, Elaina chased us down pointing and screaming in her "language." We only assume she was hollering at us to put the toys down and leave them where they were. It was a priceless moment.

Elaina is starting to talk more. She still baby babbles, but the words are coming. She's not like Amelia was, but we're getting more words: milk, thank you, welcome, up, bye bye, sock, shoe and more. Those are just word I can think of off the top of my head. She comprehends a lot. So we know she's not dumb. The other day I said, "Who wants to go to Disneyland and see Mickey and Minnie?" Elaina was on her way to say good bye to me, stopped and turned around to bring me her little Mickey figurine. Too cute!

Elaina's motorskills amaze me. She's "jumping" with two feet. She will kick her feet up when asked. We like to watch Sprout and when it's time for a Sprout stretch she does it too. She loves to dance. Anytime there's music on, she's twirling. And now we're teaching her how to bow!

Well, that's it for now. Til next time...

Christmas... a teaser

Here are some teaser photos from Christmas...

Elaina getting close with Santa


Amelia and Audry before unwrapping presents at Grandma and Grandpa's.


Elaina gets a new book!


Amelia gets a princess book/music pod.


Playing together with magnets!