Emma: Two

Eating: Emma's favorite meal of the day is still breakfast. The girl can inhale her breakfast food and even asks for seconds and thirds. She's also quite the grazer throughout the day - loves to snack. If she had it her way, she would have a snack cup filled at all times. She is also obsessed with cookies and asks for one at least twenty times a day. Lunch and dinner she kind of picks around, but does a pretty decent job. Is not a fan of sandwiches. Usually have to bribe her to take a few bites.

Sleeping: Still taking one nap that is usually two to three hours in length. Going to bed around 7:30 and either falls right to sleep or takes 45 minutes to fall asleep. Either way, she is so good with bedtime and usually says "okay" when we tell her it is time for bed. She is stalling though and wanting lots of books read, prayers, multiple drinks of water and lots of kisses. Good thing she is so cute that we usually don't mind :)

Development: At Emma's two year check up, she weighed in at 25 pounds 6 ounces (33rd percentile) and 35.5 inches (93rd percentile) in length. Since my last post when I thought Emma wasn't learning more in the talking department, she has taken off big time. Learning new words daily and repeating more after everyone. I can't believe I was ever concerned on that, how silly.

She's becoming more coordinated and likes to walk up and down stairs like an adult and can kind of throw a ball/catch it. She's also good at putting together puzzles. Now if only we could get her to learn numbers (other than one and two), colors and her name.

Likes/Dislikes: Her dislikes are pretty typical for her age: when she doesn't get what she wants. Ha. She has perfected the fake cry and whining. If we cave in, she usually does this evil-ish laugh that is kind of her way of saying "Haha, you suckers!".

Emma LOVES playing kitchen, like seriously does it all day long. She pretends makes food for everyone and acts like she washes her hands/dishes. She's also still loving on her baby dolls and being very motherly. She feeds them, burps them and walks around the house "ssshhhing" them to sleep. It's absolutely adorable.

Emma's {Almost} Two Year Pictures

We had one of Alaina's good friends take Emma's two year pictures. Lauren is just starting out and going to school for photography/design and wanted to build her portfolio. While I warned her that nothing will be posed because we have a busy girl on our hands, she was all game and captured Emma's personality perfectly: silly and sweet.

4th of July

Swimming pool. Ice cream. Grilling. Can't get much more patriotic than that, right?

Maggie: Two Months

Two months young and starting to show us glimpses into her personality!

Likes and Dislikes: Maggie is loving baths now that she is big enough to sit in the mesh bath seat. Also likes laying on her play mat, listening to daddy read books to her and Emma and watching the projector on her ceiling at night. For the most part, she doesn't mind so far the constant kisses from her big sister or being Emma's patient so she can use her doctor kit ;) She's not liking when she needs to poop and lets us know it or when she has to go to bed for the night.

Development: Our serious, chill girl finally gave us a smile, and boy is it sweet. Though they are few and far between, we soak them up whenever we can. Maggie always looks so serious and chilled out, it's like she is just sitting back watching life happen and soaking it in. That, or she's looking at her sister and parents thinking "You guys are nuts"! As far as a health development, Maggie was finally diagnosed with reflux. She was spitting up large amounts at least 15-20 times a day and though she seemed okay for the most part, there were times it really seemed to bother her. She's now on Zantac twice a day and seems to be doing good so far. She's also 25 inches in length (100th percentile) and 14 pounds and 4.5 ounces (95th percentile). But put her weight and height together for her age, Dr. Patten said she is actually in the 45th percentile.

Eating: She is drinking four ounces of formula every three to four hours with her last feeding of the day around 7:30 p.m. before bedtime. After trying regular formula, we switched to gentle for her tummy and it has been night and day difference.

Sleeping: Maggie is still sleeping in a rock n' play in her room. She takes four naps during the day with a catnap at some point and another in the evening and then two longer naps typically in the morning and afternoon. She's going to bed between 8:00-9:00 p.m. and waking up between 11:30-1:30 and again between 3:30-5:00 a.m. Her night sleep stretches are usually three to four hours, but this week she gave us TWO nights in a row with a six hour stretch and only one night feeding. It was glorious and I can't wait for another night like that!

Family transition/life update: We are doing well as a family of four and it seems like we are slowly getting into a groove. This groove will really start/adjust as I start back to work in a couple of weeks. We made the hard decision to switch daycares from Victoria's to a new in-home starting in August. We LOVED Victoria and her family and I cried many times about switching, but we wanted somewhere with kids the girls age and a little closer to home. Michele has an early childhood development degree and has spent the last several years working at a daycare center. Though we will especially miss the Smith family, we are looking forward to Emma (and Maggie) having others their age and going through similar things development wise.