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.

Tumble Bugs

We signed Emma up for Tumble Bugs through the local community center. While she missed the age cutoff by two weeks, we were able to get her into this class for two and three year olds. It is 30 minutes of semi-organized chaos, like all recreational sports at this age. Nana, Maggie and I took her to her first class and while she refused to stretch, she thoroughly enjoyed holding the teacher's hand from station to station and doing each "event". For the most part she listened better than I thought, but did run over to check on Maggie a couple times. This last week, Matt was able to join us and she loved having dad there to watch.

Maggie: One Month

It has been a month (okay, 10 days past a month) since our Maggie Claire came into our lives. What a month it has been!

Likes and Dislikes: Maggie loves to be held and rocked to sleep (what newborn doesn't!) and hates trying to fall asleep without assistance. So it is a struggle finding the balance between those sweet newborn cuddles, playing with a toddler and needing to do some household duties. For now, I'm soaking the cuddles up. She strongly dislikes bath time but calms down the moment we start washing her hair. She despises her crib and being in the carseat for too long. She likes walks, being swaddled and watching her mobile on her swing or projector light in her room.

Development: Maggie definitely went through a growth spurt at two weeks and I think went through another one between four and five weeks. She's changed so much in the last month and although I love the newborn feel, I really love seeing how much they change and develop the first year.

Eating: Oofta. Where do I start? The good: She eats every three hours during the day, every two hours from 4:00-9:00 and then one or two middle of the night feedings. The bad: nursing never took off for Maggie. As most know, nursing in the hospital started terribly and from there never got better. We worked with a lactation consultant and although her latch was okay, it would take her anywhere from 10-30 minutes to get latched and when she did she tore me up, threw up throughout it and was angry during and after feedings. Feedings were getting longer, harder and there were more tears from both of us. Finally, I made the gut wrenching, guilt ridden decision when she turned a month to switch to formula (with a combo of breast milk). We were both unhappy and it was effecting the entire family. I so badly wish that I could have nursed her and it would have been easier for us, but I made a decision that was best for us and our family. For a week I nursed her once or twice a day and did our final feeding last week. She and I are much, much happier (so are Emma and Matt). She's taken to the bottle just fine and is still on the same feeding "schedule".

Sleeping: Maggie absolutely hates her crib and laying flat; it has been that way since the hospital. The first two weeks we could get her to do one stretch in her crib, but haven't been able to since. So, she sleeps at night in her rock n' play sleeper (located in her room) and naps in that as well or her swing. We try every day to see if that will be the day she will like her crib, but nothing yet. Please tell me the transition won't be terrible? When did you switch your kids to the crib? Anyways, her naps have been anywhere to 30-60 minutes in length with usually a good long one in the morning and/or afternoon. She's been going to bed between 9:00-10:00 with a feeding in the night and then waking between 4:30-5:30 in the morning. The morning wake time has been rough because it then takes an hour to get her back to sleep and by that time, you might as well stay up. So hoping she starts pushing it back soon. It's just a phase, right? :) Like I mentioned above, she only falls asleep by being held or rocked. I don't know how some people say that they can lay their child down awake and they fall asleep on their own. That wasn't the case with Emma and definitely isn't so with Maggie.

Family transition/life update: Matt, Emma and I are doing well since Maggie joined our little family. Matt was able to take a whole week off after she was born to stay home with us and that was really nice   and helpful. It is Matt's down time with work, but you wouldn't know it by the events of this last month (new basketball coach). Luckily that is all over now and we can enjoy the rest of the summer that is going too quickly. Emma seriously loves her little sister and is just the sweetest with her. She gives her a million kisses a day, is concerned when she cries and is really helpful so far with throwing away diapers. While Emma's meltdowns have been more intense since Maggie's arrival, she's easily bribed with getting to hold her sister. She's still going to my mom's during the day for the 1:1 attention and to keep with her routine. I am doing good postpartum and have been able to do a lot more this time around. With Emma I was too nervous to leave the house, but this time around you know that life needs to still go on and so we run errands and get out as much as possible. I started working out this last week and taking time for myself and that his been super helpful. All in all, we are doing great adjusting and just loving on our little Maggie.

Emma: 22 Months

Sleeping: We transitioned Emma to her big girl bed the first week of April and it went really smoothly. Nearly two months in and she's still going down/waking up at the same time and waits for us to come get her. Naps have been the same as well, taking two to three hour naps in the afternoon. The only sleep "issues" are more meltdowns since Maggie has been born surrounding going to sleep. But the moment we read a book, say prayers and leave the room, the crying stops within a minute (if not sooner). Emma truly loves her bed and is often found back in it reading or pretend sleeping with her baby dolls.

Eating: Eating is still hit and miss with Emma. There are days she can't eat enough and days I wonder how she is functioning on such little food. I blame it on cutting her two year molars. Her favorite foods at the moment are gold fish, granola bars, fruit and steamed broccoli. She's also loving salads!

Development: The last couple of months, I was slightly and quietly concerned on Emma's talking or lack there of. While I know you can't compare children and every one of them develops differently, I couldn't help but compare. Everyone tells you that first borns (especially girls) talk so much and are further advance in their speech. That's not Emma. While she speaks and we can understand her, others have no idea what she is saying. She also wasn't (up until the last week or two) learning new words or repeating things. I am now assured that one day she will blow us away and just start talking up a storm and probably not stop :) If that time is next week, next month or months from now, that is okay.

The last several weeks have been quite the transition for Emma. Matt and I are convinced that temper tantrums are inherent for the first born when a new child comes into the world. Boy does Emma have them perfected. We went through a stretch where there were no meltdowns, and now they are back in full force. Emma has always been our sensitive little girl, so with attention having to be shared, she's even more sensitive. She knows when you aren't paying attention and is doing things to get it or will just come up to you and say "hi" to make sure you see her. We make sure to include her in everything and ask for her help when we can, praising her for being a big girl and so helpful.

But, with the low of temper tantrums comes the high of seeing her doing and trying new things. She loves to jump, throw things and run. Next week Emma starts Tumble Bugs!

Likes/Dislikes: Books! Seriously, this girl loves herself some books. You can often find her in a chair or in her bed "reading" books. Some of her favorites are I Love You Through and Through, Press Here, Giggle!, Bubble Guppies or her big sister books. Along with her books, she continues to be obsessed with Bubble Guppies. Thanks to the Holtz family, Emma is hooked on this tv show on NickJr. She has since received a few Bubble Guppie toys and absolutely loves them.

Ever since Maggie arrived, Emma has become that much more motherly with her baby dolls. She likes to feed them, burp them, walk around "ssshhhh" them to sleep and giving them kisses. Emma also loves to help burp her sister, hold her and touch her hand. She truly is the sweetest thing and is really good with Maggie. She loves watching her little sister, especially now that Maggie is becoming more alert. I can't wait to see what Emma thinks of her little sister in the months to come.

Emma can't stand having dirt or anything on her feet. She loves playing outside and running around barefoot, but the moment she steps foot in the door she plops down to inspect her feet and pick off the smallest particle of anything on her feet. Along with that, she could find the smallest crumb on the kitchen floor and pick it up to bring to you or throw away. So I have used this to my advantage and she helps me "clean". She is her mother's child for sure.