I'm so happy!

Kylie keeps giving Allie tons of hugs and kisses. Earlier this week, while giving Allie a super big hug, she giggled and said "I'm so happy!". Awwww sister love :)

 I decided to rearrange the playroom a bit and put the couches in this area..mainly so I can sit somewhere other then the floor while they're playing (and for playgroups!), but it's also nice that Ryan can now keep his ping pong table set up in the other section!

Kylie's big girl room is almost complete! I'm still in the process of putting up her new drapes/valances, but her crib has been completely converted to a full sized bed...and she loves it!

Family time at the Zoo :)

Playing at the park. Kylie loves her spray bottle...almost as much as the swings! ;)

Tidbits from the past 2 weeks...

At a water park with our playgroup friends: (thank you Tara and Christina for the first 2 pics!)

Allie says It's hot! Let me out! ;)

Kylie's current favorite game: drumming! We turn the music on and she drums away for a long long time. Meanwhile, Allie crawls around, trying to eat the drumsticks and often plays the piano :)

Cooling off with some watermelon. Yum!

Allie is standing so well on her own! She's even attempted to take a step here and there, immediately falling of course, but it's a start! I wouldn't be surprised if she was walking by 11 months like Kylie was.

Kylie loves to pretend that she's sleeping. When you see this, you're supposed to say "shhhhh. Kylie's sleeping!", which then sends her into fits of giggles. Love it :)

Random pictures...

Our potted garden is growing!

Don't forget this moment.

Kylie cracks me up all the time now that she's talking so much! I really need to start updating this blog more often, just so that I can remember all the things she says. It's amazing how quickly you forget.

I remember Ryan's Aunt Michelle told me once that I should get the girls on video as often as possible. At the time, we only had Kylie. I thought, ya, we should. But didn't give it too much thought. With all the recent changes (Kylie in her big girl bed, being potty trained, Allie cruising, standing on her own and attempting to take steps, etc..) I'm suddenly getting this feeling of: slow down! slow down! ... and... where's the camera because a week from now, they'll have changed again and my memory can't keep every little piece of perfect that I see from them every day!

So I'm trying to record them more. I'll post more videos when I can. Our cameras record in HD, which takes ages to upload to YouTube! What I really need to do is transfer them to DVDs and store them somewhere safe so that we won't lose them!

Now here I am, trying so hard to remember all the cute things Kylie said, and funny things the girls did over the last couple weeks, since the last time I posted. I know there were so many times over the past week or so that I thought to myself "Don't forget this moment!" And yet by the time I got the girls out of the car, or settled down to call Ryan to tell him, I'd already forgotten.

So here's what I can remember... Daddy's Purse:
Ryan came in carrying his tool bag. Kylie said "Daddy's purse!" Ryan looked at her and seemed slightly irked by this comment "No Kylie, Daddy doesn't have a purse. It's my tool bag." But of course Kylie insisted it was a PURSE. So next time you see Ryan, feel free to ask him where his man-purse is ;)

Dadadadada:
Cutest conversation between the girls thus far ;)

Allie: "dadadadadadada".
Kylie: "No, Allie. Daddy's at work."
Kylie: "Mommy, where's Dada?"
I tell her he's at work and she runs back to Allie, who is still saying "dadadadadadada", and shouts "Uh oh!! No Allie. Daddy's at work! No Dada!" LOL

My favorite part of every day:
Is probably when the girls are interacting (positively! ;) Allie, always happy and smiling, loves her big sister and always follows her around and wants to do the same things. Kylie doesn't always love this. 

But there are moments where they sit there together and are doing nothing but giggling at each other. And you can see the love between them, and the bond that they share. And to me, it's like the whole world melts away and my two beautiful girls are suddenly the only thing around, like in a bubble. And for a moment, I watch them just giggling together and I think how absolutely lucky I am. How much I love them. How wonderful they are. How you really don't know how deeply you can love until you experience it in this way. And how Ryan and I must be the luckiest parents in the world :)

And then Kylie usually hits Alexandra, and the moment is over; back to reality ;) LOL. But still so very lucky :)

Perfect example of this:

Ok.. enough of the sap. I'm off to find my camera and upload some pictures to post soon! ;)

Kylie is potty trained!

This post is strictly in honor of my big girl!

I tried potty training her about a month ago and it was a big fat failure. So I decided to leave her potty seat out and always give her the option, but not push it. I figured she just wasn't ready yet and I'd give it time.

Well, 2 weeks ago, she decided she was done w/ diapers. She wanted her "big girl underwear" and she wanted to go potty on her own. She seriously potty trained herself!

She doesn't tell me that she needs to go, unless we're out. She just runs to the bathroom, goes potty, puts it in the toilet and flushes. Then she asks me for help to wash her hands (she can't reach to turn the water on). And that's that. My child doesn't need me to poop or pee anymore. ;)

She seriously just started doing this one day and hasn't had any accidents since. It's been a little over a week now that she's been in underwear and she is doing awesome! We still put her in pull-ups for naps and night, but I'm thinking we can ditch it for naptime soon since she wakes up dry anyway. In the mornings, her diaper is ready to explode it's so full... so I'm not sure I'm ready to give up night-time diapers just yet!

Hooray for my big girl!!!!!! I'm so proud of her!

Happy 4th of July!

Having a great time swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's! Both girls love the pool!

 

Grandpa asked Kylie to fill the pool up with more water. She took her job very seriously ;)

 

Golfing with Grandpa

Fireworks! Both girls were scared so I had to go inside with them... When we got home, Kylie said "I love fireworks!" Really?? The screaming and crying "all done" really could have fooled me ;)

Kylie singing some Usher... Oh oh oh oh!

Every time we get in the car, Kylie insists on listening to this Usher song! She loves it and she usually sings the entire song (unless I'm recording of course ;).... and wants to hear it at least 2xs!

I edited a couple videos and put them together, but of course I can't get it to upload for some reason. So in the meantime, here are the videos, unedited.