Daddy's Girl

Lunchtime

Annah's Potty Party

     We have been struggling with potty training Annah for over a year now.  A few months ago, not long after Sylvia was born, Taryn told Annah that when she went pooey in the toilet, she would bake her a cake and we would have a party.  Today, she did it! So, she got to help make the cake, and we had a party for her!  

 

 Come here frosting!
    

Mmm! Chocolate is my favorite!
 

 

Candles and everything!
 

"Congratulations to you!"
 

Blowing them out...again...?
 

Daddy, help! The candles keep coming back on!  

Can I put my finger in it?
 

Good stuff!
 

Annah, we are proud of you!

Pool No More

Jeremy started a big project over the weekend--taking the pool down.  We had tried to find someone who might want to take it for free, and had two couples interested.  But, after starting to disassemble it, we're pretty sure no one would really want it.  So, it is coming down and going into the trash!  Jeremy got all of the lining out of the bottom, and some of the railing around the metal deck down.  Larry is going to try to come out tonight to help him disconnect the electrical.  It may be a long project, but hopefully by the end of the summer it will be out of here!  Then we will have a lot of work to make the space into yard, but it will be so nice and worth it!!

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    Sylvia is changing so quickly these days!  She is very playful, using her hands and feet a lot.  She loves to laugh at us and blow raspberries.  And, she loves to check out toys and puts everything she gets her hands on to a "chew test."  She is very, very sweet. 

Hugs from Daddy

Annah gets some hugs from Daddy

Giddyap!

Oh my goodness, this girl loves playing with her horsey!

  

Yesterday afternoon Taryn was on her way into church with the girls. She and Annah were having a discussion about the clouds and how pretty they were, and what characters they could see in them. Taryn asked Annah if they looked fluffy and soft, and Annah replied, "I wanna snugg' with one of them."

Annah, riding her horsey

 

vegging out with her thumb

Sleepy Girls

Sylvie in her Boppy

Naptime!

Naptime!

Riding in Daddy's Car

Ornery Annah

Sylvia went to the doctor for her 4-month well-baby visit on Wednesday. She weighed 14 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 26 inches long. She had 4 more vaccinations, but did only cried for a few seconds. She slept a lot the rest of the day and the following day.

 The thing that has probably bothered her the most this week is her sister... Annah has been quite the character this week. On Tuesday night, I was giving Sylvia a bath and noticed some strange little marks on her knees. Upon closer inspection and interrogation of her big sister, we discovered they were bite marks! The next day, I caught Annah biting Sylvia's knees again, and also her toes and wrist. We're not sure if she was trying to hurt her, or if she just thought it was a fun thing to do, but we're definitely trying to nip that problem in the bud right away! Yikes!

 One night this week, I was up late, and heard a thud upstairs. I thought it sounded like Annah might have fallen out of bed. After about a minute, Annah started sobbing, so I sprinted upstairs and found her and her bed gate on the floor. Apparently, it took her a bit to wake up enough to figure out what had happened. She likes to sleep smushed up against the mesh gate, and must have wedged herself between it and the bed far enough to scoot it out and herself onto the ground.

The next day, Annah was playing with her doll baby, whom she sometimes calls Sylvia. She was pretending to change her diaper, and didn't realize I was watching her as she pretended to feed her baby the way Mommy feeds Sylvia. She even burped her too.

 Yesterday morning, I was in the shower, and Annah came into the bathroom carrying the cell phone telling me it was ringing. Then I heard our home phone ring. After four rings, our answering machine will pick up, but this time it only rang twice. So, I called Annah into the bathroom. She came carrying the phone and said, "Mommy, it's Gram!" I was pretty sure it wasn't Gram, and got the phone from Annah and apologized to the [chuckling] nurse from her obstetrician's office who was returning her call. That was the first time Annah had answered the phone on her own, and I didn't expect her to!

Daddy hanging out with his girls

 We are relieved to know that Snickers has a new home with a very nice couple who live near our parents. Even I admit to missing him a tiny bit, but we are sure he'll get more attention and care with "Big Bob" and his wife. A big thank you to my parents for taking care of him for the past few weeks and finding him a good home!!

Toes and Toys

Sylvie likes to play with toys now!

Joseph Emerson

Welcome to the world, baby Joseph Emerson!!! 

 Jeremy's brother and his wife Marti had their third baby boy this morning!  He is 10 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 1/2 inches, so he must be a roly-poly little guy. But, we are used to roly-poly babies in our family! ;)  Congratulations Eric, Marti, and big brothers Wilson and Charlie! We look forward to meeting our new nephew soon! 

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 We had some scary storms this week, and spent more time in the basement than we'd like, but were lucky enough not to have any damage at our house. And, we're grateful for the absolutely beautiful weather we're having this weekend!

Tasty Toes

Sylvia has learned to suck her toes this week!  I thought maybe she was too chubby to get them to reach her mouth, but apparently not. She is such a happy baby, and is growing so quickly it's hard to believe.  We missed her 4 month appointment this past week, so we've rescheduled for this week.  We're anxious to see how much she's grown in the past 2 months!

I like my feet!

Mmm, toes!

Bouncy Baby

Sylvie loves playing with the toys on her bouncy seat!

Oh, it's so hot!!

Annah blew bubbles for her baby sister today.

And Sylvia loved it!!

Surprise, Sylvie!

Goodbyes

Monday, July 7 - We're back home now. Our vacation was so nice, but seemed so much shorter than we thought it would. It's always so nice to get away, but always so nice to come back home too.

Yesterday morning, we packed up all our stuff (which was all over Gram's and Krampa's house!), 

and we said goodbye to Snickers. 

   

He is staying there until he finds a new home. 

We finally decided he would be better taken care of with another family. 

So, we said goodbye to him and Gram and Krampa and made the trek back home...

Sunny Saturday

Saturday we hung out with Gram and Krampa in the morning. 

Gram & Krampa rigged up a little swing just for Annie

 Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Lopshire's house. They had no power since the storm the evening before, and it didn't look like it was going to be fixed anytime soon, so we decided to go in to Eric and Marti's house for the evening. 

 Jeremy dropped me and Sylvia off at the baby shower for Amy and Jalynn, which was very lovely. I was so honored to be invited, and had such a nice time.



Jeremy took Annah to see Uncle Walt and Aunt Joyce for a bit. Their power was out too, so Annah got to play outside for the afternoon.

 Then Jeremy picked me and Sylvie up and we all went in to Eric's and Marti's. Poor Marti was so gracious to agree to having us all over, especially after being (unsuccessfully) induced the day before! We all thought we would be spending that evening at the hospital oohing and aahing over the new baby, but he has decided he's not ready to meet us all yet!

2 ornery 2-year-olds

Annah dragged the giant Elmo all the way up the stairs.

Charles Walter

Wilson: "Wanna wrestle?!"

Apparently, summer heat causes reindeer to be angry!