A Good Night's Sleep...

(Peyton in her crib~look at those cheeks!)

I finally moved Peyton up to her own room. It took me a little longer with Peyton than it did with Sophia, probably because I'm not working this time around and because Peyton is such a snuggle bug! But she seems to be sleeping more soundly and sleeping longer than she did when she was in our room. She also no longer requires a bottle at night, so she sleeps through the night most of the time resulting in a good nights rest for me! It only took 6 months, lol.

Peyton has also become so active and expressive! She sits up completely by herself and will roll from one side of the room to the other. She also loves to hear her own voice and squeals constantly! Every once in a while I'll hear a sucking sound, that would be Peyton sucking on her tongue, lol. I've also discovered a faint white line on the bottom right side of her mouth where her first tooth should be popping up fairly soon. Because of the pressure from this tooth, she has been drooling like crazy and chewing on everything in sight, whether that be a toy, her binky or even Hurley, lol.

As she has been growing, her appetite has also. She still only drinks 6 oz. with every bottle feeding, however, at night will eat a full jar of bananas or peas mixed with a full bowl of rice cereal. If she sees me making it, she starts to grunt and about jumps out of her bumbo! She also tries to help me feed her if I'm not putting it in her mouth fast enough. She has quite the appetite (just like her older sister)! I'm curios to see how much she weighs these days.

She is still such a happy, content baby and loves to smile and laugh! She is very ticklish and has this precious giggle if you nuzzle her neck or blow on her tummy! I absolutely adore her and can't kiss her chubby cheeks enough! It has been so much fun watching Sophia learn how to help take care of her and play with her. I love my girls to death and feel so lucky to have these two little angles as my daughters!!!

Back to Naps...

(Sophia climbing the play structure at the Damascus Park)

So after a couple of unsuccessful, consecutive days of trying to get Sophia down for a nap, I was under the impression that she had possibly grown out of needing a nap. Boy, was I wrong. Sunday Sophia had her first big melt down after going a week without having a solid nap. She fell asleep in the car for probably 20 minutes or so a few days throughout last week, but never had a good block of rest, as far as a nap goes. Well after the tantrum Sunday, I decided whether she wants to take naps or not, she WILL be taking a nap everyday, because she does need it. Sophia is such a busy little girl and often has a hard time unwinding and transitioning from activity to rest. I also realized I was not doing my job by waring her out, so to speak, and she needed more physical and mental activity in the morning in order for her to be tired by nap time. Coloring, painting and playing in the backyard weren't going to cut it. She needed to go for long walks, play at the park and interact with others to stimulate her enough to be ready for a nap by the afternoon. Sophia is also very much a routine child and needs to have consistency and a sense of what is going to come next in her day. So, I have started reading her a book, both before nap time and bed time, so she knows it's time to unwind and get ready for bed. Another process I have begun using is when it's about time to change from one activity to the next or stop what she's doing, I will give her 5 minute countdowns, letting her know she has 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 minute left. She seem to be responding positively to this and it allows her to emotionally prepare herself on how she is going to respond when it comes time to stop. Before she would feel blindsided, as if to say, "but I'm having so much fun! Why do we have to stop right now?" She still has her moments of defiance and tries to sweet talk me by putting her hands together like she's praying, raises her shoulders and says in a high pitched sweet voice, "paweeez mom." Honestly it's hard not to laugh, because it's so cute, but I'm learning to hold my ground and not give in. Because if she knows she can get her way that time, she can do it every time. It is amazing to me how incredibly smart she is at such a young age! She is most certainly an analytical thinker and it's very obvious the wheels in her head are constantly turning. I guess I didn't realize the independent two's (or terrible two's as many people call them, although I don't believe they are terrible, just discovering and curious about life) came in waves. For example, one month Sophia will be calm for the most part, listen fairly well, and nap time and bedtime are a breeze. The next month rolls around and its a chore to try to get her to bed or get her to listen to anything we ask. But like anything it's a process and just as she is learning, so are we. We are learning patience, understanding, and living in the moment. Sophia may try my patience all day long, but the moment we sit in the rocking chair together and she brushes her hand across my cheek and says in a soft voice, "Ohhh, momma, I lubb you." All the tension and stress of the day melt away and I realize the little angel laying in my arms and God reminds me what an amazingly precious blessing she is. That's when I say to myself, I would have a million tough days with her, then none at all!

Just for Fun...

When I was pregnant with Peyton, I couldn't wait to see what she looked like in comparison to Sophia and what her personality would be like. Just for fun, I took the same picture of Peyton as I had Sophia when she was about this age. I was curious to see how similar or different they would look in the same hat and fairly same pose. As you can see Sophia already had two teeth, where as Peyton still has yet to cut a tooth. In my opinion you can definitely tell they are related and seem to look more alike the older Peyton gets, but I'm curious, what do you think?

Sophia~ 6 months

Peyton~ 5 months

Backyard Fun...

We were so surprised and thrilled to have Jeff home with us all day Wednesday, especially since he had just taken the holiday weekend off. We took full advantage and decided to spend the whole day in the backyard basking in the sun and spending time together as a family. Sophia had a blast playing in her sandbox and when she would get too hot, she would run over and jump in her pool to cool off. I must admit, me and Jeff even took a dip in her little pool to cool off a couple of times too! We also set up her sprinkler hose and all ran through it! The cold water from the hose felt so good! Once Peyton woke up from her nap, I dressed her in her new swimsuit and sat her cute, little, ruffled bottom down into the pool to see what she thought. She absolutely loved it, and kicked, splashed, and squealed! After cooling off we laid some towels out in the grass and dried off. Once we finally got our fill of being out in the sun, we thought we would take Sophia to go get a special treat. We got dressed and went to Baskin Robbins for some delicious ice cream! It definitely hit the spot! Then we headed back home to finish off the perfect day, with a nice relaxing walk with our girls around the neighborhood. We had such a fun day relaxing and spending time together! Wish we could spend everyday just like this one!

Daddy's Girls

Jeff ("Daddy-Babe" as Sophia calls you),

I look at our girls and see so much of you in them! Sophia has your silly personality that will bring joy and laughter to those around her and Peyton has your beautiful bright blue eyes that sparkle when she smiles. Our girls are so blessed to have such an amazing daddy that loves them so much! Thank you for your love, devotion, and provision for our family! We love you so much and want you to know how much we appreciate all you do for us!!! Happy Father's Day babe!

Click on the "Daddys Girls" link below to see Jeff's Father's Day present I made for him from our girls. I had it put on a CD and will be playing it for him on our TV. Can't wait for him to see it!!!

Daddy's Girls

On Loan...

Being a mother of two keeps me quite busy these days, especially with a 2 1/2 year old that loves to go non-stop! Can't blame her, she's just like her mother, lol. Sophia is continuously on the go from one activity to the next. If she's not painting, she's coloring. If she's not coloring, she's playing with play dough. It seems that as soon as I get her set up with one activity, she's already onto the next. Sophia is really into being creative lately and has painted us a gallery of beautiful pictures! Because she has been playing so hard, she has also been taking really good naps. Well, the other day we had to go somewhere after her nap, so I went into her room to wake her up. I slowly crept up to her bed and saw her laying there still fast asleep. I bent down on to my knees and held her hand gently and just sat there watching her sleep so peacefully. I didn't want to wake her up yet. As I looked at her, I thought to myself, "I can't believe this precious little girl is my daughter! It's too good to be true! Her smiles,her giggles, her silly little faces, along with her kisses, hugs and "rock me mommy" are the darling moments I get to share in. Sometimes I feel as if she's just on loan to me." And then I thought to myself again, "in a way, she is."

The Lord blesses us with these amazing little people that we get to make memories with and share in every moment of their lives as they grow and mature into an individual. He gives us the best gift in the world, the gift of being a parent. And in the end they return home to their Heavenly Father who formed them and created them. I imagine Him looking at my girls and saying, "welcome home my precious daughters." It's so incredible to know that even as much as I love my girls, God has an even greater love for them and to know and feel that as a parent is one of the most comforting and wonderful feelings the heart can ever experience.

My Little Tomboy...

You would think from the pictures above that a little boy lives in our house. Well the answer is no, just two little girls. However my oldest little girl, Sophia (2 yrs) has developed a strong attraction to toy cars, trucks, and pretty much anything with wheels! She has acquired quite the little collection and will line them up in a row in various places of the house. In the photo above she lined all her cars and trucks on the windowsill and then moved them all to the floor. Why she lines them up, I'm not quite sure. But there must be a method to her madness, lol.

Every time she sees an airplane she points up to the sky and says, "me's airplane mom." She's trying to tell me she wants to go ride on the airplane, lol. I tell her we will soon coming up in October when we're going to Hawaii. She also will run around the house flapping her arms pretending to be an airplane.

Sophia also has a toy tool set that we got her for Christmas that she carries around the house with her. She'll stop with her tool set in hand and say, "broken", "me's fix it." She then proceeds to pull out her hammer and screw driver and goes to town. I remember loving to dig in the mud and play with worms and bugs when I was younger, but never was I as into cars and tools like she is. I wonder where she gets it from?

*On a side note Sophia is doing wonderful with potty training and has now been wearing underwear for a week! She only wears a pull up at night and during naptime just in case she has a accident. But to my surprise she has also been waking up with a dry pull up too! So in a couple weeks we will start having her wear underwear at night as well! Only having to change one set of diapers is so nice and less expensive too! Way to go Sophia! We love you BIG girl!