More updates

I've been slacking again...we've been busy with balancing more house projects as well as living our lives....but figured I'd take a few minutes to catch up.

First, a little over a week ago Emily started to wave hello, then about a week ago she started to clap her hands. Both are so cute!

Emily is also saying more words--mama, dada, hi, "more", baba, and she is also being deliberate about talking and making sounds even though some sound like babble.

Emily is also (finally) doing great with sleeping. She finally is on a normal bedtime routine--for the last 3 weeks-month, she reads stories with Ashley, we sometimes do our own story time, brush teeth, nurse then bedtime. She goes to bed at the same time as Ashley (around 8pm) and usually goes down without a fight now which is nice. Occasionally she will balk at the idea for a minute, but I'll sing her a song and she settles right down.

She is also climbing more--she doesn't stand completely up, but she climbs up on her knees and pulls up on the table, couch, toys, anything she can. She's been trying to chew on the living room table lately.

Speaking of chewing, that girl is crazy about finding things she's not supposed to put in her mouth. Haha. I know it's a normal baby thing to do, but she does is 10x more than Ashley did. She typically goes for fuzzy lint-ball type things and then chokes on them. For instance, we have a space-saver high chair that had a padded cover on it. Underneath the seat cover she would pick and pick at the same spot and pull off wads of filler, then try to eat it. I finally just took it off to be on the safe side.

She is LOVING life and exploring though, and it's so much fun. She is really sturdy and good at maneuvering, so I don't worry about falls and bangs as much this time around (it also helps to have a carpeted living room and playroom).

Ashley is doing awesome. I forgot to mention last time that Ashley knows her left and right already. She also has been singing the days of the week, days of the month (we're learning that one), she can tell you what state she lives in, she can tell you whether it's morning, afternoon or night and what meal goes along with that. She also knows how to take calls and dial out on my cell phone now. Lol. Now I need to teach her how to take a message.

She knows the difference between grandma and grandmom, and how one is mommy's mommy, and the other is daddy's mommy.

She can also count up to almost 20.

She also says the cutest thing. She'll say "I lub her" about her babies or her sister. She is sooo sweet and kind to her baby dolls, kissing them, feeding them, putting them down for naps, etc. She is also so kind and sweet to people and kids too.

Today was cute--grandmom came by to drop something off, and she had brought Ashley some fake tattoos. They didn't stick very well and were peeling off which Ashley was upset about, so I said "yeah, that's a bummer"...Ashley kept saying "it's a bummer" over and over.

We have just been busy with the usual stuff, then Matt and I have done housework while girls are napping or in bed. We have the whole upstairs painted and done with the exception of the bathroom and playroom, which we are keeping the colors for. The downstairs is a whole other story, but that's just the laundry room/mud room and spare bathroom so I'm not in as much as a rush.

The house is really coming along and finally feeling like ours. It's really nice. Now that we've been in a little while, I have had enough time to make comparisons to our old house. There are pros and cons to both. There are some things I really miss, but there's some things I really like here more. For instance, the one thing that I absolutely LOVE about this house is that it's well insulated. Our last house had old windows and was very drafty at times, where I haven't had an issue here even on the nights when the temps have dropped outside. Also, the AC doesn't blast on like it did at the last house. It's been very pleasant and comfortable.

As far as the kitchen, there are pros and cons. I really really miss our old dining area and big window in our last kitchen, and I miss our extra counter space. BUT, I really like the look of the new cabinets--they're both oak, but the last house had old-fashioned grainy look to it whereas this house is more subtle. This house also has the more modern high cabinets that go up to the ceiling, which is both good and bad.

In the living room, again pros and cons. I absolutely love that we have more space in there, and I like that it has a nice carpet. I love the pretty bay window, and I also love that I can have my couches together. However, I really miss our beautiful fireplace. We do have one in the play room, but it's not as much a focal point, and it's in the playroom where you don't appreciate it as much as your formal living room. But all in all I like this living room a lot more than the last.

I really miss having our own private master bath, although I like our bathroom ok.

I miss the larger sized bedrooms and closet space, but I still love way the bedrooms turned out here with the paint colors, new carpets, etc. Small but still real nice.

At this house, I love having the toy room on the same level as the main living space. At the last house we had the bonus room with lots of toys, but it was upstairs and felt like more of a hassle to go up and down to play. Now the girls can play and I can watch/hear them while I'm in the kitchen. It's also nice because we can have a formal living room without toys (for the most part) since the toys aren't put away on another floor anymore.

Our house is a split level, which is a pro and con in itself. I actually like the look of the split level more, BUT I liked having a completely separate floor for noise issues with watching TV or company over. But at least the girls sleep with fans and it drowns out noise pretty good.

The other thing I love about this house is the yard. I didn't realize how small our last yard was until I look at pictures now and compare to our current yard. It's a great size...other con is that it's not fully fenced in. We had planned to put a fence in since we're on a corner lot and the one street can be a little busy, but we got a few estimates and it's surprisingly thousands of dollars that we just don't have. I wanted the ability to let the kids just go out and play as they got a little older, whereas now I'd feel like I need to be out there or keeping a real close eye the whole time.

So yeah, like all places there are pros and cons. No such thing as a perfect house, but it's pretty nice and feels like "home" now that it's done. I will post pics soon.

Well I have stayed up later than I planned to, so I am off to bed. Goodnight!