Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had an eventful 4th! It was kind of a big day, other than for the obvious reasons.

Well first, Ashley officially turned 2 1/2...It's kind of a cool "half birthday" to have. Also, on her 1/2 birthday, she went pee pee in the potty for the very first time!!! Yay! I know I mentioned a while back that we were "unofficially" doing a mini attempt with the potty, but I never got real serious since we had a new baby, and then a crazy transition time with packing and moving. Our potty's got packed away with our things, so I figured I'd just tackle it once we got into our new place. But Ashley has been showing signs that she is ready to get more serious--she can tell you when she's gone poo poo or pee pee (usually after but that's ok), and she has recently been waking up with dry night time diapers (she used to totally soak them).

So, since our potties were packed, we all took a trip to Buy Buy Baby store to pick out a potty. We let Ashley pick out her own potty, we got a reward sticker chart, and even a cool Elmo potty training video. Ashley was very excited to use her potty since it lights up and makes a flushing sound. When she tried she went pee pee! Yay! Since then she has tried a little bit here and there so we're making progress.

Ashley is also doing really well with singing her ABC's and counting.

Another big thing is that Emily also got her 3rd tooth. I'm not sure if it came in on the 4th or the day before since it's been coming through for a couple days, but it's the first time I saw it so we'll count it ;)
So now she has her two bottom middle teeth, and the one to the left of them is coming up. It's funny, because Ashley had 3 bottom teeth for a while too. Funny they were the same order.

Emily is showing signs that she may start crawling soon, and in the meantime is having a blast rolling everywhere.

Also, I forgot to mention a while ago that we are officially off of paci's (pacifiers). It's probably been over a month actually. Emily mainly used the pacifier at bed to help her fall asleep, and around a month or so ago she started getting really angry and would push it away when you'd put it in her mouth since it'd basically make her fall right to sleep. So I figured if she didn't want it, we would be done with it. She hasn't wanted/needed it since, other than to sometimes chomp on parts for teething so we put them away.

Well I think that's it for updates....Anyway, getting back to the 4th...After we went shopping for potty's, we went out to lunch. During Ashley's nap we watched a movie, then afterward we went to Andrew and Lauren's and took the canoe out in the water. It was lots of fun and very peaceful. We got home late, and grandmom took Ashley outside and caught a lightening bug to put in a clear cup, then we watched about 4 sets of firework shows from Ashley's bedroom window. It was pretty cool.

Oh, also Ashley helped make and decorate a 4th of July cake with grand pop.

Here are some pics...

This first picture was from a different day, but it was too cute to not share

One more

So many people comment on how much Ashley and Emily look so alike as babies, so figured I'd post one of both of them at 7 months old...

 Emily at 7 months

Ashley at 7 months

Watch me grow....

 Emily a few hours old

 1 month

 2 months

 3 months

 4 months

 5 months

 6 months

7 months

7 Months (posting a few days late)

So I am posting a few days late, but wanted to share pics of Emily on her 7 month birthday...I can't believe how big she is getting!

Emily is now sitting up a little longer on her own (as you can see in the pics), still rolling around everywhere, reaching and grabbing for everything and trying to put everything in her mouth; and doing better with eating solids finally! Only took a month ;)

Holding her cup/learning to drink from it

Sitting up like a big girl!

Adorable faces

Look at those teeth!

Good news!

Good news! All went ok with the inspection of the new house...nothing major at all! Yay!! So as of now we close on July 30th! Can't wait!!!

Also, Emily is starting to get the hang of the whole eating thing! She's been doing a little more each day since I posted on here, and yesterday she ate about 80% of her food! Yay. I guess she likes peaches ;)

A whirlwind....

Man, when I look back at the pictures taken over the course of a little over a month ago since we moved, it really has been such a whirlwind. It almost feels like it was months ago since we moved from Greenville due to all the happenings that have gone on, between all the house stuff, the trip to NY, birthdays, births, Father's Day, celebrations for Ben and now Bill's retirement party, playdates with potential new friends, etc.

We had a fun weekend. Yesterday we took a drive to PA for Matt's uncle Bill's retirement party. It was a drive, but we had fun breaking up the trip and it gave Matt and I a chance to talk and catch up which was nice and needed as well. We saw some of the Tofani gang--it was everyone's 1st time meeting Emily too.

Today Matt and I decided to take a trip into NYC. We took the Staten Island Ferry in which was fun in itself...a little scenic "boat ride" which included seeing the Statue of Liberty. Then we walked around a little, then visited the 9/11 Memorial Site which was very profound to visit. I still remember watching it at Stockton. Then we got some famous NY vendor food. We were planning to take the girls to this fun park, but Ashley had been up late the night before from a long day yesterday and was really tired, so she chose the ferry boat over the park. While the girls napped we then stopped by Matt's current office, then drove by our (hopefully) new home since it was kind of along the way back.

Let's see, I really need a girls update....

Let's start with Emily. In only 5 days she will be 7 months old. Crazy!!! Her bottom two teeth are absolutely adorable when she grins, which she usually does all the time.

Emily is cracking me up with solid foods. Well, first she gave me a couple heart attacks. We had started with homemade pureed veggies, and she legitimately started choking on two occasions. The first time was my fault since it wasn't watered down as much as it should have been (in just 2.5 years you forget things, and I had forgotten how soupy it needed to be). The second time was strained good and soupy, but she was collecting the food in the back of her mouth and choked. I had to do the finger swipe and everything (which I realized after is no longer recommended with choking)...So after being scared to death, we decided we'd come back to home made foods later and get the jar foods that are as strained as you can possibly get. Well, Emily wants nothing to do with any of it. We have tried several kinds of fruits, veggies, and baby oatmeal, and she doesn't want it. She purses her lips shut real tight, and if I do manage to get any in, she makes some hysterically funny faces. I think it will be a slow process with her :)

She is rolling ALL over the place, and reaching and grabbing for things now. She also can "kind of" sit up for a few seconds if she's leaning forward, but I'm not sure if it counts as officially sitting up on her own.

Emily is also sleeping through the night!! Hooray!!! For the past week and a half I'd say, she's slept through the night. She still fights to the end when it comes to going to bed at night, and is still a bit of a night owl, but then she'll typically sleep until 7:30-8:30. It's awesome!! She also goes down quick with no problems for naps. She usually takes one in the mornings after being up a couple hours, then one in the afternoons, and occasionally a quick cat nap in the early evening.

She also is really loving her jumparoo more and more as I knew she would.

Ashley is doing great. She's not doing the "too loud" thing as much thankfully. She is talking A LOT more all of a sudden, and making long sentences. She is also comprehending so much--she will watch a movie and talk about what is going on in a lot of the scenes. She also will sing complete songs when she knows the words (and hums along or makes some up when she doesn't...haha).

Ashley has also been loving going to the park...we've been going to at least one park a day (sometimes 2) just about every day lately between myself, grandmom taking her, and also for some meet up group events we've attended. She loves it. We actually went to the toddler park in Oakland the other day and met up with a woman I met who has triplet 2.5 year olds, so that was fun.

Ashley and Emily have started taking some baths together (I put Emily's baby tub in the big tub with Ashley). The girls have so much fun interacting together.

She also has been doing it for a few months, but while I remember she has been saying "toe-da" (for ta-da). It sounds so cute.

They are both so much fun and absolutely adorable. I thank God every day for blessing me with my husband and children.  Well that's about it for now.

Our (hopefully) new house....

 The pretty bay window in the living room

 The living room...

 Formal Dining Room

 Front and back of the family room--will make this partial family/partial play room

 The kitchen--will remove these corner cabinets to put our table in

 The kitchen...this is it for counter top space...but will have the table to work from

 Top and below: This will be Emily's room

 Top and below (2): The master bedroom

 Hallway

 Top and below: This will be Ashley's bedroom

 Bathroom

 Front door

 View of front yard

 Downstairs powder room

 Finished basement/laundry room

 

 Outside deck and patio

 Backyard

 Front of the house