Julie Girl

Asked her if she was awake, and she said "Yes, see, my eyes are blinking"

-Sound sleeper

-Loves to play at the park

-Always says, "I will sit on the potty next time" and just goes off on these elaborate descriptions of getting her poop out in her diaper and pushing really good. Potty talk deserves its own post for sure. This child has sure been a struggle.
-Last week she seems to be all over Melanie, taking toys, sitting on her or just invading her space and Melanie did not like it and would let me know. And this week since starting her on the Primary Childrens Cleanout(again, another post), she has been nicer to Melanie, just all around different. It is so amazing. And to see her not sitting on the floor holding her poop in is lovely also. She will share things with Melanie that she wouldn't before, man, it is just great.
Since I haven't posted anything about Julie in forever, these pictures are kind of random.
-Julie making a wall around Melanie with the bumper.

 -We still love using curlformers.

 -Here is one of Julie using Melanie as a pillow, sometimes Melanie doesn't mind or just tolerates it, but other times she starts squealing.

-A picture we took after church.

-Enjoying Mickey Mouse clubhouse together one morning.

 -She has been starting to take naps every once in a while again, usually when I lay Melanie down, she will tell me she wants to take a nap to. Makes it nice when both kids are asleep.

 Wedged the bouncy ball inbetween the couch and coffee table and was having fun bouncing on a ball that wouldn't roll away.

 She has been sleeping on the couch for a while(this is what worked for us at the time), and sometimes she would end up in the oddest places, she was totally flipped the other direction on the floor.

 She is now big enough to climb the wall on her swingset.

 Is into lining things up.

She wanted to cut her own fingernails, and she did a really good job to. I just had to trim the edges. Now she just wants to do it every time.

Having a picnic.

Playing with her cousin Matthew, they play so well with each other. Julie will share toys with him and let him play with things that she won't let Melanie touch.

 Sharing some bread on one of our walks.

 Showing off her blanket that Grandma Taylor made for her, she loves it. Melanie also got one.

 I usually cut her sandwich into strips, but she wanted it whole today.

 Princess girl.

 Wanting to do what Melanie is doing.

 These two love to swing,

Painting fingernails with crayon. She did this all on her own, she came and showed me her fingers and then wanted to do mine also. So fun, I remember doing this as a child.

 Cheerios

 Got some local corn on the cob and it was yummy. Julie was loving biting it off of the cob.

 Silly kid, love how her hair ends up whenever she wears these sunglasses.

Another crazy place she ended up when we found her one morning.

 Snuggling on the couch watching a video.

She wears sleep sacks to bed, and she has fun sticking both feet in the same hole and trying to walk around.

Wanted me to take a nap with her, I told her she could fall asleep and I would finish the laundry, she said, "I will wait for you Mommy, I don't have the yawns yet", so after finishing folding a bunch of laundry, I laid down with her. She fell asleep but I didn't, but I got a half hour of relaxation time anyways.

 Green beans, she loves them.

 6 bee stings, went to pick beans, and when we were done we were over by the car, and Julie had a wand that she was banging on the basketball standard that was laying on down. The bees did not like that, all of a sudden we hear Julie screaming and all these bees flying around her. Rob grabs her and we head for my grandmas porch. She was a little freaked out as were we and my parents. She got stung 3 times on her belly, two on her arm, and one on her finger. She didn't want anything touching her that night, so she slept without her jammies and no blanket. Her finger got a little swollen.

Her hair is getting longer and I love it, was able to put a braid in it.

 Loves playing on the swingset and she has been carrying her baby around with her lately.

 Enjoying a bag of fresh green beans, while I was cutting beans to can them, she kept coming over and snatching them and eating them.

 Reading to the kids before bed, Melanie was loving it. She loves to turn pages right now.

Finally got her bangs cut, it takes me a few days to get them totally even. This was right after I did them and you can tell they were not totally even.

 I just love how this kid sleeps sometimes.

 She got curious george from going on the potty, and she has been carrying him around everywhere. He is so well made and soft.

 She wanted to have a picnic with cheerios, and wanted me to join her.

 I can't believe some of the things that come out of this kids mouth, she just amazes me. She is so smart and talks non stop. We love her!

Out with the Old and in with the New!

Rob got himself a new truck, he has had it for a few months now. It is a Chevy Silverado Duramax Diesel, and it really isn't that noisy like diesel's usually are. I can't hear him when he comes down the street, his other truck I could hear him coming. 

The first truck he tried out had a rebuilt title, it was really nice, they wouldn't go down in price to what he wanted since it was rebuilt so we didn't get that. Had to make sure it fit in the garage.

 Different truck, but basically the same. Same year, color, make, model, but no rebuilt title. So this is the one we got.

  I am going to miss his blue chevy, it was just Rob. It was what I recognized Rob in, and I am still getting used to his white truck. 

 It was a good truck, he had this truck for a good long time.

17 months - Melanie

I think I got messed up with how many months Melanie is.
-Melanie is sure getting everywhere, she is getting around and now she is starting to open drawers and empty out what she can grab, and she is even starting to pull herself up over things. Small things, like pillows, but it is a start. It is so fun to see her really moving.
-As of beginning of July, Melanie can now climb over objects, like Roberts legs. So fun to see her so active and learning new things.

 -She has been waking up at night more frequently just crying and squealing. Man, it is a high pitched wail, and even picking her up doesn't make her stop. The only thing that gets her back to sleep is a bottle of milk.

-July 6, she has now been sleeping through the night again for pretty much a week now, hopefully I don't eat my words. For the most part, she is sleeping through the night.
-Loves to stand and is standing so much better. Still not great at sitting, she can sit, but I can't sit her down and leave, because I know she will fall over backwards.

-Starting to use a sippy cup more, and drinking out of it without drooling all over. 

 -She is getting to be a much better eater, some things she loves are black beans, bananas, wheat bread, eggs, carrots, squash, and rice. Those are her main things that I know she will eat well.

 -She was mesmerized by the fan.

 -Rob showed her the door stopper and she kept flinging it, she also loves to move the door back and forth.

 -She is really getting more active and loves to play with this musical table. She still gets most things swiped away from her by her older sister. Still working on her.

 -She has started to pull her own hair, and so I put some socks over her hands so she couldn't grab her hair. Apparently my Grandma made some mittens for my mom when she was little to wear at night, because she would pull her own hair to. Guess it runs in the family!

 -Loving her black beans and green smoothie(made purple), one messy girl.

 -Buster let Melanie grab and pull at his hair for a long time. Loves hair.

 -Starting to love books and she is using her fingers to open and close each individual page.

 Using her fingertips to turn, so awesome!

 -Love seeing these two share and be kind to one another. Julie sharing her fishies with Melanie, and I love how Melanie's leg is over Julie's. Sometimes Julie will hold Melanie's hand as we walk around the block.

 Got a little sun at our Family Reunion on her cheeks and nose.

 Love this smile.

 Melanie and her cousin Ethan.

 -She is doing better at sitting, but still can't just sit her down and leave her without something behind her.

She is loving her Doggy right now, when it sings songs she will wiggle her body to the song.

 This picture is of how great she is doing standing, she stands upright, and can keep herself up when we hold onto her waist. She can even wiggle her body while doing this. Getting so strong.

So hard to find the time and want to post on here. I do instagram, so I forget to post on here as well.

Swimming

We just finished a parent taught swim lesson class. My sister in law Heidi got me to sign up and then her little boy Matthew got a spider bite that got infected the day of swimming(so bummed they would not be there), and since my mom was helping me and it would cost $5 per child to reschedule, we just went as scheduled. It was a long two weeks, it started at 5:20, so we got done at 6:00 and so we had some quick dinners. In all it was good, it got them exposed to the water. They both still have a ways to go, but this is just the first step. Julie is a lot more comfortable in the water now, she can float if she wants to, but likes to cling to us every time we turn her over. Her real issue was getting her face wet, especially her ears. And she is fine now with that, she even did bubbles in the water the last two days of swimming. One of the days, we hurried home from a funeral in Salt Lake and I thought we really wouldn't make it, I think it was the fastest we have ever got undressed and dressed. We were both unbuttoning things before we even pulled in the garage. I told Julie to get all her clothes off, and she did. We got there just as they were getting in the pool. Rob was able to come that day, and then he also came on the last day, since my mom and dad took my sister out to dinner while she is visiting for a few days. I had my mom come at the first to get some pictures and a little video, since it was our last day.

 I am so glad my mom was able to help out, so that we could do both kids at the same time.

 Melanie did pretty good, she would get cold and then basically just wanted to be held. We would lay her on her back to float and she would just lift her legs in the air and to her chest. Or if she got water in her mouth she was done also.

 We had fun, but I am glad it is over to. It was a good experience and I think both Julie and Melanie benefited from it. My mom also took some video, we will see if I can get that loaded. Ha!