So big!

Vivien finally got to go to her 6 month appointment with Dr. Moore (almost a month late)!
Her stats were:Weight - 18.2 pounds (75th percentile)Height - 27.5 inches (80th percentile)Head - 17.75 (90th percentile)

One of the best pieces of parenting advice that Dr. Moore gave us was to do "pack and play time" or independent play time with our girls. It gives me a few minutes to do anything I need to get done or spend time with just one child plus it seems to help them learn to play by themselves. Amity still plays in her pack and play about 45 minutes every morning. She picks out three toys and three books and listens to music while she plays. Since she is potty training, I leave her door open so she can let me know if she needs to go to the restroom. Today, I kept poking my head in to see if she needed to go and she kept saying, "No, Mommy! I still playing!"

We just started Vivien's pnp time a couple of weeks ago. After she eats breakfast, she plays for about 15-20 minutes in her pack and play.

I think her favorite thing about pnp time is looking at the mirror behind the door but she also seems to enjoy the music (currently listening to Seeds!).

After a little "Vivien time", she is read to hang out with big sister and mommy!

Share and HAIR Alike

As we were getting ready to leave for the doctor's office on Thursday morning, I put a bow in Amity's hair. After it had fallen out several times, I told her to go get a different one from her drawer. In the meantime, I left Vivien sitting on the floor in their room while I ran to the kitchen. On my way back, Amity came out wearing this Target dollar bin headband.

I told her it was very pretty but it didn't really match her shorts (green and blue). She said, "Vivien wear red." As I made my way down the hall, I said, "You are right...Vivien is wearing red polka dots today," and then I turned the corner and saw this:

Vivien was indeed "wearing red". In the course of 30 seconds, Amity had discovered one of her old baby headbands in her bow drawer, decided it was high time that Vivien begin to accessorize, AND arranged it perfectly on her little sister's head.

Of course, shortly after, she decided it would look better on her head!

The Science of Snarfing

Previous One-Child Hypothesis: ALL children despise the snarfer!

Revised Two-Child Hypothesis: Some children are happy to be snarfed many times throughout the day and actually laugh during the process!

Method: Allow the happy snarfee to hold the hand of the less-happy snarfee. However, this method was eventually abandoned because I had to adapt pin-down and restrain method to accomplish any snarfing.

Conclusion: If one child gets the summer sniffles, the whole family will soon have the summer sniffles. At least someone in the family will enjoy the snarfing!

Sweet Six-Month Squishiness

Little Miss Vivien Leigh, you are not so little anymore! You are 1/2 of a year old!

You have two new bottom teeth that have recently poked through. You are eating all kinds of fruits and vegetables and especially love those puffs (or "pups" as Amity calls them!).

You love to be up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth.

You speak with lots of syllables and seem to have a lot to say.

No one can make you laugh as much as your sister. You love to touch her even though sometimes she would prefer to have some personal space.

You are such a sweet laid-back little girl. For all of your constant movement, you are still a cuddler and I just can't get enough of your squishiness. You have so much personality already and we just can't wait to get to know more about you!

Let's get straight to the point...

Why bother with disguising the truth with a costume? What we all really want is candy! We are trying to teach Amity to be honest from the very beginning! :) Actually, I am too cheap to buy a costume that she won't know she's wearing and we had this really cute outfit from Aunt Linda and Uncle John that seemed to be very appropriate. Next year, I promise that this little girl will have a costume!

We got them at Jared's...Jared Rey, that is!

That is for those of you who get to hear the engagement ring commercial over and over here in Dallas! Jared has finished posting his edited pictures from our photo session on September 27th. You can see more at http://blog.jaredrey.com/amity-grover-sneak-peak/ These are some of our favorites:

Lil' Punkin

Happy Reformation Day! We celebrated with our church family at the annual Harvest Festival at Bill Bates Ranch. This was our 4th Harvest Festival and Amity's first. She was a happy girl the whole time and seemed to enjoy her newly inch-long hair blowing in the wind!

Rubber Ducky...You're the One!

Bathtime with Amity used to not be the favorite family activity!

Now, it is much more fun for all of us! Of course, who wouldn't love having their own Bathtime La-Z-Boy!

During a recent bath given by her Dad, it was discovered that Amity is now ready for bath toys! Leave it up to Dad to figure those things out!

This is how we got Amity prepared for her baptism. We have kept it up to prepare her for swim lessons. She loves it!

Sitting up is hard to do!

Say cheese!

To mark Amity's 6 month milestone and baptism, we had a professional photographer come get some shots of our little snuggle bug! Jared is an art teacher for MISD but also moonlights as a really good photographer. He will be posting more photos of Amity soon! http://blog.jaredrey.com/amity-grover-sneak-peak/

Six Month Stats & Editorial

At Amity's six month checkup (which was really a 6 month and 9 days checkup), Dr. Moore once again proclaimed that she is "gorgeous" and doing well. Her stats were:
Weight: 18 pounds, 13 ounces (93rd percentile)
Length: 28 1/4 inches (95th percentile)
Head: 17 1/4 inches (85th percentile)

As I promised at 4 months, it is only fair if I give my own stats at her age (this will not however be a continuous commitment on my part throughout the years!):
Weight: 20 pounds, 7 ounces
Length: 28 inches
I think I kind of prefer how they didn't give percentiles back then!

While I'm on the subject of height and weight...I recently overheard some people commenting on a two-year old little girl and how big she is getting. They were really talking about her height which would definitely have to be in the 95th or above percentile. It reminded me of my junior high years and my visits to my grandparents' church in Oklahoma. Their friends would continously make comments like, "Oh my goodness! You have gotten so tall! How tall are you now?" This would irk my Oma to no end. Did they not remember what it was like to be an awkward 13-year old and to want to blend in and NOT stand out in the crowd because of outward appearance? I remember her granting me permission to respond with a comment like, "Oh my goodness! You have gotten so fat! How much do you weigh now?" Of course, I never did and I know she wouldn't have really wanted me to! Just knowing that I had the empathy and support of my feisty grandmother helped me to find the humor and let it go.

That being said, please know that we will not be offended if you comment on how Amity is growing these days! However, if you continue to do so when she is 13, don't be surprised if she has a comeback! :)

Thanks to GDaddy and KK for this snazzy, super-soft, second-hand outfit! As you can see, Amity liked it so much she couldn't keep her tongue in!

Six months old!

Our little "sweet pea" (Thanks to the Bongas for the super-cute outfit!) turned 1/2 a year old today! Her latest favorites are:
- Reaching out and touching faces, especially mouths (even the mouth of a newly met neighbor tonight at our neighborhood picnic!)
- Grabbing her toes, especially when she has cute socks on (Thanks to the Browns and the Paynes for those!)
- Tucking her knees up under her tummy and rolling over to her back, especially when she is supposed to be napping!
- Eating pears, peaches, or oatmeal! While she can make some pretty awful faces when trying to down the prunes, green beans, squash and carrots, she will still smile right back at us once she swallows.
- Reading books before naptimes. She can usually last through two books and makes her teacher-mom think that she already understands the concept of left-to-right print. We'll start working on the finger-sweep next week! Goodnight Moon, Good Morning, Good Night, and Moo, Baa, La, La, La! are still our favorites.

Happy half-birthday sweet girl! And, happy half-birthday to Avery, Amity's birthday twin! :)