21 Months but full of personality

21 Months old!

I'm excited to say that I got a new job! It's only part time right now but starting in January I will going to full time! For the first time the girls are being watched by a mom who has 3 other kids and they have been doing amazing! The day came where it was my first day back to work and as I dropped them off I expected many tears and a hard drop off. But they walked right in and started playing. I said goodbye to them and I left. And that was it. It actually ended up being harder on me then it was for them. When I came to pick them up the lady who watches them said they did really well and had lots of fun playing with her kids. It makes me feel better knowing they are being taken care of and that they are doing ok being away from mom. I'm really thankful that I was able to find someone who can watch them until the center I work at as room for them, which will be in January.

This is how you eat meatballs right??

Cookie at play group

Cookie at play group

On the days I don't work, I still stay home with them and just try to fill the day with activities outside of the house, like play groups and story time at the Library which they have been loving. That's one of the things I'm really going to miss when I go back to work. But like I said before I think they will do good in daycare and it will be nice to be able to take them to work with me.

I took the girls to see santa claus again this year. Tayla was not a fan at first, but she warmed up to him. Ivy just sat there all serious and not amused like always. I'm excited for Christmas this year now that they are a little older. They still don't understand the whole santa claus thing but they will hopefully be more into opening presents and getting excited about unwrapping them.

I'm going to try and do a Christmas blog so we will see about that. Until then, thanks for reading! Tell what your favorite thing about Christmas is

(late) 9 month update

I'm WAY late posting this but the holidays had me busy and then we left for vacation right after. I haven't really had the time to sit down much because Tayla now (army) crawls all over the house! Her favorite place is the kitchen. I'm pretty sure she likes the smooth surface. She will litterally do laps in the kitchen all day if I let her. She loved being at Boxy and Papa Wayne's house because they have hard wood floors and a bigger kitchen. She also likes to follow me around the house saying "mama."

We celebrate the girls first Christmas at my parents. I didn't go all out because I knew they weren't going to remember it and they already have a bunch of toys already. I did take them to see to Santa, which they were unamused by haha

The next day we left for my grandparents house who live in La Grande, OR. A 5 hour drive turned into 8 because we have to stop and feed them and let them out of thier seats. Tayla did not do well towards the end of the car ride, going both direction and lets not forget about Tyrel coming down with a horrible stomach virus while on vacation as well. That was loads of fun which meant he passed it onto the girls. Luckly not as bad so there was no vomiting.

My little explorer

So much snow at my grandparents

Ivy's form of movement is still rolling, although we discovered recently that she does know how to crawl, she just need a good motivator. Ex: remote, a phone, a game controller, food... Both girls are very vocal and know how to say mama, dada, baba and all other babbling sounds. Tayla likes to wave, still working on it with Ivy. Both love copying you rather it be movements, sounds or facial expressions. There is definitely never a dull moment in this house.

I'm very grateful with how happy they are all the time. I know that when they do cry it's because something is wrong. Both are still great nappers and sleepers as well

Anyway sorry for the short post, just wanted to give a quick update

8 months and Thanksgiving

I know I'm super late posting this but I really haven't had the time to sit and do this. There was a nice 3 week period of sleep regression that came with sicknesses, ear infections, daylight savings time, and teething. Tayla has learned to scootch so she would rather do that then sleep. Short naps and early wakings have left me an exhausted mama. They have developed object permanence which means screaming when mommy leaves the room. Oh lets not forget the growth spurt too which means more eating. It's been a busy month.

Things are finally started to get better. The girls are sleeping better, and we have developed a good nap and bed time schedule. They are showing more interested in food lately, which has been a lot of fun giving them different foods to explore and try. They sat with us for Thanksgiving and they tried every food we gave them. It was adorable.

I posted a video early of Tayla army crawling. She is perfecting that skill everyday and we really need to invest in some baby gates. We were gifted some but it's not wide enough for the the doorway we want to put it in. We want some sort of gate to cage off the tv area as well. She's already getting into all sorts of trouble and I think Ivy will soon follow. Ivy mostly rolls, but when she is on her tummy she makes some sort of attempt to reach and grab things in front of her so I think it's only a matter of time

Love my cute little trouble makers!

I'm still pumping away to try and provide breast milk for them, but I recently dropped a pump for peach of mind. This of course caused my supply to drop even more, so they get mostly formula. I mean my original goal was one year but I think I'm going to be done sooner for sanity reasons. They don't seem to have any problems with formula either so that's nice. Either way I'm still proud of myself for making this far of exclusively pumping!

Some of the pictures we took at Opa's house are a preview of our Christmas cards :)

Ivy and Opa

Some 4th of July pictures

We spent 4th of July in Corvallis this year to keep up with the tradition of watching the fireworks down at the golf course. It's pretty cool being so close to them and feeling the explosion. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! My 3 day weekend has come to an end.

My friend came over to hang out and ended up falling asleep

Sunset before the fireworks show

The moon came out!

It also happened to be my nephew's first 4th of July. My family went to Idaho to visit him and since I wasn't able to go, my mom spent the entire day sending me adorable pictures of him. This one happens to be my favorite. I definitely miss this little chunk!