Gearing Up for Goodbyes, Vacation, and Back to School

Weird that our Summer break is ending in just a few weeks...can't believe it is almost August.  In the next couple of weeks, Millie will have to say goodbye to her best friends, Cayden and Grey.  Cayden will be going back to Brazil and Grey is moving to Memphis.  I'm sad for Mills and also for myself...love those two mommas.  It's going to be interesting raising kids here in Walmart land where vendors and employees are constantly coming and going.  In the next month, there are three families who work for vendors in our neighborhood that are also moving away.  I'm learning that it is going to be difficult to get attached.  Surely we can find some friends who are here for the long haul...

Anyhoo, Summer finally arrived and we had a couple of weeks of stifling temps and humidity.  This prompted Syd to actually get in the pool with Mills for the first time.  It was pretty funny to watch.  They play so well together (most of the time).    Here is some video of what is pretty much business as usual around here: circles and dancing

Sunday, we visited the Gentry zoo again...which Millie now refers to as "the farm".

Millie loves that place, and Syd was very excited to be able to walk around and explore this time.

Syd had no fear with the animals, which made me a bit nervous.  The goat got a few kisses.

She's in a very independent stage right now, so I'm sure our flight to Denver in two weeks is going to be a fight.  She's going to be hate being forced to sit on my lap for two hours!  Worth it to see these guys though...

Syd makes this pucker face all day, everyday.  It's both her concentration face and her way of talking. It's adorable.  Here is a super cute video with her new peekaboo bear (Thanks Kelly!) peekaboo, Syd!

Millie's choice of accessories has been entertaining...glasses & necklace

rain boots with undies

 and a green tutu

After we get back from Denver, the girls immediately start school.  I'm looking forward to getting back into the school routine, and I think Millie has missed her friends. ;)

Poop Rules My World

Millie has now pooped in the (baby) potty three times.  This is huge!!  We have never been able to get her to poop in the potty.  I pretty much consider her potty trained when it comes to the pee pee part (at least during the daytime), but pooping has been a whole different story.  We tried bribing and charts and stickers and treats with no success.  So I put the question to a mom forum that I'm part of on Facebook and got a ton of great advice.  One suggestion was that sometimes kids like to poop on those baby training potties so that their feet can touch the floor and give them leverage.  Well....that hadn't occurred to me.  A few days ago, I brought in our "car potty" and decided that would be the poop potty.  AND IT'S WORKING!!!!  I've never been so relieved.  I've never felt such joy over poop.  Parenthood is crazy.

I broke out the reward chart once again and promised her a trip to Chuck E. Cheese if she filled up the first row (one X for each poop in the potty).  However, she has been doing such a good job and Olaf seemed so far away, we decided to do a mid-way Chuck E. trip.

It just so happened that Cayden was free to meet up for the celebratory trip!  Mills was thrilled.

Syd and Beck were less impressed. There was one point where Syd was standing on the skee ball runway, Beck was walking (yes, he's a closet walker!) around with one shoe, Cayden was missing, and Mills was playing some violent game with a gun....and I thought "this is just bananas".  Amanda and I were able to regain control quickly though and we headed back to the toddler section.  Phew.

A glimpse into the future...Mills driving Syd around.  I need a hug.

In a strange twist of fate, it just so happened that some other kid was having a poop problem at Chuck E. Cheese, and we ended up having to sidestep human feces on the floor for a good 5 minutes until a worker was alerted to the problem.  That place is disgusting.  Next time Millie gets a poop reward, we'll have to visit the ice cream shop or a special playground.  No more Chuck E. Cheese for awhile. But Millie and Cayden loved it, so I guess it was worth it. ;)  Yayyyy for Millie and pooping in the potty!

3 Year Pediatrician Visit

Today was Millie's 3 year pediatrician appointment!

Daddy kept Syd, while I took Mills to her appointment.  It felt very grown up. ;)

She weighs 36.6 lbs (90th percentile) & is 39 inches tall (90th percentile).  Her BMI is 16.8 (79th percentile).  I almost hate hearing the percentiles...is 90th % in weight supposed to make me feel like my kid is overweight?  Is this my fault...too many corn dogs and treats?!  Is she going to be taller than every boy in her class???  Clearly she's going to be above average, but is there something I can be doing better to make sure she grows in a healthy, normal way.  She seems healthy (& kind of perfect) to me, but what do I know?!  She eats vegetables more than anything else on her plate.  She eats a huge variety of foods.  She's not afraid to try new things, & she's great at drinking her milk...but she also has a sweet tooth, just like her parents.  Dr. Averitt wasn't worried about it, and the only thing she suggested was taking her from whole milk down to 2% or 1% milk.  It just feels like a big responsibility to show two little girls how to grow up with a healthy attitude about their bodies (instead of completely neurotic, which seems to be the norm) in this world we live in.  I don't want to let them down.  Look at this beautiful face...

Oh yeah, the doctor also mentioned that our brown girl could use a little more sunscreen.  ;)

14 Months Old

I won't be doing monthly updates for Syd anymore, but I will, periodically, do some posts to record her new tricks and tell her likes/dislikes.  14 months old is a pretty adorable stage...and apparently, pretty independent.  She doesn't like to be held...she wants to be down so that she can go go go and follow Millie around and climb on stuff.  She jogs everywhere, and it cracks me up...her tiny little legs go so fast.  Video: Syd's quickstep

Trying out this Baltic Amber teething necklace; can't tell if it works because once she figures out she has it on, she rips it off...same with bows in her hair.  She still only has one tooth, but surely any day those other three top teeth are going to poke through.  Her gums are bulging and it looks painful.  Some days she's whinier than others...teething is such a long process.

upside down snuggles...she gives the best hugs & kisses right now

Our big girl has outgrown all 6-12 mos clothes and is now in 12-18 mos sizes.  She wears size 4 diapers and size 4.5-5 shoes.  She weighs around 22 lbs.  She's such a little butterball with her roundness: perfectly round head and belly...nice and curvy. ;)

first bubble bath...she loved it, which is kind of a big deal because bath time isn't really something she usually likes

Syd's current likes:
duck-watching, high-fiving, food of any kind, pointing, jabbering, clapping, waving at the pets, giving kisses (especially to Buddy or her baby dolls), Peekaboo Barn iPad app, Yo Gabba Gabba TV show, swinging, playing chase with Millie, popsicles, puff cups full of cheerios, yogurt melts, cut-up fruit (especially peaches, pears, and strawberries), going night night, sleeping with multiple pacis, eating anything she finds on the ground indoors or outside, cucumber, climbing, sliding Video: sliding, remotes & phones, flipping through books herself, playing peekaboo.

Syd's current dislikes:

wearing hats or bows, waiting for food, having remotes or phones taken away from her, diaper changes, being read to before bedtime (she just wants to go to bed), mommy leaving (separation anxiety is in full force now).

She's still the sweetest <3

Mills & Cayden Turned 3!

Saturday was Millisaurus & Cayden-Rex's co-birthday party at Little Giggles indoor play place.  It was dinosaur themed, and it was awesome!  Seriously, it was so so good.  The kiddos loved it, and so did the four parents who did virtually nothing for this all-inclusive party.  We even hired a photographer, so I don't even have any pics to share yet, other than a couple that people sent me from their phones.

they each had a dinosaur tail and spent quite awhile running around RAWR-ing at people

there was pizza, chocolate milk, juice boxes, cake, and suckers = zoinks!  wish you could see their adorable shirts with dinos and names and 3s on them!

syd had a great time running around the place too

blowing out the candles together...they did everything together that day and there were zero issues (well, maybe there was one minute where it could've gone either way for the rest of the day, but mills rallied).  they are such good friends and know each other so well, which was very apparent.  they really loved their party.  thankful to have them back for the summer!

Aunt Coco was there!  Syd couldn't take a break from her lunch to pose for a pic.  She's a pretty serious eater.

the four of us <3

Almost all of the kiddies: Tatum, Cayden, Sawyer, Elle, Millie, Finley, and Grey (Cooper and Lucy didn't feel like taking a pic, and Beck and Syd can't be trusted on those stairs).  Always so blown away by people's generosity and thankful so many were there to help celebrate.  It was the best 3 year old bday party in the whole wide world.

After the party and naps, Amanda, Heath, Cayden, and Beckham came over to our house for an afternoon of play and then dinner and then the inevitable close-to-bedtime overtired meltdowns.  Nothing epic, thank goodness.  It was super fun to see them here because we didn't have much time to talk at the party.

a little harmless fun....

....and then, bam!  in the face ;)

Syd loves to pet Beckham, but he never seems to notice

cannonball

there was a lot of peek-a-boo at dinnertime, but none as painful looking as Syd's

here I am!

Syd kept giving Beck kisses and hugs...she's very affectionate <3

Millie loves to clink (or jinks, as she calls it)!  Cheers, here's to an awesome 3 years!

no clothes needed...

...it's going to make me sad when these four are old enough to realize they shouldn't be hanging out in their undies with each other.

Birthday Activities

Aunt Coco, Uncle Tony, Dan, and Luc came out to visit this weekend and help celebrate Millie's birthday.  Millie was very excited to have them here, and she decided to put on quite the show.  During dinner Saturday, she kept asking to sing Let It Go...so we congregated in the living room and let her at it.  Video: Let It Go, Millie

They stayed through Sunday morning and got to watch Mills break in her new ride, which was pretty cute.  vroooom

Poor Syd Pid hasn't been feeling well and even ran some fever over the weekend...I'm guessing it's teething, but it seems to be taking forever for those top teeth to break through.  She's been sleeping a lot. :(

For a fun birthday activity, we landed on bowling.  I thought she would love it!  And she did...for about ten minutes. ;)  FastLane is such a distracting place though, with the go karts and arcade.  She wanted to do everything all at once.  Lesson learned, next time we'll go to a regular bowling alley where she'll be more focused.

Get ready for some awesome photography...

When Mills got up from nap, I took her to the neighborhood pool by herself.  On the way home, we heard the ice cream truck.  Perfect timing and the perfect way to end her birthday!  She was crazy excited...

Sweet big sis kept offering Syd bites

Millie had a wonderful birthday!  I'm so glad she enjoyed it and was in such a great mood.  It really was a fun day for all of us.  And now she's reeeally looking forward to her dinosaur co-birthday party with Cayden next weekend!  Rawwwr.