Pupcakes and Bubbies

AKA Cupcakes and Bunnies.

I love this learning how to talk stage... in both of them.

Isla is obsessed with Maja's Bunny (Bubbie) and she recently started saying her name. Maja has been putting sentences together and sometimes the results are hilarious. One of her recent ones sounds just like "I'm a little horny"... yeah, you can imagine the look Jeff and I gave each other when we heard her say that... out in public! Turns out she was saying was "I'm a little hungry". And no, she wasn't actually saying horny... just her funny ways were making it sound just like it. And yes, we have been making sure she knows the proper pronunciation :)

She also has the most random outbursts. When I had this photo open on my computer, she said "Maja pooping"

They can take care of themselves :)

This morning while I was going to the bathroom, Maja dragged a chair to the counter in the kitchen, climbed up and helped herself and Isla to a bread roll. When I came out, I found them both sitting at their little table eating. Maja was very proud of herself. And then they also fed some to the dog :)

Sorry for the super blurry phone picture but that's all I had handy

Snack time

They are really enjoying rediscovering all of their toys. The new house will have a playroom for them so I'm sure they'll  be over the moon with everything in one place

you can see Maja's swollen top lip here... she was pushing a stool in the kitchen and tripped and fell head first over it. There was quite a bit of blood... I actually thought she may have lost a tooth or at least chipped it but thankfully that didn't happen. She does look so grown up here doesn't she?

Yeah... not ready

We know the end of the paci era is coming soon for Maja. For now she only takes it to sleep and usually only just to fall asleep and later spits it out but it still needs to go away for good.

Last night I decided to test the waters. I told her that all her pacis were dirty and she could have one the next day. Surprisingly she seemed somewhat ok with it since she only asked to have a couple of times but having her mouth not occupied with something, she attempted every single stalling technique she could think of:

"Mommy, I need more kisses"
"Mommy, I need a tissue"
"Mommyyyyyyy"
"I want to sleep in Mommy's bed"

and more.

Eventually she started melting down... still not asking for the paci but very unhappy that I would put her back in her bed. I tried a few different approaches and learned that Maja does not handle well the whole "put her back in bed without saying a word" thing. She didn't like that one bit. The fact that I was not talking to her put her over the edge so I shifted gears.

I put her in my bed and called it a night.

We did have a bit of a rough patch later on when I tried moving her to her own bed after she fell asleep. She still never asked for a paci but she wasn't happy that I expected her to be in her room. Finally I had another little talk and that's when she asked me to rub her head and sing the "I love you baby" song, a little something I made up and have been singing to her every since she was itty bitty baby.
Eventually she calmed down enough and I was able to leave. I'm still surprised Isla never woke up though... she was right next door and Maja got quite loud.

In the end she did spend the whole night without her paci but I don't think it was worth it. I learned a few better ways of doing it for when we are ready to take it away for good but I think for now things are fine the way they are. Maybe after we move into the new house I'll think about it again.

The Fab 8 turns 1!

Remember Isla's little friends who were all born around the same time?

We had a little playdate here tonight and took another photo of them. We are missing 2 who couldn't make it though

Oh, by the way....

We are buying this house after all...

We originally found this place months ago and loved it but once we looked at the other house we felt a little star struck I think. It was a little newer (2008 vs 2004 or something like that) and more updated obviously. Plus we really loved the exterior of the house.
But once we looked at a list of pros and cons... well it was obvious this was the house for us. It has what we need and we can always update appliances sometime down the road, right?

Bonus.. the sellers didn't even bother countering our offer so we got it for way better of a price that we were expecting. This wouldn't have happened with the other house that is still owned by the builder.

We are closing on the 23rd of February!

They start so young...

Both girls love talking on the phone... both real and pretend phone. Maja walks around with an old cell phone or pretty much any toy that she can put up to her ear and actually has a conversation with herself: "Oh yeah, Aha, No tomorrow, Ok, All right, Bye". It's too cute! She repeats a lot of what she can hear me say :). If you ask her who she is calling, she will tell you and use that person's name in her little pretend conversation. Isla does the same thing although she obviously doesn't talk that well... she just acts the same.

I have a feeling long and expensive phone bills are in our future.

On a roll

#2 of Isla not nursing to sleep!

She seems to be more needy during the day and wants to nurse more but that's fine with me since I'm not quite ready to completely wean her.

Big step for Isla

Tonight was the first time ever where I put her in her bed without nursing and left while she was still awake... and she went to sleep!! Hopefully this wasn't just a fluke!

They both need a good night of sleep and so do I. Last night Isla woke up first and when I went to get her, she had a HUGE poop in her pants, something that never happens so I had to change her and then Maja woke up and when I went in to see her it turned out she had thrown up :(. So more cleaning... luckily they went back to sleep pretty easily but holy moly, that was a lot of yuckiness in one night for one parent :(

Party in my crib

It's so nice having the girls back in their own rooms and beds. After sleeping in a tiny pack'n'play, Isla is really enjoying the crib. She has been falling asleep on her own and even goes back to sleep on her own if she wakes up during the night... well, sometimes but it's a progress :).


Every morning Maja comes into my room and snuggles for a bit. She usually doesn't fall asleep (unless she comes in very early) but I do and when she hears Isla wake up, she runs out to her, throws toys in her crib and just hangs out in her room until I get up... melts my heart

Will work for M&Ms!

OK, I may have offered a few M&Ms if Maja let me take some photos of her today... Thankfully Isla still does it for free :)

Let's talk about Maja for a change :)

She is about to turn two and a half on February 1st!!

* "Mommy, I lick it"- the wall, the window, the grocery store cart, the dog... you get the point. Ick!
* She has been teaching Isla all sorts of cool things to do, like sliding down the stairs on her butt
* She talks up a storm.. a few short months ago I was worried and today she has full sentences action going on. Gotta love it!
* she is very into crafts lately, especially coloring
* Her paci and milk in her bottle are better then crack to her :)
* She loves playing with her babies
* she gets in trouble a lot for not listening or pushing Isla and recently has been trying to put Mommy in the corner too
* she loves watching Fraggle Rock, Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Chugginton. She is slowly turning into a little couch potato :)
* She wants to do everything by herself
* Her counting is getting better... she usually starts at 6 and can make it to 10. For whatever reason she skips 1-5
* She can make it to "j" singing her ABCs
* she is getting really girly... "so cute", "so pretty" while she goes through her clothes

She is at a really fun age. I love being able to understand her and for her to communicate so well. She is sweet, funny and caring and a huge help when you really need her to. 2s aren't all that terrible :)

14 month old monkey!

Can't leave this girl alone!

Maybe I should buy her a helmet? just in case...

Isla is loosing her chubbiness

I always loved her rolls and she is loosing them :(

For some reason I can't upload the pictures but I'll try again tomorrow

Hello from Green Bay

It took us 13 hrs and 3 flights but the girls and I made it into town late last night. To top it off, the airline broke our carseat so by the time they gave us a replacement and the taxi arrived to get us it was well after midnight, over an hour after we landed :(.

The girls did great though. I was a little worried because Isla is at that "I don't like to sit still" stage and she was flying as a lap child. And between the flights and the two long layovers there sure was plenty of opportunities for major meltdowns from either of them but none happened :).
Maja did skip her nap and I believe this was the first time ever she has done that but she did all right. During our first layover she enjoyed watching the planes take off:

and we found a pretty awesome playarea they both liked:

Here they are being all cute. Maja insisted on holding Isla's hand to make sure she was ok:

We finally got on the next plane and for the first time ever, Maja got to sit in the big seat by herself since I needed the carseat to put Isla in. She really liked it and even got to watch a movie. Isla on the other hand slept through the majority of that flight which was a nice break after her wiggliness from the prior flight.

Both got a little nutty on the last flight but nothing major... just overly happy which means they are loud and crazy but I'll take that over crying and screaming any day.

They were pretty happy to be back at the house. I think they missed their stuff and so have I. It was nice to sleep in my own bed again

Almost missed a day already :)

It's been a busy afternoon/evening!

I finally got our flights booked for Green Bay and we leave in the morning. Hopefully it goes smoothly. We have two layovers and one of them is over 3 hrs long, yikes!

Maja will get to watch a movie this time around. I think she will enjoy that. And she will also sit in the big seat since Isla will be using the car seat for the most time. My goal is to keep the "problematic" one tightly  strapped in. I know it sounds bad but I know Maja will sit calmly on my lap watching her thing... Isla not so much! With oodles of snacks, I should make it to WI without going crazy :)

Wordless Wednesday

Yeah.. kind of cheating here :)

House Hunters

For the last few months we've been looking at different homes in the area trying to find something that met our extensive "want/need" list. We knew we wanted to be in a particular neighborhood and have narrowed it down to our favorite. If all goes as planned and our house in Green Bay goes to closing at the end of the month, this beauty could become ours next :)

My little artist

Maja has been into coloring lately. It's pretty impressive how her creations actually resemble what they are supposed to be.

Here's a recent zebra she drew

and here is the sun

and Daddy

She also loves making a mess of herself :)

I thought I'd post about our road trip

Here's a little recap of our road trip from Green Bay, WI to Richland, WA. The girls and I drove the mini van and whatever I could fit in it in September. It took us 3 days and the girls did AWESOME! No meltdowns, no issues and they were champs in the car. Lots of snacks and toys was definitely a good idea :)

Leaving our house :( 

First stop Sparta, SD. We later made it to Soiux Falls where we spent the night and the next day my Mom (who drove with us from Green bay) picked up Jeff's car (he crashed into a deer when he drove through there and had to leave it behind for repairs) and she went back to WI while we kept going west

This was day #2 somewhere past Rapid City, SD... a few hours later I run out of gas in the middle of friggin' nowhere!!!!! PSA Wyoming has oodles of miles between gas stations... like 80+

                                            All pooped out by end of day #2 in Buffalo, WY

Day #3 chillaxing half way through Montana (beautiful State to drive through!)

6 hrs and one speeding ticket later we were still in Montana. Holy crap that State is HUGE

However, I pushed myself and we made it to Spokane, WA that evening. The girls were bouncing off the walls by then but that's cool... the hotel room was big enough :D

My family is finally together!! Daddy drove out of the Tri-Cities (about 160 miles) to see us that night :)

And if that wasn't enough, when we got "home" in the morning, we decided to go visit my In-Laws in Portland, OR and I took this one driving through The Gorge... what a gorgeous place to look at while driving