The Great Outdoors

On one of Jeff's days off, I decided we needed to take advantage of the cooler weather and go outside before it got too blazing hot. We grabbed the front- and back-carriers, the babies, a few snacks and went to Ensign Peak. If you don't know, this is a relatively short hike (3mi roundtrip) and I wouldn't say it is difficult, but it is UP all the way there. I strapped on Alisa and Jeff strapped on Amie AND the diaper bag, and we took off. (I think I had the better deal-not only was Lisie lighter, but her carrier straps on the front. It balanced me going uphill.) Both girls seemed to enjoy it-especially Alisa. She is always very happy when we are outside. I love it! So slowly (for mom) but surely, we made our way to the top. Right before we got to the top, the frigid wind set in. Poor little babies! Red cheeks and runny noses had us going down real quick-we didn't get to spend as much time as I'd liked up top. Jeff volunteered to carry both babies down. That could not have been fun, but he said it was easier than one cause they balanced him out. Hey, I packed our bag down! :) It actually was really fun. I'm excited to take advantage of the summer weather with two darling babies!

Here is the proof.

Note the nasty gray clouds. Pretty view, though. It sprinkled for 2 minutes.
Chivalrous daddy.
Plum wears a girl out, working so hard!



This was in my yard-HELLO, no wonder I can't get rid of the weeds in my lawn-that dandelion's as big as my hand!!


And in other outdoor news, the other day, Amie was playing outside. (I close the yard gate, and leave the door open, and she'll always say hi every few minutes.) She had been quiet for awhile, so I went to check it out and found her on her knees, intent on something in her hand. Upon closer inspection, I see a snail shell in one hand, and goo on the other. She kept sticking her finger in the shell, pulling it out with fresh goobers and wiping it on the driveway. Oh. My. Gross. I wanted to barf. She thought it was super cool. Super-Ew.


Note the slime she already wiped on the ground.

Now, who needs boys with a girl like that?

Princess Happenings

Alisa is past her 4 month mark now, and so I went for the first rice cereal feeding. We've been kind of anxious for this time, hoping it might reduce some of her spit-up and reflux issues. I think it was still early-she really didn't know what to do at all! Of course, it'll take some time/practice, but I haven't tried again since that first time. :/ I love her faces, so classic.



My other princess has been pretty delightful lately. She has quite a strong affection for her Barbies, and also just really learned about nigh-night. Here, she decided the step was a bed and had her Barbies go nigh-night.

She thought she'd lay down with them, too. :)

Cuh-wer

Amelie has really been into imitation a lot lately. She watches whatever I do and tries/wants to do it, too. One day, she threw such a fit about my makeup that I put mascara on her (well, sort of. Pretty impossible with a wiggly toddler, but she thought I did.) Then, tonight, Jeff found Amie and her favorite baby doll like this:


She made herself pretty just like mommy's makeup... except with permanent marker. She was so proud of her cuh-wering (coloring.) At least she likes to help clean up her messes almost as much as she likes to make them.

Nice.

Pretties!

We needed a new family picture, so went to get that taken care of. And OF COURSE they have to take 6 different poses, and OF COURSE some of them were too adorable, so OF COURSE we bought much more than we planned. (We didn't buy any of Amie, cause we bought LOTS of poses of her a few months ago.) Here's the result:







My goodness, is it difficult to get 2 little ones to smile together!

Our Little Lisie

Alisa Danielle is now 4 months old (well, this weekend.) I wanted to wait for her checkup to add some stats, but she's doing so many things that I want to chronicle. (And her appointment isn't for a few weeks cause her last one was late.)

Typical milestones: She is so super close to rolling over, she gets almost all the way there and falls back onto her back. She doesn't love tummy time, but will tolerate it ok for a few minutes. She has also been working on teeth for weeks and weeks now! They keep popping their little tops out, then sliding back in. We have seen parts of at least 4 separate teeth, but they all disappear again. This is frustrating because it just prolongs teething woes. (Amie didn't have teeth til almost 10 months old, though.) She is a great smiler, and we're having a similar story with laughs. I've had one good, real laugh session with her, and the same for dad, but neither of us has been able to recreate it since. Sad-as it is incredibly adorable, of course. She has been having lots of tummy issues-reflux, we think. Our doctor said 4 months should be about the end of it, so we're just hoping and praying that soon... She's really actually a very happy baby, but gets lots of tummy ows, and then, geez, you never hear the end of it. It makes it hard sometimes.

She doesn't look much like her sister - she's tall, has almondy eyes, an average sized head and she's got thick, short, fuzzy hair. Their personalities are opposites, too. Amie has always been very active and fireball-ish. Overall, Lisie's been relatively calm-even back in the ultrasounds. Those 2 opposites do love each other, though. Amie adores Lisie, and anytime she plays with her, Alisa will smile and coo right back. I can't wait to see what their relationship turns into as they grow older. Hopefully they'll be as close as we want them to be!

Here, she's about 2 months old, when she first began smiling. Tried to capture it, but only a bit in the beginning.