Summer is here!

It wouldn't be summer if it wasn't busy!

Yesterday, Ashley had her first soccer class.  Weather has been pretty cool lately but, of course, yesterday it was in the mid-80s and no wind.  I was hot just sitting on the side watching!  She was tired and had trouble staying on task for the whole 45 minutes.  However, she told me she had fun which is good since class runs through July!

After class, I took Ashley and Caitlin to a water park with some friends.  It's for little kids and Ashley LOVED the water slides.  I think she went down the two water slides at least 50 times.  She even got water in her face and had water dumped on her head (with only mild crying), this is a huge deal for her since she will freak out even when rinsing her hair in the bath or shower.  Caitlin loved splashing in the zero depth and jumping in the deeper areas.  I even took her down a couple of the little water slides in my lap.  We were there for a good 4 hours - when we had to escape because of a storm!

Caitlin had two bottom teeth pop in over the last week.  She now as 4 on top and 4 on the bottom.  She needed those with her love of food!  She'll gobble up sweet peas, carrots, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and cheerios.  I just found yogurt made with coconut milk so we'll be trying that today since it's dairy free (yes, I know teeth are not needed for yogurt, but I was excited to find something dairy-free!)

Caitlin has also mastered waving bye (and sometimes hi) and can clap!  She will also dance on command which is cute since Ashley makes us all dance to certain songs in movies or shows.

A week from today we leave for our first big family vacation.  First part of the trip will be in New York for Laura's wedding and then we will head to Ocean City to spend a few days on the beach.  This is our first family trip where we will be staying in hotels, so it should be interesting since we've never slept in the same room!

A week after we get back will be Caitlin's first birthday and a month later Ashley turns 4!!  Time really does fly!

The Pool is Open

...And we finally have weather to use it!  I was nervous taking two kids swimming but the neighborhood pool makes it easy with a kids pool that is fenced in and a zero to 1.5ft depth pool.  I invited my mom's group so I has a few friends to help keep an eye on one or the other and Ashley had fun playing with friends (and jumping in the super shallow pool, she even made me hold her hand!)

Caitlin LOVED the water.  She sat in the shallow end for a good hour without moving (played with some toys and splashed).  Then I took her to the "deep" end where she could stand up and had water to her chest.  She jumped and jumped and laughed and laughed.  She had so much fun.  After a couple hours she finally was getting hungry and tired (we all were as it was 6:30!)  I had to negotiate to get Ashley to come home and made it home at almost 7:30 - we were there over three hours!

I got a few pictures but of course it's hard to get much when you are making sure no one goes under water!!  Hopefully I can get a movie of Caitlin next time, I think she may like water more than Ashley (she didn't even cry when she was splashed in the face!)

Fingers crossed for more warm, rain free days!!

Disney is Coming to Us!!

Ok, not really.  But Ashley and I are going on a "cruise" in St. Charles with Cinderella, Snow White and Belle!

I thought there was no chance of getting in since we were on a wait list but got called today that they opened up a few more spots!  I made the mistake of telling her about it and every 10 minutes she asks if the princesses have arrived yet!  She explained to Caitlin that she will have to stay with daddy since we are going by ourselves.  Ashley also told me she will be shy and hold my leg.  Luckily, she later said that would be silly to be shy.  She's such a goof!

It's on May 18th and we will have dinner on the boat while it goes down the Fox River!  She will get to meet all the princesses (and Captain Hook) and get autographs too!

Caitlin's 9 Month Appointment

Caitlin had her 9 month appointment today.  Quick and easy appointment since she didn't get any shots, phew!  She is 17 pounds, 8 ounces which is the 30th percentile for weight and 28.25 inches for length which is around the 70th percentile.

Caitlin has discovered that she can open the cabinets in the kitchen which has created a whole new fun adventure for her and a need for me to go to the store to get more cabinet locks!  While she has mainly been getting into tupperware, she discovered the cabinet with heavy duty stuff and tried to pull out the griddler (which is the size of a Belgium waffle maker!)

She's keeping me busy, but it reminds me why I loved this age with Ashley!  And I'll end with that as she's about to climb the stairs!

More New Things!

Caitlin has another tooth!  More top teeth are coming in.  The right is though and the left will probably be though in a day or two.  She'll have 4 top teeth and two bottom.  This was about the time Ashley got her first bottom two teeth.  I guess things do happen sooner with the second child!

Ashley has gone 7 full days with no diaper and no accidents at naptime!!  I have a feeling it'll still be awhile for overnight, but one less diaper in the house makes me happy!  I am signing up Ashley for some classes to keep her busy and get ready for preschool having time away from me and listening to teachers.  She will be starting a class in May called Blooms and Bugs which is a nature based class.  Then in June and July, Ashley wanted to play soccer.  It'll be cute to see her in shin guards!

The Week Ashley Went to Maryland!

With back to back weeks of travel for Pete to Maryland, he decided to brave a trip with Ashley on a plane by himself and took her to stay with his parents for the week!  This was the longest time she's been away from home since Pete and I went to Amsterdam in November 2010, when she stayed with my parents.  They left first thing Monday morning and come home Saturday night.  I resisted the urge to call and check on her since I know she wouldn't talk on the phone and didn't want to chance her getting homesick, but was grateful for the daily emails and pictures that Gail sent every afternoon.  Plus, I kept myself pretty busy with doing things that you can't do with a toddler (like long shopping trips!!)  I know she's been in excellent hands all week and getting much needed attention, but I'm looking forward to her coming home tonight!

Caitlin and I had a busy week complete with her top two teeth popping through between Wednesday and Saturday!  We got some one on one time, she enjoyed shopping at Target in the front seat of the cart for the first time and was getting lots of attention when in and out of the stores.  We also spent a day downtown visiting Tricia and baby Jack, who is 3 weeks old.  Caitlin was quite curious about him and really wanted to touch his face  She is standing up anywhere she can pull herself up and cruising along the couch and of course, speed crawling.  She has developed an interest in Pippen and I think she may think she's a dog as she often crawls around with a toy hanging from her mouth.

We are looking forward to more spring weather so we can get outside more. If only there wasn't rain along with it!

Lots of new stuff around here!

Tooth #2 finally came in this weekend and #1 is really showing now! She's starting to get that silly one toothed grin. Of course, that means that EVERYTHING is in the mouth to chew but we are not as willing to give a finger anymore!

Caitlin has been crawling super fast these days and is everywhere! Pete set up "baby jail" but Caitlin does not like being confined to an area. Ashley is having a hard time adjusting to sharing toys that Caitlin gets into, but on a positive note, she is putting her toys away, albeit for the wrong reason!

The girls are finally starting to interact with each other, well, she's interacting with all of us!  Caitlin is clearly fascinated with just watching everything that Ashley does, but they are finally doing things together. Last week they started playing a chasing game. It started when I was getting Caitlin ready for bed and she was crawling super fast around her room (she uses her knees now). She was chasing Ashley and I'd grab her and she would giggle. Now, Ashley chases Caitlin (Both crawling) and says "I'm gonna get you" and Caitlin just gets super excited and almost collapses giggling when Ashley tickles her. It was cute since this was the first time they really played together. Caitlin has another fun game of dropping things off her high chair for Pete to pick up. Tonight, she was even looking at him and pushed the toy right off almost laughing. She and I have a game where we make noises back at each other. It started as getting her to stop making her "most annoying noise ever" and now she'll smile and we go back and forth making sounds. 

Ashley has been playing on the computer a lot lately. It's crazy to see how well she operates the mouse and navigates around the websites. She knows how to open my old computer and open the bookmarks. She impressed us with how many words she was able to spell in the games just by hearing the sounds of the letters.

We have decided on Ashley's preschool for the fall. She will be attending Primrose for Pre-K since she will be 4. She will be in school 3 days a week for roughly 4 hours, including lunch and a play time. She is excited to start and talks about it often. We may start her before hand and get used to it all and meet some friends in a relaxed environment before the school part starts.

Caitlin's next doctor appointment isn't until 9 months and will just be a check in, no shots, phew!