Catching Up

Here I go again. I can't seem to keep up with the blog lately. I start them, but then I don't have time to download pictures or I just run out of things to say so they sit unpublished. I'm a little burnt out on writing, the painful process to post pictures, and even following other people's blogs. I won't stop because this blog has been the one place I have decently documented Emily & Ellery's amazing journey but please forgive me if I'm a little MIA. I've realized that I'd rather be playing with my daughters, sharing experiences, and getting my hands dirty with them rather than trying to get pictures of it all. I need to find the happy medium though because one day I will regret that I didn't have my normal 150 pictures for July 2010 in my Kodak online gallery and I'm sure those of you that see the monthly emails will wonder why the quantity of photos is dwindling....or maybe not. ;)

Here's a little recap of what we've been doing in July.

Swimming lessons are on Sundays and the girls are loving it! Still stressing the water safety elements which I love and we are having the girls go under water a lot more (which they DON'T love). Every time they come up from being under water they scream "I need a towel....my eyes". We let them wipe their eyes in the bathtub with a towel after we wash hair so it seems we've created a little towel dependency here.

For the 4th of July the girls went to Seaside with G&L and Andy and I stayed in Portland to help celebrate a wedding of some of our closest friends. The wedding was spectacular all due to the amazing creativity and vision that Lindsay had of her dream wedding. She included so many details and really planned a fun and gorgeous wedding. She should quit her day job and do this for a living. I'm telling you, I've never seen anything this fabulous.

Lindsay the beautiful bride

Last weekend E&E went down to Eugene for a fun Grammy Bobbi and Grandpa Bill (tweet) get a way. Andy and I threw a wedding shower for another one of my good friends and after having a blast at that party we headed down to Eugene to spend time with the family. The girls loved seeing Uncle Cody, the petting zoo at the farms in Junction City, swimming in the back yard, and eating Popsicles. Popsicles are a new thing for us. So incredibly messy - last night I asked Andy if it was ok to let them eat Popsicles in the bathtub so that I don't have to clean up the mess. I can't figure out how to keep the Popsicle experience clean. We tried outside but it drips everywhere and when one of my little love bugs tries to come over for a hug and kiss it ends up on me.

E&E and their new loves.....Popsicles!

Good
Yum yum

Happy Customer Emily

This weekend we've got a few fun birthday parties and some downtime which we haven't had in a long time. The following weekend we have another wedding of some great friends. Andy is the best man and the girls are flower girls. I'm also honored to be the flower girl escort. I've never been a flower girl before. I'm soooo excited. ;) Can't wait to watch the wedding of this amazing couple.

We've been really lucky the last 6 months as far as colds and stuff go. Until last week we haven't been in to see the Dr since their 2 year well baby appointment in Feb (except for El's ER trip). That is awesome. The fact that they are in daycare with other kids but seem to fight all the nasty germy stuff makes me so happy. Sure we have a runny nose here and there but that is normal. Ellery was the child to break our 6 month Dr run though. She woke up wheezing and gasping on Thursday. She sounded horrible but looked fine, was running around, hadn't been sick, slept great, no fever, no cough, no nothing. I ended up taking her in and she sounded totally better but the dr said she thought it was croup even though Ellery was perfectly back to normal by the time we saw the Dr. Oh well not sure how you came up with that diagnosis but whatever.... they gave us an oral steroid to take and said that she'd be fine. Ellery never had a single cold symptom after that either. Still not convinced it was croup, but I'm glad she didn't have any other symptoms because that morning was a little scary.

Emily's first denim mini skirt!

Ladies who lunch in Eugene

Emily and her "Mommy Heather Singer"

Ellery has started hanging on my camera strap as I try to take photos. She would not let go!

Really....does this kid look sick??

Emily

Ellery

Ellery knows the water is cold!

Emily

Ellery

A Bit on E & E

Ellery
When you ask her what her name is she will say "Ellie Bellie Singer". She loves pink and will tell you that at the most random times "I love pink". If we have coordinated outfits she always get the pink one...even if it is Emily's size. She wants a pink truck when she grows up. She favored pink before I even realized it. I bought them Pottery Barn chairs in green and pink when they were almost a year old and had their names embroidered on them. Ellery had green and Emily had pink. They have never sat in the right chairs and now I realize it is because of the color. Took me a long time to catch on (see photos below). Minnie mouse if her favorite and she has at least three Minnies (big minnie, pink minnie, or little "mini" minnie") and she sleeps with them all. She has a lower voice than her sister, makes funny "big eyes" faces, is an inch taller, 3lbs heavier (28lbs!!), wears 1/2 inch bigger shoe, and is almost a whole size bigger in clothes. She will get toys for her sister and be the first to do something nice but will also be the first to push, hit, or bite Emily. Luckily for us she only bites Emily....no other children. She goes to bed easily, takes longer naps, and is the last one up on most mornings. She was the first to crawl, walk, and do anything physical. When she wants a snack she said "um I want somethin". She has two freckles on he face - on on her cheek and on on her nose. Now you can tell them apart!

Emily
Our little Emily calls herself "Emily Elizabeth Singer". She will say "I love brown" but really she loves any color other than pink. Poor girl can't wear pink unless we have two pink items because Ellery will have a fit. She wants a blue truck when she grows up. She has a higher pitched voice and can scream so loud and high pitched I swear it could shatter glass. She loves Mickey Mouse and while she has many Mickey characters she can currently be found toting Angel Bear (her beanie bear from the NICU, "mini" mickey, and this weird big head dog figurine. She takes them to bed, in the car, and all over the house. If you are missing one...it's trouble in Singer city. She fights going to bed every night. Once you get her to lay down you will hear "My arms need to be covered, my legs, I have a hair in my mouth, my nose is runny, I'm poopie, tuck me in, I miss you" as you are trying to get out the door. This girl can procrastinate like no other. She always takes shorter naps and is the first one up in the morning. While she wasn't the first to walk or crawl she was the first to start talking and she speaks a lot more clearly than her sister. On a daily basis in the car she will say "mommy pick me up" and I'll say "I can't, I'm driving" and then we all laugh. Every Single Day. Emily can throw a tantrum that has scared me so much I had Grammy Linda come over because I thought we needed to go to the ER. Nope. She just can scream and throw her body around like she's in pain. For what reason....most times we don't know. Emily is the smallest, but I think she is the boss. Last week she was at school while Ellery was home with me and Em was all out of sorts. Her teacher told me it is because Ellery usually does things for Emily and she missed her assistant. The more I think about it, it's true. Em calls the shots and has Ellery do her dirty work.

Both girls love to sing and have memorized many songs off of our car CD's and even some of the songs I sing them from my favorite musicals. Before bed both ask for "more songs please". They are into saying "I love you" at any moment in the day. They like to snuggle and sometimes ask to be "held like a baby". When I drop them off at school they say "Just one more hug". You are all saying "oh how cute" right about now but they also like to hit us when they are frustrated and they've just started saying "I don't like you, daddy, mommy, Emily, Ellery" and "No way Jose". Not so cute anymore...eh? Both girls have curly hair that is starting to form into ringlets when left alone. They also both have identically placed scars on the back of their heads from two separate falls requiring ER trips.

Every day is a new fun, challenging, frustrating, exciting adventure. I wouldn't change a single thing!!

Sitting in the incorrectly named chairs...
Ellery (purple shorts) saying "I want to kiss you Emily"

Ellery giving me her "big eyes" and sitting in her chair with Emily's name on it.

See Ya Spring - Welcome Summer!

Well it seems that Spring has come and gone without every showing its self. I'm hoping this means that we'll be having a summer that lasts well into October, but who knows.

We've added swim lessons to our weekend events and just got back from our first one today. The girls had so much fun. We sang songs, practiced our swim moves, went down a little slide, and they even got to learn how to properly exit a pool. Andy and I were really happy with the class. It's the perfect amount of play time and actually learning the very basics of water safety. Hopefully by September the girls will be willingly dunking their faces under the water. Right now they don't appreciate it if their faces get wet.

The biggest news around here is that for the last week my two little darlings have been sleeping in their toddler beds. And when I mean sleeping I mean ALL NIGHT, 12 HOURS, 2 HOUR NAPS! It took us 2 months to get up the nerve to move them out of the recalled cribs but it seems our worry was for nothing. They understand that they are supposed to stay in bed unless someone comes to get them and so far so good. I did go in to get Ellery this morning and she was just standing by the door (inside her room) but she must have just got out of bed and wasn't getting into anything or playing. I think when they get out of bed or crawl out of their pack n plays they kind of get nervous and don't know what they should be doing so they just start shouting for us. Not sure how long that will last but at least the transition has been very smooth.

Ellery's new bed! Emily has the exact same one. They are very proud of their new beds and want to tell everyone about "my princess bed"

Emily


Ellery - wait...there are 2 ponies?!?

ER Trip #2 for 2010

Last week I got a not so pleasant phone call from Andy saying that Ellery had fallen and cracked her head at the Children's Museum with Grammy and was on her way to the ER. At first I said "ok, let me know how it goes" but then after a few seconds I realized that I needed to get to the ER stat! What was I thinking...talked about delayed reaction. I arrived just after Grammy Linda, Auntie Tayva and all the girls. I walked into the exam room and was greeted with an energetic "Hi Mommy!" from Ellery. She ended up with a cut in almost the exact same spot as Emily's head laceration from January. Elle ended up only needing to have her cut super glued (weird?) unlike Emily's that needed staples. I know they are twins....but honestly do they both need an ER visit and matching scars?

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!!

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy we could ever ask for!!!

It was Andy's turn to experience the two sweet little voices saying "Happy Father's Day Daddy" all day for at least 3 days. It never gets old hearing the things that come out of these girls mouths'. Lately they've been saying "I love you Mommy" and I love you Daddy" totally spontaneous. LOVE that they say it on their own. They've also been saying "No way Jose" which I do not love. It's cute to hear but I'm not a fan of them saying No, No way, or anything that is opposite of what I want. ;)

Garden Time

I don't have a green thumb what so ever and it's usually because I either forget to water things or I try to over compensate for a lack of water and over water. Our new house has a drip system hooked up to a few containers and hanging baskets so I decided I had no excuse not to make an honest attempt this year. I've got a variety and am proud of the progress so far. We're growing strawberries, yellow and cherry tomatoes, an assortment of herbs, potato's, and cucumbers. I've actually not really had to water them yet thanks to mother nature. She went a little overboard though and the cucumbers don't look like they will make it. BUT the remaining plants are all growing like crazy! I didn't take a before picture but here's a picture of what it looks like 4 weeks later.

The picture makes things look pretty wimpy....but they are alive!!!!

Is it really Summer?

For the last few weeks we've had nothing but cool and rainy weather. Very typical for Oregon, but not usually this late in the year. According to the weather person that could be changing very soon. Our 7 day forecast looks like sun, sun, and more sun. To celebrate we pulled out the girls swimming pool and they took their very first and freezing cold swim of the summer.

Wow that is cold!

Ellery just went for it and sat down

Emily & Ellery getting used to it
Blowing bubbles in cold water

Wayyy to cold, I'm done with this!

Ellery

Today we also went to gymnastics. I intended to take pictures but it's impossible. Andy and I chase the girls around for the entire 45 minutes so there is no way to stop long enough to take a picture. Before we left the house the girls and I had a fun photo shoot so I guess these will have to do as our gymnastics photos.

Emily posing before gymnastics

Costco now sells little Emelina's!

I told the girls to make silly funny faces....and here's what happened....

Silly Face #1

Silly face #2

Silly face #3

Silly face #4

Cute silly faces!!

Hugging Sisters - Emily

Hugging Sister - Ellery

The girls in their new princess toddler beds.....well I guess on their new toddler beds that lazy mommy has not put together yet. We're easing into this....

Arizonaaaaaaaahhhh

I was spoiled last weekend. I left rainy cold Portland for hot sunny Arizona. One of my closest friends is getting married next month so we jetted out of town for a girls trip to Scottsdale. It was so much fun...however the temp. was 100+ the entire time. 110 degrees is rather hot and while it is better than 55 and rainy....it's another type of miserable. We spend the long weekend relaxing, sunning ourselves by the pool, and going out on the town. We actually had a lot of down time but it was wonderful to not be cleaning, or folding laundry, or doing any of the normal daily things we have to do. The hotel was quiet Thurs and Friday - we were the only people at the pool. Then Saturday rolled around and I thought I was in Las Vegas. 100's of people in tiny amounts of cloths and it looked like they had showered prior to going to the pool (unlike the rest of us roll out of bed and go girls). The very first day I wasn't as generous with the sun screen so I got a nice burn that was a pain in the butt (and everywhere else) the entire trip. Now I'm losing layers of skin right and left and itching like no other. I learned three things from this trip. 1) wear lots and lots of high SPF sunscreen 2) I want to come back annually.....just not between June-Sept. 3)come during the week when you can have an entire pool to yourself!!!

While I was gone the girls split time between the Portland & Eugene grandparents. I think they all had a blast. Andy ended up with an empty house and no kid responsibilities. How did he work that??

At the petting zoo

Gymnastic Fun!

For the last few Saturday's we've been taking the girls to a gymnastics class. They have an absolute blast. They play on the balance beams, uneven bars, trampoline, rings, and a few other things. There are a few kids in class who have been going for most of the year and one in particular can do drops and flips off the highest bar....um he is less than 3 years old. The girls have really great core strength so they are able to pull their legs up when they are on the bars and the rings. They are truly little monkeys. I'd love to include pictures but I'm always chasing one or both around so I've never been able to take any.

Swimming lessons start at the end of June, so we are also getting excited for that. We have fun things planned every weekend throughout the rest of the summer (still feels like winter). Now if I'd only remember to take pictures of those events....

Best Of Friends

Ellery the Dragon
Emily showing that she is truly my kid. We ♥ purses!! Emily
Love my sister!!

In fact we have so much sisterly love that Ellery has been expressing that love by biting Emily. Every single day for the last week. All of the articles on biting talk about it being because they are angry, upset, or just can't communicate. One article I found said that sometimes it's a misguided form of love. BINGO. It happens when they are playing nicely. Ellery just leans on in and give Em a big chomp! Need to dig a little deeper to find more articles on these "love bites" but in the meantime we ordered a book called "Teeth Are Not For Biting" which should arrive tomorrow. In fact just to be proactive I went ahead and ordered "Hands Are Not For Hitting", "Feet Are Not For Kicking", and "Words Are Not For Hurting". Oh boy - Toddlers!!