Family Dynamic

Our happy, cheerful Addy is totally and completely oblivious to the fact that Rilynn is not so happy and cheerful when her big sister makes her presence known.
If you don't believe me, just take a look below:

 Still having doubts that I'm telling the truth???

 Now do you believe me??

Sleeping Arrangements

This is where Addy should sleep:

This is where Addy has been sleeping after we put her to "bed" at night for the past 2 months:

 This is where Addy slept last night to prevent the above from happening once again:

Much to our surprise, Addy was just fine with sleeping in the crib which is just fine with me because I really don't think Rilynn will be wanting that crib anytime soon seeing that this....

is her preferred place to sleep.

Sisterly Love

My goal of keeping both Rilynn's eyes intact proves to be more difficult than I previously thought. Addy does an inventory of all Rilynn's body parts every. single. day. She has to touch each body part as she goes through her check list.

 Rilynn is so lucky to have a sister who is so concerned about her.

I

I feel pretty lucky to have two beautiful daughters.

She Made it

Rilynn made her debut last Saturday, July 14.  She weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and was 19 inches long.  She is doing great and we are all in love with her, especially her big sister. 

Our first family picture which took numerous attempts because big sister did not want to stop admiring her baby sister and look at the camera.

Rilynn's first visitors were my mom and dad.

When Addy first met Rilynn, we thought she had something that she could give to Rilynn, so we didn't allow any touching or holding. After a trip to the Dr, Addy was cleared to hold and touch Rilynn as much as we would allow (which wasn't nearly enough for Addy).

 She was loving every minute of her time with her baby sister.

 I think this is going to be one loved baby sister

 My goal is just to make sure that Rilynn celebrates her first birthday with both eyes still intact.

Two

So, after taking a two month "break" from posting, it is really hard to get back into it. I guess it took some really cute pictures of Addy taken by my sister to get me back into the groove of things.

During my blogging haitus, Addy turned two.

She is so full of life.

If you haven't noticed, she really likes to play with her tongue. It was pretty impossible to get a picture of her smiling without her tongue making an appearance.

Even though we have only had this cute girl for 2 years, it feels like she has been a part of our lives forever.

After enduring picture taking, Addy was rewarded with a cupcake which she devoured (I may or may not have helped in that devouring process).

We love you!

Friends

Addy has found a friend. She talks about Olivia all the time. Almost every week, the two of them either play on the Mcdonald's play place, go to the park or the splash pad.  If Addy and Olivia ore really lucky, they get to have an absolutely delicious sugar cookie at our favorite bakery to finish off the playdate. They really like each other and love to give each other hugs and kisses.

It is so fun to get together with Nikki and Olivia.

Ducks, Eggs and Curls

Sometimes life just moves too fast for me to keep up. As I've been trying to stay afloat with life, I have not been able to post some of our experiences. Addy had such a fun Easter that I would really regret it if I didn't document it, regardless of how busy life gets. Toph just told me that as long as I post it before April ends, I am in good shape. He always makes me feel better about things.
This year we made the big trip to Colorado to visit Toph's parents. I'm pretty sure Addy handled the 6 hour drive a lot better than I did. She was a trooper as long as we kept treats, books and Toph's phone in her hands.
I think Addy's favorite part of the whole weekend was feeding the ducks (twice) and playing on the swing.

Toph and I had a fun time doing a little Easter egg hunt for Addy. Candy was involved, so of course she loved it.

I think the least favorite part of the weekend was getting her hair done in curlers on Sunday morning. This was the first time I did her hair in curlers and she was not a fan. But she loved all the attention she got by her grammie and papa when she went walking down the stairs in her Easter dress and curly hair.

This was our attempt at a family picture. Addy was repeatedly bribed with candy to just sit still and smile. She was either not looking at the camera (first picture) or was showing off her spitting skills (second picture) which she just discovered she had a few weeks ago.

 

 Addy really got spoiled by her grandparents, which made coming home so much harder, but we wouldn't want it any other way.

Growing Up...

Remember a few months ago when Addy catapulted herself out of the crib? Well, I heard that thump again a few nights ago, only this time, it was not accompanied by a screaming little girl. While investigating the noise, we found Addy sprawled out on the floor fast asleep. It was her first night sleeping in her big girl bed, which made it much easier for Addy to squirm her way onto the floor. I started to wonder whether we should move her back into her crib for a little while longer, but Addy would have nothing to do with that. She loves her big girl bed a lot.

When she wakes up in the morning, she waits for us to give her the "okay" before she gets out. I just wonder how long that will last. She has not even attempted to get out of her bed at night which has made the transition very easy for us. For now we will just put a couch cushion next to her bed until she stops moving around so much.

Hanging Out

Spending a night at home just hanging out.

Road Trip

There are so many reasons I am excited we are having another girl. A lot of those reasons stem from having sisters myself. I'll just name a few reasons why I love having sisters: 1) Phone calls throughout the week just to check in. 2) Phone calls throughout the week to vent about something. 3)Phone calls throughout the week that end up with one of us saying we have to go because a child fell off the chair onto their head, a child needed to be picked up from school five minutes ago, a child will not stop yelling the word marshmallow making it impossible to have a conversation, a child is being beaten up by an older (or possibly younger) sibling, a child's bum needs to be wiped, etc. 4) I will always have someone to leave comments on my blog. 5) When we are able to get together, we have a fun time catching up and pretending that we can go out to eat or shopping without any distractions from kids.
This last week, we were all able to plan a trip to be together for a few days. It had been almost 3 months since we had seen each other which, in our family, is too long. Addy and I left Toph at home and headed up to Utah County to have some fun. The first day led to a few unexpected events which landed me in the hospital for a few hours with contractions, but I had a great mom and grandma that watched Addy for me, and a great sister that stayed in the hospital with me. The rest of the trip, we had fun catching up and doing as much shopping as possible while my awesome mom watched most the kids for us. We even attempted to go to lunch, but had to leave half way through due to an accidental consumption of peanut oil by my cute nephew that is possibly allergic to peanuts. These unexpected events are not uncommon with us. I'm pretty sure it has been years since we have been able to peacefully eat at a restaurant (I guess that comes with the territory of having kids).
Addy had so much fun with her cousins, aunts and grandmas.

Hopefully we will be able to do this in another 2-3 months (at least).

It took about 5.2 seconds for Addy to fall asleep after we left.

Sugar and Spice. . . .

Addy would like to make an announcement:

We will be welcoming another little girl to our family in July!!

We went in for the ultrasound this week and the Dr said everything looks great!

Our family's reaction to this news has varied:

•  Addy is just happy to have a new shirt that has hearts on it!
• Toph has watched Addy every time I went to my prenatal appointments which means he has not been able to make it to any of the appointments before the ultrasound. After seeing the baby on the ultrasound, everything suddenly became real to him. He is still trying to process everything, but he is excited. He asked if we can transform the spare bedroom into a "man cave". I really burst his bubble when I let him know that room was reserved for the baby.
• I am SO EXCITED to have another girl! I (along with my sisters and mom) thought it was going to be a boy, so I was pretty shocked when the Dr said it was a girl. I am so happy Addy will have a sister to teach her the signature sigh and eye roll.

We are all so happy that our little girl looks healthy and continues to grow. I am growing (out) as well, but am still in the "is she fat or pregnant" stage.