One you CAN hear!

Ok- so here's a video you should be able to hear a little better than the last one I just posted. This one was taken a couple of days ago, again at bedtime (hence Madi looking the exact same- I DO dress my child:). Let me just preface the video by saying how much Madi loves rules. She's one of those kids who thrives on structure and discipline (totally my child:)! Every time we tell Madi something she should or shouldn't do, she takes it to heart, and for the most part obeys. Then she'll walk around the rest of the day/week reminding herself (and all of us) about the rule. It's almost like she's trying to convince herself of the importance of following the rule.

For instance- when she first moved into her big girl bed, we'd remind her before every nap and bedtime to, NOT get out of her bed. Now Madi's become obsessed with telling all of us to not get out of our beds (including Elle). Yet as much as Madi loves rules, this is one she just can't seem to obey. I think Madi ends up sleeping on the floor 80% on the time!

Here's Madi informing Elle that "we can't get out of bed" (I'll explain about the bears later) and then reminds her that "we don't poke eyes" (a new rule- made for Elle's benefit)! And of course, gotta love the sisterly love!

My girls

As crazy as life seems to have gotten, and as little time as I have to myself these days, nothing is better than seeing how much my girls love each other!

I'm pretty sure you WON'T be able to hear this video (I'm currently in the market for one of these), but I mostly just love watching how happy Elle is to be hanging out with her sister. We were getting ready for bed and I believe Madi is telling Elle about her bears that take care of her while she sleeps (long story- but basically an attempt to keep Madi IN her bed). I love how Elle seems to be taking it all in. My favorite part is at the end of the video when Madi starts to poke Elle's nose (which I don't like, but Madi happens to think is the funniest thing ever- she laughs hysterically every time we get to that part of the video). It was just cute to see Elle give her sister such sweet smiles. I'm grateful for these moments- that remind me how lucky I am to be a mom.

2 months

Weight: 11 1/2 lbs (70%)

Height: 23 1/2 in. (89%)

Wow- what a month it's been! A lot of fun, but definitely an exhausting one! Elle's second month of life started off a little rough- with six weeks being the peak of her fussiness. Spencer even commented on Elle being "a lot of work", assuring me that "Madi never cried this much", and "Madi was a much better sleeper". After one episode of hours of crying, he half jokingly mentioned how we might consider waiting several years before the next baby. I'm sure he'll forget this comment very soon though- since things have only gotten better and better. Actually this past week has really been a dream. I had to laugh when I sat down to read the notes that I'd taken on Elle over the last few weeks:

* Very demanding- she'll let you know when she wants something!

* Fussy

* Fights sleep- she forces herself to stay awake.

It's just funny how quickly they change, because Elle has finally seemed to settle down and I no longer would characterize her with any of those things. We only started sleep training a week ago but she's caught on pretty fast. She no longer cries during the day. I can lay her down for naps when she's awake and she'll go right to sleep. Night time still needs some work though. For some reason she cries every night for about 1-2 hours.  But then just last night I layed her down awake and she went right to sleep (well, I guess she had cried all the way home from mutual). It's just refreshing to remember that my nights of broken sleep aren't going to last forever. I finally see that light at the end of the tunnel. She's not on a consistent schedule yet, but it's coming. She wakes up 2 or 3 times during the night to eat (depending on when she finally falls asleep), but now that she's out of our room (and a little bit older) she eats and goes right back to sleep. My best night yet happened at her 7 week mark. She went to bed at 7pm, ate at 2:30am, and then woke up again at 6am! Since then she's only had one other night when I woke up wanting to celebrate- and that was on Monday. After 2 hours of crying I nursed her, Spencer wrapped and rocked her, she fell asleep at 10pm and slept until 5am! To me that was a successful night. 

Anyway, enough about sleeping (even though it really is my main agenda these days)! Lucky for me Elle is a very efficient eater. She's pretty consistent about eating every 2 - 3 hours but thankfully she's a very fast eater (with Madi I'd be on the couch for at least 45 minutes). It makes nighttime feedings a snap! Being the big eater that she is, I was shocked that she weighed in at less than 12 pounds today. She's still bigger than Madi was at this age, but not by much.

Aside from sleeping and eating, Elle's recently become lots of fun during playtime. She'll flash us the cutest smiles and act like she's trying to tell us something. This is one of my favorite times during the day. One of Elle's favorite times of the day is of course bath time. Doesn't every baby love a nice soothing warm bath?! Instead of posting more bath pics, here's a few that I took when we got home from her doctor's appointment this morning.

I tell ya, she's got the sweetest smiles!

Check out that neck strength!

Seriously mom, stop it with the picture taking!

Discovery

Madilyn discovered a whole new element of fun at the public library yesterday. Candis had reserved one of the discovery rooms and invited us to come along. Since it wasn't the library we usually go to, I had never heard about these rooms before. But wow- what a great thing to know about! We had the entire room to ourselves for a whole hour! Madi and Tyler had a fabulous time.

There were so many things to play with and explore that it made choosing quite difficult.  

I gotta say how much we love Tyler. He is seriously such a sweetheart. I loved watching he and Madi play. Aren't they just so cute together! 

Madi and Tyler spent a good amount of time playing together, but of course- like any other 2 year olds, they also enjoyed playing by themselves.

I loved this alphabet rug with the individual mats that you could match to each of the letters.

Madi was obsessed with this camera. She kept wanting to take pictures of Candis and I. 

Madi also had fun dancing (there was a CD player with lots of music).

And of course READING! We couldn't go to the library without reading some books right!?

Thanks Candis and Tyler for the great time! We're looking forward to using the discovery room a LOT more! 

FINALLY!

We got ourselves a DOUBLE STROLLER!!! Woot Woot! 

Big thanks to one of my good friends who just happens to have connections through her "twin club". This past Saturday was their semi-annual multiples sale and she snagged this baby up for me at the bargain price of $100! And I can already tell it's gonna be worth every penny!

Sunday evening Spencer had to take off for a church meeting, so I decided to take the girls out for their first spin around the block. They loved it, I loved it- what a great buy! I'm so looking forward to all the beautiful fall walks we'll be going on these next couple of months!

Just hanging out at home!

Now that the last of our company has come and gone, life had finally started to get back into a routine. Elle's now out of our bedroom (horray) and sleeping in her cradle in the office. Aside from starting sleep training, it's pretty much been an uneventful week over here. I've tried to stay at home as much as possible with hopes of getting Elle on a better sleeping schedule. For some reason she really has a hard time falling asleep. When we're out, she'll fight it as long as she can. And when she does finally fall asleep, it's just short little cat naps. Then she becomes overly tired and fussy and it drives us crazy! Its during these times that Madi will frankly remind me: "Mommy, you need to help Elle." This my friends, is what I do- I spend a good portion of my day "helping Elle". Between trying to get her to fall asleep and/or listening to her crying, it's a full time job! Sticking around home has worked though- the last 2 or 3 days have been better. Being able to catch her tired signs, I've been able to time her naps perfectly- getting her to fall asleep on her own, with no crying (well, ok- it's really only happened a few times, but at least it's a start). A good nap will last anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 1/2 hours. The best part about her actually sleeping is that when she's awake she's happy- we've gotten lots of cute smiles and coos out of her this week (sorry, no pics of the smile though)!  Instead I captured.....

1) Exhausted Elle NOT going to sleep. 

2) Sleepy Elle taking a relaxing bath.

3) Content Elle chillin in her gym.

4) And of course, naked Elle- right after a blow-out!

All the above pics were taken today or yesterday- so at 8 weeks old!

Staying at home all day can only last for so long though. I started to go a little crazy today. Luckily Madi's been good about it. As much as she needs outings, she's been happy to stick around home. She's watched a few more movies than I'd like to admit, but we've also had fun reading, painting, baking, singing, going on walks (short ones- still no double stroller), cleaning, and organizing (I've finally been able to tackle my piles). 

Out on a walk- Madi doing some exploring!

Madi takes all her art work very seriously. I kept asking for a smile- she remained concentrated.

Sweeping and mopping floors are one of Madi's obsessions. Hmmm... wonder where she gets it from?

The hardest part about all of this is not having Spencer around. His schedule this semester is probably worse than if he were just working full-time. Not only does he have a full school load, but the firm asked him to work more hours (again a blessing, but I can't say I don't miss having him around). When Spencer's actually home he's either studying or working on something for church. Of course he still manages to make time to hang out with his girls, but it's definitely not like it used to be. 

New Favorite Song

My dad got Madi a gospel art book  awhile ago and one day I decided to show Madi the prophets in the back. Of course I couldn't help busting into song, so I ended up singing "Latter-Day Prophets" while we looked at the pictures. It instantly became a favorite and Madi asked to sing it every night for the next week. By the end of the week she was singing the majority of the song by herself and then, just a week later, she had the entire song memorized. It's hard not to be proud of her for knowing all the prophets! 

You won't be able to hear the video very well, but it's the only proof we have of her singing it. If you want to hear it better, give Madi a call. She loves singing songs to everyone that calls!

Sisters

Oh how I love my sisters (that includes all sister-in-laws). Sometimes it's hard living so far from family. I'd love to have a sister close by to hang out with, go on walks with (or runs- Tisha and Jo), have lunch with, chat about life- knowing that no matter what I say or do, they love me for exactly who I am. That's what this past week with Karlee was like. It was such a treat having her here. Not only did I love her company, but she was incredibly helpful. From consoling Elle, to giving baths, getting kids dressed, and babysitting while I made Metro runs, I started thinking maybe I could get her to drop out of BYU- Idaho and move out here. It was great being able to get out of the house and do some things that I'm not brave enough to do alone yet (i.e. the zoo and city). So you can probably imagine how hard it was for me to drop her off at the airport yesterday afternoon. I'm definitely going to miss her company. We love you Karlee! 

Taken by Karlee while having some bonding time with Elle. 

Madi and Elle LOVE their Aunt Karlee!

I did promise Karlee that I'd include a brief write up of our third and final outing into the city- mostly just as a reminder NOT to do it again! Our goal for Friday was to visit the Smithsonians- and I'm happy to report that we actually made it to all three we wanted to visit (Air and Space, Natural History, and American History). It definitely wasn't a long visit at each place, but it was a visit nonetheless. However, along with seeing airplanes, mammals, ocean life, and lots of hands on exhibits, we also experienced a LOT of crying, whining, getting spit up on, and metro confusion- with an especially rude Metro attendant (now that I've had a few days to cool off it doesn't seem as bad as it did in the moment). I didn't get many pics from our outing- probably due to having a screaming baby, two strollers, and a toddler who had her own agenda. 

The picture below was taken while Elle was crying hysterically (hence the fuzziness). People kept walking by making comments, asking me if I needed help. I continued to assure them that "she's just tired." Ya, it was overall a pretty stressful day.

At least all the days leading up to our crazy outing were mostly fun, relaxing, and very enjoyable!

I think Karlee got tired of all the "photo shoots". She's just so beautiful and tons of fun to take pictures of!

ZOO

On Monday Karlee, Madi, Elle, and I headed off to the ZOO. I love the zoo, but with having 2 kids now and not having purchased a double stroller yet, it's a task I'm not willing to do alone. I figured Karlee's visit was the perfect time to go! We've been having amazingly gorgeous weather this week and couldn't have picked a better day! 

We didn't get very far before Elle started screaming for food- so while she ate, Madi enjoyed a banana muffin and Karlee used it as a chance to fix Madi's hair.

Funny how a 6 week old can be more work than a 2 year old on a trip to the zoo. While Elle kept spitting out her binky, and crying for attention, Madi was completely in awe with everything- from the elephants. . . 

to the hippo. . .

the cute little. . . 
Prairie Dog (this guy just cracked me up)

the llama

and the gorillas. . . she loved it all and was an angel the entire day (no nap and everything)!

Of course Karlee's favorite was the lion, but Madi's was the Orangutang! Sorry about all the duplicate pictures, but the progression of our Orangutang siting was hilarious! Madi went onto Karlee's back- to get a better look.

Seeing that it was too bright, she begged for her sunglasses.

MUCH better!

Oh, there he is!

WOW- look at him go!

He put on a great show for us!

Gotta love ZOO entertainment! 

After 2 hours we were beat and headed back home.