Birthday Girl!

Our little baby is two! It's hard to believe that two years have gone by. She may not have grown much hair since then, but she is getting big, and talking a ton.

 

Yesterday we started the day by baking the birthday cake. Bailey and Avery had to help, of course, and lick the mixing spoons.

Avery was a chocolaty mess before she even had any cake. (:

Lately, we have been reading the book, "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?" Consequently, Avery loves loves loves dinosaurs, and asked me to make a dinosaur cake for her birthday. I think it turned out pretty cute. I have to give Mike the credit for a great frosting job.

We celebrated around lunchtime before Mike had to go to work.

I was looking at pictures from Bailey's second birthday, where she got a purse too. I didn't even realize that. I guess purses are perfect for two year olds.

She was so excited about the trains she got from grandpa, she wouldn't even look up for a picture.

And the bubble wrap was almost as cool as the trains. (:

Right now, Avery:

• Wants to read books all day
• Sings songs by herself as she is playing (itsy bitsy spider, I am a child of God, Head, shoulders, knees and toes, Jesus came to John the Baptist, Popcorn popping)
• Loves trains
• Walks around with some serious attitude
• Talks with some serious attitude, it's actually funny (for now)
• Sends herself to timeout
• Is still our little snuggle bug
• Like to give us eskimo kisses

Avery has brought our family so much joy. Happy birthday!!

What we do at 6:00 am...

In case you were wondering, Avery is getting a little better at sleeping in to the late hour of seven. (But mostly that's because we have been staying up until nine almost every night this week.) When she does get up before the birds, this is what she wants to do:

This little stink crawls into my bed with a huge stack of books and wants to read them all. I wonder where she gets that from...

I can't do this post without her classic "anticipate the flash pose."

I can only hope that the darker mornings will mean later wake up times!

Swimming Lessons

The YMCA here in Syracuse does free swimming lessons with your membership. Needless to say, we signed up. Bailey had a great time in her Pike class, and has graduated onto Eel. Here are some pictures of her swimming fun:

Her confidence in the water has improved a ton. She'll go under water all by herself- all the way under. In fact, she kept getting into trouble for doing it when her teacher wasn't there. She will also swim all around by herself with floaties or a noodle, something she wouldn't do before this summer. I am super excited, and I hope that she'll be swimming all by herself soon.

Poor Avery just had to just sit and watch. We did sign up for a mom and baby class, but didn't end up going every week. We usually went swimming before or after the class so that Avery could swim too. She was a good sport about it most weeks.

Bailey started her new classes this week so hopefully by next summer she can swim floatie free!

Good Morning Beautifuls

For some reason, Avery has decided to get up before the crack of dawn. She is FINALLY sleeping through the night on a consistent basis, but is getting up between 5-6 am. Some mornings Bailey joins her. Yuck. I've tried putting her to bed later, but that usually turns into her waking up even earlier. By mid morning, this is how she feels:

Yes Avery, that's pretty much how I feel too.

Bailey wanted in on the picture taking fun...

And here is Avery after I comment on her very grouchy face:

What a silly baby! Please, please, please start sleeping in!!

This is why I was afraid...

So, Bailey got bangs a few months ago. I was sick and tired of not seeing her face, only hair, all the time. She wouldn't leave a clip or a headband, or any hair thing in for any length of time. There was only one option left. Bangs. I was hesitant, but went through with it. I thought they ended up pretty cute.

But then they got long.

I have absolutely no hair cutting experience. None. I was afraid to cut her bangs, so I put if off, and put it off, and put it off. I could procrastinate no further. I grabbed a comb, a pair of hair cutting scissors, and a spray bottle. We headed outside.

It was a disaster. Bailey wouldn't hold her head at quite the right angle, I was super nervous, and the hair scissors were terribly dull.

This is the result:

Yes, they are a little uneven, and yes, they are super duper short!! I tried to at least even them out, but I blame the scissors. They are hopelessly dull. 

Bailey looked in the mirror, and this is what my four year old said:

"Mom, it looks like boy hair in the front."

"Can you glue the pieces back on?"

"Do I have to go to swimming lessons like this?"

"Do I have to see my friends like this?"

"Can you make it grow back now?"

Oh well. At least hair grows back. Eventually. Maybe next time I will suck it up and pay someone to do it... poor Bailey! I now have a lot more compassion when I see terrible bangs walking around! I am little embarrassed that everyone has to see what a terrible job I did at cutting her bangs. I hope it comes back fast...

Why??

I feel like we've been sick every since we moved to Syracuse. I'm just about ready to scream. The last two mornings I've woken up to an Avery who is covered in diarrhea from head to toe. Yesterday, I spent a full 40 minutes cleaning poop off of everything in her crib. I thought that this morning would be better- she woke up at the grand hour of 5:30 and had a messy diaper. I changed her, relieved it wasn't all over the crib, gave her a bottle and laid her back down. She didn't go back to sleep. When I finally went in there at 7:15, she was covered in poop again. Why?? I feel like I'm having a difficult enough time trying to take care of the house, the yard, and the girls all by myself. Why does she have to be sick, again, too?? Why is she making huge disgusting messes on top of everything else? Why can't we just all be healthy??

Avery's growing up

Avery is starting to try to dress herself. I can't believe it. She hasn't been very successful, she can pull a shirt onto her head, but she can't get her arms into yet. The other night, she found one of Mike's socks and pulled it on. It was adorable. I guess I should stop calling her my baby...