"I'm Going to Marry..."

The other night we were on our way back home from Pizza Port where we had had dinner with Uncle Luke.  We had an interesting conversation on the way home...

Savannah: "I've never been to Uncle Luke's house"
Us: "That's true, would you like to go there sometime?"
Savannah: "Yeah, I'll go there when I get married"
Us: "Who are you going to marry"
Savannah: "I'm going to marry...." (she took a while to think about that one)
Us:  "How bout a really nice boy who loves Jesus?"
Savannah: "No....I'm going to marry....the man who has that truck!" (pointing to a big, fancy truck that we drove by)

Oh dear...not the answer I was hoping for... :)

Savannah: Age 2 1/2

"Girls Don't Have Privates"

Savannah is at the age where she's noticing and asking questions about our bodies, especially what we call "private parts".   I expect this when she sees me change in the morning or in the shower.  A few days ago, completely out of the blue she told me that "boys have privates, but girls don't have privates".  Very matter of fact.

Savannah: Age 2 1/2

"Sharpenate"

Savannah has an awesome vocabulary, but she often makes up words (and songs) too.  She says something hilarious pretty much everyday. :)  The other night she chose a pencil from her prize box (she gets to choose a prize for keeping her underwear clean and dry for a whole day -- we're on day 4!!)  Anyway, she picked a pencil and I sharpened it so she could use it.  She was much more excited about the sharpening than the writing/coloring.  The next morning at breakfast, she said she wanted to "sharpenate" her new pencil.  Haha, love that kid!

Savannah: 2 1/2 years

"Mamamama..."

Claire just recently started babbling with consonants.  Up to this point, it was just blowing spit bubbles and cooing.  She says "mamama" or "bababa", but mostly "mamama".   I'd like to think this counts as her first word even though she doesnt know what it means.  Aaron says it's not really her first word, but I think I'll just go on believing it for now because it makes me happy. :)

Claire: 6 months

Gimme Some Cheese!

One of the best (and worst) things about 2 year-olds is their ability to take everything at face value.  My recent favorite?  "Gimme some cheese."

Whenever Savannah does something praiseworthy (listens well, pees in the potty, doesn't poke Claire's eyes out, etc.), I often praise her by saying, "yay! Gimme five!"  And I extend my palm to receive an enthusiastic "five" from Sav.  Well, recently I started substituting "gimme five" with "gimme some cheese!"  Without hesitation, Savannah will proceed to run up to me, squat down to prepare/pick up an imaginary slice of cheese, and eagerly place it in my outstretched palm.

Now, "gimme some cheese" doesn't even really make sense (I'm not sure it's even a real phrase), so I don't blame her for her response.  But it's just too awesome to stop doing.

SD County Fair 2013

We finally made it out to the fair this year and we're so glad we did -- we had a blast!  It was awesome to see the girls (mostly Savannah) have such a great time.

It took almost 2 hours to get to the fair, since we had to wait forever just to park, but it was worth it.  We headed to the kids' rides where Kate & Savannah got to do about 5 rides and Savannah totally loved it!  I thought she might be nervous, but she had a great time.  We grabbed some funnel cake for a snack in between rides and got dinner afterwards -- oh fried goodness!  Both of the girls did great and I was especially proud that Savannah didn't have any accidents since this was her first big outing wearing underwear.  Anyway, we had an awesome time and will definitely go again next year. 

Savannah: 2 years

Claire: 5 months

July 2013

It's definitely summer here and the girls are growing and changing by the minute!

It used to be very easy to get a good picture of Claire because she's always smiling.  She's still smiley now, but she also wants to grab and chew on everything.  This was one of the few shots with the magnadoodle not in her mouth. :)  Claire is still as sweet and happy as ever.  She is growing, but still very tall and skinny.  She had her 6 month check-up today and is 90% for height and 30% for weight. She now has 3 teeth, 2 on the bottom and one canine coming through on top.  She is eating cereal and 5-6 other solid foods.  She is sleeping through the night pretty consistently from 7:30 p.m. til around 6:00 a.m.  I'm hoping that will eventually be closer to 7:00, but for now I'll take it.  Claire is very active and squirmy and can roll easily.  She can sit with support but not quite on her own.

Savannah is still a goofy sweetheart.  She has her 2 year old moments, for sure, but mostly she's a sweetheart.  The big news for Savannah this month is potty training!  She has been wearing big girl underwear for 2 weeks now and is doing pretty well.  She still has accidents most days, but she's getting better all the time.  Now that it's summer she's been having a great time playing in the pool and sprinklers.  This summer she is much more daring-- she loves to jump off the diving board (with an adult) and can actually swim across the length of the pool (with a floatie).  She also recently slept in a bed for the first time on our family vacation and loved it.  We're still rockin' the crib at home though. :)  Savannah's favorite activities are running, having tea parties, dancing, and singing.  

Savannah: 2 years

Claire: 6 months

Adventures in Potty Training

Well, it's official...we're potty training...

We've tried it before without much success and I really wasn't sure if Savannah was ready or not, but here we are!  It started with a trip to H&M where we spotted some princess underwear.  (I really have not pushed the princess thing, but somehow Savannah LOVES them)  Anyway, we saw the princess underwear and Savannah was pretty excited and I decided to seize the opportunity.  For the first couple days I thought I might have made a terrible mistake, especially since Aaron was on a business trip so I was doing it on my own.

We used treats (candy) as rewards for going potty before, but this time we added a sticker chart.

It seems like this was helpful, especially since we happened to have princess stickers.  Savannah has gotten better and better and I was pleasantly surprised at how well she did on our vacation last week.  We're now 2 weeks in and it's going much better.  She still has accidents most days, but if we can remember to have her use the potty about every hour then we're probably good.  We're definitely still potty training, not potty trained, but hopefully we'll be there in a few weeks.

Savannah: 2 years

Family Vacation 2013 -- Mission Bay

This year we decided to embark on our first annual family vacation! We went "camping" (stayed in my parents' motorhome) at Campland on the Bay in Mission Bay.  Overall: success!  The campsite was very small and not private which was kind of weird, but still we had a great time.

We went down to the beach

 played at the pool, rented bikes, went to Sea World,

went to Birch Aquarium,

went to a park....and, of course, just hung out at the campsite. :)

 



My big worry going into the trip was how were all going to sleep.  Claire slept in a pack n play and Savannah & I shared a bed (her first time sleeping in a  bed, not crib).  Aaron slept up top.   They actually both did great!  Claire took good naps and mostly slept through the night.  Luckily she slept through us going in and out of the motorhome.  Savannah was very squirmy and kicked me many times, but she loved sleeping in a big bed.  She actually asked to go to bed earlier than we had planned a few times.

I was also a little worried, because we started potty training Savannah less than a week before this trip.  But she actually did really well.  Just a few accidents (only #1...) so I was pretty happy with that. :)

After three nights of camping, we decided to go home on Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning.  Since the sites weren't private, Aaron & I didn't really get to enjoy the evening all that much and the girls seemed like they were done with the whole camping thing after three nights anyways.  So we headed home Sunday night, enjoyed the night at home, and went to Birch Aquarium on Monday morning.

All in all, we had a great time and the girls were troopers.  Makes me excited for our other trips this summer (family trip to SB and beach camping with the Jacksons) and our family vacation next summer!

Savannah: 2 years
Claire: 6 months

Claire's 1st Tooth

After 6 weeks of teething, Claire's first tooth finally popped up on June 2!  We had just been talking about her teething that day at Grandpa & Grandma Faber's house and then I noticed it at our church community group later that night.  It's only 2 days later and now I can see the next one coming in.  Claire has been gnawing on stuff a lot and drooling a little extra, but not fussy.  She's such a happy baby all the time!

Claire: 5 months

"Farties"

Some funny Savannah pronunciations:

Boys = "boofs" (??? not even close...)
Chapstick = "chazpick"
Sprinkles = "frinkles"

And my favorite...
Smarties = "farties"

Savannah: 2 years

"No! We live in Chick-Fil-a"

Not long ago, we were coming back from dinner at Chick-fil-A.  We were talking with Savannah about how Oliver lives in Seattle, Kate lives in San Marcos, etc.  So we told her that we live in Escondido.  She gave us a frown and said "No!  We live in Chik-fil-A".   It's possible that we go to Chicl-fil-A too often.....

Savannah: 2 years

May 2013/Mother's Day

I just celebrated my first Mother's Day as a mother of two!  Aaron and Savannah made me crepes with nutella and strawberries for breakfast and they gave me a beautiful photo book as a gift. :)

Savannah is talking up a storm and saying some pretty hilarious things these days.  We just got her a playhouse for the yard and she loves to play pretend -- washing her hands, making dinner, calling her friends.  Oh, and she loves to climb out the side window which is pretty interesting to watch.

Claire just started eating rice cereal a few weeks ago.  She makes an awful face once I get a spoonful in her mouth, but she keeps opening her mouth and doesn't spit it out.  She continues to be an amazingly happy and smiley baby.  Sleeping is still somewhat inconsistent and I'm still feeding her in the middle of the night, but her sweet smiling face makes up for it everytime!

Savannah: 2 years
Claire: 4 months