.Just some random photos from this week.

.Sharing a cold glass of milk on a hot day.

.Pretty baby.

.My silly girl.

Getting big.

.11 months already!.

My littlest Little has just four short weeks before her first birthday! Look how big she is these days:

In the last month Baby Sister has started sprouting teeth all over the dang place - she has 3 {1 top & 2 bottom} that have already cut through and a fourth that just under the surface waiting to break the gumline any second.
She also cruising around EVERYTHING. We've even caught her standing all on her own a couple of times and just yesterday she stood up and walked while pushing a chair from Amelia's little table for about 3 feet.
We've also officially moved her into her crib in the nursery that she shares with Big Sister. It's been a little adjustment but more because she wasn't used to the crib - the girls actually seem to love sharing their space and bunking up together.
The next few weeks are busy busy getting ready for the big birthday {it's an Alice in ONEderland theme} and of course my mom's visit for that week to celebrate.

.This or that?.

I have a conundrum, folks. I can't decide if I want to enroll Amelia in Music Together this fall or ballet. She has been enrolled in Music Together since she was six months old and loves it. I have no issue with it whatsoever and our time with the program has been so great that Alice will start going this fall no matter if Amelia does or not.
So why not enroll her for another year you ask? Well, I have wanted her to take ballet for forever, I had originally planned to have her overlap and take both at the same time for this one year {it's the last that she's young enough for the Music Together program} but two classes a week PLUS preschool feels like a lot to put on her plate right now and I don't want to overwhelm her and make her hate all three.
So it's one or the other and they both have pros and cons.

Pros for ballet:
The big one - Alice wouldn't be taking it. Our girls love each other and Cheyenne and I feel that it's a part of our job as parents to try to help foster as close of a relationship as possible between them. To us that entails giving them time together but also space apart. We've noticed when Alice goes to music class Amelia gets a bit bratty and hard to control and it's very obvious that it's rooted in jealousy {after all it's always been her thing and sharing something that you love can sometimes suck}.

She's more physical now - Music Together is fantastic but a good chunk of the time is spent sitting. For a three year old that can grow a bit dull. Luckily most of her classmates are her exact age and they've been going to the same class together for years now so, as parents we all take turns having to wrangle our little ones back to the circle. While I'm okay being a wrangler it sure would be nice to have her in a class that is based on movement.

She's going through a phase - All she wants to watch lately is the Prima Princessa version of Swan Lake. All she wants to do is "dance like a ballerina". She's re-imagined all of her dolls as ballerinas. All she wants to wear are "ballerina dresses". It kind of seems fitting to let her take lessons in something that she's so into {even if it's just a phase}.

The cute factor - little girls + tutus = OMG level adorable.

Pros for Music Together:
Convenience - As I said, Alice will be enrolling in Music Together, so if Amelia doesn't then that means one parent takes Big Sister to her once a week gig while the other parent takes Little Sister to hers. And as an inherently lazy weekender that feels like less than fun.

Nostalgia - She's been in this class since she was just teeny tiny. It feels like I'm giving up that last drop of babyhood that she had left.

It's family oriented - In Music Together every member of your family participates. We all dance and sing and play instruments with each other. The ballet class has a rule that parents are not allowed in until the last 10 minutes of class so that the children aren't distracted. While I understand their thinking, I also like to have us all join in the reindeer games so to speak.


So, I dunno. I don't have to decide until mid-August which is good because I'm very much still on the fence. Any advice?

.10 months old.

I only have 8 weeks left until my baby turns one and starts to leave babyhood and enter toddlerhood. It's so bittersweet that if I think about it for more than 10 seconds my throat seizes up with choked back tears.

.Look who claps and "sings" now.

Notes: This month Baby Sister has perfected getting into a sitting position from her back to tummy, has learned to pull herself to standing, started to try her hand at "cruising" around furniture, and has a tooth {top left} breaking the surface as we speak {we've long been joking that she's willing herself not to get her teeth in to prolong nursing}.
She still wakes up around 3:00am to nurse but to be honest I think I must have Stockholm Syndrome because I kinda like the special moments with just the two of us. Someday in the very near future she wont need to wake up and I know that I will miss that quiet time with her all to myself more than words
can say.

."Tell Me To Stay" by Nichole Cooper & The Jam.

My friend Nichole Cooper is an amazing inspiration of someone that packed up her life and followed her dream. I've posted about her before {here, here, and here} and I'm always happy to share her latest video with you guys in the hopes of spreading the love of such a great and talented lady.

Please head on over to Youtube and check out her latest {and in my opinion, best} video for the song Tell Me To Stay. Girlfriend's got soul.

click this link to view video

.Grammy's girls.

Below are photos of my mom as a child. The two baby pics look exactly like Alice and the older one {she's 4 years old in it} looks like Amelia. I've given birth to my mother...twice.

.Pre-walking.

As of today Alice can officially pull up to standing all on her own without any help from another person. Once up she's starting to test the waters with cruising around as well. I suspect we'll have a walker on our hands pretty darn soon.
Here are a couple of pictures I was able to snap as soon as I saw her get up on her own - that's the look of triumph!

.Sunshine & ruffles.

.Amelia insisted that I take her picture and then chose this pose; it cracks me up.

 .When did my tiny baby grow up?.

 .Pretty baby.

.Bathtime fun.

You can easily watch this video here on the blog but the quality may be better if viewed on Youtube.

.That's bananas.

A little post-bath monkeying around for ya...

.Look who is 9 months old!.

Weight: 14 pounds & 15 ounces {5th percentile}
Length: 27 inches {24th percentile}
BMI: 2 {yikes that's tiny!}
Eye color: Bright blue
Hair color: the lightest brown or darkest blond depending on the light. Despite how photos look she actually does have hair but the flash always washes it out making her look a bit like Charlie Brown.
Notes: Teeny Tiny is all over the dang place these days. She can army crawl super super fast and is starting to lift up on all fours and rock back and forth which means we're just a short time away from true crawling. She sits up on her own like an expert now and she is working on waiving bye-bye. Her fine motor skills are through the roof good according to the testing at her pediatrician.
Speaking of pediatrician, at this month's check-up Miss Alice was put on a high-calorie diet. Her height/weight ratio is super low. She's on the same curve that she's been on since birth so it's nothing new and she's perfectly healthy so the doctor isn't concerned about a failure thrive BUT since crawling and then walking are just around the corner she'll be burning more calories than ever before and will need the protein and calories to fuel that. We now buy avocados in bulk. My guess is that Baby Sister is going to be super short like her mama.

And just for fun here's a look back at the last nine months...

.2013 trip to Reno.

Last week we packed up the car and headed off on a road trip down to Reno to visit with Cheyenne's family and to celebrate his sister Cara's graduation from the University of Nevada {all done with undergrad and now on to med school this fall - we're super proud of Cara and all of her hard work}.
The girls were good as gold despite the long days of driving {with stops to stretch legs and get the wiggles out it took about 6 hours the first day with a stop overnight and then another 6 hours the next day.}.

 .A pit stop near Odell Lake to stretch out our legs and to kiss the green of Oregon goodbye before a week in the desert.

.After a long day on the road the girls were rewarded with a long swim at the hotel pool. Esther Williams, eat your heart out.

 .Alice & Gramma soaking up some sun at the marina.

 .Daddy and Amelia at the marina.

 .Amelia and her new bff; Auntie Cara. All week long Amelia would follow Cara around like a shadow and demand to blow bubbles with her.

 . Congratulations, Cara Rose!

 .Alice & her great-grandma {p.s. doesn't Grandma look great for 90?!}/

 .Alice trying to convince Daddy that she does NOT need a nap.

 .This is what happens when naptime is skipped.

 .Amelia & her cousin Mila {Mila's Dad is Cheyenne's first cousin, Greg}.

 . I know three little girls who skipped naps and replaced them with playing too much.

.A photo with Grandma & Grandpa right before we left town.