Friday, July 19, 2013

.Just some random photos from this week.

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

.Pretty baby.

.My silly girl.



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

.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.


Saturday, June 29, 2013

.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?