Busy, Busy, Busy

All is well in Babyland. Chase and Olivia are amazing and changing every day.
Not only is Chase talking up a storm but his imagination is also growing. He loves to pretend he is cutting my hair and even gets pretend gel to put in my hair at the end of the haircut. This week he was been playing with a big box, which he turned into a garbage truck. He uses our toy bins as trash cans and dumps the trash/toys into the "truck" and then drives the truck away "beep, beep, beep" (our garbage truck backs up in front of our house so the sound a garbage truck makes is the backing up beep, beep, beep). He has also mastered the screw driver and drill (yes, an adult drill) he has been very entertained taking the screws out of the door hinge plates, door knobs, etc.
We are traveling to my parents house next week so he has been super excited about seeing his Grammy and Poppy. He asks at least 10 times a day if we are going to Meemee and Poppy's house. He understands today and tomorrow but "in a couple of days" is a little hard to grasp.
I know he is really excited about going to NY but I am a bit anxious about flying with both babies. We have purchased some new (and travel friendly) toys which hopefully will save me from my worst nightmare- both babies crying or worse squirming to get down.

Olivia is getting so big. She still isn't crawling but I think it is because she is so good at her army crawl she doesn't see a need to get up fully on her hands and knees. She is sitting up really well and can sit by herself without falling over or lunging for toys. She has also started drinking from a sippy cup. She can even hold it by herself. We have started feeding her 2/3 meals a day and some finger food, which she is doing really well with. We have not had even one episode of the coughing/choking that is so common when little ones first learn to eat. She is getting in her upper 4 teeth, one has broken through, two are 1mm from breaking through and the last one is just visible under the gum. She has been a bit cranky and has had trouble sleeping with all these teeth coming at once but she is still overall a super sweet, happy baby.

Ryan and I are doing good. We have been doing a small remodel of our downstairs bathroom (removing wallpaper, painting, changing vanity, toilet, and accessories). It is challenging to find the extra time in our crazy weekend to work on that as well. Hopefully it will be complete some time this year ;)

Talking Up a Storm

Here are some new videos of my little ones. Chase has learned to count to ten. First he learned to count to three (probably because I am always saying "Mommy is going to count to 3 and if you aren't ____fill in the blank________you will get a timeout 1,2, 3") Then we started counting out 10 seconds for Olivia to have a turn and he caught on really quickly. This video was about 2 days ago but he is already able to go from 1 to 10 without help. It is so cute!!

Olivia has become much more vocal also. She does a lot of dadada and bababa. We were walking thru the grocery store and Livi was going dadada and then Chase would respond, "No Dada at work" It was really funny.

Photo Fun

We just returned from a photo shoot. It is always stressful and difficult but we got some nice pictures so it is worth it. Isn't my girl so big!! She enjoyed the shoot, Chase on the other hand was over it in the first 5 minutes!

Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July we went down to Misti, Ardeis and Sureya's house. We joined them for a barbeque and some swimming. Sitting in Misti's pool on a wonderful summer day overlooking the ocean was so relaxing. Chase didn't get many pictures because he insisted on being the camera man but he had a great time exploring the new toys (not to mention the cabinets, closets, remotes, telephone system, CD player and he even managed to set off the panic button on their alarm system). Misti's mom, Ida, was there and was a huge help with the babies. She was great and it allowed Ryan and I a few minutes of adult time :)

Movers and Paddlers

Here are some new videos of my little ones. Olivia is really getting around. She can get up on her hands and knees but is still moving with her belly on the ground. The other video is of Chase swimming last weekend. He has a floaty vest on. He is doing great and loves going to the pool. I have found it so much more relaxing now that I don't have to worry about him every second. We have been hitting the pool 2-3 times during the week. I probably would go more but I need another mother to go with because it is really hard to go by myself. I tried one day last week and I was so frazzled after struggling to keep Chase in the big pool (he wanted to run back and forth between the kiddie pool and the big pool) and then getting them both changed into dry clothes (what a fiasco) I must have said "don't touch the toilet" twenty times. I decided I wouldn't try that again for a while.

Little Swimmer

Here Chase is getting his award on the last day, doesn't he look sooo happy :)

Despite all of the trauma we endured Chase has grown a lot as a swimmer. He is kicking really well and with a swimming vest on he is able to keep himself above the water and move around in the pool. Today we went swimming with some friends and he had so much fun being independent in the pool. He was having a great time, which for a boy who hated being in the pool just a few months ago this is a major accomplishment.