August 28th, 2008

STELLA IS CRAWLING!!!

August 27th, 2008

Our Occupational Therapist and Developmental Therapist have been encouraging us to let the girls get messy and work on sensory and tactile exploration. So I decided to let them try the messy foods again (especially since Stella hasn't been very interested in getting messy.) I thought it might be a good idea to let them try chocolate before their birthday so if there were any allergy issues they wouldn't swell up or break out on their birthday. I was able to find toddler pudding with very little sugar in it, which made me feel a little bit better about feeding them chocolate pudding! They both seemed to know exactly what to do as soon as I put the chocolate on their trays. They didn't need any encouragement this time (they are definitely half Ebbinghaus!) We didn't have any allergy issues, and I don't need to worry about them not being able to feed themselves their birthday cake.
Emerson is crawling around everywhere and is starting to only need to hold on with one hand when standing. Our Physical Therapists are thrilled with how well Emerson is getting around. Emerson talks about her Dada non-stop! Stella is still working on mastering crawling, but she is getting around just fine. She is starting to get very brave when exploring. Stella is also clapping! It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. If you can't tell by the picture, Stella chose to use a spoon to eat her chocolate pudding. She actually fed herself pudding with the spoon, but eventually figured out that her hands were more efficient!

Seriously, she is using a spoon!


Emerson put her face down by her tray and used both hands to shovel the pudding in!


I love this picture...it is classic Stella!


Emerson's not afraid of a mess!


A little bit of chocolate fixes everything...

August 23rd, 2008

Tonight, we had fun with whipped cream! We decided to continue to work on teaching the girls how to feed themselves (since their birthday is coming up.) I don't want to have to spoon feed them their first birthday cake! Since the messy fruits didn't go great, we thought that they might be more interested in feeding themselves something sweeter. (They haven't gotten to eat dessert foods yet.) Emerson is starting to get the hang of it, but Stella is still needing a lot of encouragement!

Messy Stella

Messy Emerson

Ruthi wasn't interested in being messy!

Emerson eating her whipped cream off the tray!

We aren't sure if Stella doesn't like the mess or if she is just fussy from teething...

August 22nd, 2008

Emerson and Stella are getting to a point where they are no longer happy sitting on the floor playing with their toys...they are forcing me to get creative! This week we tried a few new activities that they seemed to enjoy. On Wednesday, the girls attempted to feed themselves peaches. I was planning on this being a very messy activity, so I wrapped their high chairs in plastic and undressed them down to their diapers. Eventually, they figured out that they could eat the peaches off of their hands, but they also had a good time getting peaches in their hair, ears, and everywhere else! James suggested that we let them play in the Radio Flyer box that their wagon came in. I turned the box into a fort for them with windows and taped edges (for safety.) Here are some of the pictures:

Sharing the fort

Emerson eating peaches

Stella yelling at her peaches

Messy girls!

Emerson playing in the fort

Stella playing in the fort

August 19th, 2008

Emerson and Stella got an early birthday present from James' parents. They got an awesome Radio Flyer, and they love it! They look like such big girls riding around in their new wagon. Emerson has started standing up in her crib, but we haven't been able to get a picture of it yet. Stella brushed her own hair today! I was combing her hair, and she took the comb and started running it through her hair. It was so cute. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up.

Thanks for the Radio Flyer, Grandma and Grandpa Benson!


Stella with her leg stuck in the rails of her crib


We tried to get a picture of Emerson standing, but this is the best we have been able to do so far

August 16th, 2008

We took the girls to the Old Thresher's Show today. We thought they would enjoy getting out of the house and seeing something new. They loved it! They didn't seem to mind the loud tractors, and were very interested in what was going on around them. They had pony rides, and we set the girls on the back of one of the ponies long enough to get pictures. Also, Stella now has 3 teeth! Emerson is getting into everything, and loves to harass Rambo. Here are some pictures of our little animal lovers:

Emerson climbing on Rambo

Emerson riding Ernie (she wants a pony for her birthday!)

Stella riding Ernie (she wants a pony for her birthday too!)

August 13th, 2008

We have been trying to get the girls out of the house as much as possible during the day because it seems to help them be less fussy in the evenings. Today we let them play in the front yard, and they seemed to enjoy the beautiful weather and the sunshine. The girls love playing with James, and I am pretty sure that they are going to miss him a lot when he goes back to school next week. Here are some pictures from this afternoon:

Emerson


Stella


Daddy playing with Emerson


Daddy playing with Stella


Stella playing with Daddy's stinky hat


Emerson playing with Daddy's stinky hat


Rambo checking on his girls



They both hate their hats!



Daddy and Stella playing with Emerson

August 11th, 2008

11 MONTHS OLD!

Our babies are growing up! I can't believe they are almost a year old! Emerson started pulling herself up to standing yesterday, and Stella has made up her own version of crawling! It looks pretty silly, but it gets her where she needs to go. Here are some unedited pictures from last week. They look like big girls!

August 5th, 2008

Our friend Sharlla came over last night to get some pre-birthday pictures of the girls to use for their invitations. We used tutus for their pictures...I got the idea from my friend Kim. Her daughter's first birthday pictures were so adorable that I stole her idea! Thanks for the inspiration, Kim, and thanks for more great pictures, Sharlla!

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August 4th, 2008

Can you believe that in just one more week our girls will be 11 months old?! Emerson and Stella both got colds/allergies last week. The trip to Washington DC definitely took a toll on all of us. They both still have runny noses, and we started Emerson's breathing treatments again. Emerson is crawling all over the house, and Stella is waving at everybody and everything! I have been working really hard to turn our third bedroom into a playroom for the girls (I want my living room back)! Here are some pictures from this week and of the new playroom:


Mommy lounging with Emerson and Stella

Stella trying to crawl and Emerson wearing her crown!

This is the outside wall...the window has its own tutu!

This is the inner wall of the playroom. I painted every one of those circles and stripes!

The wall says: "best friends are we, my sister and me" (I painted it, and it was worse than painting the circles and stripes!)

Outer wall and opposite wall