Nakey play time.

Soooo cute.

TOYS, toys, toys!

We were given so many wonderful gifts for the girls, we have a closet full of clothes and were given all of our "big" gifts (high chairs -- which I absolutely LOVE, our cribs, glider, car seats -- all of which I love, but the high chairs are new to us!), but we didn't get many toys. So, that left David and I the wonderful job of SHOPPING for toys! It has been sooooo much fun, and I have done many hours of research trying to decide which toys my girlies needed. There are still several more that I want to get them, but we took advantage of Babies R Us Super Friday sale and got several great deals.

Since the girlies are learning to sit up, we went for mostly lap and sitting toys. Hopefully they will enjoy them!




Here are some of the toys I still want to get them -- they have great ratings and reviews! If anyone has advice or suggestions of toys to get or avoid, please weigh in!

Movers and Shakers: cow and mouse. This is a simple (and cheap) toy that I think the girls will love, they love shaky toys. I looked all over BRU for them tonight but couldn't find them!


LeapFrog Learn and Groove Musical table.


Chicco Baby Activity Walker (or something like this -- this would be a good Christmas gift for us to give them!)


I really want to get them this Parent Mirror Pound-A-Ball -- David and I watched what toys the kids in nursery enjoyed the most and this one was HUGELY popular!


I think Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Learning Home is just a cute toy for little girls. It should definitely wait until Christmas (or when we have more space!!).


The Fisher-Price Go, Baby, Go! Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle is adorable! Lorren and I spent some time online together today and picked out several of Fisher-Price's new toys that are just too cute! They will be released on August 18th.


The Fisher-Price Go, Baby, Go! Sit-to-crawl Polar Coaster is also adorable... and also not available until the 18th.


And or course there are more, but this will give you an idea of the fun I've had shopping for and researching toys lately! Its so much fun watching my girlies grow and develop new skills. We have so much fun playing with them! Last night they were only happy if they were standing. Tonight they loved sitting (supported by a boppy pillow or bumbo) and playing with their new toys.

I owe you lots of posts

For some reason I've been slack in posting lately. Could it be because we've started solid foods and I am now doing about 2 extra loads of laundry and 3 more runs of the dishwasher per week? Or the fact that Pressy has decided she never wants to let me out of her sight? Which, by the way, is terribly flattering, but its difficult to get anything done!

Did anyone notice I never posted 4 month pictures or stats from their 4 month dr visit? I have the stats, but I didn't take any pictures!! I still feel horrible about that. But we traveled to Greenville for the 4th of July on their birthday and I didn't manage to get any pictures taken.

Well, I am going to catch up. I have several cute photos I've been wanting to share and I'll post the stats and a solid food update and a few other things over the next couple days so check back often (and leave lots of comments, you know I love 'em!).

I'm going to enter...

I never win anything! I used to enter contests but nothing ever came of them, so I stopped. But, there is a Chicco double stroller up for grabs and I would LOVE to win it!! Regina, give me some luck -- or, maybe you should enter, you win EVERYTHING!

Silly Lyla!

I was following my morning routine... Got Lyla out of her crib, put her in her bouncy seat, went back to get Pressley (who is usually still sleeping), to bring her to her bouncy, then I go make the bottles. This morning, when I came back with Pressy I found Lyla almost out of her bouncy! I know I should be buckling them in by now, they are almost 5 months old after all, but neither of my girls "play" in their bouncy seat. I think they see it as a feeding chair and not a fun chair -- the bouncies are where I have always fed them, its been the easiest thing for me, it allows me to feed them both at the same time. Anyway, here is Lyla almost out of her chair! If it hadn't been for the coffee table, I guess she would have toppled right over onto the floor. Her arm got wedged between the coffee table and the bouncy seat. We have been using the buckle ever since!!

Mmmmm, Carrots!

The girls tried carrots for the first time last night. It was so exciting and fun! I put the high chairs together just for the occasion. They are still a little short for the high chairs, but that made it even cuter!

The girlies really seemed to like carrots! Lyla ate well just like she has been doing with the cereal, and even Pressy was opening her mouth and keeping the carrots in and swallowing! And after their feeding time was done they sat in their high chairs and played with toys while David and I ate our dinner, it was our first FAMILY MEAL!! I am so proud of my big girls!

David quickly put together a short little 30 second clip of our feeding time -- which I imagine was a big job since we had the camera on record for about an hour!



And, here are some pictures I took. As you can tell, Lyla was sleepy -- she woke up from her nap early and had already been awake for about 30 min when we started eating, Pressy pretty much got out of the crib (actually the swing this time) and into her high chair so she was a little more perky.






Here are the girlies playing while David and I ate. Such good girls!

I'm in love...

I started making baby food last night. And, I LOVE IT! I love it, love it, love it! I could do this for a living -- is there a way to do that?? If anyone wants home-made, organic baby food, I'm your girl!! I'll make the flavors of your choice, freeze them and you can pick them up (or maybe I can ship them!) anytime. I think I may have something here.... Joelliekins baby food!

The girlies have just started eating cereal this week -- they pretty much demanded it. They went from drinking about 28 oz of formula a day to about 34, they have been waking up in the middle of their naps begging for more food. So, we decided to give cereal a try. Lyla has done wonderful! She takes it in her mouth, makes a funny face and then swallows it -- perfect. Pressy on the other hand.... I can't get her to stop laughing and smiling long enough to give it a try! As soon as I put the food in she grins and giggles and it slides right back out -- perfect -- in Pressy's own way.

So, back to the baby food making. I've always wanted to make my own baby food. I always assumed I would love it. I love cooking, I love babies -- ideal blend of my two favs, right? Well, its more than ideal, its more than a hobby, it is now a passion! In the last 24 hours I've made carrot puree, green been puree, banana whip, pear puree and sweet potato cream (ok, so its sweet potato puree but I thought I'd said "puree" too much). If I had more organic fruits or veggies in the house, they would be baby food by now. I've only stopped because I ran out of foods to turn into baby food.

I am seriously taking orders now... just "comment" with your order! :o) If only it were that easy!!

Ok, enough rambling. Here are some pictures of the process:

First, I steamed my veggie/fruit. In this case, carrots.

Here are the pears cooking... you can't steam them as they are so tender they will turn to mush in the steamer. So, I cooked them in apple juice, for a flavor the girlies are already used to (Lyla has had some constipation problems -- and Pressy too on occasion -- and a little apple juice does the trick!).

Freeze them in ice cube trays. These are the ice cube trays I got as a wedding gift from Sue. I was telling David tonight, how funny it is... I've never used these before because all of our fridges have had built in ice cube makers, but yet I've kept them around all this time and now they are responsible for making my babies food! Kinda cool, huh?

Here is a bowl of carrot ready to eat! Look at that color!! Isn't it brilliant?!?

And here is how I will store the food. Actually, I bought new zip lock baggies tonight, I wrote the name of the food, the date I made it and the date I need to discard it. Frozen baby food only lasts about 6 weeks.


I haven't taken any pictures of the green beans yet, but I will. The green is so lovely! I'm crazy about all these colors. In fact, I want to eat what they are eating, it looks so appetizing! Hey, that might be a new diet idea....

Remind you of something...???

How about this???


David noticed she resembled The Dancing Baby yesterday, it was a funny thought to us. Sorry the video of Pressy isn't any better.... once again, video from my cell phone (its easiest for me, even though we have a nice video camera).

Have you heard of House party??

go to House Party now and register to host a Fisher Price house party. If you are chosen you will get, FOR FREE:

* 1 Laugh & Learn™ Smart Bounce & Spin Pony™
* 1 Laugh & Learn™ Fun with Friends™ Musical Table
* 1 Amazing Animals™ Spinnin’Around Musical Zoo
* 1 Go Baby Go Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle™
* 10 Fisher-Price toys to share with your guests, including Poppity Pop™, Rock-A-Stack®, and Friendly Flip Phone™
* 10 Infant Product Guides
* 10 coupons for the Fisher-Price online store

I have registered for other parties before and never been chosen but I REALLY hope I get chosen to host this party!!!

Thanks Sue, for telling me about House party -- I'm going to be REALLY THANKFUL if this one works out, keep your fingers crossed!!

Just had to share...

I love this picture of Pressley. When we were at my parents house, my mom was holding Pressley and saw that Paula Dean was on TV so she brought Pressy in and propped her up on a boppy to watch because she thought Pressy would "enjoy it". And if she's anything like her mom, she would! The funny part here is that my mom didn't think the boppy alone would give her a good enough angle to view the tv, so she propped her up with a stack of diapers!



She really was into the TV show, totally mesmerized! If you enlarge the picture (by clicking on it) you can see she was saying "Hmmmm, that really does look good, I'm going to have to try that!"

And, yes, I do think my girlies are too young for tv, and they don't watch it at home (other than the occasional glimpses throughout the day), but I've told both of the girls grandparents that they can spoil the girls when they visit -- thats what grandparents are for, right??

Lyla shreiking

Here is Lyla showing off her new found talent... shreiking! She can do it over and over during her whole "wake time" which is sometimes 2 hours long! Its so adorable. And, good news, it doesn't scare Pressley anymore!!

I took the video on my cell phone and didn't know when to end the recording so she stops about half way through but the video continues. David could edit it for me, of course, but I was too impatient, I wanted to post it right away!

Uncle Brent!

As I mentioned, the girls finally got to meet Uncle Brent. It was so wonderful to get to see my brother with my daughters -- at last!! He was so good to them!

He walked around down town Greenville wearing them.

He let them drool on him (drool and spit up happened several times! I think he even had to do laundry... what a great Uncle!)

He read to them.

He played with them.

He swam with them.

And for some reason it seems we only had the camera out when Brent was spending time with Lyla. I know he did more with Pressley than just swim with her!! (and, he swam with Lyla too, which I have a picture of, but she was featured enough in this post!)

Oh, and yes, Lyla has a silly ribbon tied in her hair in most of these pictures. My mom and I tied it in her hair after lunch -- the festive, 4th of July ribbons held our flatware together.

My beautiful niece!!

Isn't Savannah gorgeous??

Water babies!

Pressy went first. We had this brilliant idea to put them in the Bumbo, but, Bumbo's float. It made for some cute pictures though! At first she seemed ok with the pool but got over it VERY quickly! Once she was out of the bumbo and just had her feet in, she was ok with the pool again.


Then it was Lyla's turn! She went in with Uncle Brent and took to the water just fine. She didn't love it but didn't hate it either. She hung out in the pool longer than the other babies, it seemed to eventually irritate Pressy and Savi, but not Lyla!



**Thanks to Aunt Katie for the wonderful pictures!!**

Trip to Greenville

Once again, after a trip, I've stalled blogging. There is just so much to tell!

Here are the highlights:

~The girlies got to meet Uncle Brent!!! Finally!!! My brother Brent lives in Ohio and although the girlies had met his wife, it just didn't work out for them to meet Brent -- he has been very busy with work.

~The girlies are laughing out loud. At everything! They have started laughing more and more every day. For example, as I type, Pressy is lying on the playmat just laughing out loud, not at anything in particular, just laughing.

~Lyla has learned how to shriek. This has actually happened since we've been home. Its so funny! When she first started David and I thought she was upset, then we realized she was happy. She shrieks so loud it scares Pressy and makes her cry. The whole thing is very entertaining. I have to catch it on video tape.

~Pressy finally rolled over from her belly to her back. Shes done it a couple of times, but its always during a nap so I haven't actually seen her do it yet!

~Lyla rolled over from her back to her belly. Unfortunately she rolled right into the coffee table and hasn't done it since. She will get close, up on her side but rolls right back onto her back.

~The girlies have started to notice each other. They stare and smile at each other. Its absolutely precious! Right now, as Pressy is laughing, Lyla has her hand on Pressy's face and keeps putting her hand in her mouth when she laughs. Its so fun to know that they are aware of each other.

~The girlies went swimming for the first time! They weren't so crazy about it -- even with *warm* pool water. They love the tub, but weren't thrilled with the pool. It was just a blow up kiddie pool in my parents back yard. I have fun pictures of this experience and will post soon.