Royalty

I ran to Target last night and was instructed to buy construction paper to make crowns. 

Guess what Avery and Daddy did today?! 

Made crowns for everyone....yes, all 4 of us have been wearing a crown all day today!

please ignore the fact that C's bib says "Birthday girl!"

You'll notice Gabe and I are not pictured-haha!  But believe me, we were sporting the royal head gear as well!

Starting Solids

On Monday, we decided to start solids with Cassandra!

We got the go ahead from her pediatrician on Friday and we were busy over the weekend so we didn't get a chance to do it. So, it just happened that we started on the day she turned 6 months old!

As soon as we put her in the high chair, she got this huge grin on her face like she knew what was coming...it was so cute!

We decided to start with plain ol' rice cereal....first bite!

not sure what to think

Of course Avery had to help feed her too!

Since it was the first day, she was quite clueless! Her tongue was out constantly so getting the cereal to actually go IN her mouth was quite a chore!  And of course she spit 99% of it back out once it did get in her mouth!

Oh well...she'll learn!

She was happy though!

Six Months Old!

Happy half birthday to my baby girl! It's amazing that you've been with us for 6 months already!

Cassandra is still in size 2 diapers for the day and size 3 for overnight. She's still wearing mostly 3 month clothes believe it or not! She wears some 6 month stuff, but some of it hangs on her because it's so big!

She nurses every 2.5-3 hours during the day and is incredibly nosy! She's a very distracted eater these days!

Cassandra is still an early bird for bed-she's ready to go down around 7-usually she's asleep by 7:30-8pm once I get her in jammies and feed her. She sleeps about 11-12 hours overnight waking up usually once to eat (sometimes twice).

Cassandra still naps well. She does a morning nap about 2 hours after waking up in the morning. Then she'll do an afternoon nap 2 hours after waking from the morning nap. Some days she'll take a third nap around 5pm that's really short-a half hour or so, just to get her through until bedtime. I have noticed that she's harder to put down at times lately-she'll wake up when she hits the crib and then will fuss for awhile. She eventually falls asleep, but sometimes it takes awhile.

New things for this month....she went in her exersaucer for the first time and really enjoys it! I realized the other day how infrequently she goes in the swing. Avery lived in her swing it seemed-although that's where she liked to nap. Cass really doesn't care for the swing so she hardly goes in it anymore!  Cassandra has started to notice Jerri the cat lately and gets SO excited to see her! It's the cutest thing! As soon as the cat walks by, she stiffens up, kicks her legs and squeals with excitement! She can hold her bottle by herself now, but can't quite lift it up really high yet. She loves her feet now-she puts them in her mouth all of the time. She really is such a happy baby and laughs and smiles so much-I just love it!

Here's the "birthday" girl's pics:

Yes folks, she does have a neck!!

Proud big sis!

My faves:

And for fun, here are Avery's 6 month pics! (Wow, I just noticed how huge Avery looks-she looks like a giant compared to Cassandra!)

Water Baby

Last night we went over our friends' house to hang out, swim, and have dinner.

Their kids got right in the pool, which was a little on the chilly side. Avery was hesitant to go in, but finally did go in for awhile. 

Before getting out, we decided to see what Cassandra thought of it.  She really loves taking a bath, so I know she loves the water. She's never been in a pool before though and with it being so big, who knows how she would react to it!  I also really didn't know what to expect with it being chilly.  I didn't even bother getting her bathing suit on because I honestly thought she would last about 2 seconds in the water.

Boy were we all wrong (and shocked!)!

She fussed for a second when Gabe first put her in, but after that? Not a peep out of her. I think she stayed in for about 15 minutes which is way longer than any of us thought!

She's smiling!! I think she might be our little water baby!

After we swam awhile, we had some pizza and wings for dinner and just hung out for a bit.  And Daddy was sitting with his two girls so I had to take a picture!

love Avery's face!

Two Kids, One Appointment

Today the kids both had check ups at the doctors.....Cassandra had her 6 month visit, and Avery had her 3 year visit. 

And yes I'm crazy and took both kids to back-to-back appointments by myself.

I have to say-it was not bad at all. 

I knew going into it that Avery wouldn't be getting any shots, so that right there made the whole scenario easier to me. And the poor kid has been through so much this year that she's a pro at the docs now.

For the first time, Avery got on the big girl scale and they also did a vision and hearing test with her. She did a great job! 

Then we went into a room and Cassandra got her weight and length done. And then we waited for the doctor to come in.

He started with Cassandra first (per Avery's request). Currently she's 24 3/4" long (20th percentile) and she weighs 12lbs 13.5oz (8th percentile)....sister is still a little peanut!  Everything looks good with her and we got the green light to start her on solids!

Then it was Avery's turn.  She's currently 36 3/4" tall (40th percentile) and 28lbs (25th percentile).  She changed quite a bit. Last time they checked her she was in the 75th percentile for height and 10th for weight so she definitely has shifted on us, which is totally fine.  He confirmed with us that her sleep apnea appears to be gone (yay!) based on her second sleep study. We told him that we are starting her on some iron supplements to see if it helps anymore with the restless leg symptoms-he wasn't for or against it, but is anxious to see if it does help her with that. 

Overall, the appointment went really well and both girls are healthy as can be!  Avery doesn't have to go back for another year, but Cassandra will go back in 3 months!

Four Years

Four years of wedded bliss....would do it all over again in a heart beat!

Bring on the Sippy!

Today I decided to start a sippy cup with Cassandra with some water in it.  We started around the same age with Avery, so why not! 

Avery had a Born Free cup, but the spout was so soft that all she did was chew on it and then it ended up just leaking everywhere which sort of defeats the purpose.  This time I bought Cassandra a playtex cup since the spout seems a little bit harder. We'll see how it holds up. 

Avery was all excited to give Cassandra the cup-she couldn't wait!

Cassandra is at the stage where she grabs everything, so she took it from me right away but it took her awhile to figure the thing out!

She got it to her mouth!

Yay I have a cup now!

The girl drinks out of a bottle really well, but the sippy cup....sister is clueless!  She would put it in her mouth and that's about as far as it went. She had no clue to put her lips around it or suck or anything....it's pretty comical!  Somehow she did get some water out and here's her reaction:


Not as good as Avery's first sip

Then Cassandra had some fun "walking" with my Mom...she still has spaghetti legs though so it didn't last long!

Party Weekend!

It was one of those summer weekends that are busy!

Friday evening we had our neighborhood block party. As soon as Gabe came home from work, we went to join the group.  We didn't get there until close to 6pm (it started at 5pm). I only stayed until around 8 because Cassandra was way overdue for bedtime. Gabe and Avery stayed until probably around 9 or so.  We had fun-they had a bounce house set up and tons of food. It was hard having the 2 young kids though because pretty much all we did was chase them around the entire time. So we really didn't get to talk to (or meet) anyone that much. It'll be easier once they're a bit older and can fend for themselves....but let's not rush that! 

Today we had a family reunion to go to. Gabe's Mom's family does one every year at Owasco lake and today was the day-and a perfect day at that!  We left our house by 11am and go there around 12:30.  Again there was tons of food and a lot of people!  Gabe and Avery spent a decent amount of time in the lake with Owen, Bianca, and a bunch of other cousins. I didn't go in the water-I enjoyed the weather in the shade with Cassandra! 

Look at this smiley girl!

Can you tell it was busy? I brought my camera and those are all the pics that I took! Oh well...

We had a lot of fun as always and headed home around 8pm. Both girls crashed on the way home which was nice, although they both wake up when we pull in the driveway! Looking forward to next year's party already!

Tomorrow we have nothing planned which is nice....a little break from all of the partying!

Pistachio Pudding Pie

Ahhhhh.....

This is an oldie but a goodie in our family and super easy too!

I was looking for something "summery" to bring to my Mom's for the 4th-something light and not too dense/heavy-ya know, something that screams out SUMMER!!

This my friends, is it!

Pistachio Pudding Pie

2 cups ritz crackers, crushed
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 pkgs pistachio instant pudding
1 qt vanilla ice cream, softened
3 cups milk
8oz container cool whip

1. Pour cracker crumbs on the bottom of a 9x13" pan and spread out evenly. Drizzle melted butter over cracker crumbs.

2. In a bowl, beat pudding and milk for about 2 minutes.  Fold in ice cream until well mixed. Pour over cracker crumb layer.

3. Top with cool whip and whatever else your heart desires (I used chocolate chips). Refrigerate until serving.

(Notes-You can use more/less butter if you want. I think the recipe calls for 1/2 of a stick but I used less than that. I also used pistachio ice cream instead of vanilla and when adding in the ice cream, I mixed it with a mixer-it's just easier that way for me. You can also use more ice cream than called for-I bought a half gallon and just ball parked it. We keep our pie in the fridge, but you could also try freezing it-I've never done it that way, but I'm sure it's just as good!  And if you don't like pistachio, I'm sure you could use any other flavor of pudding you like instead.)

Happy Summer!

Duck Feeding

Yesterday we took the kids to feed the ducks!

We were trying to think of something to do with them outside, but it was near 90-so we didn't want to melt at the same time.  We decided to head up to the lake and check out the duck situation.

There were plenty! Ducks, geese, and swans (yes all 3 are in this photo!)

Cass just chilled in the chair taking it all in-she was laughing when the ducks would come close to her though-too funny!

Avery had a blast throwing the bread at them! (sorry for the rotated pics)

This one took it right from her hand. I'll say that a few of them were making a hissing sound which sort of scared me and they were surrounding us at one point. Gabe said he was going to have nightmares about ducks biting him that's how many were around us and swarming in on us!

This one looked like a baby-it was so tiny compared to the others and ate right out of Avery and Gabe's hands!

See the hisser? He has his mouth open!

The baby one again:

Yep, swarming in on us!

We had fun and only left with a nibbled toe (mine), a nibbled leg (Gabe) and poop on our foot (mine again)! So it was a success! After they ate, we went to a restaurant right there and had some lunch ourselves!

Independence Day

We had a very nice independence day.

We took a day trip to Buffalo!

We got there by noon and my friend Megan and her little Leigha stopped by to visit.

Megan, Leigha, Cassandra and I

The girls were totally checking each other out-it was so cute! FYI-Leigha is just about 3mos older than Cassandra is.

My friend Jessica also stopped by with her son Connor, who is Avery's age. They were playing a lot outside and at one point pushing this buggy around together-so cute!

Around dinner time, a few of my cousins came by to have a cookout-the usual hamburgs and sausage, corn, etc...yummy!

My Godaughter Kayla with Cassandra

We stayed until around 7:30 then headed home. Both girls passed out within 10mins of leaving and slept most of the way home.

Cass sucking her thumb!

We skipped fireworks this year-it's too hard with 2 little ones! Although our neighbor was shooting them off at almost 11pm-which did not make us happy since we were trying to sleep!!

Happy 4th!