100th Blog Post Extravaganza

This is our 100th blog post!  Let the festivities begin!  Okay, maybe it won't be quite that exciting...

It's been quite an adventure since that day almost four years ago in November 2009 when Kara joined our lives.  Mommy and Daddy had a ton of fun with Kara, and then, in March 2013, Emily joined us.  Life, in general, has been hectic and busy since the girls joined us but so much more rewarding and exciting.  The holidays, in particular, have been much more exciting since then, especially Christmas and Halloween.

Thanks to all our loyal reader (yes, all five of you are appreciated).  It's been fun to share our times with the girls with all of you.  And thanks to everyone for suffering through Daddy's writing.  I'd like to say the writing will get better, but it probably won't.  We've had some great times!  Below is a slideshow of some of the best pictures from the blog. Here's to another exciting four years (and many more after that)!

Link to pictures

We're Home!

After almost five months of fun in the Florida sun, we have headed back home to Colorado.  The travel day was quite an adventure, which included waking up at 4 am, checking in 6 bags, getting 2 strollers and 2 girls through security, and keeping everyone sane for the 3 hour flight.  We are definitely glad to be home!

Kara has adjusted very well to being back home.  She started preschool on our second day home and has been enjoying that.  She also has enjoyed all her "new" toys, which are toys that we couldn't take with us.

Emily is on the verge of crawling.  She will get herself from a sitting position down into a crawling position.  From there, she can kind of lunge and propel herself a foot or so in any direction.  We will have to start baby-proofing the house soon...

Kara quotes:

"I have made quite a mess here" - while helping Mommy clean up some toys

"This dress will really impress my friends tomorrow." - Discussing with Mommy about what to wear to her first day of preschool the next day.

September Blur

The month of September just seemed to fly by.  We had a steady stream of visitors while we tried to get the most out of our last days in Florida.  It started the last week of August when Mimi and Uncle Trey came down to visit.  They spent a lot of time hitting the sites of Cape Canaveral with Kara.  The highlights included: a visit to Kennedy Space Center, kayaking in the Indian River with the manatees, checking out the dinosaur museum, a trip to Downtown Disney, and visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom (it was a busy week). Mommy and Daddy took advantage of the babysitters and spent the weekend at Universal Studios, which was a lot of fun (pictures).

On September 12th, Grandma and Grandpa S. came down from Colorado to visit us as well.  They took Kara to Jungle Adventures, Kennedy Space Center (which was pretty much Kara's favorite place to go down in Florida), and back to Downtown Disney.  Emily is still pretty shy around new people, but she warmed up to them after a couple of days.

Shortly after Grandma and Grandpa left, Mimi flew down to help get everybody packed up for the long trip back home.  Trey came down the following weekend with his girlfriend, Mary Beth.  Everyone except Daddy and Emily headed to Disney World for the last excitement of the summer.  Whew, I get tired just thinking about it all!

Mommy and Mimi bravely drove the girls back to Alabama in one day (Tuesday, Sept 24th).  The trip went fairly smoothly other than a couple meltdowns from Kara and frequent diaper changes and feedings for Emily.  Unfortunately, Mommy and Emily came down with colds as soon as they got to Mimi and Papa's house, so they were fairly miserable.  Daddy arrived on Saturday to get everyone ready for the last push home (more on that the next post).

Emily is doing great these days.  She can sit on her own and really seems to enjoy exploring things by herself (she'll just sit there and play with some rubber blocks for 15 minutes or more), which Mommy and Daddy are excited about.  She sleeps from about 6:30-6:30 most nights, though she occasionally will wake up at 4 am, and takes 2-3 naps per day (usually at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm).  Emily is going through a phase of stranger anxiety.  In general, she seems to prefer to just hang out at home and take things easy, so that's what we do with her whenever we can.

Kara has gotten pretty good at entertaining herself, which is really good since Mommy and Daddy have to spend a lot of time taking care of Emily.  Kara has developed quite an affinity for comic books.  In particular, she seems to really enjoy Spider Man.  She'll sit an read comic books to herself for long stretches of time.  Kara has become quite an artist.  I'll post some of her pictures in a blog soon!

Link to pictures
 

Florida Heat

It's been a struggle every day to keep Kara entertained and Emily comfortable.  It's been quite warm this whole month (low to mid-90's for a high, every day) with no real cool-down at night.  The heat and the lack of visitors has led to a fairly boring month.  We went to Kennedy Space Center a few times (we have season passes, so it's cheap entertainment), and that's about it.  Kara and Daddy did get to watch a Delta IV rocket launch, which was pretty cool (see video below - sorry it's a little shaky, Kara was on Daddy's shoulders and wouldn't sit still!).

Kara Quote:
- (A sign that Kara has watched a bit too much TV this month) "Go to dot com disney junior backslash Spiderman for more information."

Happy Baby!

During July, Mimi and Papa came down for a weekend.  We hit Kennedy Space Center.  Kara enjoyed the space center as much the second time as she did the first.  Now she talks about rockets blasting off and crew capsules all the time.  In addition to the space center, there was an Atlas V launch, which is the rocket Daddy used to work on, while Mimi and Papa were visiting.

Emily is getting very strong these days.  She has figured out how to roll from her back to her front.  This was giving her some trouble at night, but she's now figured out how to sleep on her stomach.  Emily has recently started sitting up by herself.  She was unsteady for the first day, but can now sit up, play and reach for things.  Pretty cool!  She's sleeping very well these days.  Bedtime is around 6:30-7:00 at night, and she stays asleep until almost 7:00 am every day.  She loves it when Mommy and Daddy read her books.  In particular, she seems to enjoy Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Goodnight Moon.  In general, Emily is a very happy, quiet baby.

Kara is enjoying her time down at the beach.  She just wrapped up the fourth (and final) session of Sports Camp.  Kara had a ton of fun playing soccer, tennis, hockey, lacrosse, and just running around!  Mommy will certainly miss it!  Kara's also improving a lot with her swimming.  She can tool all around the pool while wearing her vest (check out the video of her butterfly!).  We're hoping to get her in some swim lessons this fall when we get back home.

On a not-so-good note, Emily is in the middle of her first cold.  Everyone has it, but this is her first time being sick.  So far, she's being a big trooper and trying to sleep it off.  Yay, Emily!

And some Kara quotes that Mommy reminds herself of when Kara is screaming her head off.....

To Mommy: "I love to stay in your hugs!"
                    "I love you.  We are the best of friends.  When I grow up, we'll REALLY be best friends!"

Link to pictures