Pool is open for daily fun!

I got Abby a new pool flotation for the summer. It is great! It eliminates the 2 pieces I had been using, and gives her more freedom of motion as she swims, so she swims more on her tummy and less upright than before. And I got Maddy in our pool for the first time last week too! I'm sure there will be many more fun pool photos to post once Mike is home and I'm not in the water!

Baby stretches

This is Maddy doing what she does best these days, being a goofy baby girl! She loves to grab her feet and stretch out her legs!

Swing Time

Well apparently I was a bit late in trying out the baby swing with Maddy. She was definitely ready and LOVED it! The girls were swinging side by side and both thought it was neat! They were giggling at each other, which is the usual routine for entertainment. Maddy sat up like a big girl, never hunched or leaned over and just had this grin on her face the WHOLE time! She is so much fun!! No more sitting in the stroller and watching from afar for this girl!

Silly Abby

I have really enjoyed this last week alone with the girls. Abby seems to be maturing in her own small ways, and it is fun to focus mostly on her and watch her grow. I was cooking in the kitchen one morning, not paying her much attention, and she kept coming in and out with different toys. I guess she was trying to get my attention so when I wasn't looking she hung her "eeyore" lovey on my towel rack. I didn't notice at first so I heard her chuckling in the corner of the kitchen. I turned to look at her and couldn't figure out what was so funny. She pointed at her masterpiece and laughed! "Look mommy".  Sometimes she does the silliest things and I just don't know how the ideas get in her little busy head.

VIDEO:Laughing is addictive watching them

Abby decided to entertain Maddy while she was in her "entertainer".....too much fun!!

Madelyn & Daddy

I got this cute shot of the two of them the day Mike left this past weekend. Everyone says she looks like her daddy......imagine that!

Rubber Ducky....You're the ONE!

TOO FUNNY!!! This 1st photo is of ABBY when she was a baby, and we bathed her in the ducky tub around 6+ months old.

This photo below is MADDY in the ducky tub around 6+ months old. Scary how similar they look!!

But Abby has a little more of the apple face/chin! Maddy is just round!!!! Notice Abby's skinny bird amrs and Maddy's chunky rolly polly arms!!!

And then this is what a 2-1/2 year old looks like in the ducky tub! Still fits and prefers it now.....of course! She gets in right after Maddy gets out and LOVES it! Best darn duck EVER!!!!

Chatty Maddy Video

New Toy

So Abby now thinks that everytime my "work" boxes arrive with toys in them, that they are all for her.

This one was for her (well, for my kit, but for her I guess). And it was a HIT!!! She loves it! It has 3 jingle bells that roll thru the course and come out the drawbridge at the bottom. Hours of entertainment!!

Look who's trying to sit-up!

Maddy will be 7 months next week and is finally starting to show signs of sitting up on her own. I think her chunky belly and chunky thighs get in the way of each other and make her topple backwards. But she is slowly getting it and realizing how fun it is to be at the same level with big sissy.

And then of course Abby went in for a kiss and knocked her over...her she is mid-fall.

Oh Abby, you make me smile

Abbys funny comments this morning after being awake for only minutes....

First thing she said when she walked out of her room when I went to get her, she looked up at the mezuzah on Maddy's door (both girls have one on the outside of their bedroom doors that Great Grandma/Grandpa Reiss gave them) and said "I touch and kiss it" (customary, I'm just surprised she remembers the order of happenings). So I picked her up. She doesn't just touch/kiss it once, she has to touch/kiss each icon on the mezuzah, she's a bit ocd about it!

Second thing she says when I ask her what she wants for breakfast after I offered her a waffle:
"No waffle mommy, I want egg, I stir it up!" Of course then she insisted on holding the egg that was to eventually be hers, then she dropped it on the floor. This was her first exposure to what was in the egg! She said "Yuck" as it spread across my kitchen floor. Nice!

Then I went out to fix the pool cleaner machine that was in a knot, and when I got up to the back door Abby says: "I went pee pee in the potty mommy". I couldn't have missed it with her pants and panties around her ankles as she shuffled across the living room!

Oh, and it was just 8am!!! Its going to be a fun day!!

Maddy Maddy Bang Bang

Maddy loves to hit and shake her toys to hear what noises they make! Its cute because it gets her all worked up at times!

Zippity Car Ride Video

Abby's 1st Fair & Rides!!

On Saturday we went to the annual Chesapeake Jubilee just down the road from us. Our friends Jen/Pete live in the neighborhood across the way which gets roadblocked to prevent people from clogging up their neighborhood with parkers, so we borrowed her vehicle pass and we walked together from their house across the way to the carnival!

We had the 2 Abby's with us, plus her 11 month old son PJ and Maddy too! Jen's husband (who is in Mikes squadron) was away working in FL, so it was great to have Mike there to help the girls on/off the rides so we didn't have to leave the babies in the strollers! Abby just barely made the 36" cutoff for the mini kid rides, but she got an unlimited ride wristband and had a blast! I was a little worried that she wouldn't actually ride anything, or it would just involve tears, but she blew me away!! She was super eager to go on everything! She must be growing up!!!

Swings! I loved that they had this mini version of the swing ride! Of course probably Abby's favorite!

This first ride in the race car was hilarious!!! I had NO idea it was a zoom-type ride. So at each end of the track, it whipped them around really fast! Our poor Abby got squished each time it zipped around, and surprisingly didn't complain until the last zip! My next post will be a hilarious video of it! Oops. Should have watched the ride before putting her on it! Lesson learned!

This is what Maddy did the first 1-1/2 hours we had Abby on the rides! Made life very easy.

The girls are in the bee at the top left of the photo! They loved riding everything together. Made it all much more enjoyable!!

DUMBO! Classic and easy!

My little love bug hanging out in the grass after she ate her lunch!

After the fair we got home, did naps, and then our first EVER babysitter came over to watch the girls so we could have our first date night post Maddy being born! We need at least 1 a month, so we will be making up for lost time once Mike returns the end of June. But we had a great time. We went to a "Cinema Cafe" where you get to see a first-run movie and be served dinner/drinks while you watch! Saved us time, and we got to see a movie in a theater.....something we NEVER do! And the sitter was fantastic! She came highly recommended, is 21 and a junior in college here. She brought her own craft kit to do things with Abby. Fed both girls and put them both to bed! She even cleaned up the house!! She is coming back this week and next while I do my show party's since Mike is gone. So it will give Abby time to really get used to her. But they had a great time!

Stuffed Toy Heaven

Abby still thinks it hilarous to bury Maddy in stuffed animals! It has been my encouragement to get rid of at least half now that I am repeatedly seeing how many we have. This is their only purpose these days. Good thing Maddy thinks it is hilarious! Can you spot her in the pile below???

It is exhausting dumping stuffed animals on your little sister......sigh.....

Fireman Abby

Our kid loves Firetrucks these days. She hears one goes by and her eyes get really big! And if she sees one she spots it out immediately (really she is hooked on Firetrucks and Schoolbuses...the easiest things to spot from the car!!)

Funny Abby saying #101

Me: "Abby, do you want to take a shower with mommy?"

Abby: "Yeah mom"

Me: "Okay, lets get your clothes off and get ready"

Abby: (as she runs to her bathroom)  "I have to go pee in the potty mom. I don't want to pee in the shower"

I laughed so hard. Glad she thought of it ahead of time!

Family Carnival

Yesterday we had a great visit to the Oceana Family Fest mini-carnival on base. It was FREE, and FUN!

Best of all Abby got to experience her first horse ride! SHE LOVED IT! I was so prepared for her to kick and scream the entire time. But she got right on and didn't think twice!

We met my friend Jen and her kids there, so we did the hayride together!

Me and my adorable chunky monkey!

And last but not least, a little face painting! She ate the cotton candy on the way home, that was a treat!

Musical tv

Abby is really into singing the theme songs to her shows nowadays! Today I caught her grabbing her princess horn as she tooted along with the programming music! YES, she puts the whole end of the horn in her mouth, but still blows and pushing down on the button and makes sounds! Little miss creative.

Felt Fun

I cleaned house this week BIG TIME since I had 3 events happening in this one week that I hosted at our house.....got a little booked up I guess. Anyhow, I came across Abby's felt set that I'd put up a while back. She jumped right in!