Loooooong Update

So much has been happening around here that I haven't been able to keep up with the blog! It is exhausting being home all day with two young kids, but doesn't help that I stay up so late working on various research projects either :) This is a really long, wordy post! It is really for me to remember what the girls were doing at this age, so don't feel like you need to read the whole thing!

Raelyn Update:
Raelyn has been one busy gal lately! We started tumbling class and she absolutely LOVES it! We talk about tumbling and her teacher Miss Lacey all week and almost every day Raelyn asks if she gets to go to tumbling. In her class they do forward rolls, backward rolls, bridge ups, and jump on a trampoline. The picture above is one of her many forward rolls she does at home. She likes for me to put down a "mat" so that she can tumble. She can do the roll by herself, but can't stand up without her hands yet (it will be awhile before she has the ab strength to do that!).

Raelyn's newest obsession is for her to tumble or sing while I video her with my camera over and over and over! She always wants to watch it and she giggles the whole time. She can sing the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Pat-a-cake, the bumble bee song, and a couple others by herself so we have been doing video of those over and over :)

I am coaching cheerleading again this year (as much as I can) and we have been having conditioning after school for the past 2 months. As part of conditioning, I make the girls sit against the wall and sing our school song twice before they can stand up. I usually do this with the girls and Raelyn always likes to join us. She likes hearing the school song so I have to sing it OVER AND OVER AND OVER while she dances and does forward rolls. It's really cute, but I get a little sick of singing the same song over and over. Raelyn also likes to do lunges like the cheerleaders. She is so funny because while at practice she won't do stuff with the girls, but when we are home she is always stretching, doing lunges, jumping and dancing like the cheerleaders!

The BIG NEWS is that Raelyn is potty trained!!! We have tried potty training several different times in the past year and she just wasn't interested. I would work at it for a couple days and give up because she was totally uninterested and would just cry if I even mentioned sitting on the potty! Two weeks ago I decided it was about time to try again. One evening I made sticker charts, wrapped up little presents for when she used the potty, and wrapped up little suckers as a present for sitting on the potty. After the first day, she just got it! She has only had 2 or 3 accidents in the last week, but it wasn't really her fault.... we were too far from a potty. She is even staying dry during nap and at night!

Lately she just seems SO grown up, especially in the way she speaks. She is a preschooler now, not a toddler, and especially not a baby! The other day she said "Reghan, watch this! I do stuff and you laugh!" She often says "I love mommy and daddy, and Reghan." It is so sweet to watch Rae and Reghan interact. It wasn't so sweet the other day when Raelyn dropped a bin of toys on Reghan, but those moments are few and far between!

Reghan update:

Reghan will be 4 months on Thursday of this week!! She is laying on her belly and holding her head up for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, especially when I lay in front of her playing with toys. She is laughing sometimes, which is so cute! She is super ticklish!! I like to tickle her under her arms and on her neck and she just giggles and giggles. Reghan is really a mommy's girl! During the day, unless she is sleeping, she doesn't like for me to be out of her sight for long. She really loves to snuggle and be held! I feel like I hold her almost all day (which makes it hard to get anything done!) She does not like to nap during the day! She takes short little naps throughout the day and rarely sleeps for more than 45 minutes.

Reghan really enjoys watching Raelyn play. I will put her in her bouncy seat or hold her while sitting on the floor and she just follows Raelyn back and forth.

I'm excited to see how much she weighs at her appointment. We weighed her here at home and it was 14.1 pounds. She is SO long!! In clothing, she easily fits into 6-9 month clothes when the top and bottom are connected (sleepers, onesies). She is growing like a weed because she eats so much! She is still nursing every 2 hours!!


WARNING: THE NEXT STORY IS ABOUT BREASTFEEDING (don't read if you don't want)

I debated about sharing these stories about breastfeeding on the blog, but I decided they are too funny not to share...especially for other mommies. OK, the first story happened a long time ago when I first started pumping (I pump to have some milk stashed in the freezer). I was sitting in the living room pumping when Raelyn woke up and came out of her room. She had never seen me do this before, so she was very intrigued. She asked alot of questions and then looked at me and said "Good Job Mommy!" I laughed and laughed! It was so funny.

About that same time I was feeding Reghan and half way through was switching sides. I picked Reghan up, burped her, then laid her back down on her other side. When Raelyn saw this she said "Is the other one all gone?" She is so observant!!!

About a month ago, Raelyn was playing with a doll's bottle and she took the top off and pushed the bottle against her chest and said "Mommy, I'm putting milk in a bottle for Reghan like you!" (like pumping). It was too funny!

Most recently, I was changing Reghan's diaper after feeding her. Raelyn climbed up into the chair when I was done and pulled up her shirt and put her baby doll to her chest and said "Mommy, my baby is eating my boob too!" LOL She cracks me up!