Nooooooo!

The high pitched little "Noooo" makes us smile now, but I'm sure it will make us cringe soon.....very soon.

The Science Museum

Will had a week of vacation last month, but the weather was horrible and Ally and I ended up getting really sick, so it ended up being more of a staycation. We did manage to squeeze in a short day trip to Berkeley to visit the Lawrence Hall of Science. I used to go there all the time as a kid and I remember always having lots of fun. It made me smile to see the girls enjoy it just as much as I did as a kid.

Sophia's favorite part was playing on the whale in front of the museum (which was my favorite part too!)

Ally's favorite part was the air blowing machines that shot trash up into the air.

Will and I's favorite part was the view. It was windy, but we had a fantastic view of the entire Bay Area.

Since Ally was sick, she ended up crying the entire way home. A lollipop kept her happy temporarily, but it was only minutes before she threw it on the ground and resumed screaming, making the drive home a looong car ride.

Sophia's been asking regularly now to go back to the "science museum" and we can't wait to have another opportunity to take her.

20 Months

Twenty months?? That means only 4 months from now, my baby is going to be 2! *sniffle* We took Ally in for a check up and our lil peanut weighs 23lb 10 oz, which is in the 25th percentile, and measures 32 inches, which is in the 50th percentile. Her beautiful blond hair has grown quite a bit and I can't help but wrap my fingers up in her gorgeous curls. Ally's progress with her speech seems to have stalled again and she's relying almost entirely on gestures and sounds to communicate. She can say hi, bye, uh oh, nana (banana), and baby perfectly, but all her other words still sound like babble. Some new additions to her vocabulary are "wawa" for flower, "gogo" for sticker, clicking her tongue when she sees a bird, and gasping when she sees Barney. We love her toddler speak, but we've been working with her regularly to help bring her up to speed.
Despite our efforts, we just can't understand a majority of what Ally is trying to tell us, which leads to frustration for all of us. Her pediatrician has diagnosed her with an expressive speech delay and has recommended she have a formal speech evaluation. She's not very concerned, and neither are we, but we all think Ally might catch up a little faster with the help of speech therapy. For some reason, mealtime has become a challenge with Ally lately. She's becoming more and more picky, and she hates to have food she doesn't want sit on her plate, so the combination results in a huge mess. If she's in the mood for table manners, she'll eat an entire meal with her silverware and carefully wipe her face with a napkin. Unfortunately, she's not in the mood very often. Unlike her older sister, Ally is an avid climber. I joke that she is half billy goat because every time I turn around, I find her standing on the back or side of the couch, standing on the coffee table, standing on the top of Sophia's book shelf, or standing on my bedside table. It drives me nuts because #1. She's very accident prone and #2. It makes it very hard to keep things out of her reach. She loves to organize and pick up small objects, which would seem like a good trait, but she now purposely makes messes so she can clean them up. She'll dump over containers of crayons, markers, puzzle pieces, etc. If she were as good at cleaning up the messes as she was at making them, I wouldn't mind as much, but I guess practice makes perfect!

Fortunately for her, Ally is also one of the sweetest most lovable little girls ever created, which makes it very easy to forgive her and very hard to discipline her!

The Ball

During my last Costco trip, I was standing in the check out line when I saw this huge inflatable ball on display. It had two holes that were large enough to crawl into and several see through patches. The kid in me just HAD to get it ( and I noticed the weight limit was 150 lbs, which means I really could play in it too!) It took Will and I much longer to inflate than the instructions indicated, but once it was ready to go, the girls were thrilled.

It was cute to see the girls with "crazy hair" when they were inside The Ball.

News of The Ball spread through the neighborhood quickly, and in less than a day, every kid on the block had knocked on our door to play with it. Will and I quickly got sore backs from rolling The Ball full of kids around the living room, so they learned how to roll The Ball themselves.

Now that the novelty has worn off, we're not sure what exactly to do with The Ball. We're hesitant to deflate it since it took us so long to blow it up, but it's so big, we can't fit it out our door to pass on to a neighbor or even put in the garage. So for now, it's remains an "accent piece" in our living room!

Funny Kid Videos

I thought it was so cute when Ally and Sophia were blowing bubbles together in the bathtub, that I had to take a video. I had no idea that blowing bubbles would lead to blowing chunks!

We also took a video of Ally learning the hard way that it's a bad idea to fall asleep in the living room in our house!

Sophia's 4th Birthday Party

I can't believe our sweet Sophia is 4 years old! This year she decided to have her party at Artbeast Studio, which is an art/dance/play studio for kids. They got to paint on the walls, play with playdough and sand, and lots of small puppets and kitchen toys, all without parents worrying about the mess.

Sophia was excited to see her party room all set up for her friends and family. She was also excited to wear the outfit that her friend Macy's mom handmade for her big day.

The kids all got to make masks and they had a great time playing with glue, glitter, feathers and lots of other stuff that parents usually hate.

After working up an appetite, the kids munched on pizza, fruit, and veggies, leaving plenty of room for cake. Sophia chose a Rapunzel cake from the movie Tangled. The cake ended up blending perfectly with the Artbeast theme.

We got a classic video of everyone singing happy birthday, which included a little boy rushing in to blow out the candles, and Ally looking all 4 directions before sticking her finger in the cake!


The birthday girl got the first piece of cake, but she was happy to share with her little sister.

Next up: PRESENTS!!! Sophia's friend Elizabeth volunteered to be the official "card reader" while Ally was the unofficial "present chooser."

Sophia ended up getting 3 of the exact same Rapunzel dolls. Her friends sure know her well!

She also received some new art supplies, a color bubble gun, and some step 1 reading books. Grandpa remembered that her old bird feeder had fallen apart and gave her a new one complete with bird seed. She's excited to decorate it so Sophie Bluebird and Ally Brownbird will spend more time in our backyard.

Sophia had fun having all her friends together and wasn't nearly as shy as she has been in the past. It's been amazing to watch her transition from year to year into the amazingly sweet, bright, not-so-little girl she is today.

18 Months

Ally is finally talking!!! She now knows 12 signs and says 15 words, but a lot of her speech still sounds like babble. To help us figure out what she's saying, she includes a sign or gesture for clarification. So "ba ba" could mean "baby"," bottom", "belly button", or "where's the ball", but she has learned to sign or gesture so we know what she's trying to say. This break through in communication has eased her frustration quite a bit, so that her breath holding tantrums seem to have come to an end (fingers crossed!), although she can still throw a real doozy if properly provoked.

Ally and Sophia are able to play together more and more these days. It's fun to watch them enjoy each other's company. Ally is always imitating Sophia and is quickly learning how to play school, family and kitchen. Sophia thinks it's hilarious to do something silly and watch Ally imitate the same behavior.

She is still relatively fearless and still doesn't seem to have the coordination and agility to match her speed. Because of this, Will now puts her in a bike helmet whenever she plays outside, and she now comes up and asks for her "hat" as soon we head outdoors.

Ally is quickly learning how cute she is and has started using it ruthlessly to get what she wants. She has been kissed multiple times by some of the boys in Sophia's preschool class, and the staff at the gym have admitted that she's one of their favorites. Several times a day she whips out her big dimpled grin and signs for "candy" or "cookie" and it's soooo hard to tell her no.

We've known from day one that she was going to be a handful, but she's quickly becoming a triple threat with her strong will, her speed, and her charm. She can be a challenge, but she's also a pure joy to parent and love.