seventeen months...testing, testing, testing!!

Lyrics from our friend Barney::: "What fun the world would be"!

Who knew what FUN the world would be with our two little ladies entirely running our household??

Not us -- that's for sure!!

In just this past month....the girls are LOUD and PROUD of their feelings, words and emotions!!

We definitely have two strong-willed ladies on our hands.......a quality that I remind myself (hourly) will serve them well throughout their lives.  :-)

Right now the girls seem to be putting the hubs and I to the TEST with almost everything.

Here is a photographic example:

They are testing their boundaries in every way possible.  They want to stand on top of and climb everything.  And -- they typically look at us (while doing it) with huge smiles on their faces.  When we tell them "NO"....they simply giggle and go back for more.  TEST!!!!

They are also very physically strong and use their strength to protest all diaper and clothing changes.  This -- to be completely honest -- is my mental and emotional challenge every single day.  Due to their intense dislike of being changed.....we battle round and round through it all day long.  As you can imagine...this TESTS me.  I try with all my might to take VERY deep breaths and remain as calm as possible.  But I'm not trying to kid anyone -- it's tough!! Once the change has been made....they melt into my arms.....and that sure seems to help me recover from the battle.  I am very confused as to why they have such HATE for this process....AND it's BOTH of them.  Any words of advice or wisdom would be more than welcomed .... but that is whole other blog post in itself!!

Both ladies have mastered the art of climbing up AND down our staircases.  And, I'm actually glad to have that "falling" worry behind me (for the most part).  We typically leave the gates open (and all doors closed) and they are free to roam up and down.  It's provided some great entertainment. 

In just the last week or so ... they have finally started to notice a cartoon on TV.  It has been nice to put on, Barney for example, and have it catch their eye or ear.  Even the music seems to help distract them.  I usually set up a "video viewing area" and they seem to enjoy that....for a couple of minutes anyway! And as you can see even Hank joins in for Barney viewing! ;)

Now .. let's talk about Ms. K a little bit........due to some serious teething lately she has been a bit of a fussy basket case.  Her emotions are all over the place.  She has such a tender little soul and so if she's melting down ...... it's serious sadness.  When she's feeling well, though, she is just as sweet as pie.  She loves to pet our pooch and pull his tail, too.  She has so many words and all we can do is ask her to repeat them over and over again so we can SMILE all day long.  She has three favorite words (at this moment)......

1.) NO!!!! And she kind of says it in a higher pitched Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo.  She says it in response to everything and even nothing.  She just says it at she walks around the house. And for sure if you ask her a question she always says....Noooooooooooooo.  Just this morning when I opened her door .. the first word out of her mouth was NO!!  No, what? I want to ask her! ;)

2.) Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!  Daddy taught her this word and it is so sweet.  She mostly repeats this word if we say it to her -  which is, of course, constantly because it's so cute.

3.) EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!....as she runs to her high chair begging to eat!

Other random words for Ms. K: up, out, ma-ma, da-da, ball, butt, what, oh-oh.

Ms. K continues to love to get her groove on and lights up our life doing it.  She has all four molars popping through and has worked very hard for them (as has mommy!!).  She loves to sit and look at books and wants to be read to as often as she can find a warm lap to sit in.

Ms. R has had to take the backseat lately to Ms. K's teething woes.  She has done pretty well through "most" of it.  Ms. R is so unbelievably busy from the moment she wakes up until she finally decides to fall asleep at night which continues to be in protest of her bedtime.  She is just a very active kid.  But - she will take the time to STOP right in the middle of what she is doing and snuggle with me.  I love it!!!! She is a very warm and snugly little lady and it just melts my heart.  She is such an interesting mix of mommy and daddy!  Ms. R's vocab is increasing, too.......her top words are.....

1.) Tickle...tickle....I wish I could describe how she says it.  It's priceless and she often wants to tickle Ms. K which doesn't always go over very well!

2.) Hi........in a very "high" pitched tone!

3.) Ma-ma/Da-da..........it's a tie!!

Ms. R has also recently started telling Hank to "stay"....and loves to use the word......NO!! All of her molars have also popped through and we are hoping we are on the home stretch with teething...for awhile.  A mama must dare to dream!!!

Overall this has been a really fun month.  Mostly just because the girls have learned so much.  They are little sponges soaking up what the world has to offer.  I love how pure and innocent they are.  They are truly helping us see life in a completely new light!

My FAVORITE new thing for this month (which just started this week with daddy home) is their willingness to hold our hand while we are walking.  It's obviously quite hard for me to teach them this by myself so having daddy's help with this has been huge!!

These photos just melt my heart...

It's really hard not to feel sad that daddy's week of VACA is ending today, but I am trying, instead, to be thankful and grateful for our wonderful time together.  We always have so much fun when we have the opportunity to be together as a family.  Having the hubs around more these past few days reminds me of what an amazing daddy he really is.  We are three lucky gals to have such an awesome man in our lives!!

NEXT months the girls will be a year and a half old.  Wowza.....that's all I've got to say....for now!!!

With love,

Cuz I'm the mama!