What's New With Leila and Eva

Despite their vastly different personalities there are quite a few aspects of life where they've managed to be on the same page.

~Potty training.  They both love stripping down and sitting on the toilet, but when it comes to actually going potty while sitting there they’re just not interested.  They much prefer sitting atop their throne and just admiring the view.  Oh well.  All in due time.

~I’ve had two little sleeping beauties pretty much from day one, but these last few months I’m starting to feel like I have two teenagers instead of two toddlers.  They've taken it to a whole new level lately.  They head to bed at 8:00 p.m. and this morning they didn’t wake up until 9:30 a.m.  Imagine all the things I can get done in the morning!  (That is, if I wasn’t opting to sleep in myself.)  Plus, they still nap for 3 hours every afternoon. 

~So not only have they picked up my sleeping habits but apparently my shopping habits as well.  They frequently exclaim “Shop, shop!” as we pull up to Target or the mall.

~We love to frequent the local community center pool and the girlies favorite part is the huge waterslide.  They just can’t get enough.  Thus far in life they’re both quite fearless, which definitely means we have to keep a close eye on them.  

~They’re big fans of church.  Whenever we drive anywhere in the direction of the building Leila always asks “Church?”  They both start squealing when we pull into the parking lot of Sundays.  They haven’t fully grasped the concept of reverence which means they’re usually terrorizing the families in the pews in front or behind us during sacrament meeting, but we’re working on it.  Luckily now they both enjoy nursery.  Leila ran right in the first week without a care in the world.  Eva took a little longer to warm up to the idea, but now it’s usually smooth sailing.

~Both girlies love to talk.  Kyle tends to come home from work and immediately turn on the TV.  I say "please no, that is one source of noise in the house that I can turn off."  When it comes to Leila I can understand about 80%.  When it comes to Eva it’s more like 20%.  It’s like she has her own little language that makes perfect sense in her head and she doesn’t understand for the life of her why no one else gets it.

Leila's Latest Endeavors

~She’s completely fascinated with colors.  Her favorites are green, orange and pink.  No matter where we are or what we’re doing she likes to point out all the colors she sees.

~She’s starting to count and say her alphabet a teeny bit.  Kyle and I had no clue she was at all compatible of doing either, so we were floored when she started counting to three or telling us what letter comes next. 

~She has an obsession with Elmo.  Oh yea, and Abby Cadabby, Grover, Zoe, Cookie Monster.  Pretty much anything Sesame Street.  It's not at all unusually if out of nowhere she drops everything, runs up to the TV, and start jumping up and down in circles asking for "Elmo?! Elmo?! Elmo?! Elmo?!"

~She loves taking care of her baby dolls.  She’ll hold them against her shoulder while bouncing up and down and saying “shh” as if to calm them down.  I also find her sitting in the dark in the rocker in her bedroom cradling her baby doll as she rocks back and forth.  One day she laid her baby doll down on the floor pulled out a diaper and the wipes and proceeded to “change” her diaper.

~Before bed she always asks for Jesus, which she means she wants Mommy to sing the Primary song "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus".  I'm rarely in tune, but she always seems to enjoy my little solo anyway.

~She hates sleeping in pants.  She takes them off almost immediately after getting in her crib.  One day I said goodnight and walked out of the room then suddenly remembered I forgot something.  I walked back in, no joke, less than 10 seconds later and her pants were already off.

~She’s one of those little kids that seems to have springs in her feet.  Walking somewhere takes at least twice as long because she loves to jump her way there instead.  I'm probably not helping matters by chanting "Higher, higher, higher!" every time she starts.  (Gotta build up those quadriceps.)  If we had more space we definitely get a trampoline.

~She LOVES yogurt smoothies.  The other morning she randomly woke up hours early and when I went in to see what was the matter she said "ogurt pleeeeeease".  Lovely, that's exactly what I wanted to do at 6 in the morning.

~I like to call Leila my Little Bean because she's a good two inches shorter than her sister.  She likes to make up for it with extra spunk.

Eva’s Latest Endeavors

~Eva’s very good at fetching.  She would make a really good Golden Retriever.  I can always count on her to eagerly dash off to fetch me things at my request.  She’s very eager to please and loves when we’re proud of her, which consequently means she’s devastated when we’re not.  She frequently melts down in the middle of disciplining.

~She’s our little thief.  All the cupboards have safety latches, yet somehow she manages to “steal” snacks out of them all day long.  Just this morning I walked in to find her sitting and snacking on a kitchen floor covered in pretzels.

~She’s a hugger.  She’ll sprint in your direction for no particular reason just to throw her arms around you in a big bear hug and then doesn’t want to let go.  She’s always been my cuddlier baby.

~Eva’s a busy little thing with tons of energy.  I can always count on her to completely trash her toy closet in a matter of minutes.  She has a significantly shorter attention span than her sister which means that she’s constantly looking for something new for her to make a mess of.

~She’s already discovered the art of distraction.  When she’s being disciplined she immediately changes the subject in the hopes that the scolding will stop. 

~My obsession with shoes is not lost of Eva.  She digs in my closet and then puts on a fashion show of her favorite finds.  She’s even begun to master the art of walking in heels.  I have to say I’m rather impressed.

~Neither of my girls have very praiseworthy table manners, but I’m pretty sure Eva’s the instigator.  She has a knack for throwing everything she’s not interested in on the floor and then encourages Leila to join in on the fun.  When she runs out of things on her plate she likes to climb out of her highchair (she wiggles her teeny little hips out of the straps) and begin to throw all the items out of the fruit bowl that sits in the center of the table onto the floor.

~Eva loves her Sleep Sack.  I was sure those things would’ve been retired a year ago, but she just thinks it’s so cool.  She’d probably wear it around the house all day if I’d let her.  When I ask her if I can take it off she tends to dramatically throws her head to the side and says “No!” and then runs away.

~She’s still a good two inches taller than her sister but a skinny little thing.  Despite her couple inches on Leila they still weigh the same.

~Those that know me know that I am not a fan of clutter and messes (a trait I’m sure I inherited from my mother).  I rarely leave the house before every bed is made, every toy put away, the table is cleared, the sink is empty, etc.  Well, unbeknownst to me, Eva has already inherited this trait.  On the rare occasions that I try to get us out of the house before the table is cleared or her toys are put away she freaks out starts jumping up and down and frantically trying to put everything away that’s not in its proper place.  Oh gosh, what have I started?!

Look Who's Two!

My little monkeys turned two last month.  Which means we definitely have two full-blown toddlers running around our house these days.  Long gone are the days of babas and Baby Einstein.  Now I am greeted each morning with demands for a glass of milk and Elmo (most of the time before I've even gotten a chance to brush my teeth).  Luckily we're still in cribs, so those demands don't come by way of two toddlers scaring the heck out of me by creeping up next to my bed each morning...at least not yet.  I'm still nervously awaiting for the day that happens though.  Leila climbed/fell out of her crib a couple weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure it scared the heck out of her, because she has yet to repeat the venture.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Since I love entertaining I couldn't resist throwing a little celebration for them.  They still don't really grasp the concept of a party, but they have the present thing down pat.

We're still trying to finish off the leftover candy. 

I got a little bored during nap time one day, so I thought I'd try my hand at a birthday banner.  It turned out pretty cute considering I was making it up as I went.

Barely any guests had arrived and they were already itching to open presents.

It was a birthday brunch, so the menu consisted of a French toast souffle with buttermilk syrup, fresh fruit with a French cream dip, and maple glazed bacon.  I know, it sounds super kid-friendly, right?  Luckily all the kiddos loved it.

Leila was very excited to try out her new stylish sunglasses and backpack.

Fun Times

Springtime brings all sorts of fun, including the girlies new favorite treat. Free baby cones from Dairy Queen!  (Thanks for letting us in on the secret, Amber.)  This is them actually being surprisingly neat.  It could have been much worse.

We also love chillin' at the pool with our friends. There's a community center here has a huge baby area, plus a lazy river, slide, whirlpool, and probably much more. The kiddos have a blast!

The girls love flirting with Angie's little boy, Cale. He's so handsome.

"Well, hello there, Miss Eva."

As always, Eva's a blur because she won't sit still long enough for the camera on my phone.  Luckily, my mom joined us. I don't think I could handle the chaos of two excited swimmers without an extra set of hands. :) 

Peek-a-boo

The girls have always loved peek-a-boo but lately Eva's taking it up a notch. She now throws everything out of the cupboard, climbs in, and waits for me to exclaim "Where's Eva?" at which point she throws open the door to reveal herself.

Sick Again

Boooo!  The girls are sick...AGAIN!  This time they caught that hand, foot, and mouth virus.  Luckily it doesn't seem to bother them too much.  They barely had fevers and those are gone.  Plus, the little rashes supposedly don't itch.  But poor Eva's got it all over her bummy and I'm pretty sure that hurts and she's got a couple in her mouth which can't feel good.  She burst into tears while eating her lunch today. :(  Doctor says they are no longer contagious once the fevers are gone, but we'll keep 'em inside for another day or two just to be safe.  That means we'll miss church tomorrow, but I know as a parent I wouldn't really want a little one hanging around my kiddos when they had a bit of a rash, even if it's not supposed to be contagious anymore.  Hopefully we all don't go crazy couped up in the house for multiple days in a row. :)

 Being sick is a perfectly good reason to hang out in our jammies all day.

"Mommy, I want the camera!"

"And I shall take it!" (If you look close you can see a bit of the rash on her cheeks.)

Eva's a blur because she was jumping on the bed. :)