Mother's Day

We had (I had) a nice Mother's Day. The weekend started off by me spending a few hours in Ava's class for the "Fancy Nancy Mother's Day Brunch!" It was fun to spend some time with her in that environment!

Knowing that Sunday would be a very busy day for us, when I walked into the kitchen on Saturday was a beautiful bouquet of flowers (from Michael), along with several gifts. The best part - the disclaimer from Michael! He said, “Just so you know, Ava picked out everyone of your gifts." Is that a good thing or a bad thing?! I received some bath products, a stuffed pig and a snow globe. In addition she picked me out a plant! Very sweet.

Sunday afternoon was spent with the family; they came to our house for a bbq. It was fun just to relax and hang out with them. We went swimming, ate great food and spent some quality time just talking. Good times.


Here are some pictures from an impromptu photo session with Carrie Fay on Saturday night!

A Month Already?

Wow. I was even paying attention to the fact that it has been a month since my last post. I say this all the time, but it really is insane how fast the time flies. There's been a lot that's new since I last wrote, so here is the latest update!

Ava has officially completed her swimming lessons. She is now a fish! She loves to go swimming and it's extremely comforting to know that she has the skills necessary to do so. She jumps off the side of the pool all on her own and comes right up to a float. It's really amazing how well she is doing; every time she swims I'm blown away.


She is also beginning the process officially of potty training. Part of the problem has been that while we want her to be out of diapers, we haven't been as consistent as parents as we need to be. So - we've begun. They're working with her at school as well; she has been using the potty about 2 times a day. Not too much longer and we'll be there. I will for sure do a victory dance when that day arrives!

Emma will be six months old next week. I can't even believe it. She is doing so well and is such a happy and content baby. Last night Michael was playing with her and she was giggling away - it was the first time I had heard her actually laughing - it was so cute!

She has begun to eat solids, first with oatmeal then onto peas. This week she is eating carrots - yum! She does pretty well with them; she's learning to swallow instead of just spitting them out at us. She's still rolling all the time from her back to her tummy, but is still not consistently rolling from her tummy to her back. It will come in time.

Here are some recent pictures taken by my friend Ginger Morby. She loves photography and is great at it. Enjoy!

Feet and Curlers

Emma has officially found her feet! She's been playing with them every day for the last couple of days. She hasn't quite got them into her mouth yet, but she loves hanging onto them and rolling from side to side!


She also rolled from her tummy to her back yesterday for the first time all on her own! Here is a picture of her in the middle of the roll!

Ava wanted to make sure that she wasn't left out from the camera too, so here is Ava "finding her feet" as well! Don't mind the crazy hair, they had just woken up! :)

Later last night, after swimming lessons, we gave Ava a bath and I put her hair in curlers for the first time. She was so good and just sat there and let me do her hair! Unfortunately, by the time she woke up, they were all out, not one of them made it through the night...bummer.

Yesterday was a fun day, hope all is well for everyone. Here's one more "cheese" picture to help brighten your day!

Busy week in the Garland home...

So this has been an extremely busy week, both with work and with the girls.

Ava officially started her swim lessons, and while she's not completely enjoying going under on her own (ok that is an understatment to say the least - she screams the entire time!), however, she's progressing well. Her instructor says that most kids cry for the first week to two weeks until they become more confident in the skills they're learning, but that it doesn't effect their learning process. Here is a video of her today at her lesson, this is only her 5th one, but we're confident she's going to do great!



Emma went in for her 4 month well check today (Friday). She is now 12 lbs and 15 oz and 24 1/4 in long now. She officially is able to start rice cereal next week, after her diaper rash goes away completely. The doctor also said that it's time to start weaning her off of her middle of the night feedings - trying to offer her a pacifier and roll her over - but not feeding her everytime she wakes up. So looks like we're in for some sleepless nights in our near future...praying it works quickly...but fearing it won't. She also received clearance from her doctor to do her swimming lessons at 6 months, which we are extremely excited about.

Needless to say, all is well.

Growing so fast...

When you have your first child you realize what everyone has told you all along is actually true, "it will go by so fast - before you know it she will be driving." But, when you add a 2nd into the mix, I'm learning you have to try even harder to not miss any special moments. Life is so much busier with two kids, instead of just one, so it's much easier to not take out the camera as often or to not spend time just holding each of them. Most of the days are the same: wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to school, go home, eat dinner and go to bed. The challenge is to make the days when they aren't in the preschool all day memorable for both them and for us. So we've decided to do some things different - we're going to be more intentional about having at least one day a week where we are just WITH the kids. Not grocery shopping, not running errands, not going to doctors appointments - just being with them. Going the zoo, the park, having a picnic, whatever it is we just want them to remember their time with their parents wasn't always just about going from one place to the next.

Emma is growing up so fast. 3 1/2 months old now, she can almost completely hold her head up on her own. She is smiling more and more every day and is such a happy baby. A far cry from the first 9 weeks of her life when she screamed all day, every day. She's talking (or should I say coo'ing) all the time and loves it when Ava talks to her. She's officially at the 11 pound marker and even though she doesn't sleep all night long yet, she goes to bed at 8 and only wakes up 1 time to eat between then and 7am. Not too bad!

Ava is doing awesome as well. Although - we are starting to see bouts of what I'm considering the "terrible twos." Sometimes, even the smallest things will set her off into a crying fit that will take us 45 minutes to get her calmed down. She's even having some night terrors at night - which are awful. She wakes up in a panic and screaming like she is so scared. It is the saddest thing ever. She loves the Little Gym - even asks for it and knows when we're going there. When Michael or I go to the gym she even thinks we're going to the Little Gym! We've recently enrolled her in swimming lessons - through http://www.infantswim.com/. She will start her lessons on March 16th - they are every day of the week (M-F), 10 minutes a day, for 4-6 weeks. When her lessons are complete she will be able to swim with her head down, roll over and float to take a break, then roll over to keep swimming.

Emma will do the same lessons (however she can't start until she is 6 months old - so in May). When her lessons are complete she will be able to get herself to the top of the pool, roll over and float until she is rescued. We just want to be extra careful with two little ones and a pool in the backyard. We're trying to add layers of protection so that we don't have any water tragedies with our girls.

That's what happening in our world for now...hope everyone else is doing well!