Lily 2 year (35 months)

Lily has become such a big girl. She loves helping around the house (unless it involves picking up toys) and playing with Clara. She likes to hold Clara but she only wants to hold her like a newborn. Clara is less excited about being made to lie down. Lily just moved up to a new class at daycare and is getting excited about her birthday and Halloween.

THIS MONTH:

Lily Loves:

-The songs "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake and "Mamma Mia" by ABBA

-the Tennessee marching band

-"A Punzle" (Rapunzel)

-Temporary power T tattoos

-dressing up
-pretending to sleep (complete with exaggerated breathing)

Lily Hates:

-Letting me take her hair out

-sitting in her car seat so I can buckle her in

Favorite phrases:

Lily "Say it nicely" (after I ask for something).

-(Picking out a dress for church) "I not wear dat dress...it too wobbly...I might fall down." 

-"Mommy....I ha-yarious" (Hilarious)

 

This month has been taken over by football, football and more football. We tailgate every Saturday with family friends. Just like last year Lily pretty much loves everything about tailgating and going to the games. She always gets to go see the rock and the marching band before heading down to the stadium. So far this year we've gone to see Tennessee vs Appalachian St, Ohio and Florida.

 So excited but so shy

 

 

 

For the Florida game we had some friends from Gainesville visit and we went to Calhouns for dinner the night before the game. Lily loved seeing the Vol Navy, playing with her friends and seeing our family. The Gator fans tried to convert Lily but there was really no chance of that.

 

The other big event this month was when Andy and I took Lily to the Tennessee Valley Fair. We really weren't sure how Lily would react to the rides (especially since I could only ride on a few of them with her. Turns out that we have a thrill seeker on our hands. I went on the first ride with her (swings) and she leaned over to me and said "Mommy I think I got dis" and proceeded to pick out the next ride she wanted to go on....a dragon roller coaster. By the end of the night she had ridden 2 different roller coasters, a very mini version of the tower of terror and a bunch of other rides and finished up the night with strawberry ice cream.

 Lily and Summit the zebra

 

 The dragon rollercoaster

 I swear she was having a blast

We also went to our neighbors house for a Labor day party. Lily liked playing with our neighbor's son who is only a few weeks older than her and playing on their trampoline.

Other than that we've been to gymnastics and story time.

 she looks so tall

there was no way this was going to end well

Here are some other pictures from this month:

 putt putt at chuch

 pretending to sleep

 what a great catch

 peddling by herself (downhill)

casually sleeping

Clara 9 months

Clara is constantly moving....crawling, standing, dancing, squirming, etc. She isn't climbing yet but it's only a matter of time. She can stand for a few seconds unassisted and take a few steps walking behind a toy. She has started feeding herself at least part of her meals. Her favorite finger food includes: sweet potato fries, apple banana muffin, spinach banana muffin, grapes and cheerios. CJ is also enjoying this new development and he lies in wait during meal times for me to take Clara out of the high chair so he can help clean up. Clara still only has 2 teeth but is now 20lbs 2oz and 26in long.

THIS MONTH

 Clara loves:
-music 

-pulling up on everything

-cruising
-standing
- walking with help 

  

Clara Hates:

-waiting for food
-getting her diaper changed or getting dressed. Apparently she considers any time that she is not mobile to be time wasted.
-being put in "baby jail" (so mommy can go to the bathroom/cook dinner/ get dressed)

Like Lily, Clara is learning very early on to root for the Vols. She has come to 2 out of 4 games. At the Ohio game the people behind us commented that they were shocked at how content she was. At the UT vs Florida game we brought a baby pool and some water so the girls could cool off. She also took a nap on a Gator fan.

 Mom why would you let this crazy person hold me?

For Labor day we went to a party at our neighbor's house. The older neighborhood girls loved playing with Clara. At one point I came inside to get Lily some food and Andy asked me who was watching Clara and I said "ummmm....the Kindergartener". I felt like I was in one of those Luvs commercials that shows how mom deal with 1st and 2nd children differently.

We've also been to gymnastics several time and Clara has really started to enjoy crawling, bouncing, sliding....all of which results in a longer nap time.

We've also gone to story time several times.

Here are some other pictures from the past month:

 She's all smiles every morning

 Her lovey

 Against her better judgment Clara decided to go for the Trump look

 room full of toys and her main goal is to take

every DVD out of the entertainment center

 A battle of wills: Lily wants to hold her like a newborn

 Clara wants to move

 she fell asleep sitting up