Not so little, Leah!

Sometimes I can't even find the words to describe you and how much you make me laugh! I would swear some days you are 2 going on 12...and that scares me. Lately you have been all about playing dress up. You are particulatly fond of mommy's shoes and of course, never the cheap ones. Your good taste makes me smile. You enjoy dressing up like a princess these days too. You have become especially fond of your tutu and tiara, and sometimes you will throw on the fairy wings for good measure...but on the other end of the spectrum is my little tomboy. The one who loves to ride her little quad and practice casting her fishing pole in the back yard. You've got it all, my dear!

About 2 months ago (mid-July) you shocked me by singing your ABC's. And you haven't stopped since. As of now you can tell me what most of the letters are and you can tell me what sound all of them make. I think you like B and W best, you always say "ba, ba, ba, ba" to the tune of Beethoven, (thanks, Leapfrog) and "Wa, Wa, Wa". But you are really good at going "Ca, Ca, Ca...Cold" as you pretend to shiver too. Two days ago you shocked Daddy and I when you took three letters and put them together and said "spell a word", of course you didn't spell anything, but we couldn't believe you grasped the concept. Your counting is coming along well and most days you can make it up to 15-20, but we are still working on recognizing the numbers when you see them.

This past week was Grandpa Dave's birthday so you sang to him on the telephone. I think he really enjoyed it. One of these days we will hopefully be able to SEE family on their birthday's and not just hear the sound of their voices. You have become more aware of some of your toys. You still sleep with a mountain of stuffed animals on your bed and you point out that "Wawa bringed it to me" when you hold up Piglet and "Gigi bringed it to me" when you hold up all the rest. "Gigi bringed it to me" has become a common phrase, especially when looking through your closet for clothes to wear. It makes me smile.

In the last few weeks you have really become an even better, much more loving big sister. When Kiersten wakes up from her nap and is crying in her crib you always want to go comfort her. You tend to go in and look at her and say "what's the matter, Kiersten?" and she usually stops crying when she sees your smile. You have become wonderful at getting out toys for you and Kiersten to play with on the living room floor, and are doing a great job sharing them. It makes me so proud of you, and I hope it is a trait of yours that will last. Oh, Leah...the joy you bring us on a daily basis is immeasureable, of course there are headaches too, but the joy, ahhh...where would I be without it?

6 months!

Yep, last week my little hunny bunny turned 6 months old. I just wanted to wait and blog about it after we had her check-up so I would know her stats. We went to the pediatrician this morning and things are looking good! Today she was 16 lbs 10 oz....that is a 3 lb weight gain in one month!!! I couldn't believe it. Finally, starting to put on some weight. I was guessing about 15 lbs...I was way off. So for the first time since birth she is in the 25th-50th percentile range, YAY! She measured 27 inches which was in the 75th percentile and her head stayed in the 75th too. Overall, Doctor Matt thought she was doing great. She babbled for him and had some new tricks to show off too. She won't sit up for us much at home, but she sat up on the table for him like she's been doing it for ages. And then she started to crawl but I had to stop her so she wouldn't go over the edge of the table. Yep, she's mobile!

The last month has been a big one. She started fruits on Aug. 19th. For about 5-6 weeks we only did veggies so she would get used to them and like them...and she does, but boy does she like her fruits. I only give her half a serving mixed with oatmeal so it won't be too sweet. I was worried that with eating fruits she wouldn't want the veggies as much, but it hasn't been a problem. On Sept. 4th we moved up to the stage 2 foods. On Sept. 6th Mitch and I commented that she looked like she was ready to start crawling. She began getting herself up in the teepee postition, butt in the air and ready to go and then this weekend (Sept. 11-12) she started scooting her knees up under herself and started moving forward...not very gracefully, but she's moving forward. And to top it all off, last night (Sept. 13th) she got started with the Gerber Puffs. She was reaching for them and putting them in her mouth. I think she liked them, but most of the time they just stuck to her little wet fingers. It won't be long until my little baby is not a little baby anymore, and I am not ready for that. But YAY for Kiersten anyway, she is definitely the happiest, cutest and funniest little baby on the block. I am definitely not biased :)

I will have to say that it is getting harder and harder to take these pictures, she just wants to pick them up and put them in her mouth...so I let her!

Typical weekend

This weekend was nothing out of the ordinary for us. We did what we usually do...We play with our kids at home. Mitch and Leah make their Saturday morning pancake breakfast. We clean the house here and there and get caught up on other chores. We go to the park once or twice, maybe even 3 times and we play in our backyard. This weekend though I was feeling extremely grateful. I am blessed! It was a wonderful weekend to be home with the ones that I love. In addition to all the usual excitement that fills our weekends...this weekend we did a campfire in our backyard. We have done it before, so it certainly wasn't the first time and Leah loves to have a fire...mostly I think she LOVES the marshmallows. She starts asking for them before the fire is even going. Kiersten loves the fires too. She just stares at them with intrigue, and her eyes light up watching the orange and red flames from my arms. It was a great weekend. Lastly the video...oh how it made Mitch and I laugh. Leah's reaction is priceless and poor Kiersten's little lip quiver is just too much...Enjoy!

Lunch with the Ladies

A few weeks back while Mitch was away at a conference, my mom came out to help me take care of the girls. She was a HUGE help and we always love having Gigi around. While Gigi was here we planned a lunch date with our family-friend Susan. Susan is actually Aunt Laura's mother in-law...or Uncle Jeff's mom, however you want to look at it. Susan lives just outside of Philly and so we thought it would be nice to get together with her, and BOY were we right! It was just what this group of ladies needed.

We met at a diner in between our 2 homes. The food was GREAT~even AMAZING! I could have ate their bread all day long, the service was not the best, but you couldn't beat the company. We spent 2 and a half hours just chatting and catching up. Susan and her daughter Valerie had come to visit the end of March just after Kiersten was born, but we hadn't had a chance to catch up since. And mom and Susan hadn't seen one another since Laura and Jeff said "I Do". Susan was so thoughtful and sent me the pictures from the day. She is always so good about taking pictures and I am glad she did. These are the only pictures I have from the whole week that my mom spent with us.

The girls did fantastic on their first luncheon. Leah sat at the table and played nicely. She even sang the ABC's (over and over) for Susan and the rest of the restaurant to hear. She colored and read books and really allowed the "grown-ups" to talk. Kiersten did great too. She ate her peas and broccoli before our meals even got to the table, and then she sat quietly so we could enjoy our meals. It was a wonderful afternoon with wonderful company...I'm sure we will do it again in the future and hopefully the girls will be just as well behaved. Thanks, Susan for sending the pictures. We love them!

Happy Birthday toooo DADDY!!!

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man, father and friend that I have ever known. There aren't words to describe how much you mean to me, how much joy you have brought to my life and how much I appreciate everything about you. To use a silly movie cliche'...yes, you complete me. I love these two pictures, I snapped them the other night...and they say so much about Mitch. He shares his time and attention so perfectly and he is the epitome of a great dad. His girls are both incredibly huge "Daddy's Girls" and who can blame them?!?!?

I hope that today on your birthday, all of your wishes and dreams come true the same way you have made all of my wishes and dreams come true. We love you so much...how much is so? Way, way more than, you'll ever know.
~Amy, Leah and Kiersten

Schultz Cousins

It's always hard for us to try to figure out how Leah and Kiersten will relate to their Schultz cousins because they are so much older, but that didn't slow Leah down at all. Leah seems to say and ask for Shelby more than any other, Mitch and I think this is because Shelby came to Arizona with us last summer to help watch kids for my sisters wedding. We talked about Shelby coming and Leah got to spend 4 days with her doing fun things! But anyway, it was great for us to see Leah playing with and trying to do everything that her older cousins did. And I might add that her older cousins did a great job with our girls. It would have been very easy for them to get annoyed by the toddler always at their heals but they didn't. Shelby, Rylee and Lexi were so good about playing with Leah and watching her in the water, and Shelby was such a big helper changing and feeding Kiersten for us. Man, I wish I could hire Shelby for our babysitter. Even Bradyn did so good at tolerating Leah, they got to go fishing with Mitch and Grandpa and Bradyn caught a perch. Anyway, these are a few of my favorite cousin shots from our trip. There aren't very many of Bradyn and Justin but I know better than to ask boys to pose for pictures. Thanks guys for being so great with the girls!

Minnesota, we hardly knew ye...

Why do vacations have to go by so fast? It was like we got there were having the best time and before we knew it we had to pack up to head home!!! We were so fortunate that Mitch's sister Lori and her husband Todd were willing to host us for our trip back home. Mitch and I had been talking about a vacation, we were thinking Mexico, but then we started to feel bad that we don't have the opportunity to visit his family very often. I started scouring the travel web pages and found us a good deal to Minnesota in the summer. SCORE! August is easily the best time of year to visit Minnesota and to make it even better his sister lives on a lake...seriously, like we are talking boat dock in the backyard. Life can't get any better than this. Mitch was in heaven. He said all along that if we were going to go to Minnesota he wanted to be in the water and we were. The whole time we were in, near or on the water. Fortunately his parents, Brother Brian, and Sis-in-Law Lisa were able to come up with their kids too!

Leah was such a daredevil. She loved being with her older cousins and everything that they did she was eager to do to. First on the list was tubing. She did great! Of course Uncle Todd didn't get out of hand while driving the boat so that helped. Leah took many boat rides with Uncle Todd, even got to go fishing with Daddy, Grandpa and cousin Bradyn. She went kayaking with Daddy once and even got to jet-ski. I didn't have my camera outside when she was jet-skiing and I am kicking myself for that one, but I know that Grandma Tootie and Aunt Lisa got some shots of it.

It was seriously the best vacation and Leah hasn't stopped talking about it. Between all the water play, and boating Aunt Lori fixed up some wonderful meals for us and the campfire was a huge hit everynight...well that and the smore's and marshmallows. I think Leah and her Daddy were both in heaven.

We can't thank Aunt Lori, Uncle Todd, Justin, Shelby and Lexi enough for all that they did to make out trip home so special. Leah keeps talking about Uncle Todd and his boat and She asks daily to go swimming with Shelby and Lexi. I sooo wish we lived closer, looks like I would have the perfect built in babysitters. But in all seriousness, I know how much work Lori and Todd put into the weekend and I hope that they enjoyed it as much as we did. I don't think that Todd got a break all weekend driving and hauling the boat, blowing up the tubes, arranging for the jet-ski and it was much appreciated. And Aunt Lori too...letting everyone take over you house and kitchen...the laundry the grocery shopping and not to mention the cooking. Thanks so much, you guys are the best!

Like a pro...

Don't ask me how we got so lucky, but we sure hit the jackpot when it comes to traveling with little ones. Of course I like to joke that Leah is a seasoned pro. This last trip of ours to visit family in Minnesota marked her 23rd and 24th time on an airplane, but for Kiersten...it was her first time. And honestly the girls could not have done any better!!! It was actually smooth sailing...errr, flying! We drove down to Philly Friday night to stay in the hotel since our flight was taking off at 6:20 AM. The hotel was a disaster. I thought Leah was never going to go to sleep. Kiersten would not settle down in her pack-n-play, I put her in bed with me and she threw up all over me and the bed, and just when we had them both down a little thought jumped into my head. I rolled over, tapped on Mitch's shoulder and whispered "honey did you get the girl's birth certificates for the airport?" He had packed the flight itinerary, hotel booking stuff etc...and it just dawned on me then. Needless to say, he was up and out of bed and on his way back to NJ at 11 PM. He made it back to the hotel just after 1 AM and our wake up call was right on schedule at 4 AM...we were BEYOND Tired, but we can sleep on the plane right? Wrong...Leah was so wound up she didn't sleep so we didn't sleep. Kiersten took a short nap on her daddy's chest. I was breastfeeding her during take-off and landing and she didn't fuss a bit...Like I said, They did GREAT-better than GREAT, FANTASTIC!!!

Then there was the 3+ hour drive to Aunt Lori and Uncle Todd's house up in Grand Rapids. This is where the melt-downs are going to occur, I just know it...But nope. They were great then too. Shelby kept Leah happily occupied in the very backseat with dolls and books and I sat in the middle with Kiersten and fed her a bottle about halfway. Leah never slept, she was too excited about being in Minnesota, and she kept singing "we're going swimming". Kiersten took a half hour nap and with about 20 minutes to go she started to really cry, but can you blame her. She had been in some ones arms or a seat for almost 8 hours straight by that point and she just wanted to be on the floor to roll. We made it to Lori and Todd's without stopping, beat everyone else there and were able to enjoy a little lunch and got some unpacking done before the rest of the troops arrived. I'll tell you all about the weekend in my next post.