Rolling, Rolling, Rolling / Week 23

This week has been a momentous one! Audrey has learned how to roll from back to belly on demand!! She loooves rolling and rolls both ways, although one way is better than the other. She hasn't learned how to go from belly to back though... soon hopefully! 

Hello sweet girl! We are so proud of you!

Clara has done so well in preschool! She is now halfway through her second week! While she cried at drop off the first two days, yesterday, she didn't cry at all! She was clingy, and definitely wasn't ready to say goodbye at first. However, once we walked to class together, we did our goodbye routine and she walked in to class all by herself! So proud!

Little miss smiley here can't keep her hands out of her mouth!

Little miss snuggly poo with Grammy after her second day of preschool <3.

Audrey is still sticking her tongue out like a little cutie! But this is actually a screenshot of the cutest video! She got all excited and smiley when she saw mommy come into her view!

A pretty picture of our plumeria blossoms! 

Mommy and Clara went to the aquarium together and had so much fun!

Audrey doll is losing some of her baby hair! That's what I'm holding between my fingers. One morning, I woke her up and saw all this fur, or what I thought was fur, under her head. Turns out it was her hair coming out!! We'll have to see what color it comes in :).

Meanwhile, she likes to occasionally chew on mommy's hair.

On Saturday, we went to the Natural History Museum as a treat for Clara!

She had a great time exploring and seeing all the dinosaurs!

Audrey couldn't take her eyes off sister!

Clara wearing mommy's hat and playing with toy dinosaurs. She looks like an archeologist!

My beauty!

Princess Glitter Sparkles!

On Sunday, we had a BBQ with the Zipkins!

Mommy put Audrey in a rocking chair meant for a doll! She didn't seem to mind :).

Clara loves to play guitar! She wants to play guitar just like daddy!

She asked me to put her hair in two ponytails just like Abby Cadabby. And to wear a dress like Ash (a character from a movie) because she plays guitar just like daddy! Heart melt!

Oh hey there!

On Monday, Mommy and Clara got to go on a date together! I took her to Inn n out and she had stickers and some strawberry milkshake!

My baby girl! Ahh love her so much!

Sisters! Love their growing relationship! 

Clara is Audrey's favorite person to watch. Everything Clara does, Audrey watches intently! Clara is now learning to "play" with Audrey by rattling toys for her and making faces and watching Audrey smile back. It's amazing!

The other night, we went to the park at sunset for Clara to play and burn some energy. Audrey's now old enough to front face in the carrier and Shane said, "She looks like a floating head" :D 

Yesterday, Clara got to play some soccer at preschool! She did really great!

And this is what Clara looks like after a long morning out :). What a wonderful sweet girl!

Still love her tongue!

23 weeks of fun!

Long Weekend Fun / Week 22

It was so fun to have daddy around for a whole extra day this weekend! We tried to make the most of it! But first, Clara had a blast at Gymboree as usual. Sweet, silly girl!

We kicked off the weekend with a quick meal out at Panda Express. Audrey seemed to like it!

Mommy and Clara took some selfies while daddy ordered the food.

And we spent a slow Saturday morning hanging out at home, just being silly!

Saturday and Sunday afternoon we ended up at Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh's house for some swimming!

Oh and in between, I put some of Clara's (brand new, never used, freshly washed) underwear on Audrey's head... because... well it was funny :).

More swimming! Day 2! Clara caught on quickly and went from being afraid of having her head go under water, not knowing how to hold her breath, and wanting to hold daddy's hands to jump in the pool... to jumping in to the pool from the side and dunking all the way under and then daddy would pull her up! Wow! She also caught on quick to kicking her feet and sort of paddling with her hands. What a little fish!

Splashing with Nate!

She was very tired from lots of swimming... This is a fun sleep position though!

Monday morning we went to the zoo and it was pleasantly calm and cool! Mommy only brought one extra diaper that got dirty while she was changing Audyey's poop blowout... so she is wearing sister's diaper. Haha! 

And Monday afternoon, we went to Grammy and Grampy's house for a bbq!

Hug time!

An impromptu family photo!

And two families!

And in between the weekend and today, Clara started preschool! She woke up today syaing, "Today, I go to school!" Haha! I told her that's tomorrow and she seemed okay with that too. Sweet polka dot baby Audrey is recovering from the long weekend with some good naps! Yesterday, she did two long naps (1.5 hours and 2 hours) and one short nap (40 min) all in her crib without any crying! Mommy is so proud!! Happy 22 weeks, sweet Audrey! And happy preschooling, my wonderful Clara!

First Day of Preschool / Five Months Old!

So today was Clara's first day of preschool!! She bawled her eyes out! (So did I, but not until I got into the car after I left her in the class). I've been trying to prepare her for weeks now. I even bought a little pocket chart to show her the days of the week and how we do different things each day. I've been showing her the card for school for a few days now. But I knew she had no idea what was happening. Just like when Audrey was coming...

This morning, she was super excited all morning because I've been teaching her "school will be so great!" I told her she's going to play with friends, play on the playground, play with toys and have so much fun! We got to the school and she wanted to go to the playground but we had to go to her class first and drop off her stuff and by the time we got to the playground it was time to go in for the morning. She wouldn't line up with the kids and wanted me to carry her. She was super clingy already so I knew this wasn't going to go well. I carried her to the classroom and she met her teacher and the other kids were all already sitting on the rug for circle time. At this point, I knew it was time to say bye. I told the teacher she was absolutely going to cry so the teacher said okay, hand her to me. So I told her mommy loves you so much and will be back, and handed her off, and she big mouth cried. I left quickly and looked in from the outside for 10-15 seconds but then left because she was still crying and I was starting to cry! I knew since yesterday I would cry if she cried but I was hoping for the best! She's been going to church without crying for so long, and never even looks back when we go to church.

I have been hoping and hoping she would just walk into the classroom and go for it... but I think it was just too different. The back and forth from the classroom to the playground to the classroom, and no kids were playing with toys yet, and she didn't know any of the kids or the teachers... tough stuff. But hopefully she has already forgotten and is having an amazing time! We'll see in 1.75 hours. Yes, I'm counting. :D I miss her already!

[Written later} This is Clara when I picked her up... I peeked through the window and she was jumping up and down and dancing to the "Wheels on the Bus"! She was clearly having a wonderful time. Her class is the "Owl" class which couldn't be more perfect. When I asked her if she had fun, she said "Yeah!" I said, you're coming back here on Thursday. Do you want to come back? "Yeah!" She then asked to go home, haha. But I count it as a win!

Clara looks tired because she was... 3.5 hours away from mommy is a long time! But yay for preschool!

On an equally exciting note, Audrey is 5 months old today! What a sweet girl she is! She is always sticking out her little tongue and drooling up a storm. Mommy thinks she can feel tiny tooth buds on the bottom of her gums and she has been eating some baby oatmeal for a few days now! She still needs help rolling over either way, and hasn't done any more accidental rolls for a little while now. She loves to sit and watch Clara and loves nap time. Except when she doesn't. She gets more and more fun every day!

I seriously cannot get her to stop sticking out her tongue. It's been like this for at least a week. But what a wonderful season of life with these girls. We are overjoyed <3!