Princess Poppy and her little polka dotted sister / Week 27

It's been a blur of a week, but we have lots of pictures! First, I tied Clara's hair up to look like Princess Poppy from the movie Trolls.

A very cute look for her!

Then, Clara licked our screen door ... I told her "We don't lick screens" and she was unhappy with mommy's statement.

We got all dressed up to celebrate Uncle Dru's birthday!

And made some weird pumpkins at Orchard Supply afterwards!

Clara had a fun visit with Yeh Yeh!

And mommy made another side by side! Shane thinks the girls look identical, but I think they look so different! Who is who? I'll tell you at the end!

Audrey has been such a good little sleeper recently!

What a sleeping face!

Shane is teaching Audrey the "worship pose" for church :). So she'll be ready... when they call for baby auditions...

We added some beautiful outdoor lights to our patio! It helps Clara play outside longer now that it's getting darker earlier!

On Sunday, daddy took Clara on a train ride at the mall! This is from inside the train!

Sweet Audrey is all smiley! She loves mommy and sister and daddy and Sophia the cat... All she wants is to be with one of us, and she is happy!

Cool shades, baby!

Sweet cuddles and play time!

Yesterday, Audrey had her six month check up. She is doing great! But she also got 4 shots. If you look at her thighs, you can see four giant bandaids! Poor baby!

Those cheeks!

Clara's hair is a mess, but she loves her apple!

So does Audrey! :D

And more great pictures of the girls from Grammy and Grampy's visit!

What a rock star! Clara is talking so much and in full sentences. She is picking up on little colloquialisms, too! On a car ride home with mommy and daddy, she quietly said to us, "Uhm, guys? I want to watch Frozen when we get home." So sweet! She still loves singing songs in the car and is bringing songs and games home from preschool and teaching mommy and Audrey. Clara looked at mommy at the end of dinner and said, "If your name starts with an M, you can go!" She thinks my name is mommy :).

Audrey is finally making some progress with rolling! She can roll much better from belly to back, and can tripod sit too! She loves to coo and blow air and squeal. She gets very upset if she is left alone, even surrounded by toys, because she loves to watch sister and mommy and the cat! She's sleeping well and wakes happy and excited to play. She's eaten banana, chicken, carrots, sweet potato, avocado, and peanut butter so far! Oh and she's sucked on apples of course. She loves her solid foods and is so much fun to feed! Her little toothies are right under her gums and she chews on everything and drools everywhere!

Clara and Audrey's favorite game is "Super baby" where we fly Audrey around the room like superman while Clara runs away from her. Then Clara stops in a corner and we bring Audrey to Clara and they laugh and giggle as their faces touch. Then it starts all over again. Audrey is Clara's favorite toy, and Clara is Audrey's favorite person to watch. What sweet sisters they are!

Audrey ~ 6 months old!

I cannot believe it has been half of a year with our little sweetheart. It feels like just yesterday that I was still pregnant with her. And driving down the 163 freeway always reminds me of our 5am drive to Mary Birch with me groaning through contractions and Shane driving fast, but slow and safe. Clara's pediatrician is located in the same plaza as Mary Birch. I drive past the turnabout where Shane parked, and where I stopped multiple times doubled over in contractions. It was like the movies, with less screaming... or maybe the same amount? You'll have to ask Shane.

The second time around, these first six months have felt like they have flown by. She was born, and I blinked and now it seems she is this close to crawling. It felt fast with Clara, but not like this. With Clara, the fastness of babyhood hit me when she turned a year. Maybe even later... But this time, with Audrey, it feels like it's flying by at super speed.

The newborn phase is such a physically challenging time. Especially as a double c-section mama. But that same physically challenging newborn phase is such a sweet, sweet time with this tiny beautiful newborn. Especially our Audrey, who was a sweet, easy, content newborn. She was kind to me, just like her middle name.

She continues to be kind to me, sleeping a good solid 12 hours a night, with a dream feed at 10pm. I now understand why some parents have kids back to back. With Clara, even after sleep training, I was still up with her twice a night until she was 10 months old. Sure those 15 minute nursing sessions didn't accumulate an enormous sleep debt for me. But I have trouble falling back asleep once I'm up, so not having to get up for those two, or even one, nursing sessions means I am sleeping well, and resting well. It is amazing what uninterrupted sleep does for me!

Our sweet, beautiful Audrey. She really does think Clara is the coolest thing in the world. She has the best cheeks in the family, round like little apples. I will be so sad when those sweet cheeks fade away into a more toddler face. I think that's what makes this feel so fast. I look at her, and I know, before long she will change just a little and move on to the next stage, and before I know it, she'll be Clara's age, and Clara will be even older! And it'll just keep going and going.

So I try to embrace both our littles while they are little. Even when Audrey is crying/screaming/mad she has a poop in her diaper (but I don't know it yet because) Clara is walking around banging her xylophone singing some toddler tune at the top of her lungs while I'm fixing dinner because Shane is coming home and I like to have dinner ready when he walks in the door and Sophia the cat is meow-crying at me because she's hungry too... Even then, I try to embrace the chaos and embrace my littles, because I know they won't be little for long.

Six months! It has just gone too fast. Our girls have our hearts, completely, and fully, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Happy six months, sweet Audrey Xinhui Brengle. Your cheeks are the apple of my eye :D! Just kidding, you and your sister are the apple of my eye!

Thanks for enduring your mama's photo shoot!

Chalk skills and rolling practice / Week 26

Clara has really learned some fun things from preschool. One of them is playing with chalk! Before preschool, she always asked me to draw things for her... the alphabet, shapes, animals, anything, everything. This week, she has just blossomed with her chalk drawing! 

She draws all over the back patio, all sorts of shapes, and jumps from shape to shape.. it's adorable!

She's also has grown in her "coloring" abilities. This is a watercolor paper, but she took a pen and wanted to "color" the little boy and his shoes! She did pretty well, in my opinion :).

The other morning, Clara came in to see me while I was feeding Audrey. She brought daddy's book with her and started to read it :).

Then, I continued my morning with a selfie with the baby!

Clara wanted a selfie too! I love these faces she's making!

She's "petting" Audrey.

Audrey thinks Clara is the funnest and funniest person ever! I've been working on rolling with Audrey. She rolls great from her back to her belly, but won't go the other way. So I asked Clara to show her how to roll. Audrey just laughed and laughed and laughed while Clara rolled for her! They are such a cute pair of sisters!

We took a trip to a garden nursery to pick up some plants and I had Clara pose in front of their pumpkin display! She's saying "Cheese!"

Then daddy took her to the guitar store...

And to ride a little bike!

Audrey sits pretty well now! Such a big girl!

Here's daddy and Audrey at church on Sunday. She's raising her hands to the music!

And on our way back home, Super Daddy carrying both his girls!

We went straight from church to the aquarium, because Clara has been begging to go for a long time!

Daddy got his selfie with baby too :).


Also this week, I decided to see how Audrey would do sitting in our high chair.

She did great! Look at that proud smile!

So we tried the swings too :).

On Monday, Clara had a little bit of a rough day. Maybe we had too much fun over the weekend.

Look at that face :(.

Don't worry, she was happy not 20 minutes later :).

Ah, sweet sisters! How we love you both so much!

They held hands <3.

Grammy and Grampy reading with the girls!! Look at Clara's smile!

And both looking forward, sort of!

Clara wanted to read Audrey a book during picture time :). So sweet!

Happy sweet baby! Happy 26 weeks to you, and happy 26 weeks of big sisterhood to Clara! The two of you make our lives better in every way! Audrey is even sleeping through the night pretty consistently now a days, which is shocking for mommy. Clara didn't get close to sleeping through the night until she was closer to 10 months! We love you both so much!

Oh and this is mommy's new plant. She is very proud of it. It's called Trichostema Midnight Magic and I dragged all four of us to a garden nursery (with the pumpkin picture) just to get it! It's a native California flower/bush and when it's all grown up it's beautiful!