KarriWeeks.com

Woohoo! What a weekend! It was a weekend of first for Laurel (see next post) and fun all around. We had a rough start on Friday mornng, but made it to Jackson with both girls in a good mood and early enough for some visiting and dinner. G. Grandma Weeks had a blast watching the two girls.

Trying to get Lily to go to sleep was a hoot. We had so much fun, with lots. I got lots of ‘I need you kisses’ and ‘I need to hold you’, it was great. We snuggled and giggled and did not go to sleep. When we finally got serious about it, she was still to riled up about being at Grandma’s to go to sleep. Finally, she went to sleep between Evan and me, some time after 1100, with her arm tossed over me, curled up to my back (I had to turn away from her to keep her from constantly kissing or tickling me, and me laughing to peices). Evan got up and put her in the other room in bed, which he had shown to her earlier.

The girls woke up in great moods, I’d been worried that Lily would wake up upset, but I found her trying to figure out how to open the sliding door. She was still thrilled to be at Grandma’s!

Halloween night was great, it made me wish that we had taken Lily trick-or-treating. Didn’t get to many visitors, but Lily got a huge kick out of saying trick-or-treat to them (she would say it before the kids could, one even gave her candy!) So next year we will be out there!

Both kids kept everyone in stitches! Laurel finally warmed up and let everyone, I think, hold her and play with her. Mommy had to leave the room so that it could happen, but that is cool. I snuck into the kitchen and peaked at them for a bit, then went and read for a bit. Didn’t come out till Evan told me she was getting upset. I want her to get to where other people can hold her with me around and her not get upset. Right now if I leave, and she doesn’t actually see me leave, she is ok.

Lily LOVED the visit. She adored seeing everyone and got the biggest kick out of it. She already wants to go back.

I’ve listed things from what the girls need, what they want and then things they are interested in, just in case you don’t find something on the list that you want to buy them and want to know what they are interested in. You can also visit the page titled LIST, it has things I’ve found that I want to get for the girls, mainly so that I can keep up with the links of where I found them.

NEEDS:
*Winter clothes - both girls need winter clothes. Lily needs some more pants, a coat, hats, gloves and dress shoes for church. Laurel has a hand-me-down pink snowsuit/jumpsuit for cold weather (thank you Nana) and that is about all she has, so anything winter-y for her would be much appreciated.
*

WANTS: LILY:
*Jumpolene - she loves to bounce, and while holding my body ball and hanging on to her while she bounces on it is a great work out, I think she would love this even better (click here)
*Tent: Lily loves hiding in a tent! a place she can go and hide and store things, she thinks they are just grand! As long as it is not to big (um, or to small…) we would like one that will go in the living room, and would like one (if possible) that has a tunnel (or the tunnel separate, I know she will love it). This site has some great ideas (click here).
*Kitchen Set - Don’t laugh, I know she wants one. I let her go through the catalogs I get from kids sites and she loves looking at the kitchen sets, and telling me about how she is going to cook. There are so many out there, and she has loved every one she has seen. She loves to pretend to cook. (and pretend food to go with it, I have some stress balls that look like fruit that she loves to play with, she is down to only a few as she keeps biting them and I have to throw them away after that.)
*Musical Instruments - Any kind! She loves music, and loves to drum, any and all musical instruments are fine, and yes, I won’t mind the noise!
*Art supplies! If you could only see our dining room (I’ll add a picture to a later post) you would know how much she loves art! We do art at least a few times a day, and we are running out of supplies! We could use some more finger paint paper, easel (double sided so that Lalo can paint with her), toddler paint brushes (like these), or anything you think a budding little artist might like!
*I don’t know if they have them out there, but a Dora the Explorer backpack with star pocket, she goes nuts every time she sees it, and pretends that she has one. She pretends to catch stars and put them in her star pocket.
*Movies! Any Disney movie (we have a few, so if you want to make sure we don’t already have it, just ask), she has been really excited about watching the previews for the new Tinkerbell movie.

LILY LIKES:
*Anything that has to do with baby dolls. She uses one of Laurel’s bottles to ‘feed’ them, her toy box to bathe them, a box as their ‘house’ and a pillow as a bed.
*Climbing -on everything! Anything that is climb safe and won’t topple over would be great!
*Her favorite shows are: Ni-hao Kia-lan: This is her favorite show. She loves it. She mimics it and adores the songs they sing. Her favorite character is Lulu. Dora The Explorer. Like I said above, she loves the backpack. Her favorite character is Boots and coincidently monkeys are her current favorite animal. Little Bear, a great classic and so is Max & Ruby. Other shows she likes and watches occasionally: Wow Wow Wubzy, Yo Gabba Gabba, Diego (Dora’s brother), Wonder Pets, Mickey Mouse Club House, Little Einsteins, The Wiggles and Blues Clues.
*Computer stuff. I’ve managed to find a few games that she can play with my mouse, and she loves watching clips on my computer. There are a lot of computer stuff for toddlers out there.

LAUREL LIKES:
*Things with buttons that make noise! She doesn’t like the noise to be to loud, she gets rather upset if it is, but anything with buttons! She actually uses Lily’s cd player more than Lily does! And she knows how to turn it on. She loves the little piano Lily has and anything that makes a sound when she plays with it!
*Water toys! Not like for a bath or pool, toys that use water. I filled a Ziploc with water and sponge toys, and she had a blast till it started leaking.
*Crinkly toys and mirrors. That should say it all

Okay, I’ll stop writing now! There are so many things I would love to get them…. Please, don’t think that we are pushing for ppl to buy the kids things, Just wanted to get a list out so that if someone does decide to get them something, they will have a better idea of what the kids need and want.

Two days ago there was a large machine was in front of the house, they are putting in cable (I think). Our morning outing has been canceled because of the scary ‘Snort’ (read: Are You My Mother?). “Oh no, Snort! We have to run! Snort!” and the day was spent peering through the window at the scary Snort.

The next day the Snort was back (they burst the neighbors water and had to work all day digging up our front yard to fix it.). I went out and asked how long they would be working, and if they would be taking a nap so the girls could finally take a nap. No, they were going to work till it was fixed, yipee. So I took Lily and Laurel outside, jumped over the huge mud puddle, and went to say hello to the Snort. It was not a scary Snort, it didn’t even move or ’snort’! It was a helpful snort that was going to fix the icky water (ours had turned brown). This Snort liked to dig and was helping, being a good Snort. She had a blast doing that, but was still glued to the window to the see what the Snort and the ‘guys’ were up to. No Nap today. I even told Lily a story about Unicorn Land (my Mom made up stories about Unicorn Land for me, I’m doing the same for Lily, she LOVES them!), but it didn’t help her go to sleep this time.

So now the Snort is gone, and Lily misses seeing it. She says it is going to find ‘mother’ Very cute! But at least now the Snort is not so scary!

Evan got his guitar out to play for the girls. This was the very first time that Laurel has ever seen/heard him play on it, and Lily hasn’t seen him play for at least that long. We could tell that Lily remembered it at least a little b/c she tried to stick something in it!

It does not seem like she should be able to yet, but Laurel can stand for a little bit with something to hold on to. She got the biggest kick out of watching Lily take a bath, the two of them giggled like crazy, and Laurel tried to climb in (result was falling over).

It is getting cold out, but we still need to go outside and get some fresh air! Laurel got a big kick out wearing her hat, and tried very hard to get her blanket off. I didn’t get a picture of it, but Lily is wearing a similar hat that her Uncle Drew got her this summer. I’ll make sure to get a picture of it next time (she got it dirty so trying to get it clean at the moment).

Lily and I brush our teeth together in the mornings, she gets a very big kick out of it. Laurel doesn’t know what to think of it, and gives me this bizarre look when we do, like she can’t quite figure out what on earth we are doing.

Both girls LOVE looking in the mirror. Lily loves dancing and making faces in the full length mirror that is in our closet. Any time we go into the master bedroom to do something, she has to ‘go lookin’ in the mirror. Laurel likes to look in the mirror to, and I usually put her in the bumbo on the counter so she can. In the picture she is standing up (with a little support from Mommy) and talking to herself in the mirror. We like to play peek-a-boo in the mirror too.

Evan made Lily’s day today. Again she insisted that she was going to ‘go work’ with Daddy. She just knew she going bye-bye. When Daddy got ready to to leave, she had to run and get her purse and get ready to go.

Last night Evan was going to take Lily out to get her some fries or something quick from a drive-thru so that she could go on a little outing with him. However she had decided that she finally needed to take her nap and had curled up in her bed and gone to sleep. I woke her up when I woke Laurel from her 3rd nap of the day, and boy was that a mistake. She was one cranky little lady. So, no trip.

So this morning Evan decided to ‘take Lily to work’, AKA Wards, to get some breakfast. She was thrilled. When they got back all she could talk about for the rest of the morning was how she had gone to work with Daddy and all the things they had seen and done. “I go work, and get burger, and go bye bye and fire truck and…” You get the idea. I hope this is just the beginning of many Father-Daughter outings to come.

Lily decided this morning that she was going to go to work with Daddy! She ran and found her hat, got her folding cube (Daddy takes a backpack to work everyday) and grabbed the door. She insisted she was going to: “I go work Daddy, I go bye, go work. I get burger and fry and go sit down.” I had her help to open the door, and we went out on the carport to to wave bye to Daddy, and she got quite upset when she discovered that she was not going to go bye with Daddy. Evan suggested that she ‘go to work’ coloring. So we picked out a card and who we were going to make it for and she had a blast ‘working’

Lily’s mailbox is up and running! We still have a lot of decorating to do, but it is functional. In fact the day that we made it Lily got her very first mail in it!! A card from her Great Grandma Brown (GG) and one from her Mema! She was so excited to get her very first mail!

Laurel loves her mesh bag now. In fact she coo’s and gives me big grins every time she sees it, looking expectantly at me. Her favorite is peaches, though she does like bananas too. I tried veggies in it, and she looked at me like, “what? Did you forget to wash it? Ewww.” So will try again maybe in another week, but right now she doesn’t like it.

Laurel had her first meat on the 19th, beef and dumplings. She wasn’t to sure what to think about it, and I wish I could have taken pictures while I fed her, the faces were adorable! Had more the next day and simply loved it. As I told Evan, I think we have a meat-a-saur on our hands!

Laurel does some of the cutest things, I’m hoping I can get Evan to get pictures or video of, as I can’t. She loves to snuggle and talk into my shoulder. My shirt and shoulder/arm stay wet, but I love the snuggles and so I don’t mind at all.

Pictures: The girls playing in Lily’s room, Lily pushing Lily in the swing and singing, Lily turning the tummy gym into a tent, and playing upside down, Laurel at lunch with carrot on her face!

This past week has been a hoot with the girls. I am so impressed with them, I had to go to the doctor this week and it was a rather large place. Lily charmed the whole waiting area with her P’s and Q’s and “That my sister, that Lalo”, and “I Lily”, and then waving and saying goodbye to everyone as we left. I got told what wonderful children I had, and what a good mother I must be. Made me feel great, and even more that they did so well.

On Duck Tales there is a part where one of the ducks pleads, ‘you got to believe us!’. Lily has picked that up. When she wants to be held, or is trying to get out of having to go sit in her chair for a fit and wants you to “hold you me”, she pouts “You got to beliebe it!” No, that is not a typo, that is what it sounds like. So this week, she wanted to be held while I was making breakfast, Lalo complaining loudly in her highchair about how hungry she was, when we had this conversation:

I want you hold you me, you got to beliebe it!
I do, but Mommy needs to make you breakfast.
You no beliebe it. I beliebe. *big sincere Bambi eyes*

So cute! and it makes you have to stop and think, does she know what ‘believe’ means? And it makes it very hard to stick to it when she is throwing a fit, pouting at you saying that. So sweet you just want to hug her.

Lily adores talking on the phone now, so all feel free to call and chat with her. She might sing you a song, or tell you about her day. She has talked to plenty of people this week. And all please visit if you can. She insists most days that we are going outside that we are going to go see somebody. One day she even cried for Papa while she was throwing a fit.

The girls can communicate. It is neat to see, and I know some may not believe. But it has been going on for a while now. When Lalo was younger and would have screaming fits, Lily would sometimes bring me a blanket, or toy to give to Lalo, and it always turned out to be just what she needed to calm down. They chatter and talk to each other, and this week Evan noticed that they would mimic each other perfectly, and sometimes at the exact same time. There have been times that Lily would tell me that Sister was all done eating, and sure enough the next spoonful I would give to Lalo would be spit or sprayed back out. The coolest example I have seen is the two of them tapping their hand in time together. Lily bouncing her hands up and down on the table, Lalo just moving her hands up and down, but both were in perfect sync. Very strange, but very cool that they are that close.

We went to the bookstore yesterday and I found the cutest book/stuffed animal for Laurel. It is a ladybug, that on the bottom has a book about ladybugs, kinda like a quiet book, and on top had crinkly wings and legs plus neat patters to look at. Laurel loves it, and when I tried to take it back she got rather upset. I think it is one of the first toys she has gotten that is hers and hers alone. Lily loves it and when I try to read the story to them, she hugs it making it quite impossible to read. I almost think I should have gotten one for each of them. Lily found a little purse with dinosaurs in it, and fell in love. She loves dinosaurs. One of her favorite books is ‘How Does a Dinosaur Clean Up His Room?”. It is one in a series, and I hope to get the rest of the books to go with it. One of her favorite Kia-Lan episodes is “The Dinosaur Games”. Last night I had to take them away, she had gotten the dinosaurs in bed with her and was playing and giggling. Got rather upset when I took them away.

Lily is doing okay on the potty, she suddenly decided one day that she did not one to use the potty all day, and that set us back about a week in her progress. I’m sure it happens, and we are working through it. Only had one accident yesterday, but then we have been using pullups a little more to prevent more accidents. We will get there, but at Lily’s pace, so it is up to her how fast we go. She does NOT want to use public potties yet, so when we go out she stays in pull-ups. I insist on her going to the potty with me, and still offering to let her go, but she takes one look at the potty and shakes her head no.

Laurel is moments away from real crawling. She is doing great with the ‘low crawl’ and can move super quick. She can pull herself up to a regular crawling position, and when she is put on the floor she automatically gets in the crawling position. She is a fast little thing, and loves to crawl all over the place, rarely staying on her spread of blankets. Loves chasing bottles and balls across the floor.

Her favorite sound is the letter ‘D’, and she jabbers about Dada all day. She can and will say Mama, I know because last night when she wanted me, she started hollering for Mama. She loves to shake her head no, almost looks like she is trying to dance, so much fun to watch. She has also decided that she too is an upside down baby and will toss her head upside-down as often as possible. She is one strong little lady and when she decides she wants down and puts her whole little body into it, it is really hard to hang on to her. She just about crawled off my shoulder the other day when she decided she wanted DOWN! Did the same to Evan.