July is full of fireworks,picnics,backyard BBQ's,watermelon,swimming,water fights and warm summer nights....I'm REALLY going to miss summer.

Hi, we hope that everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July! I can't believe that July has come and gone....summer is almost over :o( Olivia is almost 1 and Nicholas will be 2 1/2....time just goes WAY too fast!
Olivia is growing up so fast. When she went for her 9 mo well baby visit she only weighed 14lbs 4 oz when at her 6 mo visit she was 13lbs 3 oz. I was a little concerned with Nicholas being a bigger baby, but the Dr said that she is healthy and progressing along well with her milestones. That she is probably just going to be small framed like me and that she's a girl and sometimes they are smaller. I feel better about it now, b/c when she eats, she eats 2 and sometimes 3 jars of the baby food each time she eats. My milk is still plentiful so she's been getting enough of that. This month she learned to wave bye-bye, she smacks her lips together making a cute smacking noise and mostly does it when it's time to eat, she also signed "milk" for the first time and the biggest things : she said "Mama" while we were sitting at the table eating. Has said it plenty since :o)and she also became mobile and has started scooting all around the house on her butt. Just like Nicholas did, but she uses two hands and he only used one. She is his shadow....follows him everywhere. Sometimes he gets frustrated, b/c she will want to play with what he's playing with and want his sippy cup. It's really cute to see them like this though. She went to her first wedding and her first fireworks too! We thought she would be scared at the fireworks, b/c she isn't one for loud and/or abrupt noises. She enjoyed them though :o) She still can't be without her paci and has a blankie she likes to sleep with. It's the "Angel Dear" brand white lamb. It's velvety soft. I need to get more, b/c if she's anything like Nicholas is with his I will have a tough time getting it to wash it. I still need to get a couple more of the one Nicholas has too so I won't have this issue. I'm going to be weaning Olivia off the breast starting the first of September. She can already use a sippy cup which she does for her water. When she turns 1 I will be giving her just the sippy cup, just as I did with Nicholas. I'm going to miss that part of having her be a baby. At the same time it will give me more freedom as to what I can eat and drink so that will be nice. Soon after that transition I'm planning on taking the paci from her. She will still have her blankie, so I hope that makes the transition easier. This month we will be starting her on the stage 3 foods and she's eating the little puffed finger foods right now and loving them! She always wants our food at dinner. I usually give her some if she wants it. We have a baby food maker that I use to make her some.
Nicholas is going to be 2 1/2 soon. I stopped the potty training, b/c he just wasn't ready. He goes on the potty only when he wants to right now. Once Olivia turns 1 I'm going to try a system that Dr Phil had on his show where you potty train in one day. I hope that it works. It's worth a try. So a couple weeks after Olivia's birthday I plan on starting this. Nicholas has become such a little boy instead of the little baby. :o( He is talking SO much these days. He uses complete sentences. He can count to 20, say the pledge of allegiance, sing itsy bitsy spider and when Ray and I spell things out he knows what we are spelling on a couple things like Ice cream and scary. Surprised us! He loves books and always wants to read. Still into CARS, but also LOVES and I mean LOVES Max and Ruby on Noggin(the ONLY channel we let him watch). He only gets 30 to 1 hour max of t.v. each day. We are usually playing cars, trains, reading, playing with play dough, coloring, building with his blocks, Aqua doodling, horsing around, outside watering plants or playing with his outside toys. He likes to help us wash dishes, water the plants, check on the garden, mow the lawn, cook, laundry and the floors. He's such a good little helper. Last time we went out and did yard work he helped, we had a picnic after all the hard work and then before going in we had a water fight with the hoses. Before going in we stripped him down and he just had to pee in the grass before we went in! :o) ALL boy for sure. What he doesn't like too much right now is bugs of ANY kind(must have gotten that from me) and going to bed at nap time or bedtime. He is one of those that asks for more kisses from each of us(which we SO gladly give him), water, milk etc. you name it he wants it to try and get out of bedtime. He also not only has to sleep with his blankie and his bedtime prayer doll, but he has to have one of his medium size squishy Tonka cars to go to bed with. (I just had to get up and take him one and eat the monsters). Let me explain that....For some reason with bugs, monsters etc if it scares him or he doesn't like it he asks us to "eat the ____ all gone". Not sure where he got that part where we need to eat them....but we do it. Anyway, so we have to act like we are chewing( with noises) and then spit them out(with noises). Do this a couple times and say okay their all gone and he's fine. How did he find out about Monsters?? Well I think his older cousins were playing a game of chasing and started talking about monsters and making the noises and all that. So sometimes at bedtime Ray and I have to go and eat the monsters all gone!(He is asleep now after I just went in and gave him the car and ate the monsters all gone)!
Nicholas and Olivia made their first trip to the library this summer too! Nicholas loved the bugs in the glass squares,the books and the kid size cardboard cutouts of Franklin. Olivia was more into the finger puppets. We all had fun. Ray and I got new library cards. He playfully warned me if I had any late fees he wasn't going to pay them....and who ended up with a late fee?...no one other than Ray himself! haha They waved it since it was like 7 years ago :o) That was pretty funny I must say. They didn't even have me on record so that tells you how long it had been since I'd been there. So now we have our new cards and are ready to check things out. We also went to the Splash park for the first time for a play date with Hailey and Addison .....had a blast! Nicholas didn't like it AT ALL at first, but then he warmed up. I guess he didn't like that the water shoots up from the ground. Once he warmed up though, it was hard to get him to leave when it was time to go. Olivia liked it too, but will be more fun for us all when she can walk.
Ray is still doing well and working out at the gym. Has lost 55 lbs and still going. I think he's gone down 3 pants sizes and 2 shirt sizes. His goal is still 2 more pant sizes down. I'm really proud of him! I've been a TOTAL slacker when it comes to the gym. I get off work at 1145am and all I wanna do is go pick up our kids. Instead I know I need to take the time and go and be to pick them up by the time they are done with lunch. I just wouldn't get to eat lunch with them. August starts new though. I'm going to start my Yoga classes and back at the gym. I need the Yoga back in my life....have missed it since Nicholas was born. I'm looking forward to it so much! I had a MNO-Moms night out this month with a couple of the girls. Ray stayed in with the kids and I had a much needed night out with the girls! Some of them weren't able to make it, but we will have another one and hopefully everyone can join us next time. We are going to skip some of the venues we visited this time though....Ray has his fight nights and so I have my MNO. On another note....I'm going to try and start a business with Melaleuca(a green product line). It will supplement my income and if anything were to ever happen to my current job I'm hoping by then if it were to ever happen I would be making enough money to just do that as I raise our kids. It's a product line I have been using and I believe in. If I can get it going, I think I would be REALLY good at it, b/c it is something I believe strongly about. In helping others become more aware and to be "green families" I will be helping our earth for not only my children and future grand kids, but everyone else's too. So if you are interested or know anyone who may be, please contact me so I can get with you or them and let them know all about it.
I'm going to finish this and go enjoy the quiet with my husband while our babies are asleep. Please enjoy the videos from the library. Take care and be well! Our love to all :o)