hello dolly

Well my dolls have been keeping me on my toes lately. I can't leave them alone for a minute without one making a mess, the other one crying or needing/ wanting something. Oh the joys of motherhood. But overall I've never laughed/smiled so much before in my life. Nia is just as crazy as ever. Right now she's totally into her imaginary friends. I catch her talking to them every now and then. They are usually her classmates or cartoon characters. She also loves when I do the Elmo puppet for her. she talks to him as if he's real, but yet she knows i'm the one doing his voice. She makes me want to be a kid again. She has also mastered her negotiating skills. She negotiates EVERYTHING..from taking a bath, to eating food, to candy, brushing teeth, cleaning up her mess...she's out of control. but like the fools that we are, we give in. ( not all the time, but most of the time)
here are some of her favorite things right now:
color: pink
cartoon: Dora
song: beyonce-single ladies
animal: bear
fruit: apple
vegetable: celery & carrots
sport: volleyball
food: spaghetti
....well, i tried to ask her a few more of her favorites, but she just kept saying PINK! :)

Leia is now 5 months old. She had a doctors appointment last week and it went well. She is 15 lbs and 4 oz and is 25 inches long. she is right on track with everything which is good. She can hold her head up, roll over and can almost sit up by herself. Right now she's a little under the weather with a runny nose and cough. It's really hard to tell how sick she is sometimes because she doesn't get overly fussy and still eats and sleeps the same. We really have to count our blessings when it comes to the girls health because we know there are a lot of children out there who are in and out of the hospital and have to deal with all kind of ailments. So we are very lucky to have such normal, happy & healthy kids. Leia is such a great little baby, we just love to smother her with hugs and kisses (that's probably how she got sick) but we just can't help it. She has the best laugh and the cutest smile and dimple. Her eyes have changed color, when the doctor saw her she noticed they were green..but now i think they have gotten a little darker. But she's still the prettiest little thing. She's been drooling A LOT lately. we are constantly changing her clothes or bibs. She also received some great new items ...she got a high-chair from Annie and Randy and a jumperoo from Kevin and I. She loves eating in her high chair and now she won't be so left out when we all eat dinner. She also loves playing in her jumperoo, although she does get frustrated when she can't get a hold of the toy that she wants. She has the same tempermant as Nia when it comes to getting what they want. They both get frustrated so easily when they can't get a certain toy just right. I think they are going to be little perfectionist's as they grow. i have to constantly tell them to relax and try again. i think they get that trait from their Dad. :)
I forgot to mention a couple of weekends ago we made a trip out to San Francisco for a baptism for my god-daughter Laurie ( Bing's baby girl) . Both of the girls did really well in the car..this was Leia's first road trip. Nia of course was asking "are we there yet" ten minutes into the car ride. We stayed at the Sheraton hotel and actually met up with the Mayo's who stayed in the room adjacent to ours. If they weren't there i don't know how well the trip would have gone, they definitely helped in keeping an eye on the girls as we had to get ready early in the morning for the baptism. Hopefully we will be able to make another trip out there soon and have a more relaxing time.
Here are some recent pics of the girls:



Leia testing out the high chair
Leia in her jumperoo
Sisterly love
face paint from Dilly Dally the clown

Rollin' with Leia

Leia has accomplished a few exciting things the past few weeks. We are so very proud of her. After her 4 month birthday we felt that she was ready to start eating rice cereal. Her Doctor had already let us know that by 4 months we could start her on solids. She took to it very well. The first few servings were very watery, but she slurped it up and seemed to enjoy it. After about a week of watered down rice cereal, I decided she was ready for a little thicker consistency. Although she seemed ready and willing, her body totally disagreed. :( She had not had a bowel movement for about 5 whole days and it got us pretty worried because she is so regular. It didn't seem to bother her that much. She wasn't unusually fussy nor did she cry any more than before, but as we all know it's not very fun to be "stuffed" up. So we had to step in and see if we could help her out. I gave her apple-prune juice, fed her baby food prunes, massaged her belly and NOTHING. So we had to go there...that's right, Glycerin Suppositories!! Not so much fun, but they have a newer version(Thank goodness) They look like little suction bulbs filled with liquid glycerin.it took less than 5 minutes for Leia to be relieved!! WOOHOO! & we could tell right away that she felt so much better.
Another big step for Leia is she is now rolling over from her back to her front. Usually babies roll from stomach to back, the doctor said that's easier for babies to do, but not our little superstar. For awhile now she's been pretty wiggly while she lays on the floor. I'd place her in the middle of a blanket on the ground and go do dishes, check e-mails or what not and then come back to find her completely off the blanket. Just this past week though she had been flipping her leg over and really trying to get on her stomach, but she just didn't have the extra uumph to get over..until today!!! Butch, myself, grandma Lorna and Nia were all here to witness it and even caught a video clip of it. I will post it up asap.
I have much more to write but it's getting late and they are both asleep..for now! So I need to get some rest before one of them wake up.