O Tannenbaum!

The Christmas tree finally got put up last night. Christmastime definitely can't be fully enjoyed until the tree is up and decorated! I like to turn off all the room lights and lie underneath the tree and look up through the twinkling Christmas lights. :) Happy Almost December!

Babbling Becca

Becca's "vocabulary" has been growing lately, with new sounds and noises. She's funny to have a conversation with.

Turkey and Disney Adventures

Well, we definitely had a very memorable Thanksgiving this year! On Thanksgiving morning we left early and drove to Ben's aunt's home in Upland, California. Upland is about a 45 minute drive from Disneyland. We had a very yummy Thanksgiving meal with them. My favorite, of course, was the mashed potatoes! The Tuttle home is very busy with 11 kids and a dog! Wow! Between their family, ours (including Ben's parents and his sister's family) and the missionaries, it was quite the little crowd. Emma and her cousin Adam looked so cute dressed up as a pilgrim and an indian. Ben's mom made the pilgrim dress and it turned out adorable! After dinner and visiting with them, we took off to our hotel across the street from Disneyland (my FAVORITE place!!). We played for two days in the two parks there and we were soooo exhausted after it all! We hit every big ride and most of everything else. I was a little disappointed that we didn't ever get to ride the new Nemo submarine ride. However, every time we walked by it was an hour and a half wait or more. We just didn't want to wait that long with all of our little ones. So, maybe next time. Hopefully they will someday decide to have some fast passes available for that one. Goodness sakes! On the first Disneyland day, we had some special passes that would allow us to get into Toontown an hour before it opened to meet Mickey and watch a little show with all his friends. Emma just loved this! When we got to see Mickey she went right up and hugged his legs. It was super cute. I was a little surprised at how scared Emma was on some of the rides... I was hoping she would be more brave! She did NOT like any of the 'dark' indoor rides... we couldn't get her to go on Peter Pan or anything. It was a real struggle to convince her to go on Winnie the Pooh or Small World, but she ended up enjoying both. She whimpered the whole time on Pirates and Monster's Inc. However, there were many rides that she wanted to ride over and over again, like the teacups, Dumbo, Astro Orbiters, all of the rides in the Bug's Life land and also the big Ferris Wheel in California Adventure. So, overall, she had a really good time. Of course, we weren't able to convince her to ride the Matterhorn. She said it was too scary because she could hear the "snow monkey". That's what she called the Abominable Snowman. What a funny girl. We also got away with hardly having to wait in any lines, because while part of our group was at Toontown on the first day, Ben's parents and sister were surprisingly given Dream Fast Passes (part of Disney's Year of a Million Dreams thing) that allow you to get on all the big rides without a wait. You just have to show them your special passes that wear around your neck. So, between those and baby swap passes, we hopped on a bunch of rides without a wait. How pleasant! I also enjoyed the little arrangement we made with Ben's sister, Emily and her hubby (also named Ben). The kids were exhausted after dinner on both days, so we swapped taking the kids back to the hotel to go to bed while the others continued to play. This worked out well. The second night was Ben and my turn to play late, so we went on California Screamin' and Tower of Terror. We also got some ice cream and shopped for some souvenirs for Emma and Becca. What a fun date! Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone!

Disneyland... here we come!!

I mentioned in the previous post that my dear Rebecca has been much happier since starting up the formula. Well, I took these pictures of her this morning because she was sooo happy. I love it when my girls are giggly and in a good mood. Emma's happy today as well because we'll be leaving for Disneyland tomorrow!! We've been perusing the Disneyland site together and she is excited for the following: teacups, Dumbo,Mickey and Minnie's house, Bug's Life rides, and Matterhorn. Can you believe she is actually big enough to ride the Matterhorn? Of all the bigger thrill rides, the Matterhorn is the one that only requires a height of 35 inches to ride. For most of the other big rides you need to be 40 inches or taller. Well, Emma is now 36 inches tall! What a growing girl! Maybe next time she'll be even bigger like Addy and be able to ride Splash Mountain! :)

Hurry and lock up the cupboards mom!

Becca's almost crawling! 'Almost' means that she keeps pulling herself up onto her knees and rocking a little, but not quite going anywhere. However, even though she's not quite crawling, she still somehow ends up traveling across the room through other methods such as scooting, rolling, reaching, stretching and other creative means of getting somewhere. Also, to update on the formula feeding - she is happier and sleeps better, and I hope she is also gaining some weight. Do you think she looks a little fatter? I think her head is looking a little less bulbous, so maybe that means she is putting on some weight in her face and elsewhere. I hope so! Her next weight check will be in a couple of weeks, so I hope she passes the test! :)

I love Heather!!... and Becca too

Heather took these adorable pictures of Becca and I LOVE them! I'm having a hard time narrowing down which ones to print and frame... maybe I'll just have a whole wall devoted to cute Becca... but perhaps that would make Emma feel bad. ;)

Bring on the formula!

Greetings everyone! Another week is beginning and I was just looking at my blog and realizing it's about time I updated with something new. I took Becca to her weight check this morning. At her 6 month well-baby visit, the pediatrician wanted me to come back in one month to check her weight to see if my bitty little girl is making any progress. Well, at 7 months old she weighed in at a mere 13 lbs, 4 oz... so I was instructed to start supplementing three times each day with formula. Well, I fed her with formula right after nursing her at lunch and at dinner today and I was shocked at how much she ate! I feel sooooo sad that I've been short-changing her for so long with the nursing. Apparently I'm just not cutting it with my milk supply. Oh my! This was a surprise to me, because I never had to use formula with Emma.. she was never as small as Becca is. Well, anyway... I'm distressed at the fact that my little Rebecca has been needing more to eat, but I'm also relieved that she's finally getting the food she needs to start filling out and hopefully get a little chunkier. :)

On a lighter note, below I've posted a video of Emma dancing along during Dancing with the Stars last week. I mentioned in a previous post that this has been one of her favorite things to do recently. She loves dancing and I get a giggle at how serious she'll be about it. The video below is a little dark and she spends some of the time staring intently at the dancers on tv trying to think of how to imitate them. I like how at the end of all her dances she collapses on the floor for a dramatic and theatrical finish! :)

Soccer Girl!

Emma started her soccer class this morning. She was so excited. Last night we bought her shin guards (which hardly fit her skinny legs) and her very own pink soccer ball so that she can practice during the week. I was very impressed with her soccer skills! She did so well! We have a pro soccer player in the making. :) We'll be doing this every Saturday for the next six weeks, so I'm glad she liked it!

Yay for me!

Look I got a haircut! It's a miracle! Guess when the last time I had a haircut was? It's hard to believe, but it's been since last October! Phew... it feels good to finally break that streak. I put Becca in the picture because I feel weird taking a picture of just me. Becca's so cute. Anyway, if you ever actually read this Melanie, thanks for the great color and cut! Now go get going on your blog! :)

Cute costumes and... la cucaracha!

You're probably all getting bored with Halloween posts... but I'll try and aim to entertain! We spent the evening at Ben's parents home in Gilbert and enjoyed trick or treating throughout their neighborhood. Emma's cousin Adam was Christopher Robin... aren't they all so cute together?! My favorite is that Becca can't see... that's hilarious. Well, Emma had a lot of fun! Once again, she impressed me with her trick-or-treating skills. She'll do whatever it takes to get candy. This made me think of the following Jerry Seinfeld act about Halloween (which Ben was quoting and joking about last night as we went door to door getting candy).


Becca and Emma are having more and more fun together lately. Particularly at bathtime. Now that Becca can sit up in the tub, I can more easily give them baths at the same time. It's much more convenient for me, and a lot more fun for them! Becca is so cute and funny. I took a video during their tub time a couple days ago and you can view it here.

And now on a much more random note, here is a very amusing clip of Ben and I dancing (I really must have no shame!):

Halloween Festivities

The Halloween festivities continue! It's been a fun week with plenty of entertainment and goodies. Last night we visited Ben's parents for a wonderful Sunday dinner with yummy fall foods and a quick pumpkin carving. I'm thinking I will stick to tiny pumpkins from now on... they are so much easier to carve and not nearly as big of a mess and they make a lovely little decoration for my kitchen counter. :) To add to the growing list of festive events, we had a pleasant little Halloween gathering with friends this evening. Games, treats, and splendid conversation... there's nothing better... except maybe Disneyland. ;)

So much FUN!

We went to the State Fair today! It was a total blast! We were happy that Ben's family was able to meet up with us there as well. This was my first time to the Arizona State Fair and I have totally been missing out all these years I haven't gone. It was so great! Emma rode the carousel, pony ride (click for video), ferris wheel, and a few little kiddie rides that she was able to ride all by herself. She was so happy to be able to ride the pink elephants by herself. She's so fun. She also tried the mini bumper cars (click for another video!), but she was too short to reach the pedal, so the attendant had to help her the whole time... but what a trooper! Emma is such a fun little girl. Becca slept much of the time... maybe next year she'll be able to get more out the fair. :) My favorite was riding the log ride with Emily. We both got soaked, but it felt so nice in the heat... and I was all dry in a short time. We also had corn dogs, funnel cake and cotton candy... mmmm... healthy fair food. ;)



Last night we had our ward trunk or treat. It was also sooo fun! What a splendid weekend we've been having, eh? We all dressed up as Winnie the Pooh characters. Emma was such a cute Pooh and Becca was a darling Roo. :) I was so proud of Emma getting so into the trick or treating... she went up to everyone passing out candy saying "Trick or Treat!". Such a pro! I was impressed with the many clever costumes in the ward... we have such a fun ward! There was an ice cream sundae, a LOST character, a Tetris piece... and the Man in the Yellow Hat with Curious George (good work getting that costume together Ashley!) I was also impressed with Ezra finishing off a whole sucker. Good work! Emma also has been enjoying her treats here at home... there is even plenty to share with mommy and daddy!

Pumpkins and Costco

We had a lovely ward playgroup activity this morning. It was so nice to be outside with the beautiful weather! The high today was a cool 79 degrees! It's nice to finally be cooling down around here... and have an excuse to start wearing long sleeves and pants. :) The kids painted pumpkins and enjoyed playing in Lora's fun backyard. I love chatting with the other mommies. Ben and I were discussing the other night about how I'm always wanting to chat his ear off when he gets home from work, while he would much rather relax on the couch watching a show. We realized that this is mostly due to the fact that I spend the majority of my day having only Emma to talk to... that doesn't make for the most intelligent or stimulating conversations... so when Ben gets home I'm desperate for some grown-up communication. Anyway, I bring this up because this is one of the reasons why I love so much to get together with my girlfriends so that I can have people to really talk to!

So, one of our favorite places to go is Costco and now that Becca is sitting up we've recently been having her sit in the cart at the stores. It's especially fun at Costco, because they have the double seats so Emma and Becca can sit right next to each other. It took a picture because I thought they were so cute and odd looking sitting next to each other like this... it makes Emma look like a giant and Becca appears even smaller than she really is with her big sister keeping such close company. You can also see that Emma takes just after her daddy with her interest in XBOX games. :)

Around the house

To add to the list of things that Becca likes - she also enjoys playing with the laundry. I've found that she can be entertained through most of the 'putting away laundry' ritual each day just sitting up on the bed and grabbing, eating, and covering her face with clothes. She's funny. Doesn't she look so happy in this picture? Her head also looks extra big... but that's because she has a big/smart brain, remember?

I feel like I've been focusing completely on Becca lately with my posts, so now I will pay some attention to my dear Emma. :) She enjoys the following: Reading stories with mommy and Becca, hide-and-seek, strawberries and kiwis (in addition to the string of typical foods that young ones like such as macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, corn dogs, and pizza), dressing up, dancing, and helping in the kitchen (when mommy is patient enough to allow it). These last couple of items I will dwell on a moment - Emma LOVES watching Dancing with the Stars and she also very much enjoyed So You Think You Can Dance when that was on during the summer. She's so funny about this. When it's time to watch "the dancing show", she insists on changing into a dress, which she calls her "dancing dress" and she dances with the performances throughout the whole show. It's really hillarious. She gets so into it... it's very "interpretive"... I'll have to try and remember to take a video of it this next week. The other item of cooking/helping in the kitchen has been a fun one lately. I'm usually not that patient with having her help me cook dinner because I tend to be in a time crunch and I'm hungry and I just don't want to take the time to have her really help me much... so I've recently started having a cooking time each week together, in which we make a pre-planned recipe together that's rather simple. This morning we made a caramel/peanut butter dip with apples (courtesy of Rachel Ray's Cooking with Kids book). Emma acts so pleased to be given so much attention and be allowed to do so much of the cooking. It's also been a good teaching time to get her acquainted with the names and uses of various cooking items. We do this while Becca takes her morning nap, so that I can really focus on Emma. I think she needs that sometimes.

So, I feel like so many of you have been making posts about your favorite songs... it made me think of this one I discovered a while back... the group is called The Bird and the Bee... I don't necessarily endorse their other songs, because I fear they would need some editing (aye!), but this song is a winner to me. It's called Again and Again. I get it stuck in my head quite a bit, but I really like it.

Hippies!

Once again, I have a bunch of random things to write about. I love blogging! It's nice to have an outlet for all of the stuff that floats around in my head. :) First of all, Heather already posted about this and she made the cutest collage of pictures from the Murder Mystery party we had at our place this weekend. We did one of these in Provo once when we were first married with our friends there... and this time around was definitely just as fun - and the costumes were awesome! I was so impressed with everyone's effort to make this a memorable gathering. :) I'm going to post Heather's picture page below so that my friends and family outside of Arizona can see how cute we all were. ;)


Oh, and to answer any questions about who was the murderer... well, it was Craig. And I always thought he was a nice guy. ;)

On another topic, Taya's craft fair was this weekend and her unveiling of Jonesy Baby seemed to be quite the hit! I'm so impressed! I wish I was crafty and clever enough to start up my own business... you're my hero Taya! :) Look how cute Becca looks wearing her very own Jonesy Baby hair accessory. I'm glad to have some cute flowers for her hair, so that now no one will mistake her for a boy... especially for those days when she isn't already in pink.

And speaking of Becca, I thought I would include some of her likes... since she is now getting more easy to read with these types of things. Rebecca enjoys being held my mommy, sitting up... especially in a cart at the store, playing with Emma, crunching and mashing up pieces of paper, staring at people with her huge eyes, and eating biter biscuits. I've included some pictures of this last item. She makes a huge mess, but she is so funny to watch when she eats them... she gets so into it and vigorously mashes it up with her gums. It really is a sight.

Lastly, I just read on Brittanie's blog that you can get your blog made into a book! What a great journaling idea! So cool! Click here to learn more.

3 percent?!

Happy 6 month birthday Becca! Today is Rebecca's 6 month mark and I can't believe it! I feel like I just had her and yet it's hard to remember life before her. How odd. We went to her well-baby visit today and the poor thing had to get a bunch of shots. She was very sad about it, but now she is napping. Her 6 month stats were rather interesting (but not surprising really). Height: 24 1/2 inches (25%ile) Weight: 12 lbs, 11 oz (3%) HeadCirc: 17 1/4 (75%). So... in conclusion: bitty body, huge head. That's definitely my Becca. Once again I was rather alarmed at her tiny weight percentage. I'll be going back in a month for another weight check, at which point, I may need to start supplementing with formula. Emma was always really small like Becca... but not quite this small. Oh well, the doctor says she's healthy but wants to make sure she doesn't continue to go down in percentile on the weight chart. Regarding her very disproportionately large head, I attribute that to a huge brain... because she's just that smart. :)

Sitting Pretty

Look at my cute little Rebecca! She's sitting up! This photo is slightly deceiving, however... she can definitely sit up, but falls over after about 10 seconds. But I say that if I have the time to take a picture before she topples, then I can say she is sitting up. Hooray for Becca! She's the cutest little thing... with the biggest eyes I have ever seen! :) I love her so very much.

Emma continues to do well with the potty training. Hooray! She's going to the potty without me reminding her and now I am just waiting it out till I try to go on an outing with her in underwear. I'm so scared she will pee in the store! Any suggestions or advice? Emma's been enjoying one of her potty prizes... bath crayons. Very fun! I suggest trying these out for your little ones, if you haven't already. Emma thinks they are so amusing. On a side note, I bought the bath crayons at Cost Plus World Market. I'd like to put in a little plug for this fun store... in case any of you haven't already discovered it. They have really unique kids toys and trinkets and also fun foreign candies and treats. Their house decor is really cute as well! It's kind of like Pier One, but I think their stuff is even more fun.

Since we've been stuck in the house quite a bit lately, I was particularly thankful to have Benjamin over this morning to play with Emma. Melinda and I have been doing a kid swap for the past few weeks and we've both been loving it! We both get one day each week without our crazy 2 year olds and Emma and Benjamin love playing together. How nice is that? Today we colored Halloween pictures and played in the backyard. Becca loves to hang out on the porch as well... she can stay out there for the longest time as long as Emma is out there to keep her entertained. She just really enjoys watching and interacting with other kids, especially her fun big sister!

Underwear, mommies, and hockey pucks

This post will be a little random (as is evident from the title!)... but sometimes that's fun, isn't it? :) First, my mom has been bugging me (in a nice way of course) for a while to post pictures of the insides of our house. So I took a short little video of me walking through the place. I realized afterwards that I talked rather fast during it... so have fun trying to understand what I'm saying. ;)

So, I've begun potty training Emma... again. This time, we're actually doing really well! Hooray! I feel like Emma's been aching for a while to give it another go and she's been doing so well this time around! It's been 2 days of no accidents! Yippee! This is only at home, though... she is still wearing pullups out of the house. I'm going to give it another week at least before I dare venture out of doors with Emma only in underwear. But, I am so proud of Emma using the potty at home without me needing to remind her... what a big girl! The picture above is from yesterday morning... Emma was just wearing her panties and nothing else and both her and Becca were both on their tummies watching a show. Pretty cute, I thought.

Lastly, there are few you tube videos I've been wanting to post. I'll put them below. The first is a pretty amusing song about things mommies say during the course of day. It's quite funny. Below that is a video from the "Will it Blend" series of clips... They're basically cool videos showing how powerful the Blendtec blenders are by blending up everything from hockey pucks, to glow sticks, to ipods. Odd, but entertaining.

Lovely Utah in the Fall

Our trip to Utah was very pleasant. The weather was perfect! It's nice to know that some people in other places are experiencing the beautiful Fall season. I enjoyed getting to wear a jacket! :) I put all our photos in the slideshow for you all to enjoy. We kept very busy and Emma had soooo much fun! I did too, of course. It was great to spend time with my family. I love them dearly! :)