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Sam and Amelia came over yesterday after school as their mama was getting ready to have their baby sister (!) They had a great afternoon playing together - such good little friends. When we dropped them off, Vera said she wants to live with them.


This was right after Vera asked Sam to marry her, "because she's a grown up now." I think he said yes - see her smile :)

Here they are discussing what they are going to play. I didn't catch all of it, but wrote down a few snippets.

We are good princesses and you are a king.
How about I be a bad turtle?
No, how about we be bad princesses and you be a bad king and...
Do you want to marry us?
No.
Ugh! You have to marry us!
Ha, I turned you into a prince.
I don't want to - I turned myself back into a little boy.
[not too much later] Ok. I will marry you, as long as you don't be mean.

*déjala sola!!

[leave her alone!!]

Vera is constantly wanting to hug and squeeze and touch and kiss and grab and pat her little sister. Mostly it's harmless, but it still drives me a little nuts. Please just let.her.a.lone.! I've tried to not let it bother me as much in the last few days - I mean she really just loves her to pieces and can't help herself. A few times it's not so innocent. Like yesterday: Vera what happened? Well, um, you see.... um well my teeth were there and then her hand was there. and um then her hannnnd was um, near my teeth and...

*11 months

What an incredible incredible joy this little Edie is!!! Her first 5ish months were a little rough - she always seemed to have little tummy troubles and was quite fussy. You could never tell now - she is so happy and fun and mellow and silly and wonderful. I absolutely love all her little ways and keep failing at catching them on video. The way she shows you something, snatches it away, shows you again saying "zshish!", how she babbles and talks like she really thinks she's saying something, how excited she is when Vera gets up in the morning or when we say hi to Daddy after nap or how she reacts when I get home from work. How she sucks her thumb when she is sleepy or wants to nurse or lately when you hand her any of the soft little toys she usually sleeps with. How excited she was when I started giving her whole crackers not too long ago. I love her teeny little wiry body, pulling herself up on any and everything.

as far as development.....

She is cruising pretty easily and took one kind-of step yesterday. She was standing away from any support, took one step in place and then fell down. I kind of think it doesn't count as a first step - but it's a start! [Vera was already walking by this point] She has a couple words which is hard to believe, but she has said them more than once in the right context. She says leaf "zsheaf" and started saying bird "biiir" the other day. When she sees Boone she says Ba or Da and I think she gets Mama and Dada. She can bockbock like a chicken and woof [kind of ] like a dog. She is good at mimicking what we try to get her to say which is pretty neat. She has said byebye a few times and signed "more" for the first time yesterday - we'll see if it repeats. Her napping is inconsistent - sometimes great, sometimes not, but at least she takes them! I'm also muuuch more relaxed about it :) She sleeps downstairs in the guest room now and pretty much sleeps 12 hours at night with a few minor cries here and there. and she has four little tooths.

I wanted to get a picture of her in her sweet little dress today - I remember it being the same one Vera wore when she was exactly 11 months, but she somehow took it off during her nap today. Ben said she cried out once and then fell back asleep - poor thing, kind of funny imagining her trying to take it off :)

Here is Vera at 11 months. [Jen, the picture was from Graham's baby shower!]

*Bun

Bunny lost one of her eyes [again] a week or two ago. Vera was really upset and wanted to take her to a real hospital. I suggested we call our neighbor, Bryan, who is a nurse but she was concerned because he's not an animal nurse. Anyway, Bunny spent the day sick in her little sleeping bag. I still haven't fixed her eye - I'm worried about making things worse!

It all makes me think of the Velveteen Rabbit. A friend gave us a copy not too long ago and it was really interesting watching Vera as I read it to her. She was intrigued, but also a little wary. She does not want her Bunny to leave anytime soon to become real. At the end of the story I had big tears streaming down my face - it's such a sweet story and pulls at your emotions in all sorts of ways. It's been really sweet to watch Vera grow with her relationship with Bun and I don't want to see it fade because that would mean she's growing up :(

I made this little sleeping bag for Vera's birthday :)

*libritos

Edie is really into books lately and I LOVE it. Yesterday I watched her flip through this big animal book for like 15 minutes. She was making all sorts of noises, pointing at the pictures, kissing them, growling at them, talking to them. I just sat and watched - it's so magical to see a baby become aware of the world around them. Then I tried to sneak away to grab the camera and of course broke the spell. The ones she usually gravitates towards are the big "100 first animals" we have from the library, Where is Baby's Belly Button, Pat the Bunny, this little collection of Winnie the Pooh books [which I find surprising since she obviously doesn't understand a story.. I think she likes their size] and anything with dogs.

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She couldn't quite figure out how to eat a cracker and suck her thumb at the same time:

*un picnic

We met up with James, Vicky, Jack and Fiona up at Mill Creek last weekend for a little walk and picnic. It's so awesome that such a fun, tranquil little place exists about 14 minutes from our house!!

Vera loves this guy:

Look at us hip mamas with our ergos! Edie and Fiona got a kick out of each other - it's fun to see them interact more and more each time we hang out. Sorry you didn't quite make the picture, Vicky!

whew the water was cold!!

thank you blogger for automatically rotating my picture the wrong way:

*

And here's one he caught of me and my first little girl:

We both enjoy moments with just the 2 of us - like it was in the old days :)

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Ben brought Edie in our room the other morning and she crawled over to me, flipped around and lay next to me like this. She was completely still for like 10 minutes, just letting me rub her little back. She is so precious, it makes my heart hurt!!

*pescaderos

::gorgeous photo courtesy of mike cater::

Ben and his dad went up fishing on Strawberry Reservoir one day and had such a good time that we all went up together again later in the week. We rented a big fishing boat and had a really nice day catching rainbows and barbecuing on the shore. Vera and I caught 2 decent trout on her new 3 foot long Dora pole!

I like this one:

Bummer her head is cut off here :/ can you believe she's holding the fish? She's come a long way: remember this video? one of my favorites!!

We also went to the pool a couple times. Vera is now "swimming" in the deep water with a life vest on - she's really proud of herself!

*qué calor!

Whew it's been so hot this week! It's actually been the nicest, mildest summer yet - this is the first time I've really felt the heat. I think we've only hit 100 like twice [I like to throw it out there that the summer I was pregnant with Vera was the hottest on record with something like 20+ days over 100]... anyway, the temptation to stay inside is pretty high, but I really don't do well if we stay home and I don't have a good plan for the day. Usually I end up spending the whole day trying to clean up the living room or clean out their toys, moving piles from here to there while Edie and Vera mess them up. So anyway on Thursday we decided to take a little picnic to Red Butte Gardens, even though it was roasting outside. We had a nice little time together looking at the flowers and enjoying our lunch. I let Vera take as many pictures as she wanted which she thought was soo fun. A sampling:

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I really want to learn how to grow/train one of these trees that make a little fort-space underneath - so magical :) Edie was piling wood chips up on the chair - she's starting to 'organize' things like that and it's so cute.

She took exactly 28 pictures of these fish:

*familia

Ben's parents were here for a week recently and we are still feeling the emptiness after visitors leave. It was such - a - good - time! Really there is nothing like seeing your children get to know their grandparents [and cousins and aunties/uncles, old friends...]. It was especially wonderful to see them get to know Edie this time - she really has the cutest little personality now!! I loved hearing her giggle and 'talk' with them - so fun. Vera loved having them here too - she jumped right in with a picnic and a "hula-hoop show" in the driveway as they arrived and had painted them a welcome sign and pictures before.

Hopefully I can get the other pictures off Ben's camera - I hardly took any with mine. Here they are, mostly of the day we hiked up to Cecret Lake to see the wildflowers. Seriously, we live in such a beautiful place! That picture above is from Mike's camera - the flowers were so beautiful.

the welcome picnic:

lots of stories were read:

and of course, we ate really really well.

*thirsties

I can't believe I'm doing this, but in order to get some bonus entries in this giveaway, I am posting about it! It's to win 2 of these Thirsties "duo" diapers. I bought one recently and really really like it! I've been using it for Edie at nighttime and it never leaks. I used a disposable a few nights ago and even it leaked onto her jammies! Also I'd get 2 hemp prefolds... I hear hemp washes better and I would really love to try it for free!! Anyway, hope I win a couple new ones :) Please forgive this shameless use of my blog.

I apologize for not updating recently: it's what happens when too many pictures/thoughts/experiences pile up - I don't know where to start...

Here's a cute little bottom in the meantime: