Hello Again...

I will not mention how long it's been. Most of you probably know remotely how crazy life has been since our big move, others, maybe not. I will do my best to sum up how things have been with the girls lately-

Kailey really loves our "new" house. She understands that this is the house that Great-Grandpa built, and still talks about him often. Usually out of the blue she will say that she misses him, or that he's in heaven. Any time she mentions it, we talk about it. I don't want her to forget him. She enjoys her new room, and has actually been scheduled with sleep for the past week. Both her and Emmalee now have the same bedtime of 8:00, and the bedtime routine has been working great. Kailey still has a little trouble staying in her bedroom, and usually joins me in bed sometime during the night. I can't complain though, my biggest accomplishment has been getting her to bed at a normal bedtime. Check one.

Kailey is going to start preschool in the fall at the daycare here in town. One of my old high school friends' Mom will be her teacher. I really hope she enjoys it. She's a bit leary of it, so hopefully *economy permitting* we will be sending both Kailey and Emmalee to daycare a few hours per week just to get them both a bit more socialized with people other than family and close friends. We've been going to story hour at the library for about a month now, and Kailey seems to like that, but again, really likes to stay by Mommy.

She's excelling at her "studies". She can say her ABC's, and say what each letter is by sight. She can count from 1-20 (with the exception of 15) and also count backwards from 10 to 1. She knows her numbers 1-10 by sight also. We got her a little girl computer for Valentine's Day, and she really loves it. She loves to read with us and anyone else who will read with her. She's big on coloring (which she does really well!) and doing preschool workbooks. She has been actively playing Memory, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Go Fish, and some other games lately. She really loves games. She has many pretend friends and has a VERY ACTIVE imagination! It gets pretty crazy sometimes, but I know how good an active imagination is! She definately likes to be the boss of any games we play, or things we do. She still loves Dora, and a few characters from TV shows on Nick, Jr. She doesn't seem to be as interested in TV as she was before. The favorite thing lately has been getting outside finally! (we do still have tons of snow here. Ugh)

Overall, she has really been growing up too fast. She was weighed and measured the other week and weighed in at 33 lbs, and was 36 3/4 inches long. Finally over 3 feet tall! She isn't even on the charts for her height, and people keep being concerned. She will never be tall, that's just how it is!

And, little Emmalee. She is still just a tiny little peanut. The last time she was weighed and measured she was 30 1/2 inches, and weighed 20 lbs. 5 oz. That was in January of this year. Her pediatrician didn't seem concerned about her weight since she is so very active. She is on the very low end of the scales for both her weight and height. Even lower than little preemie Kailey was at her age.

We had a referral to Birth-3 from her Pediatrician for her lack of speech, and after a few different evaluations, they determined that she is slow on her speech, but not too slow to be in need of speech therapy. They think alot has to do with Kailey's non-stop talking, and talking for Emmalee. Emmalee can say alot of words now, and a few 2 word phrases like "All done", "No more", Night-night", and "Stand up". She can repeat alot of words if you ask her too, some still not, and she definately does not like to "perform" if you ask her to say things in front of people. Which is all right. I know she is healthy, and I just have to believe that she will talk when she's ready. When I think of both of the girls talking (especially if Emma is anything like Kailey), it makes my head spin....

Emmalee has really warmed up to people, even more so than Kailey ever was. She enjoys to go for walks and go places where people are and she waves and says hi to nearly everyone. We get alot of comments how cute she is when she waves and calls people Mama or Dada. She definately is a social butterfly.

She enjoys to climb on anything and everything, she can now almost do a somersault, jump off things, run, dance, and is very advanced in her gross motor skills. She was at an almost 3 year level at 18 months. Active, quite kid. Nothing wrong with that! She really enjoys playing with Kailey, but definately stands up for herself when Kailey gets too bossy. She also has all her teeth in finally, except for her 2 bottom eye teeth. And their on the way! She's still an excellent sleeper, except this past week she's been crying a little at bedtime. I think it's the damn teeth. Poor girl.

So, in short, the girls are both doing wonderfully! We went outside today for the first time in what seems like years WITHOUT JACKETS ON!! Lately every day when we've been outside it's been with hats, winter boots and winter jackets. Today, no hats, no jackets. It was a whopping 57 degrees! Praise God! We've finally been able to try out the girls new double stroller, and they love it. I love being back in town so that we can actually take meaningful walks that involve more action and time than just walking up to the Hwy. stop sign and back. The entire move was certainly a blessing during such a sad, sad time.

I'm hoping to keep up with this blog more. I know I always say that. This will be the last one I ever make. Between keeping up with the girls, working from home, working on the home, having time for me, and having time for Luke, there just isn't much time left. I will do my best though. Love to you all, and enjoy the pictures finally!