Ice Skating ... or not

Charlotte has seen many ice skating rinks this winter and is always very interested. She likes to watch the "kids boom boom" and talks about the "ice...bum" that results from the falls. She's started saying "Charlotte ice! My turn! Charlotte!" so we called around to find a place with skates small enough for her. Thankfully the nearby rink has Recess on the Rink on Tuesday mornings where parents and kids skate for $7! They can skate for an hour and a half. Charlotte lasted about a minute and a half.

Before approaching the ice

After...

I tried to take her out again. Fail.
She got a high 5 for trying.

Cailin probably would've lasted longer...
if we'd let her out of her carseat.

Potty training

We started potty training in September and Charlotte has done wonderfully. Many people made rude comments about how she was "too young". These irritated me since they aren't the ones doing the training (or the diapers) and it's insulting to Charlotte to insinuate she has to sit in a yucky diaper because she's not yet 2 years old. We did have some regression right after Cailin came home, but thankfully that seems to be behind us now. I realized Charlotte might actually be "trained" when she told me she had to go potty at a playground in Boston. Knowing I'd put her in a pull-up, I tried to distract her. She insisted and was then able to wait 3 blocks while I ran both girls to the nearest bathroom. While it was stressful at the beginning and can be frustrating at times, potty training yields some funny moments.

At a very crowded Target this morning, Charlotte suddenly says "Potty". I ask "Do you need to go?" and she replies "RUN!"

Later today, while trying to make a video of her saying her name (it's really cute, we'll try again), this happened:

Sisters!

Here are bunch of pics from the past couple of weeks. Charlotte is loving her little sister. We probably say "Gentle!" about 43 times every day. :)

This is Cailin's seat during mealtime

Charlotte ran into Cailin's room and sat there
until we brought Cailin in to sit on her lap

Turkeys

The not-so-loved double wide

Playground!

"Well, hello there."

Ny-night!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for. Here was our very quick list of what we're thankful for this year.
-2 Amazing little girls
-Comfortable living (which indirectly means I'm thankful for Matt's crazy job)
-Health
-Friends and family who help and support us as needed

We spent Thanksgiving with friends and had a great time. The food was amazing, they live 10 minutes away, and they had dogs to play with. Everyone was happy.

We saw this in the neighborhood on our way to the playground

Charlotte likes Taylor. Taylor likes pumpkin pie.

Daddy takes a picture of the girls

We use auto timer to attempt a family pic...

Charlotte gets attacked. Cailin screams.

Charlotte's up to something...

She got the camera!

20 months- Charlotte!

Charlotte,
I now have to clarify who I'm writing about since you've become a big sister. You love Cailin so much and are always trying to help us take care of her. You especially enjoy helping to change Cailin's diaper and put lotion on her skin. You like to point out her body parts and we have to be careful to ensure her eyes aren't poked too hard.

You continue to amaze us with your language skills. Your sign language words are becoming less and less frequent. While I'm proud of your new words, I am sad you are growing up so fast. Your last sign is "All done" but it's almost all done.

You love helping. Your favorite thing to help with his meal prep. You say "Cook, chair, Charlotte" to mean "I want to stand on a chair and help!"

You love spending time outside, and it's so great to be somewhere warm enough to play outside in November. You ask to play with your friends all the time and retell stories of times you recently saw them.

You spent a lot of time with Vovo and Papi this month and had a wonderful time. You talk about them every day now and tell us what they like to do: Vovo- tea (which she drinks), tomatoes (you picked tomatoes with her), and apple (you two shared an apple every day she was here). Papi: coffee (his drink), TV, football (these are more self explanatory). When we drive by Legal Seafoods, you still talk about eating lunch there with Auntie.

Thank you for all of your help and for being such a great big sister! We love you so much!

Mama and Dada

Playground! Swing!

Pushing the stroller

Helping change Cailin's diaper

Cailin!! Cailin!!

Cailin Hope Davis has arrived!

On Monday, Nov. 14th at 9:55 AM, Cailin Hope joined our family. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 in long. So far, Cailin is a great eater and sleeper.

Charlotte loves having a baby in the house and spends much of the day yelling "Cailin! Cailin!!" to show her excitement. She also likes to keep everyone updated on Cailin's schedule by telling us "Cailin poop...change" or "Cailin...night night...binky". We are so blessed to have these two amazing little girls.

Here's some pictures from Cailin's first 4 days of life.

First snuggles with Cailin (with my bedazzled wrist)

Long and Lean

Daddy is outnumbered 3 to 1 now...and doesn't mind at all

Expressing her disapproval of this world after seeing it for a good 5 min

Ready to go home clothes!


As a comparison, here's Charlotte in her Ready to go Home clothes, 20 months ago

Cailin is content to stay still and snuggle. Charlotte is not.

Here we go!

Fri. Nov 18: I woke up to Matt and Charlotte making waffles...

...and Cailin was still fast asleep. Did your day start this great?

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Matt had a week off from work before Cailin arrived so we took advantage of the nice weather and went exploring around DC. We spent one gorgeous morning at the zoo. It was fantastic family time!

This is what it'd look like if Charlotte lived in the zoo

Checking out the tigers (which were Charlotte's favorite)

Elephants!

Charlotte pretends to be a monkey...and is able to rest on my giganto belly