Saturday Pictures...SURPRISE!

Three HAPPY Montieth Ladies:
I was excited because Greg and I had a "date" tonight. And, the girls were excited because their new sitter Tori was coming over to eat pizza and play with them. We ALL had a good time! :) Although they don't always see eye to eye, Emma and Sophie truly love one another. Sophie had a wet diaper and Emma took it upon herself to change Sophie. She did the entire thing by herself and did a good job too! :P

The pictures are a bit blurry and dark (stupid camera!!). Yet, they were TOO funny not to post!

Rain = No Pictures!

We have had A LOT of rain. And, it has cooled off here...the thermometer has stayed in the 50's & 60's this week. Everything outside is soggy and cold-yuck!! So, I have not had a lot of photo opportunities...which explains why I have not posted. :)

Emma will turn 5 next Sunday, I almost can not believe it! She will be bringing a "Pooh" cake to school next week to celebrate with her little friends. Then on Saturday she will be having a "Strawberry Shortcake" party at home with Sophie and their friend Mandy Rose. Each year there seems to be a developmental milestone reached around her birthday. Last year Emma gave up her daily nap the very same week that she turned 4. This week Emma has been doing a very good job of using her words. She is using correct pronouns more consistently and speaking in full sentences much more often. She is insistent on getting herself dressed ("by myself"!!) every day & she does a good job! When she needs help with something she is asking for help instead of screaming. Greg and I are SO PROUD of her! :) When you are the parent of a unique child like Emma you learn not to concern yourself with things that are age appropriate. It's simply not fair to your child or yourself; you WILL end up driving yourself crazy and miss all of the GOOD moments. And, there are so many.

Sophie is doing well too. :) She had 3 vaccinations this week; of course she cried but the tears stopped as soon as we left the doctors office-I think that the rubber cow-duck that she received as compensation helped too! :) She will not need any more shots until Kindergarten. Sophie tested positive for parasites-Giardia-a couple of weeks ago. (The test involved a tiny plastic spoon-that is all that you need to know!!). She took special antibiotics and we will be retesting her on Monday just to make sure that the medicine did its job. We also visited a Special Diseases Doctor last month to address Sophie's Hep B status. After a thorough blood panel--6 vials--we have learned that she has "Chronic Hepatitis B". This is actually "good" news because it is better than her having "Active" Hep B which would require treatment. Her liver is fine for now, which we were thrilled to learn! We will be monitoring her status with blood work every 3 months for the next year; if her levels do not go up then we will do blood work just twice a year. Sophie can put on her own shoes now and get her self UNdressed. She repeats almost every english word that she hears; her 3 favorites are "Hi!.....Thank You!....and EAT"! :)

I will post pictures the next time! :)

The Park

I took the girls to the park for a little while on Thursday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day! Below are the pictures that I captured. These are "natural" pictures...meaning that Emma and Sophie are not always "happy" and smiling! Which my posts may sometimes lead you to believe! ;)



Emma leads the way....
Teaching Sophie how to climb up the wall...and not leaving her a lot of room.

The slide was a bit hot...Sophie's turn....
Emma was bouncing the teeter toter a little bit too fast and Sophie was afraid!

"Hold on tight Sophie"!!! (Emma loves this teeter toter). Here is the full view shot. Sorry that it's off center... it was bright out and I coudn't see very well. The dumb looking kid in the backround climbed onto the middle as I was finishing the picture & started to jump...he recieved a little scold from me. I am sure that his white trash mom was eating a bag of chips and sucking down a sugary pepsi on a park bench somewhere. ;P

Oh Mommy, it is REALLY warm and crowded here today...do we have to pose for another picture?!

Emma LOVES the swings....And, Sophie not so much. We are still easing her into the whole park thing, she is going to get a lot of practice this summer!

Just Sophie!

First of all, this is a fluke that I'm posting two days in a row so DO NOT expect it to be the norm! ;)


It was 87 degrees outside and sunny today. Sophie looked SO cute in her Cubs cheerleading outfit that I decided to have a little photo shoot outside before it was time to pick up Emma from school.


Sophie has been a little bit grumpy this week so I was grateful that she decided to cooperate and smile for a few minutes! :) She is a VERY sweet little girl who is normally easy going and happy. But, she and Emma have been at war with each other this week. The honeymoon is OVER and while they love eachother they do not want to share toys or their parents! ;) I guess that this means that there is no doubt that they are "REAL" sisters....*lol*!



Sophie is talking well and called me "MOMMA" over and over today. She is also and becoming a selective eater. She hates tortillas but loves grapes. She will wrap her arms tightly around me when I hold her and she ALWAYS has to kiss Emma goodbye when we drop her off at school. She tells every clerk that she sees at the store "thank you". :)


Life before Sophie is now a distant memory.

"Captions"!

FLOWER GIRLS: Emma and Sophie posing in their spring dresses before we took Em to school today! Greg bringing the girls and boys back from the park the other night (what a GOOD Daddy)!

DADDY'S GIRL: That's okay...I can understand why she loves him so much! ;)

STYLIN'!: Emma has had her own fashion opinions lately. One of them is that a barrette, headband (& sometimes a rubber band) look fabulous together. Ugh. And, she wants to do it by herself (this is good). So, when we are at *home* I let her fix herself up...when we are in public what I say still goes. :)

Sophie wants to be just like Emma in SO many ways. (God help me...). :) Last week I caught Sophie wearing one of Emma's backpacks and Emma informed me that Sophie was getting ready to go to school. (It was about 5:00 pm). As you can see Emma styled both of their hair.

What is the Kleenex necklace that Sophie is wearing? Well, Emma had a nasty cold a couple of weeks ago and she was blowing her nose ALL of the TIME. I didn't want her to use up the classroom's entire supply in one day so I fashioned her this necklace to wear for easy access. *lol*. The girls and the Pooh's! I have no idea why Soph is not smiling in this picture because she was having SOOOO much fun and screeching! :)

Pooh and Zoo: We met our friends Kathy and Emma at the Zoo on Saturday. Emma insisted on wearing this red shirt because it was "red like Pooh's". We were running a few minutes late so I did not have time to iron it! :( And, yes I know that Sophie was not smiling for the camera again. She DID enjoy feeding the animals!

This was right before Emma hugged the poor goat with such "love" that he almost flipped out! ;)

Easter Pictures (Finally...)!

Better late than never...

Oh yeah-I almost forgot...for those of you wondering; Emma *LOVED* the Easter Bunny! She ran right up to him and gave him a huge hug. And, Sophia was not as excited to see him as her big sister. In fact she screamed at the top of her lungs from 6 feet away. ;) Hmmm, better luck next year maybe?

White Ribbons and Red Noses

Poor Emma and Sophie BOTH have colds (and of course so do I)! There is no need for anybody to worry about Sophie though, Emma has taken it upon herself to wipe Sophie's nose when ever she thinks that it is necessary. Emma tells her "blow" and Sophie does! :) Of course Emma still asks US to blow HER OWN nose half of the time....sometimes she wants to be a big girl and other times not.

The girls are looking forward to Easter this year. Emma tells us that the Easter bunny is in the ground and she takes Sophie to the window frequently to check if they can catch a glimpse. Emma is also very aware that he is going to bring them candy (not as much as she THINKS though)! :) We are taking the girls to visit the Easter Bunny this weekend and Emma is thrilled, we will see how Sophie does. She is shy around strangers and I can not imagine what she will do when she sees a giant bunny. Sophie is enjoying playing with plastic Easter eggs and that may just be enough for her this year. :)

The girls Nona (Greg's Mom) is flying in for Easter tomorrow. Emma is quite excited and I am sure that they both will both enjoy her visit!