Growing Up

These little girls of mine are growing up far too quickly. On the one hand, I'm excited about it because I would love a little more time to myself and to have them be a little more independent. 

But, seriously... time needs to slow down because they are changing so fast, and I am definitely going to miss these days.

Aubrey: 

The big news in the house lately is that Aubrey is potty-trained! I *think* that I can say that now. We spent the Memorial Day weekend trying out the three-day-potty training method. Going in, I was skeptical. I have heard so many horror stories about potty-training that I was scared. But, it seems to have worked?

After the first two days of learning, something clicked and she hasn't looked back. We did it completely cold turkey. No pull-ups, no diapers... including naps and nighttime.

I'm still nervous about outings outside of the house because she is terrified of public restrooms, but we are getting there.

She is also talking up a storm... complete adult-like sentences, and is usually very sweet and agreeable. I'm finding two not so terrible... but she was really hard from about eighteen months to two, so I think she got it out of the way early. I've heard that three can also be a nightmare, so I will enjoy this time with my little friend.

She is also quite the little flirt and flashes that smile all the time. We are IN TROUBLE.

Cora:

Cora is my sweet little angel. She is seriously such a good little baby. She is queen of the 30-minute naps, which is driving me crazy, but other than that I don't have much to complain about.

She sleeps 7:30 pm- 6:30 am.... often without waking up, or she will wake up once. This picture below is a great representation of what she is like now. Those hands are always in her mouth.

She is getting strong, and is starting to be able to sit-up on her own.... She rolls front to back but not back to front. I go back and forth about whether or not she will be an early mover. She is strong, so completely capable. But she is also so chill and mellow and I can see her taking a while to get on the go. I can deal with that considering her crazy sister :)

She loves the bath and swimming... still hates her car seat. Loves to look around and study objects in her hands. She is a great sister and puts up with a lot.

And, just for fun here is a picture of my girls with all of their cousins/grandparents on the Foote side. I think it is hilarious that nobody is looking at the camera... because we were all trying to get them to look.  We have been lucky to have some really good pictures taken lately.

The Duplex

We have officially been moved into our cute little duplex for a few months now, but I am finally getting around to taking pictures. Taking pictures of every place we live has become a tradition for me. I enjoy looking back at the memories we make each new place we move.

We traded in the super fancy neighborhood and cramped but fancy apartment for a backyard, garage, and more space. We love it and it feels like home. I still want to cry when I think about how much we pay for so little, but that is life in California. One day I'll get my nice house, but we have a good life here for now.

Here is a tour:

The front of the house... and the side walking up to our front door.

The backyard!!! Probably the best part about moving. Apartment life with toddlers is miserable. I told Steven that unless we hit extreme poverty, I am never going back. We have strawberries, blueberry bushes, lettuce, and all sorts of other edible landscaping.

Kitchen and Dining Room. I know everybody is super jealous of the 1970's kitchen cabinets. They remodeled most of the house, but those were left untouched :)

Family Room:

Girls Room and our Bedroom:

And.. the bathrooms...

There you have it... a sneak peak into our daily life.

And since the sweet little girls living in the house are way cuter than the house itself, here are a few recent pictures (thanks Jason for the one of Aubrey).

Family Photos

So, I normally don't blog twice in one weekend...but I couldn't help myself.

We had family photos taken with my family in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and we just got them. I love them! Vanessa (visionsbyvanessa.com) is so talented... if you ever need a photographer in Las Vegas, she is great!

Here are a few of my favorites.... I love capturing the fun ages both my girls are at. Pictures really do tell 1000 words:

 My sweet parents... such a great example of lasting love.

 I'm so excited to replace the family photo in our living room with this one. I feel bad everyday looking at the one we have because Cora isn't in it.

Probably my favorite picture. It looks like a piece of artwork.

 Pretty sure Aubrey is telling Cora all about her stick in this one :)

 Aubrey was no longer co-operating at this point, so we had to improvise..

 My sister's cute little family.

 The whole group. I love my family.

 Siblings.

If only Cora was looking in this one, but I love it anyways.

Doesn't Steven look great in blue?

We are taking pictures with Steven's family next week. I may be silly, but I really get excited to see family pictures. Capturing memories is important to me.

The Climb

I did it :)

65 miles (100km) later and I completed my first metric century. My father-in-law and Steven were there with me and never left me in the dust. I'm so grateful, since I know how much faster they both could have gone. I'm also so grateful for my mother-in-law who took such great care of my little girls during the race.

We rode 65 miles, climbed 1860 feet, and I burned 2020 calories. I think I deserve some chocolate cake tonight...

I titled this post, "the climb" because that is really what I will remember. The race started in Morgan Hill, and rode through all the hills behind the city. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. Every time I would get through a hill, another would be staring right in front of me.

On this particular hill, I really wanted to cry. The main thing that kept me going was that the hill was so steep, I knew if I stopped peddling, then I would just fall over!

Going down is the fun part.... I wish there were more pictures of Steven, but he was the one strong enough to climb ahead enough the take pictures. I was focusing on survival.

I'm glad I let Steven convince me that I could do this. It was not easy. I'm definitely not a hard-core athlete, and training with a new baby and crazy toddler was tough. This part is mainly for me, but just in case I want to try something like this again (which... I probably will), I want to remember all the work behind the ride.

I am exclusively nursing Cora, which made this tricky. Luckily she takes a bottle, but I had to have plenty of milk to leave so she would not be hungry. Also, my milk has too much lipase in it, and cannot be frozen. So, I had to pump like crazy the few days before the ride to build up a fresh supply. I also had to pump in the parking lot right before and after the ride.... and I was fairly uncomfortable for a good portion of it.

Going on training rides was also crazy. The first two months after a baby are pretty much recovery, so I had just a couple of months to get into shape. Also, lack of sleep does not help.

The days I would ride, I would spend all of the girls nap time getting dinner ready, making sure Cora was fed right before I left, and cleaning, etc. so that I could leave as soon as Steven got home from work... I have such an amazing husband. He is really great and so supportive.

Becoming a mother is life-changing and has made me know that I can do hard things. At the same time, I want my girls to know that as a mom, you give *almost* all of yourself to your children... but it is important to have a life and goals outside of motherhood.

I am unsure if I will be able to walk tomorrow, but I'm just glad that I could finish!