The Emily Parker Experience

Seth and I always pick at our friend Emily about how many pictures she takes and how she makes every experience sooo fun b/c she is like a photo journalist :) Well, anyways, we decided to try out her method of having fun for Stevie's 2nd birthday. My bday is 3 days before hers and we all went out with other family members to celebrate it and her actual bday party is this Sunday so we decided tonight to do something just our family. We started out by going to the in- door playground in the mall. The girls love it there and it looked like it was about to rain so we thought we would check it out. They seemed to have had a lot of fun :) Stevie was running around crazy as usual and hard to get a good pic of. Neela was doing her typical laugh crazy face.
Stevie loved this alligator, she kept singing the "Along came Mr. Alligator" while riding on him


Neela's crazy face, she always makes this face :P She really is so happy and fun! I was more consistent with Babywise with her, but I don't know if that is what makes her so happy or if it is just her personality? b/c I did Babywise with Stevie Joy too, but we started later with her.


This was Stevie's favorite slide, we kept trying to move down to the other end for some better picture opportunities, but she kept running to this one for some reason?? Oh yeah in Stevie's hand is a crocheted piggie that Seth's Aunt Susu (Susan) made for Stevie for her birthday. She loves that thing and has been carrying it around with her since she got it!


Big girl standing next to the mushrooms


Neela can wave now and say "bye bye" I am so proud of her. And impressed, she is talking much much faster than Stevie did. I think b/c she is so sociable and also b/c she has an older sister who she is always around.


At the playground, Stevie had the opportunity to practice her new trick, to pretend that she is asleep, lol! She thinks it is so funny to trick people into thinking she is sleeping and then "boom" wake up.

Another thing I could not believe was that Neela climbed the rocks all the way up to the top! She even climbed the big one, she is so brave. She's cruising now, so we think she may be a walker soon, hopefully, she is getting pretty heavy!

After the playground, we walked to see if the Easter Bunny was at the mall. Seth said that it is rude to take pics with your own camera and that no way were we going to purchase them, but I still just wanted to see how she would do with a character, since one may be coming to her party. With Stevie things have to be her idea! So we let her walk around and wander up to him, she kept saying in her cute little girl voice, "Hey Rbbit"! She actually really liked him and EVEN sat in his lap!! I could not believe it, she freaked last year with him, but I think b/c I placed her in his lap, and she did not make the decision herself to walk up to him. She is her daddy's child, hee hee!!

After we left the Mall we drove to Cici's. Seth and I both love buffets (because we both eat a lot) and Cici's is the restaurant that Stevie will sit still, eat, and be happy at, so Cici's it was!!

Seth trying to find a parking spot.

duh, the best part was the cinnamon rolls!!


I am pretty sure Stevie was on a sugar high from all the brownies, because she was acting so goofy and making silly faces. I meant to bring some candles and a lighter so that she can practice her "blowing out" the candles, but I forgot :(

I even drank a coke, so I was pretty pumped up too!
After Cici's we went to Wal-Mart, because we had to pick up a few things and we wanted Stevie to walk down the toy aisle and pick out whatever toy she wanted (as long as it wasn't $100 or something) haha. We also looked for some crocks for her for summer time, but couldn't find any. Oh well, I guess I will keep looking. She had a lot of fun being "free" in the store! We always get two buggies, one for Neela to ride in and one for Stevie to ride in. But tonight for her special day, we let her roam the toy aisle. It took her a while, but after much consideration, she picked these $1 huge elephant and zebra toys, we liked the price. She must have frugal taste like her mommy and daddy.
Her 2nd bday was so fun (for us and her)!! All day we did all her favorites (painting, playing, stroller rides, playground, reading, etc.)! And for her party on Sunday we intend to do all her favorites as well. We don't know how to please everyone, but we DO know how to please our child, so the party will be very much Stevie centered :) We are looking forward to it :)

All in all I do think that we enjoyed the Emily Parker Experience!! It did make everything way fun that night! I think we will have to do it more often. I mean it makes it where you can never be bored on any experience with a camera. We are still newbies to the EPE, so I know we missed a TON of photo opportunities, but I think we did pretty good for ourselves, considering this was our first EPE, don't you???

What is Neela up to?

Neela is soooo sweet! She is actually what I thought my child would be like :) Not that I don't love Stevie Joy with all of my heart, but she is a very strong-willed child and for a first time mommy with a passive personality she took me for a loop. However, Neela is so much more laid back and laughs all the time. She is seriously constantly smiling. Every where we go people always guess that she is at least 3 months older than she actually is, due to her size, her hair, and her personality. She "talks" all the time, makes wonderful eye contact and smiles and laughs all the time! Not to brag (as if I haven't already), but she really is an "angel" baby! Stevie was totally a spirited baby! The only bad thing about how good Neela is is that it is going to probably make baby number 3 seem so hard, but I keep hoping that baby #3 will be even easier, especially since the baby will be a boy :) Titus Robert Megow!! We are going to keep it a surprise b/c it was a funner experience having it as a surprise. And no we are not pregnant yet, that may have sounded like we were.
She is rolling all around now and is starting to follow her sissy by rolling to her (so cute). Her hair is really crazy, I think it is going to be curly b/c it is a big poof afro on top of her head. She HAS to have a headband or bow or something when we leave the house :) She is actually a better sleeper than Stevie, which I didn't think was possible. She goes to bed around 8 and wakes up the next day around 8 in the morning. Naps for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, has already dropped her evening nap to a cat nap and can take it while we are out and about in the evening. I told you she is amazing. It is like she is an 8 month old trapped in a 4 month old body! I really enjoy her so much, she makes me so happy. I could seriously have 8 if they were all as easy as she is. I am so interested to see what kind of toddler she is going to be and child, hopefully she will stay sweet and laid back.

Us at Seth's work Christmas Performance:
Neela sitting in her big girl swing:

Living on a farm

Seth and I both grew up living "in the country". We both said that we did NOT want to live out in the country when we got older because it is waaaay to far out and we are busy bodies and like to "go go go". Well we are right where God wants us to be right now, while it may not have been "our plan". I actually do LOVE living on a farm. The main reason I hated living out in the country was because my parents never wanted to take me anywhere and it was so hard finding a ride when you live way out in the boonies! I said that when I grow up I am going to live in town so that my kids don't have to worry about living so far out and have a hard time finding a ride! Well as a kid really did like the farm life. I learned to drive at a very young age driving all around in trucks on the farm and I enjoyed the animals and taking care of them. I even really liked picking all the vegetables and fruit that we grew. So I think that maybe the good outweighs the bad. Sure you can't really have huge garage sales and lemonade stands, but actually on this road you could have a yard sale. Hmmm...well I guess I will just have to be more mindful when my kids grow up and get to that "pre-driving" age and remember how much I hated not driving but not having a ride either. As kids, I feel that the country life is way better. You don't have to worry about robbery as much, traffic, etc. But you do have to worry about snakes :( We even have a pond so we get to worry about alligators and drowning. Maybe it's not safer??

Here is some pics of us enjoying the farm today. I would really like to get more animals out here, but I don't want ALL the responsibility that comes with them and Seth is not exactly the "farming/nurturing to animals" type of guy. Maybe when the girls get older and can really help and take care of them. My biggest problem is that I really am girly and just like baby animals, once they are no longer babies, it is like they do not exist to me, lol! So then what? eat them I guess haha.

Stevie feeding the chickens:


See how much she loves those dumb chickens!
Mad at me because we left the chickens, btw Seth thinks this outfit looks like a clown, but I love it, it's so bright and colorful!
Our pond:

Ear Infections

Stevie Joy has been really sick and not acting like herself lately so I decided to take her into the doctor. We took her in because she has been throwing up a lot and has had really bad diarrhea, but when we got there they ended up telling us that she also has a double ear infection. This makes her 6th time this year! They gave her a shot (she screamed!) and she now has some antibiotics to take daily. We have to go back in two weeks to check things out. If things keep going like this the doctor recommends that she has tubes put in her ears. I am not too sure what all this entails so I don't really know how to feel about this. Surgery is scary, but chronic ear infections are dangerous too. I know the doctors know best so I just pray for divine wisdom and trust in Him that everything will be okay. One a positive note: Neela can now roll over kinda consistently. She hates when she does it though during her sleep b/c she does NOT like being on her back. It is sad, but kinda funny b/c her cry is so pathetic and I go in there and she just has this adorable, confused look on her face :) Am I a mean mommy to think this is funny? haha

We may be getting a baby pig, but the girl hasn't gotten back with me yet. We are trying to "stock" the farm up. We have cows, goats, chickens, and dogs (oh yeah and one cat). A pig would kinda complete the farm don't you think? Here is a picture of them:

Another attempt

I am going to try this whole blogging thing again. I feel like we have a pretty, fun, and interesting life so we should share it with others. I am very entertained reading other people's blogs, but for some reason just find it to be so much work when doing my own. I do see the benefits in having it though. Especially with baby number two I am constantly trying to think back to how it was with the first one and the tricks we did, milestones, etc. If I had something like this I think it would help.

Probably won't be that in depth, but I am going to give it a try and see how it goes :)

I worked a half a day today. I really don't mind working all that much, but like I always tell Seth,
"My best day at work still doesn't compare to my worst day at the house!". I just really enjoy being home with my girls!! Speaking of my girls, they are doing very well. Neela is now 16.5 lbs, I can't believe it! Stevie is only like 22 lbs so that means they are 15 months apart but only 5.5 lbs apart. At this rate, Stevie Joy will catch up to her very quickly.

The girls are so different, like night and day. Stevie is much more "things HAVE to go her way" type of baby and Neela is a "laid back" kind of baby. Here is a typical example: the other morning getting ready for church Neela was lying on her blanket in the middle of the floor cooing and giggling at who knows what playing all by herself just as happy as can be while Stevie on the other hand had to follow me around and let me know that she wanted to watch a show, then proceeded to "tell me" (by whining) that the show I put on for her was not the right show so we had to go through the DVR library to see what she wanted to watch :) Then she wanted her juice....you get the picture? I am interested to see how Neela will be at the toddler age. I know you are suppose to love every age, but the baby stage still isn't my favorite. Well actually I really love it when they first come home from the hospital and you get to spoil them and just hold a sweet baby all day. And you are still healing so no one expects you to do anything either. So basically your full time job is to hold, nurse, and love on this sweet little baby that you have been "cooking" inside of you for nine months! I love it! Definitely one of my fav. stages, but then after about 2 weeks, I start lying them down for naps and training them to be independent sleepers meaning they learn to put themselves to sleep with no props. Neela is so awesome at this! In fact she won't even go to sleep if you are holding her (kinda bad when you are at a public place and you need to hold her for her nap, basically impossible!)

Well Seth is wanting some alone time now that he is through with his stuff on his computer, let's see how this blogging goes from here on out :P

Alina's Rockstar 1st Birthday

We had a lot of fun at Alina's birthday party this weekend! She had a rockstar theme, we really thought that more people would dress up (atleast a little) so we kinda stuck out like soar thumbs, oh well ;)

Stevie walking video

This is her on her first day walking! she is much better now ;)