Update

Not much has been happening around here lately. We spent a day in Bradenton at the Pumpkin Festival at Hunsader Farms. It was fun, but way hot!! Seems like fall festivals should be cool and crisp, not miserably hot and sweaty!! I would have loved to have had a hot chocolate rather than an ice water, just doesn't seem very fallish if you ask me. But, whatever, that's what happens when you live in Florida! For Halloween Mia was Little Bo Peep (costume courtesy of Gram) and Lyla was a sheep (sort of). It was way too hot to really dress Lyla up in the sheep costume, so she wore the sheep head for about 2 houses and then it came off. Mia doesn't care too much to be photographed lately, so I didn't get any really good pictures.

Other than that, not much is going on in the Pecore house. Lyla is now 4 months old and growing like a weed! She was supposed to go in for her well baby visit earlier this week, but she had a little cold (that went around the whole house) so we rescheduled for later in the month. I'm so anxious to see how much she weighs. I feel like lately she's been really filling out. She even has a double chin! Love it!! She still fits in her 0-3 month clothes, but has finally graduated to a size 2 diaper. Mia must have been so much bigger because her Halloween outfits were 6-9 month size and she was only a month older than Lyla was!! Needless to say, Lyla couldn't wear them so I had to buy her some new ones. Good excuse to go shopping!!

Mia is a typical 2 year old. Into everything and very independent. We recently made a half hearted attempt at potty training and it pretty much went nowhere. She's just not interested yet. She loves to sit up on the potty, but has only actually done anything up there one time. And that was an accident. So, as much as I would love to only have one child in diapers, I'm not pushing the issue. I figure when she's ready, she'll do it. She is so darn cute these days. Some of the things that she says are quite hysterical. She loves to watch So You think You Can Dance with me and she tries to imitate the dance moves she sees. It is so stinkin' cute!

Just a few recent pictures:

"You Are My Sunshine"

Here is a clip of Mia singing "You Are My Sunshine" to Lyla. She is such a great big sister! For those of you who have heard me sing before, you'll see that she gets her beautiful singing talent from me!!

My matching girlies!

Here you go Megan; here are the twins. This has to be the most fun part of having two girls, dressing them alike!! I always thought it was so cute to see little sisters in matching outfits and now I get to dress mine up alike too! My principal gave me Mia's dress along with Lyla's shower gifts because she didn't want her to feel left out. My friend Megan gave me a bunch of clothes that her little munchkin, Shannen, had outgrown and I was so excited when I pulled out the same little dress in a newborn size!! (Thanks Megan!!) So, here is the first of many matching outfits I'm sure!!

Mia's first haircut

I gave Mia her first haircut last Sunday. Gone are the baby curls!! She is growing up so fast; makes me a little sad. Anyway, here are the pictures from the big event!

Before...I figured the rat tail look from my elementary school days was not the style my daughter should be sporting!

The big cut!

After...doesn't that look a gazillion times better???

Here is what Mia thought of the situation when she realized what was happening. She asked me to put her hair back on between tears.

Infants should come with warnings!

Such as, "Do not leave infant alone (even to use the restroom for all of 2 minutes) when there is a 2 year old present!"

(Who knew Mrs. Potato Head's glasses could be so stylish?)

Or, "Do not turn your back on infant when a 2 year old is present!" Mia decided to pick Lyla up out of her swing and carry her a few steps. Luckily I came around the corner and saw her before she got far, and Erik was standing pretty close with his back turned so he was able to get to her pretty quickly. I'm pretty sure I suffered a mild heart attack!

The best of friends

Hopefully this is a sign of a great relationship blossoming between sisters!

(I have no idea why this picture is sideways. It wasn't even taken sideways so I'm not sure why it uploaded this way. Regardless, I love it so I still wanted to share it.)

1 Month

Wow, how time flies!! Lyla is 1 month old today. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital having her. She is such a great addition to our family. Mia loves her to pieces as do her mommy and daddy. She is sleeping really well (5-7 hours every night, woo hoo!!), eating like a horse and growing bigger every day, although she still seems so tiny to me. Her newborn clothes are finally fitting well and I'm sure she'll be on to bigger sizes in the near future. I'm pretty sure I got the first smile out of her today, several smiles actually. But nobody believes me because she wouldn't do it around anybody else. But, they were definitely real smiles and not just gas, I promise!! A mom would know, right. Here are a few pictures that I snapped of her today. Not the greatest, but it's what I got.

Pictures

Just some pictures of recent happenings around the Pecore house...

Mia loves to SHOVE Lyla's binky in her mouth when she's crying. She thinks she's helping, but as you can see it just makes things worse.

She loves her little sister. Lyla gets quite a few kisses each day from her big sis.

Still wearing newborn clothes and diapers. I think she's probably about 7.5 lbs by now.

Don't worry Amber, I won't be getting the Mother of the Year Award either!!
This is Mia at about the same age as Lyla is now, and below is a similar picture of Lyla wrapped up in the same towel.

Lyla with her Papa on her blessing day at church.

Erik took Mia out for a ride on his newly acquired kayak. She LOVED it!

She looks just like her daddy!

Just hanging out in the infant carrier.

Mia showing off her new ballerina pj's from Carter's.
Showing off her newly converted toddler bed. Much less dangerous than climbing out of a crib!

Time to move on

to a toddler bed. I am so not ready for this!! I was really hoping to keep Mia in her crib until she was 3 (for my own sanity), but apparently she had other plans. I'm so not ready to deal with her climbing out of her bed whenever she's ready to get up yet. Usually she'll wake up and talk for quite a while before I get her up, which is really nice because it gives me time to shower before I get her. I guess those days are over. Ughh!! Yesterday I put her down for a nap and Lyla was sleeping as well, so I decided to get the dishes done. As I was standing at the sink I heard a door open and out she came with a huge grin on her face. She was VERY proud of herself. So, here she is showing me her new trick.

The Big Sister

So far, Mia loves being a big sister. Yesterday she threw quite the temper tantrum, but other than that she has been doing really well. She wants to help out A LOT and she loves to hold and kiss Lyla every chance she can get. She has also decided that she likes to be treated like a baby. She likes to have you hold her and pretend to feed her with a bottle and then she wants to be burped. Thank goodness she isn't potty trained because I'm pretty sure she would want to wear a diaper if she was! We bought her a new doll that we gave her the day we brought Lyla home from the hospital and she likes to sit next to me and feed her baby while I'm feeding Lyla. It's pretty cute.

Mia feeding "Baby Bella"

Sleeping in Baby Bella's bed

Helping Daddy make a salad for dinner

This is my favorite!! As Mia said, "I'm pumping my boobies." She is too funny!!

And of course, some pics of Lyla. This was after her first bath (which she did NOT enjoy!).

A little small for the swing, but she loves it anyway!

Introducing...

Lyla Rose Pecore

July 10, 2009

4:17 pm

6 pounds, 10 ounces

19 inches

Our Annual Beach Trip

Every year, we make our way to Ft. Myers Beach for a week of fun and relaxation. This is actually where Erik and I met many, many years ago as young kids. Our families have changed quite a bit over the years and it's fun to get together and spend time at the pool and at the beach. Being 9 months pregnant and floating around in the pool each day was especially relaxing! Mia loved it. She doesn't like it when you let go of her in the water, but she LOVES going under. She had a blast jumping off the side of the pool and even requested to go under the water all the time. I have a couple of pictures of her jumping to Erik in the water, but they are on my mom's camera, so I'll have to post those later. Here are a few of her at the beach. We would go over in the evening when the crowd was gone and we didn't have to mess with getting all slathered up with sunscreen.

On another note, I am checking into the hospital in the morning. Because I am only dilated 1 cm, the doctor wants me to come in tomorrow so they can give me cervidil to help soften the cervix. Hopefully with this, my labor will be much shorter than it was with Mia (19 hours!!). Then, Friday morning at 5 am, I'll be induced!! We are really excited to meet this little one. Hopefully, by the beginning of next week I'll have some pictures to post.

Mmmm...

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures of Mia "helping" me make brownies tonight. As you can see, she was a big help; eating as much as possible before I could get them into the oven. And yes, I know that there are raw eggs in there!! My mom reminds me all the time (although she was always more than willing to let us lick the bowl when we were young...hmmm). But seriously, who can pass up licking the brownie batter?? It is so yummy. I even caught Erik taking some!!