September Already?!

Where has the time gone? I feel like every time I sign in to Blogger I am writing that! I always seem to have intentions to fervently blog, but again life happens and I don't make the time. As I am restructuring my daily routines around the teachings of The FLYlady, I plan to set aside a designated time each evening to blog - even if it is a short blog. I encourage my faithful followers to hold me to this! If you haven't seen a posting from me in a while - call me out! :) Everyone needs help staying on track every now and then.

So a brief catch up!

Tomorrow marks the completion of Kathryn's THIRD month with us! Really? Has it been that long? It sure has flown. I am finding that with two children, my months fly even quicker than they did with just one. I am definitely loving my life as Mommy of two. I could not ask for any more perfect daughters than the two little girls God has blessed me with.
Kathryn has mastered rolling from belly to back like a professional. In fact, she mastered this task a whole two months earlier than Carissa did. And as of today, our little busy body has succeeded in rolling from back to belly! (FOUR months earlier than Carissa!!) This new skill of hers still needs a little work - she is practicing rolling with enough momentum to get that arm out from underneath her. She has been successful 3 times after a little bit of work. I really think she is going to hit a lot of physical milestones earlier than Carissa - which is to be expected. After all, she is watching Big Sister show her all sorts of cool tricks!
Our little peanut is a talker for sure - much like the rest of our household! She loves to carry on conversations - and sometimes it doesn't matter if anyone is reciprocating. I love listening to her to get louder and louder, as if practicing this new found talent. And boy do I love her giggles! And her smiles are priceless. She is SUCH a happy baby! I have been so blessed to have two happy, well-adjusted little girls.

Miss Carissa is a hoot and a half! Can you believe she will be TWO in less than two weeks?!?! I feel like we just celebrated her first birthday, and now it's party time again! She is definitely exerting her two year old independence. She can be a handful at times, but she learns quickly from discipline (i.e. Time Out). She has started protesting, but after being consistent she finally sits in her chair, calms down, tells me "done," and gives me a hug. Those moments reassure me that it is working.
This little girlie is super smart! I know every parent says that about their child, but I am still going to brag on mine! :) She can say almost every word you ask her to say (within reason - she hasn't mastered "antidisestablishmentarianism" yet despite Daddy's prodding). And when I say she can "say the word," I don't mean she has a cute little way of saying them. She pronounces words almost dead on with some minor exceptions. She can say words like "Alligator" "grasshopper" and they sound perfect. She copies almost every word she hears! This girl even says "Disney Channel!" But not only does she just copy random words ... she makes 3-5 word sentences - filled with verbs, nouns, pronouns, articles, participles, etc! I told her one day that I needed to clean her room today. The next few days she went around saying "clean the room today."
She also has a wonderful memory! We went to Kentucky to visit some of my side of the family in the middle of August and when we got home that's all she could talk about. While we were there, she rode the tractor with her cousin Trey (and Great-Grandpa), and she saw cows, she went to her cousin Jaxon's house, and she saw Uncle Ricky. She STILL is talking about "Ride tractor ... Trey.... Fun ... see cow" ... "Jaxon's house" ... "Uncle Ricky" ... and she will get upset with me because she wants to ride the tractor with Trey or go to Jaxon's house. I have to explain to her that they are all in Kentucky (which used to be "Cowtucky" lol ... now it's "Kentucky").
We have started preschool homeschooling with her. Mostly I am just doing an introduction of things with her, and giving her some constructive projects to work on. I have always taught her through play, so now I have just created a "plan" about what my teaching goals are ... and we just see where the day leads us. We do a theme for each month (this month is Wild Animals - which will be followed up with a Zoo trip at the end of the month!! yay!), and each day we do a different letter, color, and number (1-10), and each week we learn about a new shape! She is loving the different craft projects, and learning about the different animals. She loves to try to count with us (her favorite is "count pasta"). And she is learning her ABCs! Right now her ABC's consist of ... "ABC ... HIJ .... QRST ... WXYZ" all in one breath. But it's a start! :) Her favorite colors right now are pink, purple, orange, and blue :) She has the different colored bowls, plates, silverware, and cups (Munchkin brand), so we ask her what color she wants and it's usually one of those choices.
I could go on and on, but I guess I should find a stopping point.
Hopefully you will be seeing a lot more from me!