Emma and Mommy doing the tiling

Gretta is the proud new owner of a clap and a wave! She's been doing it for a few days now, just started all on her own! She's really excited about it, and does her judo chop wave on command! She gets the biggest smile on her face when we get excited about it, and she claps! She's seeming like such a little person all of a sudden, cruising like a champ, and babbling mamama and bababa.

The girls cooking at the beach

Here are the girls cooking at the beach house. I don't remember what was being made but obviously we are staying in a clothing optional section area.

Progress!!

I've been meaning to mention for several days now... Emma Kate is now drinking only "nectar thick" liquids! She has progressed about half way from the honey-thick liquids she was drinking after surgery! She's been doing this for several days now and seems to be tolerating it very well! Here's hoping that the second half (getting down to NO thickener required) will be really fast progress!!!

We're leaving for the beach in the morning and looking forward to lots of great times and a bazillion pictures at "the little beach!" Emma Kate can't hardly wait and has been saying all day "I'm ready to go to the little beach!" :)

Ahhh! It worked! Here's a video shot from my phone... evidence... Daddy says the jury is still out on what she might be saying... :)

And now comes talking!

Yes, Gretta is talking now too! Or at least I think so... :) She is saying Mamamama in a precious little gravely voice! She usually does it at random times or while she is crawling, sometimes when she wants a bite of food... but always excited to see the reaction it gets! I also failed to mention that she has been open-handed pointing for a couple weeks now- where Emma Kate held her hand up, palm out, to point to things, Gretta uses her hand palm-up, which makes it looks like she's saying "seriously though, what IS that?" It is really cute, and I can't ever seem to get a picture of it! She is loving to blow raspberries on bare skin- usually knees and shoulders... and only occasionally does she give a little pinch with her teeth- OUCH! She thinks it is hilarious... She is eating well, pretty much eating along with us- we put our food into the little food mill and it makes it a good texture for her to eat. Certainly not exposing her to everything yet, but she's pretty well accepting of most things so far.

Emma Kate has progressed to using the big potty now, with the little seat from her potty chair on top so she doesn't fall in... it is so wonderful! Part of the selling points was that all she had to do was FLUSH IT DOWN!!! No more cleaning out the little pot each time! It makes it so much faster, and she is really excited about it! Accidents have been very few and far between. We even used a big potty at a restaurant! It's much easier to carry the little seat with us instead of the entire potty setup.

Emma Kate accompanied me to the dentist today (long overdue since our winter ordeal...) and sat on my lap while I got my cleaning. She was a little uneasy at first, but the hygenist (who happens to be the wife of one of the dairy clients at my old job) was really open and friendly with her, and she soon warmed up. She even got up close to see her polishing my teeth and thought the sound was funny! She has been a really good girl lately, and we have been enjoying some incredibly mild weather for mid-August!

We'll be heading to the beach later this week to visit with family and a couple friends from Vet school, it will be a packed house full of little ones!!

Here are just a few pictures... the camera hasn't been out in action much lately... I have a few videos I wanted to post, but I keep getting error messages from blogspot... hope to figure it out soon.

Here the girls are helping Daddy get snow pea seeds hulled to saved for next year's garden

And here is silly Emma Kate- she was taking her shirt off and it was just a little snug coming over her head, so I positioned it and told her she had blue hair! (Must have been all those blueberries she ate!) She kept it like that for a while afterwards, and then later tried to do it with another shirt that didn't work quite as well, but she still kept it like that.

Gretta is cruising

Gretta was cruising this morning (standing up and moving from one thing to another while supporting herself on the couch). Walking is only a short time away. We got the facia trim put up on the addition, tomorrow is library day for us, and maybe we'll take a trip to Mill Mtn Zoo sometime soon also. Everyone is eating well and jolly most times!

Finally, a picture update... we still have some videos that I will eventually try to load, but for now, here are some pictures to satisfy you... :) Everyone is doing great, Emma Kate weighed in at 26.3lbs on Aug 1, which is great, and Gretta has popped out another tooth on the top! Gretta has also started cruising a bit, and is getting herself into even more trouble now... She is hilarious though, she will find her way over to my bare legs and blow raspberries on them, sliming up my leg! She thinks it's great when I laugh really hard, and it seems to egg her on. A few weeks ago we went back to Caboose park/Hand-in-hand park in Blacksburg and had a great time playing, what an awesome playground! I wish I was smaller.... :)

Um, yeah, these things aren't made for adults of average height... :)

At the top but still not interested in going down!

Doing "gymnastics" on the balance beam

Gretta and Daddy under a gorgeous shade tree

Gretta, offering to share some of whatever she picked up off the ground...

The little jollikins

"But this stick tastes soooooo yummy!!"

"Oh, wait... you mean I've been missing out on all this MULCH?!?!?!"

"If only I had longer fingers, I would stuff my face with this good stuff!!"

Emma Kate helping to feed Gretta- they both seem to get a kick out of it!

Happy girl!

Happy girl!!

Sophie was sitting on the sofa with Emma Kate, Emma Kate had to sit funny to allow Sophie the room to lay there... it was so cute, and of course when the camera came out, she moved!

A recent sunset... these are the kinds that need a sunset party!!!

If I were a betting mommy, I'd bet money there are going to be curls... but some days it's not this certain!

What a smile!! I had to get a picture of the little curl in front- it was such a tight little tube, and before we had been out in the humid weather, it was stretched down onto her forehead, like we had put it there on purpose... :)