Happy Father's Day!

Papa had a great day relaxing with his two girls.  His first Father's Day with Natalie and Claire.  We spent the day playing.  It's pretty hot out so Natalie decided to wash her car in her diaper. 

Claire also tried out a sippy cup today.  She pretty much just chewed on the handle.

Here are a few other photos of the girls playing this week.

2 yr. and 6 mo. Doctor Appointments

Natalie had her 2 year doctor's appointment this past Tuesday.  She's getting so big!  She's now 26.6 lbs (50th percentile) and 33.75" long (50th percentile).  Her head is now down to 90th percentile from 97th since birth -- the rest of her body is finally catching up to her head.  She's had a rough cough and runny nose for a few weeks.  I had taken her in previously and was told it was just a cold.  This time though Dr. Loibissio said he actually thinks it's allergies.  She's now taking Children's Clartin and has already improved since Tuesday.  We'll see how it goes after a week and whether we need to keep up with it.  Dr. Loibissio also wants me to start giving her vitamins (she now loves Flinstone vitamins) and to take her to a pediatric dentist (I'm sure she's not going to like that).  Natalie got a few shots which of course made her cry but more than anything she hated having the band-aids on.  She didn't stop crying until I took them off.

Claire also had her 6 mo. doctor's appointment on Tuesday.  Taking both girls in together by myself was not the easiest thing.  One wanted to be held when I was needing to be doing something with the doctor and the other.  Claire is now 18 lb. 0.5 oz. (80th percentile) and 25" long (25th percentile).  She's our chunky monkey -- it's so adorable!  She's actually almost 2 lbs more than Natalie was at 6 mo. old.  Claire just likes her milk apparently.  I discussed with Dr. Loibissio my concerns that Claire has been congested since she was born.  He actually stated she's got very small nasal passages.  We're supposed to stop suctioning out her nose, just put saline in it, and see if it clears up in two weeks (so far it hasn't).  If not, then he wants us to take her into to see an ENT (Ear Nose Throat) Specialist to see what he has to say about it. 

We moved the duck tub to the big girl tub for Claire to use.  She moves around so much in the duck tub that it seemed a little dangerous to have her on the counter now.  One thing she loves to do is to try to eat the side of the duck tub.  She's constantly bending over to suck on the side.  I have feeling that she has a tooth coming in soon!

Claire is 6 months old!

Our Claire is already 6 months old!  As is the case every month, I'm shocked as to how fast it's gone.  She is such a sweet little pumpkin.  Always smiling!  And she loves to watch what her big sister does.  She's not rolling back to tummy yet but is getting very close.  She does great sitting up and playing.  Just yesterday she discovered her voice and now shrieks. 

Fun Times with Oma and Opa

Natalie and Claire got to spend a lot of time playing with their Oma and Opa over the long weekend.  Oma and Opa came down from Minnesota to visit for Natalie's birthday weekend.  They were excited to see the girls and to hear how much Natalie is talking now, and how well Claire sits up unassisted.  Every night Natalie crashed in bed because she was so exhausted from playing.  Here are a few photos I captured while they were visiting.  Some are from Natalie's birthday (like the one above) and birthday party day that I forgot to include in the previous post.
Oma and Opa got Natalie a Ariel Princess dress to wear for dress-up, and Oma made her a crown for it.  She of course wanted to wear it as much as possible.  And anytime Claire got near her crown, she would cry out "ahhhh" -- her new noise that she makes when she thinks Claire is going to steal her toys, food, apple juice, etc.

The girls just hanging out:

Natalie got a lot of bubble making toys for her birthday.  Both girls loved it.  Oma and Opa got into it to.

Claire had her first ride in a swing at Natalie's birthday party. I think she was more into watching all the other kids around her than she was into the swing itself.

It was pretty hot while they were here.  Natalie was very excited to get ice cream!

Bath time for Claire with Oma and Opa:

Claire eating cereal with Oma: