My non-whiny whiny post!

My dear sister recently reminded me that I haven't blogged since June 16th.

I informed her it's because I don't want to be a whiny blogger, and all I've got to say at the moment will sound whiny.

However, the sunshine we've been graced with of late has somewhat lifted the fog of extreme sleep deprivation that my hubby and I are currently enduring at the hands of our children, and allowed me to appreciate the parade of cuteness that they display every day.

Just a sampling:

Clapping...it's the new toy banging:
Avery has learned to clap. It's adorable. It makes her happy. It makes us smile until our cheeks hurt. It makes me forget that she wakes up at 3 a.m. every night, and on the worst nights, wakes her sister up too. Lauren, like with most everything else, is just a smidge behind her sister, she's working on figuring out how to clap too, but hasn't learned to unball her fists yet.

Video of Avery clapping (I can't figure out how to rotate it...sorry!)

Raised by wolves....er, I mean, dogs!

From snuggling in to dog bed, to growling, to picking up Bella's worst habit (chewing on rocks...yes, we had to remove 3 rocks from Avery's mouth yesterday), our dogs seem to have a mighty influence on the bubbas!

Snuggly girls:

We may finally be entering the cuddly stage...I've been dying for cuddly babies, and they're starting to give me a (teensy) little taste of it :-)

Movers and shakers:

Avery continues to work on her walking skills, she now makes laps around the entire family room just balancing on the walls. She's taken 5 steps in a row between us. Lauren is standing independently more and more, but still refuses to put a foot forward...we must remind ourselves, Lauren isn't behind, Avery's just ahead!

Lauren talks (as long as it starts with "B"!):

Lauren loves her blocks. If you show her a block and say "BLOCK", she'll say "BWAA" back. Sounds a mighty lot like BLOCK, dontcha think :-) And if you show her a ball and say "BALL", she'll say "BA" back. Doesn't that sound like ball? Sure does! Same with Book, Bath, Blue, Bella, etc...Yes, we know she probably is stuck on the B sound currently, but that is not going to stop us from telling ourselves that Lauren can talk at nine months, thank you very much!

Clubhouses:

Any little space they can get their little bodies into, that's where they want to be. The current fave is the lower shelf of our desk. There's room for both of them, and they just think it's the coolest. Avery has ventured into a few more daring spaces on her own too - I'm sure Lauren will follow shortly!

Hair-do's:

Now that their hair is growing a little longer, I get to have a little fun (particularly at bathtime, teehee!).

So, when things get a little rough at night, at least I know that I've got a day chock full of cuteness to restore my sanity :-)