Things and Such...

I apologize to my three or so readers for not posting in a while.  Life always seems so busy.  Currently, both girls are asleep at the same time. (Loren may not actually be asleep but is quiet in her room so I'll take it!)  I will use this opportunity to update.

This week is Vacation Bible School.  This is Loren's second year going and we always take our cousin Cayden too.  Loren is thoroughly enjoying it this year now that she is four and is even able to tell me the gist of the Bible stories she is taught each day!  It makes my heart so happy to hear her say something like, "Jesus walked on water."  Cayden is doing great at VBS too and is just the sweetest little guy with some awesome manners!  He is really gentle with his two little girl cousins.  This is the first year in a few that I have not taught kindergarten with my friend Renee. (Doug and Renee's house is almost ready and it is sooo nice!)  I miss it but think I made the right decision sitting it out to take care of Arden.

Loren and her big cousin Cayden

Father's Day was this past weekend.  I've said it on here before but Andy is the BEST Daddy.  He is so sweet and gentle with his girls and is very patient!  He takes care of us all.  We didn't do much out of the ordinary.  We went to church and had my parents over for dinner (that they bought and brought!).  We got our sweet Daddy some small gifts including a new pair of Crocs (that Mom bought to small), new flip flops, and a book.

 Daddy and girls take one:

 Take two - much better!

 Andy and his baby girl.

Loren and Arden also made him a card:

Loren made this for Daddy in her Sunday School class.  She has the best two teachers; Mrs. Carolyn and Mrs. Donna!

I think he had a good day overall.  Father's Day marked one week until our Las Vegas trip!!  I plan to make some more random posts about things I want to document and remember but that are probably not news to my, err -  "readers."  :)

Dance Recital!

Loren has taken a "creative movements" class at our local dance studio this year.  It was on Tuesday afternoons and my Mom typically took her because it was hard for me to get off work and pick her up and get her to the studio by 3:30.   Anyway, they had one "number" towards the beginning of the show.  Apparently, this required two very lengthy rehearsals!  The actual recital was three hours long! Not very easy to keep a three month old calm and quiet during all that time in an auditorium.

Loren's Aunt Meagan (Andy's sister) is a cosmetologist so she did Loren's hair and makeup for the dress rehearsal and recital.  Thank you Meagan!  She also helped me get her dressed and then Meagan, Uncle Ben, Cayden, and Noah came to see the show too.  This was no easy feat for their family either because little Noah is about 8 months old. They brought Loren a cute little ballet elephant.

 Loren's Mimi and Papa also attended the recital as well as sweet Mrs. Cheryl who has kept Loren for me while I worked for the past four years!  She will be keeping Arden starting in the fall.  Mrs. Cheryl brought Loren some super cute bright colored daisies.

On a side note, high school auditoriums are not built with infants in mind.  There was no changing table and Meagan and I each changed a poopy diaper on the floor in the lobby with the general public looking on in disgust!

Loren did great in the recital and we are so proud of her.  It was such a feeling of pride and joy when my sweet baby girl got on that lit stage in her costume and make up!  My heart jumped and my eyes teared up!  Andy ordered the video of the recital and we had  professional pictures taken a couple of weekends ago.  Other than that, these are the only photos I think we have. (Do you have any Andy?!)  These are courtesy of Uncle Ben!

Loren's group.  She is the second girl from the right.  (Come on, you couldn't tell that from the awesome quality picture?!)

Grand Finale

Posing with Cayden.  The weird smile is likely do to sheer exhaustion.  They had her there from 10am until about 2:30 pm!

Loren has already said she wants to dance next year.  I guess this Mama better toughen up when it comes to recital and rehearsals!

UPDATE:  Andy had sent me this video a while back and I am just now figuring out how to post videos.  Enjoy!

Best Daddy EVER!

I just love seeing my girls with their sweet Daddy!  This is pretty much the evening ritual at the Wingate house.  We love you Daddy!

Here is a video of Arden laughing.  I must admit, that I am pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to get it on here.  I sound like a real dork on here but I was doing it for the sake of capturing Arden's laughter!

Naptime?!

I realize that even though I LOVE holding Arden while the two of us drift off to sleep, this is not going to be practical once Loren is home for the summer or when I go back to work.  It also occurred to me that sometimes she is so grumpy from 3 - 7pm.  I think this is due to being tired.  SO - I gave her the second feeding today and then swaddled her up and put her in her crib.  That lasted about 3 minutes.  I then picked her up and didn't even have to rock her and she was back asleep.  I then put her in the bassinet in our room and drew the blinds.  That lasted 10 minutes.  Then I picked her up and rocked her for all of 2 minutes and she was sound asleep.  I took Arden back to the bassinet and she has been asleep ever since!  It has been at least an hour now!!!  Woohooo!!!  I want to take her little picture but don't dare wake her.  Anyway, Mommy is trying to implement a morning nap time.  I think it will be better for everyone and I know Mrs. Cheryl (our super sweet and amazing baby sitter) will be appreciative.

PS - I still plan to hold her and nap sometimes!!!  I just love to cuddle with my girls.

UPDATE:  Arden is currently taking another morning nap! She began acting sleepy about 9:30 and I quickly fed her and swaddled her and laid her down in the bassinet.  She only whined a couple times and when I went in and put her pacifier in her mouth twice, she calmed down and eventually went to sleep with no full out crying!  Yay!!!  We'll see how long it lasts.  Oh, and I am currently watching Teen Mom - I just can't stop watching stuff about babies and mommies!!

Three Months Old!

Not a whole lot going on here.  I am trying to enjoy my last few days at home with Arden before school gets out.  It is not that I don't want Loren home - I think it is more like I am realizing this is very likely the last time I will be on maternity leave or have a baby this small.  As my title says, Arden is three months old today!  I am excited and sad at the same time.  I know they have to grow up but I just love the snuggling and little baby sounds and things.  Here is a picture I took today:

Arden is getting closer to rolling over.   She will likely roll from her back to tummy first as Loren did.  She is not a huge fan of the tummy time.  Arden would probably learn to roll more quickly if I would....put her down!

I started off today thinking I would get lots of errands run and laundry completed.  Apparently, none of that happened.  When Andy got home we went to dinner at La Hacienda, our local Mexican restaurant.  Yummo!  Totally exceeded my calorie allowance on My FittnessPal.  Love that website by the way.  I've got to get this baby weight off.  I do admit that I haven't exactly been trying very hard.  We even went to Starbucks after dinner and Andy got me my own frappachino.

Not sure what the weekend has in store for us.  No real plans.  It is still TBA as to whether we will get another pool or not.  (Andy, if you are reading this - CALL ABOUT DIRT! - please ;0) 

Other events that took place this week included Arden's first visit to Berryhill Elementary School, and a "play date" with her friend Corrie, who is about a month younger than Arden.  Unfortunately, I took no pictures of either of these.  When will I learn?