Bad blogger

That's me. I know it. I would like to say I am going to change and start updating every week, but that is probably a lie and I am not a liar. So, I will say, "Here is what is going on in our life now and for the past few months. Enjoy because you might not hear from me again for a while!"

 In all seriousness, we have been busy and enjoying life. I can't believe it is already August; however I am ready for a reprieve from the 100+ temps we have been having lately.

 Avery has had a good summer. She has been going to Mother's Day Out ("school" to her) twice a week and really enjoying it. She has the sweetest teachers, and I know we are both going to miss them when we move to the next class in a few weeks. They have been so good for her and been great for the transition out of our diapers. Speaking of that, we are completely potty trained except for overnight, which I think may take us a while. I am ok with that; I am so happy to only be buying diapers for one child. Our bank account is happy too. Avery really did a great job and only took a few weeks to get it all down. Well, by a few I mean about 6, but I still think that is pretty good. I know it can take some kids much longer.

 She has loved going to the pool over the summer, so we have tried to go as often as possible. Jenn & Tommy have a neighborhood pool, so we have hit that up many Saturdays over the summer which has been fun. I hope next summer to get her signed up for swim lessons since it will be a bit easier for me to keep Hailey entertained than it would have been this summer. I know Avery will really enjoy it, and I want her to grow up having fun in the water.

 Other than that, she has just been her crazy, fun-loving self. She is still such a good big sister and LOVES Hailey, sometimes a little too much. She knows her ABC's (capital letters), numbers up to 25, all her colors and is starting to memorize a bunch of the books we read. Josh and I always joke that her memory might be better than ours! She is such a joy, and I don't know what we would do without her. She keeps us laughing ALL THE TIME (mostly, she is still 2!).

 Hailey is also growing and changing faster than I would like. She turned 1 last month and is becoming less and less of a baby everyday. She has 6 teeth and can eat anyone under the table. She may even out-eat Josh at a few meals. She LOVES food. I just pray she has a high metabolism! If you even look at the kitchen, she thinks she needs a snack. She is still much smaller than Avery was at this age, but I don't know how long that will last!

She crawls like a crazy woman everywhere and is on the brink of taking her first steps. She loves to cruise around the furniture, pulls up and climbs on just about anything, and will walk around the house holding your hands for as long as your back will let her. She can say "da da" and "bye bye" but that is about it. Avery had 5-6 words by this age, so Hailey may not have the expansive vocabulary Avery did at such a young age. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying she is quiet; she just does not have the words - she has the grunting, pointing and screaming needed for communication. She was such a quiet and easy baby that we thought she was going to be a quiet and easy going child. Haha, were we ever wrong. She has plenty of spunk and attitude. I would even say more than Avery did at this age. It is so funny to see how God made them so different at such young ages. I love it.

 To say Hailey keeps our life fun and interesting would be an understatement. She has the most wonderful smile and laugh and makes everyone around her happy. She loves to cuddle and be the center of attention when her big sis will let her. She is truly a blessing.

 Here are some pics of life at our house lately (or the last 6 months).

 We celebrated Easter at church, then went to Pop Pop & CC's for the rest of the day.

We went to see Mir and Grandad in Midland and dressed alike, which we don't do often since most of Hailey's clothes are Avery's hand-me-downs.

Avery did some tutoring.

Avery cheered for Daddy's team.

Hailey celebrated her birthday and got some good loot.

She LOVED everyone singing to her.

She loved the cupcake even more.

We did a photo shoot in the backyard to document our cuteness.

We even tried some corn-on-the-cob on July 4!

We did some modeling on the couch one Saturday morning.

We even took time to take a bath!!

We are truly blessed with these two girls, and I couldn't imagine a crazier, happier life right now.

It's Been A While

Four months, to be exact. I have good intentions about updating this blog but never seem to follow through. Shame on me. I am going to do better. I loved chronicling Avery's monthly activities when she was a baby, and I have been so horrible doing that with Hailey. I guess that happens with the second one, but I still feel bad so here is my attempt to start letting the world know all about my girls.

I will start with Hailey since she gets the shaft most of the time. She is still the sweetest thing in the world. She is always so happy and joyful and makes my heart smile everyday. It is hard to remember our life without her. Avery still loves her and wants to take care of her all the time. Sometimes her hugs and kisses get a bit overwhelming for Hailey, but for the most part Hailey loves all the attention from her big sister.



Hailey has starting eating people food but does not get too excited about it. I have been making her food and try not to take offense that she doesn't like it, but I am starting to wonder if she doesn't like my steaming and blending. She will seriously eat three or four bites, then turn away. I try not to worry about her since she gets everything she needs from her bottle, but I hope she comes around soon or she is going to be one hungry girl when she stops getting 5 bottles everyday! She likes Cheerios and puffs, so maybe it is the consistency of the baby food that is the problem. I guess time will tell. She still doesn't have any teeth, so I am a little apprehensive to give her much table food. I have a fear of her choking even though I am sure she could handle more.





She is STILL not sleeping through the night and wakes up twice a night sometimes. I know that is probably our fault but I hate just letting her cry. Avery was always such a good sleeper that I don't really know what to do to make Hailey sleep better. This might be her way of keeping us from having another child... I tell Josh that this reminds us that she is not a perfect child because other than this, I might think she was.



She is not crawling but can get up on all fours and doesn't know what to do from there. I think crawling is in our not-too-distant future. She can pull herself up with a little help and is getting pretty good at standing while holding on to something.



She can say dada and mama but doesn't really say it to either one of us - just yells it out sometimes. She is getting more and more chatty to compete with her chatty older sister.

Those are the basics for Hailey. She is such a sweetie; I just can't get enough of her.



Avery is growing up so fast and is truly keeping us on our toes these days. Her vocabulary is ridiculous and she is very smart. She knows all her colors, shapes, can count to 20 and recognize numbers 1-10. She can sing the ABC song but we haven't really started working on letters too hard at this point. She has used the potty a few times in the past few days, so I think full-fledged potty training is right around the corner for us. She has been going to Mother's Day Out on Fridays and loves her "school." We will probably start going 2 days a week before too long, but I am enjoying being with my girls everyday so it is hard to give up another day with her. She is almost 2 1/2, so she spends her fair share of time in time out. I know it comes with the territory, but this is the part of parenting that I could do without. She is still hilarious and makes me laugh all the time. I don't know where she comes up with some of the things she says, and I will have to start writing them down because she is one funny girl. She is becoming such a little kid these days which makes me excited and sad. My baby girl is growing up, and I can't make the time go any slower.





As you can see, our life is always exciting and a little crazy too. I still LOVE being with the girls everyday and am so thankful to get to do that now. I can't imagine having two sweeter girls than we do, and they are truly wonderful blessings.

Life Lately

Well, we are finally settled in Garland and getting the hang of our new routine. I am having so much fun staying home with the girls and so thankful for a hubby who has worked so hard to make this happen. I know I am way behind on blogging; however I will give some highlights of the past two months.

Hailey started rolling over about a week before she turned 4 months.



Avery, Josh and I did a Partnership Walk for Josh's work. It was a little chilly that morning, so Avery had to bundle up.



We've hung out with CC & Pop Pop a lot! (Sorry no pics of Pop Pop!!)



We celebrated Halloween at FBCG's Fall Festival with CC & Aunt Jenn.







We celebrated Avery's 2nd birthday.









Aunt Carolyn came in for the party!!



We enjoyed playing with our toys when the party was over.







We celebrated Mommy's birthday - the last one in her 20's.



We've spent the rest of our time just being cute!





The girls are growing so fast - I can't believe we have a 2 year old in the house! They are both such sweet girls; we are truly blessed.

Avery is talking so well these days. She is starting to speak in short sentences and says the funniest things sometimes. I know I will have to start writing them down soon. She is a funny girl. She is beginning to learn her colors and can spot yellow, blue, and brown most of the time. She still loves Hailey and is quite the little mom. She loves to wipe her face (sometimes a bit too roughly) after she spits up and ALWAYS lets me know if Hailey is crying (as if I can't hear her). While she is a sweetie most of the time, I would be lying if I said we didn't spend some time in time-out from time to time, but what 2 year old doesn't!?!? She is such a joy and fills my day with laughter and sweet hugs!!

Hailey is growing much too quickly for my liking. She is still a very easy baby. She rarely cries and is pretty content most of the time. It is difficult for me not to forget about her sometimes when Avery & I are playing because she just sits in her swing or chair perfectly happy to watch us play. She is a very happy baby and will smile at anyone who gives her some attention. Josh & I joke that she is going to be our little missionary because she just exudes sweetness & joy when you are around her. It is so funny to see how different her personality is from Avery, even at this young age. She is still not the best sleeper, but we are working on it!!

We are humbled by God's blessings always, but it seems they have been poured on abundantly lately.

We're Moving

The Tidwells are on the move! We got word last Friday afternoon that Josh is being transferred in two weeks. Yes, two weeks. We are thrilled and excited to be moving to the Dallas area and are doing everything in our power to make the transition as soon as possible. We are headed up next weekend to look at houses. We are just renting, so it makes the search less stressful because we don't have to consider school districts just yet, and it will give us a year or two to really figure out where we want to be. It is a big promotion for Josh, and I am so proud of him. He has worked really hard and has moved up the company so quickly. When he originally got this job when he graduated, I was honestly a little sad because it seemed like we were going to be in Houston to stay. Not that I hate it here or anything; it is just hard to be so far from my family, especially with the girls growing as fast as they are. Well, God does have plans that we don't always see and 18 short months later, we are being transferred! As if moving wasn't good enough, I am going to be able to stay home with the girls!! I am oh so happy about this and SO thankful that it is going to work out. There are still some things we need to figure out, but God is faithful and we trust that things will fall into place as they should. The girls are very happy to be moving so close to CC and Pop Pop.

This was Hailey's reaction when we told her:



Well, not really but how cute is she!! She is such a smiley girl - I will load some more pics soon. She is growing entirely too quickly for my liking.

We told Avery last night we were going to live close to CC and Pop Pop and be able to go to their house more often, and she went to go find her shoes because she was ready to go see them right then!

I know there are many plans to be made in the next few weeks, but we are ready to make the transition.

Two is our favorite number

Well, this month at least. Hailey is 2 months old today, and Avery will be 22 months on Friday. Both girls are growing so fast and keeping us on our toes. Sometimes it feels like we have 10 kids, not just 2; but thankfully they are both sweeties which makes it easier.

Hailey is still a very easy baby. She doesn't cry much at all. Sometimes in the evenings she gets a little cranky but who doesn't. She is starting to smile at us a lot, and we LOVE it. I wish I could tell you she was getting to be a better sleeper, but I would be lying. She still gets up every 3-4 hours. I know this won't last forever, but some nights it seems like it will. She will thankfully go right back to sleep but it is still getting tiring waking up as much as we are. I am hoping for a few longer stretches since she is about 10 pounds now.

Avery is still our crazy child. She never stops and keeps us laughing all the time. She is starting to use two and three word phrases and continues to amaze us with her intelligence. I know every parent thinks this, but we have a smart one on our hands - sometimes too smart for her own good! She is still doing great with Hailey but does not like for Josh to hold her. We keep thinking she will get over it, but she is not ready to share her daddy yet. She is quickly approaching the terrible twos and we have seen some glimpses of it lately. She is very strong willed, so we may have some battles on our hands in the next few months. Even with a few tantrums here and there, she is still our little sweetie and we wouldn't trade her for anything!

Here are some recent pics of the girls. I know, they are adorable.

Hailey is here!

We are so happy to announce that Hailey Ann Tidwell joined our family on July 7. She is such a sweet baby, and we are adjusting to being a family of four. She was 6 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches when she was born. She looked a lot like Avery when she was born except she has very blonde hair! My mom is very excited at the prospect of having a blonde grandchild, so I hope the hair will stay. She is looking less and less like Avery everyday but is still so pretty. Josh and I were concerned, as I am sure every parent awaiting the birth of their second child is, that there would be no way we could love another child, much less a girl, near as much as we love Avery. Of course, God just expanded our hearts the second she was born and we are so in love.

So far she is a wonderful baby. She only cries when she is hungry and is pretty content the rest of the day. She is a good sport when Avery wants to hold her and tries to give her hugs. She adjusted pretty quickly to getting her nights and days straight, so our nights haven't been too rough. She still eats every 2-3 hours but generally goes right back to sleep. If the first 18 days of her life are any indication of her personality, I think she is going to be a pretty laid back baby and have a sweet disposition. She is truly another blessing.

Avery is handling the transition amazingly well. The first week she did not want Josh holding Hailey at all, but she is starting to realize that it is ok if he pays Hailey some attention too. She loves to hug and kiss Hailey; she just doesn't know exactly how to be gentle yet. We aren't ready to leave them unattended in the same room yet! She is a great big sister, and I know know it won't be long before Hailey is following her around the house trying to do everything she does.

Josh and I couldn't feel more blessed by our two girls and are trying to enjoy both of them just as they are right now because we know how quickly they grow and change.

Here are a few pics from the hospital and our first few days home.