Nearly there

The kitchen remodel is almost done. We installed brand new cabinets last month, had measurements taken for our counter tops, and then waited while the counters and sink were made. This morning they were installed and once David gets off work he will connect the plumbing to the new sink, put in the new faucet, and connect the dishwasher. I should have a beautiful and complete kitchen before I go to bed tonight!

In other news, Emmett has figured out how to get up the bottom step. He is hesitant to continue going up the rest of the stairs, but we definitely have to watch out because the ability to get up them is there! He is in such a hurry to move around and climb up things. He uses just about every surface to pull himself up to a standing position now. He's getting brave, too, because he'll move from holding on to one wall or piece of furniture, to grab another. I guess he's just determined to keep up with Liliana, whom he seems to think is the greatest person in existence. :)

David's new job at Microsoft is going great. He loves having his own office and access to free drinks all day long.

Liliana's aunts, uncles, and cousins are all in town for my brother's open house and Liliana is having a blast playing with everyone. Each morning she wakes up asking for an aunt, uncle, or one of her grandparents!

Standing for Something & Running from Mommy

Tuesday morning we came in to get Emmett out of bed and guess who was standing up with his hands on the crib rails? Since then, he has been pulling himself up on just about every surface or person he can get his hands on.
Liliana was being a trouble-maker the other day so I told her she could make a choice: listen to mommy or go to her room until she was ready to listen. She ran down the hall loudly saying, "I not listening to you!" and slammed her door loudly. Within a few minutes she said, "I'm ready to be sweet," and I let her out of her room. At least she accepted one of the decisions I had offered her. Oh, what will the future hold?

Camping, Crawling, and other fun

We left for our 4th of July trip to Seaside, Oregon on July 1st. We had a fun-filled week of swimming, kite flying, carousel riding, ice cream eating, dutch oven cooking, parade watching, mini-train riding, biking, beach bumming, sandcastle building, firework gazing, and relaxing with family. As we drove out of the campground David asked Liliana if she had had fun camping. She responded with, "I want to go camping again!"

The day before we had left for our trip, Emmett officially started crawling. He is still improving and getting better at it, but he's able to get around without all the rolling and pivoting on his belly that he used to do. Emmett's third and fourth tooth have popped through now as well. The third one came in just a day or two after the second tooth and the fourth one just poked through a couple of days ago. He now his his two bottom center teeth and two by-cuspids, but no center top teeth. I think he's going for the kindergärtner-about-to-enter-first-grade look!

On Sundays I try to get the kids to take at least a short nap before church to avoid the head-spinning, blue-liquid spewing that often accompanies missed naps. However, since we have to leave for church right about the time naps normally start, this effort does not always prove successful. Today was one of those days. I put Liliana down and she was quiet for awhile, falsely leading me to believe that she had fallen asleep. After some time, I heard strange sounds coming from her room and ventured to see what bizarre acts could be causing the noises. At first I was surprised not to spot Liliana in her room. Then some movement from above caught my attention and I realized she was on the top bunk of her bunk bed - to which we had removed the ladder so she wouldn't be able to climb up without us present. "I'm on the bunk bed, Mommy!" She exclaimed proudly.
"How did you get up there?" I asked.
"I climb down that and that," she said, without actually giving me any useful indication as to how she had got up.
I took her down from the bed and looked at the assortment of things she had shoved off the bed (which was the source of the sounds that had brought me to the room to investigate). David had been using the bunk bed to store random toys and other items that he didn't want Liliana playing with for one reason or another and Liliana had started tossing them off the bed, while sitting under the little red table that was being stored on the bed as well. She had used the table to climb up and open the curtains in her room, which resulted in David putting the table out of her reach. I invited Liliana to climb the bed again so I could see how she did it, but she ran out of the room saying, "That's naughty?" She did demonstrate her monkey-like climbing skills for David after we got home from church and we recorded them, so I'll have to link them to this post sometime soon. Now we'll have to decide whether we want to go ahead and put the bunk bed ladder up; take the bunk bed down and find someplace to store it; or try and convince Liliana of the danger of climbing her bed and trust that she won't do it anymore (highly unlikely).

Move your hand, Daddy

Tonight, as part of our Family Home Evening, we were reading an illustrated scripture story to Liliana. She was laying back in David's lap and they were sitting next to me on the couch. Liliana kept squirming around and pushing David's arm. She told him to move his arm and hand out of her way and he asked where he should put it. Liliana paused to think a moment and then said, "Right there," while pointing at my chest. David asked, "You want me to put my hand on Mommy's boob?"
"Yes! Put your hand there on Mommy's boob," she replied.
David, always wanting to make his little girl happy, was more than willing to oblige!

In more modest news, tooth number two is officially through for Emmett! Now he's got one on the bottom in the center and one on the top, to the right of the center. He's got a hillbilly smile!

Scary Kitty

Sunday we went to dinner at the home of one of David's coworkers. Liliana followed their two cats to their climbing tower in the corner of the living room behind a chair. After a few minutes, she came hurrying out from behind the chair saying, "That kitty scary." Suspecting that she may have done something to make one of the cats swat at her, I asked her, "Were you bothering the kitties?" Liliana responded with, "No. I not bother the kitty. The kitty bother me!"

Tooth or dare

Emmett's first tooth poked through a week and a half ago (May 22nd). I knew it was getting close, but his Auntie was actually the one who first spotted it while she was holding him at Cousin Tasha's bridal shower. He's officially a danger when he's nursing now! Daddy was helping him get some gum relief by giving him a cold piece of apple in one of those little mesh baggies to chomp on. By the time Emmett was finished with it, there was no evidence remaining to determine what fruit he had started with.

Last Thursday, as we were preparing to leave for a camping trip at Soap Lake, we were informed that there was a problem with the reservation. We decided to go to Idaho to visit David's parents instead - surprising Grandma with a knock on the door at 6:00am Friday morning! The kids entertained Grandma and Grandpa Hernandez all weekend long. David and I took Liliana to an indoor water park since the weather was cold and wet, while Grandma and Grandpa played with Emmett at the house. David and I even got to go out and see a movie one evening. We came back Monday and got to sit through the lovely west-bound post-holiday weekend traffic on I-90, but I know David's parents were really glad we came.

Tuesday evening we were out running errands and stopped to pick up a bite to eat. Emmett was sitting in the high chair in the restaurant and looking around, babbling happily, when all of a sudden he said, "Da da." He continues to say it over and over now. I know he isn't really calling David, but I'm still a little bummed that he chose to say that before saying, "ma ma." I mean, come on - who changes most of your diapers, kid? Who feeds you and plays with you most of the time? Who finds you much more interesting than the computer? That's right! It's Mama! Daddy - boo, Mommy - yay!

Liliana has become quite the little parrot. She says things like, "Oh, my goodness!" and this morning she asked Emmett, "How are you doing today? You ok? Oh, good. I'm glad." I ask her something similar each morning when she wakes up.

This morning Liliana decided that she didn't want David to go to work. While he was in the shower, she asked me, "Where Daddy gonna go?"
I turned it back on her and asked, "Where do you think he's going?".
"He's going to work?" she asked. I confirmed it and she said, "I don't want Daddy go to work. I want Daddy stay home and play with me."
"Well, somebody has to go to work to get money to pay the bills." I responded.
"Mommy go to work," was her sweet little response.
"Don't you like it when mommy stays home to play with you?" I asked.
"Yes."
"But you want mommy to go to work?"
"Yes."
"And you want daddy to stay home with you?"
"Yes."
"Ok, go tell daddy."
She went to tell him, but he didn't understand her over the sound of the shower and the fan running in the bathroom. I told him when he got out of the shower, and I saw a huge smile spread across his face. Then when it was time for him to leave, Liliana ran to the window and watched him pull out of the driveway. "I want my daddy stay home with me!" she cried. She began to fuss and climbed off the couch and walked over to me, asking to be picked up. It was sad and cute all at the same time. I wonder if she ever misses me that much when I go places...

Mobility and more chewing ability

While Emmett is probably too heavy to be able to start crawling any time soon, he has figured out how to get around some. He has been able to roll over from his stomach to his back since he was just a couple of weeks old and he's been able to roll over from his back to his stomach (but only to his right) since about a month ago. He realized yesterday that he can put these skills together and get places. I watched him work his way slowly from the living room into the kitchen and then spin around in circles on his tummy in the kitchen. I'm sure it won't be long until he realizes he can just keep rolling, rather than stopping between rolls to check everything out. Then I'll really have to keep an eye on him!

This morning Liliana was singing songs with me when I caught a glimpse of something white towards the back of her mouth. When I looked closer, I saw she had a new molar half grown in at the back left corner of her mouth. She has been such a good girl (well, not fussy - but still her trouble-makin' self) that I had no idea she was getting more teeth in. Thinking back over the last few days, I can say that she's been eating less and asking for softer and colder foods like applesauce and yogurt, but there really hasn't been any crankiness or recognizable discomfort. She has been such a good teether with each of her teeth. I hope Emmett will be the same!

Liliana has started "reading" now. She's getting really good at remembering what stories say on which pages and will recite many of her stories pretty much verbatim with the correct pages. If I point to words that match the pictures they are next to, she can say the words. It will probably be a little while before she can actually recognize the words on their own without the pictures, but she's really getting a lot of these emergent reading skills now and she really loves books, pretending to read, and being read to.