Let the giggles begin!

Finally! Jillian is starting to laugh! Sami laughed a lot earlier and a lot more often. I can remember that. A babies laughs are the best thing in this world! Jilli smiles all the time and she's forced a giggle or two out before, but the last few days they are a little easier to get out of her and it brightens my day for sure!
She's really enjoying her one on one time. I try and put the girls down around the same time to nap so that I can get a little break and get the house cleaned up a bit, or feed the farm, or do laundry, dishes...whatever. But lately Jilli has caught on that if Sami is sleeping, she will get ALL the attention! And she's LOVING it! LOL I have to admit, I'm loving it too. Jilli gets a lot of attention all day long, but it's usually unwanted attention from her sister, lol. Or Sami jumps in her face the moment I try and play with her or talk to her. She's Sami's baby!! Apparently Samantha doesn't understand that being mere centimeters from her face is probably not that enjoyable for Jillian, hahaha. I am constantly telling her to back up and give her space. The poor girl needs to breathe!
So anyway, Jilli and I love our Mommy and Me time with just the two of us, but then once Sami's up she gives her the BIGGEST smiles in the whole world, seriously I don't know how she makes her smile that big, but she does it, and only for her sister, who she adores!

Where to start....

The problem with leaving the blog world is that it truly miss it when I'm gone. Then the days, weeks, months go by and suddenly I feel so far behind that I don't even know how to start a blog post :( So much has happened. So much is changing everyday. There is so much to tell that will likely never be told. No one even comes here anymore. I keep making empty promises that I will be back to update more regularly, but that never happens. So I guess let's just start with today and maybe memories and stories will pop into the mix along the way.

We have been enjoying a great weekend with the family. It seems Ian is gone for work most of the time these days. It's so hard to get caught up and it's sad having him gone. Yesterday we went to one of Scott's track meets and it was GREAT! He's awesome! I can not believe that he is running track now. If someone had told me a year ago that Scott would be running, I would have told them they were nuts! He now runs all the time! And not like a little jog down the road and back...like a 6 mile RUN!! He's really good too. He has changed so much in the last year. Going from a boy to a young man. He did great on his race he came in at 21.01 and it was just over 3 miles. He ran with Varsity yesterday which is a major accomplishment, especially since it was only his 3rd race and he's been moved up. We're so proud of him!

Sami and I are struggling through the terrible 2's. She is very temperamental and just down right naughty at times. The good times are so great, but the bad times are real bad. All in all, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love all the new things she says and does every day. I love how she can help with things and I love how she is learning so much so quickly. She is incredibly smart and so quick to catch on to things. She truly is a sponge taking in everything! I can tell she's going to have another language explosion soon because she is repeating everything we say again. She seems to do this in phases and then reaches a new level in her speech and language abilities.
Sami is a singer. She sings all day every day. She loves music. I can't believe how quick she picks up new songs and will begin singing them over and over again. Lately we've been working on her name. She can spell her first name, and she's learning that we all have the same last name. It's really cute.

Our little Jilli Bean is growing way too fast. It's sad really. I can't slow down the time and it's killing me. I don't want her to grow too fast, but at the same time I can't wait to truly see her personality. I mean, life with Sami at 2 is so hard, but it's so amazing to have conversations with her and be able to communicate. Jilli loves to smile. She adores her sister and thinks that she is the best thing in the world! We song a good morning song every morning when we wake up (Sami really does the singing, I am more like moaning "God why don't you children sleep!") and Jilli smiles so big it must hurt! She doesn't even have her eyes open all the way, but she hears Sami's voice and she is just filled with joy! It's just a true blessing everyday to see the two of them together, I hope and pray everyday that this bond remains strong and they are always so loving and close with each other.
Jillian has just recently started finally sleeping in her crib. She has reflux and has been sleeping in the swing to try and keep her elevated at night. She's starting to get too big for that and seemed way too uncomfortable in it. She was too restricted and couldn't roll or stretch and I think that was waking her. She still doesn't sleep through the night :( But Sami didn't sleep through the night until she was 10-11 months old, so I'm in for the long haul.
Along with the reflux, Jilli was diagnosed with what her GI (Gastro doc) specialist thought was Laryngomalacia. She breathes funny. She has since she was born. She makes a noise when she breaths that sounds like she is grunting a little, or that she needs to cough or clear her throat. So the GI says it's Laryngomalacia, I googled and you tubed and it seems like what she has. The videos and sound bites I've watched and listened to sound just like her. However, she has been to the ENT (Ear, nose and Throat Doc) twice and each time he did a scope and he insists that she does NOT have Laryngomalacia and that the noise is due solely to the reflux and secretions that are coming up and she's gurgling them and that's making the noise.
It sucks either way. I feel like it's more than just the reflux, but it has gotten better since she's been born and both doctors say that it's something she will most likely grow out of either way, reflux and Laryngomalacia. The ENT would be able to see a Laryngomalacia with the scopes that he did and he did not see it. She does have narrow vocal cords though...whatever that means. All I know is that she sometimes breathes funny. She's had overnight oximeter tests to check her O2 levels and everything checks out fine. She's growing fine and she's happy. So for now we will continue with the reflux meds and just continue to monitor her and see how it goes. She will not be going back to ENT unless she gets worse or has some new issue. It doesn't make sense to subject her to the scope again if there is nothing there for them to see.

So that sums up a little of what we've been up to lately.
Sami's still not potty trained. We've stopped it all together mostly, until she seems ready again.
Jilli is still breastfeeding and has started stage 2 foods. She LOVES bananas, and hates cereal of any kind, and formula.

Ok, I need to get to bed now. I hope to be back soon.

How did this happen?

The one thing I've learned about being a parent, is that time suddenly goes way too fast and no matter what you do there is no way to slow it down. I can not believe how fast the kids are growing, it's sad that these moments go by so quickly. I promise to do my best to hold on to each and every one of them.