No, Mommy.

And we have finally entered the "no" phase of toddlerhood. It comes after requests to pick things up, go to bed or just plain out of the blue. It is almost funny how Keith thought it was so cute the first time he heard Lauren say, "no mommy," after I had been hearing it all day. So funny. She also has the terrible thing about not napping at all this past week. Not sure exactly what she is doing in there but it isn't sleeping. Sometimes it sounds like a load-bearing wall is about to come crashing down but no sounds of sweet lullabies from slumberland have been drifting out the "Queen's" room. I say queen because Lauren now has a pink foam crown that she wore all the way through Walmart insisting she was a queen and I really admired her confidence as she glided through the store looking 80% adorable and 20% ridiculous so I bought her the $1 crown. She is now a queen and lets you know. She is saying so many more things everyday that crack us up and amaze us. For example, we have a Ladybug that lights up and projects the moon and constellations onto her ceiling at night. We always look for the crescent moon and then look to see what the stars are on (the fan, the curtains, on mama, in the closet, etc.). She just surprised me so much by her ability to connect concepts when she grabbed her ear, gave it a little tug and then pointed to the crescent moon and said ear. Wow! It does look like an ear. Great eye, Lauren.

Lilly is saying more and more every single day, too. She has started to sing along with Lauren to her favorite song, the theme song to Choo Choo Soul. When they both start singing it is crazy/sweet!
Lil is almost walking. She took about six steps tonight. So, I guess she is walking but she is really wobbly. I think she was at a huge disadvantage having an older sister who is still so young because Lauren will often push her down when she tries to start walking but after months of getting pushed down, I think Lilly has had enough.
Lilly is still trying to eat sand out of the sandbox but now she has a new trick - bathing like an elephant. She fills a little cup or shovel with sand and dumps it over her head just like an elephant.

Keith is still working really hard. He is hardly ever home. He always has something going on when the weekend rolls around and during the week, he doesn't get home until a little bit before the girls go to bed. Tonight, he was lucky I didn't have the girls in bed yet because he didn't get home until 8 p.m. It really sucks!

I am keeping busy with the girls, the house and sewing. I have been doing a lot of sewing lately and will hopefully have some pictures of some of my latest projects soon. It can be slow going because I am learning to sew as I go. It was scary at first but now it is getting so much easier. I have already made another dress for the girls, a hat, a couple of ties, a pee pee tee pee (for use during little boys' diaper changes) and a stuffed guinea pig. Fun.

For now, here are some pictures that you really want to see.

The girls coloring on a chalkboard mat I made them. Look how cute they are when they share!

Lilly wearing my favorite fall outfit of Lauren's from last year.

Lauren one year ago wearing the same outfit. My, my, my....

A very happy Lilly.

As usual, Lauren has all the accessories she needs. Whenever we go out, she has her hat and/or hair bow, sunglasses and a purse. I think she gets that from her Great Grammy Goodman and Great Grandma Frank who both always seemed to be properly accessorized, too.