8 Months

 Well the time sure is flying by!

Tessa is 8 months old and she's weighing in at 14 lbs........  She is wearing 3-6 month clothes, still some 0-3 and fitting into some 6-9 month.  She is wearing a size 2 diaper and now fits into size 2 shoes!!!  Shortly after we got home from our travels I took her in for a weight check and she was back up to the 4th percentile and everyone was happy!  They said to just keep on doing what we are doing!  So her schedule is still the same...she nurses in the morning, after her morning nap, after her afternoon nap, and before bed.  She gets a 4 oz bottle around 12:30 and a 2 oz bottle after her dinner.  She's still eating yogurt for breakfast and a veggie/fruit combo for dinner.  She's now eating 5 cubes of food and acts like she would like more but if I give her more she ends up spitting it up so her eyes are bigger than her stomach!  I just started giving her puffs and she loves them.  It's a little tricky for her to get them in her mouth but when she does she chews them right up and she makes the cutest little face!

She got her first tooth, her bottom left, on August 7th and immediately started working on her second bottom tooth which finally popped through on August 23rd.  Her first tooth didn't really give her that much trouble!  She had shorter naps one day and was really chewing on her paci so I stuck my finger in her mouth and there it was!  Her second tooth gave her much more trouble with sleeping and she had a horrible runny nose!  I was so ready for that tooth to pop through!  I don't see any new ones yet but I'm sure more are just around the corner!

Because of the teeth her sleeping has been a little off!  She did great the whole time we traveled and it didn't take her too long to adjust to the time change when we got home.  Thanks to a REALLY late night getting home (1:30 am) it actually helped the girls get back on Pacific time.  She was waking up at 5:30 for a few days but just eating and going back to sleep until 7 and eventually I was able to cut that feeding out and she was back to her normal routine!  Since she had been doing so well on our trip I planned on moving her into her room with Riley when we got home.  I napped her in their during the day but the first night I put her in their to sleep it didn't go too well!  I don't think it had much to do with the crib as it did with her getting that second tooth!  She actually didn't even wake Riley up but I moved her into the front room around 4 in the morning and when Riley woke up she was SOOO sad Tessa wasn't in there...she is such a sweet big sister!  I figured once we made it through this tooth we would try again.  Well then she started a new silly thing!  When I would lay her down she figured out how to get herself sitting up and she would clap for a little bit and then she would start getting ticked because she was tired but she couldn't lay down!  Physically she could do it but it just wasn't connecting mentally!  Some days it was taking her an hour to go down for a nap and this caused her to start waking up several times a night...I would lay her down, she would sit up and get ticked, repeat, repeat, etc.  Between the sitting up thing, the runny nose, and the second tooth it was a rough week for Miss Tessa!  With Jason having an upcoming TDY I figured we would try again because I could let Riley sleep with me and get Tessa used to the crib.  The first three nights were still rough for her and then I was worried about Riley getting to used to sleeping with me so I put them in the room together and just tried it.  Tessa woke up at 11:30 so I fed her and she went right back down and slept until 7:20...a success!  The second night she woke up at 11:30 and I fed her but then she was back up at 4:30 and was waking Riley up so I had to move her to the front room and she got herself back to sleep!  We're making progress but we'll see what the next month holds!  As for naps she's still taking 2 naps if we're home all day and since we are back from our trip and have a busy schedule she's having to adapt and sometimes taking 3 naps if 2 are short while we are out and about!  She's a happy girl regardless and will sleep when she gets real tired regardless of where we are!

She started clapping this month and it's seriously the cutest thing!  Jason and I were out shoe shopping while we were in Arkansas and all of a sudden she was clapping...that was it!  Now she does it all the time!  She's trying to figure out how to wave too but she doesn't quite have that down yet!

She loves to swing at the park!  The first time I put her in the swing was one day after FitMoms and she absolutely loves it.  She's starting to get some spunk too because she throws a fit when it's time to go and I pull her out of the swing!

She is starting to interact more and play with Riley!  Their favorite thing to do together right now is for Riley to build a tower with her boxes and Tessa knocks them down! 

Well this month she is officially crawling.  She started with this scooting army crawl while we were in Arkansas and now she can crawl on her hands and knees.  She still chooses the scooting crawl because it's faster but she can do it the right way!  She is pulling up on everything and loves to be standing upright!  Coming home from our trip was a reality check because how I did everything before we left didn't work anymore.  Before we went on our trip I would plop her on the floor of our bathroom with some toys while I took a shower...now she's crawling to the shower and trying to pull up on the shower door!  So I got my baby corral gate out and the big pack 'n play and she has safe areas she can play if I need to do something!  She likes to bounce in her bouncer and will still play in the exersaucer but she just loves to be on the floor playing and moving all around!

 Eye on the prize girl!

 She's still a vocal child and everyone comments on how "boisterous" she is!  HaHa!  I can't wait to see how her personality unfolds...she is happy, sweet, loving, loud, daring, and just the cutest little thing ever!  

Here's the comparison pic of the girls!

Girls just wanna have fun!

 In an effort to stay busy, have fun, and keep Riley's little mind off of her Daddy being gone we had an impromptu play date with two of her best gal pals after church on Sunday!

These three are so cute together and they had a blast!

I caught them in the bathroom putting lip gloss on...not just on their lips though..on their eyes too! 

 The amount of dress up outfits they went through was crazy but all in a day's fun!  They all got married and had babies, they formed a band, the played Barbie musketeers, and made cookies!

 I had seen this idea on Pioneer Woman to make handprint cookies and thankfully Tessa took a really long nap to make it possible!

I made the cookie dough while the girls were playing and then they each got to make a cookie with their handprint.  

I made several egg washes for them to paint the cookies before we cooked them and then they decorated them with icing and sprinkles after they cooled.

 Sweet friends!

 Watching a little Barbie musketeer!

 Tessa finally woke up to join in on the fun!

 Love the dog pile in the princess dresses...the squeals of laughter were the best!

 Serious decorating faces!

The day wouldn't be complete without a little sword fighting!

Love these girls and their sweet friendship!

Farmer's Market Fun!

 Jason left in the wee hours of the morning to head to South Dakota for 30-45 days.  I knew Riley would be better off if we had a really busy day so Ashley had asked if we wanted to head to Davis to run and go to the Farmer's Market.

That sounded like a good idea and it was a ton of fun and kept Riley's mind off the fact that Jason was gone.

We put Addi and Tessa in their little workout outfits and cute tennies...having girls is so much fun!

Riley is such a touchy feely girl...she's always got her hands all over her friends.

Addi got pretty ticked a few minutes after all of Tessa's touching and loud talking...they are so funny!

 We ran in the arboretum which is beautiful and then headed over to the park to let the kids get out and play before we grabbed some food!

 Tessa LOVES to pick up leaves and of course try and put them in her mouth.  It's so fun to watch her little hands figure things out but I have to be on guard for the moment she tries to put it in her mouth!

 After some playing we strolled through the farmer's market and got some goodies!  Tessa conked out and Riley cuddled up next to her...so sweet!

 We ate some big 'ol corn dogs for lunch...pretty much made that run we did earlier all for nothing but oh well...they were good!

It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun!

8 Years

 I can't believe it's been 8 years since we had one of the best nights of our lives!  

Happy Anniversary to Us...8 years of marriage, the 4 homes we've lived in, the 3 states we've lived in, the two beautiful baby girls we brought into this world and the excitement of what the next many many years brings!

We found out just before we traveled to Arkansas that Jason was selected to be on an Accident Investigation Board for a plane that crashed this past summer.  It's a good opportunity but it will be a tough experience as well.  The timing on when he was going to leave was up in the air so we weren't sure he was going to be home for our anniversary but it turned out he was!!!

I had cooked dinner a few nights before our anniversary and made a Strawberry Sparkle Cake...the way to Jason's heart is not really through desserts but I knew he would like this one! :)

It was fun having Riley ask questions about what an anniversary was and getting to explain all that to her!

 The night before our anniversary (Monday night) Jason told me he had to be at work extra early the next morning for something or other.  I didn't really think much of it!  I woke up when I heard the front door open so I thought he was leaving for work but he was actually coming into the house!  He had gotten up early so he could go to Starbucks and get me breakfast and some beautiful roses.  Tessa was in the middle of a rough week of sleeping because she was teething so waking up to breakfast and coffee was so nice!

He also got Riley breakfast and chocolate milk so I didn't have to worry about making her breakfast either and of course she was so excited!

He got me the normally funny card and wrote lots of sweet things.  After the mushy part he simply wrote

Chores List:

1.  Have the kids ready to go somewhere for the evening by 5:00

2.  Have yourself ready to leave by 6:00.  Wear a dress or a skirt.

So...that left lots of anticipation through the day not only for me but also for Riley because I told her she was going somewhere but I didn't know where..haha!

Jason walked in the door at 5:00 and loaded the girls up.  Riley went to Hannah's house and Tessa went to Nicki's house.  He came home after dropping them off and we headed to Napa to have a nice dinner at Rutherford Grill.

We sat outside and enjoyed a drink before we went in and ate like crazy people!

 We have spent the last 3 of our anniversaries in Napa and two of them at Rutherford Grill so why break the trend???  We were laughing on the way about how someday when we're living in the middle of nowhere we will talk about how we went to Napa for several of our anniversaries...no one has to know it was only 20 miles from our house! :)

We ate like a king and queen!

 

It was such a fun night and very thoughtful of my man!  Just to have him plan it and plan for the girls was the best gift.

Here's to many many many more years!

I love you Jason!

Back to School

 How is already Riley's last year before Kindergarten???????

Wow...she's such a big girl and the time has just flown by!

She started back to pre-school at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran.  This year she's going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30 until 2:00 and she's in the 4 year old class with her teachers Miss Kathy and Miss Jillian!

She picked out a cute dress "with a belt just like mommy" to wear on her first day!

 

 

 Going back to school was like no big deal to her because she feels at home there and knows everyone.  She came right in, grabbed her name tag, and got to work socializing!

 Here she is checking in on her best buddy Carter!

 I don't think she's quite figured it out yet but switching from two days to three days means lots of new faces in her class.  Most of her friends from last year stayed in the Tuesday / Thursday class.  Her and Carter are the only ones that switched over.  Her friend Tahlia moved to Shepherd of the Hills this year so she knows her.  The first day went great and she just had a blast!  In Riley's world everyone is her friend and she's not afraid to talk to anybody so I think she'll do just fine!

We had to get a treat to celebrate so Starbucks it was...cake pop and chocolate milk for Riley and caffeine for me! :)

Sacramento Children's Museum

 Sometimes life gets busy and the weekend comes along and we all just want to relax...the thought of no plans is sometimes a breath of fresh air.  But no plans doesn't mean we don't do things...it means we get to have our own family "adventures" as Jason likes to call them!

This Saturday our friends, the Spurlocks, invited us to go check out the Sacramento Children's Museum with them!

We started the trek with a stop in Davis to check out this hip cool Sippy Cup that was featured on Shark Tank...we had to get on the waiting list to get one!  Jason and I love to watch that show so it was fun to actually check into one of the ideas we had seen on there.

We made it to the museum and the girls had a blast!  Riley and Madison played doctor and nurse for a while and then Riley found this pretend house and she didn't leave...she met a few friends her age and they just played and played and played!

 There were lots of fun things to do and check out!

 Jason and Wes chatting while the girls played!

 Madison had the most fun checking out all the ball contraptions!

After playing at the museum we headed to California Pizza Kitchen to grab lunch and then made a few stops at the mall.  It was a great day and we managed to drag the guys to a baby store and a mall...haha!

We had them over for snacks and wine later that evening and that was even more fun.  When they had to leave to get their girls to bed Jason and I stayed out on the patio drinking wine and listening to music...it was like our own little date night!

Six Flags Fun!

 Before Six Flags switched to only being open on the weekends we had to go again!

Hannah, Janel, and I took all the kiddos after FitMoms and we had a blast!  It was 3 moms and 7 kids...phew!  We invited Ella to come with us and it was so fun to have her!

Riley, Ella, and Ollie waiting for the airplane ride!

 Riley and Ella...two cool chicks flying an airplane!

 We headed to the splash pad to have our usual picnic lunch and some playtime in the water!

I love Ella's face in this pic...happy girl!

 I was on baby duty while Hannah and Janel took all the kids on the swings!

 Tessa always has fun at Six Flags too...she is such a good chill baby and I'm so thankful for that.  We just take her on all of our adventures and she is a happy camper!

Showering the Princess

 Right when we got back from Arkansas we had planned a spa day to shower the princess...Nicki that is!

She's having a sweet baby girl soon and there are about to be two princesses in the Bickley household..watch out!

The beautiful preggo!

 Hannah found this spa near Sonoma that was AMAZING!!!  Words and pictures can't do it justice!  We all got pedicures which was the cheapest service on the menu but even with a pedicure we had access to the outdoor oasis of cabanas, pools, and amazing food!  It was such a relaxing day...we decided this should be a monthly event..ha!

Here we are upon arriving and realizing just how awesome this place was!

 

 There were 3 or 4 pools and hot tubs...all at different temperatures.

 We claimed this awesome cabana and lounged here a lot of the day!

 Besides the spa part of the shower we all got her hairbows for the little princess and a cute board to hang them all up.  She claims she will need a tutorial on how to properly choose which bow for which outfit but I have a feeling she will warm right up to being a girl mom!

She loved the zebra one the best!

 After she opened all of her presents we went and relaxed in one of the warm pools and it was great!  Then they told us our brunch was ready!

We got to sit outside and eat!

Sara and Me

All of us ladies!

 This was my french toast...yum!

We went in shifts to get our pedicures and they were great!

Hannah and I were pedi buddies!

 The rest of the afternoon we did more lounging and LOTS of talking!

We also got more food to snack on and did more lounging in the pool!

 We were all bummed our spa day had to come to an end but we all had sweet babies to get home to and husbands to relieve!  It was a much needed break for all of us and we can't wait to go back!