little readers

 It's no secret that Savanna idolizes Heidi.  She literally cannot be anywhere Heidi isn't for long periods of time and copies every.single.thing Heidi does.  Last night I wrapped Heidi's head in a towel after her bath to help it dry and Savanna fell apart because she didn't have a towel on her head too. Heidi adores reading and the last few mornings I have found these two like this.  Apparently whatever Heidi wanted to read was so good, she couldn't even finish getting dressed.

 This is Savanna's surprised face and it is one of my favorite faces.  She has the cutest, funniest little expressions and apparently this book was quite shocking.

As a former teacher, there isn't anything that makes me happier than seeing my two beauties enjoying books together!

the end of preschool

 Preschool has officially ended for the year!

 We celebrated with a picnic in the park.  The girls got little certificates and we put their little hand prints on them.  They had a fun year together and it was such a cute group of girls.  I'm glad it worked out to be all girls because it was a perfect introduction for Heidi.  She grew a lot socially.

Academically I would say Heidi grew the most in her writing skills.  She has gotten so good at writing and tracing letters.  I am so proud of her and can't believe the year is already over!  It seems like yesterday we were getting her ready for her first day!

34.5 weeks and other happenings

This is quite possibly the best belly shot you're going to get and yes, I am indeed humongous and ready to pop.  I am confident I was this size or smaller when I delivered both of the girls.  Maybe that's why Jeff was freaking out when I cancelled my last appointment and won't be going in for 3 more weeks.  Based on my size and some of my symptoms he doesn't think I will make it to 37 weeks, but she better keep cooking at least that long!  You always know you're huge when people say things like, "So are you having the baby tomorrow???"  Maybe all these comments are bringing the nesting on early because I suddenly feel the urge to clean out all cupboards, vacuum out all the crevices in the windows, and scrub everything I can.  Pretty sure my efforts won't last the 4-5 weeks we have left, but at least I feel better about the house today.

Last week was rather eventful.  On Wednesday, Savanna grabbed my phone and chased after me when Heidi called to be wiped.  She toddled after me into the bathroom to watch the excitement.  Heidi saw that she had my phone and said, "Savanny, don't you put mom's phone in the toilet".  You would think we have had trouble with Savanna putting things in water...ha ha ha.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job blocking the toilet but apparently Savanna found the 2 inches of open space and chucked it right in. So.Gross.  I grabbed a glove and tried to get it out fast but that stupid thing went right into the hole and wedged itself in.  Heidi was freaking out and wouldn't even pull her pants up she was so upset.  Savanna was laughing.  I started gagging.  I ran into my bathroom to puke and came back to hearing my phone buzzing somewhere in the depths of the toilet.  It was a nasty mess and there was no way that stupid thing was going to come out.  I went to my friend's house and called a plumber but they couldn't come until late and I knew my phone was destroyed anyway.  Luckily our contracts were up and it's not like it was some cool smart phone or something, but still being without a phone was annoying.  Jeff told me through email to just wait until he got home and he would deal with it.  He also told me if I wanted to go get my new phone that was fine and he would get his new one when he flushed his down the toilet.  That gave me a good laugh.  So grateful Jeff keeps things in perspective for me.  Love that man.  Anyway, when he got home he couldn't believe it could be wedged in at that angle and didn't think he was going to be able to get it.  Luckily, he finally got it out and now we both have iphones...wow, what a learning curve for us.  I didn't realize how behind the times we really were.

On Thursday, Jeff had the day off because we were trying to get stuff done and then head to Utah for my doctor's appointment. Savanna woke up feeling quite warm and was acting odd.  She wouldn't eat anything and wasn't really making noise of any kind.  She kept getting warmer and wouldn't sleep more than 20 minutes.  I took her temperature and it was over 104.  We took her in because I suspected strep.  After waiting 2 hours to get the stupid test, it was confirmed.  She is allergic to amoxicillin so they gave her something else.  We waited forever at the pharmacy to get home to find out they shorted us.  So we gave her the first dose and then had to go back and fight it later.  Thursday night was horrible.  I let her sleep with me and she was just roasting. I could not get the fever under 103 even with tylenol.  She would wake up every 15-20 minutes thrashing around and acting so weird.  I was so worried she was going to have a seizure.  Finally her fever broke around 4 AM and I think the antibiotic started to kick in.  Anyway, she only has to take it 5 days but on day 4 she broke out in a horrible rash.  Apparently she is also allergic to this one too.  I am really stressed about this because so far there is only 1 antibiotic she isn't allergic to and I am worried she will develop an immunity to it and it seems like she gets everything.  I hope her sick days start slowing down.  Poor little Savanna.  She really was a good little sick patient and it was so hard to see her so sick.  I hate strep and I can't believe both of my girls have had it so young.  Thankfully none of the rest of us got it...knock on wood.  I am praying this is the last sickness we have for awhile!!  It's the middle of May for crying out loud.  What a week...so happy to start over this week.

playing in the snow...in may

 Last week we were working in the yard.  Sunday we woke up to snow blowing completely sideways.  What the?  By Monday morning we had about an inch or two on the ground so we pulled out the winter stuff I had already put away for the year and played.  It was super fun because unlike in the dead of winter, it was much warmer so we weren't quite so cold playing.  We put food coloring in water bottles and sprayed the snow.  Boy oh by was that a hit.

 We made snowballs and had a snowball fight.

 We built a little tiny snowman and sprayed him blue and purple.  We also gave him eyes and a proper carrot nose.  Savanna wanted to check out the window on it the whole day and would squeal and point with delight that it was still there...although it was pretty much nothing by the end of the day.

The girls also had fun taking chunks of snow and smashing them on the patio.  Heidi couldn't believe how strong she was.  We had a great morning playing in snow we never thought we would have in May.  Don't worry, by Thursday we are supposed to be in mid 70s and today we played at the park...crazy.

spring recital

 Heidi had her spring dance recital last week!  Grandma Hunziker came up to support our little dancer.  She brought some darling little outfits and a fun bowling game along with her.  These two little girls sure adore their grandma!  We are so grateful she came up, especially with gas prices creeping to ridiculous levels.  My girls are so lucky they have such a wonderful grandma.

 I am so incredibly proud of my little Heidi.  I can't believe how much she has grown this year!

She was so excited to put on her pretty dress and wear make up.

Savanna did pretty well at the recital in spite of it being past her bedtime.  I had to cave and bust out a binky, as well as lollipops and other treats, but she enjoyed watching her sister.  Oh, and she enjoyed hitting the man on the head in front of her and trying to stick her lollipop in his hair.  She also had fun giving cheesers and clapping to the man behind us.  

 Heidi did two dances.  She loved her stick horse dance.  I sure wish we could have gotten better seats so I could have gotten better pictures.  I guess we know for next year to go extra early.  When Heidi first started dance I couldn't even imagine her getting up on the stage, but she sure loves it!  Thankfully she actually left the stage this time around...ha ha.

I am so grateful they have this little dance program in town.  I hope it keeps going because I am hoping we have a lot more dance recitals in our future between our three girls.  While I am kind of relieved dance is over so I don't have to disturb the girls from naps on Mondays anymore, I am sad to see it end for the year.  Heidi wasn't happy this morning when she realized it was Monday and she really didn't have dance today.  Soccer will start soon enough and before we know it, we'll be ready to start another year of dance.  I really am grateful to her wonderful teacher who worked so hard and was so sweet to my little Heidi.

busy saturday

 After working in the yard all morning we decided to get Heidi and Savanna's room painted.  We have about 6-7 weeks left before #3 arrives and I am definitely feeling antsy to get everything in order before I get any bigger or any more tired.  Seriously.  I feel like I could pass out from exhaustion everyday.  I don't remember being this tired with either Heidi or Savanna, but perhaps my memory is failing me.  Anyway, their room is gray and pink so we painted the room gray.  It was already gray, but it was so light it looked white and I have been wanting to change it since we moved in.

Getting projects like this done with little ones underfoot is not an easy undertaking.  I got them their own little brushes and they did pretty well keeping busy but it took a lot of monitoring as I was picturing gooey brushes dripping in all kinds of places.  Savanna held her doll in one hand and painted with the other most of the time.  We are still not completely finished...we are about 3/4 of the way done.  We had to stop in time for the fumes to clear out for Heidi's nap.  Hopefully we can get it done soon...we have a busy week with it being my turn to teach preschool Monday and Tuesday, Heidi's dance recital, and of course, Jeff has an outage this week.  Maybe we should have waited a week to paint....oh well.  Heidi is thrilled with the outcome and can't wait for Savanna to be in the room with her.

18 months

 Happy 1/2 birthday to my blue eyed little beauty!  I can't believe she is half way to two!  This little Savanna girl has brought so much joy to our family.  She definitely keeps us laughing.

 *Still looks way too small to be doing the things she does.
*Her hair looks red a lot of times and I am still not sure what color is going to end up.  It is curly on the bottom and I don't know if that will stay or not.
*Has her top 4 teeth and bottom 4 teeth and all of her molars have finally broken through, but there are 1 or 2 that are not completely all the way in yet...so a total of 12 teeth.

 *Loves to be outside and has no problem with dirt, mud, puddles, or bugs.
*Has started to be a little more clingy to mom lately, but really that's mostly when she's tired or hungry.
*Nods her head yes or no and gets the funniest little expression when she does.  If we are out on a walk and she is going slow I will say, "Do you want mom to carry you?"  She will shake her head no and then start running to catch up.

 *Loves to make us laugh and will do all sorts of crazy things to get us laughing.  She has the cutest laugh ever and we get to hear it a lot..especially when she and Heidi are playing some funny game.
*Does every, single thing Heidi does from how Heidi is holding her hands to where Heidi is sitting.
*Still not much of a talker, even though I know she can say so many things.  If you ask her to say something, it's pretty much a guarantee she will not say it.  Words we have heard her say a lot include: mama, dada, Heidi (I-Dee), uh oh, more (mo mo), boo, baby, woof woof, emu (our neighbor has an emu), duck, nigh nigh, hi, spider, bow.
*Words I have heard her say, but she won't repeat on demand include: grandma, sticky, purple, blue, bye, eyes, nose...and a whole lot more that I can't remember.
*Likes me to read to her, but not for more than 15 minutes or so at a time.
*Starting to enjoy coloring.
*Gets SOOOO excited when Jeff comes home from work.  She runs to the garage door squealing, "DADA!! DADA!!"

 *When she is looking for something she puts her little hands up like, "Where could it be?"
*When she says, "Uh oh" she usually puts her little hands on her head.
*Will give Heidi full on hugs (I couldn't get a picture fast enough before she decided she wanted to take off) but no one else.  She absolutely adores Heidi and will give her hugs all the time.
*Loves to dance around with Heidi, but her dancing is spinning around in circles all over the room and occasionally trying to jump like Heidi.
*Sleeps from about 7:30-6.  Naps from 9-10 and again from 1-2:30/3.  I have tried to get her to give up the morning nap, but I don't think she's quite ready yet.
*So social.  She waves at every person she sees and gives huge cheesers.  The more people are around, the happier she is.
*Goes through phases on what she likes to eat but generally she will eat anything with rice and of course, she will never, ever turn down anything she thinks is a treat.

 *Goes up and downstairs like a champ, and has for quite sometime.  Now she is trying to go up and down standing up.
*Starting to love stuffed animals and dolls.  When she wants one she points to it and then kisses her hand and touches her cheek.  We aren't sure why unless it's because we usually pretend the animals are giving her a kiss.
*Will hold hands with Heidi, but not with us so much.
*Adores all animals and has no fear. She will pet and love any dog or cat she gets close to.
*Definitely understands every single thing anyone says.
*Loves to help and is so cute about it.  The other day I caught her picking up Heidi's shoes that were in the kitchen and carrying them to the laundry room shoe shelf.
*Can throw a great tantrum.
*Wakes up so incredibly happy.  I have to wake her up from naps sometimes and it doesn't matter how tired she is, she opens her eyes and gets the hugest grin on her face.

 *Going to the park can be a challenge with her because she wants to do everything Heidi does, but she just isn't big enough.  *We are working on colors, shapes, and letters but she really just doesn't seem to care.
*Loves to figure out how things work.
*Likes to give five but loves to give a good fist bump.
*Always wants me to put a bow in her hair, but it usually only lasts about 2 seconds.  Then she wants it back in, takes it out and when I tell her I don't want to put in back in she screams so I put it in and 2 seconds later it's out and she's trying to destroy it and wants it back in....and so it goes.
*Puts every thing in her mouth.
*Loves to go for walks and although she likes to walk, she does great in the stroller most of the time too.
*Loves the Rhino and makes a car sound and points to it every time we go in the garage.
*Climbs anything and everything.
*Has really control of her body and I am shocked at how well she can kick and catch a ball.
*We are now officially binky free except for naps and night, although I will admit I have caved when we are going for a long trip in the car (like more than an hour away) or when we have been at grandma's house and we didn't want her waking everyone up at 6 am!
*We call her Savanny most of the time, but also Savanna (obviously), Savans, Vanners, Saavy, and Vanner Vans.

We absolutely love watching Savanna grow and change.

She is funny. So funny.  

It's hard to explain the hilarious things she does.
Like the noise and face she makes when she wants a binky.
Or the hilarious little faces she makes.

We love her like crazy and can't wait to see what new thing she starts next.

We definitely cannot imagine a life without our little Savanny.