It’s Summer time and since we have Elise we are home a lot more this year.  Today I am sharing all of the toys and games that are keeping us busy! Best yet, you can find almost all of them on Amazon Prime! Score!

Favorite Toys and Games for Kids

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Hallie loves to build! The magnetic tiles are her absolute favorite, and she could play with them for hours! She easily pulls these out the most out of all her toys and enjoys constructing buildings and even barns for her horses.  We use these so often I am planning on getting her another set for her birthday.

The Pet Studio is another building favorite. It looks like this exact one is out of stock, but I linked another one from the same brand! Hallie of course loves pets so I am glad we snagged this one, but I have also seen a Fairytale set, a pirate set and a Beach house set.

The Straw connector building set looks so fun! This one I am stoked for her to get for her birthday! I love the way her little brain works when she is building.

Vocabulary, Word Recognition and Spelling are all things I want her to work on this Summer.  Zingo, Spot it and the Spelling puzzle are all great for those skills! I love the toys that promote learning!

We also play a lot of cards in the Summer, so I am linking Hallie’s card holder! The best product for little hands!

Hope you have a fun Summer playing with your little ones! What are your favorite toys for kids?

Now that sweet Elise has been in our lives for over a month, it’s about time for a Blog introduction.

We had a planned induction the morning of February 22.  We settled in at 5am and started the pitocin drip and things moved along quite slowly.  Finally around 2pm the nurse put me on a “birthing peanut” which sped things up and within an hour I was ready to deliver.

It was slow going in the beginning, but it  was an easy birth. Delivery took less than 20 minutes and she came into the world at 3:33pm.  Yes, 3:33 on 2-22.  The doctor said she came out with prayer hands, which was the sweetest thing I could have imagined.  Just like sister, she’s a little bean.  She weighed in at 5 lb 8.9 oz.

Unlike sister, she is growing steadily and quickly.  Already out of preemie clothes now at a month old.  It’s funny to me watching her wear Hallie’s newborn clothes, because Hallie was around 2-3 months old when she started wearing them.

So far she is a more challenging baby than Hallie.  She wants to be held all the time, which is difficult when I am trying to meet Hallie’s needs or cook dinner. Thankfully both Hallie and Christopher have been amazingly helpful!  All in all, we are totally smitten.  Big sister is completely in love and thinks of her as her personal baby doll.  She loves holding her, kissing her and helping me choose her clothes.  She also talks to her in the softest sweetest voice and my momma heart wants to explode! My little independent girl has been such a rock star during all of this, and even spends more time cuddling Christopher and I which is totally out of character for her.

Postpartum has been a bit worse this time as well.  More tears and a little more pain this time around.  I put a humorous spin on the the joys of postpartum on my latest Dallas Mom’s Blog Post.  If you are in need of a laugh, check it out.   

Now at a month old things are getting a little easier.  Most nights we are getting about a 4 hour stretch of sleep after our final feeding of the night.  Usually from 10pm-2am.  If I am lucky I can get her to go back down to sleep for another 3-4 hour stretch until daylight. At one month Elise can roll belly to back (just shy of 3 weeks!), is super squeaky, and sucks her thumb!

Though she is needy, I am telling myself that I am going to miss these cuddles and feedings very soon.  With it being my second rodeo, I know how quickly time flies.  Babies don’t keep and we are in awe of how much she has already grown. Elise Claire we love you so much and are enjoying every minute of watching you grow and change.