8 Months

This itty-bitty is 8-months old today. Almost unfathomable. She is an avid thumb-sucker, a lover of pureed butternut squash, a perfecter of the attention-getting fake cough, a Momma's Girl, a hysterical screamer when held by strangers (not actual strangers of course, just the kind which consist of people we know who she doesn't see on a consistent basis), a dimpled grinner, a wobbly sitter, an adorer of her Big Sister, a fluff-head and a constant joy in our lives.

Cloned?

Just a glimpse of what would surely spell double trouble in our house. I can't even imagine...

Desperate times...

...call for desperate measures. Or almost.

In recent weeks I have been asked by strangers whether Baby Sister was a boy or a girl. Granted it only happened twice and granted one of those inquiries came from a much older gentleman at the hospital (we were there to visit our friend from lactation) who may or may not have had dementia. On both occasions Baby Sister was not wearing pink but she was also not wearing clothes that I would consider gender-neutral, unless of course you consider a shirt with turquoise and purple polka dots or pants with a huge strawberry print on them to be appropriate for a boy, if so then maybe this post is all for not. I never (at least not that I remember) had such issues when the Girl was a baby and I'm not sure why I'm having them now. Baby Sister looks very much like a girl, regardless of what she is wearing. You could tell that she was a girl if she were naked, right?! Well of course you could!! What I meant to say, is that you could tell that Baby Sister was a girl if she were wearing nothing but a diaper, right?! So, I've come to the conclusion that it must be the hair and...

...since Baby Sister does not have a head of hair like this...

...the same hairdo ends up looking like this. And this does not work for me. I've seen other Moms (or maybe it was the Dads which would totally explain everything) resort to styling their child's hair this way, even though it looks (in my opinion) totally ridiculous. You'd have to be desperate (again, my personal opinion) to resort to such measures and I'm not.

This is what I've come up with instead. Surely now there will be no questions!!!!

Mmmm, Avocado?!

Baby Sister has branched out from her usual fare of carrots, bananas, butternut squash and sweet potatoes to include avocado to the ever-increasing list of foods that she has tried. It was ok but is no competition for her favorite, butternut squash. She made several sour faces so the next day I mashed up 1 part banana to 1 part avocado and that seemed to suit her palate much better.

Still working on that swing!!

This weekend we took the Girl mini golfing. It was only the 2nd time she has ever been, the 1st was nearly two years ago. She didn't quite grasp the concept back then and not a whole lot has changed since. She was quite content to hit (or push with her club) the ball once and then pick it up and place it right on the edge of the hole to putt it in. That's one way to win!! In addition, we didn't have to worry about the group

behind us needing to play through!!


July 2007

Here Fishy, Fishy - Part II

Baby Sister is still fascinated by Gramma's fishies. They were the first thing that caught her eye upon entering Gramma and Papa's family room this weekend.

Here she was three months ago. I love how the hair in her rooster tail, (as we have so aptly referred to the strands of long hair at the back of her head that flop back in rooster tail
fashion) has gotten noticeably longer but the rest of her hair in the back is pretty much the same.

Twinkies

Little Girls in matching tops are known as Twinkies around our house.

One year ago today...

...we found out that the Girl was going to have a Baby Sister. Shortly after the first few images from the ultrasound came up on the

technician's screen he announced, "Well, if I had to guess, I would say that it's a girl." This after telling us that the baby's current position wasn't the best for determining it's gender. So after a half hour of counting fingers and toes and taking the required measurements and as our appointment was drawing to a close, J asked him to go back and check again. Not because he was hoping that the outcome would be different but because neither of us felt that his first "guess" came with any measure of certainty. He happily obliged J's request and this time he stated rather matter-of-factly, "I'm 99% certain it's a girl. Of course with these things you can never be 100% sure." But 99% sounded a whole lot better to us than his previous proclamation. The Girl was there with us and she was excited that she was having a sister, but then again it came as no surprise to her as she'd been telling us all along that it was going to be a Baby Sister. As we were walking back to the car J exclaimed, "I guess I'm going to have a garage full of pink dirtbikes."

Her Own Park

On Saturday we purchased a swingset for the Girl. She has wanted one for quite some time now. Initially J had planned on
building her one from scratch but after checking out the kit
components at Lowe's we came to the realization that it would probably be about the same price and a whole lot easier (not to mention quicker) to buy the kit. In doing so, the Girl ended up not only with swings but also a slide. J put it together yesterday and from the moment we arrived home
from church, the Girl was outside patiently supervising the construction process occasionally interjecting with an, "I'm bored, when is my swingset going to be done?" She stayed outside the entire 5 1/2 hours that it took to complete and she was the happiest girl on the planet once it was done. She kept calling for me to come and watch her swing and slide down the slide and proclaimed, "Now I have my own park!!" It didn't take long before she informed me that we'd have to buy some more toys to add to her park.

While J was building and the Girl was supervising, Baby Sister was joyfully overseeing the whole operation.

That is...

...until she toppled over and found herself facedown in the grass. Upon rolling over she immediately put on her best pouty face until she was scooped up out of the grass.

Swiper No Swiping!!

While the Girl is uncharacteristically cooperating with my request for a picture, little does she know that behind her Baby Sister is trying to pull a fast one and swipe her rainbow-sprinkle-topped cotton candy ice cream. Baby Sister is just one quick tug away from being successful and was so close that she could darn near taste it. Oh if only she'd put her other hand in her mouth...the one with the cold blue sticky stuff coating her little fingertips. You can bet that I whipped the wipes out and had J thoroughly wiping those fingers off pronto!!

Better luck next time Baby Sister!!

Sweet Feet

Oh how I love me some sweet, sweet baby feet!


The Girl's sweet baby feet at 12 months.

Baby Sister's sweet baby feet yesterday.

Sisters...Buddies

This evening the Girl was pushing Baby Sister in her swing, maybe a little bit too hard (are the legs supposed to come up off the floor?!), but I didn't say anything as they were both having such a great time. The Girl had Baby Sister grinning from ear-to-ear (as she tends to do whenever her Big Sister pays even an ounce of attention to her) and giggling. As you can tell, Baby Sister wasn't the only one having fun!!

Farm Girl

This morning the classes at the Girl's preschool took a fieldtrip to 'The Farm.' It was overcast, cold and damp but she had a great time with one small exception. First thing all the kids got to do was plant a Marigold sprout to take home. Next it was off to the barn and a strawbale maze that led up to the barn's loft and a slide. She got to the top of the slide and then slid so quickly down that she catapulted off the end and landed face first into the bed of straw at the bottom (small exception to her great time). She picked herself up and maintained her best brave face until she made her way to where I was standing, then she broke into tears and quietly proclaimed that she wanted to go home. I reminded her about the wagon ride she'd be missing out on if we left and she quickly changed her mind. We saw a variety of animals - goats (but those were really no big deal after getting to chase goats around with O), a horse, bunnies, sheep, ducklings and baby chicks. Finally it was time for the much anticipated wagon ride which took us to the edge of a freshly tilled patch of earth where the kids got to plant pumpkin seeds.

Here she is intently listening to Farmer Ben's instructions on how to plant a pumpkin seed and holding her index finger up. That is the finger she's supposed to use to make a hole in the dirt for her seed.

Still holding that finger out and...

...still paying attention.

Covering her hole and seed with dirt.

After all that hard work it's time for a...creamsicle?! The Girl was freezing but she'd never pass up ice cream!!

Great Goats!!

A run-in with friends at the library yesterday afternoon resulted in an impromptu playdate. The playdate consisted of quite a lot of this:

chasing the goats at O's house. Two mamas and three babies.

O, the Baby Goat Wrangler

More chasing...

...and more wrangling, which the Girl found to be quite amusing.

And then of course there was this. No way you can go to O's house and not ride his lawn mower. And not get it stuck. More than once. At one point the Girl was trying to help him push. She quickly decided that it was much easier to stand at the top of the hill and supervise - er, uhm, I mean shout encouraging words.

Counting My Blessings

Today, on Mother's Day, I am counting my blessings:

one

two

I consider myself infinitely blessed and there is no way that this blog could possibly contain a listing of all the ways in which I have been/am blessed. That said, these two are at the top of my list and rightfully so. Before becoming a Momma I always thought that there were so many things I'd teach my children. After becoming a Momma I quickly realized that there were so many things I had yet to learn.

These two have already taught me quite a lot about patience, understanding, kindness, priorities, gentleness, joy, faithfulness and love. Did I mention patience? All of this and still so much left to learn. I am an avid student who (on most days) eagerly anticipates the lesson that these two have in store.

I am also filled with thanksgiving that the great Creator chose me to be the Momma of these two amazing little girls and entrusted them to my care. And awestruck that He knew them (and each and every one of us) before they were even a twinkle in their Daddy's eye. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." Jeremiah 1:5

And so, on this Mother's Day I give thanks for my many blessings, especially these two and the qualities mentioned above that they have taught me so much about. In honor of said qualities (one in particular), when I opened the Girl's Happy Meal this afternoon to check out the toy (while still waiting at the counter for the rest of the order) and discovered that it was a 5-song Kidz Bop cd, instead of stealthily stashing it away in my purse and waiting to give it to her until we got home, I gave it to her as soon as I got back to the table where her, Daddy and Baby Sister were waiting. I didn't just give it to her, I ceremoniously presented it to her, even though I knew that we had at least a good 2 1/2 hours of driving ahead of us before we would be home. How is that for patience?! I can't say that J was all too thrilled about the prospect but he was a good sport about it, even turning up the volume on several different occasions when the Girl complained of not being able to hear "her music."

Wowza!!!!

Here is Baby Sister at 2 days old. The Girl placed one of her dolls next to her and of course I just had to snap a shot. Back then that doll and Baby Sister were nearly the same size.

Here are Baby Sister and the doll today...nearly 32 weeks later. Amazing how quickly she has grown and changed!!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo Cumpleanos para mi!!

Another wonderful year has gone by and I am, as my friend put it, officially in my 30's now, 31 to be exact. I hear that the 30's are the new 20's...right?




Terrific , must-have accessories for any birthday princess, lovingly made for me by Miss A...


...who came ready to celebrate sporting her own crown and wand!!





The Girl even got a wand from Miss A!!

This evening we had an impromptu birthday celebration and J treated us to a homemade Cinco de Mayo themed dinner of enchiladas, rice and beans. He also made a cake last night, which he and the Girl skillfully frosted and decorated this morning.

Always nice having a little extra help blowing out all 18 of those candles!

The Girl and Miss A racing to see who could lick frosting off of the most candles.

See how artfully those sprinkles are arranged?!

J took the day off of work and was able to come watch the Girl at ballet class. Afterwards we stopped in at Starbucks for some celebratory beverages,

where the Girl bestowed upon me the best birthday gift any paparazzi of a small child could ask for...a picture in which she is genuinely smiling rather than frowning or giving 'the hand' to the camera. Even Baby Sister cooperated and flashed a dazzling little grin, but then again, she usually does.

"It was this BIG!"

On Saturday morning we went to a fishing derby.
Here are the Girl and Miss A, with their Daddies, giving it a go.
Baby Sister was zonked out in Papa's arms during most of the action.

The Girl has one on and is reeling it in! It was the 3rd time she'd been fishing but the first time she caught anything.

Here she is with her catch and not very happy about the fact that I'm taking yet another picture. Imagine that.

And of course, the best part of fishing...the snacks!!!!

Baby Sister finally awoke and was happy as a sweet little clam!!