Week of Visitors

We are blessed to have lots of visitors coming by the house this week! My dad brought Meme over after church on Sunday since it had been awhile since she had seen the girls. Lily had a great time throwing a ball with her and showing off her toys. At one point, she was standing behind Meme a little bit trying to show her a toy; it was difficult for Meme to turn around in the chair to see her, so Lily walked around in front of her and said "Stand over here. Meme see better." She then proceeded to tell Meme all about her toy. Amelia kept smiling and cooing at Meme the whole time, so that was precious to see too.

On Tuesday, Grandpops was in town from Chicago on business, so he came by in the late afternoon to spend the evening with us. Lily is always a little shy at first, but once he agreed to go outside to her playground, she wouldn't leave him alone! They had a great time playing together, and Lily was constantly talking to him, playing games with him and pulling him into other rooms by the finger. We heard "C'mon Grandpops!" many times that night, but I don't think David minded! We were able to get several great pictures of him with the girls, but I haven't had time to upload them yet; hopefully I can do that soon.

Bama is coming over from Birmingham tomorrow night to spend the weekend with us. Lily always loves getting this visit, so I know she is very excited about the weekend. I bet she probably won't believe how much Amelia has grown since she last saw her a few weeks ago!

Of course, Granna and Kim have been here each day this week too watching the girls while Ryan and I are at work. They are both such huge blessings! This morning, Amelia and I went to my friend Kristin's house and hung out with her and her 1 year old son for awhile while Lily was at school. It was wonderful to just take a break from tax season for a couple of hours and enjoy spending time with a friend.

Life can get so hectic sometimes, but that is especially true during tax season. It has been great to see lots of different faces this week! Hopefully we'll see all of you reading this sometime soon!

Friday Morning

I am having so much fun playing with Lily this morning. Amelia has been asleep for about an hour, so Lily and I have been playing. We finished eating some breakfast (where I was again applauded for not spilling my juice). I asked Lily what she wanted to next. She started counting on her fingers again as she rattled off this list..."Ride Dusty (that's her horse), hop, build tall tower, read books, do puzzle. Let's go!" Per her instructions, we stuck to the list through read books, but then she decided we should play in her room instead of doing a puzzle.

I didn't sleep well last night, so I am tired this morning. Since we were in her room, I laid down on her bed. She climbed up next to me and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Then she said "Night night Mommy. Stay in bed hear music. Sticker surprise." This is because we tell her each night to stay in her bed until she hears her music play the next morning. If she stays, she gets a sticker and after several stickers she gets a little surprise; it works pretty well. She then climbed off the bed, turned on the humidifier and closed the door as she walked out the door. I wondered if she planned on leaving me there, but about 30 seconds later, she came back in and said "Nap over! Let's play!"

We came back out to the den where I have the solid gold oldies music station playing on tv. The Beatles song "Penny Lane" was on. At one point a bell rings in the song. She stopped building with the blocks, looked up and said "Ding dong bell!" I didn't think she really paid attention to the music, but I guess I was wrong. At least she has good taste in music!

We are having such a great time together today. Now we're off to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I feed Amelia; it's the only way to get her to sit still for 20 minutes! Hope your Friday is off to a good start too. Have a great weekend!

New Nickname

When I picked Lily up from school today, one of her teachers came over to the car and said "Lily earned a new nickname today." A look of fear must have come across my face because then she said "Don't worry. It's a good one. I'll let her tell you." When another teacher brought Lily out to the car I asked her what her new nickname was. She said "Cooze Rector" which made me look to the teacher for help interpreting. The teacher said "She is our new Cruise Director! She kept trying to get the other kids to play a game today. She would say C'mon everybody! C'mon!" I'm going back and forth on if this is just the teacher's very nice way of telling us we have a bossy little 2-year-old on our hands!

In the car on the way home, I asked Lily what she had done at school. She rattled off the usual list of reading books, singing, etc., but then she said "Build tall tower blocks." She loves to build with her blocks at home, so I said "Oh you built a tall tower with blocks?" She said "Uh-huh. Build tall tower. Big blocks and little blocks build tall tower. David helped build tall tower." I repeated, "David helped you build a tall tower?" and she said "Yes."

I am so proud of Lily and how far she has come since starting school! She learns something new everyday, and appears to be learning important people skills too. She has really started to blossom into quite the amazing little girl!

On another note, today marks Amelia's 3-month birthday...where does the time go?!

Just Like Mommy

I realized awhile ago Lily likes to imitate some of my mannerisms and sayings. Here are a couple of examples...

1. We were picking out an outfit from her closet on Saturday, and she asked for her Tigger & Pooh vitamins (she loves these!). I reminded her that we had to get dressed first. She held up her hand and started counting on her fingers as she rattled off the list of things to do before getting her vitamins. "Jump on bed. Fall down. Change diaper. Change clothes. Brush hair. TIGGER AND POOH VITAMINS!" I told this to Ryan who commented "I wonder where she gets a love of detailed lists from..." It's so true. I love to make a to-do list and cross things off as I go; it gives me great satisfaction to feel like I am accomplishing something. How funny though that Lily counted "fall down" on her bed as something to do before getting her vitamins!

2. This morning I was drinking some orange juice, and Lily kept asking for some. She loves to share my drinks with me. She had just finished her second yogurt cup (she loves Yo-Baby yogurt), and was about to share an oatmeal breakfast cookie with me, so I thought OJ would be fine. Since I wasn't feeling well yesterday though, I didn't want to share my cup with her. I decided to give her a juice glass with a little bit in it; keep in mind she typically drinks milk (or any other drink for that matter) in her sippy cup, not in a real glass because I really don't like cleaning up spilled drink messes. The first thing she did was dip the cookie into the OJ (she sees her daddy dip cookies into milk when we have those). Then she decided to take a sip of the OJ, and miraculously, she didn't spill any of it. I smiled at her and said "Good job Lily!" She then asked (ok, told) me to drink my OJ which I did. She smiled really big, clapped her hands and said "Good job Mommy!" Apparently, she was impressed that I didn't spill my drink too!

I think two-years-old is such a fun age!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day today. We started our day a little earlier than usual. Unfortunately, Lily was a little sick yesterday. She threw up her breakfast and lunch and only had a few crackers for dinner. We weren't surprised when she came in hungry at 6:30 this morning; she has been sleeping until 7 for several days. Ryan went to Chick-fil-a to get us a Valentine's breakfast treat while Lily and I watched cartoons. When we came to the breakfast table, Lily saw the new pajamas that we had bought as presents for her and Mia; she wasn't impressed. She prefers presents to be of the toy, book or puzzle variety instead of clothes! I, however, think new pajamas on Valentine's might become a tradition...we'll see.

After breakfast, Mia woke up, so it was time for her to eat. While I was feeding her, our doorbell rang. We were pleasantly surprised to see a floral delivery man standing at the door. Great-Grandpa Hooks and Lois sent each of the girls a half-dozen roses; Lily's were white and Mia's were red. They were beautiful! Lily loved them and kept saying "Look Mia!" She loves to share things with her baby sister, at least for now.

After breakfast I had to go into work for several hours (it's tax season you know, and I am adjusting to owning two firms), so Ryan hung out with the girls. Both of them seemed a little off and not themselves, but as always, he did a great job. He is such a wonderful dad, and the girls are so lucky to have him.

After coming home, we played for a little bit, and then Ryan grilled steaks for us to have for dinner which were delicious. We thought we would try to have a family movie night as a special treat for Lily, but she wasn't interested in "Ratatouille." We thought it was pretty cute though.

As I was nursing Amelia just before we ate, Lily came into Amelia's room to talk; a lot of the time, she will stand right next to the rocking chair and have little conversations with me. This time though, she picked up the quilt on the floor and was trying to put it inside Amelia's crib which was a little difficult since the side is a lot taller than Lily. I asked her what she was doing, and she replied "Put blanket in Mia's bed." I replied "I see that, but why are you putting the blanket in Mia's bed?" She said "Mia sleep on it" to which I replied "No, Mia won't sleep on that." She said "Lily sleep on it," so I replied "No, you can't get in Mia's bed" (we don't allow her to climb into the crib because we don't want her falling on Mia as she catapults over or pulling down the mobile). Just then she got the quilt inside the crib, so she turned around, smiled at me and said "Well, I tried" and then walked off. She cracks me up! You should hear her say "well" too; she has the most drawn-out Southern drawl when she says it. A lot of time, if you ask her something she doesn't know, she gets a certain thoughtful look on her face and will say "well..." Then when you tell her answer she'll say "well of course!" What a funny little girl.

Overall, an uneventful day which is nice right now. FYI, my favorite thing about Valentine's Day is that it is exactly one month from my birthday!

Sweet Lily

I can't help it, I think Lily is precious! She has learned a new trick that I adore. She points to herself, gives herself a hug and then points to whomever she is talking to as she says "I love you!" She learned this at school on Monday because they are learning about Valentine's Day.

This evening I put her down to bed because Ryan was working late. She climbed out of bed a few minutes later, just after Ryan got home. He came back and told her good night while I took her back to her room. The door was open, so she pointed out and said "Daddy home." I said "Yes, Daddy's home. He came to tell you night-night, and he loves you." She pointed to herself, hugged herself and pointed out the door as she said "I love you too Daddy!" So precious!

A Lovely Sunday

We had a wonderful day today. Lily and Amelia both did well in the nursery, while Ryan and I enjoyed working in the nursery at 8:30 and then Sunday School at 10. We feel so lucky to have found such a great church. Johnson Ferry is committed to loving Christ and trying to share His love with as many people as possible. Last Sunday, they decided to have "spontaneous baptisms" in each of the 5 services. Over 220 people came forward during the services! Many were people accepting Christ as their Savior for the first time while the others were those who had previously accepted Christ but had not yet followed his command to be baptized. It was amazing to see the Holy Spirit at work!

After church, we had a quick lunch at Zaxby's and then headed home. Lily went down for her nap, I fed Amelia and played with her for awhile and then put her down. For about 45 minutes, we were all napping which was wonderful! Once Lily woke up, she watched Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins while I continued to rest. About 4:30, I fed Amelia again then we all went outside to play on Lily's playground. It was a beautiful day! We stayed out for a bit, and then Ryan had the great idea to have a picnic dinner in the living room (mainly so we could see the Pro Bowl, but Lily thought that sounded like fun). We had quesadillas, clementines and pretzels on our picnic blanket. Lily brought her Little People princess, carriage, horse and picnic basket onto the blanket to enjoy the meal with her. It was a lot fun, and Lily had a great time. She was laughing, dancing and cracking us up. After dinner, we told stories; Lily loves to climb into our lap and hear stories about our vacations, trips to the zoo, etc. I love carrying on a conversation with her! After story time, she and I took a shower where we colored and played with the wall stickers. We put her to bed then gave Amelia her bath and put her down. Now we're just relaxing, and it's great. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!

Pictures

A few recent pictures for you...

This is Amelia in a dress that I used to wear when I was a little baby.

Lily loved giving Mia her bottle!
Lily now enjoys wearing her hair in a ponytail. Two sweet girls!

Loving her new pigtails!

Beginning of February

I can't believe it is already February...where does the time go?!

Just a little update on the girls...Amelia is awesome. She is now 11 weeks old which I cannot believe. She has been cooing and smiling for a couple of weeks now, and I fall more in love with her every time she does. She is precious. She is also a champ at sleeping which I greatly appreciate. For a few weeks now, we have been putting her down about 10 each night, and she sleeps until about 8 plus she takes really good naps during the day (especially if she is in her swing). We're about to start working on pulling that bedtime back a little bit each night, so we'll see how that goes.

Lily is doing great too. She makes me laugh (almost) all the time. The girl loves to sing; here's hoping she inherited her daddy's abilities in that area. Apparently they were singing "I'm A Little Teapot" in Sunday school this past week because she now loves to say "Here's spout...TIP me over and pour out!" It's adorable especially when she leans to the side as she tips. She also loves to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" (and "play" it on her alligator piano/xylophone) and "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" (with motions). She loves to do Daisy's dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ("jump forward, jump backwards, march, march, march, clap, clap, clap, slide to this side, slide to the other side"). She can do it really well. I caught it on my cell phone the other day, but I have no idea how to get the video onto the blog from there. She's always on the go these days. She will finish doing an activity and then look at me, raise her arms up and say "Now what do?" She amazes me everyday with something she says. For instance, on Sunday, I picked her and Mia up from the nursery and then we went to meet Ryan. She saw him and said "What's up Daddy?" Hilarious! The teachers at her school tell me every time I pick her up how amazed they are at her attention span and listening skills. That must be a school thing because I'm not sure I could say the same thing about those skills being demonstrated at home; she definitely has "terrible two" moments now and then! She is into a "Me do it!" stage, so we are learning to pick our battles.

Truly, we have been blessed with these two wonderful, healthy and beautiful girls. We can't imagine life without them!