Saturday Morning

What a wonderful Easter weekend! On Saturday morning, we went to the egg hunt at Whittier Mill Village Park that was put on by First Baptist Church of Chattahoochee. That was the church I grew up in (and where my parents and grandmother still attend though we have transferred to another church), so it was great to see a lot of familiar faces. As we were getting ready to go, we thought it was going to be a warm, beautiful day...wrong. It was overcast, and the wind made everything really cold, so we weren't really prepared, clothing-wise. Funny little Lily though, after I got her dressed, insisted on wearing her "cow boots" instead of tennis shoes which turned out to be a good idea because they kept her legs a little warmer.

I doubted Lily remembered how to hunt eggs from the year before, so just before leaving I put a few eggs in the kitchen, and we "hunted" them and put them in her basket. She seemed to get pretty excited about going on an "Easter hunt" (she always forgot the "egg") after that. She took those eggs with her to the park so her basket already had some eggs in them when we arrived. She was very excited to see her white basket with green gingham liner that said "Lily." Mia has a matching white basket with a pink gingham liner that says "Mia." We didn't get much use out of it this year!

There were a ton of kids at the park, probably around 200. Luckily the church was prepared. They put out approximately 2,500 eggs which had all been filled with candy on Wednesday evening. They also had two ponies to ride, face-painting, little bunnies that could be held and petted, a fun playground set-up and a couple of games. Of course, the Easter Bunny was there to meet, but we were also excited to see Buzz the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket. Though she didn't want to meet either one of them, Lily stared at Buzz a lot. She kept pointing and saying "Look Mommy! Yellow Jacket!" She also talked about the pony a lot, and we stood in a short line to ride him. Not at all surprising to me though, she refused when it was her turn. She later told Meme "I ride Dusty at my home in my playroom, not horse here." She also seemed scared of the little bunny I held for her to pet. She loves to see animals, but she is terrified to get them near them; I wish I knew why. As we were walking towards the ponies, Lily found a couple of eggs that she put in her basket. A few minutes later, before the egg hunt, we sat down near the playground and she started looking at the eggs. Of course, all the old ones that she brought with her were empty, but then she opened one of the new ones and a piece of chocolate fell out. She gasped and said "Look, that a special egg!" When another piece of candy fell out with the second egg, she exclaimed "Another special egg!" Once she realized the eggs had "prizes" in them, she couldn't wait for the egg hunt to begin.

Finally, it was time for the big hunt. The whole park was separated into different areas for different age groups, so we went to the 1-3 year old section. Lily had a great time picking up many eggs (probably about 10 in total) and putting them in her basket. It probably took less than 5 minutes for the whole section to get cleaned! I think all the kids had a great time. Of course, then Lily had fun opening up all the "special" eggs to see what was inside. My favorite was a gift certificate for a free Chick-fil-a kids meal, but Lily was thrilled with the different candy. She loved the little chocolate eggs! We'll ration out the remainder since candy is a rare treat in our house. This was a really fun event to attend. I hope the church will continue to do this in future years!

Here are some pictures from the morning. Enjoy!

Thank you!

THANK YOU so very much to Liz (Bama), my mom (Granna) and my dad (Papa). I don't think we could get through this tax season without you all!

Liz has been so wonderful to give up several weekends to come over from Birmingham and help us. Ryan has been helping me and my new accounting firm by doing some data input on weekends, so having Liz here to watch the girls so we can both be at my office has been very helpful. The day before she arrives I will ask Lily "who is coming all the way over from Birmingham just to see you?" She gets very excited and says "Bama!" She often brings cool new books for her which she loves, and she adores the special attention. This past Saturday she took both of the girls to the zoo and Piedmont Park; from what I heard, it was awesome. Lily loved watching the elephant show, and she keeps telling me how the elephant did the hokey-pokey. Liz is also very kind to sleep on our couch when she's here. That way, when Lily comes out of her room in the mornings, she starts playing with Liz which allows Ryan and me to get a little bit more sleep; right now I think this is the best gift ever!

My mom and dad have also been invaluable during tax season. Mom keeps the girls all day on Wednesdays plus Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It is wonderful to have someone we trust completely with the girls while we're working. She has been so flexible with her schedule and always willing to help with laundry or putting up dishes. Lily tells me everyday about all the fun she has with Granna. We are very thankful for her help.

My sweet dad thought he was out of the accounting business! He sold his practice in 1998, but he has been up at my new office many nights each week (after working all day at his regular job!) and on the weekends helping with some of the more difficult clients we have encountered. He is helping me see how to grow this new business. His vast knowledge is amazing. I am so fortunate to have him to turn to for help and advice.

We are so thankful for all of our parents, always, but we especially appreciate the help you four are giving us these days. We love you!

Our Little Singer

Lily loves to sing!  I love how she ends each song with "Yea!" She really enjoys talking on the phone too. She will see Ryan's phone and ask to call someone so she can talk. She has called me at work a few times which is great, and I think her grandparents enjoy getting a call too!

Sweethearts

I know I say this almost every post, but Lily just cracks us up. Her current catchphrase is "oh my goodness!" A funny example of this was last week we were coming inside from playing because I needed to cook dinner. I told Lily what I was going to make, and she exclaimed "Oh my goodness, that smells tasty!" We also hear "Oh my goodness, that is so silly!" a lot.

Our friend, Chris, and his daughter, Peyton (who is one month younger than Lily), came over to play with Lily, Mia and Ryan last Saturday while I (and Chris' wife Hannah) went to work. It was a pretty day so they played out on the playground for awhile, and then they came in to play on the inflatable bouncy. It was great for Ryan and Chris to catch up, and I think Peyton and Lily had a great time together. Lily was funny though because I told her Chris was Peyton's daddy, but she kept calling him "Miss Chris." She was trying to be polite!

Lily loves being a big sister to Mia, but I think she is anxiously awaiting Mia being able to do a little more. Mia sits up well and laughs at Lily a lot which is great to see. Lily will ask if Mia can do something (walk or eat chicken for instance), and I will say not yet. Lily always says "get a little bigger." So, whenever Mia does something that Lily sees as "getting bigger" (rolling over for example), she gets so excited. She claps her hands, then raises Mia's hands up and down as she says "Hoo-ray Mia! Hoo-ray Mia!" I truly hope they will be great friends as they get older.

Last Sunday the girls looked so cute in their little outfits, so we took tons of pictures. I put a few here for you to see. Aren't they adorable?!

The Girls

Here are a few recent pictures...

Lily is trying so hard to be a big girl. There are so many things she wants to do "all by me-self!" Right now she loves to dry her hair after her shower. Thankfully she lets me do it for a few minutes before she asks to. She's getting the hang of it though!

Concentrating really hard...
Maybe we have a future chef on our hands? Lily loves to watch us cook and "help." She made and tried this little concoction with our dinner tonight...cheese quesadilla, sour cream and strawberries. Hmmm, no thanks.

She was so tired before her nap last Saturday that she fell asleep while watching Dumbo. How cute is she? When she woke up, she looked up and said "Mommy in shower" which is what I was doing before she fell asleep. She apparently didn't realize that over 45 minutes had passed!

I love those big blue eyes!

4 Month Check-Up

Ryan took Mia in for her four month doctor's check-up yesterday. Can you believe how quickly time is flying? She now weighs an even 14 pounds (70th percentile) and is 24.5 inches tall (60th percentile) which is consistent with her prior growth marks. Dr. White noticed she had a little fluid in her ears from the cold she had last week, but it didn't seem to be infected or to bother Mia which is good news. She said she seems to be right on track; she is rolling over from her back to her tummy, smiling, laughing and cooing a lot, holding her head well and is starting to sit up well with some support. Even though Dr. White didn't actually say so, I'm pretty sure she was thinking "this is one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever seen!" We are so blessed to have two healthy, sweet, precious little girls!

Silly Girl

When I came home for lunch today, Mia was sound asleep in her crib so Lily and I went outside to play together; it's a beautiful day! We had so much fun picking flowers (aka weeds), playing chase, counting rocks and playing on the playground. It amazes me everyday how big Lily is getting. What happened to my baby? When did she become a little girl?

Lily has started calling a lot of things "silly." For instance, there was a bee flying nearby, so I asked Lily if she heard the bee. She listened and then said "yes! Buzzzzz!" When I told her that was right, she said "Bees so silly!" Later, we were watching a cartoon and one of the characters sneezed. She said "That dog so silly!" I guess she picked this up from me telling her she is a silly girl when she does funny things. I hear and see myself in her all the time now!

I made the mistake of leaving my McDonald's sweet tea out while we were playing. She ran over and brought it to me; I didn't ask her too, she was just "helping." Anyway, she asked what it was so I told her tea. She thought for a minute and said "Me try tea." I let her have a sip because she is just so stinkin' cute! She took a little sip, thought for a second and said "That a good drink!" I couldn't help but laugh because I am totally addicted to their sweet tea! I gave her a few more sips but then had to hide it until she went down for her nap. I have a feeling I will have to careful with my tea in the future!

On a sweet note, when I came home and Kim had just left, we were sitting on her playroom floor. She took my hand, smiled at me and said "Glad you home Mommy." It melted my heart!

About a boy

As I was waiting in the carpool line to pick Lily up from school today, her teacher came to the car with the sign-out sheet. As I was signing her out, she said "Lily and Caleb were quite the item today." I just laughed and said "Oh really?" She replied, "During story time, Caleb was kind of reclining back a little so Lily just laid her head on his chest. They stayed like that for several minutes. Then while we were playing in the gym, they went and sat by the wall and talked for a little bit. It was really pretty cute." I couldn't help but laugh! On the way home I asked Lily about her day, and asked her if she had played with Caleb, to which she just said "Ah-ha" and kept telling me about coloring the shamrock green.

When we got home, I told Ryan about it. As we were all eating a snack together he asked Lily about playing at school with Caleb. She said "He a boy. He very, very, very nice." She agreed that they had a lot of fun together. Then as she walking around the table, Ryan asked if she liked to play with any of the other kids. She replied "Aiden. David. Three boys." She couldn't tell us the names of the other two little girls in her class. Hmmm....

My Birthday Weekend

So this weekend was a big one for me...that's right, I turned the big 3-0 on Saturday! Ryan asked me several weeks ago what I wanted for my birthday. I told him quite honestly "two Tylenol PM." Tax season (along with two young girls) is really taking a toll on me this year. Lucky for me, Liz was willing to come over for the weekend to give me (and Ryan) a chance to relax.

On Friday night, Ryan and I had dinner at South City Kitchen with our good friends, the Henderson's and Rohan's. I enjoyed my appetizer of She-Crab Soup and dinner of Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. It's not Meme's friend chicken, but it's in second place. After dinner, we went over to my Mom and Dad's house to have birthday cake and Dom Perignon champagne (thanks to David and Jan for that!). It was a wonderful evening and a great way to end my twenties!

On Saturday, I decided to take the day off from work and enjoy my family (though Liz played with Lily to let us sleep in a little). We had a great morning playing, reading and eating together. About 2, Ryan and I left for the High Museum to see an exhibit on China's Terra Cotta Army. The "soldiers" were really impressive to see. The exhibit is closing next month, so I'm really glad we had the chance to visit. After that we checked into the Marriott Marquis downtown, and then walked a couple of blocks over to Dailey's for dinner. It was fantastic. I enjoyed a pecan-encrusted shrimp appetizer and then a filet with a garlic demi-glaze, asparagus and au gratin potatoes. Ryan loved his strip steak with homemade steak sauce and mashed potatoes. Then we split an warm apple tart with vanilla ice cream...yum. It was a delicious dinner, and it was really nice to sit down and enjoy a conversation without being rushed or trying to help a two year old eat. We walked back to the hotel and enjoyed a bottle of our favorite wine (Inniskillin Winery's Vidal icewine). While Ryan watched tv, I was able to relax with a magazine. A little while later, I got my birthday wish and took two Tylenol PM. We were both out a few minutes later!

We woke up about 10:45 this morning. I honestly can't remember the last time I slept in that late. It was wonderful! The night before we had talked about how excited we were to order room service breakfast because they had some delicious sounding items. Unfortunately, they stop serving breakfast at 10; oh-well, it was worth it! We waited a little bit and then ordered room service lunch instead. After lunch we got ready and headed out about 2. We made a quick trip to Target, and then came on home. Lily was very excited when we got back to tell us about her trip Ikea yesterday. "I go IKEA!" is what we heard several times.

This was a great weekend, and a great way to start out my 30's. I can't wait to see what the next decade holds!

Positive Attitude

We have noticed recently that Lily seems to have a very positive attitude. Everything is "the best" or "the biggest" or "the prettiest" item "EVER!" For instance, she asked if she could eat a strawberry, so I agreed. As I cut it up, Lily said "Biggest strawberry EVER!" On the way home from the grocery store, she saw the moon which was especially big and bright tonight. She pointed and exclaimed "Prettiest moon stars EVER!" I think she gets this from her great-grandmother, Meme, who says something is the prettiest she has ever seen (though she doesn't usually say it with as much gusto as Lily!). I hope she will always be a glass half-full kind of girl.

The Singer

Lily has become quite the singer over the last few weeks. "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" seems to be the current favorite, especially when he has ducks. We were playing this afternoon, and she was marching around in circles, singing Old MacDonald and flapping her arms like a duck. When she first started "singing" this several months ago, she would wait for her cue to say "O!". Then, for a couple of weeks she would say "E-I-E-I-E-I-O." Now she correctly says "E-I-E-I-O" and sings most of the other words properly. She also really likes "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "All Aboard the Choo-Choo Train" (those of you who are familiar with Playhouse Disney will know that one). She is also working really hard at learning the ABC song. She has A through F and Q through V down pretty well; the rest of them are coming along though. Today, she was watching a video she received for her birthday that has a bunch of young kids singing and dancing; she loved it. She would try to dance like them and sing along when she could. She kept saying "Mommy look! Mia look!" to make sure we were paying attention.

Also, after our shower tonight, Ryan came to help her get ready for bed. She said "Daddy dance on knees!" so he turned on "their" song ("Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman), and they danced together. Ryan gets on his knees, holds one of her hands, put his hand on her back and she puts her hand on his shoulder. They sway back and forth, and he helps her spin around. It's absolutely the sweetest thing ever. Tonight, for the first minute of the song though, Lily was smiling so big and just singing "LA LA LA LAAAAA LA LA LA LAAAA!" She was loving it!

Bless her little heart though. As much as loves to sing, she has apparently inherited her mom's singing voice...

New Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks around the house...

Mia is getting bigger by the day! She really enjoys playing on this little mat that dangles a couple of fish and a beach ball above her.

Lily had a great time visiting with Grandpops a few weeks ago!

Grandpops with both girls. Ryan and Lily putting together the big puzzle from Granna. Lily loves this puzzle and asks to put it together several times a day. Each time, she points out new items she discovers. She loves pointing out the different shapes, the colors and the animals that she sees.

Lily loves to lay down next to Mia.

What a precious little one!

Lily was having fun watching Mia in the mirror. Mia seemed to enjoy it too!

Lily loved playing with our 3-D glasses!

Snow Day Pictures

A few pictures from our snow day...

Our back porch around mid-afternoon.

Lily loved being on the inside looking out.

Ryan wrote on the patio table to mark the day.

No playing on the playground today!

Being careful not to step in the snow.

Ryan made a little snowman. It had to be little and quick because he had taken his mittons off.

Big hug for Mommy!

Making sure to stay on the sidewalk with Daddy.

Hi Mommy!

About to throw a little snowball at Mommy!

Weekend Fun

Last weekend, some Birmingham family came to visit and keep the girls so I could try to catch up on some of my tax work; Ryan is wonderful to help me with the returns too. In addition to helping with the girls, they were kind enough to do a lot of laundry which was such a tremendous help. Lily always loves a visit from them. Bama brought a couple of presents for Lily which of course, Lily loved. One of the gifts was sidewalk chalk. Lily had a blast playing with that outside! She has asked for it just about every day, but unfortunately, it's been too cold to play outside. We're supposed to have good weather this weekend though so hopefully we'll be able to go out some and play with it some more. They also took the girls to Home Depot Expo for a little bit. While there, Lily saw something and exclaimed "what in the world?!" I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since this is a phrase I say a lot!

Bama and the girls after bathtime.

Speaking of the cold weather, we had a nice little snowfall on Sunday. It came in around mid-morning and lasted until late in the afternoon. When it snowed last year, Lily loved it and kept wanting to go play in it. We felt sure she would love it again. We were wrong. She was so excited to get bundled up, put on her boots, hat and mittens. Then, we took one step outside onto the back deck, and we hear "No like snow!" She wouldn't go any further on her own. We carried her down but she didn't want to be put down. She liked watching Ryan make a little snowman, but she really didn't like being cold and wet! As soon as we came inside, she immediately started asking to go back out. We decided to try the front yard, but she still wouldn't walk in the snow; she just stayed on the sidewalk. She had a lot of fun throwing the snowballs at me that Ryan made though!

We also had a visit from my Uncle Randy and his friend Georgia on Sunday. He called to see if they could come by because they had a little present for Lily. She was very excited when she saw the Disney store bag. She was also very excited when she opened the bag and there was a stuffed Dumbo in it! When we were in Florida last July, Lily and Ryan rode Dumbo and Lily told Randy all about it. Ever since then, he has been on the lookout for a Dumbo doll for Lily and Georgia found one. It's adorable too. Randy showed Lily how to make him "fly" around the room with his big ears, and they played hide-and-seek with him. Lily had a great time. Since then, he has joined her bedtime entourage, but he gets special treatment and gets to be tucked in under her blanket with her each time. She has become very attached to him. Thank you Randy and Georgia for thinking of Lily; she really loves it!

On the Move

Amelia is officially on the move! For over a week now she has been lying on her back and rolling onto her side. Tonight, just a little before bedtime, she finally made it all the way over onto her tummy! Ryan and I started saying "Yea Mia!" so Lily came over and started clapping, jumping up and down and cheering for her too. She acted so proud of her baby sister. Watch out now world, she's on the move!

She made it!

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!

The Thinker

For about a month now, if you ask Lily something and she does not know the answer, she will cross her arms across her chest, then tap her forehead and say "Hmmm, think, think, think." Those of you who happen to watch "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" realize this comes from their song "Now's the time to think, think, think..." It cracks me up though, and each time she does it, it makes me think of the famous statue "The Thinker" by Rodin.

Big Sister Love

Lily really seems to love being a big sister (most of the time anyway). She is always checking on Amelia and asking "where's Mia?" when she doesn't see her close-by. This weekend, while the grandparents were keeping the girls, Amelia started crying. Lily immediately started saying "Lily here Mia!" because she hears me saying "Mommy and Lily are right here Mia" if we're nearby when she starts getting fussy. Also, Ryan went to get Amelia from her crib to eat on Saturday, and when he returned to the living room, Lily was sitting in a chair with the Boppy pillow around her waist holding Mia's bottle and saying "Me do it." Ryan put Amelia on the pillow, and Lily proceeded to give her the entire bottle while she watched Mickey Mouse! Ryan got some really cute pictures while Bama took an adorable video. Hopefully I will get some of those up soon. Lily has also learned that she is the big sister while Mia is the little sister. For awhile she would walk up to Mia and say "Hi big little sister!" but now she properly says "Hi little sister!" She also likes to come up to her and say "Awww" and gently touch her hair. She is such a sweet little girl, and I am so proud of how she loves on Amelia.

2 Month Check-up

Ryan and I took Amelia to see Dr. White this morning for her two month check-up. We can't believe that it has already been two months; time if flying by! As expected, she got a great report. Dr. White said she is hitting all the milestones (smiling, cooing, holding head well) and that she has beautiful skin. She also said Amelia seemed happier and perkier than she would expect a 2-month-old which is great. She is certainly a growing girl too. She now weighs 11 pounds, 6.5 ounces which moved her up to the 75th percentile; I had told Ryan I thought she hit a growth spurt last week. It also made me realize though that she is about to outgrow all her newborn clothes; they go up to 12 pounds! She is about to be in the 3-6 month clothes which I just can't believe! Amelia also jumped up to the 75th percentile in height at 23 inches. She actually went down to the 25th percentile for head size which is 15 inches, but that isn't anything to worry about.

Amelia also received her first round of vaccines today. She gets the rotavirus one by mouth which isn't bad, but she had to get three shots in her leg. One of those shots contains the vaccine for three diseases, so she ended up with a total of six vaccines this morning, including the oral one. She was a happy little girl until those shots went in; it was so sad to watch her little face as you could see the pain and bewilderment set in. She cried with big tears for a few minutes, but Daddy helped soothe her. Though she normally hates her car seat, she was asleep within just a minute of being put in it; it is almost like a small trauma sleep.

We also asked Dr. White about Lily's behavior. We never know if the way she is acting is because of jealousy over Amelia or if it is just normal 2-year-old behavior. Of course, it is probably a combination of the two. Her main suggestion that we are going to try our best to do is to emphasize to Lily having time alone each day with both of us. We try to do this anyway, but she suggested making it a big deal in Lily's eyes that this is one-on-one time, and the other parent will handle anything Amelia needs while we have that time. We can see a huge difference in Lily's behavior on days when she has spent some of her day playing with us instead of just playing while we cook dinner or letting her watch Mickey Mouse. Becoming a big sister and being a two-year-old is a tough transition for her sometimes!

Name Change

Ryan and I had not planned on giving Amelia a nickname; we really like that name and assumed that is what we would call her. We knew we were going to go with the nickname Lily instead of her given name of Lillian, but we thought we would stick with Amelia. However, we have grown really fond of "Mia" which is the nickname Lily has given to Amelia. We still really like Amelia and will often call her that, but if you hear us talking about Mia, you'll know now who we mean!

Pictures to Share

I wanted to share a few pictures from the last couple of weeks...

Amelia is ready for her first day at church.

We were so glad to have Grandpops visit from Chicago. He treated us to a wonderful dinner at The Capital Grille; thank you!
Grandpops and Amelia.
Amelia is really starting to smile and coo a lot which is absolutely adorable. She loves her baths, and we have fun "talking" to one another.Look at those sweet feet!

Is that smile precious or what?

Checking herself out in the mirror.

Lily is such a big girl these days!

Amelia and Macey Henderson are only 5 days apart. I'm sure they will be great friends!

Lily and Parker Henderson had a great time playing together. Thanks to Brian and Jill for bringing the kids over, cooking dinner and hanging out with us; we had a great time and look forward to doing this again soon!

I don't know how in the world she can be comfortable, but she slept for just over 2 hours like this in her swing.

Papa and Meme came by to visit for a little bit. They always enjoy getting to hold Amelia.

Lily loves riding her rocking horse that Granna and Popa gave her at Christmas. Ryan tried to name the horse Roxanne while I tried to name it Cinnamon. Finally, we asked Lily what the horse's name was and she said "Umm, Dusty." Dusty it is!
Bama loves getting to hold Amelia. She has some kind of magic in her that calms Amelia down every time!

How adorable are they in their matching outfits from Bama?! Lily loves her paint with water Mickey Mouse book that Santa brought her.

Potty Training?

So I can't decide what to do about potty-training Lily. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to have her out of diapers. However, I am absolutely dreading the actual "training" part. I hate cleaning up messes and this kind of "accident" will drive me crazy. Also, now that tax season is picking up, I am out of the house a lot more which means I would be pawning off the training to my mom and Kim the nanny (maybe this isn't so bad after all...).

Lily seems to have other thoughts though. Ever since moving up a class at school, she seems very interested in the potty. She usually tells us when she is about to have a poopy diaper by saying her tummy hurts, but she doesn't say anything if she is about to wet it. Also, she is now constantly trying to take her diaper off. In fact, the four of us were all taking naps this afternoon (what a nice treat!). We always hear Lily when she gets up because she loudly shuts the hallway door behind her; today she did not shut the door so we didn't wake up immediately. She actually walked through our bedroom into our bathroom, took off her diaper and put it in the toilet; we woke up to the sound of our toilet flushing and Lily was standing next to Ryan with her pants around her ankles. Thankfully the diaper didn't flush or clog up the toilet. Several other times today she will suddenly stop what she is doing, pull her pants down and attempt to take her diaper off.

I had planned on attempting potty training after tax season when I will be home more and the weather will be warmer which means she can run around without pants on a little more comfortably, but now I'm not so sure. I don't have the first clue how to go about training though. I would love to hear thoughts on this from other parents. Any suggestions on how to successfully train a little girl to use the potty?

Thank you girls!

We finally got a good night's sleep last night! You know that Lily has been having some sleep issues ever since we brought Amelia home from the hospital. Last night though, we put her down at 8 and she slept until a few minutes past 7 this morning; yea! Also, we put Amelia down about 10:30, and she slept without making a peep until 7:30 this morning. Ryan and I definitely needed this rest; it's amazing how much better we felt all day. Here's hoping this will continue!

7 Years!

Yesterday, January 12, was our 7 year wedding anniversary. It brought back lots of wonderful memories from our wedding day which is still the best day of my life. Are you curious to know where we spent our anniversary? After work, we met at Chuck E Cheese. That's right, the kids' pizza and play place. However, we did that because Lily has been staying in bed until she hears her music CD in the morning, and we promised her a big surprise after she had done that so many times; she gets stickers each morning to remind her how close she is to her surprise. She was thrilled because she got two new puzzles that morning and dinner at Chuck E Cheese! We had a fun time, it's just not how we ever really expected to spend our anniversary. After Lily went to bed and Amelia was asleep in the swing, Ryan cooked us a couple of filets (they were stuffed with garlic and herb boursin cheese and wrapped in pancetta - absolutely delicious!) which was a great way to celebrate.

We have definitely been blessed to have such a wonderful marriage. We have made so many great memories over these years, and we look forward to the years to come together!

Thanks guys

The last couple of mornings, Lily has stayed in her bed until she hears her music alarm go off at 6:45; yea! Then she comes into our room, turns on the tv and comes over to me so I can pick her up and put her in bed with us. Once she's in between us, I'll ask if she wants under the covers which she almost always does. She gets in and says "Thanks guys!" It's so funny to hear!

Counting and You

Lily counts EVERYTHING these days. For instance, she looked at the computer as I finished writing the last blog entry a moment ago...she counted the words. She walked up to our tv, saw the word "sony" and counted the letters. She takes her goldfish out of her snack bowl to count them. She counts the animals she has lined up on her Noah's Ark. She counts the picture frames lined up on our buffet. You get the picture. Usually, she counts to ten correctly and then will start counting from one again; however, if she's being silly she will skip numbers and look at me to see if I'll correct her. Also, she occasionally will say "...eight, nine, one ten" because she is learning that the number ten starts with a one.

She has also started referring to herself as "you" a lot of the time. It started when she would see baby pictures of herself which is probably because I would say "that was you as a little baby." Now, when she sees any picture of herself that's what she calls herself. For example, she will see our family picture and when you ask who is in, she'll say "Mommy, Daddy, You, Mia!"

So Considerate

Meme came by to visit and see the girls a little while ago. She always enjoys holding sweet little Amelia and talking to Lily. When she was ready to go, Lily walked over to the door and tried to open it for her; of course, our handles have protectors over them so she can't open them, but it was a nice thought. Anyway, Meme walked onto the doorstep and was about to step down when Lily called out "Watch step Meme!" I guess she is used to hearing us tell people to watch their step as they are leaving!

Movin' On Up

Lily started back to Parent Morning Out today. She was very excited! The director and teachers decided (with our permission) to move Lily up to the 2-year-old class. Because of Lily's birthday (they follow the Cobb County birthday cut-off for schools), she was in the toddler class last "semester." However, because of how great she was doing, they decided to promote her to where she would fit in a little better with the other kids. When I picked her up, the director and one of her teachers (who is a girl I went to elementary school with; small world!), both came out to tell me how great she did. She loved the new, bigger room. She told me about sitting on the potty and reading a book about Noah's Ark and his animals. They send home notes each day on what the kids did, and I have to say that I was very proud to see a check-mark and big smiley face next to "displayed manners" at lunch. She's such a sweet little girl! It also showed that she followed directions well, sat on the potty, ate most of her lunch, listened well during story time and that she mostly played by herself which doesn't surprise me in the least. As I picked her up, the teacher also commented that Lily seemed pretty tired (I pick her up at 1 which is typically the start of nap time); this isn't a surprise either considering she is waking up so much earlier. Oh, I want her to go back to her normal sleep patterns!

She Knows We Don't Like It...

So you know we are having issues with Lily waking up early, right? It's before the sun comes up which is just ridiculous to me! Well, she received a cute lift-the-flap book from Bama this past weekend, and one of the pages says "what happens when the sun comes up?" There is a cute little picture of a child in bed in a darkened room and when you lift the window flap, there is a picture of the sun and it's bright outside. The answer is "It gets light outside." We were looking at this book today, and when we got to this part, I said "Mommy doesn't like getting up before the sun comes up even though Lily does." She looked up at me and said "Daddy no like either." I couldn't help but smile as I replied, "You're right, Daddy doesn't like it either.

Birthday Party fun

Ryan and Lily went to her friend, Hadley's, 3-year-old princess birthday party on Saturday afternoon. Ryan said she had a great time! She enjoyed the pizza and playing with the toys they had. Of course, she really loved the cupcake too; that's my girl! Since coming home that evening, she has been singing "happy birthday" again and again; she corrects us too if we insert anyone's name other than Hadley (though she says it more like "Had-ee"). She was so excited about getting a goodie bag at the end of the party. She came running in to our house afterwards to show me. She has been having so much fun with the princess bubbles; the blowing end of the wand is shaped like a diamond which she thinks is pretty cool. However, her favorite goodie in there is a cherry-flavored dum-dum lollipop. She has never had a lollipop before, but I decided today to let her try. For about 10 minutes, she just carried it around saying how pretty it is. Finally, I showed her how to lick it, and she didn't stop licking it for probably 30 minutes (which is a really long time for a dum-dum!). The funny thing is she would take a little lick, then stretch it out to my mouth and say "Mommy's turn." I would take a little lick (I mean really, who can resist?), and she would say "Yummy treat!"

Another note about the party...Lily has always been pretty hesitant around dogs, so we weren't sure how she would handle their little dog, Indiana, who she has freaked out around before. I tried to remind her that Indiana would be there and he might bark a little, but he is a nice dog. Ryan said she started to get upset when Indiana licked Lily's hand, but once he explained she was giving her kisses, she liked it. Now, when I ask if she got dog kisses, she just laughs. Maybe she is starting to overcome this fear now.

Bath Time!

Okay, so maybe "bath time" isn't the right word; "shower time" would be more appropriate. I think Lily's favorite time of day is when she gets to take a shower. For a couple of months now she has preferred to take a shower with one of us instead of taking a bath. Each night we ask if she's ready to take a shower, she gets so excited and starts saying "Eat song!" Now you may not know what "Eat song" is, but we are very familiar with it as it gets requested every night before her shower, anytime we get in the car or we listen to the county Music Choice station on tv. It's actually the song "Chicken Fried" by The Zac Brown Band. I think it's hilarious that because this song mentions fried chicken, Lily assumes it is about eating! It's on Ryan's iPod, so that's the first song that gets played when she gets in the shower. She also has some toys in the shower that she loves. First is her "Water Water Everywhere" book; I tell you, the girl loves her books and wants them even in the water! For Christmas we gave her some farm animal bath stickers that she has fun playing with and stacking on the wall. Our Uncle Randy gave her some bath crayons for Christmas too and she has a great time coloring on the drawing pad. She usually tells me she is drawing the farm animals or writing "Mommy." I'm really glad she tells me what she is drawing because otherwise, I have might have trouble figuring it out! While she is doing all of this, it's easy for me to brush her teeth, wash her hair and scrub her down; of course, then she has fun playing with all the bubbles from the body wash. Really, she loves this time of the day, and since it is just before bedtime, we love it too!