Sweat Pea

"Daddy's Little Sweat Pea"

How can a newborn do that? What? She's almost 4 months old?!

So my little girl is growing up so quickly! I love the big smiles, coos, and strength she is developing. She regularly surprises me with how strong she is...first holding her head so well, then standing on my lap (with assistance of course), and now trying to rollover. She can really move around in her crib and get her head facing the opposite way of how I laid her down. I find myself often thinking "How are you doing that?" But then need to remind myself that the days are flying by. I look forward to the days when the girls can really play together but already feel sad that my newborn is growing up! Alyse you are very sweet (except in the car). You bring us such great joy! We love watching you grow!

Alaska

A bit delayed but here are a few photos from our week in AK over Memorial Day. We had such a great time being together and visiting friends. It was a refreshing get away. Our days were spent at the park, zoo, 'hiking,' Jitters, BBQs and more. Adelyn was in heaven having playmates around all of the time. She loved all of the kids but had a special place in her heart for Carter. She followed him everywhere! It was pretty cute. Alyse was sweet and just went with the flow.

enjoying our morning coffee--they even make a kids size!

a stop for ice cream on the way to the park

Adelyn's bud Carter...had to ride next to each other of course

Seward, AK love the mountains!

One for Team Mom

What has happened to my avocado loving baby? In her early eating days she would consume more healthy foods then I have in my life. Adelyn, now 2 would be perfectly happy eating junk all day with a little fruit and dairy on the side. (Unfortunately this is probably a trait she gets from me...Stacy can attest to my poor snacking choices growing up). Somewhere around 18 months she started becoming obsessed with 'candy'. I have been trying to find some alternatives and yesterday hit a gold mine.

We had some individually wrapped prunes ('dried plums' sounds so much nicer) that she came across while raiding the pantry. Yes, she pulls a chair over to the pantry and digs around. I had tried once with Adelyn a few months ago, being that they were a favorite of hers at one time I thought she might like them. Not then but once it was her idea it was all good. I'm assuming she thought they were a fruit snack type of candy given the packaging. I reluctantly agreed to her having one (mind games of course). She gobbled it up and kept asking for more. Yes! A healthy snack added to the mix. She does tend to favor fruit so if anyone has good veggie or other snack tricks I'd love to try them!

Father's Day

Enjoying an afternoon at Canturbury Park

Happy "Father's Day" cake

Adelyn insisted that we put candles in Jon's angel food cake (before the whip and strawberries) and sing "Happy Father's Day" to the tune of Happy Birthday. Since her birthday she has often been found singing Happy Birthday to someone. It was funny to see her turn it in to a Father's Day rendition. Of course Dad had to blow out candles too (2X) with the help of his lovely daughters. Cracks me up!

Wild Friday Night

Last night we took the girls to get their photos taken. We needed a 2 year shot of Adelyn, some 3 month of Alyse and a few of both girls together. Our former cheese ball Adelyn was now shy and tentative. The photographer managed to get 2 photos of her (while she was sitting on my legs) and 2 shots of the 2 of them together before she was pushing Alyse off her lap. Then Adelyn took off with Grandma while Alyse got her time to shine. She did a great job although we had to work a little harder to get the big smiles from her. She was a good sport none the less.

15 minutes later is when the real fun began--picking all the photos we wanted to order. Jon and I usually end up glaring at each other by the end of this process :) He wants to keep it simple, I can't pass up ordering that cute shot of my precious daughter...you get the picture! I figured our experience combined with the fact that we got several less shots to choose from (Adelyn used to take 30 good pictures to narrow down vs the 2 this time) we could get out of there fairly quickly. 2 hours later the fun was complete. We saw plenty of people come and go. Not sure what it is about us but quick isn't usually in the equation. Maybe some day...when we are ordering school photos or something!

Needless to say it was a fun Friday night for me as I could look at those little cuties all day, but I'm not sure it is Jon's idea of a good time. Ok, I am sure its NOT his idea of a good time but he was kind enough to be a good sport about it and let me get lots of photos to add to the shrine :)

Cribs are Overrated

Who needs a crib when mom and dad's bed is just right?

Don't worry. This was a supervised co-nap. I was able to sit in the room and work on putting photos in albums (that I printed 3 months ago!) while these cuties snuggled. Naptime has proven to be the most challenging adjustment for me with the 2 girls. As of last week I decided to throw out my expectations that both girls will nap in their resepective beds each day in a 'text book' fashion. The drill was I get Alyse to sleep, 'quick' try and read to Adelyn and rock her to sleep (nothing quick about this), ohh, Alyse is crying already, run to help her, back to Adelyn etc. Forget it! Since that decision my stress levels have gone down and wouldn't you know it they are still getting their beauty rest. Methods have been a little more creative...some work some don't but hey you live and learn! It was so sweet watching them twitch and bump each other off and on during the nap. Both prefer to sleep next to a warm body--might as well be each others! Then maybe I can get a few of my little projects done every now and then. (don't write me about the dangers of co-sleeping as I will keep a close eye on my darlings)

Happy 2nd Birthday Adelyn!

"Freezer Blueberries" ...a daily request, never mind there are fresh ones in the fridge now--certainly not messy enough

How is my sweet baby 2??? Turning one felt like a normal and even fun milestone but turning 2 just seems weird. It has been an amazing year of changes for you Adelyn. You are constantly adding to your verbal vocabulary and cracking me up daily with the things you say. Yesterday you shut the car door and said "that was a heavy one." Today you said from the back seat "Go Mommy" when the stop light turned green. (I don't know how you figure these things out!) The tone you use, the sound effects, everything about the way you communicate is so cute. If you want something from me you tend to tip your head to the side, look at me and say in a high pitched voice "candy?" "sure." as though to answer your own questions. You reach for my morning coffee cup and say "tiny sip?" "OK." "warm"(while nodding your head to assure me its not hot and is OK for you to drink). You have a ton of personality. You love playing with other kids and are generally very sweet and kind to them. I could spend all day watching you and smiling. You make me so proud! It is amazing to me how much I love you! I hope you grow up confident in that love. Everyday I thank God for you. Your dad and I are so blessed.
Happy Birthday love bug!