Our Sweet Girls

Here is some pictures of our two little ladies- their little relationship is growing and is so precious to see. Every morning when Bella wakes up, she asks, "Is Grace up?" And if not, she wants to go and wake her up. And often does since she is not exactly quiet! But Bella just loves her little sister soooooo much, and Grace is starting to adore her big sister as well! One morning, Grace just watched Bella and kept smiling at her- it melts my heart. :) Bella also loves that Grace is responding to her- we hear this frequently throughout the day: "She's looking at me Mommy! She's smiling! She likes me! Awww, do you love your big sister?" It's pretty cute to hear!

Bella loves to lay by her and give hugs. :) Thankfully, her two year old attitude is never given to Grace!
Wherever Bella is sitting, she wants Grace to be by her as well. I'm sure that will change once Grace starts getting into her stuff! For now, we'll enjoy the love. :)
However, Bella has been giving one of her precious blankets to Grace to hold- so maybe there will be hope for sharing. :)
Grace also gets lot of sweet kisses!
Mommy and Daddy's bed is a favorite place to hang out- good place for snuggling. :)
These are some excerpts from our Christmas card photos- this really should have been the picture we sent out as it more accurately reflects how the pictures went. Bella was unhappy and wanted to be done, and Grace just laid there and chilled. :)
We'll pretend that all of the pictures looked like this though. :)
Bella reading Grace some books- another favorite thing to do!
And laying with her under her playmat! Such sisterly love.

Grace- Month Two!

So our little baby is nearly 3 months old- can't hardly believe it! Grace really started to develop her little personality this month, which has been so fun. She really interacts and responds with us, and is such a happy content little girl!

Grace has started to give us big giant smiles, especially after she's just woken up or eaten. She has also started to giggle a little bit when her neck is tickled.
Grace is not a fan of being on her belly (to put it lightly.) However, in the past week, she has started to lift up her head easier and doesn't get so mad anymore. Still not her favorite position by any means though!
Two month picture. :) Looking a little dazed! She had her two month check-up, and everything looked great! Her first set of shots was awful, of course. I think the 2 month shots are the worse- she was laying on the table so happy and then she gets jabbed in the leg with a needle! Poor baby. :( Little Miss weighed 11 lbs 12 oz, which is the 65th percentile, and was 22 1/2" long, which is 40th percentile. So she has gained 5 pounds and grown 3 inches since she was born. She's also the same length as Bella was at her 2 month check-up. However, chubby big sister weighed a pound more. :) Derek and I chalk that up to Grace sleeping the first week of her life away!
She started to roll over this month as well, from her back to her belly. I'm surprised she hasn't figured out from her belly to her back, particularly since she hates being on her belly so much!

Grace adores being talked to, and "talking" back. She makes an ooooo sound and started keeeeing. She can also blow bubbles!
She discovered her hands and loves to chew and suck on her fingers. She has tried sucking on her fingers when sleeping, but hasn't completely figured it out. Grace may be another finger sucker as well. :) Which would be okay as she doesn't always like her binky!
Here she is watching Baby Einstein for the very first time! She has enjoyed watching that occasionally, especially since she is much more alert but can't grasp any toys on her own yet.
Grace is still eating great. She typically eats every 3 hours in the day, and usually goes 5-6 a night. She has slept 7-8 hours several times, but not consistently yet. However, she goes right back to sleep after eating, so I don't really mind. I'll sleep all night someday. :)
She's been spending more time in her Bumbo and is getting pretty good at holding her head up all the time! Still wobbles around a bit like a bobblehead at times. :)
Little miss's naps have been slightly erratic during her second month. At the beginning of the month, they were great. She was falling into a 3 a day schedule- typically sleeping for 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, and around 1 hour in the evening. Then all of a sudden, she decided to start taking 20 minute cat naps- or waking up immediately after I laid her down! Thankfully, that phase seems to have ended again- she still wakes up but usually goes back to sleep. Grace seems to follow her big sister in regards to napping- doesn't like to nap and only sleeps in the swing. Oh well, night sleep is more important anyway!

Bella in November!

So I decided to start splitting up my posts about the girls so I don't get picture overloaded. :) Here is my monthly update on big sister along with some sweet pictures!

At the beginning of November, we still had really nice weather! Kind of hard to believe now since it's absolutely freezing!
We went outside to play on all the nice days that we could!
Bella is still loving to paint! She has also reintroduced coloring back into her world, and is getting good at that as well. Rather than scribbling everywhere, she scribbles inside the actual pictures. :)
She learned how to blow her own bubbles as well. :) Sometimes she spits more than she blows air, but she got the hang of it eventually!
And she was very proud of herself for it!
Bella's Spanish vocabulary also continues to expand, thanks to our friend Dora the Explorer. She knows how to count to 10 in Spanish, knows Spanish colors, and randomly interjects Spanish phrases into her speech. "Vamanos!" is a frequently used one. :) (which means let's go for all you non-Spanish speakers!)
I have been working with Bella on learning the alphabet as well. She is sometimes interested in it, sometimes not. She consistently knows A, B, C, D, G, and M. Only 20 more to go as Derek says. :) But she can actually point to more than that when asked where they are; she just isn't always able to recall their name.
Bella still has a very impressive memory as well, particularly for books and songs. One example: we were the parents for nursery a few weeks ago. They do a song and storytime for the 2 year olds, and Bella knew the words and actions to all the songs. Most of the other kids were just sitting there listening, and there she was singing and acting it out. What made this particularly unusual is that she has been to nursery for about 2 times in the last 4 months. (Still experiencing a little separation anxiety from Mommy.... trying to work on that!) But apparently the songs stuck with her!

Some funny sayings:

"It's a perfect night." Said when playing with her dollhouse- not sure what made it perfect!

"Maybe not." Her absolute favorite way to say no. Used very frequently. :)

"I'm just going to be a little bit scared/shy/sad." Said before going to new places or situations. Yes, she apparently plans out her emotions and discusses them before actually experiencing them! OH Bella. :)

Bella has shown a little more of a 2 year old attitude this month- she is definitely learning the art of expressing her emotions fully and exerting her independence, to put it nicely. :) But generally, she is such a good girl for the majority of the time, so we can't really complain about the occasional temper tantrums and crying fits. Comes with the territory! Now we'll just hope that she grows out of the stage of complete attachment to Mommy!

Miss Grace's Baptism!

This past month, we celebrated a very important occasion- our little Grace's baptism. :) Exactly two years ago, Bella was baptized as well. It's so crazy that we now have another beautiful baby- and a 2 1/2 year old!

Our two little princesses before heading to church in the morning- both looking so pretty! This is my best picture of the two of them thus far! It's getting much easier now that Grace can hold her head up on her own.

Grace did well during the baptism, despite having water poured all over her head. :) She was sleeping, but obviously that woke her right up! It apparently didn't bother her too much though as she didn't even cry.
After church, we had all of our family over for a brunch. We then attempted some family pictures after little missy had a semi-nap. I think this is actually our first family photo since Grace was 5 days old! My my how she's changed. :) Our active two year old was apparently not too interested in this picture.
A four generation picture of moms and their daughters!
Derek with his family and little ladies. :) Again, Bella was just LOVING taking pictures!
And my parents with all six of their grandchildren- complete with two new little girls. I still can't believe that we have this many little girls now- what drama the teenage years will bring. :)
Bella and her "favorite" uncle. :) These two have a very special relationship... One loves the other very much, and one loves to be sassy and hide from the other. Obviously it's not apparent who is who.
I forgot to take a picture of Grace's cake prior to eating it. :) Ooops! It was cute though! And tasted yummy. Bella and I enjoyed eating the leftovers for the next week.
After all our family left, both the girls were wiped out and slept the afternoon away. So I didn't get any pictures taken of them except the few I took of them both before church. And this one of miss wide eyes after she woke up. :)
So I decided to dress them up later in the week so I could get some pictures of them in their pretty dresses.
Grace was a perfect little model for mommy.
Bella... not so much. :) She's not easy to take pictures of right now!
A sweet little smile from Gracie. :)
Big sister loves little sister soooo much!
So very pretty in her white ruffly dress!
It was wonderful to share that special day! We are so very thankful for the blessing of our little girls.