Wow- another month has passed, and our newest little girl is almost 2 months old already! Time is definitely flying by, even more so than it did with Bella. Life is definitely a lot busier with two little girls in our household!
Miss Grace has continued to be a very easy baby. She was still pretty sleepy at the beginning of the month...
Sleeping wherever Mommy lays me!
But she definitely started to become more awake after she turned 1 month. With that awake time brought about some major crabbiness, and Derek and I were a little scared that we weren't going to have another easy baby. There was about a week where Grace would scream bloody murder every night, and there was nothing we could do to calm her down. However, we figured out that she was just getting overtired (she would be awake for 3 or 4 hours!) and she was just exhausted. Now we don't let her stay awake more than 2 hours, which has worked perfectly. Once we figured that out, Grace became a very happy girl once again. :)
She loves bathtime, just like her big sister!
Grace loves to lay on the floor or our bed and just wiggle all over! However, when she's sleeping, she likes to be snuggled up close and tight. 
Such a pretty little girl. :)
Getting her very first bottle from Daddy. That one didn't go super well, but she's had a couple since then and she has taken them fine. Since I'm not working anymore, it's not a big deal if she doesn't drink from a bottle, but it would obviously be nice if she did. So we try to give Grace a bottle about once a week. Naturally, since she doesn't NEED to take one, she drinks it much better than her big sister did! 
Her one month picture! And already, Grace looks so much bigger!
Grace has been a big fan of her binky, which is different for us. Bella never would take a pacifier, so it's nice that Grace actually likes it! She has also discovered sucking on her fingers, so it's possible that we could have another thumb or finger sucker. :)
And such a sweet little sister she is. :)
Grace looks more and more like her big sister the older she gets, especially when she's smiling. 
This is a picture of Bella around the same age- can't tell these two are sisters at all, can you. :) The biggest difference between them is that Grace's eyes are not as dark as a blue as Bella's were. We'll see what color they end up as!
Grace also started "talking" some this month. She makes lots of cooing noises and some occasional loud squawks, particularly in the morning after she wakes up! She also has lifted her head all the way up while doing tummy time- the girl has a strong little neck!
I love having two little girls to dress up in pretty dresses. :)
Bella continues to love her little sister more and more every day, particularly since Grace has become more interactive. Here they are cheering on the Hawkeyes! Although I believe they actually lost that day....
Our favorite picture taking pose. :) Anytime I take pictures of Grace, Bella likes to come lay by her so she can be in the picture as well.
I adore watching Bella interact with Grace. She talks in this little singsong voice, and anytime Grace makes a noise or smiles at her, Bella is SOOO excited! "She's talking to me Mommy! She likes me!" It is pretty much the sweetest thing ever. :)
Can't wait to see these little sisters become best friends. :)
And this big girl continues to be as crazy and silly as ever! Although other people wouldn't know it as she has entered an extreme shyness phase when we are around other people. She clings to Mommy like a leech and buries her head in my shoulder. You would never know how crazy she acts at home!
Bella sings and dances every day, both in her normal clothes-
and wearing her princess attire. :)
She still loves to play with her kitties, dolls, and baby Bella. A favorite activity this month was changing baby Bella's diaper with Grace's diaper. She mastered the art of putting on a real diaper, which was promptly taken off as it was "poopy." A new one was then placed immediately on, which also became poopy. I think I picked up about 15 "dirty" diapers daily for awhile. :)
Bella also still loooooves to read her books- sometimes she won't even let Daddy or I read to her at night because she's going to "do it myself."
One of her Halloween presents from Grandpa Doug and Grandma Sheri was a watercolor paint Dora book, which resumed her love of painting again! I think we have painted about 30 pictures painted in the last week and half. Bella's getting very good with painting however. Instead of just putting the paint all over the page, she is starting to color in the actual pictures. 
And here are some new Bella sayings that I want to remember. :)
-Tells us I love you without being prompted. She's actually done that for a few months, but I don't remember when she first started.
-Told me "You're a good mommy" when I was nursing Grace and she was reading a book beside me on the couch. Yes, I almost cried. However, it was followed by this line a few days later:
-"I don't like you mommy." This was stated when she was refusing to eat something. Ah yes, let the mother-daughter love-hate relationship begin. :)
-"That's a good deal." Said when she wants to do something, and is trying to persuade us into it.
-"It's very comfortable." Spoken about sitting in the boppy pillow. :) Don't know where she came up with that word!
-"I don't know." We hear that a lot, and she says it in the funniest voice as well!
-"You're stressing me out." Said to Daddy when he was trying to get her to go to bed. I about died of laughter. :)
That also reminds me- I think Bella may be an actress when she gets older as she can pull out the waterworks like it's nobody's business. An example: I have said before that Bella is quite a Mommy's girl. Well, that has particularly intensified this past month. She refuses to let anybody but Mommy do anything, and she also gets quite sassy with Daddy if he doesn't abide by her only mommy rules. We're hoping it's just a little phase... but in the meantime we are now experiencing this. Derek and I have always taken turns putting Bella down for the night. And every night before bedtime, Bella always says "It's Mommy's turn," even if it isn't. In the past, she usually would accept us telling her it's Daddy's turn without a fight. Well recently, Bella has started BAWLING before Mommy leaves the room. She will be perfectly happy and then she pulls out the tears! And it's not because she's really sad either. We know she's planning it out beforehand because she tells us after we say it's Daddy's turn, "I'm going to cry." Ohhhh, what a little stinker she is. Daddy's hoping Miss Grace will be on his side. :)
