Grace- 5 Months Old!

So hard to believe that our little Grace is nearly 5 months old already! Time goes by fast with one baby, but it definitely goes by even faster with two. Our little lady keeps growing and growing and is still just as sweet as can be. :) She is definitely adored by our family! 

This is the most often seen pose for Grace throughout the day. She rarely stays on her back and flips to her belly constantly. She still gets mad if on her belly for too long, mainly because she refuses to lay her down and rest! She always does the "airplane" pose with her arms and legs up.

She is rolling from her belly to her back more often now, though she still doesn't do it a lot. She typically does it more in her crib for some reason- we often see her rolling all over in there! Grace has also started scooting herself around- also a lot in her crib! She is often facing the opposite direction and is at the opposite side of the bed from where we laid her in the morning. She also likes to scoot herself around in a circle on her playmat to get what she wants.

Miss Nakey. :) She loves to be naked and kick all over! I'm sure she will love being in summer attire so she doesn't need to be in so many clothes.

Grace on her 4 month birthday! She had her 4 month check-up this month as well, which was another delightful experience. She weighed in at 14 lbs 13 oz and was 25" long, both of which are in the 75th percentile. She is almost now exactly the same as Bella was at 4 months- Bella was just 5 oz more! So Grace has now caught up to her, despite being such a tiny peanut in the beginning. She does have a smaller head though- 16" which is only the 30th percentile! Definitely not a small brain though. :)

Gracie still loves talking and being talked to. She is getting quite loud in her verbalizations as well! She has started doing some high pitched squeals, which Bella thinks is hilarious. She also has started making a growling noise, along with her ahhhs and keeees. 

Such a pretty little girl. :) 

Grace got to see her buddy Luke again! He is my friend Lia's baby, and they are only 3 weeks apart. It was amusing to watch them laying by each other and kicking around. I think they may be holding hands here- sure to be good friends. :)

Grace has started to play with her toys a lot more. She is now grabbing and reaching for them and shows a definite interest in getting what is around her. This will start to get scary for Bella- she may not love her little sister so much when she starts to get in her stuff!

Grace has been starting to sit up pretty well on her own and with support. She can actually sit on her own for a good amount of time if she wants to.

"Flying" is one of Grace's favorite games to play. :) She loves to be tossed up into the air!

Had to capture this as it so rarely happens. Even when laying on her belly on somebody, she never lays her head down. So it was very unusual that she actually was here!

Such a happy little girl! She continues to be such an easy baby. Grace is very content to watch what is going on around her. However, she does have quite the little temper yet. If she is hungry or tired, watch out!

I hate to make generalizations about Grace's sleeping habits because the second I do, she changes... but she has been sleeping much much better this month. She is sleeping through the night, generally 10-12 hours before waking up to eat. She typically naps 2-3 times a day. She still occasionally wakes up after a short cat nap, but she has learned to put herself back to sleep without being rocked.

My mommy likes to dress me up in frilly little dresses. :) So nice having a cooperative subject to take pictures of! Gotta love those chubby legs. 

She enjoyed eating this dress. :)

This picture is such a Grace expression- she often raises her eyebrows in expectation, like she is saying what are you going to talk to me about? :) 

Grace is still nursing every 3-4 hours in the day. She's a super eater, as evidenced by her 3 pound weight gain in the past 2 months. :) I intended to have Grace be able to take a bottle, just so that she wouldn't be totally reliant on me. However, laziness has got the best of me, so Grace has had very few bottles in her life. Not a problem since I'm with her basically all the time. However, when I took Bella to Beauty & the Beast, Grace needed a bottle when I was gone. That didn't so much happen for Daddy. :) Apparently she wasn't starving enough to agree to drinking a bottle! Oh well, it won't be an issue often!

It is still so weird for me to have a baby girl with such blue blue eyes! It'll be interesting to see if they change or if they'll stay blue. My eyes didn't turn green until after I was 2, so we'll see what happens with Gracie. Maybe I'll have a green eyed girl in her!

We introduced Gracie to some rice cereal at the end of the month. As you can see, she absolutely loved it. :) These expressions were hilarious! We've continued to give it to her, and while she is not making these faces anymore, she still is not too interested in it. I think more usually ends up spit out than in her belly.

Grace has also got to enjoy some outside time with our beautiful weather! She laid out on the deck one afternoon while Mommy read. She loves taking in the outside world!

The Little Ladies :)

Here are some pictures of our sweet little girls together. :) They love each other so much! 

This is an often seen position in her house- cuddle time on the couch! Gracie on Mommy's lap and Bella curled up beside.

When Grace was practicing her sitting skills, Bella decided to join her in the Bumbo. :)

Then she decided to sit with her and give her snuggles!

Grace gets lots and lots of hugs!

I have a feeling I will see this pose many many more times... :) 

And the best picture of our little ladies to date! Both actually looking with sweet expressions! 

Cuddling in their jammies one night. :)

Taking a stroller ride to enjoy the 60 degree weather! I could actually get Bella to sit in the stroller since Grace was sitting beside her. Maybe I'll be able to convince her to take more walks this spring now that she has a buddy. :)

Bella Bella Bella!

Our little Bella, whose 3 year old birthday seems to be rapidly approaching (eek!), is becoming more of a little girl everyday. We often say Bella Bella Bella throughout the day because of the crazy and silly things she does and says. The girl definitely has some personality. :) 

Bella has been on a Tommy obsession again lately. She loves to give him hugs throughout the day, which he begrudgingly tolerates. I actually got her to agree to let me take some pictures of her sinceTommy was with her!

She's actually been on an all around kitty obsession. With our crazy January weather, we made several trips down to the barn to see the kittens. There were little baby ones born this fall, and Bella LOVES them. She now just picks them up on her won without any hesitation or fear and carries them all over. It is adorable! Whenever Tommy meets his end, I think Bella will definitely be wanting a little kitty in the house. :) She's a kitty lover like her mommy!

We had one last family Christmas in January, which was a very fun one for Bella. My Huyser family has LOTS of little girl grandchildren, so Bella had a blast playing with all the little girls. They were dancing, playing ring around the rosy... she loves little girls!

Bella has been very into drawing again. And she continues to progress with her drawing skills! She is starting to make "people-" which actually look somewhat like people! She draws a circle for the head, little circles for the eyes, a line for the mouth, a dot for the nose, and then squiggly lines for the crown. Because after all, all people wear crowns. :)

She LOVES dressing up dolls and Barbies.

Wooden paper dolls are another opportunity to dress up girls- and thankfully that's something she can do on her own! This picture also shows a little bit of Bella's OCD tendencies- she laid out all the dresses like this. I'm afraid Mommy's craziness may be running off on her...

Bella has also been slightly obsessed with playing games on my Iphone and Daddy's Ipad. She would play on there for hours if we would let her! I don't mind it though as I only have educational games for her. So she thinks she is getting to do something special when I know it's actually teaching her. :) Works great! She does have some Dora and Princess dress up games though... as I said, she loves to play dress up! 

(Yes, these pictures were actually taken outside in January in Iowa. It looks like it could be October!)

I have been working on letters with Bella this year as well. She knows quite a few random ones, but I decided to talk about one letter each week so she gets a good understanding of them. She occasionally gets annoyed when I start bugging her too much about them... :) but she generally does a great job! She's a smart little cookie. 

Working on her jumps. :) She actually gets some air time now! 

Bella is going to fit perfectly into her role as big sister. Lately, when playing, she has been "directing" us in what to do and say. For example, she will tell Derek or I, "Have the Mommy say get out of bed babies!" She wants us to be involved with her play, but she has to determine what is going on. :) Mommy does get to do some improvisation with the play, but Daddy however must stick to her script or there's trouble! So poor little Grace may be bossed around in play by Miss Bella someday. :) 

Another way Bella is a very typical oldest child is her EXTREME snoopiness. She wants to know what is going on at all times! If Derek and I are talking about something and she is in the room, she says, "What are you talking about? What'd you say to Daddy?" It doesn't matter that it is nothing of interest to her; she just has to be in the know. Needless to say, we don't have many conversations without Bella being a part of them. :) That's okay though; it's just her little personality! 

I think I mentioned that Bella has been extremely attached to her Mommy in recent months. We have been working on that, and getting involved in some new activities is helping her with that. But we learned some important info about Miss Bella and why she was so attached. She is not a child who likes change- she wants things to be the same, and if they are different, she wants to be prepared for them. She gets soooo nervous in new situations, which is why she attaches herself to Mommy. She also tells me "I love you Mommy" constantly when she is nervous, which is her way of reassuring herself when she's out of her comfort zone. This has been a good realization for Derek and I. We try not to just throw her into something new, but prep her for it and gradually ease into it. We still haven't gotten her to nursery on Sunday mornings, but maybe it'll happen again. :) 

Mommy and Bella shared a very special first this month- Bella's first movie! I took her to see Beauty and the Beast when it was in the theaters, which was perfect for Bella's first movie experience. She already knows the movie by heart, so it wasn't an issue for her to sit still. She had sooo much fun too- she was quoting all the lines and singing all the songs! I had to keep reminding her to use her quiet voice, even though it was pretty sweet. She got popcorn, pop, and M&M's to eat during the movie, so it was definitely a special treat for her! 

Bella also got to go to her first dance class this month with her friend Ella! Ella and Bella had their first playdate just a few weeks ago, and they hit it off. Bella talks about her new friend all the time, so she was extremely excited to go to dance class with her. I love how they are sitting alike in this picture. :) During the class, they would often be off doing their own thing- looks like I may have the naughty child that doesn't listen!

Doing a little jig in the line. We had planned on enrolling in Bella into dance after she turned 3, and this little class was definitely validation that she will LOVE it. She had a smile on her face the entire time!