April & May 2012

I know I have been away for far too long, but the time just gets away from me so quickly. I can't believe that Laura is 6 months old, and Natalie is now 3 1/2! Nor, can I believe that I am staring July in the face. My days are filled to the brim at work and home. On the job front, it is starting to slow down a bit, FINALLY! I have been going 90 to nothing since I returned. Lots of projects, and a short staff makes for a hectic time. The girls keep me busy at home, but that is more fun....most of the time. Natalie has been giving us lots of grief lately with the incessent whining and negotiations. Forget the terrible twos. Twos were nothing. It's the threes that have been challenging for us. It's like she has forgotten all her manners and we are having to re-teach her everything. The joys of parenting, I know. I am very thankful, though, that she continues to love and interact so well with Laura. They both love each other a lot, and that warms my heart. Natalie is up to her normal things. She loves pink and purple still, helping daddy water the plants, and doing great big sister things. Her favorite foods right now are yogurt, burritos, fruit, and hot dogs. She also constantly asks for "treats" which, to her disappointment, are not an everyday, every other hour priviledge (i.e. see incessant whining mentioned above. :)) She looks forward to Sunday morning when she gets a "gravola bar treat". (granola bar) She is great in church, and a good little girl in general. I have to admit I am very blessed. :) Every night with out fail she asks, "when I wake up in the morning, where am I going to go when I wake up in the morning?" It's so cute. She loves singing, and we are often serenaded. One of her favorite songs is "I Just Can't Wait to be King". She just finished up her year in ECEC at St. Paul and will be starting Pre-K in the fall. Time is flying by. She is growing taller and taller. We are going to start having to buy 5t dresses and tops to keep up with her height, but the skinny little bean can still wear 3 and 4t bottoms. Laura is growing like a weed. She seems to learn something new every day. She smiles SO MUCH, and I love this. Smiles are contagious. Often times, she will give a little head tilt with her smile. :) Since I last posted, she has rolled over, and started to sit up pretty well. Last week she started getting up on all fours some. She really wants to crawl! I'm sure Nick and I will have to do some rearranging sooner rather than later. I think she will be more inquisitive than Natalie. On Mother's Day, I started her on solid foods. So far she has had avacado, banana, rice cereal, and sweet potatoes. She is not too interested in food right now, but I'll keep offering. I love my Super Baby Foods book! I am so thankful I made my own baby food with Natalie, and am doing it again with Laura. She is doing great grabbing things and pulling them to her mouth and face for oral and visual inspection. :) She does GREAT in her car seat. She rarely makes a fuss when we put her in or when we are driving in the car. I try not to take my peaceful car rides for granted! She continues to be a fantastic sleeper. She sleeps through the night most nights with the exception of her growth spurts when she wakes up to eat a couple times for a few days in a row. This is typical, and Natalie followed that same kind of pattern. I really couldn't ask for anything more. Laura is a model baby. She is long and skinny just like Natalie was, too. Even more so, I think. She is currently in size 6-9 clothes and size 2 diapers, and growing! At her last Dr. appointment, she was 14lbs 10oz (23%) and 26in long (60%). Nick is good, too. He is really really busy with work. He chaperoned the 8th grade class trip to North Carolina, and coming up he has two mission trips and VBS. I am very excited for him - the new budget just passed, so that means he will be getting a raise for the first time in 5 years! It's not so much the money, as it is a boost for him to say "we appreciate you and value what you do." I'm sure the summer will be a blur. I am thankful to have Nadine and Mom down for several weeks this summer. Nadine will be here June 20-July 9th (Gary will come down for a week, too!), and Mom will be here July 17th-30th. I am looking forward to both the help and the company. In further excitement, Mom and Dad got us an iPad for THEIR anniversary. They wanted to be able to see the girls more, and the Face Time feature is perfect! We have had so much fun getting to see JeJe and Papa more. And since Nana and PopPop also have an iPhone, we can Face Time with them also. It's not the same as seeing them in person, but it does help! It is also great fun for other things. Natalie and Nick can be found playing games, "coloring", and reading books on it. We also like to use the Pandora app to listen to music. They have a great stream for childrens' music. We had a great trip to Venice beach Memorial Day weekend for some r&r. It's on the Gulf coast. We had never been before, but it was awesome. Their claim to fame is that it is know for it's shark teeth - Nick found upwards of 30! Then on Sunday, Dave and Sonya and Johanna came over for a memorial day visit! We just got back and had a wonderful time in Colorado with Mom and Dad. It was beautiful and we were able to do a lot of fun activities - hiking, a gondola ride to the top of the mountain, a train ride through the mountains in Leadville, National Mining museum, botanical gardens, 20 mile bike ride in Frisco/Dillon/Keystone - the baby did good until about mile 16, and then had enough. :) We also enjoyed the evenings visiting and playing cards. The resort was great, and we all had a fantastic vacation. I'll post pictures on another post.... Love to all! Candace

Isabel's 5th Birthday

In late March, the girls and I attended our friend Isabel's 5th birhtday party. It was a princess birthday party with no boys allowed. It was a hoot to see 7 little girls running around in princess dresses. Everyone had fun!

March 2012

As you can imagine (or know if you have kids) two will keep you busy. There's not much down time, but we are loving it all. Natalie continues to be such a great big sister and loves Laura. Laura in turn, loves Natalie. She watches her and Natalie has gotten the first laughs. Apparently, Laura thinks it's halarious to watch Natalie play with a ball and run around. So much fun!
Laura is growing and changing, as babies do, so quickly. She has rolled on her side a couple of times, and smiles ALL the time. She is a happy and easy baby. She loves bath time, and she continues to be a great sleeper - down between 7 & 8 and up between 8-9 for the day. She half the time sleeps through the night, and the other half wakes once just to nurse and goes right back to sleep. She still loves her swaddle sack, so we continue to bundle her up at night. We have tried a couple of times without, but she has not liked it at all. Occasionally, an arm will slip out, but she likes to be bundled up. :) This week (late March at about 3 1/2 months) we switched her to 6 month jammies. She is like Natalie was/is - long and lean. She likes her swing and play mat, and sucking on her hands and blankets. Laura is a front facing baby. She likes to be held facing outward and see everything that is going on. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful, wonderful, and healthy children. Praise God!
Work is work. I am glad to be back in some ways. I have a great group of people to work with, and a job that I enjoy - even though it was a crazy and hectic situation to come back to (I lost two associates while I was out). Nick is busy busy busy, too, but has made it a priority to only be gone 3 nights per week. He has also been getting up when I go to work, so he can come home when I come home. We have all loved this, and relished in the extra family time. It's just the simple things like sitting on our porch swing enjoying the evening, or watching Natalie ride her bike around the cul-de-sac.
Natalie is finishing up her last few weeks of ECEC. She will be starting preschool in the fall! I can hardly believe it. She is such a happy child and brings us so much joy. She is still really into princesses and all that is pink and purple. :) Lately, she has really been having a lot of fun kicking, throwing, and catching balls and playing with her little basketball goal.
We are enjoying the beautiful weather and our screened in porch as much as possible before the temps go up. This is the greatest time to be in FL! We hope after the Easter rush, to take a trip to the beach to relax, and introduce Laura to the sand and surf for the first time.
Other than that, we aren't really newsy. We hope you all are doing well!
Enjoy some pictures. :)
My favorite picture of the girls together so far: