4th of July Weekend

Our July 4th weekend was busy, busy, busy.  We spent it moving into our new home, only taking breaks to celebrate birthdays, new neighbors, and our country's independence.  I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but I did get a few.
I took this at Matthew's birthday party.  Elizabeth used the big swing for the first time.  She kept saying "higher, higher"... made me a nervous reck!

She was also tall enough to grab the swinging bars for the first time.  She was pretty proud of herself.

My two girls ready for church.

Our neighborhood had a cook-out and fireworks show on July 3rd.  This was great timing because we were able to meet a lot of our neighbors all at once.  Elizabeth made some new friends instantly.  More confirmation that we chose the right neighborhood for our kiddos.

We spent the 4th of July with our church family watching the Marietta fireworks.  It poured outside, but luckily we were able to eat, play, and watch the fireworks from inside.  Elizabeth wasn't too sure about them.

Even though we didn't get as much unpacking done as we would've liked.  It was nice to have some good excuses for some well-deserved breaks!

Phone Pictures

I've decided to regularly dump all of my pictures from my phone to our blog.  It keeps my phone pics somewhat organized and I don't forget about the things I captured with my phone.  Which is a lot more now that I have my iphone... Thank you Bert Kelly!

This was always Elizabeth's favorite spot.  Caroline's pretty fond of it too.

Caroline sleeping in the dressing room of Old Navy.

This picture is hilarious to me.  I took it as I was leaving for my Summer Supper Club one Wednesday night.  What a hot mess!!

My super cool 2-year-old

I took this picture for Melissa who gave her this onesie.  She really wasn't crying here.  She gave me this face because she didn't like the flash. 

My sweet girl smiling.

I could just squeeze the cuteness right out of her!

sleeping through her first Braves game

watching the Braves play with her Daddy on Father's Day

This is a video of the video monitor during nap time.  Naps are hit or miss with Elizabeth these days.  Sometimes it's more like rest time (for mommy).  I wish I could video tape the whole hour (she slept the second hour).  But I'm pretty sure only I would find that interesting.  In just the first 30 minutes she went from singing songs, pretending to play with her friends from school (I know because she called them all by name), and putting her bunny in time-out.  At this point she was singing a song about being "happy today".

Moving

After one year of living in a corporate apartment and two years of renting a house, we finally own a home in Georgia!  It's been a long process to say the least.  But we found the perfect house for us and can't wait to make it our own.

While we were packing last Saturday, it got eerily quiet in Elizabeth's room.  Elizabeth is not typically a quiet little girl, but she will play independently pretty well for a little while.  When I went to check on her, I found her reading every single book in her room.  I sat there spying for quite a while.

She was looking for a specific book at this point.  Not sure which one, but she was very intent on finding it.

On Sunday morning before Church we took some pictures under our favorite shaded tree.  I realized it was our last Sunday at this house so we had to document it.

We are so excited and ready for our own home, but it will be kind of sad to leave this house.  We moved in when Elizabeth was 5 weeks old.  She had a lot of her very important "firsts" here.  First steps, first words, first Christmas, first birthday.  And even though we tried to be in a new house before Caroline was born, this was her first home too.

We've done a lot of moving.  Whether it be from one city to another, one state to another, apartment to house, or house to home, we have been in a constant state of transition.  But when I've felt like throwing myself a pity party, this quote that I have in the girls' bathroom anchors me.  It reads, "Home is where this child is."  Those words gave me comfort when I didn't have a nursery to bring Elizabeth home to, and again when Caroline's crib sat in a box because her nursery was our office.

Our girls won't remember their first house or care that their nurseries weren't perfect when we brought them home.  This new house will be the first one they remember and the one they will start building memories of their childhood in.  To say we are excited would be quite an understatement!

More Swimming and More Growing

This is what my girls do the most of these days.  Angel #1 (Bert calls Elizabeth Angel #1 and Caroline is Angel #2) does a lot of swimming and Angel #2 does a lot of growing!  Elizabeth is a self proclaimed "water baby".  The girl could live at the pool, and we kinda do.

As soon as she wakes up in the morning, she starts asking to go to the pool.

It's been so much easier than I thought because this girl needs no help from her mama.

Of course, I never take my eyes (or camera) off of her.  AND there's a life guard on duty.

Jumping in or belly flopping in provides the most entertainment for her and me !

She does it over and over and over again.  I encourage it because it increases our chances of a good nap!

Notice her black eye.  She did not get that at the pool.  She tried to take a toy away from a friend at school, and he let go.  It popped her in the eye.  It was sad, but sometimes you have to appreciate natural consequences. It's been four days and she hasn't tried to take another toy away from anybody!

Bath time after the pool and another shot of her black eye.

Angel #2 had her 2 month check-up today.  This was her all cuddled up this morning before her shots.  Poor thing didn't know what was coming.

She measured 22.5 inches long (75 percentile) and weighed 11 pounds 1 ounce (70th percentile).

She weighs close to the same amount as her sister at that age, but she's still an inch shorter.  Who knows if she'll catch up.  I've always been taller (and bigger) than my sister so maybe it will be the same way with my girls.

I had my flash on for this last picture which makes her hair look red.  Elizabeth's hair looked red in pictures at this age too.

Elizabeth on the left and Caroline on the right at 2 months.

Caroline at one and two months old.

Caroline is 2 months old!

Caroline, you are 2 months old today.  My maternity leave is done, but I still get another month at home with you until school starts.  I love that my summer is filled with time spent with you and your sister.  I'm trying to soak it all up.  I don't want to miss or forget a thing.  So here's what you're up to at 2 months old.

• You are becoming very aware of your surroundings.  When you're in your swing, you watch the mobile go round and round.
• You prefer to sleep on your tummy, so we let you during naps.  For a couple of weeks you even slept on one of our chests at night.  But for the past two weeks, you have slept every night in your bassinet. On your back.  I'm proud of you and us!
• Sometimes you have a 6 hour stretch of sleep at night.  It's not consistent yet, but it happens a couple of times a week!  The rest of the time you sleep for about 4 hours before waking for a dream feed, then you go straight back to sleep.  The lack of sleep doesn't bother me at all because I know how fleeting this time is.  At two years old your sister sleeps 12-14 hours a night, so I know there will be more sleep in my future!

Up until this week I was nursing you almost exclusively.  You really didn't like taking a bottle at all.  We started giving you one at least once a day to get you used to it.  It turns out that it's easier for us to keep your reflux under control when you're bottle feeding.  So now, you are also taking formula and it is going quite well.

You still don't like taking a pacifier.  Every time we try, it gags you.  I'm really okay with that since you're a pretty easy baby to soothe.

• Your eyes are still a dark grayish blue.  Just like your mama's!
• But opposite of your mama is your hair color.  Mine is blond with darks roots:))  Yours has been very dark since you were born, but the roots are now coming in light.  I'm betting you end up with the same color of hair as your sister, but we shall see!

You are holding up your head better and smiling more every day.  It's so fun to watch, and especially fun to watch Elizabeth notice it too.  She gets so excited for you. 

• Before you were born we were a little concerned with how Elizabeth would react to the constant attention you would require.  Whenever I held another baby, she completely freaked out and would scream "MY MOMMY!"  In the beginning, there was a little jealousy.   But that has pretty much vanished.  The opposite is now true.  Elizabeth is very protective of you.  When other kids get in your face or try to touch you, she quickly covers you and sternly says, "My Caroline".  It's the one time I don't mind her being territorial.  I hope she's always that protective of you.
• She still likes to hold you, but it lasts for all of about 2 minutes before she's bored and ready to move around again.  I think the idea of holding you is fun to her, but she's too much of a busy body to sit still long enough.  Soon enough you two will be playing and running through the house together!

• She doesn't like it when you cry.  At first we thought it was sweet how she didn't like for you to be upset.  But the truth is that your cyring bothers her if it's too loud.  She starts crying too and shouting "BABY CRYIN'!"  as if to say "Make her stop!  It's driving me crazy!"  It makes me laugh every time!!
• Sometimes when you cry she tries to shove a paci in your mouth.  We have to keep a close eye on her because she's rougher than she intends.  Even her hugs sometimes seem more like an attack.  But she does love to sing to you, and sometimes that actually does soothe you!

• Elizabeth won't leave for school in the morning until she kisses you good-bye. And when you are sleeping, she holds the video monitor without taking her eyes off of you.

My prayer for my two girls is that you will grow up to be best friends.  I know sibling rivalry is bound to happen, but you two are each others best gift!

Happy 2 Months Birthday Sweet Girl!!

Camera Practice

I've had my camera since Christmas last year, but didn't take it off of auto until about a month ago.  Learning how to use the manual settings is quite intimidating.  I have no desire to replace professional pictures of our girls, but I realize what a shame it is to have a nice camera that is always left on auto.  I have a long way to go, but I'm no longer afraid to try.  It's just about practice, practice, practice.  So the other day, I practiced different settings on one of my favorite subjects.

Because I wanted to use natural light but didn't want to go out in the heat, we had our little photo shoot in my bathroom.  Modeling exhausted my little angel and she soon fell asleep.  I kept practicing.

After taking pictures of Caroline in this onesie, I had flashbacks of Elizabeth wearing it two years ago.  I feel like I have a lot of de ja vu moments with Caroline.  Here is a picture of Elizabeth in it. 

After picking Elizabeth up from school, I decided to practice on a moving subject.  A little more challenging to say the least.

I have a LONG way to go, but I couldn't ask for better subject matter!!