You're never fully dressed...

...without your smile!

Ashley-ism

...hanging out in the bedroom, just she and I, earlier today

Ashley: It's my turn.
Me: Your turn for what?
Ashley: Ice cream.
Me: It's your turn for ice cream?
Ashley: Yeah. It's my turn for ice cream.
Me: Oh, okay.
Ashley: Nana will get me ice cream.

...where does she come up with these things?

crAshley

She strikes again!

Why do Daddy and Mommy tell me not to grab Riley's tail? Because she takes off and plows me head-first into the corner of the wall!
The next morning - the swelling is down but the coloring is sure impressive!

You asked for it...

...so here it is - the picture of me at 3 months. Check out my luscious locks. Is it any wonder my girls are born with so much hair?

Already!?!

Natalie is 12 weeks old and we couldn't be more surprised. It's hard to imagine she's been a part of our lives for 3 months. It's crazy because even though she's still so 'new' to our family, we feel like we've loved her with a lifetime worth of love. Isn't it great what children do for your heart?
At this point in her life she can hold her head up extremely well. We're still working on making tummy time fun time, but as she gets stronger and stronger I'm sure it'll get more enjoyable for her. Natalie is cooing and sort of giggling more and more and will usually 'talk' back to you when you talk to her. Little Thing has a lot to say! She is smiling all the time, and will respond with a smile when someone smiles at her. At this point Ashley was still such a serious baby that it was a little harder to get a smile out of her. Who knew that such a serious midget would turn into the whirlwind she is today?! It's such a delight to look at Natalie and see her giant gummy grin lighting up the room! A baby smile can turn any gray sky blue as far as I'm concerned.
Her little eyes still light up when she hears Ashley coming close, although I still haven't figured out if the light is excitement or fear! Ha ha! In the last week or so she has discovered that she has hands and enjoys sucking on them. I had forgotten what a precious little sound it makes when babes do that. Occasionally you'll find her with her thumb in her mouth which makes us wonder if she'll be a thumb-sucker like her big sister?
Natalie continues to be a predictable baby. She really only fusses when she's tired and hungry (some might say she gets that from me!). She's an excellent sleeper and will generally sleep anywhere from 6 to 8 hours at nighttime. Not bad, not bad at all!
Who would have thought a year ago I'd be sitting here talking about our second child?! No matter what adversities may be going on in our lives, we truly have been blessed. Ashley and Natalie, simply put, are our greatest things.

Ashley at 3 months wearing the same outfit I wore when I had my 3 month pictures taken
And here's Natalie sporting the same threads! I didn't realize until I looked at these pictures how much more hair Natty Kat has. And it certainly is darker too! But even with those differences, there isn't a person in the world that wouldn't be able to tell these two are sisters!

All I can say is that Jake and I make beautiful babies!

Mirror, mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who's the cutest baby of them all?

My, my that's one fine looking baby girl I see in the mirror
Seriously! Where did you find such a darling little thing, Mommy?

Lazy Sunday

Sunday afternoon we headed to Kathy and Danny's house for lasagna and laziness. Two of my favorite ways to spend a sunny Sunday! We also dusted off the Corn Toss boards (if you don't remember Corn Toss, click here) and played a few games. Jake, of course, went undefeated. I, on the other hand, couldn't sink a corn-hole if my life depended on it. Good thing it's early in the season; I've got plenty of time to get my corn-arm conditioned!

Helping Grandpa mow the field - I'm such a natural on the mower!
Playing piano with Aunt Katie
I love to play the piano and look at myself in the mirror and sing - too bad Mommy couldn't get a good shot of my stellar performance
Thanks for the awesome hat Andy!
In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two...
...I wasn't even born yet but had I been, I would have been rocking this look!

Her throne

We bought Natalie a Bumbo (thank you Craigslist!) over the weekend. As much as she enjoys sitting up and seeing what's going on, we figured this would be perfect for her. And guess what? IT IS! She loves sitting in it! Just check out the smiles she gave us when she first sat in her new throne:

Check me out - I'm sitting all by myself!
Grinning at Aunt Lindsay from the comfort of my new chair
A few days later Big Sister hijacked my seat for herself. Too bad Midget isn't midgety enough to fit!

Greatness

When Ashley dresses herself, it's nothing less then greatness. For the record that's 1 dress (what she was dressed in for the day), 1 onsie (also what she was dressed in for the day) 1 shirt, 1 pajama shirt, 1 pajama pant and 1 pajama short. I didn't get to the camera in time to document the socks and 1 shoe she also had on.
Greatness.

Friends for life

Whoops!

I forgot I wanted to share these two pictures with last week's Valentine's Day message...

Baby Cupid 2008
Baby Cupid 2010

KABOOM!

I'm about the burst with pride! I had no idea our midget was so smart. I wish I could take credit for teaching her everything she knows, but the truth of the matter is she seems to be learning more from Mickey Mouse and her library of books then she is from me. But what does it matter? Ashley is soaking up so much; it's like the act of learning is what fuels her day!
Today we read Brown Bear Brown Bear before her nap. She's been able to identify the animals in the book since I can't remember when and has lately added each animal's sound as we flip through the pages. I've noticed the last couple of days she's started to correctly point out colors whether it's her crayons, houses and even the hearts on Natalie's shirt. But what's got me bursting at the seams is when she opened the last page of the book and could tell me what was green, red, blue, yellow, brown and even purple! All without even being asked! I just had to squeeze the stuffing right out of her because she made me so proud!
In addition to learning her colors, Ashley's also getting better at counting. She's still notorious for starting with 2 and skipping over 5, but it's not uncommon for her to count her crayons or toys and even raisins before she gobbles them up. And you can imagine our surprise when she pointed to the stamp on Jake's hand the other night and said "An A!" (we had gone to Amity High School's basketball game). Then today she opened her coloring book to the page with Cookie Monster and the letter C and said "A C Mommy".
She *loves* to dance which usually consists of jumping up and down with her arms in the air. She likes to see how high and how far she can jump, and says "Watch this! Dancing!". Dancing then usually leads to hopping like a frog, which then leads to her shouting "WIBIT! WIBIT! WIBIT!" (AKA ribbit).
I can't help but brag. Midget amazes me! Maybe her next great accomplishment will be mastering the art of using the potty...
Here are some pictures taken the other morning of Ashley playing in Mom's square dancing skirt. At first Ashley thought it was water, then a cloud and then once she realized she could wear it, she was all sorts of thrilled!

CCDIT: Can-can dancer in training
Twirl your partner round and round! (yes those are playing cards scattered on the floor - unfortunately she hasn't gotten tired of that game yet...)

Thanks Auntie A

Lovin' my new threads!
Today Natalie is 11 weeks old and I can hardly believe it. She's such a different baby then Ashley was; easier in a way. At this point I feel fairly confident in saying she's not going to colic on us like Ashley did. Can I get an amen?! I didn't realize how much work a colicky baby really is until I had one that didn't colic. I'm glad Jake and I had the opportunity to make that realization!
She's been giving us great smiles since she was 5 weeks old and in the last few weeks has started to give little giggles and laughs here and there. She still loves to be swaddled. In fact if she's cranky (which she hardly ever is) 9 times out of 10 she just wants to be swaddled, fed and put to bed (a nice little rhyme!). After trying a few different brands I was finally able to find a bottle that she likes. It's nice knowing others can feed our little Natalia and have the opportunity to bond with her in that way. In the last few days she's realized that she has a tongue and that it can be fun to stick it out, lick her lips and move it all around. If you stick your tongue out at her, she'll look at it for a second and most times try to mimic you by sticking out hers.
She's getting so much better about tummy time and is getting stronger day by day. Just like her big sister, Natalie absolutely loves the bathtub and has recently really started kicking her legs nonstop while getting bathed. Her hair is super curly when it's wet which makes us wonder if she'll have more curl than Ashley does? After it dries it loses some of the curl but it's obvious she has a lot of body. Lucky little thing! Right now her eyes are close to the same electric blue as Ashley's and even though I know they can still change, I sure hope they don't! I just love how blue my girl's eyes are. I guess it's just nice seeing that they got something from me. Ha ha!
There are days when I wonder how I'll survive with 2. But no matter how hectic it may get or how frustrating it can be, there isn't anything else I'd rather be doing. I'm grateful to be a stay-at-home-mom and have the chance to be experiencing all of this. I'm thankful for a husband who works hard so that I can be here with our girls. And I'm appreciative for family members who have been so helpful and giving to all of us.

Practicing my new trick...
...sticking out my tongue

I heart you!

Our Valentine's Day was filled with lots of love, piles of candy and mountains of sugar. A great day if you ask me!

All my loves
Sweet family
Sweetheart
Not a great picture of me, but I just had to declare my love for my husband on the world wide web!

What a cute surprise!

The girls received a package in the mail from relatives in Ohio and boy was Ashley happy to shout "My present! My present!" Thank you Joann and Paul for thinking of the girls and sending goodies their way. Ashley LOVES her Tigger Pez dispenser. I wasn't able to get a picture of her with it because she was too busy figuring out how to get the candy out!

With boots like these I'm ready to visit the dairy!
So precious! Thank again!!!

That really frosts my cookies!

Ashley is such a great help in the kitchen that her Nana and Papa invited her over last week to help decorate Valentine cookies. She always has so much fun decorating but the REAL joy comes in eating the frosting!

I'm too little to decorate so I'm doing a tummy time workout instead
Waiting for cookies to frost - passing time by banging on my drum
Let the decorating begin!
*thinking to myself* I bet I could eat all this frosting in 3 minutes flat...
If this face doesn't say mischievous!
Mommy snitched a cookie and got caught
Nana and Natalie left all the work to Papa, Mommy and I
Mommy and I make such a good decorating team (and yes those are matching aprons we have on)
We were allowed to stop working just long enough to smile for a picture. You could call this place a sweat shop. Or is that sweet shop?
(Is it any wonder where I get my blue eyes from?)
Told you I could eat the frosting in 3 minutes flat
All of my pretty cookies. There would have been more M&M's on some of them, but I couldn't resist the temptation...
Check out the new robe I got from Nana and Papa. This is going to come in so handy at swimming lessons. I'll be the envy of the pool in my pink flamingos!
Big smiles with Nana and Papa

Say cheese!

For Christmas Sissie and I got a certificate for family pictures for Mom and Dad. We wanted to wait for Natalie to get a little older (and I wanted time to firm up my post-baby bod) so over the weekend we got all dolled up and smiled big for the camera. I think we did pretty good, don't you?

Yes that is a building block in Ashley's hand - if she didn't have it, she wouldn't smile. Weird-o.
Aw. Isn't that precious?
We hardly ever see Natalie like this!
Lookin' snappy!