Happy 3rd Birthday Rosalie!

Three years makes such a huge difference, she is such an amazing girl and we are so lucky to be her parents. If only she would sleep as well as she did when we first brought her home...

Favorites

Right now most of my favorite things have something to do with my two girls, but here are a few that have made life really great lately. In no particular order. (Since I'm naming the items, I'm putting periods in the words so that they don't end up in search engines and I don't get weird hits on my blog)

The woombi.e-- this makes swaddling so much easier, all I do is zip it up, and she sleeps so much better.

The seal.y vibrating crib mattress- this thing works wonders, it is magical. It helps Ruth to fall asleep and stay asleep (as long as her sister isn't in the room screaming or crying or banging toys to keep her awake). She still doesn't sleep through the night, it only is on for 15 minutes and tapers off, but it helps with the initial restlessness so that I don't have to hold her, bounce her, pat her... It also freed up Rosalie's old crib mattress, which we now have on the floor in our room for when she comes to us in the middle of the night scared of something, so she isn't sleeping in our bed and we can all get some sleep.

Aide.n and Anai.s blankets-- These swaddles are the best. I love the material, and the weight of them, and Ruth loves to snuggle (and suck on) these.

Johnson.s Lavender baby shampoo--- This stuff makes my girls' hair smell incredible. I cannot stop holding them up to my face and smelling them all day long, it is sooooooo good.

Sprinkl.es cupcakes-- we love to go and get our free cupcake using the secret word. It is a treat that Rosalie and I normally go get after we go shopping to Costc.o, I look forward to our little dates each week or two.

Pixelmato.r-- This is so awesome, I've been using it to edit pictures and it is so easy to use and I love that it was so affordable.
H.ouston zoo-- This is one of our favorite places to go during the week, it is fun to see the animals, and the grounds are just beautiful.
Chic.k fi.l a-- we go here at least once a week, Rosalie loves the chicken(so do I) and she gets to play on the playground. It is a great way to entertain ourselves when the weather is not ideal.

Bumblerid.e stroller--This baby is going to be my life saver. I have not really been able to exercise much since having Ruth, which slows down the weightloss, which makes me a bit cranky. I'm so excited this arrives tomorrow and I can get back in shape. We will be going on walks/jogs at Memoria.l Park and through the fancy neighborhoods around here.The Letter Factory-- This one is GREAT! Rosalie has had no interest in reading or learning the alphabet until just recently, so I got this dvd and in the matter of a week she has learned several of the letters and the sounds they make. I love it when she brings me her little magnet letters and tells me what they say and repeats what happened in that particular part of the movie.

The last of my favorite things for now-- Rosalie and Ruth. These girls are the best, I love being their mom, even when they drive me crazy and keep me from getting real sleep. I love it when Rosalie is sweet to Ruth, sometimes she bursts out and hurts her for no reason and I'm not sure why exactly. Rosalie will cheer Ruth on when we are trying to get her to roll over, and dangle toys(sometimes a little too close) to play with her, and Rosalie will sing and talk to her and make Ruth smile.

I hope that these girls will be best friends, I'm sure there will be fights, but right now they are just such cuties and I love them so much.

Sean is one of my favorite things too, but I just don't have many pictures of that goof because he really hates the camera. I love the way he plays with the girls and greets them the minute he walks in the door. I love how he thinks of me even when I was mean to him and comes home with a diet coke for me. I love how he works so hard for us doing a job that isn't really his dream. I love how he makes sure we are taken care of and comfortable and wants the best for our family. I love how he wishes he could spend more time with us, and when he has free time he chooses to be with us rather than do anything else.

Anyways, those are some of my favorite things right now. More pictures from the photo shoot to come, I'm just editing a few more of them.

3 Month old Ruth and crazy big sister Rosalie

Ruth is making her crazy face at me, so funny.

I did crazy hair and braided all of Rosalie's hair, she looked so cute, but would only wear it for about 5 minutes. She cracks me up.

3 Months is a fun age, we are finally getting more understanding of Ruth. Things were a lot smoother at the beginning of the month. We are still having sleep issues with her. She is just not a sleeper. During the day her naps are about an hour, then she wakes up but is still tired and will only be happy for about 5 minutes before deciding she wants us to put her back to sleep. She is very particular with how she wants to be held to fall asleep, and it seems that the only one that is able to do it is me. She does not like to fall asleep for anyone else really, which is a bit exhausting. She doesn't really seem to love other people holding her much. She will tolerate other people holding her for a little while but gets fussy and wants to be back in my arms. Rosalie loved to be held by everyone, so this is really different for me. Rosalie also slept really well, so I'm completely confused with this child. Ruth likes people, from a distance, she will smile for everyone and loves to watch others from the comfort of my arms. She will be happy for them for a short amount of time, but then wants me again, and she really just wants me to hold her all of the time. She wants to be held, but is not snuggly at all. Rosalie would nuzzle my neck and snuggle on my shoulder, and Ruth wants to be looking around, or held with her head in the crook of my arm to fall asleep. It makes me kind of sad, and I try to force her to snuggle, but it does not work. Ruth's favorite place to sleep is in my bed, with or without me. Sometimes I give up at night and just bring her in bed because then I know I will get some sleep. She seriously will wake up every 5 minutes sometimes and start crying because I put her down. So if it is 2 or 3 and I can't handle it I let her win. I know this is not a great idea, but I need some sleep too ya know. She still wants to eat all night long, but I have stopped feeding her, which is why she doesn't want to go back to sleep sometimes. between midnight and 4 I will not feed her, just because I know she can go longer than every 2 hours which is what she seems to want to do. She eats around 7 pm, has her bath and goes to bed by 8, then will sleep until around 10:30 sometimes 12:30. She is just so all over the place with that. I can hardly keep her on a routine with her crazy waking. She is so fun and happy though. She smiles a lot, and talks, and is just such a joy. I just can't seem to figure her out, because she is soooooo different that Rosalie. I know that no kids are the same, but I guess it makes sense that my pregnancy was so different too. Maybe different personalities of babies cause different pregnancies and symptoms and such. Ruth loves to suck on her hands, and brings them together on her chest and holds them like that a lot, it is really cute. She also likes to grab her blanket and suck on that. She can hold her head up really well, she pushes up on her arms at tummy time. She loves baths, she loves talking to people and looking at faces. She doesn't really like toys, but she loves to try and grab at hands and faces. She loves the TV, I try not to let her watch it, but sometimes when she is being extra fussy the tv will settle her down. She loves and fears Rosalie, you just never know if Rosalie is going to be sweet or mean to Ruth. Rosalie loves Ruth, but sometimes just gets feisty and chooses to taunt her in some way. Today Ruth rolled over for the first time from tummy to back, she cried so hard, it must have scared her. We blessed her last Sunday and it was beautiful, I'm so grateful that our family could come and the Sean could bless her. This last week was a bit harder sleep wise because I had a cold, and Ruth was on antibiotics for a staph-infection. She seems to like to create drama with health any time there is going to be some sort of family thing. Like before Thanksgiving when she choked on her spit up and gave me a huge scare by not starting to breath right away and gasping a lot. And then right before her blessing she got a staph infection and had to go to the dr and be on antibiotics. I just hope this is not a continuing trend. She is so fun, and changing so fast, it will be interesting to see how her personality changes and get to know who she really is. So far I know that she is stubborn when it comes to sleeping.

I have one just like this of Rosalie.

This is how the pictures of them together seem to always end up, I just don't get it. Ruth does not always cry when Rosalie is around, but that is how the pictures make it seem.

holding her little hands together.

With Gammy and Pops at the zoo.

Blessing day.

My friend Kalina did a little photo shoot for me, this is a preview.

Rosalie is growing and changing a lot too. She has gotten a little taller (she no longer looks like a toddler) in the last few months and has had a dramatic change in her speech. She just says so much and in complete sentences and some of the things she says are just so hilarious. Like when she can't hear her game on the iPad she says, "it can't hear us." I just love it. She is soooooo social, she is always asking for one of her friends to play or go do things. She loves to be out and about, as long as she is going to see one of her friends. At the grocery store she talks and waves to all of the other shoppers. She also loves to eat samples at the stores. She is also having a hard time with sleep since losing the pacifier, and I also am not quite sure how to deal with it. She also claims she is afraid of the dark and monsters, so sleep is a struggle, she comes into our room once or twice each night. She finally has interest in stories and reading books and is recognizing letters, I work with her and do little preschool lessons about each letter, it is a lot of fun. She loves songs and singing and now fills in the blanks of songs. Sometimes she makes up the words and it is so funny. She loves to talk on the phone with my mom and sings to her, it is probably one of the funniest and cutest things ever. She has a lot of personality and I love it. She loves to help me out with cleaning and doing things for Ruth, but sometimes she likes to defy every single thing I ask her to do and also loves to torment her sister. I just don't understand why sometimes she will randomly run up to Ruth and smack her, or shover her head to the ground and try to kick her during tummy time. Sometimes I wonder if it is because she needs more one on one attention. I try to spend most of the time that Ruth is napping doing something with Rosalie, but there are times when I just have to clean the apartment, or shower, and I just can't giver her 100% attention all of the time. We are still struggling to get the 2nd part of potty training going with her. I got her pull-ups and told her that they are not diapers, but she still chooses to use them rather than the toilet for the major event. I have convinced her to sit and try to go a couple of times, so hopefully we are on our way to being diaper free with her(except for bedtime). She is so fun, and I just love watching her learn and grow. I just hope that I am being a good mom and teaching her well. It makes me sad when I notice that she copies the things that I don't want her to copy from me. So in teaching her I am also trying to change my bad habits.

Rosalie loves to go out on her scooter, this was at a roller rink that had a toddler day and let you bring in all riding toys.

Rosalie wanted to try out the skates, she was not quite coordinated enough to do it, but we had fun trying, and boy was I sore the next day from it.

Rosalie loves to help me bake, so that she can lick the batter.

At the zoo, waiting to feed the giraffe.

She LOVED feeding the giraffe, this is something we will have to do again. Rosalie is such an animal lover, she takes after me like that.

Gammy and Pops rode the carousel with Rosalie, she loved having them on there with her.

I love my girls, I love them so much. I'm so lucky to have them, and I'm so lucky that I get to stay home and raise them. I'm lucky to have Sean who works so hard for us and makes this possible. Children are seriously the best blessing, even though at times they make me crazy and sleep deprived. I hope this sleepless phase goes quickly and that I will remember to enjoy the fun and wonderful moments that happen throughout the day.

Ruth is 2 months

Tummy time. She doesn't normally lift her head much, she uses tummy time to find her fist and suck on it. Although she does have a strong neck and can hold her head really well.

She was not too pleased about me wanting to take pictures, she just wanted to nap.

Our little cheetah girl. She is just adorable, and we love her. I have found that this month has been easier. I have figured her out more and know what her cries mean, and what she wants. She does't really cry too much, just if I make her wait a really really really long time to eat, or when she wants to go to sleep. She hasn't quiet figured out how to fall asleep on her own. It takes a lot of effort on my part, bouncing, rocking.... We are going to start working on that soon though. She is also starting to form a pattern for her day and that makes things much easier too. She still wanted to eat every 2 hours until this past week and we were able to stretch it to every 3 hours. Finally I can have a little more of a break.

She is just beautiful, I love baby skin that is so soft and pink.

Ruth loves her mobile. Rosalie loves to climb in the crib and watch it go around with her. They just smile and Rosalie laughs and it is so cute.

Rosalie "holding" Ruth.

It got really cold one day so I put this hat on Ruth. I think she looks so cute in it.

More things about her at 2 months:

She is very smiley.

She loves to lay on the floor and look around, especially at the TV or bright lights.

She prefers to keep her head turned to the right, although she is able to turn it to the left.

She cries really hard for Sean and when he hands her to me she stops, making him feel bad.

She likes to fall asleep with her head buried in the crook of my arm, covering her eyes.

It takes a lot of effort to get her to sleep.

At night she goes about 4 hours in her bed, then wants me to snuggle her the rest of the night.

She is not the easiest sleeper.

Her goopy eye went away this week.

Her herniated belly button is starting to go away.

She holds her head even when I pull her up to the sitting position.

She hates the bassinet.

She loves sleeping in her carseat, bouncy seat, or swing.

She loves wearing hats, she sleeps way better when I put one on her.

She is generally very happy, she only cries when she can't fall asleep, and when I make her wait to eat.

We love our Ruth.

New Year

To bring in the new year, we made homemade ice cream and root beer floats.

Rosalie said her resolution was to take over feeding Ruth for me. Just kidding, but that is what she told us she is doing in this picture.

snuggling sisters.

"feeding" Ruth again.

The new year brought out Ruth's smiles. She just became such a happy girl, her cold also went away.

smiling. It was really hard to capture it and hold the camera.

She loves watching her big sister, she is just mesmerized by Rosalie.

She doesn't look too happy, but they really love laying down next to each other, it is really cute.

Christmas in Austin

Rosalie had her first lesson in gift wrapping from her dad.

Rosalie dressed up as Rudolph.

Ruth did too.

Rosalie spent most days outside in the freezing cold playing in the backyard. We were ill-prepared for the cold so she just borrowed a hat and gloves. She didn't seem to mind the weather though, and had a really great time tromping around with the dog.

Rosalie and Coco looking outside. They were such buddies the whole time.

Rosalie saying cheese, while eating a Christmas cookie.

Ruth all smiley and happy.

sweet girl.

Christmas eve jammies, snuggling with Aunt Aubrey.

Nice photography work of Sean's. Us coming down the stairs at 6AM Christmas morning.

Rosalie checking out her haul.

Opening her American girl doll from Nama and Hapa.

The scooter and helmet that Santa brought.

Grumpy in her beautiful Christmas dress from Gammy and Pops. She loved it, she saw herself in the mirror and said she was a princess and began to twirl. So cute.

Ruth in her cute dress from Marci. We have a beautiful dress for her too, but I was scared she would ruin it with spit up.

We had a really fun Christmas hanging out with my family. We went to Pappasito's on Christmas eve and chowed down all all sorts of yummy treats. We had Christmas dinner with our family friends the Tueller's, and Rosalie had a blast playing with their daughter Olivia, who is a senior in high school. She had so much fun with all of her toys on Christmas. It was so much fun doing Christmas with her at this age. She got some paper dolls and legos, and she enjoys making Sean play both of those with her. She loves her basketball hoop too, but is not quiet coordinated enough to throw it in, she is working on her dunking skills right now. We had a great time.