Things I don’t want to forget…

As usual, the days are moving by me so fast that I am nowhere near up to date on the blog. We did finally get to have Christmas with my mom last week. It was great to finally have her out here. Bella loved opening up gifts again. Mom got her a CD player for her room, and much like her dad, Bella is taking the music thing very seriously. She has taken over quite a few of my old CDs, and plays music morning and night. Unfortunately, both my girls weren’t sleeping super well (mostly because Audrey was waking the whole house…), so they were a little testy on some of the days, but we still had a very nice visit. Mom helped me a bunch, because Jeremy had to go out of town on business. It is so much harder now when he leaves than when it was just Bella and me. I know this will be better once Audrey is sleeping through the night, and once I can bathe the girls together – but that is quite a few months down the road. (Although in the scheme of things, I guess that really is just a drop in the bucket!) It was very nice to have her here to help.

I’ve been meaning to write down some stuff about the girls that I just don’t want to forget.

Bella:

The girl is crazy about BUGS. She loves SLIMY snails – I’m talking put your finger deep into the slime of the snail and twist it around and stuff. It is the rainy season right now. There are lots in our yard. I’m in a constant state of disgust when she starts playing with them and asking me to touch them, but she is enthralled. We have an Ant farm (Thanks Lairds!) – and we find it very fascinating to watch the paths that they create through the gel. (Okay, I am actually fascinated by that one!) She calls them her pets. Our neighbor, Mary, brought over an awesome big green grasshopper last week. We put it in her bug house that MiMi got her, and she has been feeding it flowers and water. (Unfortunately, I saw Hazel get a hold of it today when I was nursing Audrey and Bella was at school. She made quite a toy out of it. I think I am going to have to discreetly get rid of it, and hopefully she will forget about it.) We just got some caterpillars for the Butterfly house that Dee Dee got her for Christmas. They are growing very quickly, and we watch them every day to see when they will make a chrysalis. Her school has them too, so we have been comparing ours to their growth. The school also got Lady Bugs, and the teachers tell me she is fascinated and just watches them so carefully. Do we have a future entomologist on our hands? Who knows?!?!

Bella and Daddy have this amazing special bond right now. Since I’m busy with Audrey at bedtime, he puts Bella to bed most nights – and they play a game called “The Kind Owl”, and she is always bragging to people about how Daddy tells the best stories. She just lights up whenever he is around. Last night they set a gopher trap together, and today they checked and had gotten one. She was SO proud. They brought the (dead) gopher on a string up to the window to show me (yuck). Grandpa George just sent us this funny card with a picture of him holding a turkey (which Bella really enjoyed!), and all I could think was that he would be so proud! HA!

Bella has started up swimming again. She is showing more and more determination in the pool. Today when we were at lessons, I heard her saying to the teacher. OK, show me, but then can I do it by myself?! She’s still my water baby.

Bella is quick to test us on a regular basis right now. She wants to do things her own way, and is not very good at taking directions at the moment. We are working on it…one day at a time right? It is funny how she can be so helpful one minute and then absolutely refuse to do the simplest task you ask the next. Tonight, she played so nicely with Audrey while I made dinner, then went to feed Hazel, and then asked me if she could unload the dryer for me? (Why YES! you can – THANK YOU!) all of this without me really asking, but then when she came in filthy from getting the gopher it was like pulling teeth to get her to wash the dirt off her hands mostly I think because we told her she had to.

Even though Bella loves a big ol’ mess (and is frequently covered in it), she still loves a big frilly skirt – or a fancy dress. Today, I put on a casual dress to pick her up from school (mostly cause it is SO hot at her swim lessons), and she said, “Mommy, I love your dress…can I get one like it?” She’s all about putting on makeup when I am doing mine as well.  (Hers often goes all over her legs though…I think she likes that she can see it better there…)

Audrey:

My sweet babe, Audrey. She is such a peanut. Her smile just melts me. She loves to be talked to – and for the most part, she is a very easy going baby.  She just started laughing – and hearing her do it brightens my whole day. (It is impossible to be irritated with the fact that she keeps me up all night when she looks at me with those sweet eyes and that big smile…) She’s had a really rough time sleeping through the night especially the past week or so (waking 3 or more times famished throughout the night…) I feel somewhat to blame for this, as her nursing/napping routine has been pretty much nonexistent (turns out it is MUCH harder to have a routine when we are trying to keep up with the almost 4 year old’s activities). I’m working really hard on getting her on a four hour nursing schedule this week. The doctor recommended that we go ahead and start her on rice cereal in the evenings too, since she is so small (12lbs 4oz – 13th percentile in weight) in hopes of getting her some more calories during the day. (She is growing on a good upward trend – she is just little…) The past two days have been better, and I’m hoping that this will help get her sleeping a little bit better through the night. She has started rolling over on to her tummy in the middle of the night, and then she screams when she wakes and can’t get back to her back (which totally freaks me out because of the whole SIDS thing) This too shall pass – right? I think she may have had a growth spurt last week a bit too, as she looks bigger to me right now. Even though she is happy to kick for a little while on her own, she loves to be held…and in the evenings, she pretty much downright demands it. She has just started having a little anxiety when other people hold her versus when it is me…so I am making sure that she has a some time with the nanny and at the gym to try to get her used to other people. I’m absolutely head over heels for my little babe. It is crazy how it has only been a few months, but I can not imagine life without her.

Throughout the days, there are so many times that I see Bella do something or Audrey have a first “moment” and I think I need to write that down, that small thing just makes my heart sing and I am going to forget it someday. And then, by the time I have gotten a second to sit down to do this, I really have forgotten. But even when I am frustrated with having to wrestle Bella into doing something, or super sleep deprived, that feeling will come back to me throughout the day. That happy feeling, that tells me life is really good and I am grateful. I know that I am so lucky to have these two beautiful, healthy, amazing girls. (And their Daddy is pretty awesome too…)

I feel so blessed. Bella, Audrey – Mommy loves you and she always will.