My babies are growing up!

It is a new year and I feel like I have blinked my eyes and my girls are growing up! Rhodes turned 3 months old today! Happy birthday my sweet little baby! She is smiling all the time, starting to sit up in her bumbo more and propped up on the couch and a genuinely happy baby. When she sees her big sister, she smiles and she makes her Mama and Daddy feel special when she sees them too! She is cooing all the time and lately the coos have also turned to shrieking with joy! I remember when Ali used to make these high pitched squealing noises too. She love to try to grab toys that dangle in front of her and her latest favorite is her mirror.



Today, it hit me that my first born is also growing up to fast. Boo hoo! We had our second playdate of the week and went to Southern Prep to run around, jump, and play and Ali had a ball. The last time we were there was probably 9 months ago or so and Ali was at my side the entire time (as she usually is), but today was a new Ali. Once we got there, she immediately took off running and playing and jumping and didn't look back! It was very bittersweet for me. :( I was so proud of her and it was soo cute to watch her and nice to be able to sit down with Rhodes and my friends and their babies that were not mobile - but it was a weird feeling for me to not have my little baby wanting her Mama the entire time. I'm getting teary even writing this!! I even saw her a couple times with a lady that worked their holding her and talking to her (she was in charge of the trampoline that Ali was waiting in line b/c they only let one child on at a time). It was all so bizarre to me but also so fun! She really is quite the little person these days!



My sweet husband gave me an awesome gift this year for Christmas. He took the time to make my blog into a book (blurb.com) and it supposedly took hours b/c the program no longer works with blogger and so he had to do a lot of cut and pasting - but it made me cry when I got it b/c it is something I will always treasure. I was reading it the other day and was remembering things I had already forgotten about Ali, so I want to try to be better about using this to remember the fun things my girls are learning and doing!



Ali, like her little sister, is also a big fan of mirrors (and, yes, she got this honest!). I caught her today at Southern Prep staring at a mirror on the wall and then smiling/posing at it. It was too cute. She honestly picks up on EVERYTHING and we really have to be careful about what we say - especially her daddy when he is watching football! :) The other night we went to a New Years Eve party at our dear friends house and Ryan got Ali to say "I'm a party animal!" She did not go to bed until 11:30 (she was so wound up and again, losing her timidness that she sometimes has when she first enters a party. She was running around having a blast and getting lots of attention from all of our friends - and she loved every second of it!). When Ryan was putting her to bed she was still a little wound up but completely exhausted and still talking. Ryan asked her if she had fun at the party and she looked at him, in her exhausted state, getting into bed and said "Daddy, I'm a party animal!". He loved it. We will here her in her bed sometimes in the middle of the night, morning, or really any time, just in there talking nonstop. It's like she is just practicing all the words she can say! For instance, the other night, Rhodes was crying and I heard her wake up (it was about 11) and say loudly (hoping we would hear) "My daaaadddy! My Maaaammma! My Rhoooodes! My Baxxxter! My bed! My pillow! and my daddy!" and on and on and on without a breath. It was like she was just saying any word she could think of to keep talking. When I picked her up from school two weeks ago (her last day before the holidays), I heard her telling her teacher, "My daddy's name is Ryan!". She then went through the list and said "My mommy's name is Jamie", then Rhodes, then Baxter. Her teacher and I both could not believe it!! She also will tell me sometimes that I am her best friend and I love it. Today, though, she went up to Rhodes and said, "You're my best friend, Rhodes. We're sisters!" It melted my heart! She keeps us in stitches and she knows it so I think it eggs her on to talk even more - which is fine by me. I am truly loving this stage and amazed by what all my little 2 year old has to say!



Here are a few pictures from our New Years Eve!



Me and my girls!
Ali has not stopped wearing her new dress up shoes and it cracks us up. She even wore them to the New Years party at the Brumby's and insisted on wearing them to bed. The next morning she could not find them (because they were in her bed, of course!) and she ran up to me distraught and said "Mommy, where are my birthday party shoes??" She kept saying "Happy birthday!" interchangeably with "Happy New Years!" so I think she was getting the days confused. :)

Ali named her baby that she got for Christmas Jean Alice. (My mom's name.) She heard Uncle Sig say it and so it has stuck and it cracks us up. We love to ask her what the baby's name is when other people are around. She now has started feeding Jean Alice and it is also quite the sight. We were sitting in the playroom the other day and Ali started walking out with baby Jean Alice. I asked her where she was going and she said "I go feed and burp Jean Alice!" I thought it was cute and then she came back in with a perplexed look on her face and said "Where's my boppy??!?!" It was too cute!!

Some pictures of Ali with baby Jean Alice (and the boppy), burping and feeding her.

Ali and her new little friend, Mimi playing on New Years friend. I had to explain to Ali that we were going to play with a friend named Mimi but it was not "our" Mimi (since that is what she calls my mom). When we got there and I started to get her out of the car, she said, "I'm so excited to see little Mimi!"

They were both party animals!

All the girls, except for Rhodes!

Happy New Year!