Videos

I just found these videos and remembered how to put them on the blog. 

December 14, 2008  (At the CNN Center right after seeing Playhouse Disney)

November 30, 2008 

November 19, 2008

Sisterly love

I am so ready for spring, warm weather and cute clothes! Today, it was nasty outside so we decided to stay in - so it was nice not to have to bundle the girls up. I found this pants outfit in Ali's closet that my mom bought her at the end of last summer. I remembered that the reason my mom liked it and bought it was because she had actually bought if for Ali the year before (Summer '07) in 12 month size and had just forgotten about it. (She tends to do that! :) Sure enough, I went in Rhodes closet and found the 12 month one hanging up. It's funny to me that in these pictures Ali is wearing a 24 month outfit and Rhodes is wearing a 12 month when they are two years apart! I guess that is what happens with a chubby little baby (just like Ali was at this age) and a string bean, tall 2 year old! Here are pictures from my photo shoot (attempting to find a good picture of both!) of the girls in their accidental matching outfits. I can't wait to see them in some of the dresses this spring that we intentionally bought to match! Oh, the fun of having little girls!

Going in for a kiss....

Playing dress up

We have been doing LOTS of dress up lately! It's all Ali wants to do! (which is fine by me!) Here are some pictures of what has been going on at our household.

This is a horrible picture - but I am so mad I didn't get a better one. The other day, we were watching A Bug's Life and Ali decided she wanted to be a ladybug. She went in the playroom and came back out in her ladybug outfit that went to her waist (circa Halloween 2007 - when Ali was almost 1!), lady bug hat, leis around her neck (from New Years 2009), princess high heels, and princess crown (from Emma's birthday party last week). It was quite the sight. Especially b/c she has the skinniest, longest legs (I'm jealous!) and they were completely exposed with this little Halloween costume. She is our constant entertainment. Rhodes is such a trooper! The other night, Ali wanted to put on her tutu and wanted Rhodes to put one on too - so here are some pictures of my little ballerinas. Rhodes has been sucking on her bottom lip a lot lately (see picture) - when she is not smiling and laughing that is!

My two ballerinas

Ali showing off some of her ballerina twirls....I can't wait until we can sign her up for ballet class! Let's hope she has more dancing skills than her Mama! :)

Rhodes - not quite sure what this thing is around my waist!

Tutu sisters!

I am going to make it a goal to try to start taking more video tape of the girls - we have been out of tape and therefore, have no video clips. We barely have any video of Rhodes because of this and I hate it b/c we have such hilarious, special moments these days. The girls light up when they see eachother - especially Rhodes when she sees Ali. Now, I know, being so close in age and sisters, the sisterly love may not always be so apparent down the road - so I want to treasure these moments. Rhodes entire face will beam when Ali walks in the room and Ali loves to go see Rhodes first thing in the morning and run to her and start talking in a baby voice and say "Rhoooodes, I love you!". There is nothing more precious to me!

Other than that, all is well in the Patrick household. Ali is becoming more and more aware of what SHE wants and is not afraid to tell us if she is not happy if things are not her way. She has a fake cry down - she can even do it on call! I think we may have a future theater star on our hands!

Rhodes is growing, smiling, eating less and almost completely sitting up. Last night, she went to bed at 8:30 and slept the entire night through in her bed without a single peep until after I showered this morning. When she woke up, she even just sat in there and moved around and looked at her mobile - not one scream! What a great night/morning! She has been a pretty good little sleeper - but 11 hours was a new record! Thank the Lord!

Have a great weekend!

Reason # 8,739,085 why I love being a mom

There's nothing more fun than having a little princess(es) run around the house! I love this picture - I was cracking up with her wearing her new earrings!

Sweet Rhodes.....always along for the ride and perfectly content!

I love my girls! Today we went to our friend Emma's princess birthday party and Ali had a ball! All of the girls got to wear their princess gowns and Cinderella came to paint their faces, blow up balloons and put on a magic show. It was a great party and Ali loved the party favors - a princess crown and jewelry. She has been cracking me up ever since - running around in her dress, crown, shoes, and jewelry! Oh, to be a little girl again and to get to do such fun, girly things! At least now I can live through it again by watching my little girls.

Meeting baby Lee!

I know I have mentioned before how, in the month of January, a few of our great friends had sweet baby boys - it is so much fun to meet these little ones and introduce them to our little girls that I know will be their lifelong friends! A few weeks ago, the girls got to meet Webb Scarbrough - one of Rhodes' future boyfriends (maybe even Ali's if she likes younger men! :)), but unfortunately I did not bring the camera. I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures in the years to come! Webb's mama and I have been friends all of our lives and now we all even live on the same street! Reasons why I love Marietta!

This past weekend, we went to meet our newest little friend, Lee Smith! We are in love with him already! He is so cute, tiny and full of red hair. Here are a few pictures of Lee meeting the Patrick girls. :)

Lee in a Patrick girl sandwich... Ali is loving that he is snuggling with her...

Waving bye, off to my other girlfriend....

Future lovebirds. Even though they are only about 3.5 months apart - they are also about 11 pounds apart! :)

Looks like Lee may have eyes for an older woman, though! :) Check out that little smile!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just a few pictures of my Valentines!

Flower Ryan sent me...Rhodes....

Ali was running around so much, I couldn't get good pictures (most were blurred!).... She LOVES these pajamas that have a tutu. The only bad thing is that she does not want to take them off and would like to wear them everywhere!

Heading out for a walk on the pretty day....

My 3 Valentines....

A year ago today is when I found out Rhodes would be coming into our lives. This year, we get to celebrate with both of our sweet little girls! I love my valentines so much! I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

Four Months, 10 days

I feel like I haven't blogged in awhile, so I just wanted to catch everyone up! Our camera has been out of batteries and we have been so busy that I haven't had a chance where I remembered to put new batteries in - so this will be a boring, report blog!

Well, I just took this shot at Rhodes in her swing - long, strong, hefty and healthy! :) Rhodes had her 4 month check up last week and, boy, is she growing! She is 26 inches (97%!), 16 lbs 14 oz (97%!) and her head is 16 1/4 inches (75%). She is growing like a weed and pretty much the happiest baby we know. I'm serious - she NEVER cries. (I should probably knock on wood right now so as not to jinx us!!) I think it's because she is obviously so well fed. :) She is either up smiling & laughing constantly, sleeping or eating. She is SO laid back and it is nice since it is very different from her mama and sister. :) Ryan and I just look at our girls sometimes and say how lucky we are! She is also finally starting to really sleep for us so that is great. Now, if I could just sleep through the night with her instead of worrying that something is wrong if I wake up and she is still asleep! She eats around 8 or 8:30 and then goes to bed and won't eat again until 8 in the morning! Hooray for me! Now, she doesn't usually sleep the whole night through - she will usually wake up and fuss and we will go in and give her her pacifier a few times - but last night, it was a complete full nights sleep - let's hope this is not a fluke! Here is a picture of our sweet baby Rhodes! Ali is napping or I would get a picture of her. She is loving this warm weather and wants to be outside 24/7! Last night, we went out while we waited for Ryan to get home and she just ran around the backyard in circles, chasing her shadow. I can't wait until Rhodes gets bigger, so Ali has a little playmate - although she loves to play with Baxter! We are busy now with gymnastics on Mondays, school on Tuesday and Thursdays and music class on Wednesdays. I'm trying to fit work in in between and finally getting a hang of things! Friday is our day off for fun (if I'm not working) - so it's my favorite day. Today we had Ali's friend little Mimi and her mom over and had so much fun! The girls have also been very lucky the past few weeks to get to spend a day with Mimi and a day with Grandmommy each week! They feel very lucky! So many fun things to do and so little time.

It's a beautiful day outside today so I am sure we will have fun outside again tonight. Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things and take more pictures of all of the fun we are having! Thank Heaven for little girls - I feel like I am the luckiest mom in the world each day as I look at these two sweet (most of the time!) blessings!

Where did January go?

I haven't even gotten the hang of writing "2009" on checks, etc and it's already February! It's almost been a year since I found out I was pregnant with Rhodes - my how time flies! In the past month, I can think of 5 friends that have had babies - all boys - ! Rhodes is going to have plenty of boyfriends to grow up with and protect her!

Our lives continue to be non-stop busy. Some days I wonder if I'll ever just be able to sit down and watch an entire tv show and relax. I am reminding myself that, throughout the stressful times now that I am working part time, these moments are precious and treasure every minute. I adore my little girls and I am a very lucky Mama to have them in my life!

Rhodes is non stop full of smiles - the biggest smiles you have ever seen. She is a genuinely happy baby and there is no way you can look at her without smiling b/c her smile lights up her face from ear to ear. We feel so lucky! While Ali was in school on Thursday, Rhodes and I ventured out to Lenox and then to some of my favorite shops in Buckhead. I decided to Baby Bjorn it in the shops rather than mess with the stroller and everyone we passed told me that she was smiling so big! She just loves people and we love her! Her sleep is getting better and better. I have to admit - despite the fact that she will be FOUR months tomorrow (What??? I need to press pause - time is flying!) - she has been sleeping in our bed. I never did this with Ali but it was just so easy and I need the energy in the morning to entertain the girls all day, so I am guilty of being "that" mom. We have just recently moved her into her bed and when she fusses in the night - we will go put her pacifier in and then, when that doesn't work, I will typically feed her around 4:30 or later. Last night, though, I woke up panicked b/c she never woke up to be fed and was sound asleep. It's funny b/c this should be when I should be sleeping better - but instead, I of course worried something was wrong! Ha! She slept great, through the night, in her own bed for the entire night for the first time since her birth. I am hoping this is the first of many nights!! Yay for Rhodes!! In other Rhodes news, she is practically sitting up by herself. I can let her sit for a few seconds - although she leans forward the whole time - but I feel like the days of her sitting up by herself will be here before we know it. She also can stand pretty sturdy on her feet when I'm holding her hands - she has strong, chunky little legs!

Ali has been having a lot of fun with friends lately and still continues to crack us up and brighten our lives. The past two weekends we have been at fun friends birthday parties and then played with her other friends at night. She is in gymnastics class right now with two of her fun friends, Bennett and Libby and she loves it! We also just started Music class this past week and she, of course loved it. She has been in it with me since she was 2.5 months old, so this was an adjustment as now I was holding Rhodes on my lap and couldn't give Ali the 100% attention she was used to. Both of the girls loved it though, in the end - although I was sweating by the end of it, trying to keep them both entertained and happy! :) Ali has always been a music lover - she is so cute and sings songs with Ryan - he'll say a line and then she'll say the next line. The other day, Ryan was playing a dvd he got for Christmas of The Who in concert (boring!) and he went to give Ali a bath. She was really into the dvd and when she came back after her bath, I had turned it off and she started throwing a fun two year old fit and crying saying "No Mama, I want to watch Wock N Woll!!" We died laughing! One funny thing she is saying lately is adding "probably" (aka "probley" in Ali talk) to a lot of sentences. I'll ask her what she which cup she wants to use, for example, and she'll say "I probley want that one!" I need to start writing down funny things Ali does as she does it (or videotape it) so I can remember when the time comes to update my blog! She is a non stop talking machine!

Life is good - busy, but fun! Here are a few pictures of our little family from the past few weeks.

This is what happens when you (Daddy) give Ali dream pie. What a mess - but so delicious!

I am having such fun getting to dress the girls alike now - it has only just begun, my girls!

Smiley Rhodes!

She has such a little (big?) buddha belly! Rhodes is no small baby - round and healthy!

Rhodes and Daddy photo shoot

Ali eating breakfast at Charlotte and Frances' Pink Pancake 3rd birthday party

Ali and Emma had the same dress on (in this picture they are also wearing the aprons they were given as favors at the party) - they were too cute. Ali couldn't stop to pose though b/c she was on a very serious phone call.

Rhodes is loving the bumbo. It is hilarious to watch her in it - with her little arms swatting at toys!

Ryan taught Ali to say "What's up?" with her hat on backwards and arms folded across her chest.

Ali's jumperoo?

Or Rhodes'?