SISTERS!

Madalin is two months old now and growing fast. As I check out my new beautiful baby I can't help but notice all the similarities and differences between her and her big sister. Madalin is so far much more quiet and content. She sleeps ALL night, rarely cries, and loves to cuddle. She has darker hair but other than that I think they look alike. While I was browsing through some old pictures of Caralin I found this picture that looks just like Madalin. What do you think?
In case you're wondering who is who... Caralin is on the top and Madalin is on the bottom.

Now Booking Sessions

Caralin is getting so big! She will be three in just a couple months! Her personality, traits, and talents continue to develop everyday. She is AMAZING!

- She loves to dance.
- She is very dramatic.
- She is empathetic of others.
- She loves to read.
- She has a great vocabulary.
- She pays attention to details (she often compliments others)
- She stands with her hands on her hips (like me).
- She's kinda bossy (ok, who am I kidding... very bossy, hopefully just a phase).
- She loves to pretend play.
- She's no good at hide-n-seek ("I'm in here")
- She talks outloud a lot (usually to herself).
- She's very helpful.
- She ADORES her baby sister.

And her new passion - Photography :) Here is her first portfolio (She took all the pics with her new kids digital camera she got for Christmas, except the ones of her that I took). She seems to have a good eye for objects and angles. If you need a photographer, give her a call! Enjoy!

Big Smiles

Milestones!!!! I can't believe I get to experience them all over again! To feel so much excitement, happiness, and pride by the little things in life, like smiles, puts so much into perspective and makes me appreciate all the wonderful gifts God has given me.

Madalin is growing fast! I don't remember things going this fast with Caralin, but here we are 7 and 1/2 weeks later! She has been smiling more and more lately. She can bear weight on her legs and holds her head up really well, even on her tummy. She is such a content baby and has been blessing me with MANY full nights of sleep. She LOVES to sleep! And so do I (I just wish her sister didn't get up at 6am - Ouch!)

It takes two...

Adjusting to life with two children has been mostly a fun journey but not without it's challenges. Here's a funny story of today's challenge.

Madalin was pretty needy today (She didn't take a good nap all day) and was not happy if I had to put her down to do something. To her credit she gave me about 3 minutes before she started wailing. The evening played out like this: run to the bathroom to start Caralin's bath, call Caralin to get her undressed for bath, check the bath water, cue Madalin, Caralin says "sister" and runs to her "aide", turn off bath water, Caralin is jumping on our bed naked, Madalin is lying on our bed wailing, grab Caralin before she jumps on her sister, get her in the bath, pick up Madalin and feed her, Caralin yelling to me she is done with her bath after only 5 minutes, tell Caralin if she gets out of the bath she'll get a time out, finish feeding Madalin, put her in the bouncy seat, run to bathroom to get Caralin washed up, Shampoo in her hair, cue Madalin, quickly rinse Caralin's hair, wash her body, and get her out of the tub, wrap Caralin in a towel, run to living room to pick up Madalin, realize Kevin is going to be home for lunch in 25 minutes, calm Madalin down, start pulling out the ingredients for a pizza, cue Madalin, Caralin climbing on a stool naked in the kitchen to help with dinner, pizza dough has to sit for 20 minutes so feed Madalin AGAIN, Caralin watching TV - naked, put Madalin in the bouncy seat, start making the pizza, cue Madalin, grab the baby sling so I can hold Madalin and have one free hand to cook dinner, Caralin helping = flour all over the counter, pizza in the oven as Kevin walks in on his lunch break, Caralin running around in circles from kitchen to living room... still naked! At least we could laugh about it all. Thankfully Kev helped me get things back in order before he went back to work. Whew... exhausting but hopefully it'll get easier.

New Year - New Adventures

Happy 2010 everyone!

I have decided to try a different, shorter format to updating my blog. No more long posts catching up for weeks or months of not posting. I figure this may help me to have time to post more often.

So, here it goes:

As you all know Madalin Grace was born November 25th and she has fit right it making our transition from a family of 3 to 4 smooth and easy. She is a sweet baby girl and has a great calm temperment. She has been eating and sleeping well and she is growing fast.

Her big sister loves her so much and even now (6+ weeks later) Caralin still gets excied to see her after she wakes up from a nap, like she's been away on vacation or something. Too cute. Here's my girls:

10 weeks left!

Wow! Only 10 weeks till we meet our new little girl. There are so many things we still need to do to prepare for number 2. We will be moving into our own place finally (not staying with family anymore) on the 1st of October. I am so excited about what God has in store for us in this next chapter of our life. Please continue to pray for our family.
Caralin is excited to meet her new baby sister. She says "she will be here in just a minute" and as funny as that sounds I have a feeling that is exactly what it will feel like! She is going to be a great big sister! More soon...

Ready for Fall

Hi all,
Trying to keep on top of everything has been making me a little crazy lately. Baby belly is getting bigger! I don't think there is anymore room for her to grow and I still have a little over 2 and a half months to go! I know the time is just going to fly by. I am a little nervous about having two but everyone tells me it works out just fine. We still haven't decided on a name, hopefully it will come to us soon. I don't want to bring home a "Baby Girl Hastings".
Caralin is sick today with stomach flu so we have spent the morning on the couch watching movies. Poor baby! This is the first stomach flu we have gone through with her... it's not fun. At least she tells me when her tummy is hurting so I can grab the bucket. Caralin has been saying the funniest things lately like "Mom, I have a question to you.", and "My last name is Caralin Kay Hastings", and she will tell you a secret which is really cute. She is also becoming more and more of a daddy's girl, wanting him to do everything with her. This is a good thing because I'll definately need more help when the new baby is here.
This summer she has become a great little swimmer. She will even practice swimming to me without a vest or arm floaties. Hopefully next year she'll be doing it all by herself. The summer has been fun but we have had some HOT, HOT weather here the last couple weeks. We are really looking forward to the chilly Fall. My favorite time of year. Starting to think about costumes for Halloween, my baby shower, birthday's, Thanksgiving, THE NEW BABY, a trip to Disneyland, and Christmas! That is just an abreviated list too.... many other things going on the next few months. So I should have more posts to update you. Take Care.