Happy 3 months Madalin!

Wow the last three months have flown by in the blink of an eye. I can't believe that my little baby girl is already 3 months old, although when I look into her beautiful blue eyes and see how much she is changing, learning and growing I think she's gotta be bigger than that! Here are a few little Madalin facts:

She would rather sit up or stand than chill in her bouncy or swing (uh, oh like her busy mama and sis already). We have just recently put her in the jumper and she loves it. She is a chatter box, especially when she really gets going, it is really cute when she "talks" with her big sister. She has a ton of hair and it looks really cute with a flower in it. She also has the prettiest pouty lips and an amazing smile. Her smile quickly puts life into perspective, and can instantly alter your mood. I've noticed she has several different smiles: a sweet closed mouth grin; a big cheeks, squinty eyes smirk and, my favorite, a wide open mouth in the shape of an oval, like she going to swallow up your face, her cheeks show the twinge in her lips at the corners of her mouth and her eyes get really big. That is the smile I get most often from my happy, content little baby and I LOVE IT! She is still sleeping all night (knock on wood, don't wanna jinks it) from about 9pm to 7am and she takes two good naps during the day. Just like her sister and daddy it takes her awhile to wake up after nap. She snuggles and wiggles and burries her face and sleepy eyes into my shoulder. What a sweet, sweet girl. I love her and can't wait to watch her grow more. Happy Three Months Madalin!

Beach Babes

So Spring feels like it has arrived a little early. We have been fortunate to be able to enjoy the lovely outdoors this week with several days at the beach and a day at the lake to feed the ducks. I knew Caralin loves the beach and now it seems her sister really enjoys it too. I always bring a cozy seat for Madalin to sit in and she loves to watch the waves and the kids play. It is turning out to be our FAVORITE thing to do. Here are some pictures from our first days at the beach in 2010.

PRECIOUS...

...enough said!

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.