Reagan and Daddy

 Reagan is happy anywhere she is with Daddy.  Much like her big sister.

 Her and Daddy like to chill together on the couch, and take naps.

But the other morning, I found something that even I wasn't expecting.  I woke up at 8am (which is odd and unprecedented), and Reilly was still sleeping (again, odd), and the whole house was quiet.  Needless to say, this was all odd.  Reilly had gone to bed late, so that solved one issue.  But where is Daddy and Reagan?

He will usually give her her early morning bottle to let me get a stretch of sleep, then put her back to sleep in her crib.  But this morning was different.

This morning, I found this:

Twinsies. Sleeping soundly.  Being adorable.  I woke the one on the left by taking this picture.

These two make me laugh. :)

I'm TWO!

Two years.  These past two years have been the best and funnest of my life, and hubby's too.  Everyone always told me that I should be living up my twenties, and not settle down with the one I fell in love with in high school. (Well, "everyone" except those who really cared about me told me that.)  But as I am 25, and look at the last several years, especially the last 2 with our babygirls...I am more convinced than ever that this is living.  Having our girls is the greatest blessing thus far in our life, right up there with finding each other.

And it all started 2 years ago, when our angel Reilly was born.  It really feels like yesterday.  And I can't imagine what my days would be like if I didn't get to spend them all with her.

Reilly,

You are the happiest little thing.  You start your day happily hanging out in your crib, literally singing to yourself, until you decide it's time to get up and you starting jumping and calling for Mommy.  It is the most joyful way to start the day, listening to you sing and talk to yourself in the morning.

You LOVE music!  The funniest thing is that  when we get in the car, she'll say, "Mommy, dance?", which means she wants me to put on the music.  Her next sentence is always, "Louder, mommy?" She's a little pip. Her favorite songs right now are Someone Like You by Adele (she calls it "You"), Moves Like Jagger, I'm Glad You Came, and We Are Young (which she calls "Fi-Yaa").

 

You are the best little eater.  Her latest thing is "Rei do it!" - she wants to do everything herself.  Even try to eat soup, which is challenging!  She loves all fruits (except pineapple), "Mommy cereal" which means cereal with milk, any and all veggies (she asks for them for breakfast), PASTA all day and everyday if she could, pizza, yogurt, edamame, avocado, eggies, and salad with "dip".  She also loves when we have "frozen yogurt" for breakfast with granola ("nola"), which is actually just frozen fruit in our Yonanas machine.

Your personality is unlike I have ever seen.  She is HILARIOUS and loves to entertain.  She loves being a ham, and thrives on making people laugh.  It's unreal.  She definitely has her Daddy's outgoing, bubbly, silly personality.  Listening to her and talking to her is my favorite thing to do.

You loves people, all ages.  She will engage perfect strangers in conversation, and say "How are you?!" to get them to talk to her.  She loves children, and loves making friends and playing with kids of all ages.  She has no concept of word "shy", so she'll just talk to any children and totally not get if they don't want to talk back to her.  She loves making friends!

You are the smartest little girl Daddy and I have ever seen.  You amaze us daily.  You love you letters and numbers, and lately you are obsessed with counting mailboxes and telephone poles when we drive anywhere.  You start laughing when we get to high numbers - your favorite is 46!  :)  You can tell us anything you need, and exactly how you are feeling.  It amazes me how you are using such full sentences already.  This morning, you said "Oh Mommy, I hurt my finger!".  I couldn't believe how grown up you sounded saying that sentence. You have the most insane memory ever, and you are freakishly observant.  If I tell you it's time to go to the store, you will remind me to put on my shoes.

You have the sweetest little soul.  You can tell when Mommy is mad or upset, and you will come over and say, "You okay mommy? You happy now?" and give kisses.  You know right away when you have done something wrong, and will say you are sorry right away.  You will even say, "Rei go to room, don't move?" which is where you go to "think" when you get in trouble.  When I go in to talk about what you did wrong, and say "Do you know why you are sitting in here?"  You will say, "Well, I think, because I no listen."  I have to stifle a smile when you respond like this to me, so seriously.  When Reagan cries, it makes you sad, and you immediately go to rock and sing to her.  You will pray for anyone and everything, and I can't wait until you can truly understand how important the words you say to God are.

You love your books - anything with Elmo or Sesame Street, "But Mama", Suppertime, Brown Bear and "Buggies" are your favorites right now.  You can read all of your favorites yourself, and will get upset if Mommy tries to read those to you - "Rei read it!" you will say. You love puzzles, your dolls, bubbles, and doing anything outside.  Your favorite thing to do is go to Mantown with Daddy, and your little adventures outside.  You LOVE water, I can't wait to see you in the pool and water table this summer!  You also love you iPad apps, which are limited to when Mommy is making dinner.  You love dancing, and watching your Wee Sing videos, which you call Big Bear, Candy Mountains, and Sillyville (Lori-Scott).

You as a big sister is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen.  Your first words every day are "See Reagan, watch Elmo?".  The two loves of your life are Elmo, and your sister.  I am so impressed with how you care for her and protect her already, and am so excited to watch you two grow up together and lean on each other.

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet angel.  I hope you will always know how much we love you, it's more than we could ever ever express in words.  Seeing you happy is our favorite thing in the world.  Being your Mommy and Daddy is the most wonderful privilege God has even given us.  We love watching you grow.  Thank you for being sweet, silly, wonderful you.

Being a Mommy

To me, being a mommy is being spit up on, peed on, drooled on, and bled on (don't worry, it was just a pinky toe scab from playing outside), all in one morning, and still being completely filled with that gitty - can't help but giggle - can't wipe the smile off your face - last day of school - going on vacation - first ice cream cone of the season kind of happiness.  That is the happiness that being the mommy of my hubby's babies brings me.  And it is a blessing that has been beyond my wildest dreams. 

In case you were wondering, that morning described above, was today.  :) 

Thank you God.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Times a million.

Spending today celebrating the one that calls me mommy - our beautiful 2 year old babygirl!  I am so happy, it feels like MY birthday. :)

Tummy Times!

I decided that nothing is cuter than this baby doing "tummy times" as Reilly calls it.  Between her big round eyes, and her chunkies hanging to the floor, I can't even deal. :)

Fun Time Oh-Side

 This past Sunday was gorgeous, like a summer day.  First warm day of May, and it was glorious!  After church, Reilly napped and then we headed outside.  She heard him mowing the lawn, and as the mower got louder, she would run over to me in fear and say "OH MOMMY! THE MOTOR!".  Then when it got quieter and he was driving away, she would say "Bye Daddy! See you soon!"

She just loves being outside, no matter what we are doing.  She was happy to help me set up our sun canopy for Reagan, with the promise of bubble blowing, which is her favorite activity ever.

 When Reagan woke up,m she joined our outdoor party and Reilly was so excited to get to hold her.  Below is the face Reilly makes when I say "Smile".  I think she gets a kick out of how we laugh when she squeezes her eyes shut.

 I just love those little pigtails.  And Reagan's little chunky arms!

It was one of those perfect days, that is even more perfect because we know that so many more of them lie ahead of us with summer coming.  Lots of sunshine, sunhats, and little baby legs peeking out of pretty little sundresses.

We are looking so forward to summer with the babygirls. :)

TWO babies!

Here is our little two moth old babygirl!  She is just becoming the sweetest little person, I can't even describe it.  First of all, look at those cheeks.  Will we ever stop marveling over these cheeks!  I think not.  Somebody recently said they feel bad for her, because she has SO much cheek-pinching inevitably in her future with such a chunky little face! :)  You just can't help yourself.

 Besides her cheeks, are her giant beautiful eyes!  She always looks surprised, with these huge observant eyes.  She focuses right on you, and loves looking all around her world.

She will smile so easily now - she started a few weeks ago.  It literally makes my heart burst when this little girl smiles.  All we do is sit in front of her, getting her to smile at us.  She is the sweetest little munchkin.

She weighs about 12 pounds, but we will have an exact weight when we go to the doctors later this month.  She is spending more time awake during the day, and less time waking up at night, which is glorious!  She will go to sleep around 9 for the night, and wake up at about 12 and 4 every night.  Great sleeping, babygirl!

 Speaking of 2, we not only have a 2 month old this month, but a 2 YEAR old as well!  Reilly will get her own 2 year post next week, but here is our TWO photo shoot with our little beauties.

 Here is Reagan doing her Rock face, which she does all the time and apparently inherited from her Daddy, while Reilly is trying to hug her.  :)

 How old are you going to be this month Reilly?!

 Good job, two fingers!

The following pictures are beyond precious to me, because they were both looking at Brett with these huge smiles at the silly faces he was making.  Look at Reagan's SMILE! 

And yes, that's the ipad.  Reilly insisted it be involved in the photoshoot, so I googled "purple 2" so we could include it.  Roll with the punches, you know?

Reagan Kate, my fear before you were born was that Reilly would miss the time that it was just us.  I was afraid she would be jealous of all the time that we needed to spend taking care of you.  But let me tell you, she loves you so much.  She loves singing "Twinkle Twinkle" to you, and when you cry, she says, "Mommy, Reagan need a breastfeed?"  She is always making sure I'm taking good care of you!  She is always giving you butterfly kisses and bunny kisses, and squeezing your "chunkies"!

You favorite position to sleep in is either flat on your back with your arms stretched straight out to the side, or flat on your tummy on our laps.  Both very hilarious options, but you love it!

We have thrush right now, and you are being such a trooper!  We totally have our latch fixed, and I think we almost have this yeast kicked.  Yay breastfeeding baby!

You are the most perfect addition to our family Reagan, it is like you were always here.  You brighten up our house with the many funny little faces that you make, and your droopy little cheeks that always makes us smile.

Happy 2 Month, our sweet little snuggle muffin!  We all love you millions.

Reilly's Prayers

 We have been praying with Reilly for probably about a year, both at dinner and at bedtime.  Our dinnertime prayer is usually a thankful one, different every day, for our food and our day and different things like that.  We would always pray in Reilly's "voice" to teach her, as in "Dear God, thank you for my mommy and daddy...".  We would instinctively speak in a higher-pitched voice, saying our child-like prayers, teaching her what it means to talk to God.

The funny thing is, now we will say, "Reilly, can you say grace?", and she will say it.  Not only will she say a unique prayer every night, but she will say it in this adorable very high-pitched voice, imitating the silly voice that we use when praying with her.  Here was her prayer for dinner tonight.

 Dear God,
Thank you for Reagan, and Mommy, and Daddy, and Elmo, and Abby, and Rei's juice, and Rei's sunglasses, and bubbles, and medicine, and water, and Mommy's food, and Daddy's fork, and Daddy's food, and Reagan, and Rei's food, and chicken, and broccoli, and tomatoes, AMEN.

Hubby and I looked at each other after the prayer, and said the only thing we really could say in this situation.

AMEN.