Happy Birthday Amelia!!

Dear Amelia,

We can hardly believe that our beautiful, bubbly, brilliant little girl is three years old today! You continue to amaze us on a daily basis with your humor, intelligence and creativity! We could not be more proud to be your parents and we are holding on tight to our little girl because each year seems to be flying by faster than the one before. We know that 3-year olds are not necessarily the most rational and cooperative creatures, but we celebrate your strong-willed independence and ask that you have patience with us as we learn how to work with you :) Happy Happy Birthday to our dear daughter. We love you sooooooo much.
Love, Mommy and Daddy

The big bday present!

4 Month Stats

Our little Ellie bean is 4 months old and doing great. At her check up last week she weighed in at 14 lbs, 15 oz., (75%) and 25 1/4 inches (90%). This is a reversal from her 2 month stats, and the Dr said that is great, since she's more active now! She's had a bit of a sleep regression and is waking up again in the middle of the night to eat. I think she's hungry! We may start some rice cereal trials in the next few weeks just for fun! She's grabbing for her toys and does this really cute nose-scrunching thing that I'll try to get on video.

Her big sis has a big birthday coming up next weekend! Can't wait! Hope everyone is staying cool--it is an oven out there!!

The girls at 4 months

Hooray!! Ellie is napping in her crib right now, which means she's not napping on me, or in the stroller or car-seat, which means I have some ME TIME! I've been wanting to go through old photos of Mia and compare them to Ellie to see how/if they resemble each other at this age.

Their baby personalities are so different. Mia was more intense and serious and it took some work to get her to smile at first. She has always been very independent and brave. Ellie's default expression is a smile and she laughs at so many things, from her big sister to her own feet.

Anyway, here are a few photos of them at around 4 mths of age. Do you see much resemblance? They are both as beautiful as can be, but I really don't think they look alike, yet.

MIA AT 4 MONTHS:

ELLIE AT 4 MONTHS:

Summer Summer Summertime

Hola! Apologies for being a lazy blogger lately. We certainly haven't had a lazy summer so far though! We are all doing well and trying to stay cool.

Mia is almost 3 which is just crazy. She's doing really well with potty training (finally!) and after a visit to the ENT specialist, her ears check out just fine and she'll likely outgrow any problems she's had. She taking another gym class this summer and loves to swing on the bars and climb anything possible. We will be going to our local neighborhood pool for the month of August, and I'm sure she'll keep me on my toes as she shows no fear of water. Some of the cuter things she's done lately:

• Whenever the song "You are my Sunshine" comes on in the car (on one of her many "kids" cds) she says "Mom, this song makes me love you". Makes me melt everytime.
• She has adopted some strange New York/New Jersey accent for certain words and cracks us up. You have to hear her say "Waterside Drive". Hysterical.
• She loves her little inflatable "kiddie" pool which she calls her "kitty cat" pool.

Ellie is almost 4 months and as sweet and happy as ever. She's teething and constantly shoving her fist and fingers in her mouth. She has rolled over one way a few times and is just content to go with the flow. That is a good thing because we've been very active!

We had a fabulous visit from the cousins and Aunt Katie and Uncle Maz. We did something fun everyday; beach trips, botanical gardens, and Busch Gardens! Wish we could see them all the time!

So, not a dull summer so far... which is good because staying home with 2 small children can definitely be a challenge. By the end of summer I hope to have Ellie sleeping in her crib full-time, and Mia fully potty trained. Wish me luck! We also want to squeeze in more beach visits, trips to see family and friends and maybe even a date night! :)

Hope you are enjoying summer! Photos below in no particular order...

We obviously have to root for Spain to win the World Cup!

Mia LOVED all the rides at Busch Gardens.

Gabriel and Norah hangliding :)

Maz/Katie, will you please send your better photo w/all 4? :)

Such a sweet face.