A Boy!!

Just wanted to say how excited we are for Lisa & Eric - they will be giving Brad's parents their very first grandson (in a sea of 5 granddaughters) in June!  It's funny, I think we have gotten so used to girls that we just expect that that's all there will be!  Yay for boys though! :)  So glad that their little man looks healthy and all is well with mom & baby!  Can't wait to meet Caleb Stephen and take some photos of him in June! ;) :)

Pigtails, Snow, and Sisters

Yesterday, Brad told Natalie he'd love to see her hair in pigtails, and miracle of miracles, it worked!  She let me brush her hair and put them in, and even asked for bows!  She kept them in for quite a while, even during our trip to Lowe's.  She looked so cute running around in the store with her pigtails flying behind her.

We got a lot of snow (for us!) this morning, and I took a few pictures.  It was insane how HUGE the flakes were and how FAST they were flying down for a while.  It doesn't appear that much of it is going to stick around, which is fine by us!

Also, here are a couple cute pictures of Natalie reading to Mollie before their naps this afternoon. :)

Two Going on Twelve

So Natalie's new thing is really not my favorite so far. Apparently she's getting a really early start on the fine art of the excuse. For EV.E.RY.THING. Seriously:

One:
Me: OK, Natalie, let's go potty and read some books (she knows this means it's naptime).
Natalie: But I awake!

Two:
Natalie is standing on a plastic tote filled with clothes.
Me: Get off of that box.
Natalie: But I jus . . .
Me: No, get off of the box. You could fall.
Natalie: But I jus . . . but I jus . . . (looking around wildly for something, anything that might be a reason to stand there) I nee my crowns (crayons).

Three:
Me: Natalie, put the phone back.
Natalie: But I jus calking (talking).
Me: Put it back please.
Natalie: But I jus calking. I calk a Nonny. I calking.

Four:
Me: Come on, Natalie, eat the oatmeal you wanted.
Natalie: I jus . . . I jus grumping.
Me (trying reeeeeally hard not to laugh): Well, you can eat your oatmeal even if you're grumpy. ;)

I can't even remember all of them, there were SO many yesterday. And she's not quite two and a half. I am afraid to know what the teenage years hold for us.

Sleeping Beauty (but not what you think)

No Disney princesses here, just a sweet little baby girl. We found out yesterday that Mollie and Natalie both have RSV and double ear infections. Fun stuff. We have to do breathing treatments for both girls now, and they are also on antibiotics. It's not a huge deal for toddlers, so we're not especially worried about Natalie (it's just like a bad cold), but it can be bad for babies Mollie's age, so it's a bit disconcerting. She seems to be doing well, though, and is mainly bothered by the congestion. She didn't nap all that well today and this week, she has decided to boycott all naps past 2:30 pm. This does not make for a happy Mollie past, oh, let's say 5:30 pm - and that's being fairly generous. Also, she's become SO easily distracted while drinking her bottles that the best way I've found to get her to take them is to get her alone in her room where it's quiet and the distractions are minimal. This is what happened at 6:45 this evening while drinking her last bottle:
Unfortunately, I had to disturb the sweetness by changing her diaper. She wasn't too happy about that. I didn't document that little mood swing.

An Ordinary Day

Both of the girls are actually sick right now, but we had a brief period this afternoon when they seemed to be feeling pretty good, so I grabbed the camera. Natalie pulled out her flashcards and she had fun telling Mollie what all the things were. Mollie had fun chewing on the cards. Everyone was happy. ;)

LOOOOOOVE this picture of Natalie!!

There's that sweet smile we know and love around here! :)

I thought this was a neat shot of her gorgeous hair, even if it was rather wild today. :)

Mollie's 6 Month Photos

Well, Miss Mollie is actually closer to 7 months now than 6 (EEEK! How is that HAPPENING so QUICKLY?), but here are the rest of the photos from her "Six Month" photo shoot. As you can see, I was kind of in a black & white mood. :) I just loved how they turned out! :)

Photo Shoot Sneak Peek

I haven't taken photos of the girls with my little studio setup in a while, and the snow outside is actually helping to make some pretty decent light in our kitchen, so I took the opportunity to do a little photoshoot. ;) It's seriously hard work getting everything set up all by myself, and then trying to convince Natalie to just LOOK at me, let alone SMILE at the camera. I got a few cute shots - here's just a sneak peek. I have other things I need to do, so I've just worked on a couple so far. And these aren't even the cutest ones. ;)

Natalie just loves to rub Mollie's fuzzy head. It's kind of addictive, actually. ;)