My Girls

There are a lot of really great things about the second baby...everything is just a little more comfortable because we have done it before. Life is a bit more relaxing for me. I am enjoying nursing more this time around, I just don't feel a lot of the stress of being the sole source of food that I did with Leila, or the anxiety over public nursing, though I could really do without the nursing sessions all night long.
When I look at Thea I get these wonderful flashbacks to Leila as a baby, and I love to sit and think back to her as an infant...before Thea, I don't think I ever really spent much time thinking about the vast amount of change that she had gone through, I just knew that everything was different. It is kind of like having a chance to go back in time and experience it all again, all the while having my big girl around to keep me company! I love seeing their similarities and I also really love noticing their differences.
I love to play with Leila, and to show her new things. She is my little buddy and she is a great conversationalist. Four of my favorite things about Leila: 1. The way she loves her stuffed animals. She doesn't want to go anywhere without at least one "friend" along with her. She has so many stuffed animals, and she picks a different one everyday that has to ride to school with her, and someone else has to sleep in bed with her. I really appreciate that she is equal opportunity...she loves all of her animals and they each get a turn! Tonight Leila is cuddled up in bed with her stuffed horse, whose name is piglet :) And today, Alex the Lion rode beside her on the way to school. 2. The way that she tells stories. Leila loves to tell stories...many of her stories are about animals, but she has come up with all kinds of crazy things! The best part of Leila stories has to be the delivery though. She talks with her hands and makes big arm motions as she tells her stories with her big expressive eyes. I can't help but tell her all the time how cool she is, and how much I love to be with her. 3. She does what she wants to. As trying as it can be to parent a free spirited child, I am so happy that Leila stands up for herself and stubbornly decides what she wants to do. I hope that as she grows she will continue to be stubborn about those things that are important to her, and in the meantime, I just remind myself when her obstinacy is driving me bananas that the girl knows what she wants, and there is a lot to be said for that, I hope no one ever breaks that spirit!
my fourth favorite thing about Leila has to be her love for Thea. When we get ready to go to school on Tuesday and Thursday Leila always has to check and make sure that Thea has her blanket. The funny thing is that Thea isn't attached to her blanket, but Leila is attached to hers and so she knows how important it is to have your blanket! Leila takes care of Thea and when she isn't happy, she talks to her and plays peekaboo with her and whatever else it takes to make her smile or giggle.(I started out with my 2 favorite things, but I couldn't go on without mentioning 3 and 4)


Tonight we were at the table having dinner and I was feeding Thea some rice cereal. As I was feeding her she started blowing raspberries and spitting the cereal all over the place! Leila started laughing at Thea because she thought it was so funny, which made Thea laugh, and also continue spitting to make Leila laugh more. Pretty soon we were all sitting at the table laughing and I was covered in slobbery rice cereal. I love my girls so much, I couldn't imagine a better family than the one I have, I am so blessed!
Thea is getting bigger all of the time and growing more active everyday! She is now able to get herself to a sitting up position from laying on the floor, and she is getting up on her hands and knees rocking all the time! one of these days she is just going to take off!
She is sleeping like crap...like 3 hours at time when I am lucky. So she is sleeping in our bed most of the night so that i can get some sleep, which only makes her sleep worse, which means more awake time for me too. It is stressful, but we are getting by until I can get to the point where I am comfortable with making a change.

This past weekend we went to the apple orchard and picked a ton of apples, and we also went to a butterfly tagging event where Leila got to see a cocoon up close and had the opportunity to pet a butterfly (she chickened out! :)). All of this along with painting the kitchen and Cory volunteering to do roadside clean up. I have some pictures of the orchard and butterfly festivities that I will post, maybe tomorrow.
Tonight I am feeling a great sense of contentment, and the memory of our dinner table laughter will help get me through another sleepless night!