CRAWLING--almost!!

As I mentioned, Elisabeth LOVES to watch Isabella! You can absolutely see on her face that she can not wait to be able to keep up with Isabella!! It is so amazing to watch Elisabeth hit her milestones sooner, because she watches and learns from Isabella! Isabella did not crawl until eight or nine months (I know that I should know that, but I can not remember) and Elisabeth will be crawling very soon! She thoroughly enjoys being on the floor and trying to scoot around on her tummy, so far she situates herself so that she can roll to whatever she wants to reach! She straightens her arms and can lift her tummy and upper legs off the ground, but not all at the same time just yet.


I know that her eyes are closed, but I love her smile in this one!

Never to miss an opportunity to have her picture taken, while I was taking these Isabella decided to climb into her toy box and have a seat!!

First time feeding Elisabeth cereal!

My girls have been different in so many ways!! One of the things is their appetites, Elisabeth was born hungry (probably why she was already 17 pounds at her 4 month well-baby) and we have pretty much always had to encourage Isabella to eat! Elisabeth nursed within the first hour of being born, and we had to work with and wake Isabella up for weeks to nurse! I have NEVER had to wake Elisabeth up to eat, she does NOT like to miss a meal!!



At her four month appointment her pediatrician and I talked about starting her on some cereal. He said that when babies are gaining weight so well and growing so much, they don't really need cereal at four months, but suggested that we start just trying at 5 months, and then getting real serious with it at around six months!!
Right around the five month mark we tried giving her infant cereal mixed with breast milk! By the third spoonful coming towards her mouth she was opening her mouth in anticipation! It is so much fun to watch her facial expressions!!



I have been trying to make some vegetables into baby food for her, for when we start that! So far I have made carrots, sweet potatoes and bananas! I am SO super excited for her to eat them soon, to know exactly what is in her baby food, to know that it was made with love, AND to save money!!! If anyone reading this makes or has made baby food, please pass along any suggestions or thoughts on the subject!!

Bath time fun!!

Isabella and Elisabeth will probably totally dislike that I posted these someday, but I had to document their first bath together!!
Isabella continues to be SO sweet toward Elisabeth--she wants to hold and play with her all the time, and even try to feed her!! Elisabeth continues to LOVE to watch Isabella do everything, she just stares at her in adoration!!! It frequently reminds me of how we should look at the Lord, with total and complete adoration and love!!
Isabella has been asking for weeks if Elisabeth can take a bath with her, so we decided to try it!

There she is looking at Isabella and below is what she was watching Isabella do!!

I just LOVE her hands in this one!!
It was a huge hit, and we will totally start doing this more often, especially as Elisabeth starts sitting up better!! Both girls just love to be in water of any kind--just like their parents (I wish that I liked to drink water as much as I like to play in it)!!

Sunflowers!!

There is a field of free Sunflowers near Florence, and we went and cut a bunch last Saturday! I love Sunflowers!



I am so not a florist, but this arrangement turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!!
Now, a week later, I have pollen all over my table, but it was worth it!!

Catch up! A little update!

I thought that I would post some new pictures and updates from our life recently!

We have finally been able to catch some of Elisabeth's smiles and grins!


She doesn't look like it in this picture, but she usually loves her Jumper!!
She is so determined to roll over all the time that she is going to flip herself out of her bouncy seat soon!
She has also started to love to play in her exersaucer!
Sweet sisters!
She wants to be on the move so badly!! It will not be long before she crawls!
Elisabeth and Jack, future sweeties!
She looks like such an angel when she sleeps!!

Updated pictures of our garden, it has yielded tons of tomatoes!


Fun times playing in the pool!!





Jason decided to cut down a very ugly tree in our front yard! He told me to stay inside so that I did not worry to much!
Later in the week the city came by and got all the tree scrapes from the yard! Thank you City of Florence!!

Family beach time!

We decided to go to the beach for a day! Isabella loves the beach this year! It is so fun to watch her play in the sand and surf!


Our first family beach photo!

My sweet girls!! LOVE!!!
We decided to spend the night and make a little mini-vacay out of it! Since Isabella has a play kitchen at home, she LOVED the fact that she could open and close (time and time again) the hotel fridge and microwave!

And the view from our balcony!We had a great time at the beach! I look forward to tons more super fun trips to the beach as a family!