sugar and spice and everything nice...: October 2009

Our baby girl is one! Wow! What an amazing year it has been!!! (And how fast it's gone by!). One year ago (almost exactly... it's 10:21 and she was born at 10:51) today little Lauren Alexandra graced us with her presence. How blessed we felt then and how overwhelmingly joyful we are now to have her as a part of our family!

2 weeks old

She's such a little sweet heart; so mild mannered and calm and lovely. She still loves to snuggle and be held; gives great (yet slobbery) kisses and has the most beautiful smile. She's fun and smart and curious and adorable; she's simply wonderful!

We spent the day today at the Aquarium (as we did for Adelyn's first birthday) and had a good time. Lauren was really enamored with all the fish and loved to stand at the glass watching them. She liked seeing all the cool animals, loved watching Adelyn interact with Daddy and the animals and was her usual cheerful self.
After a long drive home (Vancouver traffic is getting worse and worse!) we had a fun pancake dinner before having cupcakes and ice-cream with Grandma Willis. While Lauren was somewhat interested in the cupcake, she was VERY impressed with the ice-cream! I couldn't feed it to her fast enough!
She got more cuddles and playtime after her birthday cupcakes before going to bed.
Andrew has the day off tomorrow so the three of them will spend the day together before her party on Sunday (Halloween) and then trick-or-treating later that night followed by a sleep over at
Grandma and Grandpa Willis'. Fun times!

As I say every time I post, we truly feel so blessed and happy to have the two beautiful daughters we have- we couldn't imagine (nor would we want to imagine) life without them.
We love you baby girls!

Happy First Birthday, Lauren!!!

A, M, a & l

I can't believe how fast this past year has gone by. This time next week I'll be sitting at my desk, back at work and trying not to cry! My maternity leave officially ends this Friday (Oct. 9) and I'll be starting back at work on Tuesday morning. I'm working only three days a week, but it still feels like I'll be giving up every free moment with my kids! When I went back to work with Adelyn it wasn't as difficult because I was pregnant and so I knew I was only going back for seven months. This time I'm going back indefinitely... I don't like it! Maybe I should try and convince Andrew it's time for baby #3!
Our two babes are doing really well! Adelyn is a super star dancer; she loves everything about dance and has been watching the video of the year-end recital from last year and is teaching herself all the other dances! It's so cute- my favourite is when she sings "Little Bo Peep, Lost her sheep... and doesn't know where to find them!" in her soft, high little voice. Ah, it just melts me into a ball of mush. Her potty training is done! While she'll still have the odd accidents, diapers are so far gone! She still uses a pull up at bedtime, but is fine for naps and the rest of the day. We even went to the GV Zoo for our anniversary and she went the whole day (including two hour-long car rides) without incident! I'm so proud of her and happy for her! She's really growing up too; learning new phrases, doing "big-girl" activities like crafts and is a star on her run bike! She's outgrown all of her clothes, which spurred a recent trip down to Target (but who ever really needs an excuse to go down there?) but I still need to get her some new pants as she has a booty and has plumber-bum ALL the time! It's the cutest little plumber bum you've ever seen though! Adelyn is just so creative and fun and passionate I can't wait to see what the rest of her childhood years brings! She's already wanting to go to school... and preschool's already next year! It's crazy to think that school (of any level) is just around the corner. I guess what she says is true "I'm not a baby, Mom, I'm a big girl." Sniff, sniff... now I'm getting teary-eyed!
As for Lolo, our sweet, little, lovable baby Lolo... she's almost not a baby anymore! She's one in just a few short weeks already! She just doesn't seem like she's almost one, probably because by this age Adelyn was already walking and talking, not to mention eating! But Lauren is the happiest baby I've ever seen! She's so full of fun and wonder and longing to be like her big sister! It's just adorable to watch her follow Ady around. She'll even stand and "color" the coloring books if that's what Ady's doing. Or she'll sit and watch TV with Ady, if that's what Adelyn's doing. It's pretty cute and I imagine it's only going to get cuter as Lauren becomes older and more able to do the same things as Ady.
Having two girls is amazing; so much better than I ever could've expected and we're both so thankful and grateful to have the two precious babes that we do.
Man, this post is a lot sappier than normal... probably because I'm so bummed about going back to work! Anyway, I should get posting some pictures before I get distracted and never get around to it!

Cheers,
A, M, a & l