Isn't She Cute?!

My friend and I have a running joke about little girls wearing bows (or flowers). Having spent time in the South, I'm not surprised by the size of bows people strap on their daughters, but it just hasn't been my thing (at least not yet - "girly" is growing on me a bit). It was only appropriate that Gretchen receive her first headband/flower from Ashley (check out her amazing blog), who is crazy talented and made this cute "ensemble" for our little girl (complete with two pairs of shoes that didn't make the picture). When I opened the package, knowing there would be a "head accessory" inside, I saw it and said, "I like it - I really like it!". And I do!

348 and 2 month celebrations

Gretchen and I celebrated our 2 month and 348 month birthdays this week, respectively. I turned 29 on Friday and we'll have known Gretchen for a whole two months as of tomorrow! Wow. It seems like I've known her forever.

She still has pretty bad acid reflux and we both still change clothes at least two times a day (and that's after dirtying at least 4 burp cloths), but I wouldn't trade having her for these past two months for anything! I like it that my daughter and I both have dimples:

Several of you have asked about Gretchen's hair. She's rockin' the old man mullet right now. What little hair she has on top is pretty blonde, but you can be the judge on what color this patch is in the back. I'm pretty sure we'll have at least two red-heads. So weird, but I love it.

She is quick to smile, especially for her daddy.

Speaking of the Baby Daddy, he made me feel so special for my birthday! One of the best parts of the whole day was when Ryan walked in the house, three hours earlier than expected, with this box:

We waited for Rooke to wake up from his nap and then all enjoyed birthday cupcakes together.

"Ok, enough pictures. I want to eat that."

Ryan hung out ALL AFTERNOON, which is a gift all by itself. At one point, he and Rooke went to "take out the recycling", but came back a few moments later and Ryan said, "He Ang, look what I found outside." I walked to the top of the stairs to see him holding Evelynn, my niece, who lives in Canada! It took me a few seconds, but when I realized what was going on, I literally screamed with excitement! The McTaggarts had driven down to surprise me!

Thank you to Chris & Brooke for watching all three of the kids while the four of us enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Cactus. And thank you, sweet Husband, for making my birthday special and full of surprises!

Catching up

Just catching up with some pictures from the past week:

Baby Girl at seven weeks (she's past eight now - wow!)

I find that I hold her more than I did Rooke because I know these days are numbered and will be over all too soon.

Jaime and Averie invited us over to decorate Rice Krispy treats for Valentine's Day.

Rooke was more interested in eating than decorating!

She likes her hands when she can find them.

We ventured on the light rail again this week with Elijah, Sarah and Nina. This time we headed out to the airport in hopes of watching planes. We ended up just exploring the airport, but once again the light rail proved to be an exciting adventure for my little man.

Nina is just too cute!

It was a great morning and we were all tired after our adventure

Happy Valentines Day

Some day I will be able to take my Valentine back to this beach. And OH! What day that will be! Love you Ang! Thanks for the memories and your everyday smiles!

Life with my 2-year-old

Life with Rooke is never boring. His chattering and singing keeps us all entertained. Yesterday, while trying to boycott his nap, he was rambling all sorts of things (each of which was repeated many, many times in various forms):

"Hey Mommy . . . . Baby Bjorn" (your guess is as good as mine!)
"Read about Joshua and Jerico"
"I want to play with my fire truck - where's my fire truck?"
"Hey Mommy . . . I'm awake" (followed by a big yawn)
"I grabbed a picture"
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey . . . ."

He still loves to read. We're usually able to find at least a couple times a week where just he and I can snuggle on the couch with a stack that looks something like this:

The beginning of the end:

He also still enjoys helping me cook. Today's project was a batch of my favorite chocolate-chip cookies. We lost a little flour in the mixing process!

He likes to turn on the mixer, but pulled the lever just a bit too hard this time and the dry ingredients went everywhere. I was cracking up! He didn't think it was a big deal until he found out he had to change his clothes and started crying before I could clean his face. His tears mixed with the flour started forming a paste! I was still cracking up!

Thankfully, the mess resulted in a much-needed Kitchenaid cleaning and floor mopping.

I love life with my little guy!

Super Fun Weekend

My sister came for a visit this weekend! YAY!! We missed the McTaggarts so much while they were in London. It was great to see Aubyn and Evelynn again. And Gretchen finally got to meet her Auntie Auby!

Evelynn and Rooke had a fun time in the pack-n-play together!

Evelynn was checking the mail in the "green house". My crafty nana made this cardboard-table-cover-play-tent for my siblings and I when we were little. It's fun to see our kids enjoying it now. Thank you, Chella, for digging it out of the attic!

The weather was absolutely perfect! How could we not have walked to the park?!

Another highlight from the weekend was a trip on the light rail! We walked from our apartment to catch it, enjoying more of the beautiful weather.

Rooke loved it!

Destination: Geraldine's Counter for a yummy breakfast.