"Ama coming on the Airplane!"

We were lucky enough to have Lois come stay with us for the first week of March during her mid-winter break. Madeline was talking about "Ama coming on the airplane" for weeks before she actually came. Although the weather was still pretty cold while Lois was here, we still had a great week. Ama was brave and watched the girls all week long while James and I worked, which certainly takes a lot of energy and requires some real vim and vigar to keep Madeline in line! But Lois did such a great job caring for them, and Madeline had so much fund with her Ama. We went for a few snow walks, had ice cream at the college cafe, Ama and Madeline baked muffins and Shamrock cookies, went to Ash Wednesday service and small group, and after the kids went to bed we had a lot of cozy nights watching movies with popcorn. On her last night here, we got a babysitter and had a lovely dinner out at A Toda Madre - it was delicious! Never mind the fact that I ate the fish head, including the eyeball, and had to spit it back out. That was classy. But this is probably our favorite restaurant in the Western suburbs.

Thanks so much, Lois, for coming out to spend time with us and take care of our girls. We love you and miss you!

Prepping for our Snow Walk - making the best of a LONG winter!

Who says you can't enjoy ice cream in below-freezing temps?

What a beautiful Ama, inside and out! The girls are so blessed to have such special people in their lives. 

Valentine's Day 2014

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. I know some people are not such big fans, but I've always loved it. I love making home-made Valentines. I love making heart sugar cookies. I love doing something special with friends, or my husband, or know my two girls. And I love that it provides something to look forward to in the midst of the bleak mid-winter.

This year Valentine's Day was on a Friday, and it was the last day of my maternity leave. So it had some extra special meaning for me this year. I had such a wonderful maternity leave, and so loved soaking up all that time with my girls. So for my last week, we did lots of fun Valentine's Day activities. Madeline and I made lots of home-made Valetine's cards that we sent to people. We put up heart decorations around the house. And probably Madeline's favorite, we made heart cookies! I have such fond memories of my mom making heart sugar cookies when I was a little girl. She would always put them in our school lunches with a little note. Sweet memories, and now I get to create traditions with my little girls.

Madeline was involved with each step of the process. She helped me make the dough, roll the dough, cut the heart shapes, frost the cookies, sprinkle the cookies, and she was quite skilled at eating the cookies. 

On Valentine's Day morning, we gave Madeline a little gift bag. Somehow she's gotten into Minnie Mouse lately - I think I've let her watch a few episodes of Micky Mouse Clubhouse. In any case, Target had a bunch of little Minnie things in their dollar bins - a water bottle, stickers, and a magic marker coloring pad. She was pretty happy with her Valentine's bag!

 I did a little "photo shoot" with the girls in their red outfits. It is always so funny to me to see their little expressions. This is way more pictures than necessary, but the grand parents never complain.

This last picture of Isabel I snapped on Valentine's afternoon while Madeline was napping. Isabel just slept in my arms for almost two hours, and I spent much of that time just praying for my girls, and thanking God for their lives. James and I both often stop, even in the midst of chaotic moments, to comment on how grateful we are for these girls and the love they have brought to our lives. 

James and I also had a great Valentine's weekend. We had two date nights in a row - sweet! That hasn't happened in a LONG time. Friday night we went to a ballroom dancing lesson, and Saturday night we went for a 3 course meal at Meson Sabika - Spanish Tapas. It's one of our favorite restaurants in the area, and Lois and Bob had given us a gift certificate earlier this year. One of the best meals we've had in a long time - it included steak, lobster tail, bacon-wrapped dates, cheeses, and chocolate. It was a perfect Valentine's Day!

Isabel is Three Months

Isabel Therese, you are three months old. Your personality continues to blossom and grow every week, and you continue to be a sweet, content little baby. Right before you turned three months, I started back to work full-time and you made the transition to daycare at Sarah's house. It was a bit of a rough transition for you the first week. We think that switching from nearly all breast-feeding to bottles all day long caused some gas bubbles in your tummy, which made you a bit fussy. And I think being around 3 busy toddlers, rather than just 1, made it harder for your to sleep and relax. So it was a bit of an adjustment for you, but you made it through! And things got better the second week. Of all the places you could go for childcare, Miss Sarah's house is such a great place for you and Madeline. Sarah is so good with you girls, and Judah and Jalayna (especially Jalayna!) love having a little baby around. So we are grateful for a wonderful place for you while mommy finishes out her school year.

You've had a bit of a regression with sleep, little lady. What happened there? For awhile you were sleeping a good 6 hour chunk at night, and now we seem to be back to 3 or 4 hour chunks. But hopefully you'll get back some good stretches again soon. When you do wake up at night, however, you never cry really loudly or scream - you just give us some little fussy noises to know that you're hungry or lost your pace. That's nice. And then when you wake up in the morning, you are one happy little girl. Perhaps my favorite moment with you each day is when you finally fully open your eyes and catch a glimpse of your momma, and you flash me the biggest, sweetest grin. Love it!

Isabel, you've been giggling a lot more lately too. That's really fun. If we tickle your tummy a bit, we can really get you going sometimes. And it's not very hard to get a big smile out of you (unless we put a camera in your face!). You've grown a lot in the last month, you've only been fitting into 3-6 month clothing for awhile now. At your two month doctors appointment, you were in the 85th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. Following in your sister's footsteps at the top of the height spectrum!

In the last few weeks, you've become much more interested in your baby toys. You love to grab, chew, and shake little toys (or momma's earrings and necklaces, I'm going to have to stop wearing them around  you soon!) And when you are lying on your playmat, you've gotten much better at reaching and grabbing certain objects. It's fun to watch you catch an object with your eye, and then spend a few minutes trying to get a good latch on it with your hand.

You are definitely a sweet snuggle bunny at this phase, and I usually end my nights very tired but contentedly holding you on my lap, reading a book or watching a show or just chatting with your daddy. It's such a privilege for the Lord to have entrusted you (and your sister!) to me, to sustain you and mold you and love you. I'm certainly not perfect with the mom gig, but I love it and love the ways that parenting continues to be a new means of receiving God's grace for your daddy and me.

 Here are some of the photos from your 3 month photo shoot. We did catch a few little smiles from you, although I've yet to catch one of your big grins with your sweet dimple. Soon, I hope!

And here's a little video of you; you were laughing alot this morning, and then we pulled out the camera and you slowed down a bit. But still cute.

And just for fun, here's a few pictures of your big sister at three months. People continue to comment how similar you both look!