I should be sleeping!

It's 10:30 at night. I've been up since 5:00 this morning. I should be in bed, but instead I'm choosing some quiet time to myself while Andy works late and the girls are sleeping.

Our busy lives continue to speed along. We attended 2 weddings this past weekend. One for my cousin and the other for my uncle. The weddings were great and seeing family that we haven't seen in a while was even better! I have a few pictures of the festivities to share. Bella had a great time playing with her cousins, dancing and as you will see, catching the bouquet! ;)



















And here are a couple pics from the last week or so. One is just a cute one of Chloe and the other is a precious picture of Chloe fast asleep, cuddled up with her big sis.

First Harvest!

So this may not look like much, but I'm pretty proud of it none-the-less!! :)



We planted our garden the day before Chloe was born and we are very pleased with how it's growing so far. We have tomatoes, squash, radishes, pumpkins, melons, corn and a few herbs.

It's amazing how well things grow when you actually water them... ;)

1 month

Chloe had her 1 month check-up yesterday and besides being at the Doctors office for 2 hours everything went great!

Our little peanut isn't such a peanut anymore. At exactly 5 weeks old she weighed in at 10 lbs 11 oz (moms got some good milk)! I have to admit that there was a twinge of sadness at how quick she is growing, but really I'm just so grateful that she is healthy! She has also grown 1 1/2 inches in length. Other than that it was just a routine appointment.

Here is a picture of our little 5 week old...



She has recently taken notice of the birds above her swing and is absolutely mesmerized by them (which is why she is looking up in the picture).

Blessed...

Update and Pictures (Isn't that an original title?!)

I know it's been a week since I've posted and I've actually sat down a couple times to write an entry, but honestly can't seem to muster up the brain power required to write.

It's official. I'm sleep deprived. I feel a bit wimpy considering the fact that Chloe is such a good baby, only really waking to eat at night, but over the last few years I've gotten used to the luxury of a full nights sleep, uninterrupted by anything baby or child related.

Anyways, now that I've given you my excuse should this post not be as eloquent as you might expect from me ( ;) ), we can move on to more interesting things.

Bella -- She started swim lessons on Monday and absolutely loves them! She kept telling me that she needed lessons to learn to put her head under water so within 10 minutes of getting in the pool on the first day of her lesson she was going under the water. Now you might think that the instructors were encouraging the kids to go under the water, but that wasn't the case. It was as simple as what Bella had been saying all along. She was at swimming lessons so she could put her head under water! I tell you, she's really something else! ;) Today they got to go in the big pool and she did great. She's floating on her back, learning to kick, jumping off the side and going under the water every chance she gets!

Here is a picture from her first lesson, courtesy of Grandma McMinn's camera...




Today we signed her up for Soccer. She is beyond excited and has been talking about it non-stop all day! She will be on the same team as 2 of our neighbors which will be fun! It's a non-competitive league and of course the first thing she said was, "I bet my team will win!" She has quite the competitive spirit so it will be interesting to see how she does when there isn't actually a "winner" each game. She doesn't start until early September and the season is just a little over 8 weeks. We are pretty excited to see how it goes.

Chloe -- Our littlest girl is 3 weeks already! The time is going by too fast and as much as I try to enjoy each moment, they seem to be passing me faster than I can keep up with. She is really starting to grow...still not fitting into any of her newborn clothes, but getting closer with each day. She has a significant amount of awake time each day and we all love holding her and just watching her explore the world around her. Between the 3 of us, she spends most of her time in someone's arms. With Bella we really had to fight against the belief that you shouldn't hold a baby too much for fear that they would become spoiled (even though our research told us different), but now that we are comfortable with our parenting style we are really able to enjoy the blessing of indulging ourselves in our precious baby whenever we want. She's only 3 weeks old, but so far she still has her hair! ;) I can't really remember when Bella's hair started to fall out, but I'm praying that Chloe's stays put...time will tell I suppose!

Grandma and Grandpa McMinn visited us this past weekend. It was nice to spend a few days together, just hanging out. We watched movies, did a little shopping, and ate way too much food! :P On Sunday night Andy and I (and Chloe, but she slept the whole time) went to Sushi for dinner while Bella spent some special time at home with Grandma and Grandpa. It was so nice for us to have some time together to just sit and talk and of course after not being able to eat Sushi for 9 months, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every bite of raw fish!

Here are a couple pictures of Grandma and Grandpa spending some time with Chloe..





And a couple more taken in the last couple days...

Happy 4th of July!

I usually have something fairly thoughtful to say today, but with my brain functioning at it's current sleep deprived level, I honestly can't come up with too much to say.

Today marks 8 years since my Dad died. It is also the due date of the baby that we lost to miscarriage. I'd be lying if I said that the memory of those 2 events didn't bring a small cloud of sadness to my day, but more than anything, I'm so thankful for the healing that has taken place in my heart over the past several years. I am able to focus on the blessings in my life and in spite of the losses I have experienced, recognize that I have been given so much to be thankful for.

Last year I posted a picture of Bella, my little "firecracker". In addition to my firecracker (which she definitely is), I think it would be fitting to say I now also have a little "sparkler". ;) So, without further ado, here are our 4th of July pictures...









Happy 4th of July to everyone! :)

P.S. -- Check out my last post...it's been updated!

No Training Wheels!! (UPDATED)

I mentioned in a previous post that Bella decided she no longer needed training wheels last week. Since then she has been doing amazingly well riding on 2 wheels. She's so proud of herself and her excitement over it is so fun to see.

Today I was finally able to snap a few pictures of her riding around and thought I would share...









And as an added bonus, here is a pic of Bella and Chloe yesterday on Chloe's 2 week birthday! ;)



Shortly after these pictures were taken Bella took a nasty fall on her bike. In addition to the classic scraped elbows and knees and a bloody nose, she also came out of it with a nasty fat lip...



I know I should be used to these kinds of things by now, but the sight of my little girl bleeding and obviously hurt never ceases to make my mommy heart skip a few beats.

So in love...

Okay, everyone may be getting tired of my constant posting of pictures, but I just can't help it. We are all so in love with little Chloe and have been having a great time taking lots of pictures over the last (almost) 2 weeks. Here are a few more of Chloe with her Daddy and Big Sis...













And a couple of Chloe all by herself...

First Bath...

Chloe had her first bath today. After the initial shock of the water she did great. It was so nice to get her all cleaned up finally. :)



And here are a couple pics of her tonight...

On our own...

Yesterday was Andy's first day back to work, so it's just been Bella, Chloe and myself for the past 2 days. So far we've done fairly well, although I have to admit that I'm exhausted. Yesterday we ventured out to my work to say hi and then over to Andy's work so he could show everyone his new baby girl. I had to run to Target to get a mirror for the back seat (I can't handle not being able to see Chloe since she is rear facing in her car seat) so Bella stayed with her daddy and Chloe and I ran to Target. It was nice to get out of the house, but by the time we got home I was spent. I went to bed as soon as Andy got home but was still really tired today. We did manage to run to the store to pick up a few groceries, but other than that it's been a "resting day" (that's what I told Bella). We took a short walk tonight so Bella could ride her bike a little (she had Andy take her training wheels off on Monday) and of course the first time it's just me and the 2 kiddos, she tripped on the curb, fell into her bike and split her lip open. I thankfully had a kleenex and a nice man who was outside and saw her fall brought us out some ice. Bella is quite a trooper and after we got her lip to stop bleeding she hopped back on her bike and rode the rest of the way home. I guess this is life with two! ;)

Chloe is still doing so well. She's such a peaceful little girl. Today she was a little fussy thanks to my decision to not really change what I usually eat in hopes that it wouldn't bother her tummy. Bad decision on my part. Her poor little tummy was obviously hurting her and I of course felt terrible (pretty sure it was the medium salsa I had on my burrito at Qdoba yesterday). I will now be watching what I eat a little closer and hoping that she's not too sensitive to things. The other big news is that her umbilical cord fell off today. I didn't get around to giving her a bath, but it's first on my agenda for tomorrow. I can't wait to get her all cleaned up...the sponge bath thing just doesn't quite do the job!

I think that's about it for now. I'll leave you with a picture of me and my girls...

My precious baby girl...

A few more pictures!