My Lily

These pictures are priceless to me.  The best gift ever from my dear friend, Elizabeth.  

Our House

Guess who came to our house this morning?  Elizabeth!  My dear friend Elizabeth is a professional photographer.  She's the real deal. Last week Elizabeth asked me to go to her home and take a few photos of her and her 4 week old little baby boy. I was sweating a bit but went for it. In turn, she agreed to come and photograph me and Lily here at my home. Well, let's just say it was not a fair trade. She is wildly more talented in the photography department than myself...but hey, who would pass up that offer?  She understands all too well that when you are the photographer in the family, there are not many mom and child photos. I will post a few of the photos that I love.  To start, this is one of my favorites... Elle, Gwen, Lily and me at our front door.  I love you, Elizabeth for doing this. Thank you!!!

Trick or Treat

       

I love Halloween night.  I remember being so excited about trick-or-treating when I was young that I would barely be able to eat dinner.  I also remember loving Halloween because that meant my  mom would put make-up on me.  Elle and Gwen lined up in front of the mirror before they headed out the door for some blush, mascara and lip gloss.  They were in heaven! Our neighborhood is a really fun one on Halloween.  Lots of kids, parents and grandparents trick-or-treating.  I love it.  We went to the pumpkin patch earlier in the day where the girls each picked out their own pumpkins.  While Gwen napped, Elle and I carved the jack-o-lanterns.  When it got dark, Jon took Elle and Gwen up and down our neighborhood streets while Lily and I passed out candy.  They came home with bags full of candy and very sticky faces.  A successful night for sure.  

Lily the Skeleton

Elle the Lady Bug

Gwen the Bumble Bee

Elle

Elle is my mama's girl.  She loves to hang out with me (which I LOVE).  Whenever I get my nails done I usually take her with me.  The last time we went she chose "spooky colors".  She asked  for black with orange polka-dots and spider webs on her thumbs.  She feels very grown-up.  She also professed that she does NOT suck her thumb anymore.  Apparently only babies suck their thumbs.  She now thinks it is gross...but sometimes she forgets.   

Lily...

I love being your mama.

My Happy Baby

It's official...I am completely and totally in love.  In love with my Lily.  She will be 12 weeks old tomorrow. This little girl has been nothing but happy since the day we brought her home.  Her little spirit is so peaceful and sweet.  If you smile at her she effortlessly smiles right back.  She still loves her binky and loves to be swaddled.  Her cheeks are starting to fill out and I couldn't be happier.  We have a  basinette in our kitchen/family room where Lily lounges during the day.  I catch her watching me and smiling as I am doing dishes or running after Elle and Gwen. It melts me.  I feel so much responsibility to my girls.  I have been given these little ones to care for.  To love and to teach them...to help them develop to their fullest potential.  Lily's journey has just begun and I feel so blessed to be a part of it.  I am and always will be her number one fan.  

Elle and Gwen's Bedroom

After Gwen jumped out of her crib, I knew it was time to move her to a real bed.  Lily has now taken up residence in Gwen's old room and Elle and Gwen now share a room.  We had to get rid of Elle's double bed and get twin beds.  The best part was that I was able to put together a new room...one of my very favorite things to do.  I love the look of two twin beds in a little girls room...always have.  I had a small milk glass lamp with a linen shade on the sidetable but Gwen knocked it off, it broke and that was the end of that.  I have a few more things I would like to do in there to finish it but for now, I think it looks pretty cute. Most importantly, Elle and Gwen love it too.  

My two favorite pieces of furniture are the antique side table and armoire.  I purchased them a few years back from one of my very favorite shops, French Blue and Co.  I have mentioned the shop before when I wrote about another favorite piece I have from them, an antitque ceramic lamp.  Not only do I love the shop but I love the owner, Janet.  She and her daughters go on buying trips to Paris and bring home treasures that they add to their shop.  Maybe one day they won't notice if I sneak into their suitcase for the trip...

Gwendolyn

I love my ballerina girl.  Gwen is in a little ballet class every Thursday morning.  She loves it. When we returned home this morning, the light in her bedroom was so pretty.  I grabbed my camera and took a few candids of my girl.  I love her so much.  Two nights ago Jon and I woke up to hear her crying in her room.  We both ran in to see what the problem was.  She must have just had a bad dream.  She kept saying, "mama, mama".  I hopped into bed with her and she pulled me in close.  It took just a minute to calm her down.  I held her and quietly sang a few of her favorite songs.  She was able to quickly drift back to sleep.  I was reminded of how grateful I am to be a mom, Gwen's mom.  I am one lucky mama to call this little one mine.  

Lily's Baby Blessing

On Sunday we blessed our sweet baby Lily at church.  Jon gave the blessing and it was beautiful.  It was a very special day.  

The After Party

After church we had family over to our home for dinner.  Elle stayed up late the night before to help me cook.  She felt very grown-up.  We had homemade chicken tortilla soup, a big salad with cilantro dressing, fruit and texas sheet cake with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert.  The perfect ending to a very special day. 

Elle and Gwen

On our way out the door to church...

In my opinion, there is nothing cuter than sisters in matching Sunday dresses.  

I Tried

Elle has been begging me to decorate for Halloween.  While she was at school I tried to get things a little more festive around here.  I thought I had done a pretty good job.  Orange door mat and berry wreath, orange flowers and a tin ghost in the kitchen and pumpkins on the mantel. Well, when she came home her little face did not look too excited.  She just look confused. 

Apparently nothing is very scary and "white pumpkins do not count as real pumpkins they are just a vegetable".  That comment made me laugh out loud.  Little does she know how hard I searched to find real white and blue pumpkins.  I love them.  I think she was invisioning the Lowe's halloween isle that we had recently been to when she asked me to decorate for this holiday.  Nothing mechanical or screaming in sight around here...I am a total disappointment.  I have a sneaky feeling however that someday when she is a mommy she too will go on the hunt for white and blue pumpkins.  

The Three Amigos

I love these little girls.  Elle had Jane and Brinley over to play yesterday.  As you can see our dress-up box is a big hit.  Elle is a lucky little girl to have such good friends.  

Yep...it's permanent

Gwen came upstairs looking just like this.  The worst part was that she was holding a permanent marker instead of one of our washable ones.  Jon started telling her that markers are only for paper etc etc when I started thinking... Gwen's markings looked awfully like cat whiskers. 

 Gwen could never have done that on her own.  I quickly called for Elle to join us.  I looked right at Elle and said, "I know you did this". Without Gwen being able to speak as fluently as she would like to, she was unable to place the blame on her sister.  Elle was stunned that I had figured this out.  Jon took Gwen into the bathroom and started trying to get the permanent marker off of her.  We were both trying not to laugh.  Jon whispered to me, "get the camera". Elle saw me taking pictures and immediately started crying.  She kept saying, "please, please do not take pictures and show the whole city that I was naughty" (I love that she used the word city).  Well, I couldn't resist.  So all of you out there in our city...don't tell Elle you saw this.  

My Daughter

Yesterday morning I said good bye to my Elle before kindergarten and told her to have a fun day and that I would miss her while she was gone.  She looked at me and said, "mama, just get your camera and take a picture of me and then if you get sad you can look at my picture and you won't be sad anymore".  How could I pass that up?  

Elle has been a roller coaster of emotions lately.  I am sure it has to do with having a new member of our family combined with starting kindergarten.  Lots of changes around here.  I have just been trying to take it in stride.  The other day she was upset with me because I did one pony tail in her hair instead of two.  She had a complete and total melt down.  We were running too late for me to redo her hair.  The whole drive to kindergarten she sat in the backseat sobbing.  I told her that this was a little crazy and that as soon as she settled down we could talk about it. So there she sat...with a wet, puffy face in her booster seat in the back of our car.  All she kept repeating through her sobs was, "mama, do you not love your daughter?  your daughter is crying and you don't care?  how come you don't care about your crying daughter"?  My "daughter"???  Leave it to Elle to add that little extra dramatic touch.  It was all I could do to not laugh.  Straight faced I responded back to her in 3rd person.  I told her that I love "my daughter" very much and that "my daughter" was being a little bit dramatic considering this whole scene was all about a pony tail.  Before she got out of the car I pulled over and had her come and sit on my lap up in the driver seat.  How could I send her out the door like that?  We talked about some different ways she could have handled her disappointment in her hairdo.  I told her that I would do two pony tails in her hair the next day and that either way, she looked beautiful. She calmed down, I gave her a kiss and out the door she went.  

I think things are settling down for her now.  She is in more of a routine and is loving kindergarten.  I am sure I have many years of these occasional emotional outbursts ahead of me.  I just hope that "my daughter" will always know that "her mom" loves and adores her.  

Playdate

Gwen had her little friend Malia over to play.  They are so cute together.  All they wanted to do was play dress-up and dance.  The costume changes were endless but the song remained the same.  Miley Cyrus', "Party in the USA" was on repeat...and very loud.  Here they are putting on a show for me on our "stage".  How funny is Gwen's microphone...I love this age.  

Heaven

Lily fell asleep in my arms early this morning.  Before Jon left for work I asked him to grab the camera.  I have so few pictures of me with my girls.  Lily was so peaceful and I loved it so much I didn't put her back in her basinette. I held her like this until Elle and Gwen woke up.  I heard them tip-toeing down the stairs trying not to wake me.  They were so quiet I knew they were up to something.  I found them in the garage with popsicles.  Before I know it Lily will be joining them in their escapades. But for now, I am enjoying her just like this.  

Lily

My Lily.  I have had this sweet little girl for 7 weeks now.  I still look at her and can't believe she really is mine.  Having Lily here makes things feel more complete.  That may sound funny but it is very true.  Even right after I had Gwen I always knew there was one more little person missing from our family.  I had that feeling often.  Jon and I both knew we wanted another child.  It wasn't a matter of  "if" it was just "when".  It is so nice to have our 3rd little girl here with us.  I look at our 3 girls and I can't believe we did it!  All of those sick pregnant days were more than worth it.  Such a small, small price to pay.  Lily is a sweet little girl.  She is as easy as a baby can be.  She loves to be swaddled tightly and she LOVES that huge hospital pacifier.  No matter how upset she may get, if I swaddle her and hold her in my arms she calms right down.  She is my little sidekick.  I keep her close to me all day and all night.  She smiled at me the other night and it was a little glimpse into her personality.  I loved it.  Lily is a pretty good sleeper too.  We have her in a basinette in our room.  She loves it. She is waking up just once or twice a night for a feeding.  I don't mind it because it is so nice to hold her without anyone else around.  I took these photos of her this morning after Jon gave her a bath. I wish you could package 'clean baby smell'.  There is nothing sweeter.    

Musical Rooms

It happened.  Gwen finally learned how to jump out of her crib.  I know we are lucky that we have made it this long but I was still so sad!  Trying to contain this busy body is not an easy task.  And I think I need her nap time more than she does.  The look on her face when she ran into our bedroom was priceless.  A look of, "FREEDOM"!  There was no way she was going to sleep in that crib again.  We tried letting her sleep with Elle and that just was not working. Until we could order her a bed we had to think of a way to get her to sleep.  We told Elle that just for a few nights she could do something really fun.  She could sleep in Gwen's crib!!  Elle went for it.  She thinks it is hilarious.  We put Gwen into Elle's bed and I am thankful to report that she has slept there 3 nights and 3 naps (yeah!) without getting out.  Yesterday we all went out and bought two twin beds.  Elle and Gwen will share a room and Lily will take over Gwen's crib.  I knew that we would eventually do this but I just kept putting it off.  Tomorrow the twin beds will arrive and I can't wait to set up their room.  

The Green Dragons

Elle had her first soccer game on Saturday.  Her team's name is The Green Dragons.  She has never played before and either have most of the 5 year olds on her team.  She got her uniform last week and then the team just met one hour before the first game.  She was nervous.  It was the cutest thing ever watching those little girls learn how to play the game.  When the game started, Elle just stood still in the center of the field and kept looking at Jon and me like, "what the heck am I supposed to do"?  She finally caught on and started running after the ball.  With 2 teams of five year olds that are pretty much first time players, it was fun to watch.  They mostly just stayed in a big pack surrounding the ball.  My favorite moment was when there was a big pack of girls around the ball and Elle just reached in and picked it up with her hands.  I got a picture of it and parents on both teams just started laughing.  Too funny.  No score was kept and everyone had a really fun time.  She is already soo excited for her next game.   

Bzzz

Gwen is like a little cartoon character to me.  She is so expressive with her face and her voice is just to die for.  I love it.  This girl loves to dress up and is in numerous outfits/costumes a day. Today she was a bumble bee and was flying around the house.  I went out to get the mail and she followed me while flapping her arms and making buzzing sounds.  She is a lot of work and into absolutely everything but with her cuteness level off the charts it somehow makes it so enjoyable at the same time.  It's not forever that I will be accompanied to the mailbox and around our house by bumble bees and fairies.  I need to soak it all up now.  

Princess Gwendolyn

Here's my Gwenners, straight out of the tubbies this morning.  Gwen loves anything and everything related to princesses.  As you can imagine, this is her very favorite bath towel.  Elle has sadly moved on from this phase and has passed the torch to Gwen.  I am sure as soon as Gwen is on to something new, Lily will be full swing into it.  It is so fun having little girls.