Rainy days

Saturday was a rainy day and even though it put a damper on our landscaping plans, the girls had the best day hanging out in their jammies and just running around having fun.  Kinsley wouldn’t nap (par for the course) even though I thought it would have been a great day for a nap.  So instead, we played in the ball pit, made cookies and bread, tried on different hats and hair, snacked and even made time to clean.  I was surprised that Myla didn’t want to go out with her umbrella to play in the rain, but she was perfectly content inside.  We read a lot of books, and it would have been funny to look in at us with Johnny reading a book to one and me reading to the other.  We usually switched at some point, sometimes in the middle of a book.

Kinsley had a check-in with the doctor today and spent most of it walking around the exam room and talking.  At one point, the doctor said “I can see she’s a quiet one…”  He thought she was doing really good and progressing right on schedule.  Her measurements for this time – 24 pounds 15 ounces and 30 3/4 inches tall.  (We measured Myla on Saturday and she’s 37 inches tall…)  He thought she looked good and had no worries about her at all.  We don’t either, but its always nice to hear the doc say it.

May days

Monday, Myla had a program for her preschool continuation/graduation.  She was so proud to sing the songs that she’s learned and – probably for the only time in her life – she had a seat in the back row so she kept stretching her neck to look over at me.  She’s occasionally sang us the songs that she might have learned in class, but this was fun because I got to see her do it all the way through.  I can’t believe that she’s done with preschool and will start a pre-k in the fall.  Its just amazing to me how fast she has grown.  (And, for the record, she’s changed her birthday to the 25th because she’s turning five this year.  Silly girl.)

Kinsley has really taken to the walking thing and now hardly scoots anymore.  She’s been working very hard at going up and down the stairs when we let her.  The new thing she’s trying is climbing up into chairs – or dishwasher doors – to sit down.  And she thinks she’s pretty hot stuff when she does it too.  And this girl can talk up a storm.  She sits in the family room and “reads” a book at the top of her lungs.  She loves to read books and sometimes will do the animal sounds of the animals that she knows.  She’s very smart, just like Myla.

I had a great mother’s day and was able to sleep in and then come downstairs to warm cinnamon crumb cake and happy girls.  We spent some time snuggled on the couch watching a movie and then spent some time with my mother.  A friend posted this wonderful message on mother’s day that really tugged at my heart strings and I am very thankful that my sweet girls call me mom.  I love them very, very much.

2012 March for Babies

Yesterday, we walked in our fifth March for Babies.  It was great because:

1. Myla got to walk across the finish line again (truly, my favorite part.)
2. We had our whole family there – I even made Johnny get up to be there.
3. The sun was shining and the day was beautiful.
4. We did it up right this year and had matching t-shirts, well, except for Myla’s, which was a little bit different.

But the best part?  It was for my little girl.  It was for the tiniest baby that SMU NICU had seen in 30 years.  It was for the most amazing little spitfire to ever arrive at under a pound and a half.  She had one lady who asked if she was the one on the back of our shirts.  And when I answered yep, this was her, she gave Myla a high-five and said “you’re awesome!”  And she doesn’t even know her!  But its true, she’s awesome, and I’m so thankful every day that she overcame all sorts of odds, or climbed all sorts of mountains, or checked off all sorts of milestones to be able to walk with us across the finish line and march for all babies.

Like her little sister – who was also fantastic all the way through the walk.  She simply surfed in the wagon, watched the people and snacked.  I had wanted (in my own little mind) for Myla to walk across the finish line holding her sister’s hand, because THAT would have been really awesome.  Here are two little amazing little girls who delight me and drive me crazy and make me laugh and cry and make me want to be the very best I can be to make them proud to call me mom.  Because I am beyond proud to call them my girls.  They change the way I see the world and I am forever grateful for being blessed with these crazy, silly, smart, fun, beautiful girls.

Thank you to all who supported us this year, the years past, and who know Myla’s story and tell it to others.  Because yesterday, we marched for babies – all babies and we hope that everyone who gets a chance to hug a child the next chance it comes to them, understands just how awesome these little kids are.

More Trouble

Every day she covers more and more real estate.  Next, she'll be running!

Danger Will Robinson!

Don’t let that sweet face and crazy baby hair fool you – she’s trouble!  Kinsley has mastered going up all of our steps, she’s pretty quick about it too.  And she’s very proud of herself when she does it.  She doesn’t like it when Myla goes up there without her, so she’s going to make sure it doesn’t happen.  Of course, it scares the living daylights out of us and we have devised a make shift baby gate that has eliminated the temptation, until she figures out how to get around that too.  She’s so incredibly smart that we don’t think it will be long.  She talks up a storm, Johnny was sure she counted to seven one day, and is starting to use the signs that we’ve been trying to teach her for months.  She’s been taking a few tiny steps between things, but mostly likes to walk holding on to one of our hands or onto her stroller.  See – trouble.

Myla is just as much trouble and just today recited the Pledge of Allegiance for us.  Multiple times, in fact.  She throws around these big words that amaze and astound us every time.  Last week, Myla and I went with “the girls” to see Annie on stage, and she was belting out all the songs she knew.  It was so cute, it brought tears to my eyes.  The guy in front of us even enjoyed it, but made sure not to look at her in case she stopped.  This week, she’s been full of facts about butterflies and birds, even played a “guess what” game with me about things that she could see.  We’ll have to work on making the clues a little harder…

See, trouble-makers, the both of them.

Easter hoppy-nings!

The girls had a lot of fun on Easter Sunday.  My mom made them cute little – sorry, “pretty Easter dresses” and the sun was shining and it was the perfect day to wear them.  The Easter bunny brought their baskets here, but took all the eggs over to Auntie Karen’s and my parents to hide there.  So after a morning of playing with some new things from the basket, we packed up to go search for eggs!

There were cousins and eggs and jumping on the trampoline and an all around good time to be had.  Kinsley wasn’t sure what all the commotion was all about but had fun finding the eggs.  She went under the table to grab one and actually put it in her basket.  Myla had the best time searching and finding which eggs were hers (pink, her favorite color – thanks EB!) and was especially taken with the gold egg she found.  After the egg hunt and dessert, Myla spent time on the trampoline while Kinsley relaxed in the swing. 

After the egg hunt, we went back to my parents house for a wonderful Easter dinner and more hunting!  Myla was so funny – she didn’t care if they were plastic or hard boiled eggs, she just threw them all in her bucket.  (And of course, the hard boiled ones cracked.)  In all, we had a great day with the family and celebrating the holiday.  And those girls looked so cute!

I think they might be crazy

These girls are so full of personality and spunk and craziness, there is sometimes nothing to do but laugh along with them.  The sunshine and spring has made them sleep hard and play even harder – we’re just trying to keep up with them.  Here’s a sampling of our fun lately…

Myla surprised us by coming down the stairs with our socks on her hands and legs and her daddy’s sandals on her feet and her shoes on her hands.  She dug through the clean laundry and picked four different socks.

Kinsley will eat, oh, anything.  She’s had pickles, pepperoni, and that all over her face?  Tacos.  Some of it does seem to end up on the seat next to her, but she will scream if you don’t give her more before she’s full.

Remember when I said they were sleeping hard – so hard that Myla couldn’t even make it all the way up onto her bed.  Honestly, we took this at 9:30 at night.

Kinsley is just everywhere, and she loves to push her little car while she goes.  She will say “vroom!” and push it and then chase after it.  Another favorite toy for the moment – the side table with the lamp on it.  Look mom!  It moves!

And many, many more memories and fun times being had by all…