here we go...

It's official...Cecilia is a full time crawler! This is not a new development either. She has been crawling for about three weeks, but just recently started picking up some speed. Now whenever we leave the room she is not far behind. She has begun exploring all of her surroundings and pushing her boundaries a bit too. Watching this sweet girl learn to get around all on her own makes me so proud. She has been patiently waiting for her little body to allow her to do what she has wanted to do for so long. Well the time has come and there is no looking back now. She is on her way!

You may not remember but Olivia was a bit of a strange crawler. She would drag her right leg out to the side, while the left leg would scoot normally. She crawled like that from the start and continued until the day she took her first steps. I remember being worried about it at the time, but it obviously has had no effect on her to this day.

What amazes me the most is how much I have forgotten in the 5+ years, since we had Olivia. I feel like I am doing this again for the first time. I have enjoyed watching Cecilia learn to crawl. I get excited for each of her milestones, knowing that this will be the last of the "firsts" that I will experience. So because Cecilia will be our last child I am making sure to stop and enjoy all of the little, big things that are taking place in her life.

So let's see...what else has Cecilia been up to? She has recently started feeding herself. She has been working on this for awhile. She would try so hard to get little pieces of food in her mouth only to be confused as to why they were stuck in her fists. She finally figured out how to get those pieces of food into her mouth and it has opened up a whole new world for her. She is slowly starting to take bigger chunks of food, which opens up many more possibilities for Cecilia and makes for one happy little baby!

She has her two bottom teeth now. It is near impossible to catch a glimpse of them, let alone try and get a picture. Because she is now a crawling fool. There is no stopping this little pumpkin. The second I walk out of the room, I look back and she is only a few steps behind. Of course that means she is starting to get into everything, so we also have to be on our toes at all times. If we need to corral her we put her in her walker. She likes to push herself around the kitchen while I get things done. But my favorite recent development of Cece's is her kisses. When you ask for a kiss she leans forward, opens her mouth wide and plants a sloppy wet one, right on your face. It is the sweetest thing and it makes me just want to gobble her up!

Our little girl's personality is just blossoming lately. She is becoming very expressive and vocal. During a mini photo shoot on our family room floor I caught a variety of facial expressions in just a few short minutes. Look at this sweet girl...

The most exciting thing happening around here lately is our weather! It's March, but you would think it was the middle of the summer. Our temps have been unseasonably warm and we are loving every second of it. I never thought I would have Cecilia bare foot in the grass this early, but what fun it is! Watching her explore new surroundings is so fascinating. Now I just need to keep her from putting handfuls of grass into her mouth every chance she gets.

One of our wonderfully warm, sunny days last week we took the girls to the park. Olivia made a mad dash for the playground equipment and Cecilia was completely content watching her. I think Cecilia would have loved nothing more than to be able to follow Olivia up the ladder and down the slide. She had to settle for doing those things in Daddy's arms instead.

Olivia would be up for a trip to the playground on the daily basis if time permitted. She is fearless and will climb to the top of anything. Makes me nervous, but she always proves to me that I have no reason to be. I have a feeling this was the first of many trips to the park this season. By the end of the summer Cecilia will probably be trying to chase after Olivia, hoping just to keep up with her big sister. For now she is completely content just watching her.

It may only be the middle of March, but the weather has been so nice that we decided to put the swings up on our swing set. That has made for two happy little girls. Cecilia squeals with delight when we push her and Olivia has mastered the skill of very high swinging. I think we have been out on the swing about half a dozen times already, and I think it will be a regular occurrence through the season.
Ok, so catch a glimpse of this. Just a few short weeks ago we took Olivia ice skating for the first time. Yes, ice skating! We have a outdoor rink that is open each season and we finally got around to taking her for the first time, on the last day it was open. I wasn't sure how Olivia would do on ice skates, but she picked it up quickly and did surprisingly well. The best part was that she had the assistance of a "walker" that she could hold onto while she made her way around the rink. By the end she was getting confident and trying to lift up one leg. We went with Olivia's little friend Laurel, and her family. It was fun to put ice skates on again after what was probably a 15 year hiatus.

This weekend our sweet Cecilia will be baptized. We are looking forward to celebrating this special occasion and celebrating with our friends and family. I am most looking forward to seeing Cece in the beautiful baptismal gown that Olivia wore for the same occasion. And in three short months we will be celebrating Cecilia's first birthday. It does not even seem possible. My baby is literally growing up in front of my eyes. She even started holding her own sippy cup this week. My sitter, Holly was sweet enough to share this photo with me. The moment I saw this photo I realized that before long my baby will no longer be a baby. I better get those baby snuggles in now before she is too big to fit on my lap!

sisterly love!

I think it is safe to say my girls love one another. From the day Cecilia was born Olivia was immediately infatuated with her sister, and so far the novelty has not worn off. In fact, the love she has for Cecilia has continued to grow, and if I had to guess the feeling is mutual.

I was totally prepared for Olivia's behavior to become a bit sketchy once Cecilia joined our family. I completely expected for her to be jealous and unwilling to share us with someone else. I guess I should have given my sweet girl a little more credit. Not once has she complained about this little person that has invaded our house and her space. She has taken her role as "big sister" very seriously and has proved herself to be the "best sister". She is always willing to play with her while I do things around the house. She watches her for me when I have to dash up stairs to grab something. She gets her toys or anything else she needs. And if she kisses her once she kisses her at least 10 times a day.

Here are a few things that Olivia says to me on a regular basis about her sister...
"I just love her so much...I can't stand it!"
"I can't wait until Cece starts walking so she can follow me everywhere!" (We'll just see about that).
"I will always take care of my sister, like when you and Daddy are not around anymore." (Notice how she is thinking ahead?)

Watching my girls establish a bond that will last their entire lives gives me more joy than I can explain. Seeing Cecilia's face light up whenever Olivia is around makes me excited to see how their bond will strengthen over the years.

Cecilia has been a busy girl lately. She is officially a sitter. She can sit unassisted for a good 10-15 minutes before toppling over. Even when she falls over she either rolls or pushes herself most of the way up to seated to get where wants to go. She gets up on all fours and scoots herself backwards, but has yet to officially crawl. I have seen her push a knee forward on occasion, so I know she will be moving soon. She has also found her voice, making herself heard quite often. "Dada" tends to be her sounds of choice, but I have heard a "mama" in there too.

After a lot of anticipation her first tooth finally popped through a few weeks ago. Since it is on the bottom it is hard to see, so I have not been able to snap a picture of it quite yet. She is loving all of her foods and is a connoisseur of most fruits and vegetables. She is one incredibly happy and fun baby right now. I am just soaking up every second!

We have been staying pretty busy so far this winter. Olivia has been perfecting her swimming skills with lessons each weekend. We have had very little snow this season but she did get the chance to play in it a few times in January. It seems like whenever we get snow it is gone within days due to the above average temperatures we have been experiencing. One weekend the snow stuck around long enough for Olivia to make her snowman. She named him "Snowcone". The day after she built him we had temps in the low 50's, so unfortunately Snowcone's life was short lived.

We celebrated Valentine's Day in full fashion once again this year. Olivia gets totally wrapped up in holidays so we went all out with decorations, treats and of course...heart-shaped food. For the past three years we have made heart-shaped pizzas. The only difference this year is that Olivia no longer needs Mommy's assistance. I shaped the pizza dough and she took it from there. I'd say she makes one mean Valentine's pizza.

There was no shortage of love in our household this Valentine's Day! There was a time in my life when I thought I would not have enough love in my heart for two babies. What was I thinking? This year my heart is practically bursting at the seams with the love I have for both of my girls. I sometimes stop to think what their relationship will be like in 20 years. Right now Olivia thinks her sister is the best little person on the planet. I have no doubt they will have their tiffs as they grow up with one another, but I can tell already that the bond they have created will last a lifetime!

Christmas wrap-up

I am just now getting around to blogging about our first Christmas as a family of four. Everyone told me how much harder things would be with two kids. What they did not tell me was how hard it would be to prepare for Christmas with two kids! It was a stressful holiday season, but wonderful at the same time! I still can't believe that I found enough time to get the decorations up, the tree trimmed and all of the presents bought and wrapped before Christmas. Somehow it all got done in time, making for a very special family Christmas.

A few weeks before the holiday Cecilia made her acting debut. She played Baby Jesus in the nativity play at our church. Aside from the fact that Baby Jesus was not female, Cecilia played the part perfectly. It helped that she is the type of baby that does not mind being passed off to strangers. As I handed her over to "Mary" she gave me a huge grin. I was very proud of my little sweeetie. Not sure where we go from here. Any other acting gigs that may come along won't hold a candle to playing the part of Jesus!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were extremely hectic but a lot of fun. We kicked things off with a Christmas Eve family gathering with Todd's side of the family. We would be spending Christmas night with Todd's family as well, but one of his brothers would not be in town so we wanted to make sure that the kids could all open their gifts together. Olivia and her cousin Ella have become very close over the past year. They are finally at the ages where they are able to play together, and boy do they have fun!

The girls were thrilled with their matching Lalaloopsy dolls. For those not familiar with Lalaloopsy, it is the latest doll craze for little girls. They are super cute and very unique...not tacky, like so many other dolls out there for girls. Olivia asked Santa for a Lalaloopsy set, which she was just dying to get. After opening their presents the girls took a rest, while Olivia read to Ella. Thank goodness for a girl cousin!

That night we all put on our Christmas best and headed to church. Our family was asked to bring up the the Baby Jesus as the final part of the nativity. This time Baby Jesus was plastic, not our sweet Cecilia. After church we headed to the Wilhelms for their annual Christmas Eve party. It is always a fun evening of good food and friends.

We tried to get home reasonably early so we could get the girls into bed and get things ready for the next morning. Olivia was sure to leave the cookies and milk for Santa. She could not have been more into every detail surrounding Christmas this year. I hope she continues to "believe" for many years, as there is nothing more special than experiencing Christmas through your five year old's eyes! Her eyes sure were as bright as could be on Christmas morning when she realized that Santa granted all of her Christmas wishes!

We spent a nice lazy morning at home opening presents, just the four of us. Todd and I soaked up every moment as we watched our girls enjoy their first Christmas together. Olivia was most thrilled with her gift from us...her own little iPod. It was actually my old iPod (Todd gave me a new one for Christmas), but she could have cared less. You should see her walking around here with her iPod and headphones, jammin' to all of her favorite songs. She was also pretty excited about the "Olivia" car given to her by her little sister. We kept things simple for Cecilia's first Christmas. We figured there was really no point in showering a six month old with gifts anyway. Olivia did pick out a cute little hat and hair bows for her sister. The immediately went into her mouth. Cece was pretty interested in her main present, which was a miniature piano. She has been filling the house with much noise since Christmas morning.

After wrapping things up at home we headed to my Mom's for Christmas #2! It was a frenzy of present opening, resulting in some very nice gifts for all. To say that we are blessed is definitely an understatement. Making sure Olivia understands just how blessed she is was top priority this holiday season.

I know these pictures look a bit obscene, but I assure you that all of those presents do not belong to Olivia. In fact they were split between the girls, me, Todd, my Mom, Grandma and Uncle. I love how Olivia seems to be in Christmas present overload in the second photo. Once all of the presents had been opened we collasped into an exhausted pile on the floor! I saw this quote from Andy Rooney over the holidays and it made me smile. "One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." What was my favorite present this year, you ask? This...

We finished off the day with Todd's side of the family. By that night we had reached our present opening maximum. The girls were wiped out and Todd and I were beat too. All of that preparation, leading up to the holiday was ripped through in a 12 hour span. It was a whirlwind of a day, but one we will always have very fond memories of.

It is now the middle of January and we have hunkered down for the winter. I don't mind cozy, lazy days around the house. Cecilia seems to changing daily right now. I can hardly keep up with her! She is very close to sitting without support. She can usually hold her own for a minute or two before toppling over. She does best with a little help from the boppy. Prop her up, surrounded by her toys and she is one happy girl!

We recently went for her 6-month check-up. Of course she is growing beautifully. She weighed in at 18 lbs. and 3 oz. She is one solid girl! Believe it or not, Olivia weighed almost one pound more at this age! Cecilia's most notable milestone as of late is her decision to start sleeping through the night. Her sleep habits in general literally seemed to improve overnight. She finally started napping better for me on the weekends and not just for Holly (her amazing babysitter) during the week. She stopped waking up to eat in the middle of the night, and last but not least she has learned to soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes. I was prepared to dive into some hardcore sleep training, but my little sweetie decided to save Mommy the stress and take care of it on her own. Thank you, Cecilia!

She is also on the move. In the last week she has started getting up on all fours and rocking back and fourth. She did this for the first time at Holly's. Holly immediately sent me a picture she took on her phone. I love that she keeps me in the loop on all of Cece's developments. She now spends a great deal of time on her hands and knees. She is definitely a girl on the verge crawling!

Cecilia has also recently expanded her palate. She has been eating cereal for at least a month now, but we recently introduced veggies and she loves them. Carrots, squash and peas are on the menu these days. We will be diving into fruits soon. My Mom has offered to make all of Cecilia's baby food. I love that everything touching her lips right now is homemade. Thanks, Mom!

Olivia is always working on developing her life long bond with her sister. She is very interested in helping Cecilia with her toys and is always very patient with her. Watching my two girls play with one another is better than anything I could have ever imagined. Olivia tells me daily how much she loves her sister, and even though Cece can't speak for herself I can see in her eyes just how much she loves her big sister.

Spring still seems decades away, but I am ready to spend a warm, cuddly winter inside with my family. It is the perfect time to slow down and enjoy every single second!