Everyone was able to enjoy Cecilia during the holiday. My Grandmother was especially excited to spend time with her. She lives in Michigan and is able to visit on a regular basis. She has watched Olivia grow up and is now taking delight in watching another great grandchild change and grow before her eyes. My girls call their great grandmother, Nana Cleo and I know she loves being able to see them so frequently. Not many of us really get to know our great grandparents. Olivia has had five years with Nana Cleo. I would love for Cecilia to have five years with her too. 
We used the Thanksgiving holiday as a chance to take some updated family photos. It is not too often that so many of us are together at the same time. There are quite a few family members missing from these photos but we were able to take a four generations picture as well as a picture with the grandkids and great-grandkids (those who were in town, anyway).
I have so much more to be thankful for this year. I now have two amazing and beautiful little girls in my life. Olivia continues to impress me with her ever expanding mind and true love of life. Having Cecilia in our lives has changed our family dynamic, but in a wonderful way. We hesitated initially about having a second child, but now that I see Olivia with her little sister I cannot imagine us not being a family of four. Olivia was meant to be a big sister and she has handled the transition with such grace. There is not a day that goes by where she doesn't tell us just how much she loves her sister. Watching these two girls build a bond with one another has been one of the greatest joys of my life, thus far.
With Thanksgiving out of the way it was time to kick our Christmas preparations into high gear. First on the list was getting the decorations up and our trees decorated. Olivia has her own little tree that she decorates on her own. The plan is to get Cecilia a matching tree for next Christmas that she can start to decorate too.
Next it was off to visit Santa. This would be Cecilia's first Santa visit, but Olivia 6th!!! Olivia was only one month old the first time she visited Santa. Now at 5 she is a seasoned pro. She hopped right into Santa's lap and recited her Christmas wish list. After Santa listened carefully Cecilia joined her sister for their first picture with Santa together. I must say it turned out very well. Next year may be interesting, as Cecilia may be a bit more hesitant to sit in the lap of the man in the red suit.
We also took the girls to see live reindeer. It was a little too cold for Cecilia so she was hidden under her car seat cover, but Olivia got up close and personal with a adult and baby reindeer. They were very cute! 
Each year we visit the Botanical Gardens with one of Olivia's little friends from school. They love running around together through the Christmas displays. Olivia and Laurel always enjoy their time together and this has become of our Christmas traditions that we always look forward to.
Cecilia often misses out on some of our family outings due to her napping schedule, or lack there of right now. I am having a great deal of difficulty getting this child to take decent naps. She seems to do very well during the week with her babysitter, but once she is at home for the weekends her naps continue to be a struggle. It often involves waking after a short time and then spending a great deal of time trying to get the child to go back to sleep. We need to really get serious with our sleep training but I have been putting it off. It is time for Cece to learn to soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes from naps and nighttime sleep. I remember doing this with Olivia. It was hard at first, but worth it in the end. I am a stickler for sleep and I will do whatever I have to in order to get this child to be a good sleeper. Strange thing is that even with very little sleep she still tends to be a pretty happy baby. Go figure!
Aside from our sleeping issues Cecilia is making a ton of progress developmentally. She is close to sitting up unassisted. She can prop herself up for a minute or so before toppling over. One thing I have noticed about this child is just how strong she is. She has a great deal of upper body strength and can lift her entire chest off the ground. She has been rolling from her back to her belly for about a month and a half now but has yet to roll from her belly to her back. Not sure why, but she just won't do it. She is quite the chatterbox too. That is one thing that her and her big sister have in common. Her smiles go on for miles and she is just most squishy and cuddly little baby.
In between all of Christmas festivities we squeezed in a super fun event at Olivia's school. On the last day of school before break, Peace Montessori hosted their annual International Night. Each classroom represents a different country and prepares food and decorations to show that country's culture. Olivia's classroom featured the country of Holland. My Mom just returned from a trip to Holland so she was able to contribute quite a bit to help them prepare for the event. To say that the food from each country was enjoyable is a understatement. It was a fun night and we left with very full tummies. 
With Christmas only a few days away I need to kick it into high gear. It is amazing how much more difficult it is to prepare for this holiday with a second child in the mix. There just are not enough hours in the day. Everything may not get done and it may not be perfect, but that's ok. I am just thankful to have a happy, healthy family to share this special time of year with. I have a five year old who is counting the days until Santa arrives and a 5 month old that smiles constantly...life is pretty darn good!
Olivia received some very nice gifts from her friends and family. Obviously that was her favorite part of her party. She did a good job of thanking everyone for her gifts and showing enthusiasm as she opened each present.
The weather was perfect which meant that Olivia was able to show off her costume and not cover it up with a jacket. She told me she wanted to be a black cat the day after Halloween ended last year. Surprisingly she never changed her mind. My Mom found an adorable little pink kitty outfit for Cecilia, which was just as comfy as jammies. So we strolled around the zoo with both of our little kitties, while Olivia collected her treats. Next year Cecilia will be walking through the zoo with her big sister leading the way!
This year they threw a dunk tank into the mix and it was a huge hit with the kids. Olivia could hardly wait to try and dunk her teacher, Ms. Laura. She shocked us all when she hit the bullseye on her second throw and her teacher fell into the tank of freezing cold water. I must hand it to the teachers of Peace Montessori. There is nothing like showing your devotion to your job than allowing yourself to be dunked into cold water on a 50 degree fall day!
We were enjoying ourselves until the weather took a turn for the worse. Just as the kids were getting ready to start their trunk-or-treat the wind picked up and it started to rain. Olivia and I ran through the parking lot and hit every trunk as fast as we could collecting her candy. Daddy pulled up the car, we hopped in and headed home early. Luckily we were able to enjoy the majority of the festival before the weather forced us to leave.
And as if we did not have enough candy already we still had Halloween around the corner. The weather cooperated again and we were all able to enjoy a nice walk throughout the neighborhood. Cecilia was bundled up in her little kitty outfit and Olivia was prepared with her treat bag. She could hardly contain her excitement as she ran from house to house. She was on a mission to collect as much candy as humanly possible in two hours.
Cecilia was a trooper that night. She just relaxed in her stroller and enjoyed the cool, fall evening as Olivia dashed through our neighborhood at lightening speed. Todd took Cece home once it started getting dark while Olivia finished up her candy collecting. She could hardly hold her treat bag by the end of the night it was so heavy. Once we got home we dumped the candy out on the floor and assessed the damage. I could not believe how much she managed to get in such a short period of time. All of that candy is in a huge bowl on top of our refrigerator and I have a feeling it will take us ages to eat it all. Olivia is only allowed to have a few pieces each day and of course Todd and I occasionally sneak a piece here and there. (It is so hard to resist!).
Halloween was a huge success and according to Olivia, her favorite holiday ever! I can't wait until next year when Cecilia will be toddling around with her big sister collecting candy.
Mixed in with all of our fall festivities was Olivia's first ever horseback riding lesson. We won a gift certificate at a silent auction last year for a couple of lessons and thought she would enjoy giving it a try. Before she began her first lesson she had to get fitted with her horseback riding gear. How cute does she look? My little rider! 
I figured that they would spend a lot of time teaching her the basics before actually putting her on a horse but I was wrong. Within minutes of starting her first lesson she saddled up on a beautiful horse named, China and immediately got down to business. She learned how to hold the reigns, how to get the horse to start and stop and how to make her turn. She really enjoyed enjoyed herself and picked up on the instruction very easily. I was very proud of how well she listened to her teacher and how well she handled herself on that huge animal! We may continue with the lessons to see where it leads.
Now for a quick update on Cecilia. She is now four months old and is just delightful. If someone would have told me a few months ago that I would have a baby with the most pleasant disposition I would have said you were crazy. What a difference a few months can make! She smiles constantly. She only fusses if she is tired or hungry. She is laughing, rolling over and trying to sit up on her own. She rolled over for the first time just shy of 4 months old. It was an exciting moment for all of us.
