Growing Up.

My girls are both growing up especially fast these past two weeks. Annalise has been devouring everything in sight and is now NOT fitting into pants she fit into a couple of weeks ago. She is talking more and more and I absolutely love seeing her personality develop. Samuel was in the backcountry last week for three days and by the morning of the third day, I was about to lose my patience as Annie was LITERALLY crawling ALL over me while I was trying to change Heidi's diaper, etc. I had to take a couple of breaths but, to paint an honest picture, her growing independence and vocalization of her needs also has me praying for more patience daily. I could not love her more. I am in awe at how this amazing, unique, observant, human who is all her own is my child. Still throws me sometimes. How did I grow her? I am reminded often both of how little I influence her (she comes out who she is -- a wonderfully beautiful soul) and yet how influential my words and actions are. The guilt comes in waves as I think back about how I could have been better, could have been kinder, and have thoughts of, "Why did I say that to her? She deserves more patience."

----------------

SIX MONTHS.
Heidi turned six months a few weeks ago! What? I can't believe it. This past week she had her moments of crying and wanting to nurse every 1.5 hours, waking up in pain, etc. I can only chalk it up to a growth spurt or teething because she seemed fine other than that. The few days following the fussiness, she has been eating allllll the milk and back to her normal happy self.

At six months, Heidi is such a delight. She is quick and easy to smile. She has a very large grin with two adorable bottom teeth right in the middle. She is rocking sitting up, but still occasionally falls over so I usually have a cushion behind her. She will play contentedly with toys from her bin for a while, inspecting every edge and shape and color and bringing it to her mouth. She stopped sucking on her pacifier about a month ago, so it is harder for me to comfort her when she is having a rough time, but also makes bed time easier because I just put her in there and don't have to go get her pacifier and put it back in ever. She will just put her thumb in her mouth and suck on that. She always sleeps on her back and I've never seen her roll over in her crib. Usually sleeps pretty well from about 6:30 or 7:00 pm until 5:30 or 6:30 am (if I'm lucky). Is getting better at naps, usually ranging around the 1-2 hour range (3 naps a day).

We introduced foods a few weeks ago, avocado first (except that watermelon rind and corn cob she sucked on). She keeps her mouth pierced shut for purees but we have found that if we put a glob of them on her tray, she will use her fingers to play in it and then bring her fingers to her mouth and suck on them. So basically she will be breastfeeding forever....just kidding, hopefully.

She laughs wildly at Annie, kicks and waves her arms for daddy, and gives me the sweetest smiles and cuddles while feeding. She is getting quite chunky and healthy-looking. She loves her bath times and swimming in the pool/beach/lake, grabbing gobbles of sand and then shoving it into her mouth when I'm not looking. We have had a few babysitters and she does a good job with them, especially when Annie is there to comfort her when she's sad. Although she is a happy baby and will smile at people at church, if a stranger picks her up and tries to give her a kiss or put her too close to their face, she gets upset with a pouty face. So she does have a healthy dose of stranger danger, too! She is feeding better in public and different locations after our beach reunion in North Carolina (where she had to feed in random locations), although she will look around and pull off a ton if it's a really cool place :) She likes to go on walks and face outwards, which we started doing recently. Does not sleep well in her car seat unless we are driving, so she doesn't usually take naps at church and such. I feel so lucky to have this little girl in my life and am loving seeing her wonderful unique self blossom from babyhood to bigger babyhood. She is such a special girl and I'm so happy to be her mama.

This is her "this grass feels different" face.

Always sucking on those fingers. :)

She *might* be a brown-eyed girl like her mama!

Look at that adorable mischievous smile :) 

I think she looks a ton like my baby pictures in this one. ^^

Chunky heaven, right here. 

August 4 snapshot

Had to pull out my camera and document these wonderful girls today.

Heidi is 5 months! I wake up every morning for another day with such a wonderful, sweet, delightful spirit. It is my favorite thing in life to watch the personalities of babies come out. Today I brought home a rather large fake potted plant that I bought off a friend and Heidi was TERRIFIED of it. I'm talking, crying like she never has cried before. She is turning out to be a very chill, happy, pleasant baby. Smiles easily, and belly laughs almost daily. She is easily entertained by her older sister, kicks her feet and waves her hands wildly when daddy comes home, and I'll also add that she is rather obsessed with me, which always makes me feel good. :) She is very vocal about what she wants and will often put on this "I am SO OFFENDED" expression the moment I set her down to play on her mat by herself. Although I do make dinner occasionally, Ill admit that we hold her and spoil her quite a bit. Samuel is usually holding her during dinner while she claps her hands loudly and wildly on the table, grasping at the food or silverware or whatever she can get her hands on. Either that or she is sucking vigorously on her thumb staring at each bite of food on the fork. She'll be getting solid food in a few weeks, although honestly I don't feel ready for that. Her two adorable bottom teeth are telling me otherwise. When I have told Samuel that he can put her down, he often says, "I know, but I don't want to!" She really is that fun to hold and cuddle. I can't get enough of her these days. She loves to read books and will talk and slap each page and try to put it all in her mouth. She also loves music and singing and will flap her hands wildly. She tolerates tummy time and is very strong but prefers sitting up so she can see like everyone else. She can roll over a lot but hasn't rolled from back to tummy yet. Sleeps wonderfully through the night and nurses well. My times nursing with her and some of my favorite and she frequently reminds me to be present when she reaches for my hand (sometimes on my phone) and holds it or wraps my hand around her. She is the sweetest gift I could ever have!

And then there is Annalise. She now talks in full sentences all the time but will act like she can't say a word in big groups. She has a great vocabulary but sometimes will mix up the pronunciation of things and I find it adorable. For example, today she said "water mormon" instead of "watermelon." I didn't correct her. When she is wants to communicate something and is trying to formulate her thoughts into a sentence to tell me, she gets this look of excitement and anticipation on her face as she is trying to put it into words. It is so adorable that I usually end up saying YES if it is a request because I just can't say no to her cute face. She still loves to read, loves loves her baby sister, is obedient, helpful, playful, creative, independent, and goofy with her friends. I never imagined I could love a little girl so much. I hope so much that I can help her accomplish her mission on this earth, because I know she has a very special one! (my editing stinks so don't judge; I don't know what I'm doing)

And if we're being real, this is how photographing toddlers really goes: