my little {free spirit}

It's not hard to get this girl to smile.

She has a warm vivacity about her,

but I know that she will be the death of me if I don't get a grip on the fact that I can't control her.

She is my wild child.
She knows no nap schedule.
And often parties in her crib before falling back asleep in the night.
And by party I mean wake up for 30 minutes to an hour and squeal and laugh.
And then go back to sleep.
I can't control her.

She is as outer as Hattie is inner.
And I think her hair is the perfect example of her personality.

And I pray that she will always use her energy and spirit in heavenly ways.

She is my joy.

Loves

Nowhere else is there another like you
Rare and beautiful is how he made you
Irreplaceable is how he sees you
You're everything that He could dream
Exactly who you were meant to be
You're unrepeatable

Fingerprint of God
Precious child you are
Lovingly created
All that makes you laugh
All that makes you cry
Every dream that stirs within you
Is God calling

Nowhere else is there another like you
Rare and beautiful is how he made you
Irreplaceable is how he sees you
You're everything that He could dream
Exactly who you were meant to be
You're unrepeatable
Lyrics from Unrepeatable by Daniel Kirkley

My New Toy

Hattie was back at Mother's Day Out this morning after Spring Break last week, so I had the opportunity to play with the camera. Mary Ellen was my muse after her morning nap.

Have I mentioned that 7 months is my most favoritest age ever :)?!?!

I also took a picture of our yard that we spent this past weekend slaving over. Out with ugly, overgrown bushes. In with pretty new plants that I need to remember to water!


And, have I mentioned that Sean and I leave to go to New York for 6 whole days together late next week? Sean and I leave (and by leave I mean leave the babies, too!) to go to New York at the end of next week!!!! Don't worry, we are not leaving the babies alone. They'll be staying with the saint that is their Mimi.

I have never been to New York, so I'm excited, and probably the most exciting thing about the whole trip is that we are getting to go FOR FREE basically. Sean is going to be working for 3 of the 6 days, and the company is paying for me to tag along!

And since ya'll helped me out so much with the camera situation, I was wondering what are the "must-sees" of New York City? We are procrastinators and haven't looked into it at all. We've booked our flights and hotels and that's it. We only have 3 days to see the city together, and then I'll be flying solo for most of the other 3 days while Sean works, which means this country girl is going to stay pretty close to the hotel because I am way too chicken to venture out very far in the big, foreign city by myself. Our hotel is in Manhattan, really close to Central Park, so hopefully the weather will be nice enough, and I'll take a walk through Central Park, clutching my mace, and get coffee or something while Sean's at work. And shop. I plan to shop while Sean's working!

But for the bigger adventures on those 3 days we have, what are your fave spots in NYC?

{hand-me-downs}

Getting to Know You.....

getting to know all about you - that song was going through my head when I was opening up my new camera. I'm a nerd, but you guys rock!!! Thanks for all the advice on which camera to get. We are loving our little pocket-sized canon powershot! I've been playing around with her, trying to learn how to use her. It's pretty easy, and I must say that I cheated. Sean read all the directions and then gave me the cliff-notes version. He rocks, too ;).

So, of course I want to share a few new pictures with my new camera. The girls played outside yesterday while we redid a front flower bed. They even got to wear their new swimsuits, and Hattie even ran around the sprinkler for a while. We are loving the warmer weather.

So here is big sister girl.

She.........
*asks me to paint her fingernails atleast once a day.
*still sucks her thumb.
*loves The Little Mermaid
* has such an imagination.
*won't take her nap about twice a week these days.
*is in bed and usually asleep by 7 pm.
*has become so klutzy lately.
*woke up with a dry diaper for the first time this morning!
*is growing up too fast for Mama's liking.

And here is little sister girl.

She......
*has become so vocal in the last week or so. Shrieking is her new favorite past-time.
*is (dare I type it) finally sleeping through the night consistently.
*is wearing a size 18 month swimsuit. She's 7 months old. You do the math.
*has an infectious laugh.
*loves her big sister more than anything and anyone. That includes Mama :/.
*is becoming quite the mama's girl despite her love for Hattie.
*has started having stranger anxiety, especially with men.
*is my laid-back angel baby.
*is in bed and asleep by 6:30 most nights.

Camera Suggestions

We are in desperate need of a new camera. Our current one is a dinosaur and burns out the batteries in about 5 minutes. I would like a nice little pocket one that I could take everywhere, but quality of pictures in very important to me, too. We don't want to break the bank on our new camera purchase either.

Suggestions?

Mary Ellen's Chompers!

You might have to click on the picture and enlarge it to see the beginnings of two teeth, and if you do enlarge it, I apologize for the crusty nose :).

Openness to Life

I came across this blog post today. I encourage you to read it and to keep up with all of her posts in her Open to Life Series. Thought-provoking, good stuff no matter what you believe. I linked the contraception post specifically because I think so many are in the dark about it. I've blogged about it before. Those that know me well know that this is a pretty big, important issue for me, something that really slapped me in the face when I re-entered the Catholic Church.

Katie Strikes Again!!!!

And by strikes again, I mean she got my kids to strike some priceless poses for the camera again. I always love when she asks to come over to shoot the girls because I know I'm gonna have lots of fun, beautiful shots to look at and pick from when she's done. And then our time usually ends with a trip to Chick-fi-la for lunch because taking pictures of wee ones works up an appetite!

When she sent me the pictures last night, I loved each and every one of them. While looking through the ones of Mary Ellen, though, three thoughts kept running through my head:
1.) This child has some serious crazy hair.


2.) Mama needs to start cuttin' her rations :).


3.) And, seriously, did this child get ANY of my DNA? I mean, I can vouch for the dimples, but that's about it.



This one cracks me up. I feel like there needs to be a caption attached that reads, "Whatchoo lookin' at?"


And I just love this one:


Hattie had some great ones, too. She was all about taking pictures for the first 5 minutes and then thought it was more fun to just be silly and uncooperative. Such is the life of a 2 year old, I guess.

Can't you just feel her energy? It was bouncing off the walls.


Mimi, do you recognize these eyes? ;)


Then we decided to take some of the girls together.


Hattie wouldn't or couldn't hold Mary Ellen. Not sure which one. Either she thought it was just more fun to fall backwards or she just couldn't hold the weight of her almost 18 pound sister in her lap, so she fell backwards giggling. They were just sitting on the bed, so no one got hurt. All had a soft landing. But we had to try something else.

Hattie loved this pose, but it didn't really work out because Mary Ellen kept flopping over:


This worked out much better:



And this is my favorite shot of the two. It melts my mama heart into a big glop of mushy love.

And in about 10 years when they are fighting and ready to claw each others' eyes out, I will get the above picture out, wave it in their faces and remind them that they really do love each other.

Thank you, Katie!