Who’s That Baby?

This is a sweet video of Reese looking at herself in the mirror (just a little over 3 months).  As she see’s a beautiful little baby starring back at her she lets out a little giggle and endless smiles.

Does she know it’s her own reflection?  I don’t think so.  Here’s an interesting article on the developmental stage of recognizing ones self in a mirror.  Science tells us that it occurs much later than we may think.

SO cute!  As far as Reese knows, she’s having a great play date with a friend!  P.S. Excuse the barf at the end… I opted for staying true to real life than edit it out.  😛

Bananas + Alphaghetti?

Miss Stella has some of the oddest eating habits I’ve ever seen.

i.e.) The combination of banana and alphaghetti, eating too fast, shoving huge amounts of food in her mouth at one time, and swallowing her food without chewing much at all.  Children are often much like their parents, and let’s just say she didn’t get these bad habits from me.

Love you my little quirky girl!

Imagination

It never ceases to amaze me the level of imagination that a 2 year old can have.  Unfortunately, this video was cut short by a phone call I had coming in, but it begins with Stella attempting to tell me a story starting with “Once upon a time…”

Next, she eats her strawberries like a crocodile would eat them (she does this often).  Then, the strawberries begin to bounce, and then turn into froggies that bounce really high.  Then she eats the frog which she claims tastes sour, like the ocean, or like a kitty.  She attempts to describe the taste further by doing some sort of spitting action… and then the video’s cut off and I take my phone call.

It would have been interesting to see what else she had to say, but I’ll have to wait till another time.

“Lottie, SPEAK!”

Stella loves my parents dog named Lottie.  She likes to play with her (a.k.a. boss her around, lay on her, poke her, pull her tail, etc…)  Truthfully, Lottie loves the attention so it’s a perfect situation.

Here is Stella commanding Lottie to “speak” with such authority.  Her arm waving in the air communicates a firm command to obedience!

She is very proud of herself.  Good job Stella.  xo

I Want to Remember…

Anyone who’s ever had a child knows how quickly they grow up.  I can’t believe that my baby girl is almost 3 months old already.  Time seems to be flying by even faster the second time around.  I think that because our little ones grow up so fast, it’s easy to forget every precious stage and moment in time.   Moments like when they first made eye contact with you, when they’d cry that new born cry, when they begin to kick their feet and wave their arms in excitement, when they smile just because you looked at them, when they cooed in conversation with you, or when they simply find their hands to such on.

These are small milestones, but equally precious as any other in my eyes.  This is a video of Reese 4 days shy of being 3 months old.  I’m sitting in front of her making funny faces and smiling at her.  Her little smile and sparkle in her eye is all I wanted to document here.  It’s not much, and may not seem like a worth while blog, but I just want to remember these beautiful little moments and stages of her life.  I am so in love with her that I could stare at her all day long.  But, days fly by, and before I know it she will be asking me to borrow the car… so here’s a simple video because I want to remember.  Love you Reese.

Instagram at Maplewood

The girls and I recently spent a weekend at my mom and dad’s in a little place called “Maplewood.”  We always have such a great time when we’re there!  My husband recently got me a new i-phone and introduced me to the program called Instagram.  I’m sure most people have already heard of it since I am very behind in the technology world.  I’ve really come to fall in love with this program, and am REALLY impressed with the quality of photo’s that the i-phone 4 actually takes… why carry around a camera when I can just use my phone?!

Here are some photos that I took on my phone and then ‘edited’ in Instagram of our adventures in Maplewood.

This one was not edited… perfect just as it was.

Don’t get me wrong… I know they do not compare to the PROFESSIONAL photos that I could pay a million dollars for, but they are not to shabby in my opinion.  I love Instagram and Maplewood!

Grandma Reta

My Grandma Reta is the best grandmother a person could ever ask for.  Ever since I can remember, she has been a HUGE part of my life.  As a kid, all the way up into my high school years I would love to have sleepovers at my grandma’s house.  Honestly, if I wasn’t married with 2 kids I’d probably still have sleepovers at her place.  Every time I’m with her, we laugh and talk A LOT!  She always has something encouraging to say to me, and I always love hearing her babble on about practically anything and everything.  This coming December, my Grandma will be 80 years old.  She doesn’t really live the lifestyle of an 80 year old though cause she’s always busy doing something with family and friends, or playing in her harmonica band, or going on a bus tour, etc… She’s a busy woman, but investing in family is her hearts desire.  In fact, she has a total of 19 grandkids and great-grandkids with one more coming along very soon, and somehow all of us can testify that we each have a special relationship with her.  We all still call her on the phone, ask her advice, some still do the sleepover thing, and we all keep her updated about our lives.

This past weekend the girls and I went to visit my mom and dad while Matt was leading worship in Muskoka. My Grandma came over on Friday, and then again on Saturday to spend the day with us and visit.  Here is a video of Stella playing a silly game of catch with my Grandma (who she calls “Gwama Weeta”).

Stella absolutely adores her.  Somehow my Grandma is always able to make her grandchildren smile, or in Stella’s case laugh hysterically.  Thank you Grandma for being such an amazing woman, and such an intricate part of my life.  You have been a blessing to me more than you’ll ever know.  I love you so much!

So, You Think You Can Dance

Our little Stella LOVES to dance.  Her moves are cutting edge.  Not exactly sure where she gets these moves from…  She probably wouldn’t make it past the first round on “SO You think you can dance,” but her moves definitely bring a smile to my face.

It looks to me like a mix between tribal dancing, modern interpretive, and the hokey-poky.  Dance away my little free spirit, DANCE AWAY!

Swimming With Ariel

I knew that this week was suppose to be terribly hot, so while grocery shopping yesterday I bought Stella a blow up pool for the back yard.  There was a Disney Princess one, or an Ariel one to choose from.  She picked the Ariel one for this reason: “I want to go swimming with Ariel Mommy… in the water!”

As predicted, yesterday afternoon was a cooker so I filled the pool with about 5 buckets of water from the house (our outdoor hose wasn’t working) and that gave her a whopping 3 inches of water to play in.  She wasn’t complaining, so I didn’t either.

Here’s Stella swimming with Ariel:

This video gives such a well rounded display of my little Stella’s personality.  A little quirky, very loving, sweet, and slightly bossy!  Love her so much!

“Smile!”

This morning Stella was snuggling in bed with Reese as they watched morning cartoons together.  I was trying to snap a few good pics of this sweet moment, but somebody seemed unable to smile on command… and it wasn’t the 2 month old.  You’d think by this time a 2 year old would be able to smile on command when a pictures being taken, but Stella was just not interested.  On the flip side, Reese would give me a beautiful smile every time I snapped a picture.

Love you both my sweet girls!!