A Five Month Old, A Toddler, and Free Ti.... oh, nevermind.

Here's how I'm gonna manage this update. The all-time classic bullet point!
Because I love blogging. I miss blogging. It's my only current form of 'scrapbooking' this time of our life, per se. And I want to remember it all.
But lemme break it down..... I'm lucky to get dinner on the table, a house a short distance away from disaster, and a little sleep mixed in here and there. We love our cozy little life of four, and we pack it full.

• Christmas:

We headed down to the Hefner's this past Christmas, and had the rare blessing of getting all of the cousins together. So awesome!
Kaelyn had asked for a Tinkerbell and skateboard. Which of course Santa delivered. One of my favorite moments, however, was two seconds after she saw the skateboard, she turned to look at Ben and I and said, " I don't have a hat!! Hey, guys! Santa didn't bring me a hat.". Which we were confused about (hat?! did she has for a hat?!?!?) until she made it clear that she meant a helmet. Oooooooh, yes. Of course. A HELMET. Way to go, Santa, forgetting safety first. (And who is this child? Who taught her about skateboards and helmets and how to say "Wanna see sumpin' COOL?")

Alayna asked for a little hair and some time to herself to figure out how to roll over.

But she did get some new sippy cups, a few toys, and a great giraffe Pillow Pet that big sister picked out all by herself! She pretty much had that "what in the world is going on" look on her face the entire time, which was cracking us all up.


We arrived back home late Sunday night, and lo and behold, Santa had made a pit stop at our house too! Which was very exciting (and a big surprise) for me, because he and Ben went in together and had a new sewing machine for me sitting under the tree. 

I am a very very novice seamstress, and verrrrrrry excited about this baby. If you are looking for a machine, get this one. (Ben is a research king, and chose this one for me for a number of reasons. And all of his reasons are good. :)

Brother SC9500

I have made a few bibs (new chenille fabric is of the devil and fuzzbunnies), and am constantly learning new lessons on sewing, mostly from my rookie mistakes (hey, helllloooo, don't sew that hole shut, you need to flip this project right side out!) , but am loving every minute of it. I purchased a few patterns, and already have a fabric pile as tall as my oldest child.  So many cute patterns, so little time!!

And children, little time, and cute lead me to:

Kaelyn

• Three months shy of three years old, and more and more grown every time I blink.
• Obsessed with the letter "O", the number 4. She draws the letter O, sings about the letter O, and finds the letter O in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , on store signs, on menus.... Her breakfast plate has four sections, all of which must have an item in them ( Ben and I have become quite talented and thinking of four things to put on that plate on the fly. Syrup, ketchup, pretzel sticks, raisins, or goldfish are acceptable at any time.), she wants me to brush her hair "like dis, Mommy" holding up her hand with four little precious chubby fingers. And when we do something, it's "we do it FOUR times, Mommy? Not free, Mommy, four?"  
• Is the sweetest thing I have ever seen with her baby sister. And her baby sister could seriously eat her up. They giggle and chuckle at each other like no one else exists.
• Loves Olivia, Tinkerbell books, anything Disney princess (but definitely not Disney Beast, Ursula, the Shark from Nemo, or evil step-mother-ish.)
• Is testing those boundaries. "Kaelyn, do not touch that again." - touches object again, while eyeballing me - "Kaelyn. Shelby. White." - "I jussss wanna touch it again!!!!" .
• Loves school, loves her friends, and loves showing us her new moves from tumbling class every week.
• And apparently, we were informed us at the dinner table one night after we had the "We don't say butt, we say bottom. Or hiney." talk, she "has a hiney, Mommy! And  we like to SHAKE IT."       WHAT?!!!!!!!!!

Alayna

• Five months old, and in 9-12m clothing. Sweetest chunk of baby there ever was.
• Started cereal on her five month mark day, and slurped it up like a champ, probably wondering why in the world we had been holding out on her.
• Was sleepingfrom 8p-5:30a like clockwork, with a strange and extremely consistent habit of waking up right at 3am just to fuss long enough for her paci before passing back out. Teased us a bit and slept til 6:30 after that first dose of cereal. Then hit a growth spurt for a week that left zombies for parents. But I think we're back on track now.
• Rolled over from back to front for the first time today!! We walked in to her on her playmat, on her belly, grunting  because her arm was underneath her and she was none to happy about it. I flipped her back over and she just giggled. Let the mobile baby times begin!
• Does not waste food. Ever. Has yet to not finish a bottle, always leaves the cereal bowl bare, and will be introduced to bananas and butternut squash this month. I plan on making all of her baby food like I did for Kaelyn, and I'm excited about it!
• Loves changing clothes. Such a fashionista. Which is the sweet way of saying there is no diaper out there that I have found from preventing her from creating a small mountain of laundry for me. It's really quite impressive.
• Is the most quick to smile, giggly, squealy happy thing. We kinda love her a whole lot.

I have tons of pictures but none handy, so I'll leave you with this -

xoxo

dae