Last week I was able to sneak out of the house and go to the much awaited Taylor Swift concert. Seeing as how I bought the tickets last December, it has been a much awaited event. I have been worried for months about how Natalie would do. Luckily, she has a very awesome dad and sister that comforted, fed and played with her while I was gone. It was an amazing concert and I am so happy I got to go. Here's some recent pictures of the girls. Ryland is just getting over being sick, and Natalie is just figuring out how to say "da-da". Which of course is making Champ very happy!

Happy happy little Ryland. She is becoming such a big girl. Hard to believe she will start school next year.


Champ reading books to the girls. Since Ryland is addicted to reading, Natalie has gotten some very early book exposure. She seems to love them. And what I really mean is that she loves eating them.


Looks like summer is coming to a close. As much as we like it when it arrives, it's nice to bring out the jeans and long sleeved shirts every once in a while.


Natalie is growing so fast, and she is getting to be quite the chubby baby. She's constantly grabbing at her feet, and playing with toys.


Ryland is finally getting some bike time, and doing pretty well with it. She seems to love riding it.

Reflection and ramblings

As I sit here and write this, Natalie is asleep on me and Ryland is in the bathroom singing away giving her Barbie a bath in the sink. It's surprisingly quiet in the house and I'm even feeling a little relaxed myself. Sometimes being a mom can be challenging when little ones are pulling you in different directions, but I would never trade this for anything! These little girls are my life, and teach me so much everyday. Ryland has been playing ALL DAY LONG, barely stopping to eat. And like every other day, she has managed to spread toys throughout the entire house. I always look at her in awe of how much fun she is having.


Summer is still here, but I can feel myself wanting fall to arrive more and more. And apparently Natalie is feeling this way to, since she is currently sporting her Halloween pajamas. Although, it was her big sister who actually picked them out.


I continue to take hundreds of pics of these girls daily because their cuteness and love for one another is constantly growing.

4 months

Today Natalie is 4 months old. We had her 4 month check up this morning, and she still proves to be a big healthy girl. She weighs 15 lbs 7.2 ounces (87% percentile) and is 25.5 inches tall (91% percentile). Today's visit was a dreaded one for momma because she had to get 4 shots. However, she actually did really well and was done crying after about a minute. Luckily we had Ryland with us to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Natalie as she got her vaccines. Proud to have a daughter who loves her little sister so much.

Natalie is now asleep on my lap. If its anything like her 2 month visit, she will sleep the day away. Which I don't really mind. I enjoy the cuddles.

Sisterly love

Watching Ryland with Natalie always gets me thinking about when I was little. It makes me wonder how my siblings and I interacted and played together. Even though Natalie's only 3 months, it has been so fun to see them become sisters. I know sibling rivalry is in my future (I think), but for now we have nothing but love. There have been hundreds of times I have had to tell Ryland to be softer or more gentle because I'm pretty sure she just wants to squeeze Natalie. I recall a time she hugged her baby sister and said "I just can't get enough love out of her".

What a special bond.

I just came to the realization that second babies grow way faster than the first ones. With Ryland, everything was new and unfamiliar. With Natalie, it seems like the days just fly by. Yesterday I went through the girls' closet and had to take out tons of clothes because they are both growing like weeds. Natalie is wearing 6 month clothes already, and her newborn onesies look so very tiny. Ryland is very excited at the thought that in just a few months Natalie will be sitting up on her own and joining us in a high chair for dinner. It's sad for momma that she's growing so quickly, so I remember to cherish all the little moments.

Favorite Things

A few of Ryland's favorite things at the moment:
1. Garfield (the show, his books, etc)
2. Picking flowers, leaves, grass, and sticks. Oh, and bringing them into the house.
3. Tacos
4. Reading books (last time we went to the library we checked out like 40 books...all for Ryland. We read them in less than a week)
5. Story time at the library.
6. Gymnastics class. She was so proud of herself last week.
7. Pushing on Natalie's nose and saying "boop".
8. Having me or Champ tell her a story. This has been going on for quite sometime. She mostly controls the storyline, characters, etc.
9. Bagels and cream cheese
10. 3 words...ice cold water. This really should be number one. Our fridge broke a couple weeks ago, and we had to buy ice from the store because Ryland could not go on without her "ice cold water".
Natalie's list of favorites:
1. Her owl toy
2. Being held, especially facing outwards.
3. Sucking on her hands, fingers and thumbs. The other day she popped a blood vessel in my hand while trying to chew on it.
4. Ryland, she loves her sister :)
5. Eating and sleeping. She has actually been sleeping some 4-6 hour stretches at night.
6. Sleeping with her feet propped up on the side of the bassinet.
7. Smiling. This girl has got an extremely sweet smile.
8. Sleeping on Champ in the mornings, while I get a chance to sleep in. Oh wait...I think that's actually one of MY favorite things.