Blessed

There are so many times that I focus on the negative whether I mean to or not. So many times I complain about needing time to myself, without taking in account the perks and blessings I get every day. Every day Aly surprises me with how much she's learned, how sweet and helpful she strives to be, as well as filling my life with laughter at her antics. Lorelei constantly takes my breath away with her sweet, sweet personality and gorgeous smile. They are healthy, above the average, and so much easier to handle than other children. Even the biggest concern I had while pregnant with them was pih.
One of my friends recently had a miscarriage. She was so excited, and close to 5 months. He would have been her first. I can't imagine how much pain she is in, nor do I know what to say, as I have been so completely blessed with my own family. All I can do is thank God for my girls and appreciate what they have and continue to give me.

Picture Time

... yet again. I was actually going to post this last night, but L decided to be sick and not go to sleep until 12:30. :( Poor little thing, I wish I knew what was wrong.

This is from a day I forgot to upload. It was the first time A and L actively played together, rather than A trying to tickle L/move her arms in dancing motion/pull her along or L trying to pull A's hair/give her a bath in drool/use her as a teething instrument. - 4.10

A wanted to wear her extra ladybug costume from Halloween. -4.14

I finally used the gift card my grandparents gave A for her birthday to get her a present, and she loved it. She kept calling the doll 'little sister' and being so sweet. And yes, in the first picture she is trying to feed the doll Easter candy. -4.15

There are a lot of pictures coming after this. I bought L and A outfits at the same time that complimented each other a month ago (the outfit A's wearing in the Easter pictures that is not the dress), and due to total fault of my own, Lorelei's didn't get here until yesterday. **Hint: When you move, make sure you change your Paypal and Ebay addresses, or simply be observant. Either way works. Aaaaanyway, I had a 'photo session' with her (I use the term loosely, especially compared to S's photo shoots) and I have no discernment in pictures. I think they're all cute. :) -4.16
Showing off her outfit.
Both of my girls love dolls, but in slightly different ways...
Baby cleavage!
Some of the longest strings of drool ever belong to L.
"Look, it's A's little sister!" - direct quote from A

Lorelei and her attempts to crawl. She gets so frustrated, because she only scoots backward so far.
A wanted L to wear the tiara. Poor baby was getting sick even then.
This picture was taken because A brought me the camera and kept saying 'Picture!'I love it when they gain the coordination and balance to sit upright without support. It opens a whole new level of play and heh, pictures.

Britain's Got Talent

I've not watched American Idol for the past 6 years, but I came across these clips and had to share them.



Youtube wouldn't let me embed this next one, so if you want to check it out, use the link.

Grandma! Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!

********This is a long one. M and C took great pictures this weekend, so I've got a ton to share. Scroll at your own risk.********

This Easter we went to Clinton to spend the holiday with M's parents. M helped his parents load up/deliver some unwanted items and furniture, and we were able to go to their church for Easter. I had bought two similar outfits for A and L so we could get their pictures taken at Mynelle Gardens, but that didn't exactly work out. L's outfit still hasn't come in, and Mynelle Gardens was closed the times we hoped to go. We were able to take the girls to Clinton's Nature Center and photograph them in their Easter dresses and then in some springy outfits.

Saturday, April 11:

The first pictures of A are when C was getting ready. It was too cute, but as I doubt C wants pictures of her in her nightgown posted on the internet, I'm just showing some close-ups of A. C lets her play with brushes and makeup pads, and A imitates her. It's precious.

Sunday, April 12 (Easter):

I'm terming the girls as 'Bohemian', when really I'm just a bad mother. I kept putting off getting them Easter shoes that when our plans changed for the weekend I had no time left. A had on sandals, but they fit weird and her feet kept slipping out the back. L I had hose and decent enough shoes for, but we were in such a rush to get to church yesterday morning that I forgot about them while C was dressing her. So she went sans stockings and shoes. And yes, the outfit A is wearing other than the dress is the same as the day before.

Pretty flowers + my beautiful girls = great pictures. Don't be surprised if you get one of these printed in the mail soon.

Another thing I meant to do Saturday was get their Easter baskets together, but didn't get the chance. C to the rescue again! :)

This picture is blurry, but I think it's still pretty :).

After all this we went back to have a massive storm come through that possibly killed W and C's dryer and cable box :(. On our way back to Petal we had to drive through the storm, stopping and taking an hour longer so we wouldn't drive into a tornado. I always feel guilty for praying for a tornado/hurricane/escaped convict/rabid bunny monster to go somewhere else, knowing if my prayers are answered that someone else would get hurt. But maybe that's just me...

Project 365

Since the first of the year nearly every digi-scrapbooking blog or site I frequent has mentioned 'Project 365.' I don't know if this is specifically for digi-scrappers or photographers in general, but the gist is that you take a picture each day. The scrappy part is you're supposed to scrap the week's pictures in one layout. I wasn't really interested in it, but I've decided to give the photography part a chance. I'm not going to make a point to take pictures every day, but I do want to record our everyday moments with a lot more abandon than I have had. I want to make sure that those who are going to be missing more than they'd like can watch the girls grow through these pictures.

Annnyway, these are the pictures I've taken over the past two days.
Wednesday:
(sidebar: A has started completely not wanting to take naps or go to sleep in general. Nap times and bed times have become this tug of war where she is put in bed, and over an hour(s) she will destroy her room, then try and come out. She's put back into bed and so the cycle continues.) These pictures were taken after she wanted every single stuffed animal she owns to sleep with her. She decided she wanted to wear her swimming suit to bed, and this was a picture in one of the times she SHOULD have been sleeping.

Today L had one of her first revelations with cause and effect. She played with her keyboard and piano, and had such an excited reaction when she pressed on the keys and voila! Lights and music.

Today's tummy time/attempt at crawling

Trying to eat the camera
When playtime is over, eat the evidence.

I found this today, and thought it was crazy. I haven't made up my mind if it's crazy awesome or just crazy.

Ebay frustration & L photos

L might not have a dress for Easter. I totally forgot about Easter until less than two weeks ago, and bought a dress last week off ebay. I paid for it with Paypal, but didn't realize it had been setup for echecks, rather than instant bank payage. Sooo, the check just cleared today and the seller is in California. I need lessons in observing.

I've been trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong with M's camera, pestering him and not really finding out what the problem is. L suddenly started sitting with ease a few days ago, so here are the pictures I took before the flash went wanky.

Exersaucer time

Is this not the perfect drop of drool? LOL!

Play time pictures. (Forgive the make-shift mat behind her. I've had to layer blankets so she doesn't hurt herself if she falls over)


As you might have noticed, I'm addicted to processing pictures ;). I just couldn't do too much to these because her eyes looked so gorgeous.



She looks like she's about to sneeze ;)
This would probably be my favorite picture, if I hadn't cut off half her head. Boo.

If any of you camera savvy people can let me know what I did wrong this morning, please tell me. The only thing I did different was get closer to the ground, and suddenly the pictures all became overexposed. Then the pictures stopped being overexposed, and the flash stopped flashing. The flash lcd was still on, but no flash. This was the best picture I could get after that :(.I can't believe she's going to be seven months tomorrow. I keep getting nostalgic and remembering A at this age, and trying to cherish each stage since I won't be having another. Reading 'Ready or Not' at BabyCenter takes my breath away at how much she is able to do now... drinking water, drinking from a SIPPY CUP (sigh), even start swimming lessons at this age. Crazy.