So Much

Because I don't want to forget -- on the way home tonight the following conversation ensued:
Joey: Mommy, I love you.
Me: I love you too, Joey
**pause**
Joey: I love you sooo much.
** he's never used the phrase "so much" in reference to anything before **
Me: Did you say you love me so much? (in disbelief)
Joey:  Yeah .. I love you soo much,, Mommy.
Me: Joey, that is so nice to say! I love you sooooo much too!
**pause**
Joey:  I love you tooooo much, Mommy.

**Annnnnd to top if off, because he's two and you just can't have that serious of a moment **

Joey: I love Mickey Mouse too much, Mommy!
**Uhhhh .. he's seen Mickey Mouse like four times in his life maximum.  I have no idea where this came from.  He doesn't even really know who he is hahahaha**

And Because He's So Stinkin' Cute

Mr. Boldy Pants

Who has taken to saying, "Hiii."

And when you say, "Hi," he says "I loooove you."

No less than twenty times today.

Watch Grace Grow - 3 Month Edition

Love this girl. :o)

** sidenote (and because I'll forget): As a frame of reference, the onesie in the picture is a size 0-3 months and you've still got quite a bit of room in it, so I guess you are still pretty tiny and haven't grown quite as much as I thought.  You sure are eating enough though! That's okay little one, you just stay on your little curve :o)**

Dear Grace {3 Months}

 Oh Grace, you beautiful little thing, you are a sight to behold. Three months have passed and you just keep getting betting: more beautiful, more smiley, more enamored with your world.  I am so in love.  I could hold you forever and it wouldn't be long enough.

You get so much attention everywhere we go.  Everyone is drawn to you.  Though you love your Mommy most right now, and are happiest in my arms, you're more than willing to flash a smile at anyone who comes your way.  Everyone comments on your eyes and it's not hard to see why.  They are expressive and beautiful, dancing and flashing as your face lights up with joy. Your father sits over you and tells me how beautiful you are almost every day.  And though I know it for myself, it delights me to hear him say it.  I hope you always know your value and that your beauty, though it is very much apparent on the outside, is merely just a manifestation of who you are on the inside bubbling up and spilling out for all to see.  You are so loved.

 We talked, as most parents do, before you were born, worried that we could never love another child like we loved your brother.  Well, my little one, you are showing us just how that happens.  I can't explain how perfect it is to have the two of you.  The love we feel for you is simultaneously so very much the same and so very different.  You are pink and bows, ruffles and patent leather mary janes (which incidentally, you wore for the very first time today), tiny cries and baby dolls, flirting eyes sweet tiny coos. You complete us, you complete me, in a way I never imagined.

Gracie Pie, you have grown a great deal this month, both physically and developmentally.  You were eating approximately every three hours, though you are still not on any type of schedule, until last week when you went through a growth spurt and started eating all. the. time. The doctor said this would happen and gave us the go ahead to give you cereal if you seemed to need it.  I said we would be waiting and that if you were hungry all the time then I would just feed you all the time. Well, you're making my put my money where my mouth is.  You still fit into size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes but you fill them out, and you fit into size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes well enough now.  A week ago they were all very big, it's incredible.

You and your brother continue your tango of love; namely, he very obviously loves you and you seem to be still deciding.  I've caught you flashing him some major smiles though and you seem to like to follow him with your eyes so I'm hoping these are signs of what's to come. 

This past month you found your hands.  You think they are very yummy and just about the best thing ever. You have started really sleeping through the night.  You very consistently go to sleep at 9 and then wake up for the day at 8:30.  You were making it until 5 in the morning without needing to eat before your little growth spurt and now we are slowly eeking our way back to that. We were amazed that you were going 8 hours through the night at two months old!  You are also  putting yourself to sleep at night.  You simply get swaddled, placed in your bassinet, and then just fall right asleep.  You still love to be swaddled and snuggled closed. You have developed this little habit of holding and gently tugging at the tufts of hair on the back of your head when you are tired.  I love to watch your little hand search for just the perfect piece of hair as you try to fall asleep. You still love to nuzzle your head by mine and I'm happy to oblige. 

You continue to be a dream come true, Gracie Girl.

We feel so blessed to watch you and aide you as you grow.

Can't wait to see what the next month brings.

To the moon and back,

Mommy

Cousins

Last Monday this little lady got to come spend our morning with us. 

 I love watching Joey and Lina together.  They play so well and are so well behaved together.

 A little glimpse of life with three children? :o)

You wouldn't think that three kids, three and under would be so easy...

... but it probably has something to do with the fact that this little angel is so easy (for me) and just goes with the flow as long as she has her Mommy around.

I'm not going to lie.  It totally delights me that no matter who is around, Joey's main concern is always "Joey's Grace" as he has recently begin calling her. 

 Such goofs!

This picture seriously cracks me up. Lina spent about 15 minutes playing under Grace's play mat (which, incidentally, is the same amount of time Grace lasts under there haha).  She was in love with it and was very into the fact that all of Grace's toys used to be Joey's toys when he was a baby.  She kept saying that they all used to be her toys too when she was a baby :o) and that she had to tell her mom to buy her one of these play mats. 

Joey was serenading her with his guitar to the tune of London Bridge :o).

Lina saw one of our craft projects we had done hanging on the fridge and wanted to make one too so we broke out our supplies and had at it before spending some time with play dough while Miss Grace took her nap.

 This is Joey loving his snake he made and Lina showing me part of her spaghetti and meatballs.

 Joey has a thing about snakes lately.  He has an imaginary friend, Nemon, who is a yellow snake.

Here, he's kissing his play dough snake.

 And "snuggling" it  .. which, for all things, means holding them in the crook of his neck.

If it's really serious snuggling he closes his eyes and gets a very serious look on his face.

I couldn't love him more.

 We had a yummy toddler approved lunch of mac & cheese, grapes, peaches and wheat crackers to end our morning.

"A cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost"

-Marion C. Garrety 

Is it just me

or do Joey and Lina look so much alike in this picture?

Our twosome with two of their grandparents and cousin Lina.

It's nothing short of a miracle that all three are looking at the camera AND have non-crazy smiles :o) !!

I never really thought of them as looking alike, but as they both get older and as Joey is losing his baby look, I see more and more of a resemblance in picutures.

You'd almost think Lina and Joey were the brother and sister and Gracie was the cousin :o)