3 months

-Addie is a little social butterfly! She's happiest when she has someone to talk to. My favorite thing is catching her when she first wakes up, before she starts crying because no one's come to get her. She gets so excited to see you!

-she's a pretty good sleeper, but it could be better. She takes a lot of short naps throughout the day and I wish she would sleep for a little bit longer stretches. She occasionally takes longer naps, though. She can sleep whether or not she's swaddled, but she goes to sleep faster and sleeps a little longer if she is, so we try to swaddle her as much as possible. At night, she falls asleep as soon as I start singing her lullabies :) her night sleep has digressed a little bit, unfortunately. She used to go 5-7 hours for her first stretch at night and now it's gone back to 3-4 :( we're planning on sleep training her soon so hopefully that helps.

-she loves chewing on her hands and we try to trade it out for her paci when we can. Now when she chews on her hands, Emily pulls it out and says, "don't eat hand! Yucky!"

-she's starting to take an interest in toys. She especially loves rattles! She'll also stay pretty entertained on a playmat for a good amount of time before she gets bored.

-she's getting really close to laughing. Now, when we tickle her she does little gurgle laughs :)

-Emily and Addie have started taking baths together and they both love it! It's nice getting them both done at one time and I'm glad they both enjoy it. The only hard part is washing Emily's hair, so we have to get Addie out before we start that struggle!

-she loves looking at colorful patterns! We draped a bright blanket over her crib at my mom's house and she had a long conversation with it :) she also loves looking at my nursing cover and her car seat cover.

-she's not gaining weight quite as fast, but she's definitely still chunky! Emily and I were putting lotion on her back the other day and I noticed that her back is even covered in rolls!

-she's our little angel!

outtakes:

 she puts up with a lot...

...a whole lot!

2 1/2

My baby girl turned 2 1/2 on Friday! Where is the time going?!

Here are some interesting things about Emily at 2 1/2

Favorite things: dancing and singing, coloring, playing outside, "fixing" things, playing doctor, "hide" and seek, watching Daniel tiger's neighborhood, puzzles, going to "school," taking care of Addie, and visiting the library

"hiding" from mommy

giving Addie a checkup

she was "painting" on the house with water from the pool and decided to dump the water all over herself. She quickly realized that wasn't the best idea because the water was freezing!

driving the golf cart

fixing the fireplace with papa. anytime someone brings out tools, she gets very serious about helping

Least favorite things: naps, washing her hair, having to stop doing something fun, not getting her way, bugs 

she's been refusing naps, but still needs them, so she occasionally falls asleep in the car

and when she does take naps she sleeps so hard...

 ... that she wakes up like this

and sometimes she falls asleep watching tv...

...and wakes up like this!

oh my!

Accomplishments: talks in longer phrases and sentences, knows all capitol letters (occasionally confuses I, T, J, and L) and most lowercase letters (still has a hard time with b, d, p, and q), counts to 12 (sometimes skips 6) and can identify most numbers, starting to learn letter sounds, better at trying new foods

Cute habits and traits: crosses her legs when sitting or laying down, sticks out her tongue when focusing on something, sings and hums to herself while playing, squints or looks up when she gets caught doing something she shouldn't, when getting off a couch or chair she stands up and plops onto her bottom before putting her feet on the floor, calls herself a "pretty princess" anytime she puts on a dress

this is her "i'm not doing anything wrong" face

and I realized she's been making this face since she was really little :)

Words that describe Emily: adorable, smart, hilarious, creative, stubborn, defiant, friendly, thoughtful, shy, loving, energetic, beautiful, little, imaginative, talented, curious, emotional, cuddly, helpful, inventive, adventurous, vivacious, excitable, and wonderful!

she loves her friends!

she's so shy! At this birthday party, she wanted candy, but wouldn't let go of daddy's hand!

little troublemaker!

Lastly, I want to share a really sweet experience I had with her recently. I was sitting on the couch watching her play. We weren't talking- she was kind of just doing her own thing. Out of nowhere she climbed up on the couch, stood next to me so our faces were level, and she gave me a sweet kiss on the forehead. It was so tender! She gives lots of kisses, but usually when we ask for them and never on the forehead! I'll never forget it! She's so full of love!

And she loves Addie so much! She's always giving her kisses or rubbing her cheek against Addie's cheek. She looks at Addie and says "pretty blue eyes, pretty ears, pretty arms..." And anytime Emily's being too rough and I tell her to stop she says, "but Addie cute!" It's like she can't help herself! When Addie's crying she tries to figure out the problem. She'll say "Addie paci on? Ok!" or "Addie eat more?" or "Addie blankie?" etc. She wants Addie to be able to play with her so badly. They're going to have a lot of fun together as they grow up.  And occasionally, when she's talking to Addie she says, "I love you too, Addie!" It melts my heart! She's an amazing big sister!