Jillian's blessing

This past Sunday, Jillian was blessed in church and we had lots of family come visit for the special occasion so here's a warning that there will be tons of pictures and videos.
Everyone was very kind to bring Annabelle gifts. One of her presents was a yoyo from Grandma Ellen. She's been wanting one for a very long time and was very excited that she finally got one. Here's a video of Michael helping her with it and also showing off his own amazing yoyo skills.

And of course, there was a ton of ping pong playing. It was so fun to play with everyone, especially since I've been practicing and can kind of keep up with those that are better than me (which is pretty much everyone).



I wish I had gotten more family pictures after the blessing, but it was cold outside and Jillian was hungry and getting fussy. It was such was a wonderful weekend and I am so grateful that I'm apart of such a wonderful family and that they're so supportive. Thank you for coming and being apart of this special occasion. I love you all.

Two months old!

Jillian had her two month checkup yesterday and she's weighing a hefty 11 lbs 3 oz, which puts her in the 50th percentile, and is 23 inches long, putting her in the 75th percentile for height. She looks healthy and is a very happy baby.
Jillian got a Bumbo seat and I think she quite enjoys sitting in it.
Monday night, our lesson in Family Home Evening was on faith. In order to help Annabelle understand this concept, we had her stand on the counter and covered her eyes. Then we told her to jump and Daddy would catch her. As you can see in the video, it took awhile for her to have the courage and faith to jump when she couldn't see if anyone was there to catch her. It was pretty funny to watch.

Milestones

So, right now, I am thinking I have the best baby ever. Jillian slept through the night last night. I put her to bed at 9 and she didn't wake up until just before 7am! I couldn't believe it. The last few nights, she's been sleeping about 6 hours at a time, waking up around 3 for a feeding and then goes back to sleep until between 6 and 7. Annabelle didn't start sleeping all night until she was almost a year old. I was hoping that by 3 months, I'd have Jillian sleeping through the night. But I never dreamed it would actually happen at 7 weeks. Now, don't worry. I'm not letting it go to my head. I don't expect another night like that for a little while, but I think my hopes of getting her to sleep all night by 3 months may not be as hard as I originally thought.

She hit another milestone on Friday. Michael got her to smile at him 3 times in a row and of course, I missed all 3 of them. I've been trying to get her to smile at me for several weeks now, and finally today at church, I got my first smile from her. Now if she'll just do it more often, maybe I can capture one of her amazing smiles on camera. Here's the closest picture I've gotten of her smiling.And here's a video of random moments from the past few weeks:

"I can't find my hair!"

Today, I was at the store with the girls, and as I was putting the groceries in the trunk of the car, I noticed that a piece of Annabelle's hair had come out of her french braid. I said to her, "Uh oh. Some of your hair came out." She looked at me, then put her hand up to head as if to try and find where on her head it had fallen out, then looked at the ground and started bawling. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "My hair fell out and I can't find it". I started laughing and explained to her that all of her hair was still on her head and that only a little piece had come out of the braid. Sometimes I forget that she's only three and doesn't think quite like an adult yet. Plus, I had no idea that she would get so upset about losing a little hair.

A new toy!

One of the things that first attracted Michael to me was the fact that I grew up in a home with a ping pong table. He grew up playing intense and competitive ping pong and as a result is extremely good. Once we got engaged, there was no question in either of our minds that we would be acquiring a ping pong table at some point after our marriage. Now here we are, 5 years later, finally making that purchase. We are the proud owners of a Killerspin ping pong table. It's too bad we waited until the last few months of winter to get it. We've been stuck inside the house due to the long, cold winter since October and cabin fever has been going on around the house for several months now. Playing ping pong at night would have been a good way to be active and have something to do. We set the table up in the basement and Michael spent quite a bit of time down there, reorganizing the stuff we keep stored down there, as well as trying to get as much of the dust and dirt off the floor as possible. He also put up a fluorescent light for proper lighting at night. Annabelle has had a blast trying to play and is always demanding that she "do it myself". And here's Annabelle showing some love for her sister.

Running

We've had a few sunny days lately and I decided to take advantage of them and of the free double jogging stroller I got. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the run. It was very cold and extremely windy. I needed both hands to push the stroller, which by the way added over 40 extra pounds, and not being able to swing my arms when running made things a little difficult and extra tiring, not to mention the fact that the stroller kept veering to the left big time because that's the side Annabelle was sitting on and she's like 4 times heavier than Jillian. However, I am glad that I actually went out and ran. Jillian slept the whole time, snuggled between 5 blankets. I went in the morning, thank goodness, because by the afternoon, it was snowing, with the wind blowing it everywhere.

Spring, Spring, Spring

Although it's still cold outside, the sun was shining this morning and we've reached March, so I decided to dress the girls in some cute spring dresses for church. They both looked so cute, I had to get some pictures. But before you go scrolling through the rest of this entry looking at the photos, take a look at these two pictures of Annabelle and Jillian side by side wearing the same dress and tell me if you can tell who is who (and don't cheat by looking at pictures of Jillian from this entry to see the difference).

A major cut

After I wrote the last entry, I was looking at the pictures of Annabelle and thought that her hair might be looking a little bit unkempt. I decided it was time to cut her beloved hair. I have really enjoyed coming up with new, cool do's that can only be done on long hair and also think her hair color is so gorgeous. For those very reasons, I have put off giving her a hair cut. Since her birth, I have only given Annabelle two very minor hair cuts. One was to trim her bangs before they grew out and the other was to make the back of her hair even. On both of those occasions, I cut off no more than 1/2 inch total. So this was to be her first real haircut.
Now I'm no hair stylist and Annabelle's hair is definitely not perfect. But overall I'm satisfied with the outcome. I probably cut off about 4 inches. Her hair already looks fuller and she even looks a little older to me now that I've gotten rid of a lot of her baby hair. I'm going to have to start talking to my mom (who cut all 6 of her kids hair as we grew up) to get tips for next time.

Before: After: Annabelle didn't seem to mind seeing tons of her hair all over the floor.

Time really flies

I have a theory about time. It gets faster as you get older. Or perhaps what happens is as you get older, you begin to appreciate life a little more. But then, you have kids and you start tracking time by them and realize how fast they are growing up. That's when time seems to be flying past at an alarmingly past pace. You start thinking about how they're beginning to not need you for everything anymore (which could actually be a good thing sometimes), and pretty soon, they won't need you for anything (other than the obvious needs, such as shelter, food, etc). For example, last week Annabelle turned 3 years old and now everything is "I do it, I do it!" and Jillian was born 5 weeks ago today. How in the world has that much time passed since Annabelle was born and since I was complaining to Michael about how I was so big with Jillian that I couldn't sleep? And yet, here it is March already. Jillian is looking much more like a baby and less like a newborn. She is so calm. She loves to be held and just look around at everything and everyone. Annabelle is still being a great big sister, no signs of jealously yet. She loves to hold her (although as you can see in the picture, Jillian doesn't always like the way Annabelle is holding her) and is constantly saying that Jillian is beautiful and how much she loves her sister. I started teaching piano again this week. I'm excited to see my students and so far, they seem to enjoy being back at their lessons. I also have plans to begin a running regime as well once the weather gets better. I have a double jogging stroller, so I can't use the excuse that I have nowhere to leave my kids while I run. I'll just take them with me. It would be nice if Jillian started sleeping through the night before I start running. I'm already exhausted by the end of the day and adding a run to the day might be too much.