Owen & Anson at 3 months

Three months old....that is correct....A quarter of the first year of O & A's life is behind us! The endless smiles we are receiving these days coupled with a bit more sleep are making the days (and nights) even more enjoyable than they already were.  

Here are the little buckaroos....

OWEN

We are now calling this guy "Cowboy Small" after our new favorite western book the boys got from their Gaga.  I snuck him onto the scale during Eloise's 2 year old appointment last week & he was just over 9 pounds.  That is actually a HUGE gain for him....nearly 2 pounds in 3 weeks! Also if you consider he was 3 pounds 12 ounces at birth, he is already more than double! Guess all those days of cluster feeding paid off ; ) 

He is more content during his wake time than he was a month ago but is still ready to go back to sleep before his brother. Owen has been cracking us up with his grins the last few days. He is quite stoic when I am attempting to get a smile out of him so I usually resort to calling Rob in for back up. The rest goes like this: Rob starts talking to him & he smirks a bit.. Rob starts pretend laughing & he keeps staring and sometimes makes a funny face. This causes Robby to erupt in a good hard laugh which guarantees the biggest of smiles from Cowboy Small.....

It's like he knows when you are trying to fake him out & he won't give in.  I wonder what this says about his future personality ; ).  Robby was laughing so hard he started coughing & O got real serious again...

Mighty O has become a big fan of his bouncer in the recent weeks & is able to swing his little arm & give the animals some attention.  He is capable of rolling tummy to back but rarely does it.  He graduated to the addition of bumpers on his crib because he was waking himself once an hour by scooting to the edge & banging his head against the side or hanging an arm & leg out causing much frustration and/or screaming on his part.  Owen is almost out of newborn clothes, moved up to size 1 diapers & even has a little roll on each thigh... So cute! We like roly poly babes at this house. From about  4:30 pm till 7 he likes to fight with his brother over who gets the spot in the Ergo on mommy. He enjoys snuggling & sweet talk from his eldest big sister but is quite leary of the other one ; ). Owen makes precious little coos when you tell him stories. His GGran is arriving tomorrow & I can hardly wait to hear him respond to her. I'm not sure if it's years of practice or what but that woman can coax out more baby gurgles than anyone I know! He is one happy boy......

ANSON

As the counterpart to his brother Cowboy Small we have started calling Anson "Big Tex." For those of you who aren't familiar with the Lone Star Stare, Big Tex stood tall at the Texas State Fair for many years until the poor guy burned down this past fall due to an electrical fire.  I have been on the hunt for a picture of Big Tex to put in the boys room : ) and....back from the rabbit trail.

Anson is a bit more chill than his bro. He is so chill he even enjoys a little quality time with Eloise every now & then! I put him on the scale with me the other day & he is about 12 pounds of sweetness meaning he too has doubled his birth weight. He is wearing 3 month clothes & size 1 diapers. His hair is growing fast & is super fuzzy on top after a bath.  Anson always seems to have his eyes open wide like he is on the lookout for something which now that I think about it, there is a lot to be on the lookout for around here ; ) He ditched the paci at bedtime when he found something that he realized could never be lost.....

Yes folks, we have another thumb sucker in the house! I actually really like the thumb versus the paci for small babies but man oh man....we are dealing with an almost 4 year old thumb sucker now so we may have a different plan of attack this time around.  He too can roll from tummy to back but chooses to refrain most days.  He loves laying on the play mat or sitting in the swing but not as much as he enjoys being in the Ergo on Mommy. He also loves tummy time & tolerates it for a long time before fussing. He smiles a million times a day & does so with his whole face....

The boys spend much of their time together & have started smiling at each other which is totally adorable. One thing we have noticed is that Owen's grin starts with the left side of his face & Anson's starts on the right. They also suck on each others arms...

Eating & Sleeping: These go hand & hand... Our day starts with a feeding around 6:30 & they eat about every 3 hours for the rest of the day until the late afternoon which ends up having a couple feedings closer together with the last one being around 7. They nap between each feeding after spending no more than an hour awake. The exception is in the late afternoon where someone swings & someone is carried on mommy... Then we switch. This gets us through the grumpiness :) They have become much more consistent with falling asleep without much crying & taking longer naps.  The most exciting development in the past week is that they are going an 8 hour stretch at night! They eat around 7pm & then we don't hear a peep until 3am! I have tried doing a "dreamfeed" at 10pm but it messes them up & they start waking every 3 hours again so we will stick with the long stretch from 7-3 & hope they drop the middle of the night feed sometime in the next month. Specifically twin related, I am nursing them both at the same time almost every feeding. Usually one baby wakes so I change that diaper & wake the other, feed them both, play & put them back to bed within about 10 minutes of each other. Every now & then I slack & don't wake the second baby up to eat....then it feels like I am feeding a baby ALL DAY & I think about how that was a dumb decision ; ) They moved out of our room & the same crib into their own room & separate cribs in the middle of May. I thought they would share a lot longer but due to their tummy sleeping position & ability to scoot all over the bed, they were driving each other crazy. We are all sleeping much better with the current arrangement. The boys also did away with the swaddle blankets & moved to sleep sacks. These are the Aden & Anais brand muslin sacks which are just like the swaddle blankets we love.  They are the perfect thinness for a Florida summer  : )  

Other happenings: These two have been out & about all month long since we got the go ahead to re-enter society. We have been back at Sunday Worship at CCC, Life Group, out to dinner, taking walks & visiting with friends & neighbors. It is not always a breeze but it is worth it to get out of the house sometimes. I even took all four kids to the grocery store alone a couple weeks ago not to mention IN THE RAIN! It was not my plan to go in the rain but once I took the 15 minutes to load & strap everyone into their seats I refused to go back inside.  Again, not a breeze but it was something I wanted to attempt...just to know I could do it. 

A couple parting shots of Owen & Anson (in that order) at the 3 month mark:

hahaha

Celebrating Elo- Home style

This is one of those really honest posts about life right now. I debated on how much to include since it is one of Eloise's birthday posts but you know what, she just might be a mama to a wild bunch someday & find some comfort in reading about her second birthday with a crazy/outta control mother.

Here it goes: 

We made it home from Disney World to be welcomed by the Ziel family with two happy babies. They left. O & A were not happy camper's & proceeded to scream for the next 3 hours. I bathed the sticky girls that were already a little feisty due to over exerting themselves ALL day & started Cinderella or as the girls affectionately call "Cinder-Bella." I had prepped a little the night before with wrapping gifts & blowing up balloons but wanted to do a little decorating. 

Robby got busy in the kitchen cooking breakfast for dinner in honor of Elo-Pancakes. Jenny & the kids were due to come over within the hour so I got busy hanging streamers & balloons. I had a pounding headache probably from spending the day at Disney following a night with little sleep.  I was hanging streamers & Eloise was pulling them down. She was grabbing the balloons and tearing off into the other room thinking she was pretty funny.  I was irritable. I put her in the playroom and closed the gate. She screamed for a bit. I started feeling really frustrated with myself for multiple reasons which I will mention in a bit.  Robby was amazing & got dinner all ready in record time & I eventually got the decorations up, table set & gifts out. 

I fed the screaming babies then put them back in their swings to scream some more. I'm sure they didn't scream non stop but it sure felt like it. We sat down to enjoy our yummy meal which included: pancakes (mickey shaped for the kids), sausage balls & steak & eggs. Really healthy....really yummy ; ) I did feel a tad better after eating...I think we all did.

the celebrating crew minus me & Uncle Steve who was out of town : (

Eloise & her favorite aunt

my wild child....I love her! Ok...just noticing that you can see the waistband of my shorts which I cannot currently button & left flipped over with a baggier shirt...Boom! Roasted! Haha!

Aunt Jenny cleaned the kitchen. That was a little gift to me ; ) We moved into the living room to see what was inside the packages. You can see Charlotte giving Eloise some strict instruction...

Isaac, poor Isaac. He sure needs O & A to get growing fast so he is not so outnumbered by dramatic girls! He rode around on the ladybug while Eloise opened gifts.

As you can see, Eloise had a couple helpers which was sometimes okay with her & sometimes not. At one point she asked Karis to help her but not Charlotte....how do you think that went over?

Owen was in the swing while Anson was scream free for a bit snuggling with Daddy.

The funniest part of the gift opening was when Eloise opened the package from us.  We bought her a Giraffe backpack & lunchbox that are the same brand as Charlotte's Owl backpack & lunchbox that she received for her 2nd birthday. Charlotte of course would not back off & "helped" open her gift. She pulled out the backpack & yelled "Look! I got a new backpack!" We quickly reminded her that it was actually for Eloise since it was HER birthday. Charlotte responded with "no, see, the big one (backpack) is for me & the little one (lunchbox) is for Eloise." Haha! We couldn't help but snicker a little. Eloise was so excited to have her own backpack & wore it around for a bit even while she was lying down checking out her new Farm Lego set.

We decided to stick with the Mickey & Minnie theme for the decor & cupcakes...

Eloise loves the birthday song & helped us sing it. She took two blows to blow her candles out.

This might be my favorite picture of the whole day because this little Eloise face is seen SO often...mischievous little grin with her eyes cut to the side...oh my! 

Back to the crazy/outta control mommy part of the story.  Jenny & the kids headed home right after cupcakes. Within a few minutes, I had hit my limit of the amount of shenanigans & screaming I could tolerate.  We worked as fast as possible to get everyone ready for & in bed. I had dreamed about a sweet time next to Eloise's bed telling her how much we loved her & were thankful that she was ours. I thought we would snuggle extra long & sing her however many songs she wanted. Instead, she was completely out of control or as we say "wired equals tired." Wired is an understatement. I don't remember how long it took the girls to go to sleep probably because I told Rob I was done dealing with everyone & was going to take a shower. Along with a shower, I took a couple Advil to help offset my wicked headache. I got in bed by 8:15 & planned to sleep until the boys woke up to eat again.

Rob was cooking soup & planned to be up for a bit. I heard Owen crying so I popped his paci back in & went back to my room. 30 minutes later he was screaming again & I hadn't fallen asleep for a second. I burst out of our room & into the kitchen yelling about how I just want to sleep for thirty minutes (as if that would fix anything). He looked at me with really wide eyes & said "whoa whoa whoa, what are you doing?" I yelled about how something must be wrong with that baby since he just ate 2 hours ago...all you mama's out there, you remember that feeling right? I think he tried to stop me to calm me down but I high tailed it into the boys room to feed Owen. The second I held that precious baby in my arms I was calm & realized how out of control I was feeling. I sat & fed him while I recounted the day. I didn't feel a whole lot better when I walked back to our room but stopped in the kitchen to tell Robby that I could care less if we ever went to Disney again. He found my rant hilarious & videotaped my statement.  Looking back, Disney really had little to do with my emotional breakdown....I just needed somewhere to place the blame. It happened to be the energy sucker which left us depleted (& me irritable) for the rest of the celebrating.

I went to bed, slept till close to one & felt so much better at that point in the night. The next morning Robby & I talked over some coffee. I apologized for my craziness & said I had not acted like that since the boys were born & he said that I had not acted like that our entire marriage! Hahaha! I am stretched pretty thin right now I guess & I snapped.

After much processing I have come to the conclusion that what frustrated me the most is that I didn't get to enjoy just Eloise on her birthday. I jam-packed the day with so many plans that I ended up correcting her for her childishness when she was beyond tired. I was so upset with myself & felt like I ruined her special day. Robby assured me that she had a great day & it was not ruined. He also said that even if I did ruin it she wouldn't remember ;) The next day was a fresh start. We did lots of snuggling which is Eloise's favorite thing right now. We read books, played with blocks, took a good nap & did lots of giggling. Whatever was lacking on her birthday, we made up for it the following day.

I have heard the "supermom" comment about myself lately & want others to know that the perceived definition of a supermom is a lie.  My initial thought as to what defines a supermom includes but is not limited to: a mom that has it all together, that never gets frustrated with her children, that cooks nutritious meals, maintains a clean & organized house, never feels overwhelmed & handles the most stressful of circumstances with ease. Sure I can do some of these things on some days but that doesn't define me as a supermom or a not so supermom. To be honest, there are more parts than not everyday where I am in survival mode, where my frustration is through the roof, there are so many piles of laundry I can't remember which is clean & which is dirty, where nutrition is thrown out the window & I am not proud at the end of the day for how I interacted with my children. Please just throw out the idea of a "supermom" as you look at me & more importantly as you look at yourself.

In all of this, if we look to a goal of being "supermom" we are missing the point. God has given us certain callings as wives & mothers & desires that we find much joy in them. To mention a few (that I borrowed from a Piper sermon,) "God’s call on your life is marriage, the joyful support of a husband and his calling as you display what the relationship between Christ and the church looks like, and motherhood, the transmission of a God-centered, Christ-treasuring vision of life to your children, and home-management, the creation of a beautiful and simple place and a living organism called a home which becomes, not only for the family, but also for the community a refuge of Christ’s peace and launching pad for God’s righteousness." 

I love the beautiful sound of those words together. It helps me take a deep breath & leaves me feeling refreshed as I consider the overall calling to be a wife to Rob, a mother to those in our nest  & caretaker of our home that is a place of refuge for others & "launching pad" as he says. Instead of chasing after being a super mom, we should be chasing after the God who made us & gave His son for us. We should find contentment in what He has given us to do at any point in time. We should see how ugly our sin is & how beautiful the sacrifice of Jesus is. We should find our encouragement in what God says about us instead of what others say about us believing that if God if for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). We should believe the truth in His word instead of the lies of the world. We should pray for selfishness to leave & selflessness to stay. We should plead with God that He would help us treasure Him above all things & pass that on to our children.  These things have value as opposed to planning a perfect birthday celebration for a two year old that in turn makes you feel like a failure when it doesn't pan out. Failing or feeling like a failure is the perfect opportunity to cling to God, to show our children we are weak & He is strong & that we are nothing without Him. 

Dear Eloise, 

I learned a few things about myself & about this great God I teach you about on your second birthday. I set myself up for great frustration, had a rough day & was left feeling like a failure. It is my joy to share with you. I love being your mommy & pray that someday Lord willing, you will have the opportunity to be mommy to your own little nest.  I pray that your hope would be in Christ alone. I pray that your failures would lead you closer to God & that you would trust that He does all things for your good & His glory. I pray that you would find great delight in being made more Christ-like through trials in your lifetime.  You my child are a precious gift & I pray that I am around to see you grow from a toddler to a woman who loves God.  Happy second birthday. Maybe it was a really good one after all : ) 

Love, 

Mommy

Celebrating Elo - Magic Kingdom style

I know it sounds crazy but we live in Orlando & our kids have never been to Disney World....well until last Thursday : ) We had been debating on where we should take Eloise for her birthday.  Following nearly three months with much of our time devoted to the two newest members of family, we felt the need to do something extra special with the big sisters. A sweet friend of ours works for Disney & offered to get us into Magic Kingdom for the day. We were SO excited to share the news with the girls. We gave them their new Minnie shirts(first sewing project in a loooong time) the night before & told them what our plans were for the next morning. Charlotte's jaw dropped which was funny because she really had no frame of reference when imagining what it must be but boy she was excited! This meant that Eloise was excited too since she likes to be just like her sister.

We rode the ferry over from the transit center which is my favorite way to see Cinderella's Castle come into view.  We met Jasmine, got our tickets & headed down main street for the iconic family photo. 

We went straight thru the castle to Fantasy Land where we hit up It's a Small World After All, picked up some fast passes for Winnie the Pooh & headed over to Dumbo.  I was really excited to ride this with the girls & we were pleased to find that the wait time was short. Nonetheless, we got a few pictures while we waited for our turn.

We were excited when they said all four of us could ride in one elephant with the kids on our laps. I didn't want to miss out on their reactions. I was trying to take a couple of picture when the ride attendant told me I needed to stop. I was so busy that I didn't hear him & Robby had to say it again ; ) I wish I could have taken a video of sweet Eloise riding Dumbo on her second birthday.  No one told her to but that girl lifted her arms straight up in the air & kept them there the entire time! I'm not sure she even smiled but she knew how to increase the thrill haha! 

After Dumbo we we went over to hop in a Hunny Pot & enjoy the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This is one of my favorite rides, in fact on my 26th birthday when I was huge pregnant with Charlotte, I requested that Rob take me to Magic Kingdom to ride it : ) The girls have enjoyed the Winnie & Tigger movies & we have read a bit of the classic book so it was all familiar looking to them. They enjoyed it!

she had fun but was maybe a bit unsure about it ; ) 

The girls were getting a little tired & hungry at this point so they hitched a ride on Daddy back to the stroller. He didn't mind at all!

I had packed us a lunch so we grabbed a table in Tomorrow Land & "refueled" as I call it. It sure improved morale! Our next ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Char's face cracks me up in this picture...she was so serious the entire ride! I think she got 1000 points as she shot her laser at the targets. 

After we finished that ride I took a walk over to the baby care center to take care of business in the nursing mothers room or as Robby said " to nurse my robot baby" that sounds like this..."wah wah wah."  While I was gone they got on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.  This is a people mover system that travels around on the "second story" of all the rides in Tomorrow Land. It goes through Space Mountain in complete darkness for a couple minutes. When they were in the light again, Rob looked down to find Eloise asleep! It was about that time. I am pretty sure he loved every second of his baby girl snoozing on his shoulder. 

She took a quick hiatus from his shoulder while Charlotte begged us to ride the Transit Authority one more time.

We decided why not ride the ride with no wait three times in a row?! Charlotte was the happiest rider aboard & would not allow us to sit next to her...

 But then I convinced her to let me get my picture taken with her ; ) 

The ride zoomed around pretty quickly & we did not have seat belts. Char kept sliding across her seat & started doing some silly poses. Robby said "What has that girl been looking at? The Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition?!" Haha!

Sleepytime for Eloise was a great opportunity for me & Char to ride The Great Goofini Barnstormer roller coaster. We love a good roller coaster! Here we are going up..

It was special to have some moments with Charlotte while sissy was asleep. This was after she had been exclaiming how much fun she had on the roller coaster. 

She is getting the hang of taking a picture with my big camera (strap around her neck & always seated). 

During the first year of living in Florida, the happy couple pictured above had annual passes. We spent many an evening at the parks & really enjoyed our time.  We avoided going on busy days for the most part & were accustomed to pretty much walking onto rides & not sweating.  We could decide on a whim that we would leave Epcot & head over to Hollywood Studios to binge ride Tower of Terror 9 times.  We took books with us to Animal Kingdom, picked up a hot tea & spent a Saturday morning reading among the pretty surroundings. We commented on all the parenting skills we observed because you know, we were really good parents before we were parents ; ) 

Fast forward to 2013. I could hardly wait to go with our children & thought they were the perfect ages for a first trip. The girls did great, we enjoyed ourselves but it was hot & there were a lot of people there. We did have some hard laughs due to my husband's comedy king like commentary. We walked up to the castle & the first thing we heard a mom say very meanly "You better smile or I am going to spank your butt." Hahaha! I mean really, isn't the Magic Kingdom supposed to be the happiest place on earth? Not long after we witnessed a family with all sons walking past us where the Dad said "I know son, there's a lot of things I don't want to do either but we started Fantasy Land as a family & we are going to finish Fantasy Land as a family!" We heard so many hilarious things parents said to their children...it kept us well entertained.  As we dodged oncoming  traffic, we decided that Disney was a breeding ground for zombies with strollers.  No one could walk in a straight line.! At one point Robby told me he thought I got bit as I kept bumping into the stroller ; ) 

Over all, we really enjoyed our day with the girls but felt like we were constantly saying, "get in the stroller," "hold my hand," please don't touch that again," "scoot back before you run into the person in front of you. as I write this I realize that I say the majority of those things often on a regular day but even more so in that environment. We laughed when Rob said that he thought the girls would equally enjoy playing at the park down the street. My stress level skyrocketed upon our arrival home which I accredit partially to our time at Disney... more on that in "Celebrating Elo- Home style." But for now, here is the birthday girl saying "Cheese" irritatingly at the happiest place on earth. 

A HUGE thanks to the Ziel family for making our day away possible by watching Owen & Anson.  My dear friend Cathy & her children Anna, Clara & Alex spent 8 hours at our house loving on the boys....and from what I hear, they got a lot of lovin'!

Eloise at 2 years

Eloise, our little baby Elo is going to beTWO years old tomorrow! The past few months have been a whirlwind of celebrations, sleepiness & laughter. Eloise has definitely transitioned well into her new role as big sister #2 & continues to draw much attention to herself on a daily basis with her crazy stunts & non stop action. I know, those of you with boys are laughing right now thinking "oh you just wait till the twins are on the brink of two!" For now, Eloise is just about the craziest kid we know & we couldn't love her any more!

STATS: 28 pounds- 75th percentile 

             34.5 inches- 50th percentile 

             Size 2t clothing & size 8 shoes

A day in the life of sweet Eloise...in random order. 

• Elo got upgraded to a big girl bed a few weeks ago.  This deserves a post of its own & it will get one in due time but long story short. I sold her crib while she was asleep in it via Craigslist all in the matter of a couple hours. Poor girl ended up on a mattress on the floor in her room that evening. I thought she would be really sad but instead she started jumping up & down shouting "BOUNCE HOUSE!!" She did awesome staying in her bed & has since been promoted to the blue toddler bed Char was sleeping in. 
• She is on sissy's tail when they come to our room in the morning. She repeats exactly what Charlotte says with the exact same inflections. She crawls into my bed & says "me, snuggle? me, snuggle you?" Who could resist that? Definitely not anyone who sleeps in that bed ; ) 
• Every morning we hear the chant "I wah eat potcakes! (pancakes)" She really wants pancakes every single day & requests them for each meal. We do make sure she gets her fill of them at least once every couple weeks...and I never correct her "potcakes" pronunciation.
• To say she loves O & A would be a vast understatement. She cannot get enough of them (I wish the feeling was mutual between the boys & Elo but sadly, it is not). She tries to lay on top of them, poke their eyes out & jab their pacifiers really far down their throats...all in love of course. When it is a bit more calm, she will play so sweetly with them singing songs & patting gently but she is unpredictable and can turn on them in a second. Sometimes when she is laying on top of them saying "shh shh shh" it looks like she is doing chest compressions. If they are crying, Eloise is stuck on repeat saying "baby soi-ing & soi-ing & soi-ing!"

Eloise & Owen

• She says "10 minutes" about everything. You say "Eloise, let's go outside" she says "I comin!" as she walks toward you & then adds "10 minutes!"  or you say "Eloise, you can hold Owen for just a minute then he is going night night" to which she replies "No, I hold'em 10 minutes." SO cute. 
• She sings all the time. You can say at any moment "Eloise, sing me a song!" & she will come up with some rendition of Jesus Loves Me mixed with all sorts of other words. 
• This girl values sleep & still happily naps twice a day a few days a week & sticking with an afternoon nap the rest of the days. Night time sleep is usually about 7:30-6:30 but some days lately the girls have been up & ready for the day at 5am!! She is currently only requesting her "baby you-see (Lucy)" to snuggle with. She still likes to have her bottom patted & sometimes requests that I pat "you-see's" as well. I usually do & then Eloise & Charlotte both giggle when I tell Lucy that she better be a good girl & stay in her bed all night. 

She must have rubbed her belly button just right & fell asleep while watching a show...in a crown. 

• She loves to sit at the table & draw. She draws squiggles & says "sake sake!" for snake & then she draws anything else & says "Yook! I draw "E"! Yea Eloise!" cute part is....it never looks like an "E." She has a really hard time keeping her drawing utensil on paper & has been found coloring on the table, chairs, plastic bins & on the wall behind the clothes in her closet.  I will chalk that up to a little less supervision at the current life stage than the eldest child had. She loves to roll out play doh & use cookie cutters to make shapes. Basically anything she makes out of play doh she calls a "potcake" & happily serves it to us. She is really good at pouring from one container to another especially water from a teapot or flour into a bowl when we are cooking. 
• Mondays & Thursdays are her favorite days of the week. Any guesses why? I will just say it since NO one would ever guess. It is when the trash man comes! For months Eloise has enjoyed sitting outside & watching the trash man empty the bins on our street. We have done this so many times that we know one man on our route by name. They always honk & wave at the girls. A few weeks ago when Uncle Scott was in town we were sitting in the grass when the truck went down our street. They go down the other side, around the cul de sac & then make their last stop at our driveway. Our friend Frankie dumped out our bin & then rolled it towards us while crouching down to talk to the girls. Eloise immediately jumped up, ran as fast as she could & threw her arms around the man's neck for a huge hug. She TOTALLY caught him off guard & he kind of hugged her while laughing & saying "I'm sorry, I'm so dirty" to me who was completely amused & could care less about the garbage that had touched him. It was hilarious. Also, this girl will sleep through a barking dog, a lawn mower & two screaming babies but if she hears the faint sound of the garbage man coming down the road, she jolts out of bed screaming "chashman!" as she runs to the front door.  I wish I had a picture of her with her friend Frankie!
• She can be heard saying "hol me hol me hol me" about a million times a day as she reaches up.  This is hard. My hands are usually full of babies so I do try to free them up to hold Eloise too. She is still my baby even though there are two more around these days. 
• Eloise is motherly. We went to Chuy's & the waitress gave each of the girls a tortilla dough ball to play with like play doh. Eloise rolled hers up & said "See mommy, it's my baby. Pat my baby." So I did for a moment & then she made me roll on the floor in a fit of laughter when she said "baby hungee" as she lifted her shirt & proceeded to feed her dough baby from her belly button. At least she is consistent...that's where she "pump milk baby" too!

• Eloise is a chatterbox & we are amazed with how well she is talking. Don't tell her sister but she can pronounce "Charlotte" better than Charlotte can pronounce Charlotte : ) She says things like "Mommy, I angry. Charlotte not share me." The other things she says all the time is "That scare me." For awhile she really hated if Charlotte did any animal sounds that were growls.  Charlotte found this funny so she would randomly growl at Eloise. Poor Eloise would come tell us "Sissy scare me!" So we would get on Charlotte about treating her sister kindly. My my, we could now call Eloise "the girl who cried wolf" because she says "sissy scare me" all the time to get out of being disciplined for whatever offense she committed! She also says "ayone me" when she wants you to go away so she can 1. be independent or 2. be naughty. 
• She calls Gaga on her "phone" all the time. She has full out conversations so much that Charlotte asked me the other day in the car if Eloise was really talking to Gaga! Haha! Speaking of Gaga, after 4 months together, this girl LOVES her Gaga. She talks about her all the time. Just a few examples: When I tell her I can't hold her that very moment she says "Gaga hol me all time" & she did which is why Eloise says "hol me" all day long ; ) If you tell her to not go potty in her panties she says "Gaga funny" which is hilarious. We have no clue why she says this! One more, she frequently says that Gaga lives at the airport & the cutest thing she says is "Gaga yuve me, Gaga miss me!"
• Discipline- a firm tone still goes a long way with Eloise but she is choosing to disobey much more frequently. She does really well when hearing what the consequence of her action will be & will say "I sorry for ____, please give me" for "forgive me." She always hugs & kisses to make up with Charlotte after an altercation. 
• Elo loves to be outside, loves to chase lizards & look at worms. She & Charlotte had a straw outside on the back porch while they looked at a worm.  Long story short, the straw became a murder weapon...I felt so awful for not paying closer attention! Those two are quite the pair & Charlotte thinks Eloise is pretty darn funny!
  
• When it's time to do business in the bathroom she says "out please" & will not go #2 until you exit the premises. This is all well & good until you leave, she closes & locks the door then empties an entire wipes container into the toilet. 
• Her absolute favorite thing to eat are "foodies" known to the general public as "smoothies." Anytime we are in the kitchen & I am preparing something, she immediately says "I help you" as she slides a chair over to the counter. She has a COMPLETE melt down if you tell her you don't need help. 
• She is getting the hang of identifying colors & shapes, can do most any animal sound.
• Elo climbs, jumps, dives & crashes to the ground with much force every day & rarely gets hurt.
• She enjoys helping to clean house with her favorite tasks being dusting with a rag & sorting silverware although she doesn't really have the hang of sorting yet ; )  

Eloise is a ham!

Eloise is a mess!

Eloise is stylish!

Eloise is precious!

Our dear Eloise, 

Two years have passed since the moment you were placed on my chest & I fell in love with a brand new baby girl all over again. You my precious girl have brought your mommy much joy & laughter over the past two years. Your sweetness is immeasurable & I feel like I will always remember you at age two with your devious little grin & your eyes cut to the side while you wait for me to giggle with you about how funny you are. It never fails, I always giggle.

You are growing & changing so fast. We love your personality Eloise! You are confident & fearless which is sometimes scary for us when we are near the street ; ) You are compassionate & loving with your family & friends. You are energetic & snuggly at the same time which can be dangerous when your baby brothers are in mommy's lap. You are happy almost every minute of every day which is one reason our home is filled with joy & laughter.

We are thankful that you are ours. We love you, we treasure our time with you & we look forward to seeing how God will shape that little heart of yours as you grow.

Love,

Mommy