Lilly is 4 months (and 2 days) old!

Poor second child.  I'm 2 days behind on posting her 4 month birthday.  Lilly has been rolling over from her back to her belly (left side only) for a few days now and Bryce and I finally saw her do it last night!  Yay Lilly!  AND, she slept for 7.5 hours last night!  We had to go in and make sure she was still breathing.  :)  She's been a great dose of extra entertainment to our family, she reacts so well to anything Abby does to get her attention, she always smiles really big when her big sister gives her kisses, she only cries when she's sleepy or hungry, she stands really well, she's starting to grab and hold onto dolls/blankets, she still LOVES to use her hands/fingers as a pacifier and sadly, her hair is starting to lay down.  :(  Boohoo!  I remember being sad when Abby's started to lay down too.  We thought Abby had pale, pale skin but Lilly takes the cake.  :)  She's a little brown hair, hazel/blue eyed version of her daddy.  I love that they have the same smile!  Her 4 month doctor's appointment is next Thursday so stay tuned for the obligatory stats soon!

Her favorite place to sleep.  ♥

On a different note, I once again made a quick project inspired by pinterest + my cricut machine.  I cut out letters and images on stencil paper using the cricut, stuck them to some canvas, painted over it with acrylic paint, let dry and peeled the contact paper off.  I made one for Abby as well but I'm waiting for the paint to dry so I only have pictures of Lilly's.  It was a fun and easy art project!

I forgot to take a picture before I painted the white canvas but this is after I did one coat of yellow paint (and already peeled the dot from the "i").

I wasn't sure how well the stencil paper stuck to the canvas so I peeled very carefully.

And here's the final product!  The stencil paper held up well and I couldn't be more happy with the result!  Next step is figuring out where to hang it in Lilly's room.  :)

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I usually don't come back and update previous posts but I completed Abby's wall art and we went swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's today and Lilly got her feet dipped in the pool for the first time in our attempt to recreate a picture of Abby's first time in the pool.

I used a different brand of paint for this one and had to do two coats but it still turned out well!

Ta-da!  I can't wait to make more!  :)

The water was very warm so it felt like bath water to her, hence no reaction.  :)  

Check out the natural swirl at the top of her head!  See how her hair is starting to lay down now?  

{sniff, sniff}

p.s.  I love all the arm and leg rolls!

Roly Poly

Lilly did it!  She rolled over from her belly to her back!

Too bad no one saw it happen.  :P  I heard the video monitor at 4:30 AM this morning, turned the video on to check on Lilly and saw her on her back wiggling around (she has slept on her belly since day 1).  I was so surprised I actually woke Bryce up to see it.  :)  It was a proud moment for us both.  Then she did it again after I put her back in her crib and I missed it again.  By the time I went back to bed and looked at the monitor, she rolled over already.  Maybe I'll see it next time!

Lilly is a lot more rigid, has more neck and back strength than Abby at this age and she LOVES to stand all the time too!  We predict an early crawler/walker.  Her hair is also starting to lay down.  It still sticks up in the front though and she's got Bryce's cow lick (big swirl of bangs) - it's so cute!

Look Ma!  I can stand!

Sleeping babies, sister love

Things have definitely calmed down for us since Kirk and Lucy's wedding.  All of our out of town family have returned home and it's just us again.  We miss everyone already!  So lately we've just been relaxing at home and getting back to our old routine.

But first a quick update on the girls:
I taught Abby how to sing "Do-Re-Mi" from Sound of Music recently and her latest thing is to sing it over and over and over and over again (much like "The Song That Never Ends" a la Lamb Chop's).  Lucky for me, I love anything to do with The Sound of Music so I never tire of the song and I love to hear Abby's sweet toddler voice.  She's got great pitch too - pretty awesome.  And Lilly is interested in rolling over now! She's almost got it.  We think she will be rolling over within a week.  Her neck is getting so much stronger and she's growing up way too fast for my liking!  But I love how she's interacting with us more and smiles so much.  Lucky for me she loves to cuddle just as much as Abby did/does.  I love it!

Look at how she fell asleep.  See how she has her daddy's skin?  :)  I love those chubby legs!

Abby has always gone to bed with a posse of "friends" and this is how Bryce found her one morning - haha!

Abby likes to line up all of her toys.  I've heard of little boys lining up their cars; I guess this is what little girls do.  She does this with all of her toys (reminds me of myself...).

My aunt and uncle left on Wednesday so we spent Tuesday together at my parent's house.  Lilly loves her Lao Yi!

Abby was soooo funny!  She knew we were taking pictures so she ran up to Er Lao Jo Jo and said "SMILE!!!"

Abby misses her Er Lao Jo Jo and Lao Yi!

The whole family!

My dad has always said he loves how close the 3 of us (Kirk, Ruby and me) are and I now know what he's talking about.  Even though Abby and Lilly are still so young, it makes me so happy to see them care for each other already.  ♥  Abby is really good at making Lilly giggle and smile too, especially when Abby kisses her on the cheek.  So sweet!

Abby helped me make homemade strawberry ice cream the other day.  Yum!

Canoodling!  ♥

More tummy time!

Looks who's trying to roll over!  Go Lilly!

M&D, doesn't she look like Bobo's baby picture here?

You can see in this picture how Lilly has her daddy's profile.  They have the same cheeks when they smile and she has his chin too.  She also has a bridge on her nose even though their noses do not look alike.  It's no wonder she looks so cute!

And lastly, I just ♥ her laugh!

The Family Fun Time Continues...

My aunt and uncle are still here from Taiwan and Bryce was out of town for a few days so once again, I packed up the girls and we spent 2 super rainy days at Lao Nian and Lao Yie's house.  :)  And as usual, Abby had a blast.  Abby loves playing with her Er Lao Jo Jo.  She remembers playing with him when we were in Taiwan over a year ago.  She kept hollering his name out asking for him.  "Er Lao Jo Jo!  Er Lao Jo Jo!  ER LAO JO JO!"  I meant to get it on video but never did.  It was so funny!  My poor uncle couldn't do anything since she had him on such a tight schedule of tea parties, etc.

Lilly looks like she's interested in rolling over but we're not quite there yet.  She has been cooing for a while now but a few days ago she made the "Mmmm" sound for the first time.  I haven't heard it again since so it may have been on accident but at least I heard it!  She's still 100% nursed and has turned into quite the little chub chub.  :)  She's got Bryce's fair skin so I describe her as "bai bai pong pong de xiao bao bei."  Her hair is getting long and she's got some serious cow licks like her Daddy.  My mom says she has my mouth.  I can buy that.  She's not a thumb sucker, per say, more of a whole hand sucker.  That's a new one for us since Abby never showed interest in any of that.  Abby continues to be a uber sweet big sister.  I'm pretty sure I still give Lilly the most kisses per day but Abby is a close second.  :)  Abby is interacting with her more; always wanting mei mei to watch her do something.  She can make Lilly laugh and smile too - it is so sweet to watch.  And conversely, Lilly seems to show more interest in watching Abby all day long too.  Her eyes are always following Abby around.  I truly feel like our family is complete when I watch the two of them interact.  I feel deeply blessed to have them both.  End of sappiness - onto pictures!  :)

I couldn't help it - sorry Lilly but Mommy just thought you looked too cute!

This is probably mean but we just think it's so funny when they are both crying.  :D  It's a lose-lose for all 4 of us so Bryce and I just choose to see the humor in it all.  Bryce is smile/laughing while I grabbed the camera.  If I weren't laughing, I probably would have centered this picture a little better.  :)

Abby and Er Lao Jo Jo a few days ago.....

and this was taken on April 11, 2011.  :)  She's eating a guava in this picture...she LOVED eating guava.  Too bad you can't get good guava here.

Coo coo-ing Lilly!

Just hanging out with Lao Yie.  :)

I love how much Lilly responds to Abby.  I see the sister bond forming right before my eyes!

My aunt is a yoga instructor and Abby was copying her - so funny!

Tummy Time and Laughing Lilly

Our sweet, sweet Lilly is really getting the hang of tummy time.  She's probably the only baby that actually ENJOYS it since she's been doing it her whole life.  We feel so blessed to have such a sweet baby with such a sweet demeanor.  {Knock on wood} she has got to be one of the easiest babies to take care of.  We really should have no reason to complain.  I mean, sure, I'm tired but as usual, it's so worth it.  :)  It makes me so happy to see how well Abby and Elliott play together too!  Before they moved to Perth, they were not the best at playing together.  They were both at a bad age where they were too young to grasp the concept of sharing - whew - glad that stage is over!

Tummy time!

Of course, monkey see, monkey do.  :P

Who, me?

Cousin time!  Lucky for Ruby, Elliott didn't seem a bit phased or jealous when she held Lilly.  I think Elliott's going to be an awesome ge ge (like this t-shirt says)!

All *three* cousins!  :)

Guess who transitioned smoothly to her new crib - haha - get it?  It's literally a crib.....  ;P

And lastly, Bryce got Lilly to laugh!  She looks so much like Bryce when she laughs too - they have the same cheeks and smile.  :)

Kirk and Lucy's Wedding Pictures

Ruby came over today and I was able to up load all of her pictures so here are the wedding pictures I mentioned in the previous post!  The wedding was absolutely beautiful, the food was delicious (especially the filet), the cakes were very beautiful and yummy and most importantly, the bride and groom were glowing!  :)

The Baker Family!

Elliott and Abby were practicing just before the actual ceremony.  Don't they look adorable??

Cute, cute!

~kiss~

Lao Nian, me, the flower girl and Grandma.

This cake not only looked beautiful but it was super yummy too!

I was nursing Lilly at this time so I missed the grand entrance.  Good thing Ruby got pictures!

Abby and Elliott got the party started first by cuttin' up the rug!

They were quite the spectacle!  :)

What public outing wouldn't be complete without an iPad?

The tri-force unites!

Family Reunion - Part II: Kirk and Lucy's Wedding

We just had a super fun weekend for Kirk and Lucy's wedding!  Bryce and I have just decided that it is impossible to take care of two kids AND take pictures at events so I only have a few to share.  Ruby took TONS of great pictures of Abby and Elliott as the flower girl and ring bearer so I can't wait for her to send them to me or post them on her own blog.  They were so. freakin. cute.  Little boys in suits are just entirely too adorable.  And Abby did a WONDERFUL job as the flower girl too.  She meticulously dropped petal by petal until she reached the front, noticed there was still a fair amount of rose petals in her basket and proceeded to grab them all and toss them on the ground.  Unbeknownst to her, she got a laugh out of all the guests.  That's our little goofy girl and we were SO proud of her.  :)

This is literally the only picture I have from the entire wedding weekend and obviously, we didn't even take the picture.  It's a super rare family photo at the rehearsal dinner.  

And then on Sunday, we had a huge play date with our cousins.  We all have kiddos and have not seen each other since Ruby and Matt's wedding five years ago.  The Baldwins are in Oz, another cousin lives in Phoenix and another is in NYC so this was the epic play date I had been looking forward to for a while now.  And the neat thing is WE ALL HAVE MIXED KIDS!  There were 8 kids + Ruby's bun in the oven.  We are not sure when we will all be able to be together like this again so it was very fun to see them play so well together as a family.  Unfortunately Kirk and Lucy couldn't join in on the fun as they still had post wedding stuff to attend to.

  The whole family!  From oldest to youngest, Zach, Isabella, Rachel, Maya, Cecil, Abby, Elliott, Lilly and Baby Baldwin #2.

All the toys in the house is for babies and toddlers so I rummaged around and busted out our old Connect Four game from our childhood and it was a hit!

I also got out my Jenga which I still love playing.

Story time with Ruby a-yi.

And lastly, it's the cousins (minus Kirk)!