Happy Time

Well, this is our last week before school starts for Abby next Thursday.  Lately we've just been hanging around the house enjoying family time.  Last week we spent 3 days in Pearland and I managed to not take a single picture while I was there.  I did, however, take a few pictures on my cell phone and I'll post my 2 favorite below as well as other pictures from the camera.  We've got a jam packed weekend coming up and I can't wait to post those pictures next.

A super extra BIG smile from my beautiful baby Lilly!  ♥

Swimming at the Baker House - just look at that innocent grin.  :)

There's the mischievous girl that I know!

Love, love, looove those chubby thighs!  I can't stop squeezing them!

This picture was taken 2 days ago when she turned 5 months old.  Where has the time gone?

 This is a grainy cell phone picture but it's one of my new favorites.  Abby just loves kissing her mei mei and luckily Lilly loves it too.  It always makes her smile so big!

Lilly returning the favor.  ♥  Mmmmwah!

Both my girls have habits of playing with their hair - or anyone else's hair for that matter.

Girls, Girls, Girls

I've been pretty good about scheduling play dates lately.  I, again, was not good about taking pictures but I do have lots of random at home pictures to post.

At 4.5 months, Lilly has started sleeping through the night! As in 9+ hours - it's legit!  We were not fortunate to have this happen with Abby until she was almost a year old.  As of a few days ago, Lilly has started to try to crawl.  She can get up on both knees but still does the face plant.  She loves to swing in her swing and we recently started having her play in her exersaucer since her head is strong enough.  She loves it and Abby plays with her as well when she's in it.  It's their first time to really play together.  ♥  Lilly continues to be a super smiley baby.  It's the comment she gets most when people meet her.

As for Abby, she's been thoroughly enjoying her play dates.  We actually didn't do anything yesterday but she woke up asking "Whose house are we going to today?  Are people coming over today?"  I could not be more proud of Abby as a big sister.  She is so caring and loving toward Lilly.  Lilly is lucky because she gets cuddles, hugs and kisses from both me and Abby all day long.  She smiles SO BIG when Abby plays with her or kisses her - it's so incredibly sweet.  Abby is just like me - she spends her days singing random songs that she makes up on the fly just like I did as a child.  She also loves to hear me sing which makes me very happy too.  :)  Her latest obsession is watching Giada on TV.  Giada has now trumped all of her favorite cartoons.  And she's actually learning cooking skills from her too!  Abby spends all day in her kitchen zesting various citrus fruits, talks about making sure her food comes out moist, add a tablespoon of this - but not too much, etc.  It's hilarious to watch!  Who knows what she'll think of next.  :)

She fell asleep and looked so comfortable.  :)

My little "angel" - HA!

Look who's getting better at sitting?

Note:  For some reason she always has her right toes clenched but not her left.  Just a small observation.

Fussy Gus McGee

One of Mei Mei's favorite places to sleep.

Exersaucer time!

Playing together.  ♥

You can see in this picture how Lilly has her daddy's dimples!

I just like her smile in this picture.  I was already thinking about how I'm going to miss her gummy smile when her teeth start to come in.

My little orange cuddle bug.  I love her tater tot toes!

I wanted Mei Mei to get in on some cuddle action but I'll admit, no one thought it was comfortable but I got my one picture so I'm going to post it!  :)

Bryce and his look-alike with darker hair and eyes.

Daddy and his girls.  ♥  My favorite.

The things Abby says...

Abby:  Daddy, how come you don't know Chinese?  Lao Yie knows Chinese!
Bryce:  Because Lao Yie is Chinese and I'm not.
Abby:  I'm half Chinese and half white.  You're not half Chinese and half white?
Bryce:  No, I'm white so I don't know Chinese.  Etc....

Abby:  Mommy, my apple is oxidizing!  Does kiwi oxidize?

Abby:  Mommy I want Daddy to feed Mei Mei a bottle so you can come sleep with me!

I was nursing Lilly and I got a text message on my phone so I asked Abby to get it for me from the counter.  Then 5 minutes later the house phone rings so I ask her to get that for me from the counter as well.  She does both without question but as she is walking to me with the house phone she straight face and nonchalantly says to me "Mommy, how about next time you put your cell phone and house phone next to you on the couch before you nurse Mei Mei."  Touche, Abby.  Touche.

Her latest catch phrase du jour:  When we ask her to do something her response is "Heck yeah!"

This is all Bryce but when one of us leaves she says "Deuces!" and throws up her 2 fingers (like a peace sign).

Every time I drink water she says "Mommy are you drinking water so you can make more milk for Mei Mei?"

Abby:  Mommy, I'm hungry!
Me:  Would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
Abby:  No, I want something healthy.  Can I have some celery?
Me:  {blank stare}  Ok.

Abby:  Mommy I want to eat a snack.  From the pantry.  That's crunchy.  And shaped like a fish.
Me:  Abby, do you want some gold fish?
Abby:  Yes!

Abby:  Mommy, you haven't made lemonade and rice krispie treats in a while.  You want to make that again?  Would that be a good idea?

And my ultimate favorite...

Abby:  "I HAVE A WEDGIE!!!"

Lao Nian's Birthday, Housewarming, New first

I should be going to bed now but I wanted to record a few things before I forget.  Lilly can roll over easily from front to back and vice versa now.  Her right hand found her right foot today.  She continues to army crawl like a champ.  Mirrors fascinate her now.  She's starting to grab things intentionally with her hands.  She was spoiled and has refused taking a bottle...until a few days ago!  Whew!  Crisis avoided (thank you como tomo).  And sadly, she got her first ear infection.  :(  This is a first for the family; Abby has never had an ear infection before.  Luckily we caught it early so no fever but she definitely has a stopped up nose.  So she's getting her dose of antibiotics and on her way back to being a healthy baby.  Thankfully Lilly is still eating like a champ - she gained 8 oz. in the 1 week since her 4 month appointment.  Looking back at her pictures, I must say I've noticed she's getting to be a chunky monkey.  More for me to love!  Okay, I can now deposit this information from my brain.

So last week Kirk and Lucy had a house warming party for our old family friends and we had so much fun!  It's always great to see old friends.  Then the next day, my family came over to celebrate my mom's birthday and we made beef, chicken and fish tacos.  It was delicious as always.  Here are a few pictures from the past week.

Look who has her daddy's skin!  We're pretty sure this one won't tan.  :)

My little sous chef.  She likes helping me make homemade ice cream.

I just love this smile.

This is what I get when I ask for a smile.  I didn't know she would tilt her head or else I would have taken a better picture.  Oh well!  :)

And of course, Abby's favorite part about helping me - must eat what doesn't fit in the ice cream containers!

Kirk and Lucy surprised my mom with a delicious cake from Jungle Cafe!

I'm pretty impressed the birthday girl can still carry an almost 40 lb child on her hip.  ;P

Bryce has done an awesome job teaching Abby how to cook and she has a genuine interest in it too.  He has recently let her start assisting in seasoning...anything.  She loves to help out and is definitely getting the hang of it!

The birthday girl playing with Lilly.  :)

Lunch was served - YUM!

Check out Mei Mei's tornado bangs!  My mom says I had one as a baby too.

Who's that cute baby in the mirror?

LILLY!  ♥

4 month stats

My poor baby.  Her little body did not like the shots she got yesterday.  She had infant Tylenol for the first time and then she was all better.  She's grown quite a bit since her 2 month appointment!  Stat time:

24.5" (55%)

14 lb 2 oz (58%)

41 cm head  (36%) 

Being an analyst at heart, I can't help but to compare her stats to Abby's 4 month stats and they are pretty much the exact same except Abby was 15 lb!  She was mostly a formula baby and started out almost a pound heavier than little Lilly so that makes sense.  I love to see my girls grow!  

Lilly is a bona fide hand sucker.  And I mean anyone's hand.  

Lucky for Lilly, her big sis doesn't mind at all.  In fact, Lilly spit up a bit on Abby's arm just now and it didn't even phase her!  ♥

My parents were over to help me with my poor fussy baby and Lilly found a great place to take a nap.  :)

Lilly is great at tracking objects and if you sing to her, she'll sing back!  So sweet!

Happy 4 months old Lilly baby!  We love you very much!

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!