If You're Happy And You Know It...

clap your hands.

*clap, clap*

That song has been stuck in my head for days.  I have no idea what songs are popular right now.  I couldn't name one song that's current on the radio these days.  All we listen to is Toddler Radio and the Frozen soundtrack.

That song is appropriate right now though because I AM SO HAPPY!  We've had a great week, a great Thanksgiving, and now it's time to move on to CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

We celebrated with my dad's side of the family on Wednesday night at my Pops and Granny's house.  Eden and I made a pie to bring.  Because Eden really wanted to make a pie.  Because in Tangled, Rapunzel made a pie.  So we had to make a pie.  And since I take pictures of everything, here is the very first Thanksgiving pie that Eden and I ever made together - German Chocolate Pie.

Oh look!  Eden's shirt matches my title.  I didn't even do that on purpose!  Probably another reason why that particular song has been stuck in my head for two days though!

We spent yesterday with Dustin's parents.

Ila's first Thanksgiving:

Eden thought her dress said "thanksgiving".  Dustin started to correct her, but I stopped him because she was so proud of herself for being able to "read".

This year I was most thankful for TWO girls!

Dustin's parents planted pumpkin seeds behind their house this summer, and yesterday after we ate, Eden and Dustin's dad went and picked all the good ones.  We piled them up, Eden climbed all over them, we took some pictures, Eden picked her favorite to bring home with us (the smallest one again) and the rest are being fed to her cows.  She loved it!

Dustin and I finished the day by watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  We watch it every single Thanksgiving because TRADITION!  And when that movie ended last night, it meant that it was time to completely put Thanksgiving behind us and move on to CHRISTMAS things!  YAYYY!!!

Oh, I almost forgot... Sunday pictures!  We went to church for the first time on Sunday since Ila was born.  Eden had a complete freak-out/melt-down because we wouldn't let her dance in the aisle when the first hymn played.  It was another first!  The first time her daddy had to take her out of church to discipline her!  At least she looked cute when everyone turned to stare at us!

Ila's first Sunday pictures:

soooo sleepy!

Gosh she's precious!

Lately

Last Friday, Eden and I had a Mama/Eden Day.  I figured Eden could use a day where she had me all to herself.  That morning I told her we were going to have a fun day just the two of us, but I didn't tell her any of the things I had planned.  I let her find out as we went.

First we went out for donuts.

Then I pulled out a Princess Rapunzel dress and told her that we were going to see Rapunzel and all the other princesses.  I swear she actually gasped!  We went to Disney on Ice!

And it was amazing.  I cried.  Really.  Because Eden was so. dang. happy.  Mickey and Minnie came out first, and Eden immediately started bouncing up and down in excitement.  To her, it REALLY WAS Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  She thought they were the real deal.  And I couldn't help but tear up watching her.  And I continued to tear up throughout the entire show.  As each princess came out, Eden would shout their name.  Again, she really thought it was Rapunzel and Cinderella and Ariel and Elsa.  AND OLAF.  She started SCREAMING his name over and over and clapping when he made his appearance.  They were celebrities to her.  I encouraged it, telling her, "Look Eden, Snow White is waving to YOU" and "Eden! Eden! Mickey is blowing YOU kisses!"  She stood there in awe, waving and blowing kisses to them all.  She was out of her seat the entire time, clapping and twirling and dancing to the music.  She was so into it.  And we had the best seats.  I bought front row seats, but I didn't realize that that meant we would actually be right on the ice.  It was awesome!  I could've reached out and touched the skaters.  When bubbles came down during The Little Mermaid, Eden was able to pop them, and when it "snowed" during Frozen, it landed on us too, and Eden had little white flecks in her hair. 

That Disney on Ice show is one of my favorite moments of Eden's entire life.  I will never forget her excitement and wonder as she watched all of the characters.  Oh the magical world of two year olds!

After the show, I spent way too much money on all the Disney souvenirs and the obligatory overpriced picture of Eden next to a cardboard Cinderella cutout.  But she was so happy.

Our next stop was the American Girl Doll store.  I let Eden pick out one accessory for her Bitty Baby.

And finally we went and had cupcakes for lunch.  That's it.  Just cupcakes.  That was our whole lunch.

Eden stayed in her princess dress for our stop at the mall and the bakery.  And a few wonderful people came up to her and asked her if she was a princess and gushed about how pretty she was, and she lit up like a Christmas tree.  Those people made her so happy.  If ever you see a little girl out and about dressed up like a princess, go make her day and tell her how pretty she is!

Other things:

We went "hunting".   To Eden, hunting is sitting in a deer stand watching deer and then getting out to run around and pick flowers.  It was Ila's first time, woohoo!

We had a girls-only movie night in my bed one night when Dustin was out of town.

This is Eden all dressed up to watch Cinderella one morning.  If we're at home, Eden is usually in a princess dress.  On the rare occasion that she isn't, she has her doctor coat on and goes around giving everyone from me and Ila to the dogs to her stuffed animals "check-ups".  Just this morning I stepped on one of her toys and said, "Ow, I hurt my foot", and she got all excited and ran to get her doctor tools to give me a check-up.  I even got a shot.  (My favorite part is the end of the check-up when Eden tells you, "You're good to go!"  So cute!)  And if she isn't in a princess dress or a doctor coat, she's usually naked.  I have the hardest time keeping her clothed when we're at home.  At least she only takes her clothes off at our house - no incidents in public yet!

Those pictures are from Ila's first bath a couple of weeks ago.  I like them because all four of us and Drake (he freaks out if he's in a different room from us) were crammed into our teeny-tiny bathroom for the occasion.  Eden insisted on helping.  Dustin was there to take pictures.  Drake was being a baby.  It was sweet.  And Ila was as calm as she could be for her first bath - even when her big sister was dumping water all over her.

Eden got to ride a horse at a birthday party a couple of weekends ago.  A big horse, not a pony!  It was her first horse ride, and she LOVED it!  Here she's waiting patiently for her turn, and I just really like this photo - mainly because her outfit is so cute!  Those are Dustin's first little pair of boots.  (You may notice that this is the same day as Ila's bath.)

She's adorable!

So is Ila!  Pretty much all Ila does is lay around and look cute.

She's good at it.

Eden's asleep and Dustin is out of town again, so I'm fixing to go do pretty much my favorite thing to do these days... go lay in bed and watch a movie while Ila sleeps on my chest!  :)

Ila - One Month!

Well, that was fast.

This past month has absolutely flown by, and I cannot believe it's already time for me to do this...  But at the exact same time, it feels like Ila has been a part of our family for forever.

So apparently a baby is only considered a newborn for twenty-eight days.  I googled it.  Which means, my little Ila is no longer a newborn!

There is nothing more precious in the whole world than the sweet, sleepy, newborn days... those first days and weeks of a brand new tiny person... the yawns and sighs... the way they fit on your chest... the peace they seem to bring... the smell... oh, the smell! (I keep smelling Ila to make sure she still smells like a newborn... she does!)  I've so enjoyed the little newborn bubble that we've been in, and even though Eden has taught me that all the stages are good and that there are so many fun things to look forward to as Ila grows, I can't help but be sad to leave these days behind.

I'm tired, y'all.  Tired from getting up all night to nurse and change diapers...  But I remember how it was with Eden... how the girl didn't sleep through the night until she was about fifteen months old, and how I thought I was going to lose my mind.  And then she finally started sleeping all night, and I missed it.  I missed rocking her to sleep in a dark room at 2 am.  Ila is probably my last baby, and so I'm cherishing these nights.  I'm actually enjoying the frequent wake-ups, and sometimes after she's been fed and changed, I'll opt to stay awake with her on my chest for a while instead of putting her back into her bassinet right away.  Because one day soon, she too will sleep all night, and I will miss having a baby to nurse and hold in the middle of the night.  After we read our books and sing our songs and say our prayers, I walk out of Eden's room, and she falls asleep on her own, and the nights that she needed and wanted me every few hours seem like a thousand years ago.  One day, little sister will follow in her footsteps, and these days will also be a distant memory.  So for right now, I am thankful for my tiredness because it means I have a little baby to take care of!

Ila is such a good baby and has cried probably less than ten times this month!  I'm not even joking.  Even at night, she wakes me up by fussing or squealing when she's hungry, but very rarely does it turn into a cry.  (Eden was the same way.  God must feel that I can only handle easy babies.  FINE WITH ME!)  This child is extremely active already though!  She is constantly moving and wriggling and squirming, and she is LOUD!  The girl has been talking to us since the day she was born, and is always squealing or grunting or sighing.  Right now, she is laying next to me, wide awake, just kicking her legs, flailing her arms all over the place, turning her head to look from one side to the other and just a squealing away.  It took me a couple of weeks to realize that she's perfectly fine.  When we first brought her home, I always thought she wasn't happy and needed something.  But even when she's been fed, changed and I have her in my arms or laying on my chest, she's kicking and moving and talking.  She's not even quiet when she's sleeping because she snores!  It's the cutest thing!

She most definitely has a best friend and protector in her big sister.  Eden wants to hold her hand, help me change her diaper, hold her, touch her, pat her back, cover her with a blanket, kiss her, wash the soap off of her when she's getting a bath, etc.  And Eden likes to exclaim, "OHHH, HER IS SOOOO CUTE!"  Eden has helped make the transition from one to two extremely easy.

I've always done greens and pinks and flowers and birds and animals when buying Eden clothes or toys or decorating her room because of the whole "Garden of Eden" thing.   Ila's name means "island", so for her, I've done more blues and purples and water stuff.  My Godmother made her the cutest little quilt with mermaids and fish and seahorses and octopuses.  Eden got her monthly pictures taken the first year on a lamb mat in onesies that had birds on them.  Ila will get hers done on her little mermaid quilt each month.  Every girl has to have a theme!

Halloween Things (And Other Favorite Pictures)

So this is the year that Eden "got" it.

Halloween usually isn't a holiday that I get all that into... I mean, it's okay... I don't hate it... I do what you're supposed to - pumpkins, costume, candy... but I don't get all excited about it or look forward to it like I do other holidays.  This year was a little different though because Eden has been excited about last night for WEEKS!  Ever since we got her costume and her plastic jack-o-lantern bucket a month ago, she's been telling us, "When I'm Minnie, I get candy for my pumpkin."  A two year old's excitement is pretty contagious, so I couldn't help but start getting really excited about Halloween too.  I've tried to do Halloween-y things with her all week, and we made Halloween cookies, painted pumpkins, read Halloween books, worked our way through a Halloween sticker and activity book, and drew and colored what must have been 5,000 jack-o-lanterns.  (She thought my crappy jack-o-lantern drawings were amazing and kept asking for more.)  By the time Halloween rolled around, I was so into it!

On Sunday evening, Dustin carved pumpkins for the girls.  (By the way, I love saying that - "the girls".)

We did it on Sunday so that obviously we could light them and enjoy them every night leading up to Halloween.  That did NOT happen.  By Monday morning, Daisy had eaten Ila's, and by Tuesday, Max had gotten Eden's.  Sometimes I really dislike my dogs.  (They're cute though, so they're usually forgiven in like five minutes.)

Eden got to wear a costume to gymnastics class on Tuesday.  She was a pretty, pretty princess, and she spent the majority of class looking down at herself and twirling in circles.

The girl is good at bars.

When Eden woke up yesterday, I said, "Eden, it's Halloween!  Do you know what you get to do later?"  She said, "CANDY IN MY PUMPKIN!"

Eden's Halloween picture (which I like comparing to last year's):

And Ila's first Halloween:

Eden was BEYOND excited to be Minnie Mouse last night.  Her love for Minnie Mouse is still going strong.  And little sister got to be Figaro, Minnie Mouse's cat.

We spent the evening at a friend's house and trick-or-treated in their neighborhood, and it was so fun to watch Eden.  Like I said, she got it!  She understood what was happening this year and was so happy and excited to go up to the houses and get her candy!  Such a difference from last year when I just kind of dragged her around, and she had no idea what was happening!

Oh, and here's a picture of my weird-o husband with a random cat that followed us to a few houses so he decided to carry it with us.  ("DUSTIN, that's probably somebody's pet and you're taking it away from it's house!"  "Just remember what house I picked it up from, and we'll put it back later.  It likes me; it's purring.")

Then when we got back to the house and were going through all of the candy with Eden, this happened:
Dustin opens the milk duds.
Dustin to me: This looks like deer shit.
Dustin to Eden: Here Eden, you want one?
Eden:  NO!  IT HAS DEER SHIT ON IT!
Great.  (Yeah, we laughed pretty hard before I explained to her that she couldn't say that.)

It was a great Halloween.  I just may start getting into this holiday!

*****

A few pictures of my baby from this week:

Eden likes for Ila to be near her.

And this is my favorite photo that I've ever taken ever: