"Let it go"

A few months ago Ellie (and Maisie... again) went through a big Frozen obsession. It all started when Maisie would come home from school and the girls would watch it (wearing their princess dresses obviously). It then turned into excited Ellie screams every time she saw anything related to Frozen any where (Elsa and Olaf being her favorite, but she doesn't discriminate). Then one day a couple months ago, I hear them bouncing on Maisie's bed belting out the famed and way overplayed "Let it go". I walked in as they finished, sat down on the bed and started another round of the song, but this time recording it. I still laugh when I watch it- Ellie's hesitant face at the beginning and then her enthusiasm as she hits her stride. 

Enjoy!

Christmas 2015

Christmas Eve:

The girls fresh out the bath and into their matching Christmas pjs.

Christmas morning:

 Boy, do Austin and I look tired! As you can tell by the window the sun was just barely coming up.

This girl and her vast love of baby dolls.

Thanks to Austin, this stuffed Animal is named "Trippy Rainbows". Thank you secret Santa!

Maisie in shock- a book that reads to you!?

Traditional Christmas day bowling:

p.s I won the Christmas bowling game- 123 to 121. Maisie got a 106 and Ellie a 99- they did have the bumpers on and the ball guide, while Austin and I were left on our own. This was our best bowling yet!

Christmas @ Hemming Village

Early in the month we took the girls to the Christmas event at Hemming Village. It's our yearly tradition to go to both the Halloween and Christmas events there. This year was especially cold and the Santa line was especially long, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless- hot chocolate helped our bellies and hands stay warm and  thus vastly improved our attitude to the cold weather. 

It's fun to see how much the girls have changed since last time. Here they were last year. It's hard to believe that this was only Ellie's second Christmas! Look how small she was last year!

On Santa's Lap

Maisie has never cried on the lap of Santa (or around any mascot for that matter) and knowing that's not usually the norm when it comes to children, I was curious how Ellie would fare this year. Ellie is not a people person. It takes a while for her to warm up, but once you have won her over, she stays loyal- it's a rare occurrence even getting to that point though. I can only name a handful of adults who Ellie truly enjoys (Austin and I included). So sitting on any man's lap would be quite a challenge for little Ellie, but how about a jolly, bearded man who gives you gifts? I thought Maisie (or by holding my hand) would provide some level of comfort to uneasy Ellie, but alas she was left comfortless and dare I say tortured?

I finally feel a part of a club of parents who's children cries/cried on the lap of Santa. As much as I love the pretty smiles and cheesy grins, this is great too. 

Sister's Day

There's a show that Maisie likes on Netflix called "Stella and Sam"- it's actually a really cute show. Anyway, one of the episodes talked about "Sister's day". Maisie got so excited about the thought of Sister's day "is that even a real day?" she asked and after a quick google search, I told her that it was on August 2nd (at the time it was a few months away). She was bummed about waiting all that time, but after some reassurance that it would be here before she knew it, she became excited again.

Fast forward to August 2nd... Maisie woke up in the morning and gave Ellie a great big hug and snuggled in bed with her for a few minutes. When Maisie reminded me that it was Sister's day she sweetly asked "Does this mean we get breakfast in bed now?" I laughed so hard because OF COURSE she would assume that because Mother's and Father's day usually entails some kind of treat in bed. Part of me wishes I could go back and say that "of course it does!" and that I would have at least poured some cereal for them to enjoy while tucked in their covers and maybe going forward we will because why not? But instead I kindly explained to her that Sister's day is about celebrating your sister. That it's about doing something nice for Ellie and Ellie doing something nice for her. Maisie quickly turned her disappointment from the lack of breakfast in bed to thankfulness for her sister. It's very rare that Maisie is jealous of Ellie and I think she still thinks it's pretty cool to have a sibling and share her world with her. 

I just love these two sisters so much. My heart swelled with joy when we found out Ellie was a girl because of things like this. I love that they are already becoming the best friends they were destined to be. It's such an honor to see the way they love each other every day and I wouldn't trade it for all the riches in the world. Because of them (and Austin of course) I am the richest person alive.

Maisie & Ellie's Tandem Doctor's Appointment

On Thursday we had a combined Doctor's appointment for both the girls. Ellie was due for her 6 month check-up and vaccinations and Maisie in only a couple months will be due for her 5 year appointment (and vaccinations) so we decided to take care of them together. I was a little nervous about how Maisie would react, but she was incredibly brave. 100x braver than I was a child. She proudly strolled into the Doctor's office and proceeded to tell every soul around her that she was there to get her "kindergarten shots". She sounded excited. I could tell she was a little nervous as they pinned her down, but I held her hand and looked into her eyes the whole time telling her that it would be over soon. She whimpered one quiet "oww" and then it was done. I spun her in my arms and told her how proud I was of her. She was beaming.

Then it was Ellie's turn. Poor baby still doesn't realize whats going on when they hold up the needle and sterilize her chubby thighs- she just happily smiles and babbles probably making the nurses giving the shots feel like real jerks. Usually Ellie wails a good 2 minutes after her shots. Then when she can calm down long enough to latch on, I nurse her and she goes back to being the mellow child we know and love. Normally you can see Ellie after she calms down think about the shots for a brief half second and her lower lip turns down in the most adorable pout with a quick inhale- like the breath before a good cry, but she catches herself and continues her post-trauma snack. BUT none of that happened- not at this appointment. She cried for maybe 10 seconds and then just... stopped. She didn't even need to be passed to me or even nurse! I couldn't believe how well incredible our girls did. Both were so brave and I couldn't be more proud. We really dodged a bullet- that appointment had the potential to go terribly, but it was probably the smoothest doctor's appointment yet.

We treated Maisie to a cherry dipped ice cream cone and then gave the girls a lavender bath. Both slept like a dream- Maisie even slept until a little past 8!

 We realize we are beyond blessed to have such healthy girls. I just find so much purpose and joy from being their Mama. There's not much I wouldn't give to keep them happy and healthy and I am so glad that they seem to be just that.

My Little Valentines

On Friday (the day before Valentine's day) I took the girls out in the backyard to take a few pictures. Maisie hasn't been loving getting pictures taken lately, most likely because she gets stuck holding a baby a lot. Don't get me wrong Maisie adores Ellie and loves to hold her, but her little arms can only take so much (about 3 minutes) until she's ready for a break. I don't blame the girl... Ellie gets heavy in my arms too, so I can relate entirely. Ellie is still trying to decipher if she likes the camera or not, so its hard to get her to smile unless Maisie is on "jump-up-and-down-to-get-Ellie-to-smile-duty." This particular day Maisie was too preoccupied by the swing set and trying to crack her skull open "swing." So it was just me and Ellie left to get some pictures. Ellie was more interested in finding sticks and leaves perfect for choking on and with Maisie moo nearly killing herself on the swing set, lets see here... 3 times, I called the backyard outing/photoshoot off. Luckily I didn't come away empty handed.

My Girls

First time meeting each other (and first photo of just the two of them).
Ellie is just a few hours old.


12 days old


3 weeks old


one day shy of 7 weeks old

I don't know how they are both so cute, or what I did to deserve the two of them, but what I do know, is just how lucky the world is because it became a whole lot brighter now that they are apart of it.

Lord help the mister...

because...

 Maisie is going to have a little sister!

We had our ultrasound appointment early Thursday and it was a blast watching Maisie take everything in. She started jumping up and down screaming "It's Ellie!! Maisie and Ellie! Maisie and Ellie! We are going to be the best sisters in the whole wide world!"when the ultrasound tech confirmed Maisie's suspicions of a little sister were correct. By the way, Austin and I have never once brought up the name "Ellie" Maisie has completely taken it upon herself to name her sister and refuses to even consider another name. I have been trying my very best to put my foot down, but Maisie's will is strong and the name is growing on everyone. Maisie has some pretty sound tactics too like always saying Maisie and Ellie together makes them sound like a pair already and who can say no to that? Gosh, this baby may be called Ellie by default all because of her big sister, but at least Maisie picked a cute name right?

 Baby girl (notice how I didn't say Ellie yet- where do you think Maisie gets her stubbornness from anyway?!) was being very shy, crossing her legs very lady like and hiding her sweet face behind both hands. She also wouldn't hold still for more than a second! The ultrasound tech would line up a good picture, but every single time she went to take a picture baby girl would bust into dance. We saw how perfect she was, just unfortunately didn't get a very good picture to take home... oh well.

In the words of my sister "Dude! What a bear cub! Holy claws!"

We are in love with this little girl already and can't wait to meet her in July! I am over the moon that I will have a pair of sisters running around the house or as Austin says "a little Sammie and a little Katie". Words cannot describe how thankful I am. Life is good!

p.s the title reference is from the song "Sisters" from the movie "White Christmas". And the mister in this scenario is most definitely Austin. He is so excited, but I can tell he feels eerily outnumbered which is understandable because he totally is haha!