Milestones

As of yesterday, Alex has reached a new milestone. She is now pulling herself up to stand! She is so proud of herself and her accomplishment. It's funny to watch her do it because after awhile she will start hollering because she can't figure out how to get back down. Then it's Mommy to the rescue! It is so bittersweet to watch her grow. I love watching her do new things and flourish, but at the same time I see my baby getting bigger and bigger and becoming more independent already. I am not ready for her to grow so fast. Time seems to just fly by all the time. I would give anything to slow it down. I have realized in the past couple of days that I really need to focus more on spending time with my children rather than fussing about the house and cleaning up all the time. These precious moments pass to quickly and I need to enjoy them while I can. I have made it a personal goal to take each day one at a time and to deal with things as they come. I want to live in the moment and enjoy it with my girls. I want to love on them as much as possible and play until exhaustion. I want to have no regrets. I have come to realize these are the things that matter most and that I don't have all the time in the world to enjoy them.

Lilyana has become so independent in her 2 years. She is 2 going on 16 already! She wants to do everything herself and she prides herself in it. She is also my little drama queen. She makes me laugh all the time when something happens and she needs to tell me about it. She runs up to me with both palms pressed against her cheeks saying, "oh, no! oh, no!" in her most dramatic voice. I try not to laugh while she is telling me what is wrong, but afterwards I always do. She has become so dramatic about everything! I love it! She is totally into dressing up and playing with her baby dolls. She loves to pretend to read to them. She also likes to dress herself and undress herself for that matter. She usually doesn't like to have her picture taken, but lately she has become somewhat of a supermodel; always flashing her cheesy smile when a camera is pulled out. I think she just likes to see the pictures of herself on the digital camera. She loves to cuddle and just sit in my lap while she watches her cartoons. She enjoys horsey rides from daddy. She loves washing her hands over and over and over again and playing with the soap. She loves to brush her teeth and she LOVES lotion. She likes to watch me in the bathroom while I'm doing my hair and mimic me. She likes mousse and hairspray and ponies. It is so cute and funny. She is such a girl and I love everything about it. At the same time, she loves to run around outside and play and get dirty! She loves bedtime stories and to be read to and she freaks out if she doesn't get her "lovies" before being tucked into bed at night. I definately have my hands full with her, but I look forward to everything that life with her brings.

Alex is my angel baby. She is already a mama's girl. She loves to be cuddled and held and she loves it when daddy tickles her! She is pulling herself up to sit now, is crawling a little and scooting everywhere and now she is standing. Next comes walking! Arrgg!!! Not yet! She is always full of smiles and wild, crazy laughter and delightful screams. She loves animals and will laugh the most heartwarming laugh just upon seeing them. She likes to attack them with her "love" leaving behind a slobbery trail of matted fur. Alex loves her sister and thinks that she is the funniest thing to ever walk to planet. All Lily has to do is put her face close to hers and Alex just gets rolling. Alex is so easy to love and she is so patient. She rarely is crabby and just loves to play with toys. Her recent favorite is a small little tikes piano. She just loves to bang on that thing! She also loves to be pushed around on one of those toddler push cars. The grin on her face just spreads ear to ear when she goes for a spin. Gosh, I love her. I am so grateful to have such wonderful, loving little girls! God has truly blessed me and I am so thankful he has entrusted me and chosen me to be the mother of two of his precious daughters.