Big Girl Hair Cut

So Miss Alana is turning into such a big girl.  She was bumped up to "older preschool" and now she has a big girl hair do!  I asked for only an inch taken off, but I think it was more like 1.5 inches.  Her hair probably needed it, but man, she looks SO much older.  We seem to spend a lot of time lately trying to find her things to do that will challenge her.  She LOVES puzzles and continues to shock me with how quick she whips them together on her own.  We are well past the little kid puzzles and on to kindergartner age ones.  She is working on writing her name, mostly so that she can label that all of her things "Alana" (or "yana" as she pronounces it!), and not "Sierra."  She is still a great big sister and fawns over Sierra all the time.  She is actually a great helper with her, too.  Every so often, we still see the three year old in her when she tries to yank of Sierra's fingers.  I am sure that's just one of many battles to come!!

Busy, busy

All has been pretty busy around here!  Both Erik and I are traveling a lot lately (too much!), but at least my schedule should be slowing down, though these next two weeks are insane.  Hopefully things slow down JUST in time for our family vacation!!!

dad with his hands full.

i just love how her tongue is always out when she smiles!

getting crazy.  pretty sure this is when alana was sick and just before sierra got sick.  major sleep deprivation this week!

alana's new place she likes to hang on the couch.  not too many pictures of her lately.  she's in another "don't picture me phase"!

Sierra at 7 months!

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Having some technical difficulties, so I guess this post will be at the bottom!  Sierra is already 7 months old!  Wow, I really can't believe it.  She is seriously the happiest baby I have ever seen.  It's almost hilarious how happy she is.  It's like she is non-stop elated at the world.  She has definitely started a need for Mom, and if i am around her and she can see me, but I am not holding her, she'll start making some noise and kicking her legs.  She's also started saying "da da da da".  She actually has kind of a low voice, which is pretty funny.  She has gotten up on her knees a few times and seems SO close to crawling.  She'll kick her legs rapidly like she can't figure out why they won't work!  She's starting to put on some weight, too, so she's got more chubby rolls now.  Too cute!  She continues to be much more interested in food than bottles (total opposite of alana!) and is always trying to grab anything even close to her reach!  I think over the next month we will see both a tooth and some crawling!  Watch out alana!!!!

Blizzard of 2011

I don't think these pictures really do the blizzard justice!!!  Luckily, I was able to escape DC and get back home so that Grandma was not solo with the gals while Erik was trapped in Portland.  The snow was absolutely crazy, I have not seen anything like that in some time!  I think we got over 20 inches when all was said and done.  Alana and I braved the cold and shoveled.  She was a trooper....for about 20 minutes.  Then she decided she was too cold and I lost my shovel buddy!  I also had to dig us out of 4+ foot drifts in our alley.  What an adventure!!!!

Sierra at 6 months!

Hard to believe that Miss Sierra is already 6 months old.  She continues to be the happiest baby I have ever seen.  She is also the fidgety-ist!!!  She is ready to get moving, probably so she can chase after her sister!!  At 6 months, she was a petite 14 lb. 3 oz and 25 inches.  She's had a couple nasty illnesses, but she is still doing good.  It is funny to compare her and Alana, who was 16 lb. 11 oz. at Sierra's age!  Sierra is such a little peanut.  She LOVES to eat baby food, and still drinks her bottles slowly and rarely ever finishes them.  She sits up well and we are trying to put her on her belly plenty so she can get ready to crawl.  I am amazed at how focused she is...it's like you can see her mind working.  Alana is SO great with her, honestly, I think she gets better every day.  She's such a little mom!!!

Trip to MINNESOTA/THE SNOWIEST PLACE ON EARTH

I am a little behind on my posts, evidenced by our my post FINALLY for our trip to Minnesota in early December.  I have received several complaints, so my apologies for my hiatus.  I have, however, been working on both girls' scrap books and i am completely caught up and they are awesome.  I am almost real time scrapbooking now--i already did my NYE post!!!  Now that I am caught up (i was SERIOUSLY behind), hopefully I can stay on top of both.

We had an awesome trip up to MN to see my bff Sonya's new baby Scarlet and the Swanson clan.  We had a great trip, despite Mother Nature's best efforts to wreak havoc on our travels.  My mom went with me and the girls, thankfully, as I am not sure how I would have done it by myself.  I even gave her my first class upgraded seat as a thanks.  She did have to take Sierra, but hey, can't beat free wine.  We had a great time playing with the Swansons and Alana was particularly jazzed to hang out with Abbey and Alex.  We were snowed in one day and basically just played around Aunt Linda's house all day.  It was actually kind of nice to just lounge around!!!

Miss Scarlet is an absolute doll, too.  She is such a little peanut, too.  She's so chill and just sleeps with all the noise around her.  We laid her and Sierra next to one another and it was hilarious to see how much bigger Sierra looked!!!  I can't wait to see Scarlet again, soon.  She's already changing so much!!!  Alana was most excited to see Kai.  He's totally her little buddy and they played together pretty well.  She also loved playing with Summer and SeSe and talks about them ALL the time.  She asked me the other day who their favorite princesses are.  She also loves to talk about her Godmother, "Aunty Son" as she calls her.  It's pretty cute.  She keeps asking when we can go back.  Anytime after April, Alana.  

first flight and in first class.  what a life this kid has.

alana was SO jazzed to see son.  she still talks about her.

it was really cute to see alana & abbey together.  lots of love there.

lindsay loving on her goddaughter

 i found this really hilarious.  i think alana thinks kai is her long lost brother.  she really loves this boy.

these gals are exactly 3 months apart and were the exact same size at birth.  clearly mine has filled out!!!  alana said to sierra the other day, "sissy, you and scarlet can be best friends, too."  cute.  i'd like that.

me and scarlet, she is SUCH a cutie and chill baby.

the girls did not all really play together at first, but once they got comfortable, they were chasing each other on the couch.  alana still talks about it and can't wait to play with them again.  can't believe these gals are already 5!!!  

aunt linda & lindsay threw alana a surprise birthday party to celebrate since they couldn't make her party.  she was BEYOND excited and thrilled.  she's holding up her "3" candle.

Happy New Years!!!

We had a great New Year's Eve at our house!!!  Alana and Sierra mostly played around all day and Alana was super excited because Jackie, Denis, Alicia and Amy Lemon were coming over.  Of course, I made some mexican food (GREAT shredded chicken tacos if I do say so myself) and we have several drinks.  Alana and Sierra went to bed at their normal time.  Figured midnight and a 3 year old was probably not the greatest combo.  She had a blast playing with everyone and busted out Elefun to give everyone a try.  I am sure they will be heading back to play again!!!  We are lucky to have great friends that want to come and hang out with us and our crazy kids for NYE!!!  

alana made herself and sierra new year's crowns at school.

alana spent most of the day reading to sierra who had the most hilarious faces.

Sierra update!!!

So, I am a little behind on my posts!!!  Miss Sierra is almost five months old already!  She continues to be the happiest baby I have ever seen.  She's super social and loves to just smile and laugh at people.  She's also really inquisitive and loves to touch and, of course, attempt to eat everything.  She is eating some solids now and we learned she loves veggies way more than fruit.  I am sure that will change.  She continues to be such a little ray of sunshine.  She went through a few weeks of a strain of nasty viruses, which earned her the first ER visit and a few DR visits.  Of course, she still smiled at everyone.  She did have her bouts of crying though, so I could tell she was not feeling well.  She's not quite the sleeper Alana was, so we still have a few wake up calls during the night.  She's slept through the night on a few occasions, so now we are just trying to tweak her schedule and get her sleeping more every night!!!

Meeting Santa!!!

For the first time, we actually braved the crowds and took Alana to meet Santa.  Last year, we were lucky enough to see Santa at church, which was great.  This year, we headed down to Macy's (...Marshall Fields) on State Street.  We waited for an hour plus and finally saw Santa.  Alana was really nervous and blurted out "I want a Snow White doll and the Prince."  It was really out of nowhere and she was clearly concerned she would not get it out!  Miss Sierra stayed behind with our nanny, Natalie, since she's been a bit under the weather.  Next year, though!!!

3 months old!

Hard to believe that baby girl Sierra is already 3 months.  Sierra is just an absolute joy.  She is SO easy going.  Loves her swing, loves to just sit and chat and the smiliest baby i have ever seen.  Alana is getting better and better with her and keeps telling her they are "best friends."   Sierra is pretty close to sleeping through the night, but she is still waking up here and there for a pacifier fix.   She is starting to really discover her voice, so there is LOTS of chatter and it keeps getting a higher and higher pitch.  It really takes a lot for her to get mad enough to really scream and cry, so that is nice!!  She is also trying to figure out her hands and how to use them to get her pacifier.  It's pretty cute.  Needless to say, we love our little addition!!!