2 3 months old!

Wow. It really has been 3 months since Georgia was born. It's gone by so fast! I started back to work yesterday, so my maternity leave is officially over. (Or as Chad once called it, "vacation." Ha!) Georgia looks so much bigger than her 1 month pictures. It's incredible how quickly babies grow.
Like I've said, Leighton is more than happy to pose for pictures these days. I didn't even ask her to join in on this photo session and she just plopped right down and started smiling.



I know, so sweet, right? Sisters holding hands. You probably can't tell, but Georgia's hand was practically white because Leighton was holding her so tight. We're working on being GENTLE!


Another one of Leighton's frequent phrases: "Me hold it." Which means she wants to hold HER (Georgia).

We just have to keep a close eye on her because one or twice she's totally shoved Georgia off her lap if Georgia spits up.
I put Georgia down in Leighton's crib when she woke up from her nap yesterday. Leighton was introducing all of her stuffed animals to Georgia.


I think we're pretty lucky Leighton loves Georgia so much and isn't jealous of her at all. Yesterday I was sitting with Georgia and Leighton walked up and said hi to her, and I could see the recognition on Georgia's face that she knows that voice. It's a very sweet feeling, knowing my girls will always have each other.

3 It's not ALL bad

I feel like maybe I've said how hard it is having two kids a little too much lately. It IS hard, but there's also a lot of joy in the house. One of Leighton's favorite phrases these days is "All by self!" She's putting shoes on all by herself (although sometimes on the wrong feet), eating by herself, and really doing all sorts of things without our help. She's SO proud! We are too.
I seem to recall it taking Leighton a while to like this bouncer. Georgia was kicking at the little animals hanging down today, and not in a fun way. She seemed very hostile (although she looks quite happy here). We have her on a rotation around here: mommy, swing, papasan chair, bouncer, playmat, mommy, daddy, mommy, swing...you get the idea. One item NOT in the rotation: crib. More on that later.

I know it is so silly to try and figure out what babies look like this early in the game. Leighton looks NOTHING like what she did as a baby. But...I will say Georgia is starting to look a little different than Leighton. Who knows what's brewing in there, but I'm starting to see a different looking little person.
We took the girls to Memorial Park yesterday morning for a little fun in the sun. They have a cool playground and lots of space for kids to roam. Leighton was on the move the whole time...Chad ran after her and Georgia and I followed way behind.
I have been patiently waiting for her to fit in this outfit, which is actually size 18 months. It was too big for her last summer, so I thought I would give it a go. Pretty cute!
We walked to a burger place at the park and Leighton wanted me to take lots of pictures of her. She's starting to ham it up for the camera. She even says "Cheese!" with a big smile on her face!

So we CANNOT get Georgia to sleep in her crib. I have no idea what to do. Leighton slept in her crib just fine. As far as I know, we aren't doing anything different with Georgia, so I don't know. We have tried many times to put her in it and she might sleep for 5 minutes, but she always ends up crying and waking up. I've done a little research and she might just be one of those babies that prefers smaller places (like her car seat) for a little while longer.

Leighton is just so infatuated with Georgia that she has to know where she is at all times. She wanted to be with her in her crib earlier.
Doesn't it look like they are looking at something SO magical? I love how Georgia has her lips like that, by the way.
Here's what has their attention: the mobile. Leighton loved this mobile and used to pass out while watching it go in circles. Not so for Georgia, at least not the falling asleep part.
This is pretty sweet. Sisters. Love it. It may be hard, and I might not have any free time anymore, but this is priceless.
We are currently conducting an experiment on Leighton. Bed time and nap time had become a little out of control...with Leighton not taking naps and it taking us an hour to put her to bed at night. So I bought the Supernanny book and we are following her advice to a T. And it really is sort of magical! Leighton has napped every day since we started, and bedtime is much easier. I think the biggest thing that is making a difference is we are giving Leighton a countdown to nap/bed time. For example:

"Leighton, in an hour we are going to have nap time."
"30 minutes to nap time."
"After we brush teeth, we are going to read books and go to bed."

You get the idea. I think it helps so that she isn't taken by surprise when she's having fun and then all of a sudden we surprise her with making her sleep. I've also moved back her dinner time to 5:30, and we're trying to start her whole bath time, nighttime routine earlier. I think we were just letting the night slip away from us. OK, yes there is also an element of "controlled crying," but we only did that the first night. This means that we went back in after 2 minutes of crying and patted her on the back and left. Then we just doubled the time and went back in. Then continued doubling time till she fell asleep, which was after 30 minutes. It was miserable, but I tell you what: she didn't cry at all going to bed tonight! We're believers in Supernanny around here!

My dad sent me these two cute pictures from when we were in San Antonio last weekend for Fara's wedding. I have to check, but this first one might be the first family pic we've had with all four of us!

3 Fara's Wedding

Fara and Pete got married this past Saturday, April 17! It was a wonderful (albeit crazy) weekend to celebrate. We were all in the wedding: Chad was a groomsman, I was a bridesmaid, and Leighton and Georgia were flower girls (Georgia was actually an honorary flower girl). Traveling with kids is hectic. Being in a wedding is hectic. Having your toddler in a wedding is hectic. Having a newborn is hectic. Having all these events occurring at once: INSANITY!

We were supposed to stay at the Fergusons' house for the weekend. However, Georgia sort of had a meltdown when we got there. I guess too many people and too much going on...so we packed up our stuff and headed to my parents' house. I was sad to miss our on all the hustle and bustle of wedding preparations, but I think in the end it was a good for the girls to have the peace and calm.

I tell you what...breastfeeding can be very challenging. I was thinking the other night: either I have to be with Georgia when she needs to eat, or I have to plan ahead and pump milk so she has food when she's hungry. This, mixed with a weekend full of places to be and things to do, made it a pretty wild time for me. Thank GOODNESS my parents' were so awesome and watched the girls any time I needed them to. Once again, thanks mom and dad!

Enough about me...Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and Fara and Pete were glowing with excitement. (I think everyone who was at the wedding can agree that these two are definitely lovebirds.)
I joke with Fara that Leighton is her mini-me...but it's kind of true. I think Leighton resembles Fara even more than she resembles Chad.
Here's Chad and his mom practicing walking down the aisle. Leighton made me very nervous during the rehearsal. She kept running back and forth between the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and I was wondering what she would do at the actual wedding.
So we got to the rehearsal dinner and there was an awesome band playing, but it was pretty loud and Georgia looked like she wasn't going to last long in that. So I drove her back to my parents' house (using a hand pump to pump milk on the way) and dropped her off and then drove back to the dinner. Whew! Leighton was having a ball. We bought her a special outfit and pink cowboy boots and she definitely enjoyed showing them off. Here she is with Chad's cousin Heather's daughter, Halle.
Leighton was very excited to have brownies and ice cream. She's been really getting so good at feeding herself lately (meaning the food is making it to the mouth and not on her clothes and the floor).
Part of why I mentioned how frazzled I was the weekend of the wedding was to explain why I have so few pictures of the weekend. For one, the night of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner my camera was switched to the wrong mode so the majority of my pictures were blurry. I am SO disappointed. I am hoping people who were also there will be sending me their pictures.

Leighton was having WAY too much fun dancing outside on the patio. I had some great pictures of her, but they are all blurry! Wah!
Yep, that's all I've got. I had some great pictures of the Fergusons and of Fara and Pete. None of them turned out. Suffice to say, it was a lovely night to be with friends and family. Pete's family and friends made the trek over here from Portugal and England, and they were having quite a time experiencing Texas traditions. It's always fun to see people's reactions to America...and especially Texas and San Antonio.

My brother Brad did something amazingly wonderful for me Friday night. I was exhausted and knew I was going to have a rough day Saturday if I didn't get a good night's sleep (which is tough with Georgia keeping odd hours). Brad came to my parents' house Friday night at 10 and watched Georgia till 8 the next morning. How awesome is that? I had a great night's sleep and was ready for the day.

The bridesmaids all had our hair done (thanks to Vicki) and then a few of us had our makeup done. This woman went to high school with Chad and Fara and now she works on movie sets, so I was extremely excited to talk celebrities with her. She did a beautiful job on Fara.
Fara's beautiful wedding dress! I wish I had a picture of it ON HER, but in trying to get ready and get Leighton ready, I put my camera in my bag and didn't get any pictures. Agh! I'm so sad.
Thankfully the professional photographers were there documenting everything for Fara. I did manage to go behind them and get this picture of Leighton's clothes that they had set up. Pretty cute! Yellow was one of Fara's colors for the wedding, so I thought a yellow sash would be perfect.
No flower girl is properly dressed without monogrammed panties. These turned out so cute! Georgia also had on a sweet dress and monogrammed panties. Did I get a picture of it? No! Of course, in my defense, the wedding coordinator took all the bags that belonged to bridesmaids to the reception, so I didn't have my camera anyway.
Nonny looked beautiful for the wedding! She got this material on one of her visits to Portugal. She also helped me tie Leighton's bow for her dress. I'm terrible with bows, so I was thankful she had a moment to help me out.
Isn't this little wreath adorable for her hair? She wouldn't keep it on. She kept putting it on other people. But at least I got one picture of it.

Oh how I love my parents. I could NOT have made it through the weekend without their help. Not a chance. My dad came to the church early with Georgia and Leighton because we had to take family pictures before the ceremony. He sat with Georgia the whole time. I love having my dad around because he is SO CALM and I am so NOT CALM.

Here we are, short one family member. I think she might have already gone to the church nursery at this point.


So we were all wondering how Leighton would do walking down the aisle. Or even if she would walk down the aisle. She walked in with me, holding my hand. I actually got a little teary walking in with her. It was a special moment. However, just short of the front of the church, she completely stopped walking and wouldn't budge. She had spotted Lance and I think that was the first person she recognized and maybe that threw her for a bit. Anyway, my dear dad scooped her up and walked her right out of the church (we had this plan set in place beforehand). So it was perfect!
The ceremony was lovely. Fara and Pete are a great couple and you could just tell they meant every word of their vows. Yay! I'm so glad to have another "outsider" join the Ferguson family. The reception was fun...although once again hectic. How shall I say this...Leighton likes to be with one of her parents at all times. And often when she's with one of us, she wants to look for the other one of us. So that was tough. Right after she fell down some stairs and was crying, we decided it was time to send the girls home. Except by this time, my boobs were about to burst with milk, but Georgia had just had a bottle, so once again, my dad did me a solid.

Picture this: I sat in my dad's car in the church parking lot pumping while my dad sat in my car with the two girls in the backseat waiting for me to hand off my milk. (He had my car because of the car seats.) Leighton watched Finding Nemo and I think Georgia was sleeping. Once I finished pumping (I knocked over my bottle of milk and spilled some...of course), my dad took the girls to bed and I returned to the reception to party it up for the rest of the night. Whew. We made it! As soon as I can get some pictures from other people of the weekend, I'll post them here. In the meantime, you can see Fara's wedding announcement here.

Back here in Houston, I caught Georgia smiling yesterday. She actually smiles all the time and I LOVE it. She also whips her head around when I walk into a room and talk. She knows me! I love it.
Leighton thinks tummy time is a group activity. After I took this, she made me get down on the floor too. And then Leighton kicked me in the head...so off to time out she went. She's only been to time out a few times, but I think it's pretty effective. She really doesn't ever misbehave, so we're lucky that it's not a huge issue. I think the time out just gives everyone a chance to take a breath.
My parents' friends sent Leighton this cute hat that says "Big Sister." She was so excited and wore the hat to the park the next day. I guess I never realized how important it is to pay attention to the older sibling when a new baby is born, but I will from now on. Everyone has been so wonderful pumping Leighton up about being a big sister that we've had no problems with her adjusting. She LOVES Georgia and I don't see any signs of jealousy yet.
This hat is actually for Georgia but Leighton wanted to put it on too.
We got a few things down from the attic this weekend, including this play mat and a bouncer. Leighton spent a lot of time on this mat. Georgia looked a little freaked out by all the animals hanging down at first, but I think she's making friends now.