Sometime last month marked the day where Derek and I came together to create a little person and where a God who knows what we needed more than anything knitted that little person into two beautiful girls. I can’t believe it has been a year.  A year of anticipation and sleeplessness and lessons on our selfish natures and laughter at the antics of two sweet girls.  They’ve officially been out here in the world for 5 months today; I can scarcely believe it!

Let me confess that the girls current stage makes me consider doing it all over again.  They are getting to be so much FUN! They laugh, they play with their hands and toys, the smile, they talk, and on occasion they roll over. When they’re tired they just curl right up over your shoulder and snuggle in.  This sweetness is practically contagious.

Aeralind Grace

This little girl is so focused on whatever she is doing.  I can hardly snap a photo without capturing intense concentration.  She’s taken to thumping her little legs down as hard as she can at every chance she gets, but especially when she’s trying to keep herself awake.  Eventually, she’ll cover her face with one hand and suck on her thumb until she falls asleep.

Aeralind rolled over from tummy to back for the first time on February 1st. I was out of the room fixing lunch and when I returned she was lying innocently on her back.  She repeated her feat when I left the room to get my drink.  I actually caught her rolling from tummy to back 3 times in a row two days ago.  She’s pretty good at it, but sometimes her little brain just can’t remember the correct sequence of movements.  When that happens, she lays down her head and complains loudly.

Aeralind can be a clown when I least want her to be a clown.  She’ll start grinning at me while nursing in the middle of the night. When she’s tired she’ll gladly sit there and coo and laugh and grin at me until she almost convinces me that she’d rather not sleep.

Aeralind felt pretty yucky the earlier this week (I accidentally had dairy at a Super Bowl party) and she acts just like her Daddy when she’s doesn’t feel well.  She just wanted to be held and have her head stroked and talked to in a gentle voice.

Bronwyn Hope

Bronwyn is movement caged.  This little girl rarely stops moving!  She can rotate herself 360 degrees while lying on her back and can do it so fast she gives the back of her head carpet burn. She loves to roll up on her side and play with her hands or more recently the hanging toys. The concentration she puts forth when trying to grab a toy I dangle above her is intense; I can see how proud she is to be able to grasp successfully.

Bronwyn rolled over tummy to back twice on January 23. I saw the first roll and her daddy got to see the second one. Since then she’s decided that she’d much rather play with her hands or whatever toy you hand to her. In fact, on tummy time now she just lays her little head down and stuffs her whole hand in her mouth.

Bronwyn hates to go to sleep for a nap. She will whine because she’s tired and then scream when you lay her in the crib.  She also wakes up earlier than her sister consistently. I think she just likes having the extra attention. 😉

Bronwyn is in love with the borrowed Bumbo seat despite the fact that putting her in it almost instantly results in copious amounts of spit up. She is happy to sit on daddy’s desk and watch him on the computer.  She loves sitting on our kitchen table watching me cook dinner or enjoying dinner with the two of us.  She’ll smile and join right in with chatter.