Lilly Jeanne's Age 2 Photos

Over Memorial Day weekend we visited my parents, and I took the opportunity to take Lilly Jeanne's pictures in the mountains.  There was no shortage of beautiful scenery!  She was such a ham and was totally into it.  Here are a few of my favorites. She's just too cute!

Last Day of MOPS...

I have been coordinating the MOPS group at my church for the past three years.  It has been a very fulfilling, rewarding, and fun role to have.  I'm proud to say that over the past three years, our group has tripled in size and we have a strong group moms who have found friendship and support for their vocations as mothers.  Our group has also discerned a more Catholic focus through our speakers and fellowship over the past year and a half or so.  We have decided to drop the MOPS affiliation and move towards a Catholic moms group.  We will now be called Magnificat Moms, and we are working with another parish in the area who has also gone through this same path.  I have officially passed the baton of the coordinator role to my good friend and assistant coordinator for the coming year.  However, I feel called to grow the Magnificat Moms ministry and will be working on making our resources available to other parishes this year.  I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be part of this Mom's ministry and to grow it and to make it available to other moms in the same boat as myself.  I too have developed friendships that will last a long time through this group.

Memorial Day Weekend

We headed up for some much needed mountain time at my parents house for Memorial Day weekend this year.  Cecilia was SO excited to go, that on the Monday before we left (a full 5 days before), the first thing she did with Jon was to make her packing list.  I was still in bed and could hear her listing things to Jon.  It was so cute!

It was a low key weekend, which was just what we needed.  My parents hosted a BBQ for their friends in the area and the girls "helped" wash the deck off.

We made s'mores on Sunday night around the campfire with the girls.  Cecilia was all about the chocolate (that's my girl!).  She went to all the effort of making her s'more, just to pull the chocolate piece out and eat it first.

I love the view from my parents home.  These are just a few of the changing scenes we witnessed this time from their deck.  Simply beautiful!

28 Weeks

How Far Along: 28 Weeks

Size of Baby: 2.25 lbs. and almost 15 inches long.  Think butternut squash.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 10 lbs

Maternity Clothes: The last time I grew a tiny human in the summer was when I was pregnant with Cecilia and working.  I've realized how much my style (or lack there of) has changed since then.  All of the summer maternity shirts I pulled out are "professional".  I've started to purchase a few t-shirts, and I received a few as gifts for Mothers Day.

Baby Movement: ALL the time!  This kid moves constantly, or so it seems.  Also, when this baby moves, there is movement all over, not just in one spot.  Baby has also started to have some ferocious hiccup spells.  We're talking close together and full belly jumping hiccups.  

Sleep:  So far, so good.  It is definitely getting harder to change positions once I've laid down.

What I miss: A Margarita!  MMMMMM that sounds sooo yummy right now.

Cravings:  Peanut Butter.

Aversions:  Not too much.  I guess it depends on the day, or time of day.  

Symptoms:  Heartburn!!!  I've increased my Zantac dosage up to the maximum allowed- 150mg, twice a day.  That is four times the amount I took with the girls.  Sciatic pain.  Leg and foot cramps that make you cry in the middle of the night.  

Best Moment:  Cecilia actually feeling the baby move!  "Whoa!!" was her response :)  And reading books to the girls about new babies and being a big sister.

Last Day of School

Cecilia's last day of school was on the 22nd.  She has enjoyed school so much this year, and grown so much.  I attribute a lot of her growing toward working through her speech issues.  She has matured tremendously and is on track with her peers.  She will move up with her class in the fall to the Pre-K room, and we are excited for this new adventure for her.

She can almost write her name.  She's got the C's and L's down, although she very recently started writing her C's backwards.  Totally normal, from what I've been told.  She counts to 20, knows all of her letters in upper case, and 90% of them in lower case.  She knows and loves all the colors, purple being her favorite.  She can name at least ten different shapes.  She loves to sing.  "Oh Say Can You See!" and "Itsy Spider" have been favorites.

I captured her on the last day of school in her favorite dress.  Lilly Jeanne wanted in on the action too :)

Lilly Jeanne: Age 2!

My sweet snuggle baby is two.  Lillian Jeanne is 2 years old.  How else can I say this??  {Waaaaaaaaaa! Sniffle. Pass the tissues, please.}  But seriously.  She is still my snuggle baby, and she is so sweet.  She has been "practicing" for age two for about two months now.  I think she's got it down.  She's practically perfected the tantrum.  "NO!" is a new favorite word, promptly followed by a very ornery looking smirk.  "Mine!" has made several appearances.  She has learned how to raise her arms up when she gets picked up so that she slides right through your hands back to the ground.  Yup, she's two.

We celebrated on Mother's Day with my family.  She picked out a picture of her cake in a cute kids cake book I have and I went from there to create her very own carousel cake.  It was delicious- white chocolate raspberry with cream cheese frosting.  She dove head first into her cupcake, it was pretty cute, and she actually managed to not get too messy.

Her two year old check up at the doctors went well.  She has started to show signs of having seasonal allergies   We have started her on Claritin to reduce her symptoms.  She weighed in at 24.8 lbs, and measured 32.25 inches.  Both, in the 25th percentile.

Here are some things about Lilly Jeanne at age two worth writing down for memory lane:

• She has developed an aversion to being messy, sticky, dirty, etc.  She wants to have her hands and face washed the minute they get dirty.
• When you ask her what she would like for lunch (or snack, or any other meal) her answer is always "pickles and cheese".
• She is quite the backseat driver.  If the car stops for more than about 7 seconds I will hear this tiny little voice behind me say "Go people!" 
• She has a wonderful sense of humor.  She will crack jokes and bust out laughing for no apparent reason.  If you ask her to laugh, she will.  Its hilarious.
• She loves babies.  She will point them out everywhere, carry dollies around with her, talk to Tater Tot, and kiss my belly all the time.
• She is still a wonderful little snuggler.  Especially when she first wakes up in the morning or after her nap.
• She loves her sister and will mostly comply with whatever Cecilia orders wants her to do.  I wonder how long this will last.
• She thinks she is ready for school.  She carries around her little backpack, and talks about going to school like sister.
• She has become interested in going potty like a big girl.  We've had many successful trips to the potty for #2.  She tells me she needs to go, and we go.  For the record, I'm in absolutely no rush to fully train her at this point.  I think it is great that she is showing initiative  but I am not forcing the issue at all.
• She is such a girly girl, and loves to wear shoes.  She adores shoes.  She will often ask to have shoes on as soon as she wakes up in the morning.  She loves her little pink loafers, or "oafers" in Lilly Jeanne speak.  
• She wants to wear jeans or a skirt every day.  
• She likes to watch Dora and will interact with the show as Dora asks her to.
• She loves to have "bows" in her hair, also known as pig tails.  She will ask for them just about daily, and pull me into the bathroom to have me do her hair.
• She knows her birth date!  If you ask her, she will tell you, "May tirteen" in her sweet little voice.
• If you ask her her name she will tell you "Lilly Jeanne".  Cecilia will call her Lilly Jeanne all the time.  I'm 90% sure this is the name that will stick and she will go to school with this as her primary name.
• Her vocabulary is insane.  I can't even count how many words she has.  She will regularly speak in 3-5 word phrases, and communicates well with her sister.