Beautiful Blessings

As you can probably tell from my lack of blogging, life has been very full lately! I thought I'd take a few minutes to try to recap the past 6-7 months since I last blogged. I know there probably aren't too many people that still follow my blog these days since I mainly keep up with everyone on Facebook, but I still like to keep it up the best I can for myself and for the few that do read it :) I actually find myself quite often going back to old posts from when Laila was Paityn's age to see what she was doing at that time and remind myself of things to expect or to remember to do. I also take a lot of pictures trying to capture as many memories or milestones as I can with my camera, mainly so I can go back and remember things more easily because I'm not the best at blogging consistently or keeping up with memory books! Anyways...now on to my girls!

Well, it is super hard to believe that in less than 3 months from now Laila will be 4 years old and Paityn will be 1 year old! The past 9 months since Paityn's birth have flown by and they are growing up so fast. I know everyone says that about their own kids, but it really is so true! Here is a little (lol!) update about each of them:

At almost 4 years old, Laila is full of life! She loves to play, sing, dance, dress up, laugh, and be silly! Oh, and I forgot to say talk! She loves to talk and ask 400 questions a day!!! Motherhood is definitely not for those who don't have patience! Laila is an awesome big sister as well. They both light up when they see each other! I can't wait until they can play together even more as Paityn starts walking! Laila has a sweet and gentle spirit and she loves to be a helper. She has also been learning a lot these days in preschool and at home. She's been learning to write her name, and most impressively she has memorized the Lord's Prayer and Psalm 23. Daddy has been working on those passages with her in the mornings at breakfast/devotion time and she has done really well memorizing them both. I love that she is already hiding God's word in her heart and pray she will continue to do that for her whole life. Laila has been taking a ballet class with some friends at her school since September and enjoys it very much. We are so excited for her first recital in May! Laila and Daddy also went back to the Daddy Daughter Dance at Northland Church this year! They made a lot of special memories and we were able to capture some very precious moments on camera of her date to the "ball" with "Prince Daddy"!

Paityn really has been a very easy baby overall! She has been sleeping completely through the night in her own bed since at least 8 weeks old and takes pretty good naps most days. She just cuddles up to her lovey which is a taggie blanket, then puts her 3rd and 4th fingers in her mouth and is off to peaceful dreams :) Now if I could only take a few lessons from her and get some good sleep myself! I often say that the reason she was taking her time to be born is because she was too busy sleeping...she loves to sleep, and I love that she loves to do that! Praying hard that this continues for years and years to come! These past few months Paityn has mastered rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and now she is pulling herself up and cruising. Before we know it, she'll be walking around and following her big sister everywhere :) Paityn likes to use her voice and make silly noises, she has starting waving hi and bye, and she has also started signing the word "more" when she wants more food. She is still fully breastfed but she loves real food too. Her first food was avocado. She has also enjoyed table foods like apple, oatmeal, banana, broccoli, sweet potato, cheerios, and some other baby food pouch blends! For the most part at home, Paityn is full of smiles and is pretty easy going, but she is definitely a Mommy's girl at this point. She loves to be held by Mommy and up until pretty recently is often hesitant to go to someone she doesn't know well or when she is sleepy or hungry. Although Paityn loves to cuddle and be held by Mommy, it is so precious to see how much she loves her Daddy! Oh, it fills my heart with so much joy to see how much my girls love their daddy and how much he loves them :)

Here are some more highlights of things that have been happening in our lives lately!

-Laila attended her first FSU football game

-Paityn got her ears pierced at 6 months old

-We took Daddy to Legoland as a surprise for his birthday

-We just barely diverted a scissors disaster with Laila trying to cut Paityn's hair!

-Nate completed his first Tough Mudder Race

-Mommy and Daddy celebrated our 7 year anniversary!

-We got to spend a whole day at Disney with the girls

-Paityn was dedicated at Summit Church at 8 months old

-Daddy started a new job in late February

Hope you enjoy a few slideshows below of some of our special moments and fun adventures from August through this past week!

As the old year comes to an end - August through December 2011:

Family pictures taken by Callahan Photo in November 2011:

A New Year Unfolds - January through March 2012:

Daddy Daughter Dance March 2012: