Dada's Home!

I have been wanting to capture this for awhile, but I never seem to have my phone on me when James pulls in the driveway.  This is Marlee's daily reaction when her Dada comes home from work.  This girl sure does love her Dada.

Newborn Photo Session

Well, our newborn photo session went pretty much the way I expected.  Marlee ran around the whole time.  We tried everything we could think of, but couldn't get her to stay still for anything.  Then, once we were finished with family pictures and ready to focus on newborn pictures, Laynie decided it was time to wake up.  We were there for a total of three hours and I will be surprised if we have 10 good pictures.  Oh, well.  Here is one of Miss Laynie yawning.

 And another that pretty much sums up our photo session.

Counting

Marlee is learning to count!  She misses a few numbers here and there, but for the most part, she can count to 10.  She definitely has one and two down and often counts things around the house that are in pairs.  She was counting my shampoo and conditioner the other day over and over, saying "one, two!".

Adjusting to Our New Normal

We have spent the last two weeks adjusting to our new life as a family of four.  Laynie has been such a good baby so far.  She has one long stretch of sleep every night that ranges from 5-6 hours.  I am so thankful for that!

Since we've been home, Laynie has done a lot of snoozing. 

 Marlee walks up to her often and says "Hi".  She also shares her toys once in a while and says "uh-oh" if she notices that Laynie's pacifier is out of her mouth (and then she tries to put the pacifier back in Laynie's mouth...even if she is sleeping).

 Marlee usually watches Baby TV while I feed Laynie

But sometimes she wants to sit on my lap, too (and like to suck on Laynie's pacifiers)

And since I can't keep the best eye on her while I'm feeding Laynie, she ate a crayon the other day.  Oops!

It has been an adjustment, but we are starting to get the swing of things!  I am going to start working a few hours next week, so we will see how that goes.

Laynie Camille Grady

We welcomed Laynie Camille Grady into the world at 2:42am on August 13, 2013.  She weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long.  She scored a 9.9 out of 10 on her APGAR test so I would say she is pretty perfect! ;) 

 Marlee wouldn't cooperate for a family picture (surprise, surprise), but we did manage to get a few of Me and the girls.

Marlee pointed to Laynie and said "baby"

Laynie had a lot of visitors in the hospital. 

 Marlee loved all of the big sister gifts

and spent a lot of time toting her new baby around the hospital

 She also kicked back every once in a while for a little face time with Elmo 

Here we are about to head home!

First time in her car seat 

 All loaded up and ready to head home!

 Marlee looked at Laynie from afar at first.

 And then she moved a little closer. ;)

 We are so happy to be blessed with another perfect angel.  God is so good.

Conversations and Sentences

Marlee Mae is just dying to have a conversation with us.  She can only say a few sentences, so we have the same conversations over and over and over.  We saw a motorcycle on the way home from school Monday.  Here is how our conversation went:

Marlee: "Motorcyle.  Vrum-vrum"
Me: "It sure is, Sugar."
Marlee: "Where did it go?"
Marlee: "Is it gone, gone?"
Me: "It sure is, Sugar."
Marlee: "Bye-bye, motorcycle"

And then we repeat this conversation with everything we see (firetruck, car, etc.).

She has also started saying "I don't want this/that".  We were in the car on the way to school this morning and she said "I don't want this." and handed me her sippy-cup.  When I took it, she said "Thank-you."  And about thirty seconds later, she asked for it back.  I think she really just wanted to practice her sentences. ;)

She also says "I'm finished." when she is finished with her meals.  Then pushes her plate away and says "Thank-you."  Sweet girl.

Summer Days

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures and videos from the last few weeks.  They really don't fit into a themed blog post, but are too cute not to share.

This one is a little blurry, but I think it is precious

She loves to hang out at Jack & Jill with her Ma and all of the big kids.  I'm sure she runs the show.

 Here she is cheezin for our friend Josh...with Whitney's bracelets on.  She thought she was hot stuff.

 Here is our babysitter, Alex.  We adore her.  And so does Marlee.

 Marlee loves to sit at the table like a big girl.  She also loves the play with her apps on my phone.  She knows how to unlock my phone and scroll to her page of apps.  Such a smart girl!

 We have started a routine of a snack and a show when she gets home from school.  This is her favorite spot.

 Here she is watching her favorite show.  This girl loves to dance.  And it cracks me up that she makes an end of the song move at the end.  Such a funny girl!