standing in awe

as most of you know, i am a stay at home mom. i am with my girls day after day, all day long. i am with them so much that sometimes the normal everyday things they do don't seem to be that big of a deal to me... don't get me wrong, i love spending my days with them and wouldn't want it any other way. i think i just take it for granted sometimes.

but then there are those days where i just sit back in awe and look at them and think, "wow..."

like the other day, i relized how big chloe is actually getting! in only 2 months she will be 1 year old! that is just too big!!! i can't believe that much time has already gone by!
she is starting to do a lot of fun things... she can play pat-a-cake like a pro! she pats it, rolls it, and throws it in the pan at all the right times.

she also waves good-bye and hello at everyone... entering or leaving the room... or just because she feels like it :)

she also has a very big vocabulary. she says mommy and daddy, she tries to say ireland, and she says hi. it is so cute to see her little brain thinking and putting stuff together. she also can sign "more" and "all done" but not when it has to do with food. i guess she just gets a little to impatient to do it then. but she does it real good when she is just playing.

another thing she does real good is drinking from a sippy cup. she doesn't even want me to hold it or anything... she actually has been drinking from a sippy for a long time. and she eats table food real good. whatever we are having for dinner she eats too (just cut into little chloe bites). i think she favorite is any kind of fruit... or anything really. chloe LOVES to eat!!! oh, and she got a taste of her first Oreo cookie during the Super Bowl... as you can tell, she liked it.... a lot!
so, as you all can tell, she is just growing by the minute and not slowing down any time soon!

ok, now for ireland... she is so smart it shocks me. and like i said before, i think i forget how smart she really is. like the fact that she knows all her shapes, even a trapazoid and octagon. or that she knows all of her colors, even black, grey, and silver! those things are amazing for a 2 year old to know... but i am so used to it, it doesn't really surprise me anymore.

well, the other day she did something that just shocked the pants off of me! ok, she was sitting on the couch playing with her magnadoodle (a drawing thing), and she doesn't usually play that well by herself with it, she usually wants me to draw on it and she watches. but this time she was actually doing it all by herself. so after about 10 minutes of drawing by herself, she brings it over to me and says, "look mommy, it's Ireland!!!!" the excitment in her voice was so cute... and sure enough, i looked at the magnadoodle, and there was a little drawing of a person!!! she had fully drawn a picture of herself! eyes, nose, mouth, arms, legs, the whole nine yards! i was sooooo absolutley amazed!

i wanted everyone else to see it so i took a picture of the magnadoodle for all to see! and she didn't just do it that once... oh no, she draws people all the time! papaw is her favorite subject! and now the drawings have eyebrows(which she calls eyebones) and hair... and sometimes little dots for cheeks!

she just makes me laugh... ireland is getting more and more independant everyday. she doesn't want me to do anything for her. even when it comes to pottying. she has gotten to the point where she can get her potty sit on the potty, get the stool in the right place, pull down her panties (as long as she doesn't have any pants on... which is a lot of the time now), and get on the toliet all by herself. all i have to do is make sure she doesn't use too much "potty-paper". so it is going really good...

besides drawing and going potty, one of her favorite things to do is play with daddy. a favorite game they have is when daddy lifts her up in the air on his feet. she puts her arms straight out and says she is riding Dumbo (aren't you proud Nana?). she never lets me have a boring day!
so, that is what our amazing kids are up to... just being amazing like always! :)