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! :)

wow!

ok, so it has been awhile since the last time i posted a blog! sorry about that! we have actually been kinda busy around here. last wednesday the whole family went out for a fun play day at the mall. Ireland loves to play at the playplace... chloe doesn't really care where she is. I get to take Ireland to the mall pretty often to play, but daddy doesn't usually get to come. so it was a special treat to have him come too. Ireland loved showing off for him and showing all the fun stuff she can do there by herself!
Then on Friday we took a little vacation to Texas for a few days. We really wanted to show off the van! So we went down to Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Kelly's and Gran's house. We had lots of fun! It was AWESOME to travel in the van! soooo much nicer than the saturn... we actually had room for our suitcases! The girls did great on the road (they always do). slept and played the whole time!
We did really enjoy ourselves in Texas. Ireland loved to play with Connor. they get along so good! Connor doesn't mind her tagging along! Uncle Danny came up from Austin on sunday to say hi and ireland loved that! she loves her Uncle Danny lots!!
Aunt Kelly and Uncle Lawrence got a new puppy for Christmas, LillyBell. Ireland had a lot of fun with her. she wasn't too sure sometimes when LillyBell got crazy, but she still liked her. Chloe really wanted to play with the puppy all the time... but she was a little to rough for LillyBell... she liked to grab the puppy's face a lot! and it was next to impossible to keep the dog toys out of Chloe's mouth! i think she liked them more than LillyBell!
we got home on Monday night. it was a real nice vacation.
Chris went back to work on tuesday... but he was there about 30 minutes and they sent him home for the day. i took this opportunity to go to the grocery store. so chris was at home in charge of both the girls. not something to worry about.... but this time they had lots of fun while i was gone... when i got home i noticed that Ireland had gotten something in her hair... it was sticking up all funny and kind of hard. so i asked daddy what happened and all he said was, "Go look on the video camera..." so, i did... and i found some very funny stuff.
Chris thought Ireland would enjoy playing with some shavingcream! and she sure did! oh the fun things you do with daddy!
so, that has been the last week and a half for the Shellaby's! pretty busy and fun!

we got a new car!!!!

well, it is actually a new van! that's right folks... we bought a mini van. and let me tell you how much chris LOVES driving it to work! just kidding, he doesn't like it at all really. but he is happy to have the more room and a car that isn't about to fall apart! and pretty soon we should be getting him a car of his own... that isn't so "mom-like"!!!

i really do love it. it is sooo nice to not have to squeeze the girls into a small car anymore... and we can all go to the grocery store and have room for the groceries! it is amazing what i get excited about now!

anyways, the girls are doing great. Ireland just got a new haircut. i decided that her hair was just too long in the back and the sides were too short. it kind of looked like a mullet... so i cut the back pretty short to even up with the sides. and i cut her some bangs too. and if i do say so myself, it looks pretty dang cute! i think it made her look a lot older because it looks like a "real" haircut. i was surprised her daddy said it was ok to cut it, because he loved her hair getting long... but he likes it too. it looks like a cute little bob! i love it!

chloe is starting to talk a lot. she just jabbers none stop now. i think she is really trying to talk to ireland sometimes. and chloe is starting to be a little bit more aggressive with ireland. if a toy gets taken away from chloe, lets just say she can get it back... ireland isn't a big fan of the new chloe, but she'll get use to it i guess!

Chloe has a little hippo toy that she can walk behind and she is doing pretty good at that... i think she will be walking sooner than i want her to be! i would love for her to stay the little baby she is right now! well, i guess she isn't too little... we just found out she is 20 lbs!!! chris got a scale (yippie) and she is really growing! Ireland is getting bigger too. she is 27.5 lbs! it is hard to believe she started out at 5 lbs.

well, that is about it! oh, i am entering the girls into "Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Contest" so keep your eye out for thier pictures... if you watch that show... they might be on tv!!!!