First Dress!

I have always been a very girly girl, and it is so much fun to have a little girl to dress up! I found this little dress at Target on clearance for only $2.48, so I had to buy it. (I went back yesterday and bought another one in a larger size.) Michelle also had a headband on when we went out, but I took it off her when we got to my parents' house because it leaves a bit of a dent in her head :( It's not too tight, though, because Steven likes to wear it (he tries to put it on his head every time he sees it), and I have been seen sporting that look too. Oh the things you do for your kids!

As you can see, she's highly impressed by her dress!

Christmas

Steven is very tactile, and he opened his new pjs and

immediately had to put them against his face and saw ahhhh :)

Steven

Michelle

Updates

Things have been crazy busy around here this week. Michelle got my cold, so I ended up taking her to the doctor earlier this week. I wanted them to look at her belly button because it wasn't dry at all after her cord fell off. I also wanted to get her weighed to see if she had gained back the half pound she had lost (and she had--exactly back to her birthweight of 7 lbs.). While we were there, Steven got his 2nd flu shot. That went over about as well as you'd expect :(

Steven is having a very hard time adjusting to Michelle. He does fine when Mark's home, but during the day, he doesn't like me holding Michelle. He has meltdown after meltdown, so I'm often holding both of them. We actually had a pretty good day today because they alternated their naps. That meant that Steven didn't have to share me much at all.

Steven isn't consistently walking yet, but he started walking more in the last few days. I'd say that he walks about 40% of the time now. He has had great balance for a while, but he's not confident enough (nor fast enough) to always walk from place to place. He's also talking and communicating much more. He has a good vocabulary, and each day he's been saying words that I didn't even know he knew. He says mommy, daddy, doggy, kitty, baby, stinky, door, key, ball, bib, bottle (which sounds similar to his version of bib), please, thank you (thankee), cheese, and a few other that I can't think of right now. He also signs all done, more, and shakes his head no. The doctor said that is a lot for a 13 month old. I always knew he was advanced :)

Michelle is hanging in there. She tolerates her brother exceptionally well. (He tried playing peek a boo with her and likes to pat her head.) She eats fairly well, but not nearly as well as Steven did. I generally have to coax her to eat, and she likes to take breaks during her bottle. She still has her nights and days mixed up--she doesn't believe in going to bed before 3:00 a.m. She's a very alert baby and likes to study things. Right now she's focused on the light.

We also have a court date of Jan. 22 for their birthmother to go to court to officially relinquish her parental rights. After that, she can't change her mind. If she's up to it, we're going to get together with her and bring the kids with us. That will be the first time she's seen Steven since she was discharged after his birth.

It's been nice having Mark back, and we're slowly settling into a good routine. I start a new online tutoring job next week, and then school starts back up on th 19th. This quarter I'm working Saturdays in the Writing Center. I'll be busy, but I'm optimistic that we'll be fine. One of these days I'll start taking pictures again too :)

Lovin' the Worm!

"Helping" Mommy

Steven found one of Michelle's hats and felt the need to try it on. After that, he thought that she needed to wear her hat and proceeded to put it on her. In the end, he was quite pleased with the result. Michelle? Not so impressed :)

First Smile!

Yes, it really was a real smile :)

Thirteen Years!

It's hard to believe, but today marks thirteen years since Mark and I started dating. It also is the ninth anniversary of our engagement. That one is harder to believe! Here are a few pictures from the early days. We were so young back then!

A few days before our engagement

Love This Shirt!