Sweetest Sisters

I worried my entire pregnancy about how much introducing a new family member into our family of three was going to affect Kate.  I can't tell you how many nights I lost sleep thinking about it.  (I should've been working on the blog...)

But then Maya was born, and aside from the first two weeks being a major adjustment, which thinking back may have been the result of me not being my normal either (you know, recovering from pushing a baby out doesn't allow you to run/chase/jump/etc. that normally), Kate has BLOWN ME AWAY with the love she has for her sister.

Every morning, Kate wants to know where Maya is.  Most times Maya is still sleeping, but when Maya gets up Kate is all over her.  She physically climbs into Maya's bassinet to get close to her.  The morning snuggles and kisses are daily, but these snuggles and kisses happen throughout the rest of the day too.  When Maya is doing tummy time, Kate sometimes joins her.  When I'm feeding Maya, Kate gently kisses Maya's head and pats her softly.  When Maya is in her swing, Kate will go over to her and adjust her blanket and give her yet another kiss.

And Maya ABSOLUTELY ADORES Kate!  I mean, Kate smiles for Maya so quickly and she always gets the biggest, gummiest, squintiest smiles of all!

I have been extremely impressed with my big girl.  She already looks after Maya.  She's already got Maya's back.  She already wants to share with Maya, teach Maya what she knows, and help Maya learn about the world around her.  She is so kind and caring and [most times] gentle, and she is going to make an incredible mommy one day.  She has never once (so far) not wanted Maya around.  Quite frankly, it's the opposite.  She usually wants to wake Maya up from her nap earlier than normal which I quickly counteract!

All of that worrying, and for what?

I am just so, SO proud of the way Kate has handled becoming a big sister.  At nearly three years old she has done it with so much maturity and poise, yet still has that wonderfully goofy and silly side that Maya loves.  She is a perfect balance of a big sister and I know that Maya will forever look up to her.

I know I do.

Here's a collection of just some of the love that these two sisters have shared over the past 2.5 months.

Kate performing a check-up on one month old Maya.

Sisters.

Kate showing Maya the yarn for a craft we were doing.

Swing snuggles.

Maya cannot take her eyes off of Kate.

Sweetest kiss from the best big sis!

Good morning snuggles!

Kate insisted that Maya should wear one of her necklaces.

And she even helped her put it on.

Little necklace loves!

More morning snuggles!

Kate thought it'd be nice for Maya to sit with her during
part of her Sofia the First episode.  Now that is love!

The sisters that tummy time together, always have each other's backs!

And even more morning snuggles with a little
lesson on putting on chapstick!

I would just like to state for the record that none of these photos were prompted, suggested, pushed, or set up, other than asking for a "smile" every now and then.

This is pure, unadulterated, sister love.  This bond will never be broken.

Let It Go

We ran to the mall today to run a quick errand.  When Kate saw this staircase, she insisted on standing on it and singing "Let It Go" from Frozen, so, naturally, I let her.

Let it gooo!

Let IT goooo!  Turn away...

...and slam the door!

The cuteness.

Walking up the stairs like Elsa.

But Mommy insisted that she stop there.
#partypooper

These are the days, folks.  This is totally what having kids is all about!

Crafty Pumpkin & MAYA ROLLS OVER!

About a week ago, we started working on a little pumpkin craft.  Kate and I glued several popsicle sticks together and Kate painted them orange.

Step 1: Glue popsicle sticks together.

Step 2: Set up children for painting.

Step 3: Paint pumpkins orange and glue a green pipe cleaner stem on.
FYI, I just accordion folded the pipe cleaner and hot glued it to the back.

While our pumpkins were drying, Maya decided that she was ready to roll and rolled from her tummy to her back several times!  So we put our pumpkins aside and applauded our littlest lady on her BIG accomplishment!

Just a few little people to inspire her rolling.

Getting her lean on!

And BOOM!  Just like that, completely rolled over!

So proud of her accomplishment!

Then, our pumpkin craft sat to the side for several days.  Each time I asked Kate if she wanted to finish it she was not interested.  At least, until today!  I hand drew a pumpkin face on each pumpkin and gave Kate some black paint to paint the face in.

Step 4: Draw pumpkin faces in.

Step 5: Set up child for paint again.

Step 6: Paint pumpkin faces black.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the finished product.  I could've sworn I did, but I don't, so you'll have to trust me when I say these turned out to be really cute little pumpkins.  We ended up giving one of ours to Kate's Mimi and Papaw, but you could totally add a magnet backing and plop it on a fridge or other magnetic surface.  For our purpose, we left them as we made them and just set them up against a backing.

The Zoo: Like We Own It Edition

When my Mom and Grandma came to visit us, we bit the bullet and bought a zoo membership.  We had a membership a couple of years ago, but with both of us working, we didn't go as often as we would have liked, so we opted not to renew last year.  Since I'm home with the girls now, it made a lot more sense financially to pay for a membership and Brian and I know we will get our use with it.  We calculated 2.5 visits and the membership has paid for itself.

This is visit #2 for us, so next time we visit we are already ahead!

We took a different route at the zoo today.  We normally head up to North America and Africa - those are Brian's favorites, but since he was not with us, we decided to call the shots and head to the Congo and Australia & The Islands.  We found a carousel and the coolest play area ever, so while North America and Africa have their draws - polar bears, train rides, petting zoo, feeding the giraffes, the cheetah run, camel rides, etc. - the Congo and Australia area are just as cool!

We rode the carousel, had lunch outside, played on the enormous play gym, saw some cool monkeys, got WAY lost in the Congo as we were trying to leave (I realized I was the furthest away from the exit as I could possibly be at one point), and sat on a bronze kimono dragon, and we had a blast!  Once again, the weather was just phenomenal!

We were so happy to be able to spend the day outdoors!

Penguins!

All three girls on the carousel!

Note the photo below.  This is by far the largest outdoor play gym Kate has ever tackled.  It was massive, people, and I fully anticipated having to go in their myself, with Maya bundled against me, to save my first born.  But I was completely wrong.  Kate conquered this massive play area in no time and even asked me how to get to the "green" slide.  At first, I was really confused because I didn't see a green slide and she hadn't even gone down the red slide or the caterpillar slide.  Then I noticed, way in the back, the tallest, twistiest slide there was, and it was forest green.  So, while Kate got a-climbing, I walked her through where to head next to get to the tallest slide there.  (I felt like I was in a challenge on Survivor.)

I am constantly impressed with her no fear attitude and incredible physical abilities, but she is surely keeping her Mama on her toes!  That was a TALL slide...

1/3 of the outdoor play area!  And you can semi-see the green slide
in the back to the right of the caterpillar slide...

I thought this red one was tall and huge...Green had it beat!

Checking out the HUGE tortoise!

Kate was enthralled with this bronze kimono statue.

She used it as her mode of transportation and
decided to take it for a ride...

...she tried to lift its tail...

...she patted its head...

...and even decided that sitting on its head was a must!

We are so looking forward to these lazy zoo days!  A packed lunch, a ton of cool animals, and a humongous play area is right up our alley!  Now that we've got a good feel for the layout of the entire park, it kind of feels like "our" zoo.  In a just a few more visits we'll be walking around the place like we own it.  #cuzwedo

Orchard & Co.

We tackled another fall festival this weekend at a company called Orchard & Company.  The main draw to this location as opposed to our top fall festival spot: ECO Center, was the bounce pillow.

I'll admit, I think I wanted to go to jump on that thing more than anyone!  And while Kate and I did get our fair share of jumping in, we were really disappointed with the festival itself.  First of all, it was really pricey to get in and there are NO COUPONS.  Second, the layout was just so, so.  I mean, I guess there was flow but it was evident that people didn't care what it looked like, they just wanted to make money.  There was an orchard that you could pick apples in...for another fee, I believe, but since we had already done that we didn't pick apples.  There was a barrel train that Kate and I rode, a bounce pillow, a pumpkin patch, a couple of tube slides and a large covered pavilion with overpriced food items, like, hot dogs and chips.

We never found the petting zoo area and we never found the corn bin, contrary to both of those being posted on the website, and when we asked a worker about either of them, he said he didn't know what we were talking about.

Sooo, that's false advertising.

In addition, it was "twin" day, or something along those lines, so a ton of families with twins were there and it was semi-weird to be running into two clones of every child wherever you turned.

I don't mean to be negative about this place.  We had fun and we picked yet another perfect fall day to attend and enjoy our time outside, but I don't think we'll be headed back here next fall.  I think we'll stick with our tried and true ECO Center.

Pictures were really challenging today because
the sun was too bright.  So this is the best we got
of our two little pumpkins.

Our littlest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch.

Barrel train babes!

Ready to rock!

We're in the third car from the front and it was bumpy as all get out.

Tube sliding!

Kate and I played a chase game where we each went
down separately and then ran up the hill.  I lost count of
how many times we did this.

Pillow jumping!

Well, pillow jumping and zombie walking...

Firefly Play Cafe

Kate, Maya and I met up with Kate's best friend, Libby, and her wonderful Mommy, Jenni, at a play cafe today called Firefly Play Cafe in Worthington.  (The pictures on the website just do not do this place justice.)  It was the first time we had ever been to such a place, but it was really a ton of fun!  There was a bounce house, a bunch of cubes to climb on, a wooden climbing set complete with a really fast slide, a wooden train set, some indoor bikes, lots of toys and imaginative play options, and even an infant area.  I imagine we will be going back to this place more in the future!

As usual, Kate and Libby picked up exactly where they left off.  They were leaping and bounding and laughing all over the place.  Jenni and I enjoyed our conversation while keeping an I on our girls, and Maya was just an angel, as usual, and enjoyed watching the whole thing, having a little snack, and taking a little snooze.

On the wooden seesaw...

With her bestie!

And having a blast, obvi!

Looking for "Libs".

When we got home, I took some adorable photos of my littlest love sitting on the couch.

My sweetest Maya!

And I was quickly taken back to when Kate was 2.5 months old, sitting in this same outfit, on this same couch, in this same spot:

Kate - Just a couple of weeks older than Maya is
in the photo above.

Here's the thing: when you have two babies and they are the same sex, you most likely have quite a few clothes that they each can wear.  Since Maya was born, I thought she and Kate resembled each other so much.  When I see Maya in clothes that Kate wore, I almost can't tell the difference between these two...almost!

When you put them side by side, the similarities are uncanny:

Ca-razy, right?!

This has happened to me several times already and I imagine it will continue to happen the more we re-use Kate's stock pile of clothing.  Looks like we've got another beauty on our hands!  Not that we ever doubted that, of course!