My girls

This cute dress was given to Molly and yesterday Alison wore it. I made sure to get some pictures because I wanted to compare my girls wearing the same cute dress!

Here's Alison. She is so smiley these days! Such a happy girl. (sorry about the shadow in the pic)

Here is Molly

What do you think? I've had a lot of people recently say that Alison is starting to look like Molly.

Cute sisters

I had some thoughts about the girls that I wanted to record for journaling purposes, so feel free to skip this if you want!

Alison is such a good baby! I don't think I could ask for a better baby, really. She is very routine and I know exactly what she wants to make her happy. She looooves to be held. Molly was never this way. Ali is such a little snuggler and it is so fun. She loves her binky and is pretty content sucking away while she's sitting or laying down if you can't hold her. She likes the bouncer and lately has been very interested in looking at the TV when it's on.

At 2 months I switched to all formula because I wasn't producing enough to just nurse and the whole pump/nurse/supplement process was getting old after 8 weeks! For about a month she was kind of fussy and gassy. I tried several different kinds of specialty formulas (along with gas drops) but nothing seemed to make a big difference. Once she hit about 3 months she seemed to be much better. I don't know if was just an adjustment for her or what, but now she doesn't seem to have that problem and it's a relief for all of us!

She sleeps really well at night. She loves to be swaddled up nice and tight like they do in the hospital. When I want her to take a nap or I know she's ready, I'll swaddle her and then walk around with her or rock her. She loves it and she goes to sleep more quickly if I do. She goes to bed about 9 or 10 pm and sleeps until about 3 am, then she will go 3-4 hours again after that. She takes 2 really long naps in the day and cat naps in between. She knows her mom and dad's voices and loves to give great big smiles when you tell her hi with a smile (and for Molly). We go in for her 4 month check up next week...I can't believe it!

I feel so much more calm and relaxed with a new baby this time around. I'm sure it has some to do with experience, but I also think that she is overall less fussy than Molly was as a baby and that makes a big difference. I also wonder if her rough start has made me appreciate more of the little things. Also, bottle feeding can free you up and I think that has been pretty nice for me, although I do plan to nurse in the future, I just couldn't get it to work out quite how I wanted for Alison.

Molly has so much personality! Justin and I talked a bit about her last night and decided we have to be so careful what we say to her and how we tell her things. She is so observant and although I'm sure she doesn't understand every word we tell her, she gets the gist. I was told yesterday at church that she is so expressive. And she really is. I think she may have a career on broadway one day. She looooves to sing! We catch her singing all the time on her own and she'll ask us to sing her favorite songs with her. If she likes a song you sing, she'll have you sing it over and over and over until she learns all of the words.

She still takes naps here and there in the late afternoon and I'm hoping to keep them around as long as possible! She sleeps in her big girl bed at night but takes naps in her crib.

I have a hard time that she doesn't seem as obedient as I would like! She often runs away when I ask her to come or does the opposite of what I say. It is so frustrating to me, but I know that she is two and she thinks it's funny, or she gets more attention that way.

She is really pretty good to Alison. She loves to kiss her head and lay her head on Alison's head. She calls her "sissy" and says, "how are you" in a funny, low voice. She is very polite and will say "thank you mommy" and "sorry mommy". When adults compliment her she always says thank you.

Molly loves to put her baby dolls to bed and says "sleepy tight" and kisses them on the head and says "I love you"! She has learned to play pretend the past few months or so and can really entertain herself for a lot longer.

She is still quite a picky eater, but we are working on it. We finally got her to eat corn last week and that was a huge breakthrough! She hates for me to do her hair and I often have her in tears by the time I finish putting a ponytail in! So silly! And we have recently discovered her fear of heights. If I change her on a changing table in a store restroom or at church, she cries the whole time! She is scared of being up that high.

We are so blessed to have two beautiful, healthy girls.