All smiles

Guess who is all smiles these days?

It has actually been a couple weeks now that she has been smiling but I have been a little delinquent on blogging and it is sometimes hard to capture that right moment of her smiling. (especially since my iPhone camera is broken)

Someone else is pretty smiley and sassy herself. Diva for sure.

All is going well. Crazy and busy but what else is new. We are finally starting to get into some sort of a routine, at night at least. Usually we give Maddie a bath around 7 and then I take her up and feed her and rock her to sleep while Mike gives Ella a bath and puts her down. Before we go to bed, around 10:30, I usually go get Maddie and do a "dream feed." The nighttime is completely hit or miss. We call it, "the tale of the two Maddie's." Some nights, she will sleep until 5:30 which is amazing and then other nights, she will wake up around 2:30 or 3:00 to eat. So, we hope for a long stretch every night but you just never know which Maddie will show up that night.

She is becoming so much more alert and aware of her surroundings, like checking out with puppy dog while on the play mat. She had her 2 month appt last week and she weighed 10lbs, 2oz (33% percentile) and was 23 inches long (76% percentile) so she is still our long and lean little girl. She is growing out of the newborn clothes and into her 0-3 clothes now.

We have been hanging out a lot of home and having fun dinners with the best buddies and neighbors. These two thought it was a fancy ball that needed long princess gowns and tiaras.

Maybe they were celebrating the one year anniversary of Will and Kate.

Ells still asks several times a day to hold Maddie Grace. I love this picture because they were both watching tv and hanging out in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

So, before my iPhone camera died (thanks Mike for dropping my phone), I was able to get this quick pic of Maddie giving us a huge smile. Sorry for the bad lighting, it was dark because it was late.

One word that we say probably100 times a day in our house is "gentle." Ella loves her sister but sometimes can be a little rough. Whenever she gets near her baby sister, we stop what we are doing and make a b-line for them to make sure Ella is being gentle.

This weekend, Ella's preschool held their annual carnival and fundraiser. Mike had to work the obstacle course in the morning and then the of us came to join in the fun after Ella's swim lesson ended. Of course her favorite thing was the giant bounce house, just like a big trampoline.

And nothing is better than cruising around in a purple convertible but it's hard to drive around with such a traffic jam.

A couple weekends ago, all the husbands in the neighborhood decided the wives needed an afternoon out (and we couldn't agree more) so they planned a photo scavenger hunt and pub crawl for us. With 15 kids between the 6 of us, we all really enjoyed sitting outside on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon enjoying cocktails without any distractions.

And testing out our camera to get some fancy shots in and around Charlotte.

I can't believe it's going to be May tomorrow, where did April go? Between all the late night feedings, endless diapers and two year old temper tantrums, we also have big new smiles emerging, princess imaginations and delicious cocktails. Can't wait for these warm weather days to stay for good and hopefully a beach trip at the end of the month (wink wink Papa.)

Busy Week and Happy Easter

Before we get into what we did the past week, here are some pictures from my phone that I have been meaning to download.

The biggest fights we have with Ella are over what she is going to wear. It has to be a dress and she says every morning "I have to be pretty" or "I want to look like a princess." I don't know where she gets this since I was the biggest tomboy growing up and never wanted to wear dresses. But here she is in her pretty dress and wearing a tiara, legs crossed looking just like the princess she is.

And even princesses climb trees.
Maddie practicing her kung fu moves! And yes, her hair is starting to fall out (tear.)
Here is a picture of our little Maddie Grace at 1 month old. As I type this, she is now 6 1/2 weeks old and already looks so much bigger.
Now, back to our past week. We had some special visitors come up to Charlotte, DeeDee and Great Grandma. Great Grandma flew down to Atlanta from Rochester for Easter so they came up for 2 nights. It was great for her to see Ella since it had been a year and of course meet Maddie.

And DeeDee brought Ella two very special presents. First, a new Minnie Mouse dress which she didn't take off for 3 days and then more cookies to frost. This is one happy girl, wearing a pretty dress and eating frosting!
We had beautiful weather the 2 days they were here so we went to the park a lot to get some fresh air and sunshine.
Ella's first question every morning when she sees Maddie is "can I hold Maddie Grace?" (I love that she always calls her Maddie Grace.)
Little diva much? She grabbed the changing pad and went outside all on her own and said, "I need to take a rest out on the deck." I mean seriously, sometimes she is too much!
We were sad to see DeeDee and Great Grandma leave but they did leave us a another fun gift. Eggs and dying materials so we dyed eggs one evening after dinner.
Then we had a couple days of rain so we spent time inside playing. We pulled out the playmat for Maddie and Ella loves to get down and play with her while she is on there.
It amazes me everyday how different these girls are in many ways. Ella absolutely hated tummy time when she was a baby. I tried all the time and she would scream immediately when you would place her on her tummy but Maddie loves it so far. The first time we put her down she spent about 30-40 minutes doing tummy time. I don't think Ella did 30-40 minutes of tummy time in her first 4 months! And Maddie has such strong neck muscles, she even does tummy time with her sister on her back. That puts a whole new meaning to baby push-ups!
Ella certainly has many moments of jealousy when she wants Mommy's attention when I am with Maddie but then there are some moments she is so sweet and loving. We are still working on "gentle" as she wants to hug her and sometimes that hug looks a lot like a strong squeeze. Today while I was changing Maddie's diaper and she was crying, Ella came over and rubbed her arm and said "Oh sweetheart, it's ok. I love you sweetheart." I was dying laughing and smiling. I guess she hears us call her sweetheart and repeated it.
On Friday, we had an extra special visitors all the way from Florida. Amber, Jon and their little girl Annie came by on the way to see their family to visit with us. Amber and I met the first day of college and have been best friends ever since. We have seen each other a bunch but I hadn't met Annie who is 1 1/2 and she of course hadn't met Maddie so we had a fun reunion. Getting a picture with a 2 year old, 1 year old and infant is a challenge so this is the best we could do.
Ella and Annie had a great time playing and gave each other a hug goodbye. I wish we lived closer so they could play more but hopefully we can get them together again soon.
And to top off the week, it was Easter and we ventured for our first family church trip. It was a little crazy getting ready in the morning and Maddie had a slight runny nose and was congested so was up a lot of the night prior which made us even more tired but we made it. Th service actually went great, we took Ella to the nursery and Maddie had a great nap in the baby bjorn. This is our best attempt of a family Easter picture outside of church.
And check out the hands on the hip diva pose. I mean really?
Uncle Court and aura came up to Charlotte for a concert on Friday night so we got to see them and hang out all weekend and they even joined us for church. Uncle Court got Ella and Maddie awesome Easter baskets (which was good because Mommy slacked a little bit this year on the basket.) But there their baskets were filled with candy and Vineyard Vines clothes, too cute.
Ella loves her Uncle Court and was so excited to play with him all weekend. They played at the park and at home. At one point they were upstairs playing in Ella's room and when we went up to see what they were up to, Ella was playing hairdresser with Court. That's a good uncle!
After church we headed back to the neighborhood for an egg hunt with the neighbors. Most of the kiddos getting ready for the hunt.
And she's off. But she just wanted to open an egg immediately after she found it to see what was inside.
Hunting with her new basket from Uncle Court.
Sunday wasn't just Easter but it was also Mike's birthday. We have 4 friends that all have birthdays within 2 weeks so we got together with some of them last week to celebrate one big party with everyone.
I don't think the kids cared who birthday it was as long as they got to eat cake!
I know this birthday wasn't one of the most exciting as it started with Maddie up all night and with a 6 week old, there wasn't a huge party. But I hope he knows how much his girls love him and what a great Daddy he is. I could not have survived these past 6 weeks without him. He is such a huge help and I count down the minutes until he is home in the evening. Happy Birthday Mike!

Hippity Hoppity

We are celebrating all things Easter Bunny around here these days! The weather has been so nice which is perfect for adorable girls in spring dresses and Easter Egg hunts!

The first one was her school Easter party on Thursday and she was so excited to see that Mommy, Daddy and Maddie came to see her. We first met in her classroom and the kids all got their bunny ears they made in class on and ready to head out to the playground for a hunt.
And she's off! Of course she picked up a pink and blue one. She loves all things pink and blue lately. She gets 2 jelly beans after she goes potty at home and she always asks for pink and blue every time and always wants to wear either her pink or blue dress.
Look, check out the cool egg I found!
They did a neat concept at school where all the eggs outside were empty so after they found them, they would put them in a large basket so no one got more or felt bad. Then when they left school, they each got a bag filled with treats.
Climbing a tree to find the purple egg.
After all that running around, it was time for a sweet treat, ice cream cones! Sitting with her best buddies from school patiently waiting her chocolate ice cream cone.
And here comes the mess! This is the child who hates to be messy or dirty but when it comes to eating anything sweet, she doesn't mind and will get dirty as possible!
After the ice cream, the kids loved running around and showing the parents what they do on a daily basis on the playground. Here, Ella, Caroline (her bff in the pink dress), Wyatt (her boyfriend in the back) and Merritt were having a "dance party" on the stage. Her great aunts would be so proud that she found a stage to dance on, just like a Dougan girl!
A little more play time before heading home.
I can't say enough how much we love her preschool and teachers. She has really grown so much this past year and I know a lot of that is due to her preschool experience. The teachers are always so patient with them but also pushing them to be more independent. Here is Ella with her beloved Miss Ginny. We will certainly miss all her friends and teachers once the summer comes.
Today was our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt at an estate house up the street and we got a perfect afternoon for a hunt. We got some quick pictures on the deck before we left while Maddie snoozed in inside.
Another day, another adorable Lilly dress!
Mommy and Daddy loving on our big girl.

I think Ella was slightly confused that she got to keep all the eggs she found in this hunt since she put them back in her school hunt.
But quickly caught onto the game.
Man, this basket is getting heavy with all these eggs!
The grounds of the Van Landigham Estate are beautiful with all the flowers in bloom. After the hunt, we had to get some pictures.
Check out my pretty flower.
Look how sweet Ella and Wesley are sharing their eggs with each other.

Look, there is candy inside these eggs...
and it is yummy!
Holidays are so much more fun when you have little ones to share it with! I love seeing the excitement and innocence through Ella's eyes.

So, this post was obviously filled with mostly Ella pictures but Maddie is doing great and I will post more pictures of her soon. She is growing and changing everyday. As you can tell from the top picture, she is starting to lose her hair and is getting the receding hair line. I thought I might have one baby with hair but it looks like they both might be little bald headed babes. We survived all last week with no help and did quite well. She still doesn't love her carseat so cried to and from preschool drop off on Tuesday but did slightly better on Thursday. We also made our first trip to Target the three of us and managed to escape without too many dirty looks. Actually Maddie slept the entire trip and Ella was great so it went well (minus the car ride of course!). But, I am happy to have so more visitors this week. My Mom and Grandma are coming up tomorrow for a couple of days and then Uncle Court is coming back next weekend. We are looking forward to some more Easter fun and celebrating Daddy's birthday next weekend (oh and Daddy would probably say he is most looking forward to watching the Master's.)

Hop Hop Hop!