Swimming in April

Alina's first swim day

Momma and the girls playing by the water

Little Alina has no fear in the water

Baby stinker face 2.0 has arrived!!

Cutie pie Elise in her new turtle pool

Being native Californians, we are fully accustomed to warm spring days that hint at the impending arrival of blazing hot summers. It's late April, and we've already been getting in plenty of warm swim days with the girls. We usually take them to the heated salt water pool at the gym, where they get to swim as a reward for patiently playing while we work out. We also bought Elise and Alina a small inflatable backyard pool, where they can wade and swim to their little hearts desire. Alina is fine with just dipping her feet in, while Elise likes to bring in her toys and swim and splash all around.

There is something so special about pool time with the kids. They enter their own little water world, where smiles and laughter are non-stop. I remember being called a "fish" on multiple occasions as a child. I swam until my fingers were wrinkled prunes and the texture of my skin turned into a slick aerodynamic bodysuit. I usually had to be dragged out kicking and screaming, because what kid in their right mind would ever voluntarily get out of a swimming pool?!? I already see hints of this in Elise. She loves swimming, and even went so far as jumping of the edge in to daddy's arms and putting her entire face under water for the first time.  Alina shows absolutely no fear in the water, she loves bouncing up-and-down in mommy's arms, and doing her best to kick and splash up a storm. I think it's safe to say that we have two future water lovers in the making. 

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, Alina has perfected the celebrated baby stinker face!!! This really deserves its own post, which I may still do; perhaps a "best of stinker face" collection? Elise used to do this, along with countless other babies this age exploring facial expressions, but who would have ever imagined it could be so cute and hilarious all wrapped into one. See the last photo for a great baby Alina stinker face moment.

Giving Mickey the baby stinker face

Sisters pool time!

Playing with toys in the pool

Perfect size pool for her

Best of baby stinker face collection!

Easter Photoshoot 2012

Family photo - April 2012

Pretty little Easter girls

Baby Alina's first Easter; little doll in yellow

Easter egg fun

My good friend, and talented photographer, Christy Leopold was nice enough to come take some great Easter family photos for us. These are a few favorites. If you read anything about our last photo adventures, you will be glad to know that the girls were very well behaved this time around. Elise actually poses for photos now; what a huge change from just a few months back where she fought tooth and nail against any photos whatsoever. She has matured quite a bit and enjoyed having her picture taken, or rather getting to play with her very fun photographer friend, Christy. Alina doll is still pretty easy to work with. She just started crawling, but isn't quite skilled or fast enough to make any quick getaways.

I really enjoy these photos, especially because I see so much resemblance between both the girls and us. To put it another way, we each have our own little twins. Daddy and Elise look so alike it's almost unbelievable. The picture of the two of them is just so sweet, because they really are carbon copies of each other; eye color, smile, hair color, ears, head shape, you name it. On the other hand, baby Alina is mommy's little twin; of course, I love this. She has my dark hair, smile, chubby cheeks, nose, eyes, everything. We enjoy that we each have our own mini-me, however, my favorite moments are when I see similarities between the two girls. I see it the most in their eyes. They both have big beautiful eyes that light up all the time. Elise's are steel blue and gorgeous. Alina's eyes are a very striking blue-green color right now. I can't predict what color they will end up, but they are just so beautiful and sweet. Looking at their eyes, you'll always know that they are sisters :)  

Daddy and his twin

Momma and her baby twin

A bit Alice in Wonderland-esque

I adore her smile, it lights up a room :)

Playful and sweet little Elise

Easter 2012 - Alina's First Easter

Baby's First Easter Bunny

Alina enjoying her first Easter experience

Baby doll content with her purple Easter egg

Easter baskets from that elusive yet generous Easter Bunny

Little Miss Elise hunting for eggs

All smiles; such a cutie pie!

The girls digging into their Easter treats

Coloring Easter eggs. Look at that grin; she lives for this stuff!

Easter activites and crafts

Daddy and Elise working on melted crayon masterpieces

Melted crayon Easter eggs

Love how they turned out!

Can you tell which ones are Elise's works of art?

Squirt guns and bubbles = ultimate kid approval

Baby on the hunt - look out!

Egg hunt with their cousins

Seven Month Milestones; Crawling & Talking!

Our baby crawler! - Photos by Christy Leopold

Apparently seven-months is a golden age for baby Alina, because she has hit many HUGE milestones all within this month. She is now officially crawling! On March 26th, at seven-months-three-weeks-old, she crawled all the way down the hallway into my arms; the furthest she has gone yet. She was so proud of herself, almost as proud as her beaming mama :) She has also learned to pull herself up to stand. She usually does this when playing at her little activity table. This toy used to be Elise's favorite and it is proving its worth yet again in keeping Alina entertained for hours.

Little doll in mama's arms; her favorite place to be

Kisses for my sweet baby girl



Another huge milestone is that baby Alina recently said her first word!!! Much to my chagrin, her first word is; "MAMA". I've been celebrating this for days upon end, and of course rubbing it in dad's face. Elise's first word was, "dada", so this is very exciting that I've got a sweet little mama's girl in the making. She said it three times while in her crib, I picked her up each time to reward her with kisses. As you can imagine, it was the absolute sweetest moment.

Cheese! Showing off her new top teeth

Alina's top two teeth are now poking through. So she officially has 4 teeth before hitting the eight-month mark. She was extra fussy and drooly over the past few weeks, so we anticipated that those top two chompers were coming through. We have been feeding her more baby food as all she wants to do is chew. She loves steamed veggies and fresh fruit. Broccoli, baby carrots, bananas, raspberries and blueberries are her current favorites. She also eats baby rice puffs like they're going out of style. I started supplementing with formula right around seven-and-a-half-months as she just started daycare three days a week. I pump during the days I go to work, so she only needs to be supplemented for one feeding. In addition to nursing morning, afternoon and evening, she has one formula bottle per day plus breakfast, lunch and dinner foods. She's a content little girl and a great eater thus far, however, she does make the funniest sourpuss face when you give her something new to try. Usually she stops making the sourpuss face after acclimating to the first couple bites, unless she really dislikes something (ahem peas and brown rice).

Muah, looking for hugs and kisses :)

We are so proud of our little seven-month-old doll. She has come a long way in just a few short months, and has us pondering what new milestones she will reach before her first birthday. We love you beautiful baby Alina!

Baby Alina doll at seven-months-old