Capes, Crocks, and Otterpops

Kaleb and Aliyah are best buds and they are proof to me that it is good to have your kids close in age.  They have so much fun together and they make life so sweet right now.  They still have their occasional fighting, but for the most part they are so good to each other.

 Aliyah looks up to Kaleb and wants to be like him in every way possible.  If he wants to wear his cape, she wants hers and when he got a pair of fabulous clearance crocs she needed some as well!  She wants to wear underwear whenever he does and if he gets a treat or a snack or a toy or something, she notices even the smallest inequality.  Kaleb is all about cars, dinosaurs, action figures, and sticks right now...so Aliyah is as well.

 Kaleb loves Aliyah so much and loves to take care of her.  If she is crying, he is determined to find something to make her smile.  He likes to interpret her babblings for me and he is pretty creative with it.  He thinks she is so silly and often talks about things she does and says and he just laughs and laughs about what a funny girl she is.  Kaleb really likes the fact that Aliyah watches him so closely and follows his example.  He thinks it is pretty neat to be a big brother and teach her things.  One thing about Kaleb that was so wonderful through the really sick, miserable months of this pregnancy is that he helped with Aliyah in so many ways.  In the morning he would tell her, "Mommy is really sick but she'll come in soon to get you out of your crib."  Then he would sing her songs and read her books and give her toys to play with.  Talk about a sweet way to wake up in the morning!

Just a few things about Aliyah for my forgetful mind:

Aliyah is talking quite a bit right now and adding words nearly everyday.  They aren't all really clear but she uses them often enough that I generally know what she is trying to say.  Some of them sound perfect (she seems to know it and says those most often).  Here is the list she can say at this point:  momma, daddy, otterpop, cheese, ice, juice, water, cold, hot, spoon, out, down, hi, elmo, doggy, ducky, kitty, shoe, stool, toe, ouch, eye, nose, yeah, no, I did it, don't do that, tissue, Nonna, snuggle, and I think that is all for now...
Aliyah is so loving right now, and I love it!  She is suddenly very cuddly and gives the best hugs. She has discovered her ability to climb on things and works at it often.  She seems to love the idea of growing up and being a big girl and if there's anything that fits in to the big girl category she wants to be a part of it.  Her hair is getting longer and she insists on getting it done each day.  While I'm getting ready she comes in and demands that I do her hair.  I'm just glad she will let me do it so she doesn't look quite as much like an orphan child :)

Now for Kaleb:

What a little stud that cute kid is.  He is seriously the best big brother and the best helper I could ask for.  He is so kind and loves to do nice things for me and for Aliyah.  His favorite ways to help are to vacuum and to empty the silverware from the dishwasher.  He loves practicing writing letters and drawing dragons and scary creatures.  He has started singing a lot, and I love hearing his interpretation of some of the lyrics.  He prefers to have his cape on throughout the day so that he can fight bad guys and jump and fly really fast. He loves to read with me and do puzzles and anything that involves my one on one attention.

 
And one last picture for my memory:

Even though I already feel thick, I know I will look back and miss being this size as the months go on!  This is me at 15 weeks.

Kids Are Fun

She's One!

 I wrote this post several months ago, but I just barely finished it up.  So this is all about Aliyah in April...not July :)

As usual, it has been forever since I posted last, but instead of catching up right now I just want to do a post all about Aliyah.  She turned one a couple weeks ago, and she is growing up and changing so much right now.  I feel like it is even hard for me to remember some of her cute little quirks from even just a month ago.  I hope I can capture a lot of that kind of stuff in this post, so that my crazy mind can come back to it a few months down the road.

Here are some of the fun facts about our girl:

Aliyah took her first steps on March 17th, but after that she would only take up to 12ish steps at a time (usually only 3 or 4) and she just wasn't too interested in walking.  Until a few days after her birthday!  On April 16th she decided that walking was awesome!  She has felt that way ever since and loves to cruise around the house :)

Aliyah wants to be big like all the other kids around her.  She gets offended when I try to hold onto her on the trampoline (even when big kids are jumping) and if you don't hand her an apple when the other kids are having them...you'll hear about it!  She also loves to stand up and walk around on beds and during wagon rides...hopefully soon she'll realize how dangerous that is.

She just started to really enjoy sitting and reading books with me and I am so excited!  That is one of my favorite activities to do with my kiddos, so I'm thrilled that she wants to be in on the snuggling as well.

She loves all things cozy and cuddly.  A soft blanket or a furry stuffed animal can totally make her day, so one of her favorite spots is Kaleb's bed!  We have a blanket that I bought for our family that she has taken over.  She has to have it for nap time and bed time and she just loves that thing (it is super cozy!)

Aliyah has always had crazy hair, but somehow it keeps getting crazier!  I'm hoping that once it gets a few inches longer it will look cute more often.  Now I just have to either get it wet and comb it 20 times a day, or just smile and be proud of my little lion (or as we affectionately call her "Sumo-liyah")

Now, that nickname is also in reference to her cute little body.  She has such squishy, chubby thighs and I love them!  We are hoping that at some point she'll thin down but for now it is super cute.

Aliyah is in such a fun, interactive baby phase.  She loves playing peekaboo, and doing the actions along with Pat-A-Cake and Popcorn Popping.  She also folds her arms for prayer and is so proud of herself for doing so :) 

She has 8 teeth and the top 2 in the middle have quite a gap between them.  Her smile is so silly it makes me happy :)  Sometimes we say she has summer teeth.

Aliyah does the funniest little bouncing dance thing that we call her "angry dance."  She gets this mad face with a major double chin and makes a kind of growling, motor like sound while she bounces up and down.  I don't know if that gives a very clear picture, but it is hilarious and she thinks so too.  She always giggles really hard after she does it.

One thing that I absolutely love about Aliyah-loo is that she loves to cuddle.  When she first wakes up in the morning she is so happy and gives me the sweetest hugs.  It is definitely one of the things I look forward to most each day.  She is still learning what it means when we ask her to give us a hug or give us "loves."  She generally responds to that request by bonking her head against mine repeatedly.

The relationship Aliyah and Kaleb have is really fun to be a spectator of.  Kaleb adores Aliyah and (most of the time) talks so lovingly to her.  Aliyah has already learned the art of teasing her brother.  I'm always a little baffled when she makes him cry really hard.  The other day they both had a piece of chocolate licorice and she finished her's first.  When she saw that he still had quite a bit, she snuck over and grabbed it out of his hand and hurried off.  He came over to me bawling, and I just had to laugh.

My Current Favorites

I just read through a post I wrote a few months ago, but haven't published yet because for some reason even with as easy of a schedule as I have I am not on top of things.  That post made me realize how quickly Kaleb and Aliyah are growing up, so I have to write down a few things now before they stop doing them and I forget about their silliness.

Aliyah sings...a lot... and it is adorable!  It is one of my absolute favorite things right now.  We really need to try to get it on video.

Another one of my favorites is how much Aliyah is "talking."  I will often tell her to go tell someone something, such as, "Go tell Daddy we're ready to go," and she runs off to deliver the message and tells Daddy very clearly and confidently what she was supposed to.  She loves to "read books" right now as well.  Kaleb describes her way of reading books as yelling at all the bad guys (since they are usually super hero books.)

I don't know if anything makes me more excited than when Kaleb and Aliyah laugh together.  They are both really good at making each other laugh, and when they both get going it makes my heart happy :)  They are also starting to play together so much more, which is wonderful because they are happier and my days are a little less demanding.

I love the way Kaleb chooses to say certain things.  When we tell him we are going somewhere he often asks, "What to do?"  He also likes to ask "what?" several times in a row, which really challenges us to come up with creative and new ways to explain things or answer very simple questions.

Although it can be frustrating in the moment, I love how Kaleb sticks up for Aliyah.  If I am telling her not to do something, he often gets after me and says, "That's not a nice thing to say!  Let her do that, because she likes it."  Kaleb really watches out for Aliyah and I love how sweet he is with her.

I love reading books with Kaleb.  We haven't been reading as much lately, but one of my favorite things is when I am reading along and then I'll stop mid-page and he can finish reading that page (Ok, so he isn't actually reading...it is just from memory, but he is such a little smarty-pants and I love that he loves reading so much).

One of my most favorite things about this summer has been all the family time we've had.  We've had so much time as just the 4 of us to play and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We've also had so much time to be with our families and grow closer to one another and make fun memories :)