Sisters.......

As of July 4th.

Quick note on where the girls are.

Charlotte is grumpy a lot lately. Not sure why. She cut two big molars, but they're mostly in now. She still smiles a lot and giggles and plays. But it's SO easy to send her into a crying spiral.

Aubrey is a swimmin' freak. She decided she wants to swim on her on so no more floaties. She's pretty good for a 3 year old. She dives in and swims over to me under water. Mostly kicks. Not much arm movement yet. But she can hold her breathe REALLY well. She's had a few scarry moments when she swallows water and comes up coughing. But in every case she's ready to go a couple minutes later. Tracy's freaked out because she won't even warn us. She'll just launch off the steps and start swimming towards us. Or just out into the middle of the pool. If she could get her head up to take a breathe it would be OK. But she still needs us to pull up on to get her head out. Maybe in a month or so she'll figure it out. For now...it's a process.

Charlotte is also a great little swimmer. We put floaties on her and she just swims around all by herself.

Songs

Aubrey loves music. But unlike her daddy, to whom the melody is where I'm hooked, she's a lyrics girl. We have to closely monitor her music intake because she listens so intently to what's being said. And she extrapolates FAR more than we'd like.

Yesterday in the car the song Say It Right came on. She was quiet for a minute then proceeded to explain to me what she was singing about.

"Maybe all her friends were always the same. But then they all changed and she didn't have any friends any more. And then no one loved her any more"

So...um...what do I say to THAT?

More photos from the Arbo

Sisters

Big step last night. Over the weekend we sold the big furniture and pared Aubrey's room down to just a few larger items. Then last night....WE MOVED CHARLOTTE INTO AUBREY'S ROOM! For the record, this is Tommy writing this - not Tracy. Tracy wouldn't have used caps there.

Don't get me wrong. I already miss her too. But I mostly miss what has already passed by us several months ago when she was a tiny lil' thing in our bed. When she would only sleep holding my hand. When she kicked me all night in the face and pushed me to the very edge of the bed so that she could curl up in my crook. When we got a full night of soft baby sighs. That's all gone. Now she's growing up and falling alseep on her own and waking up wanting to play. So we moved her into Aubrey's room and with a little coaxing, got her to sleep. Aubrey did her part as well, staying quiet in bed until she fell alseep instead of her usual nightly song and dance routine (I mean song and dace as a literal statement). I'm sure this week will be more headache than ease, but it's a nice step to take and both girls seem excited to finally share that room.

On that note, this morning (with a 5:30AM wakeup and Aubrey racing into our room screaming "Charlotte's awake!!!!") I was outside with the girls on the swing. Aubrey started chatting with Charlotte as they swayed side by side.
"I'm so happy to have you Charloote. You know - you'll always have me as your big sister! I will be your mommy if you want me to."

On and on. It was the sweetest thing I've heard in a long time. They truly love each other.

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1 night later edit. Spent last night on the floor of their room. Charlotte keeps waking up crying. Aubrey feels she needs to run and tell me (we have a monitor, so we're VERY well aware). I finally camped on the floor so that I could respond each time she woke up. Hopefully this only lasts a few days.

'scuse me

New phrase: 'scuse me. She says it after farts, burps and right before she rolls over your toes with her baby stroller.

The other night I was bopping her to sleep. She had the hickups. 2 minutes of:
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me
hick...scuse me

I was finally giggling so hard I had to drop her in her crib, kiss her and leave. Didn't hear another peep, so I guess she hicked herself to sleep.

FREEZE!

Stop growing up already! I am happy just as things are right now. How is it that I already have a 3.5 and 1.5 year old. I should be getting pregnant with #3 :) But, that isn't going to happen for me, so I cry every time Charlotte grows out of something, or learns a new word. Aubrey walks away from me sometimes and I am sure that she is already 16. I am not ready. I want them to stay small and in my arms, and in their cribs forever, is that too much to ask? I know, I know what you are thinking - that I should look forward to all of the amazing things to come, but I am trying to come to grips that there will be no more teeny tiny babies, no more of those amazing baby smiles while they are asleep in your arms.........I have to let it go, but it is so much harder than I thought. I love my little monkeys, but they grow so fast! So I say to Charlottle all the time - FREEZE! Maybe she will listen.