milestones

Big Girl - 3 and a half years old
Height: 41 inches
Weight: 40 lbs
language: she rambles in complete thoughts and paragraphs, wanting to tell me about her day or asking to call her friends on the phone. I'm amazed at how she can carry on a conversation, its seems she's grown up so fast recently. fun favorite phrases include: "are you kidding me?!" and singing to baby.
new skills: she LOVES preschool. she can identify all the letters by name and sound and is learning to write her letters. She likes to pick out her own clothes and dress herself. She started her gymnastics class again and is loving it. I love when she dances, throwing in somersaults and jumps with her twirls and prancing. she is my good little helper, especially with the baby. she can fasten and open her carseat buckles and sleeps great through the night. she loves to color pictures and is getting really good at staying in the lines. she loves to read books and we take turns reading. sometimes I read the book and sometimes she "reads" by turning the pages and describing the pictures (all stories start "once upon a time, there was a young prince/princess"). She can recite her "long name" (first and last name) knows my and daddy's first names and can recite her phone number in her adorable sing-song voice.
favorites: she loves to help me set the table and helps me cook by adding ingredients. favorite color is pink, favorite movies are Hercules and anything princess related. she loves fish and pizza and any form of junk food (she's my baby for sure). she loves going to church because she gets to wear her pretty dress, go to nursery and play with friends.

Little Girl - 2 years old
Height: 37 inches
Weight: 28 lbs
language: somehow, she began talking in full sentences seemingly over night. She often still rambles in her own jabbering language but I'm amazing at how clearly she speaks when she wants to tell me something. I also recently realized how many songs she knows and I absolutely melt when I hear her singing along with her favorite movies. She also knows the alphabet and can count to 20. We are starting to learn shapes and colors but need more practice.
new skills: she insists on putting on her own shoes. since being moved to her "big girl" room downstairs, she has begun sleeping through the night and staying in her own bed. she's a really good eater and will try anything off of daddy's plate. she likes to brush her own hair and asks me to "put pi-tails". also, having to imitate her big sister, she's working on learning to fasten her own seat belt buckles. she loves pretend games, especially cooking in her little kitchen or taking care of her babies (who seem to spend a lot of time on time out lately).
favorites: favorite phrases include "dang it" and she calls daddy "honey" ("watch a movie please honey? eat breakfast now honey?"). favorite foods include any kind of fruit, rice, pasta, raisins, cherry tomatoes and fruit snacks. she loves the tv show "wonderpets" (I love listening to her sing the theme song), mickey and sesame street. Favorite movies are Tangled, Gnomeo, Pocahontas and Nemo. (all of her favorite movies and shows have animals as main characters) She maintains her blanket habit, dragging around, cuddling and holding to her face her two favorite blankets which she calls "yellow" and "panda".

Baby Girl - 2 weeks old
Height: 21 inches (oddly, an inch shorter than when measured at birth.)
Weight: 9 lbs 15 oz (has gained a full pound in two weeks!)
update: it's so wonderful to have our baby girl home. She came home at 12 days old and spent most of the next two days meeting with doctors and specialists. The longer our investigation drags on, the more confident we feel that our concerns are related to an immature system and that she will grow out of it soon. But we appreciate the cautiousness of the doctors and are waiting to hear on another round of tests (hopefully the last). Until we hear back from the specialist, she remains on medication and a respiratory monitor, just in case. Meanwhile, baby is eating great and growing well. She eats 4-5 oz in a feeding and typically goes 3-4 hours between feedings. If I'm holding her, she will occasionally go longer. Last night was her record--she woke up at 3 hours but fell back asleep as soon as I picked her up. So I cuddled her in the recliner and she slept almost three more hours! Her sisters are crazy about her and have been smothering her with hugs, cuddles and nonstop kisses. Every time she wakes up and starts to cry, even the tiniest bit, her sisters race to the rescue and with dramatic concern, insist I help her. She spending more time awake, especially in the later morning and evening, and letting us admire her beautiful sapphire blue eyes. Her tiny body is filling out with a healthy fullness and she hardly looks like a newborn anymore. She loves to be swaddled (and fortunately, sister is okay with the blankets being for the baby now--except yellow and panda of course). She takes a bottle well and will even take the binky most of the time.