Father's Day

I know I'm a little late posting about Father's Day in July, but better late than never, right?

Truth of the matter is that life has kept us on our toes these last few weeks. Full of newborn diapers, sleepless nights, boxes, home projects, tea parties, cleaning, organizing, playing, laughing, toddler tantrums, doctors & hospitals... And then a simple request. "Can Charlotte & I camp out in the playroom in her tent tonight?"

I could write about how we spent Father's Day, or the gifts Charlotte & I picked out for Ben. But the *real* treasures of Father's Day are the every day gifts Ben gives his girls - all 3 of us. Making memories like camping in the house, flying a kite in the cold, cutting sandwiches into shapes, teaching the ABCs in the bath... and hopefully, someday, learning to ride a bike, read music, change a tire.

My girls have an AMAZING daddy. And you can see it written all over their faces when he's with them. You can hear it in Charlotte's voice when she asks "when's Daddy coming home?" You can hear it in the excitement in his voice when he comes home to them.

Thanks for ALL that you do, Ben. You deserve big Thanks & love every day of the year, not just the 'official' Father's Day.

Similarities

I've been studying both girls very carefully, even looking at side-by-side photos of the girls at the same age, looking for similarities & differences. It's really hard to tell with newborns!!

Then, today, I brought Natalie upstairs with me to lay down with Charlotte when she was ready to take her nap. I sang a nice long song & Charlotte was out in just a few minutes. I stood up from the bed & went to take Natalie out of the room while Charlotte slept. That's when I noticed the two girls laying in the exact same position!! No doubt about these similarities!!

New Sisters

We've been whittling away at the piles of boxes, and after a week, our new house is starting to look like a home. There is a long way to go, but we can all get around without tripping on piles of *stuff* now!

Charlotte and Natalie are getting used to each other. Natalie spends quite a bit of the day (and night!!!) sleeping, but Charlotte likes to interact with her when she's awake. She pets her head, tickles her feet, offers her hugs and kisses. I pulled out the piano activity mat this morning and Charlotte immediately crawled in to play with Natalie. 

Charlotte is learning to sing several different songs and her sweet little high-pitched voice is sometimes too cute to handle. This video was taken on one of the last nights at our old house. Ben has been singing "The Rainbow Connection" to her at bedtime and we were surprised to find out how many words to the song she'd picked up on. 

This video was taken this morning, and what surprised me most was that in the middle of "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star," Charlotte got mixed up and started singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep" - confusing since they have the same melody! Very surprising that she makes that connection! Such a very sweet moment with big sister entertaining her brand new baby sister. :o)