sweet Miss Alice

{look at this lil chunk!}

lil Miss Alice is two months old today. two months! i will now be cliche and proceed to explain how fast this whole infant stage goes the second time. because it really does. really really. what they don't tell you, however, is how much you will love the infant stage the second time. you see, i did not like it the first time. don't get me wrong, it's not that i didn't like Ellie. i just didn't like how i couldn't get her to stop crying and how i had to bounce on a dumb ball to get her to stop or to fall asleep or to do anything for that matter. while it was magical having a baby of my own, i was so much in "stressed-out-first-time-mom" mode, and "wanting-to-do-it-perfect" mode that i didn't really get to enjoy it. fast forward to now: i'm in baby heaven. and wish i would have taken more moments to just smell Ellie, and touch her soft skin...because those moments are so fleeting with a newborn, yet so sweet and lovely.

don't get me wrong. my baby fusses. and cries. and i still have moments that i want to pull my hair out. but most of the time, our days are sweet. so i thought i'd share a typical one with you:

-she wakes up and wants to eat. she proceeds to eat as if she's never eaten before and will never eat again. eating is serious business for lil chunk Alice (hence the chunk).

-after she is full-bellied, she looks at me and smiles. and smiles. and smiles. she is so super smiley. it is so super cute and no picture will ever do it justice.

-then it's bath time. she's basically in heaven. she then proceeds to engage in one of the many staring contests we have throughout the day. she always wins. because of her lil sensitive skin, we've become fans of aquafor- cleared all those weird sensitive skin patches right up.

-i then give her a bazillion hugs and kisses because she smells so delicious. i have to remind myself not to eat her right up for breakfast because she smells so good, and i'm usually pretty hungry by this point.

-then i dress her up in ruffles and tights and bows and whatever other frilly thing i can think of. it is nice to not have the two-year-old attitude telling me that she is NOT wearing whatever i picked out. i know i will miss her oblivious compliance deeply someday.

-she will then sit propped up in the boppy pillow or her bouncer while i get big sister all ready for the day. as long as Alice is included in conversation, and we don't leave the room, she is content to intently observe our every move. the minute we do leave the room, she'll squawk in discontent.

-Ellie will then smother her in affection- including (but not limited to) wet kisses, sprawling herself over Alice, talking to her, asking her when she is going to buy herself teeth so that she can eat real food, giving her toys and blankets, trying to wrap her in her blanket (which consists of Ellie throwing the blanket over her face...nice), and telling her to stop crying

-after we've exhausted the pillow and bouncer option, Alice just wants to be held. arms are her Hawaii- she wants to lay there morning noon and night. sometimes i don't mind. mostly because i know it doesn't last forever and i will undoubtedly miss it. sometimes i do mind though. like when every toy, DVD, dish, and item of laundry is thrown about the house and i'd just like my two hands for more than two seconds.

-after being bundled like a burrito, she finally falls asleep. she loves burrito land. sometimes she'll take a good lil rest, and sometimes it's pathetic. we're working on that.

-when she wakes up, we start over at the beginning of this list, minus the whole bath/get dressed part.

-throughout the day, she loves the bjorn, mostly hates the carseat (but not as much as Ellie did), will suck on a bink -- we're working on her keeping it in her mouth, loves to look into your eyes with her big blue ones (i'm thinking they're gonna stay blue...or maybe i'm hoping?), loves to hold your finger reaaalll tight, doesnt mind tummy time too much, coos and gargles at me and i love it, and loves you to kiss her cute lil feet.

*update* i snapped this picture of her in her crib this morning- this is how i found her:

she is the wiggliest thing in the whole world! how did she get like that?? her arms are still swaddled- yet she is side-ways. i'm baffled.

-the night time comes and she is usually wide awake until about 11. sometimes 12. sometimes it's brutal. i just look at her and think, dont you know i'm not a night person? but the last two weeks she's given me the gift of staying asleep till 4...and some days 5. last night it was 5:40! 6 1/2 straight hours of sleep is a beautiful thing, my friends. a very beautiful thing.

-and that's how i feel about Alice too. she's a very beautiful lil thing.
we adore her.
times infinity.

xoxo