the case of the kiss attack. and some things about Alice.

this morning Alice woke up before Ellie, like she usually does.
so i fed her real good, till she pulled away and gave me a gummy-grin as if to thank me.
but i was kinda mad at her for waking up 3 times last night.
and then for not going back down without a fight...all 3 times.
don't you know that night times are for sleeping, child?
geesh.
but her smiles and soft skin are too sweet to stay mad at.
so i kissed her cheeks. and kissed 'em real good.
and as soon as i finished kissing those Alice cheeks, i heard Ellie singing "Let's build a word! Word World! Word World!" (she loves the show Word World right now. do your kids watch that show? it's pretty cute. and slightly annoying. just keeping it real).
so Alice and i went into Ellie's room.
and we both climbed in her crib.
M tells me i'm crazy for climbing in the crib.
translation: you shouldn't get in the crib, Marci. you're going to break it.
probably true....
but i do it anyway.
as soon as we got in the crib, Ellie squealed in delight, "Awe! There's my baby sister! There's my baby Alice!" and Alice smiled so big.
and that's when it happened.
Ellie started kissing Alice's cheeks.
and head.
and arms.
and head again.
and cheeks again.
and toes.
and hands.
and belly.
and cheeks again. 
whoa, be soft, Ellie! (insert annoying Mama-nag-voice here)
but underneath all of those kisses was the happiest Alice you ever saw.
and i don't blame Ellie.
because kissing every inch of Alice is all i want to do too.
and most days, it is all we do.

Alice is five months old now.
it's weird because when Ellie was a baby, i just looked forward to each and every next thing. like i wanted her to get rolling or to sit up by herself. i fed her food as soon as i possibly could. M put her in crawling boot-camp (seriously) where he sat with her and put her lil body in the crawling position for good chunks of time throughout the day. it was so fun to see what she'd do next.

but with Alice...i just want her to stay my baby. forever and ever and ever.
but against my wishes, she's changing and growing so fast.
i guess if she must, she must.
and while she does, i'll document it.

some new Alice-isms:

she's a roller.
she rolls everywhere. front to back. back to front. side to side. all over town. it's crazy. and it's really messing with her sleep. which is messing with my sleep. and it's also really messing with our diaper changes. but i love how proud she is of herself that she is rolling everywhere. it's like she's saying, "look at me! look what i can do!" you keep rollin, girl.

{so thrilled to be rolling all over the place. p.s. notice those gums- we've got some major teething going on here.}

she's always loved her bath...but now that she is so much stronger and can stay on her tummy real good, she really LOVES her bath. she loves the water. she loves chewin' on the rubber ducks. and she loves kicking and splashing.

{cutest lil wet face}

she says Ma-ma-ma-ma. seriously! i'm considering this her first word. Ellie said duck first (i know, right? DUCK! not mama, not dadda, DUCK. what the heck?), then dadda, then mama. so i'm totally wrapping my arms around this Ma-ma-ma-ma business and telling everyone that she says Mama. oh gosh it's cute when they start mumbling and saying sounds.

 {this is the granny-denture-wearing-face Alice makes when she says Ma-ma-ma-ma}

she's totally interested in food now. we were sitting at a lil cafe the other day and M kept picking up his drink, bringing it to his mouth, and putting it down. her little beady eyes followed his every move. so funny. so we tried some rice cereal on her on Sunday for the first time. yeah, she wasn't the biggest fan. and quite frankly, i'm ok with that. feeding is just one giant mess anyway. and i wouldn't say she's lacking in chunkage, so we'll just ease her into that arena.

 {more interested in the spoon. naturally}

{proof of her chunkage: check out that neck-cleave. nice.}

Alice adores Ellie. one day this week, she woke up when Ellie had just gone down for a nap. after she finished eating, she kept turning and looking everywhere. she would NOT sit still. i was so confused at what the heck she was doing. then it dawned on me: "are you looking for Ellie!?" and then she finally looked at me, and smiled so big, and then stared at me as if to say, "Yeah! Where is my sister??" whenever Ellie is around, Alice observes her every move. and Ellie is so so sweet to her- she narrates everything she does. "this is my Princess dress Alice." or "i'm drinking Strawberry Milk Alice. hurry and get teeth so you can have some." Alice always makes eye contact and hangs on every single word that Ellie says to her. they are such a cute little pair. i'm so glad they have each other.

{notice how i'm trying to get all tree of us to look at the camera...and yet those two are just entranced with each other. so cute}

and really, i'm so glad we have each other.
Alice Joy is her name.
she's happy, jovial, and joyful. basically all the time.
she makes me smile.
she makes everyone around her smile.

she's just the sweetest thing to ever live.

and i'm so glad we get to kiss attack her whenever we want.

xoxo