day 8: texas

Today was a long long long day.  Long.  Vivi, Marley, and I traveled for 14 and a half hours to Texas.  It should normally take about 9 and a half.  The girls were much better than I anticipated, but the trip just took forever.  There were countless things that we had to do to keep everyone happy, including dance parties, park stops, and dumping cheerios all over the truck.  Sorry, Asa, we may be finding Cheerios in the crevasses of the truck five years from now.

But it was all worth it.  These babies missed their family.  And for the next two weeks we will bo soaking up a lot of family time!

day 7: marley's plant and vivi's toothbrushing

Marley planted these seeds less than a week ago.  And she obsessed with checking on it.  She is so proud.  She wants it to be kept in her room "forever until it gwows as high at the ceiling!"  She tells it sweet things like, "Please gwow plant.  Gwow big."

One of Vivi's favorite times of the night is toothbrush time.  She carefully watches Marley and the second we are done brushing Marley's teeth, she grabs the toothbrush and sticks it in her mouth.  If she can't reach it, she points and jabbers until we get it for her.  It must feel really good on her poor little baby gums!

day 6: sleeping after a busy day

I will confess: today I almost forgot to take pictures.  It was the first day that it completely slipped my mind until bedtime.  But I will also confess that I have an addiction to taking pictures of my girls sleeping.  And Marley did not disappoint when I walked into her room to take her picture and she had lined her bed with all the stuffed animals that she and Ainsley and Abby had torn down from her animal hammock.  We had a busy day, full of the farmer's market and brunch with friends, packing for our trip to Texas and Asa's trip to Arkansas for training. 

When Asa was deployed, I was so concerned that he and Vivi would never have a good relationship because he missed so much of her life.  But I am ecstatic when I see them together now and I realize that they have an amazing bond.  She adores her Daddy.  And he is in love with her.  It makes me a very happy mama.

day 5: dates

Tonight, Marley went on her first movie date with her best friend Ainsley.  They were so stinkin' adorable going into the movie together (with Ainsley's dad, Tony) that I almost cried.  She was beyond excited the entire day and asking me constantly if it was time yet. 

After the movie, she came home and ran to me and started crying about how sad the movie was.  Apparently, the daddy gets lost from his family and that made her broken-hearted. Poor baby.  She may be ready to go see a movie with her friends, but she is still my sweet baby.

Marley going on a date meant that Asa, Vivi, and I went on a date!  We were so close to going to Texas that we decided to go out to eat instead of cooking.  So, we had a nice evening date to Panera and Walmart. 

Vivi learned to do high fives today (Tony taught her) and has been having a blast with them!  She even says, "IE IE" when she wants one.  It was really nice to have some alone time with her, but she missed Marley.  She kept looking at Marley's empty car seat and pointing to it.  They were happy to see each other when Marley finally came home.

day 4: bath time

Things Marley has said recently:

"I don't know what to have for lunch!  All we have in the fwidge in zucchini and waw milk and and kombucha!"

"I want to have a snack.  But I needs to be healfy because I'm having a baby."

"Did you know it tastes good to lick your feet?"

"Vivi, you are the best wish I ever wished!"

"Can I have a snack and a nap, please?"

Vivi's communication is just exploding!  She can sign so many things: milk, all done, book, more, water, eat, ball, shoes, thank you, up, diaper, ad probably something else I have forgotten.  She watches us do the sign once or twice and then knows it!  

And she will attempt to repeat anything we ask her to.  She will say Mama, Dada, Mimi, Papa, Dede, hi, bye bye, go, out, shoes, Henna, and she tries hard to say Marley.  I love this age and how much she is learning every day.  She is constantly amazing us!

day 3: waking up and babies

Every morning, it is a race to see who can hear Vivi waking up and see her happy smile greet us.  Vivi calls, "Mama.  Mama."  I usually head in there first, but Marley is on my heels itching to jump in bed next to her.  They cuddle and laugh and hold hands and I love to watch them.  Sometimes it gets a little out of hand and Marley starts to get wild.  But on the days that it works out, they are so cute together.

Marley has been asking to play doctor all day long.  Sometimes she has a broken foot that we need to have surgery on.  But most of the time she is having a baby.  

She holds her stomach and tells me she is having contractions.  They I count to ten and she makes a pushing face and we pull the baby out.  She immediately grabs the baby and hugs it and names it.  It's so sweet.  I love her little mama skills.