Behind Blue Eyes

Lilly has these beautiful set of blue eyes...They are breathtaking...

If anyone doesn't beleive there is a God, just look into her eyes and find the truth...

"Dumpin' on De Bed"

Ever since Gracie was little, one of our favorite activities has been playing on our bed. It started when Gracie was weeks old; we would lay her down to dress her and play with her after her bath. We did so almost every night with Gracie and then Lilly when she came along. Gracie took some of her earliest steps on the bed, and Lilly learned how do to "flippies" when she was really tiny.

When I found out I was pregnant with Ivan, we both commented on how, even though we had a huge king size bed, "bed play" was going to be really crowded with three kids. But we looked SO forward to having all of our kiddos on our bed.

So, the other night, we all played and I took photos:

Jumping on the Bed:

Floor Play

During the day, the kids (especially Ivan) spend lots of time in the living room floor, playing. The girls (especially Gracie) love to play with Ivan when he's awake. I got some cute photos through the week of this activity:

Sunday Visitor

Early Sunday morning, I was heating a bottle for Ivan and looked out my kitchen window and spied a big turtle in the front yard. They are pretty rare around here, so I put my shoes on and ran out in my underwear, grabbed a diaper box, and put the turtle in it. When the girls woke up, I told them that they had a visitor that wanted to see them, and he was waiting on the porch. We tried to feed him hot dogs and bananas, but the poor thing wasn't hungry, and just wanted to be on his way. I put the girls' initials on the turtle's shell in Hot Pink fingernail polish, like my mom used to to with turtles. It was fun!

More Bucket Sitting

Something makes me wonder if Lilly is jealous that Gracie sits on a potty. She is OBSESSED with sitting on buckets. Here's another instance:

And, of course, Gracie had to do it too (Copycat)...

Trampoline Fun

We played on the trampoline Saturday night...and I used it as an excellent opportunity to take some awesome family photos. Check them out...

Little Ivan:

Casey and Ivan:

Casey with his Ducklings:

More cute photos:

Falling in the Bucket

Lilly is super accident prone. She fell into this bucket last night. Poor thing!

Trait Theories

I think one of the most repeated sentiments that I have heard since having kids is that one of my children resemble someone in one of our families. In psychology, there is an area known as "Trait Theory" which studies the emotional and psychological traits that pass down through the generations. The same principle could apply to physical characteristics as well.

Every person has a different theory about who our children look like. Its really interesting to hear the different theories, and stack them against my own. For instance, I was recently told that Gracie looks just like I did when I was a kid. But when I look at some of my baby photos, I see Lilly.

I wanted to put together some photos of our kids and their "trait twins":

Here's my Dad (Dean) and Ivan Dean:

Another Dad (Dean) picture and little Ivan Dean:

Now, this one is Casey as a baby and Ivan again...they favor as well:

Lilly has always reminded me of her Uncle Don (Casey's Oldest Brother). I think she reminds me more of him by her personality and behavior. But unmistakeably, she shares her grin with Don:

Uncle Don with his son, Chris and then a photo of Lillian:

But I think she looks like I did when I was a baby.

Here's me and then a similar photo of Lilly. See the shape of our eyes?

Another photo of me as a baby, and a Lilly one to match:

And last but certainly not least is Gracie...

I think she looks like my Mom (Traci) more than any body. Here's some evidence:

Mom with the girls on a boat ride at Lake Bonham and one of Gracie drawing:

Lilly's Bad Accident & Gracie's Act of Kindness

Lilly's Bad Accident

Yesterday, the weather was beautiful, and the girls were stir crazy in the house. So, we got our shoes on and headed outside. The trampoline is the favorite toy between the girls, so that's where we headed. Gracie has loved bouncing since day 1, but Lilly has had to warm up to it. Slowly, she has gained courage to stand, walk around, and even bounce. I stand to the side, watching, and scolding when they get too close to the edge, thinking that this is the best possible way that I can let them have fun, and still have control of them. I found out that even though I am right there, they can still be hurt.

The girls were playing tag with each other, running round and round. I hadn't noticed it, but I think Lilly got really dizzy and disoriented. So, instead of running in a circle, she ran straight for the edge, tripped on the spring mat, and launched head-first off of the edge of the trampoline. She landed on her head with a loud "thud" that made me nearly throw up. Of course, I was already running for her, but couldn't catch her.

It took her a few minutes to scream, which seemed like eternity to me. She didn't go unconscious, but she wasn't moving. I started to dial 9-1-1 because I was afraid to move her, but I noticed that she was trying to move her torso. There was no bleeding; she landed in very soft sand and grass. I just sat there with her, looking her over, waiting for her to try to move to make sure that she didn't have a spinal injury. I noticed that the damn ants were trying to crawl all over her, so I gently picked her up and layed her on the trampoline. By then, she was moving her arms and her head. Her legs were not moving. I pinched her legs, poked them, and tickled behind her knees. No response. I tapped her knee to induce a patellar reflex; which, thankfully was still intact and was a good sign that her spinal cord was not injured. And then, miraculously, she moved her foot. A second later, she rolled over, hopped up and started trying to jump on the trampoline. To which, I said, "No ma'am, I think we are done with the trampoline today". Thank you God for saving my beautiful Lillian!

Gracie's Act of Kindness

While we were all sitting in the living room, spending time together last night, Ivan started fussing after finishing his bottle. Casey and I tried to comfort him, and finally decided that one of us needed to go get his pacifier. I didn't even really know where it was, and knew I needed to look for it.

What we didn't notice was that Gracie had been missing for a few minutes. We heard her cry for help from the other end of the house. Casey got up, thinking he was going to get on to her for messing with something in our bedroom and getting caught up. So he stormed off, mad...

Only to find our precious child in Ivan's crib, trying to get out, with his pacifier in her hand. I have never felt more proud in my life, of a child, so sweet and loving, that she wanted not only to help me but also to take care of her brother.

Casey lifted her out and she came running to her brother and gingerly put his "paci" in his mouth. Casey and I stared at her in amazement, with tears in our eyes.