Big Girl

What a day! Some of you will just roll your eyes at me, but this is a day I've looked foward to (and was sentimental about) for a long time! Cyrena got her FIRST haircut today. It was so darn exciting. I've been pumping her up about it for the last few days so she was very excited.

I took her to the woman who cuts my hair. It was so adorable. Cyrena was SO good and did everything she was told. She got her hair washed and was just smiling the whole time. Then she stood on the chair while she cut the back and ends. When she sat down so she could cut the top, she loved having the chair pumped up taller.

Pretty much, she loved every minute of it. As you would expect, Cyrena talked almost the whole time and now has yet another admirer. She was able to pick out pretty clips for her hair and it was styled so cute. Then she got a sucker. Talk about first-class treatment!  Of course we had to drive over to 'her boyfriend's' house (Logan) so he could see her beautiful hair. He was more interested in where she got the sucker.

It was very fun for me to do this with my baby girl. She loved that it was just the two of us. I'm glad it was fun for her so she will look forward to it in the future!

Mid-sentence

Poser

Her new goofy picture face.

Blue-Eyed Girl

Running away from me so I will stop taking pictures

Brainwashed?

Cyrena:  Look mommy, I built a temple!  Isn't it so pretty?

Cyrena:  Daddy, this is my baby.  

Daddy:  Oh, where are her clothes?

Cyrena:  She's naked......no......she's in her garments.

There are some who say that mormons are brainwashed.  No way..... this is totally normal! 

A sister

I have to say that I am amazed at what a great sister Cyrena is to Natalie.  I think I had prepared myself for the worst.  Those of you that know Cyrena well understand that this could have been disastrous.  Her intense and spirited personality can be quite a challenge at times.  So you would all understand that I envisioned her transition to big sisterhood to be quite rocky.  I believe I am someone that tells it how it is.  I've never made excuses for Cyrena, I've worked really hard on just accepting her personality and working with it, however frustrating it can be at times.  

But boy was I way off this time.  

Cyrena is a truly amazing big sister to Natalie.  She is so attentive and will sit on floor and play with her forever.  She always wants to be with her, but not in an overbearing way.  Cyrena has never been an overly affectionate child, but I see her being sweet and affectionate to her baby sister, often kissing her chubby cheeks.  She is quick to fetch me a burp cloth, diaper, etc. whenever there is a need.  She wants her sister to be well-taken care of.  She loves picking out what Natalie is going to wear and say, "I wore that when I was a baby."  She loves taking baths with Natalie and reading books with her on her bed.  This afternoon when she requested to hold her, I sat Natalie on the couch next to her.  Pretty soon I looked down and saw Cyrena was holding Natalie's hand and Natalie's little fingers were wrapped around one of Cyrena's.  It's moments like this that make me so happy to have two precious daughters.

It makes the tears of yesterday seem so meaningless.

Snow fun!

Last year we tried to take Cyrena out in the snow and it was pretty disastrous. She HATED every minute of it. This year was much improved. That's not to say there wasn't any whining or crying, but she enjoyed herself a lot more. She loved 'digging' in the snow (similar to digging in the sandbox but we substituted a flower pot full of snow), building a snowman with daddy and Jacob, and throwing snowballs at Jacob and Daddy. Their snowman made us all laugh.......they worked so hard on it!

Christmas

We had a fun Christmas. Sleep-deprived, but fun.  Christmas Eve was the worst night for me in my parenting career.....ever. It's a long story which some of you have had to hear about (and some of you witnessed!), but now at least I can laugh about it. It's all good and everything turned out just fine. The last few years, on Christmas Eve each family has made a 'sleigh' and then raced them on a track down my parents staircase.  There's even a tracking bracket (similar to March Madness) and awesome prizes for 1st and 2nd place.  We have yet to ever win, but David always has a great design and high hopes. Cyrena sang a Christmas Primary song while I played the piano. Actually she was a little shy so everyone mostly heard David singing it while she sang it very softly. Christmas Eve is always so special and full of tradition, David said it was his favorite part of the whole trip.  This was the first year Cyrena was SOOOO excited about Santa Claus.  Four of her cousins slept over so they were all together Christmas morning. 

What fun!

Natalie's Blessing

While we were in Utah for Christmas we were able to bless Natalie. It was such a great day. She looked like an angel and didn't cry at all during the blessing! Cyrena cried all through hers. :) David's grandparents were able to come and it was so wonderful that Natalie's great-grandfather could be in the circle. Afterward David and I were able to express our feelings about Natalie. I was honest and said how hard it's been for me (especially the hormones) but how truly grateful I am for a Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. David expressed similar sentiments about how much we wanted this baby, especially through the losses we experienced and that the Lord has a plan for each of us. Later, we celebrated Cyrena's birthday and had some yummy cake. She was spoiled of course, everyone did way too much. It was a special day.

Sisters...do you think?

I took some great pictures of Natalie yesterday. She's 6 weeks old now!! I love getting past the first 6 weeks.....aahhhhhh. Anyway, she has been pretty happy lately so I wanted to capture it. The first is a picture I took of her yesterday and the second is of CYRENA on Valentine's Day when she was about 8 weeks old. Sisters?? I think so.