Alice (3 months old)

Today, Alice is 3 months old.  (To be clear, though, these photos were taken a few weeks ago.)

She’s still our best sleeper usually going to bed around 8 or 9, sleeping 7 or 8 hours, and then waking up to nurse one or two more times.  She gave us a 9-hour stretch the other night, so that was exciting.  The biggest thing is that she goes right back down after nursing.  That’s not a feature that came with our first two models.  She finishes drinking and I just go lay her back down and walk away.  It’s amazing.  She shuffles a little and finds that comfortable spot and then settles in and goes back to sleep.  It’s wonderful!  Jane wouldn’t even fall asleep nursing at all, and if she did by some miracle, she’d wake up as soon as I stood up.

Alice has been a little high maintenance during the day, though.  She’s starting to get better, but for a while there, she wanted to be held all the time.  Not just held, of course, bounced.  Chris got me a fitbit for my birthday and I was clocking some serious steps just trying to keep that girl happy.  She prefers facing out and had to have two hands on her at all times.  If I tried to take a hand away to pick something up or heaven forbid get anything done, she’d get fussy immediately and then calm down when she was securely held with both hands again.  It was pretty frustrating, but like I said, she’s getting much better now.  She has longer stretches of just hanging out happily.  She smiles pretty easily now, but then goes back to her resting grumpy old man face.

She locks in on TV screens just like Jane used to.  Which is, of course, great and not so great.

She rolled over the other day, front to back.  She didn’t know what she was doing, of course, but I’m still proud of her. 

We love our little Ali-cat.  She's getting more enjoyable all the time.

Peter (almost 2 and a half)

Peter is 2 and 4 months right now.  He passed his sister in weight, but she still has a little height on him.  To me, he feels muscular and so much heavier to pick up, but part of that might be the way he completely stiffens his legs and body when you go to lift him. He's not trying to make it difficult.  He does it even when he wants to be picked up, but it doesn't make things easy, especially when I'm trying to lift him out of the crib with one hand.  He just stiffens up and doesn't help at all.  He's still in his crib.  Although he's very proficient and getting in and out on his own, he doesn't try to get out until he's given permission.  I'm not sure we'd see that level of compliance in a toddler bed so he's staying in there as long as we can make him.

Peter is highly verbal and expresses himself pretty well.  He loves to sing and his favorite songs these days are the Spiderman and Ninja Turtles themes (even though he hasn't seen the shows), I am a Child of God, I Love to See the Temple, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Rock-a-Bye Baby.
He repeats the last word or two of nearly everything you tell him in the form of a question.
"Ok Peter, you need to brush your teeth."
"Brush your teeth?"
"Yes, we do this every night."
"Every night?"
"Ok, stop repeating me."
"Peating me?"
So cute and just a little aggravating.

He's a smart kid.  He knows his colors and shapes and loves to point out semi-circles and trapezoids.  When we were walking around down town a few weeks ago, he stopped and said, "Mom, look at all the hexagons."  Sure enough, we were standing on path of hexagon paving stones.  He can identify several numbers and count to somewhere in the teens.  When he watches some of the kid's shows he answers the questions out loud.  He's probably only right half the time, but whether it's a number or a pattern, he always knows what kind of answer they are looking for.

Bedtime routine is a little exhausting because he is SO particular about things happening a certain way.  If you didn't get his blanket on him just right before you started singing the song.  You HAVE to fix it and start the song over from the beginning.  You can't just fix it while you're singing the song.  That stuff is truly aggravating, but of course we play along because I just want bedtime to happen as fast as possible and trying to convince him that it's ok to change up the routine and roll with things takes 20 minutes longer and ends with Peter crying himself to sleep.  So yeah, we do things his way, and to be fair.  As long as you do it right, he's way easier to get to bed than Jane who does everything in her power to avoid all aspects of the bedtime routine.

Peter doesn't know how to make a kissing noise.  He clicks his tongue and then presses his lips into cheek.  I love it so much.

Peter actually gets pretty fun when he's a little over-tired.  He gets extra chatty and CAN NOT STOP MOVING.  As long as you don't have to try and corral him, he's pretty silly and entertaining.  I bet he'd be a happy drunk.

Peter doesn't eat much these days, but some how he seems to be growing.  In fact, I can tell you his entire menu in 5 items: waffles, cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, crackers and yogurt.  We recently lost reliable favorites such as apples and peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, smoothies, and toast (although if it's got cinnamon and sugar on it, we're still good).   In the last week, he's started sneaking drinks of my smoothies again, which is great because it is his only source of fruits and vegetables.  He loves eating the pepperonis off everyone's pizza and we recently discovered he loves bacon.  It was one of his tired, chatty evenings and to everyone's surprise, he just picked up some bacon and started eating it; then another piece and another.  It was probably my favorite moment of the day watching him with a strip of bacon in each hand, yelling "bacon" between each bite.
Another one of my favorite Peter at dinner moments happened when we tried to get him to take a bite of a chicken pillow.  A few bribes and threats later he managed to take the bite, chewing with a concerned look on his face.  "Do you like it, Peter?" we asked.  "It's yummy," he replied and then gagged.  He tried to chew it some more, but then threw it all up.  I was laughing so hard I thought my drink was going to spray out my nose.  Poor kid.  I'm still proud of him for taking a bite.  That's a win.

He's the sweetest kid, though.  He's quick to say "I'm sorry", shares his toys or food easily, and loves to give hugs and kisses.
He spends most of his time lining up cars or following Jane around on whatever make-believe adventures she comes up with.
We all love having Peter in our family.

Alice's Blessing

Alice Mary Silva was blessed on May 1st, 2016 by her father, Christopher Silva.

I didn't hear too much of it because she was crying too loudly.  At first I didn't even realize it was her. I actually thought, someone should take that baby out.  It even threw Chris off his game a little, but she still received a great blessing.  She was blessed that she might see the hand of Heavenly Father in her life and feel the holy spirit.  It was noted that she was born into very fortunate circumstances to a family that dotes on her and that she brings a wonderful balance to that family, and she was promised that she will find health and joy as she follows Heavenly Father and covenants with Him in the temple.

I'm so grateful for the priesthood power that my husband holds and honors.  It is such a blessing to our family.  It is so easy to get lost in the daily grind of spilled cereal and lost socks, but moments like these, like baby blessings, are so special and help remind me of the significant role that family plays in the great Plan of Happiness.  It's always nice to take a step back and remember, we're working on something so much bigger.  We love our little Alice so much and feel truly blessed to have her join our family.

Alice's dress was made by mother, Mary Walton, and worn by both my sister and myself for our baby blessings, as well as all of Lisa's girl's for their blessings. I'm so glad she got to wear it.  It was inaccessible when Jane was blessed, so she didn't wear it.