Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

I just love this little bikini.

It's just a little bit big so one strap falls down sometimes . . .

Big brother makes sure she keeps her top on! Hopefully he continues to look out for her like this as they get older! :)

She's two!!!

Celena turned 2 on July 17. I can't believe how the time has flown by! She is growing up so quickly - she counts to ten, talks non-stop and can put 4 words together already, and recognizes a few of the letters of the alphabet. She is such a compassionate little thing and often tries to help out her big brother when she recognizes that he needs something. She's also quite opinionated, especially when it comes to clothes. Typically, if something is cute and I want her to wear it, she refuses and says "I don't like it". So she's ornery too, but it's cute. I love this little girl!

She's growing like a weed. At her 2 year check-up, her measurements were:

- Weight 28.6 lbs (72%) (she's actually a little lighter than this, as this includes the baby doll that she wouldn't let go of when she was on the scale)

- Height 35 inches (81%)

She wasn't cooperating with the nurse when she was measured, so the nurse wasn't sure how accurate the height measurement was. I thought there was no way that she was that tall, so I measured her when we got home and she's actually a bit taller at 35 1/2 inches! If we follow the rule that you can predict her adult height by doubling her height at 2 years old, then she'd be 5'11"! I can't imagine that is right, but we'll just wait and see.

There are some pictures from her birthday in the slide deck at the top left side of the screen.

Happy 4th of July!

Beach Vacation

We took a short vacation to Topsail Beach near Wilmington, NC several weeks ago. The house we stayed at was right on the beach, which was so convenient with our little ones! The weather was unseasonably cool, but it was nice because we didn't have to worry about the kids getting too much sun. There are several pictures from the trip in the slideshow on the top left hand side of the screen above (click on the slide picture to make the pictures bigger).

Spring

We are starting to see glimpses of spring - the weather was nice last weekend, so we took advantage of it and played outside. Celena let me snap a few pictures of her. Cass was there too, but he was not interested in pausing for any pictures. Maybe next time.

Norm and Tina came out to enjoy the weather too. Celena loves Tina.

Norm doesn't want much to do with Celena. Here he is enjoying the weather.

February

February has been a busy month. We've been continuing to get settled into the house. As usual this time of year, we are all ready for spring and are glad that it's almost here. Since it's been cold, we've been cooped up in the house quite a bit so there isn't too much to post about. The picture above is from one night after bath time when Cass came up behind Celena and just gave her a big hug. Now that she is getting older I find them being affectionate more and more - it is so sweet!

Here's Celena eating one of her Valentine cupcakes. As you can tell, her favorite part is the frosting. After she finishes the frosting, she sets the cupcake down and fusses because she wants to get another cupcake just to eat the frosting. Teaching self control to a 19 month old is not easy.
Our little lady had her 18 month doctor appointment. She is growing just fine. Fortunately, the only health related issue she has are mysterious allergy symptoms. She used to have eczema which has cleared up; however, she still has bags under her eyes which indicates she has some type of allergy. We've had different tests run which have showed that she may be allergic to anything from dogs, shellfish, hickory tree, pollen, and cockroaches (ick!!!). So who knows. I was concerned about it for a while, but she doesn't act uncomfortable, so we're just going to give it time and see if it gets better or worse.

Anyway, here are her stats:
Height: 32 3/4 inches (85th percentile)
Weight: 24 pounds (50th percentile)
Head: 48 1/2 centimeters (96th percentile)

Signature

Yesterday Cass was in the playroom drawing on his whiteboard easel. Chris went to see what he had drawn, and he had written his name. We'll give it a few years before he writes his full first name, Casimiro. :) I like how you can even see Cass's reflection in the picture.