Ginger at 14 Weeks

We had a little photoshoot yesterday for Ginger in honor of her 14th week! She wore the same dress she had on when I took these pictures when she was one week (eight days) old!



Ginger is changing so much. She is so content and laid back. She is happy to just go with the flow, and as long as I'm around, she's cool.



We've been having a lot of fun with her. She gets carted around with us wherever we go, and she is so interested in everything we're doing. She just kinda takes it all in.



She's a pretty good little model, too! I have had fun documenting her every second of life (practically) with my camera. She is very fun to photograph.



Paprika saw we were having a little photoshoot, and she had to jump in on that. She was wearing her favorite outfit- the Tinkerbell swimsuit my Aunt Laura gave her earlier this summer. She said, "Hey mom, can you take my picture in my special Tinkerbell swimsuit?"



Okay! Sounds like a good idea!



After that we did a little wardrobe change. Ginger seemed to like it.



Ginger's 14th week of life outside the womb has been a scrumptious one. I wish I could bottle every second of life with these girls. They are my miracles!

Hanging Out with Paprika

On Saturday, Ginger took her first nap by herself. Yup, it was the first time I have been able to lay Ginger down for a nap when she didn't wake up three minutes later. So, during the three hours she slept, I had a blast hanging out with just Paprika. I asked Paprika if I could take her picture, and she said, "Of course!"



Paprika is now 3 years 1 month (and 10 days) old! I can't believe how different she is now than she was even a year ago. She is silly, funny, and so grown up. It's all going by rather quickly. Too fast.

Here are the pics we took yesterday during our extended front porch hang-out. I love this little girl so very very much!

Peighton Hope!

Baby Girl Mikels has a name!

Peighton Hope Mikels
4lbs ~ 1oz
16 inches long
September 26th @ 8:12pm

Huge congrats to the happy family!!!

She's Here!

Devon made it to 31 weeks 2 days, and her little girl was born last night! Mom and baby are both doing really well. Baby girl (still waiting on a name) is in the NICU, but she is doing great. She weighs 4 pounds 1 ounce and is 16 inches long. She is a miracle baby!

I had the great pleasure of waiting in the waiting room of the hospital last night with Devon and Rob's families. Everyone was on pins and needles during the delivery, and when Rob came in and announced that mom and baby were both well, and that baby girl was over 4 pounds, the room errupted into cheers and applause! It was a room full of happy, happy tears.

I got to see a few pictures that Rob took on his camera, and I have to say that baby girl is such a gorgeous child! She looks just like her big sister!

I am so happy for the whole family. Devon and Rob have been waiting a long time for baby girl's arrival, and I am so happy that she is here, she is safe, and she is doing so well in the NICU.

Happy Birthday, Little Miracle!!!

Just Fun

Today I took Ginger with me to a friend's baby shower. Claudine (our babysitter) came over to watch Paprika. Paprika was so excited. She hasn't seen Claudine in many months, and she was just over the moon that her special friend was coming for a visit.



I took Ginger to the shower because she's still so little, exclusively nursing, and I knew she wouldn't be any trouble. I was right!



She was all smiles, easy, and just so happy the whole time. She was so happy just to hang out on my lap and look around at everyone. As long as I am holding her, she is 100% a-okay, happy, and joyful. When anyone else holds her...she's happy for a few minutes, and then she says "I'm done. Give me back to mom." That's good with me! I am a sucker for this smile!

14 Weeks!

Ginger turned 14 weeks today! She is probably the happiest baby I have ever seen in my life. She is just always pleased...it's pretty great!

We have had one heck of a week with our home-buying search. We found a property we loved, got our offer accepted, only to find out that there were some issues with the property that we didn't want to deal with...so we backed out. It's been a rollercoaster - up and down - and we've experienced some highs and lows this past week.

But Ginger and Paprika have been troopers. I took them both to the beach and to the beachside park yesterday- it was about 100 degrees here in Pasadena and I was losing my mind! I love that cool, breezy beach weather and am hopeful we'll find something to closer to the ocean. Wouldn't it be great to live near the beach?



The only downside to moving closer to the beach would be that we'd have to take Paprika out of her preschool. Paprika is Miss Popularity at her school, apparently. She has tons of friends and is the "one" that all the other girls want to sit next to during snack time. One fellow mom told us that her daughter has named all her dolls at home "Paprika" - and when Paprika comes into school in the morning, this little girl runs over to Paprika and hands her a princess dress to wear for the day. When we walk through the halls, all the kids know Paprika and so do all the teachers. Everyone is saying "Hi Paprika!"- and we have no idea how they know our little girl.

It's weird for me because I have always assumed I'm Paprika's whole world, but I guess not! I'm glad she has her friends and is so happy there, and I would be sad to pull her out for our move. But...better now than later, right? We can't stay in Pasadena forever because the public schools here are so awful, so maybe it's time to find a good school district and put down roots there.

So, that's what we're up to! Looking for houses...always...and squeezing in some fun time in between!

Getting Kissed By A Princess

Paprika is wearing her new Snow White Dress (SWD) that she got today on our Target outing. The old SWD is so tattered, and so beat-up, it hangs off her like a little dirty rag. She, of course, wore the old one to Target today, and when she saw a brand new SWD hanging on the rack, I looked at her and said, "Is it time, or what?!" Paprika agreed...it was time for a brand new SWD. The fact that it was on sale for Halloween sweetened the deal!



So, we got home and she had a magical afternoon playing Snow White. She re-enacted the whole story many times for Ginger (who, coincidentally, is a very captive audience). I think they both enjoyed themselves a lot.



Paprika can always get a big laugh out of Ginger! The End.

Outings

Yesterday I took Ginger and Paprika to the grocery store together by myself for the first time. Today we hit Target as a trio. I don't know why I was so nervous to go shopping with both of them. I envisioned Paprika climbing out of the cart, running around the store, Ginger getting hungry, screaming inconsolably while I tried to put the items on the check-out console...and everyone is staring at me and wishing we would just go away.

I am happy to report that none such thing happened. It required a bit more organization on my part before shopping, but I managed to do a pretty decent job with both trips. Success!

Making Music

Paprika loves playing piano. I think she's still too young for lessons, and besides, Paprika has to learn and do everything herself. If she had a piano teacher, Paprika would say to her, "No, no, no, that's not how you do it. Let me show you." That's Paprika!



She loves creating her own songs, and she is very serious about it- serious and silly. During this session, she wrote a song called "The Awesome Song"- about all things awesome. She also played her old favorite that she wrote awhile ago, "Sister Song" but she renamed it to "Gingery Song."

She loves playing, and I love watching her play!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Mr. Mustard is back to working on Dancing With The Stars, and on his days off, he works on The Doctors at night. I've been keeping myself busy taking care of Paprika and Ginger. The weather in Pasadena has gotten insanely hot again, so we are keeping cool indoors mostly.

Paprika has so much fun using her imagination and putting on shows for me and Ginger. Paprika's favorite dress-up at the moment is Tinkerbell. I think that's what she's probably going to be for Halloween this year. She's already got the outfit!

Happy Three Months!

Happy Three Months, Beautiful Ginger!

Ginger's neck muscles are getting so strong. She loves to sit up, and is so aware of everything going on around her. She loves to study every new things she sees, and she is so interested in the outside world.



She loves being held by me (mommy), but not really by anyone else! She is very attached to me, and gets really upset when I'm not the one holding her. This, of course, is hard on Mr. Mustard because he wants to hold her a lot. I know it's just a phase, and she'll grow out of it. For right now, I'm soaking up all my snuggle time with Ginger.



Ginger loves to laugh, and loves to giggle at whatever Paprika is doing. Overall, she is a really smiley, happy, alert, and bright little girl. Love her so much!

The Happiest Place...

We had a little family trip to Disneyland today! Paprika has been itching to go, and we decided that it was time...the weather is cooler and the crowds are gone. Hooray!



Paprika rode all her favorite rides, and Ginger rode some, too! That's right, it was Ginger's first trip to Disneyland on the outside. ;-) Of course, she visited Disneyland about 700 times when I was pregnant with her, but this was the first time she got to look around.

The first ride we rode was the Carousel, which Paprika calls "the horsey ride."



Ginger was in the Baby Bjorn, and slept through the whole ride. Maybe next time she'll be awake so we can stick her on a horse.

Here is the view I had of Ginger sleeping in the Baby Bjorn:



The first ride Ginger was aware of (translation: not sleeping) was It's A Small World (which Paprika calls "the dollie ride"). Ginger loved the ride. The first time we rode it, she looked at every single little doll on the ride, and then the next time we rode it, she did the same thing. It was a fave!

She also rode The Winnie The Pooh ride (which Paprika calls "the honey ride")- Ginger thought that was a trip, as well. I'd say that for being two months old, she's pretty excellent at rides. ;-)

This is a picture of Ginger riding on the carousel with me:



No trip to D-land would be complete without visiting our special brick. We said hi to Vivian and Annemarie's brick, and hi to Blake and Ethan's brick today. Every trip to Disneyland, I wish we were pushing Vivian and Annemarie in the stroller instead of saying hello to their brick at the gate. I am so glad that we have this brick to memorialize them, and it makes me feel like even though they aren't here with us physically, they are with us in spirit (as they always are)...