Sorry for the lengthy time between blogs, I will try to do better. Things are going great. The girls are growing up so fast!

Lillian just turned 2, and is a world of amazement. Her favorite things are reading books, to play outside (Brian built her an amazing swingset for her birthday, plus she would live outside if we let her), her baby dolls and playing with Madeline. She can talk your ear off and wants to talk on the phone every time it rings. Her favorite phrases/sentences/words are:


"I go outside and play?"
"Shoppin' "
"I see PaPaw"
"I go to MaMaw's house again?"
"I talk to Nana"
"Happy Birth Day" (we celebrate several birthdays Feb. to March)
"I do it by myself."

She wants to do everything "by myself." Most recently this began to include praying...it is precious! It is something along these lines "Jesus, sank you, Mommy, Daddy, Madeline,... amen." Sometimes the list can get pretty lengthy, we have prayed for ALL extended family as well as baby dolls, the bed, MaMaw's Car & PaPaw's Jeep, the fan etc. We have had to make her say amen a couple of times. Meal time prayers are usually short, she is always ready to eat (eat was her first word after Dada and Mama) She knows all her colors, can count to 10 and knows several letters (associated with family members names...she is learning them using LeapFrog Fridge Phonics alphabet). She is still potty training, but is in "Big Girl" Panties and only has 1 or 2 accidents a day and is typically dry through the night.

Madeline is almost 11 months and is a little ball of energy. She follows Lillian everywhere, fortunately they play realy well together. She is crawling, pulling up and cruising, and standing alone. There have been a couple of occations where she has stepped once, but when she realized it she was back on the floor. She will eat ANYTHING, what she is given and what she finds...I can't tell you how many times I have wiped dirt or grass out of her mouth. A few nights ago I dug a live junebug out...YUCK!!!! If table food is in eyesite, baby food is out of the question! She can sign several words: bye, bath, more, done, eat, thank you and drink. This is a HUGE help in communication! We have cut out her mid morning nap and she typically takes a good afternoon nap at the same time as Lillian. She would take a bath at any point in the day and as many times as we would let her (Lillian too, we can't wait for swim season...Lillian also likes to ask "I go swimming?" since we recently had swimming pool baptisims at church and Brian's parents have their pool set up). We have cut down on the number of times she nurses and have began to introduce milk...I did not have to wean Lillian, she stopped on her own at 10.5 months, so this is all new to me! She is doing great! She will be 1 before we know it.

Mom has just completed he 1 year check-up from when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and all her test were clear! Thank you all for your continued prayer. I will try to post pictures of the girls soon.