I'm behind

Well I'm a little behind in my blogging so I'm gonna try to catch up in the next few days. Allot has been going on. Gracie started eating! Right at about 5 1/2 months she started with some baby rice cereal. Here Levi is excited to get things started. He's real involved with all her "firsts." Nathan constantly acts like he's going to feed Gracie random food. He'll hold up a piece of his cheese and gesture towards her and start to put it to her mouth. Levi does not find it funny. Truth be told, neither do I really. But Levi always jumps up and yells, "No! No! No! She can't have that!" So, he didn't believe me at first that she really could start having more than bottles. It helps him that she does have two teeth now. Makes this step more legitimate.

Naturally he needed to be right there feeding her too. I hope he's always so attentive. Gracie hopes so too.

I like this picture with all our hands together holding the spoon.

Eventually he got to do it by himself. Gracie did pretty well with all of it. She still loves the bottle most but she accepts this as a new part of eating. I thinks she finds it odd to eat sitting up though.

The next few pictures are comical. Bella girl and Charlie sat down on a blanket together and just matched each other's positions. By the way, he's not sitting on her in this one. Promise. She loves him; and he's gentle when he gets to her. The worse thing he does is lick her too vigorously, which she also smiles through.

I didn't position them, really.

She loves looking in the mirror. I think most babies do. She just smiles and stares into her own beautiful big eyes.

Just a week or two after I got back from my trip to St. Joe Gracie started becoming more physical. She started rolling over and then next thing I knew she was learning to sit up. This picture is darling because she's wearing her "daddy's little sweetie" onsie and that smile on her face was directed at him.

Levi is saying "I'm so proud of you Gracie" because he noticed that she was doing better at sitting up. He really does notice her growth. Every time she does something new he gasps and says, "She's playing with her feet!" or "She has teeth" "She rolled over by herself!" Etc...

He got pretty excited the other day and I think it's really cute. He was complaining to me about this little girl he met who didn't want to play with him. That never happens to him. So I said, "You know when Gracie gets a little bigger she will always play with you. She'll be your very own little girl." He smiled and said, "Really? Oh yeah."

A few weeks ago we discovered another amazing human type quality that Charlie has; he plays swords with Levi. There is a lot of chasing and running in circles. But he's very into it. At first I wondered if he was just running because Levi had a sword and was chasing him. But then when the swords were put away and Levi moved onto something else I looked up to see Charlie with his nose stuck in the toy chest digging through until he retrieved his sword. Then he took it to Levi to start a duel. He's amazing.

Levi is one of those lucky kids who'll grow up and say, "I grew up with my dog and he was my best friend."

I believe he'll also be able to say that about his sister. This position happened because she was trying to sit up on the couch but swayed a little to the side. She landed up against Levi's back and he wanted her to stay there.

I just love this picture. It just wraps up her little personality right now. Incredibly cute, soft and kissable, delightful little smile and sparkling eyes.

And this is possibly one of the best pictures I'll ever take. It's just perfect.

My little Daisy Princess...

They're friends now. She just absolutely adores him just as I knew she would. And he loves to make her laugh, just as I predicted he would. He does the tiniest little thing and she is just squealing and laughing so hard! It's awesome. Levi is such a little performer and he has the best audience. Oh and, he does not think it's OK for people to admire her or talk to her outside our house. Anytime we are out somewhere there are always people who stop to say hi to her. She smiles but Levi, every time, jumps up next to her, pulls the cover down on her car seat and seriously gives them the stink eye. No room for wondering, he is staring you down. They usually back off and say, "I understand. You're her big brother." And he says, "I don't like other people looking at her." I don't try to squash that feeling in him. He might as well master the skill of protecting her and scaring off boys with his evil glare. That is, after all, his baby.